March 23, 1938
Vienna, Austria
Helmut Wolf leaned back in his chair and nonchalantly checked for the sidearm hidden beneath his jacket with one hand while bringing a cup of coffee to his lips with the other. He was seated in an outdoor cafe in the government district of Vienna with several of his comrades from what the Army called Battalion Ebbinghaus. They simply called themselves Brandenburgers, after the location at which their training had been conducted. Helmut and the men seated with him were some of the very few members of the battalion who were not Volksdeutsche, a majority of the men having been recruited into the battalion were from the Sudetenland or areas of Poland lost to Germany after the Great War and were, therefore, fully capable of blending into the population of said areas. For what Berlin had planned here though, native Germans were more than capable.
As Helmut ran his eyes around the square his hand began to drift back toward the weapon concealed on his person. Before he could once again feel the reassuring form of the weapon a hand fell on his arm and pushed it down. Helmut turned to find Captain von Hippel staring at him. The Captain made a tsking sound and said, "Cut that out Helmut, you're making me nervous. Your weapon is still there, trust me. I've been a soldier for a long time and I've never once seen a weapon of any kind get up and walk away."
Helmut smiled sheepishly and nodded his head. Inside though, he was cursing himself,
Here's your chance to show these guys that you're not some soft SS bureaucrat, and you go and embarrass yourself by acting like a teenager on his first date. Well done Helmut, good show.
As if reading his mind von Hippel smiled and said, "Don't worry son, everyone gets a little bit of the jitters right before an action. It's how you handle those jitters when the lead starts flying that matters."
Helmut nodded and immediately felt better. Looking to his comrades he saw the signs in them now. The way that Manfred couldn't quite sit still or the tune that Max couldn't stop whistling. The only one who didn't appear nervous was the Captain.
Perhaps part of being a good leader is finding a way to mask your fear in front of the men, Helmut thought. He had clenched both hands around the coffee cup so as not to betray any further anxiety and was taking another sip when a man seated himself at the table. He was known to them as Leopold, though Helmut doubted very much that it was his real name, and he was their contact with the Austrian National Socialist Party.
"Leopold" was wearing a huge grin as he said, "It's just come over the radio, Schuschnigg has resigned as Chancellor and has accepted the fact that power must be turned over to the Party."
At this von Hippel leaned forward and asked, "So that's it then? It's done?"
Their guest's smile slipped a little, but returned as he replied, "Not exactly. President Miklas is refusing to turn control over to the Party, and is apparently determined to resist us. I would not doubt that he also intends to go ahead with the referendum set two days from now."
Von Hippel rose and said, "Alright men, that's our cue then. Make ready." Turning to their contact he asked, "Are your people prepared?"
Leopold nodded as he replied, "Yes, when you begin to move we will follow. From here we will branch out to the other government centers."
As von Hippel led his small group across the square, his thoughts turned to the rest of the men in his battalion spread out across Austria. Already they would be moving into position, ready to blow up supply depots or destroy Austria's rail system in the event of an Austrian armed resistance. Still others would be donning Austrian uniforms and preparing to sew confusion among the enemy ranks. His thoughts swung back to the here and now as his men, several Austrian Nazis, and himself burst through the precinct door and found themselves staring at a large contingent of Vienna Police.
Leopold stepped forward and began to address the policemen, "You have by now heard that the Chancellor has resigned and agreed to turn over power to the National Socialist Party. However, President Miklas has refused to appoint Seyss-Inquart as the new Chancellor and he and his party are even as we speak attempting to illegally hold onto power. Their course is the way of bloodshed, we beseech you to uphold the law and serve the community by placing Miklas and his lackeys under arrest."
Helmut licked his lips nervously, this was the moment of truth. The Vienna Police would have to choose sides right now. If they chose the Nazis, all well and good. If not...well, they hadn't brought these weapons along just for show. The first of many lives would be taken on this spot. As a tense silence stretched, a Police Captain stepped forward and planted himself in front of the group. Turning to Leopold he said, "We are at your service and await orders."
It seemed as his everyone on the room let out a breath simultaneously as Leopold handed over a list saying, "These men and these buildings will need to be secured in order to bring about a peaceful change of government. If there is one thing we do not wish, it is violence and bloodshed."
As the Police Captain turned and began to issue orders to his men Helmut looked to von Hippel and said, "Jesus, that was rather anti-climatic."
Max nodded and whispered, "Yeah, we spend all this time getting ready for trouble and... nothing. Bit of a disappointment if you ask me."
Von Hippel smiled and responded, "Alright stow it you guys. We still have a lot of work to do tonight, so who knows? Maybe we'll find some trouble yet."
"Here's hoping." grumbled Manfred as they walked back into the night and set off with the police to secure the major government offices of Austria's capital.
March 25, 1938
Vienna, Austria
After a very long couple of days, Helmut and his comrades sat drinking coffee at the same cafe they had waited anxiously at nearly two days before. As arrest after arrest was made and government office after government office was secured, President Miklas has seen the way the wind was blowing and had appointed Arthur Seyss-Inquart as Chancellor at midnight on the tweny-fourth. Not a shot had been fired.
Now, troops of the Whermacht were marching into Vienna to the cheers of a jubilant crowd. As flowers rained down on the soldiers, as well as the affections of some attractive young women, Max muttered, "Well, there they are boys. The liberators of Austria."
Manfred scowled and said, "We did their jobs for them and that's the damn truth. Not even a thank you or a flower tossed our way."
"Don't let it bother you. At the end of the day, we know what we did and that's what matters.", replied Helmut.
The two men turned raised eyebrows toward Helmut and slowly began to nod. As Helmut turned to von Hippel, he found him nodding in approval as he said, "We performed our assigned task without flaw, that's all we need concern ourselves with."
Max nodded, "That's right Captain, let them keep their parade. I don't want to associate with those that take false credit anyway."
The four men raised their coffee mugs and brought them together in a toast to their success.
Austria joins with Germany as Hitler proclaims the forming of the Greater German Reich
Just a little something for people who like screenshots. I figured I'd toss one up as I haven't thus far.