Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
A Clerk’s War
Saturday 12th to Monday 14th May 1940
Even though I was still feeling low on Saturday morning, I was at work early. Having spent most of Friday following the naval battle in the Mouth of the Thames, I needed to catch up with my normal duties. I noticed the “Wasserfloh” room was still set up, but assumed that staff would clear it later in the morning.
Work – that was the way to forget yesterday’s disappointment. Military researchers at the Preußische Kriegsakedemie have been analysing the conduct of guerrilla wars to determine whether there are any lessons that can be learned and implemented in the Heer. A few decent ideas have been distilled from the literature, and we can expect not only a significant increase in the number of successful ambushes our forces can achieve, but also some savings in supply usage by our headquarters units. General von Blomberg has demanded that the next project be to improve the small arms issued to our cavalry units. He insists that if we are to set up cavalry divisions with just 2 regiments, then they must have sufficient firepower to rapidly suppress the partisans or insurgents who will be their main foe. I wonder if the general does not have a hankering for his youth, when cavalry was king and an officer and his horse were inseparable.
Our cavalry need to be a little more up to date if they are to fight in today’s world: it is 1940, after all!
Unternehmen Stierkampf, slowed by supply problems and enemy air activity, was still moving towards the capture of Madrid. Another opposed crossing of the Duero was underway, as Blaskowitz finally ordered his men out of Palencia, across the river and into Cuellar. The far bank is held by an armour unit: with no supporting infantry General de Lazama will not be able to prevent 29.Infanterie (mot) from gaining a foothold, and then our anti-tank capacity will soon put paid to the Spanish vehicles. (Though I hear issue of the new anti-tank guns is very slow – nearly all production not used in new weapons being directed to replacing lost or damaged equipment – predominately aircraft).
Battle of Cuéllar
There was one confusing group of items in the morning’s documents: fuel and supply requisition forms for the replenishment of the Nordseeflotte. Not that there was anything surprising about the forms themselves – the ships had of course just spent a day or so at sea. What confused me the origin: Amsterdam? I was sure I had been told the Nordseeflotte was to rebase at Wilhelmshaven.
Then Gisela arrived, a bit breathless and more than a bit late. I was about to reprimand her (our personal friendship did not give her any excuse for tardiness) but then she asked whether I knew of the Cabinet meeting. Before I could reply, she told me that her lateness was due to her meeting some her friends outside the building. These were secretaries and stenographers from other departments, and they told her they had been sent to an urgent Cabinet meeting but had to wait outside while work was carried out on the telephones in the Cabinet Room. Needless to say the electrical technicians who had arrived to carry out the work had been incapable of keeping a secret from a group of attractive young women, and revealed that they were to set up some sort of speaker system to allow Minister Raeder to talk, by telephone from telephone from Amsterdam, to the whole Cabinet, and for them to speak back to him. While my mind was still grappling the concept of having a meeting with the participants separated by hundreds of kilometres, she added that the work was now complete and that the meeting, attended by the Führer and the whole Cabinet, was taking place as we spoke.
The Reichskanzlei Reichskabinettsaal: where this momentous meeting is being held. At the moment it would be packed, as every Minister would have an entourage of staff, and no doubt Minister Raeder would have arranged for a sizeable Kriegsmarine representation.
Then she smiled, as if she had just given a child a Christmas present, and disappeared to her desk. I thought of calling her back to remind her of the need for punctuality, but decided it was not the moment: to be honest I was pleased that she had anticipated my interest (she seems to read my mind, sometimes I wonder what I would do without her), and I was already considering how I could find out what was happening. Try as I might, I could not think of a solution that did not run the risk of immediate arrest.
So the rest of the morning was spent on catching up on essential administrative tasks, settling personal disputes between my staff, calming angry senior clerks who insisted on priority for their document searches etc. By lunchtime I need a break, and decided on a short walk. A breath of the fresh spring air would give me the energy for the afternoon, and clear the cobwebs from my brain.
I was barely a hundred metres from the Kanzlei when I was hailed by a familiar-looking naval officer. After only a second I placed him: the senior Kriegsmarine officer I spoke to yesterday, the one with the son on the “Köln”. Of course I enquired as to his son’s well-being (though I knew the “Köln” had been very lucky), and it was with pride and relief he told me that his son was not only uninjured, but had been recommended for an award for bravery, dashing across an open deck during a strafing attack to rescue an sailor injured by machine gun from a British aircraft.
At the time I had no idea who my acquaintance was but I later recognised him among photographs of ranking Kriegsmarine officers: he looks very stern here, but is actually quite a friendly, jovial character (and very talkative!)
Then the officer started to talk of the events of the morning’s meeting. It was obvious he thought I had been present (I imagine the room would have been very crowded), or was senior enough to know what took place, and for a moment I thought of correcting him. Then I realised it would be rude to interrupt a senior officer, so I just stood a listened as he gave me his opinion of the discussion. By then of course it was too late, and I would have embarrassed him had I pointed out he had breached security, so I just asked a few polite questions.
One reason for the meeting: Großadmiral Raeder’s unauthorised rebase of the Nordseeflotte to Amsterdam. The weather is overcast, but no rain at the moment.
The Cabinet meeting had been requested by Minister Raeder, in part to explain his contravention of orders in taking his fleet west to Amsterdam, rather than berthing at Wilhelmshaven. It had been a crowded Cabinet room when the Führer arrived, with the ministers, their advisers and hangers-on, and a large number of Kriegsmarine officers. After the formalities, Raeder had spoken. According to my informant, it was a rousing performance, despite coming from a temporary loudspeaker set up on the table. The Großadmiral started by praising the leaders and crew of 1st Schlachtflotte, drawing attention to the skill required to get nearly every ship safely to port, despite being under ferocious air and sea attack.
Then he moved to the present. He pointed out that the Kriegsmarine had been assigned a task, and a critical one. He insisted that the Kriegsmarine be allowed to complete that task. While he led our naval forces, he would not have it said that he or his men had shirked any mission, no matter how dangerous. The Nordseeflotte, under his direct order, had advanced to Amsterdam to be ready to leave for Lorient immediately. In short, he wanted Cabinet authority to amend Fall Wasserfloh and to allow him to take the Nordseeflotte through the Channel to the Bay of Biscay. At the conclusion of his detailed reasoning as to why he was confident of success, he made his final point: he believed that the honour of the Kriegsmarine was at stake, and should it not be allowed to defend its honour, he would have no choice but to resign his commission. Should he do so, he asked that, after settling family matters, he be allowed to join a front line infantry unit, so that he could end his career in combat, as befitted an officer of the Wehrmacht.
As you can imagine, the Cabinet room was quiet at the end of his impassioned speech, everyone impressed at the sincerity and intensity of his emotional outburst. Then the arguing started.
Leading the opposition were Minsters Hess and von Ribbentrop. Hess spoke at length about the cost of building the Kriegsmarine, and the insanity of throwing away years of production on a gamble. Von Ribbentrop, while agreeing about the potential cost, also spoke about the damage that another naval defeat could do to our international prestige, particularly if the “Bismark”, the Pride of the Fleet, were to be lost. My own Minister, Frick, joined with them, albeit reluctantly. While he appreciated the bravery of the Großadmiral, he could not support such a rash action, so soon after the Royal Navy had demonstrated its power.
My informant told me that the position of these three ministers was no surprise to the Kriegsmarine. It was apparent listening to his analysis that the KM had studied the member of the Cabinet quite intently. Given the role that the Party plays in Wehrmacht affairs, I suppose it is inevitable, but I am of the old school, where soldiers left politics to the politicians. But it is a changing world, where a General or an Admiral must get political approval before doing anything out of the ordinary – or risk summary arrest.
What did interest the KM officer present was that Minister Goebbels did not venture an opinion. Although my new friend had no great opinion of Goebbels, and admitted that Goebbels was not great supporter of either the Kriegsmarine or Minister Raeder, nobody questions his political antenna. Goebbels always wants to be on the winning side, and his silence spoke volumes.
To everyone’s amazement it was Reichsmarschall Göring who leapt to the defence of the Großadmiral. He praised the daring and devotion to duty that would lead Rader to volunteer his life’s work, the Kreigsmarine, to risk all for victory. In hindsight though, perhaps it could have been predicted. Göring would be the immediate beneficiary of Raeder’s success, as his precious Luftwaffe would face a reduced threat in Spain. And it is not often remembered that despite the grand uniforms and gross appetites, at heart Göring is a fighter pilot, prepared to risk all on split second decision.
Von Blomberg was of course on Raeder’s side. Old school himself, he sees duty as the sole driver, and risk a necessary component of every decision. And he hates Hess, my talkative friend confided. I didn’t think that Minister Schacht would have an opinion on a military matter such as this, but apparently he was emphatic in his support. He rationalised that we had invested in equipment and training for the KM, and that this was a “sunk cost”. (He meant it in the accounting sense, but I am sure every naval officer in the room twitched when he said it). If we do not use it, it is wasted. If we lose it, it has not cost us any extra, but if the plan succeeds we will be able to save in costs on repairs and replacements for the Luftwaffe.
The Chief of Staff, Fritz Bayerlein, as expected, had nothing to say. The decision would not impact logistics, so he had little interest. He has a very narrow focus on the world, but as everyone relies on his mastery of the transportation assets of the Reich, nobody cares.
So there were three for, and three against. Raeder, as the interested party, was of course not counted. At this moment, Goebbels, always the master politician, asked the Führer what he thought. There was silence, and then the Führer simply said: “Our hopes go with you and your men on this endeavour, Flottenchef Raeder”. And that was it. Goebbels went into a speech about the immense benefits that success would bring to national morale, but nobody was listening: Fall Wasserfloh was back on track.
Unfortunately our aircraft, submarines and radar sites showed the Channel full of British ships, so an attempt this evening was not possible. But Großadmiral Raeder, now backed by the Führer, has complete freedom as to timing and method of the Channel dash, so the extra time has been used to top up fuel and ammunition in the fleet. The right moment will arrive and then we will know if our luck has returned.
The English Channel at 2PM on 12th May: with two Royal Navy fleets in the Western Channel, one of which was heading east to join a carrier fleet already there, Großadmiral Raeder had no choice but to remain in Amsterdam.
I was hoping to get even more details about the revitalised Fall Wasserfloh, but suddenly my source pulled a naval fob-watch from his coat, checked the time and, apologising that he had an important meeting and was late, sprinted off down the Wilhelmstraße. I walked back to the office slowly, aware that Raeder was gambling not just his life, but the future of the Kriegsmarine. Another failure would mean his hopes of a second generation of warships would sink with his current fleet.
Of course this decision meant that we continued to contest the Channel, and Fisser’s unit was suffering badly against the combined forces of four carriers. This was not the time to be conservative, and Klepke’s 1st Jagdfliegerkorps has been sent to Cherbourg, ready to join the anticipated air combats. It wasn’t long before it was in action, coming to the assistance of the beleaguered 7th Jagdfliegerkorps.
Air Battle of the Western English Channel: 8PM 12th May
With the next day a Sunday, I didn’t go into work in the morning, despite the pending departure of the Nordseeflotte. I reasoned that Raeder that would want to use the darkness as much as possible, and that if there was any action it would be in the evening. I had checked the weather forecasts before leaving Saturday, and it predicted overcast conditions and rain showers for the Channel. So about 5PM I set off for the Reichskanzlei.
The Nordseeflotte at midnight on 12th May: still sitting in Amsterdam, waiting for the word from the Flottenchef. The weather was improving, in that it was raining and the cloud cover was increasing. Perhaps by dusk conditions will allow an attempt to break the Royal Navy cordon.
There was a surprising number of people around for a Sunday evening, and several gave me a curious glance. I just headed to my office: I had plenty to do if anyone was curious about my presence. A new infantry division has been formed, another of the “coastal” units. Perhaps as a sign that we needed troops in the east, it has been assigned to a new Armeekorps, the XIV, attached to the Polen Army. General Pfeiffer has the command of the new division, and a relation of the Minister for the Army, von Blomberg, has the new Armeekorps.
More air battles were fought over the Channel, and 7th Jagdfliegerkorps has been recalled to Hannover to recover. 1st Jagdfliegerkorps is battling hard, but has already lost 18 fighters, and it was not at full strength when it moved to Cherbourg.
At 9PM I was about to leave when I detected a change in the background noise: voices a little higher-pitched, footsteps a little faster. A quick stroll down the corridor, a flash of my pass to the security guard, and I was in the “Wasserfloh” room. From the intensity with which everyone was grouped around the map there was no doubt: the Nordseeflotte was making its run! Led by the nation’s pride, the battleship “Bismark”, the fleet was leaving Amsterdam. One by one, miniature ships were placed on the map by the orderlies. The battlecruiser “Scharnhorst”, the heavy cruisers “Deutschland” and “Admiral Scheer”, the light cruisers “Königsberg”, “Emden” and “Stuttgart”, and the tiny models of the 5th and 7th Zerstöreregeschwader. As I looked at the little destroyers, so fragile compared to the capital ships, I thought of my friend Korvettenkapitän Karl Behrens, taking his destroyer out to challenge the largest navy in the world. It would be a tense night.
On the map in the “Wasserfloh” room, models of the “Bismark”, “Scharnhorst”, “Admiral Scheer” and “Konigsberg” are surrounded by their destroyer screen as the mission begins
At 11PM, another air battle took place over the Western English Channel. I don’t know if was an attempt to clear enemy aircraft or to attract them away from the east, where the Nordseeflotte would soon enter. Even in the dark there were casualties: another four Messerschmitts lost. It would be some time before any action occurred, and I remembered I still had the little truckle bed in my office.
Midnight on the 14th – Nordseeflotte enters the Nordsee at the start of the dangerous Channel dash. Luck is with us so far, with rain intensifying.
I slept until about 6AM, and when I awoke there didn’t seem to be any unusual activity. So I hadn’t missed anything. A quick check of the night’s activities showed that the Nordseeflotte had pushed well into the Channel during the night, with no sign of any undue interest by the British. Maybe they thought they had seen off the Kreigsmarine: if so they were very wrong. I thing I did notice in my brief visit to the “Wasserfloh” room was that the little aircraft representing 1st and 2nd Seefliegerkorps had been moved to the Western English Channel, presumably to distract the Royal Navy. If so, it was very successful, as back in my office I saw reports of several air battles in that area, involving not only our Dornier 217s, but also the Messerschmitts of 1st Jagdfliegerkorps. It was impossible to keep track of the RAF and RN aircraft: units were coming from everywhere. The ploy was working, as not a single aircraft appeared over the Eastern English Channel, where our ships were proceeding at full speed.
A Dornier 217 waits to be loaded with bombs before heading off again to the Channel. The past few days have seen our supply of torpedoes at Nantes nearly exhausted, and it taking some time for supply to be rearranged for the naval bombers. Although blurry, it is possible to make out the additional machine-gun mounted on the aft portion of the flight deck.
The rest of the war seemed on hold: an infantry brigade was assigned to 2nd Gebirgsjägerkorps HQ (the mountain units tend to advance into danger and often operate without support) and some activity took place in Spain, but Berlin concentrated on the Channel.
The Channel at 9AM on 14th May: our aircraft scour the sea in front of the fleet.
At lunchtime I returned to the “Wasserfloh” room, just in time for the critical moment. Nordseeflotte had entered the Western English Channel, in broad daylight and with British aircraft operating in the area. The Luftwaffe sprang into action. Our planes sought out the RAF and carrier groups, hoping to keep them away from our ships. They achieved success, but 1st Jagdfliegerkorps was reduced to 153 fighters, and 1st Seefliegerkorps to a mere 145 bombers.
By 5PM the tension, though still high, was starting to decrease. The fleet was now in the Channel Approaches and when Waber called from Paris to announce his fighters had sighted a Royal Navy fleet in the Western English Channel, steaming west as fast as it could go, there was a collective sigh of relief: the British had missed their chance.
Western English Channel at 4PM 14th May: Waber’s 6th Jagdfliegerkorps reports Royal Navy ships trying to catch up with our fleet
I stayed until about 10PM, and by then there was no doubt. The Royal Navy had given up the chase, and Admiral Harris had taken his fleet into Plymouth. Fall Wasserfloh is over, and despite the near disaster on Friday, the flea has jumped to the Bay of Biscay.
Safe at last: midnight on 14th and the fleet is in Lorient harbour.
Now perhaps we can finish with the Spanish. And our troops in Yugoslavia are nearly ready.
Bombing Summary
FARE
Rodellar: Bayo Giraud with 1er Grupo de Bombardeo and Grupo Táctico No.1 FARE (2 x TAC): 22, 56, 99
Palencia: Bayo Giraud with 1er Grupo de Bombardeo and Grupo Táctico No.1 FARE (2 x TAC): 61, 136, 118, 36, 131
RAF (RN)
Palencia: Peirse with 3rd CAG, 14th RAF Fighter Group, No 15 RN Coastal Command: 78
Combined FARE/RAF (RN)
Palencia: Bayo Giraud with 1er Grupo de Bombardeo, Grupo Táctico No.1 FARE, 3rd CAG, 14th RAF Fighter Group: 84
Luftwaffe
La Pobla de Segur: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 252, 64, 216
Unterseebootsflotte Activity Report
Horseshoe Seamount: 1 transport (UK): Dover – Dubai: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Western Charcot Seamount: 1 transport (UK): Dover – Lefkosia: Fricke with 3rd U-flotte
Cape Peñas: 1 transport (UK): Plymouth – South Georgia: Dönitz with 2nd U-flotte
Eastern Madeira Plain: 1 transport (UK): Dover – Tel Aviv-Yafo: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Coast of Cádiz: 1 transport, 1 escort (UK): Bombay – Dover: Fricke with 3rd U-flotte
Western Biscay Plain: 2 escorts (UK): Singapore – Dover: Fricke with 3rd U-flotte
Setubal Way: 1 transport (UK): Dover – The Maldives: Aßmann with 1st U-flotte
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