82. Far-Called Our Navies Melt Away
Marinearsenal
Wilhelmshaven, German Empire
18 August 1942
The first portion of the Conference of Wilhelmshaven - the German dictation to the prostrate Dutch and Belgians - was over. The Kingdom of Belgium was no more, and Queen Wilhelmina had seen her European possessions roughly halved. The coal-rich region of Limburg, and the North Sea port of Groningen, were officially German. It was now time for a more difficult matter.
The British delegation was small; few of the ministers of Attlee's government had seen fit to join him in negotiation of terms for Britain. Notably, Colonel Eden, late of the 21st Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, with his arm in a sling and an eyepatch covering wounds sustained during the fighting in Aberdeen. It was a sign both of Eden's place in postwar British politics and the shabby condition of the country in general that he still wore his green dress uniform, the one presentable suit he owned which had survived. Attlee himself looked slightly shabby compared to Eden and the peacock-like Papen, wearing the same charcoal suit in which he had been captured. By now the bomb-dust had been cleaned from it, but it had definitely seen better days.
Now, Attlee stood facing the German party on the rostrum, one hand on the conference table before him, the other on his lapel. "I must strenuously object to the position set forth by Herr Neurath," he began. "If the esteemed German minister wishes us to believe that Germany has a legitimate claim to the islands because of the sinking of German ships there, then should they not legitimately belong to Britain, as not only are our vessels lying there today, but their crews sleeping within them?" Neurath shifted uncomfortably on the rostrum, Papen looked bored and muttered something to Hindenburg, who laughed, and Eden frowned and nodded. Attlee ignored them and continued his address. "Further, by this argument, I believe that Britain has a legitimate claim to the Balearics, to Denmark, to Alexandria, to much of the Baltic - indeed, the whole of the ocean! I do not suppose the gentlemen from Germany wish to consider the whole of the world as a British dominion, but Herr Neurath's reasoning argues quite eloquently for this."
He went on in this vein for several minutes. The truth was that the German claims had little to no legal justification. He freely conceded the former German colonies in Africa; they at least had a claim there. The German seizure of the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Faeroes simply reflected the need for Germany to have fueling stations for her growing empire. Strangely, while the greatest blow in terms of prestige had been the German claim on the Sinai, it was the one Attlee personally minded least. Eden had vociferously objected, but Admiral Cunningham had made the Suez Canal impassable for the foreseeable future by destroying the lock control structures at the Red Sea terminus. To saddle Germany with the monumental costs of restoring the Canal would free Britain of obligations there, and allow him to worry more about the ongoing Japanese war. This would be an odious peace, but Attlee firmly believed it was a necessary peace: bring order in Europe to allow the Empire a free hand in Asia.
He had believed this the entire conference, but today a Foot Guards page discreetly moved to the rostrum and passed a message to Papen, who nodded and stood. "Thank you, Prime Minister. I apologize for interrupting you, but there is a further party who have asked for consideration in our discussions. They were unable to attend the earlier sessions, but have now arrived. Prime Minister, I believe you know Mr. Gandhi?"
Papen raised his hand, gesturing at the main entrance to the Arsenal's mess hall. A diminutive brown man, bare-headed and wrapped in white, stood with one hand raised in greeting. Attlee blinked; the Government had been functioning at a very low level of efficiency, true, but had he not heard that Cripps was still speaking to the Indians? The answer to this question appeared moments later over Gandhi's shoulder. He saw Stafford Cripps in Gandhi's entourage, looking sheepish and refusing to meet his eyes, alongside the political leadership of the Indian National Congress and a handful of German naval officers acting as their shepherds.
It was impossible to misread what this meant. In March, Gandhi had issued his "Quit India" program to the British, and at the last reliable report from Linlithgow in Delhi, the Viceroy had planned on arresting the Congress leadership. That the Germans had instead grabbed them out from under their very noses was a coup of the highest order. Attlee stood rock-still, trying to assess his situation anew as the conference was re-shuffled, granting the Indians their own table. Significantly, they were lower in precedence than Hungary, but they still sat as equals in negotiation with their King-Emperor's representatives.
His shoulders slumped and he leaned forward again, this time tiredly, eyes downcast. He fully anticipated that India would rule itself as part of the Commonwealth at some point in the future, but now was not the time for these talks, and certainly not at a German bayonet! He straightened once more with a deliberate effort and looked at Papen. "I fail to see how the presence of Mr. Gandhi impacts the German minister's statement that Germany has a legitimate claim to the anchorage of Scapa Flow, Herr Reichskanzler."
Papen waved languidly. "It does not, Prime Minister. This is a new Vienna, if you please, a
general settlement of our affairs. I would say European affairs, but so many of us have interests beyond Europe, no?" A smile lifted the corners of his moustache. "I personally have long taken an interest in the plight of the Indians."
"Certainly," Attlee shot back acerbically, "As Germany did with the Herero, I am sure." Papen blanched. It might cost Britain, but at that moment, Attlee could not help but feel satisfaction at having scored a point off the German chancellor. Not for the first time, he noticed with irritation how Papen's chair on the rostrum looked much like the throne of the German kings at Aachen. The most charitable thing he could find to say about Papen's chair was that it could not be comfortable, even if it was wooden rather than stone. Damned presumptuous, too.
At moments like this, it was the small things that Attlee noticed: how Gandhi at least had the decency to look discomfited by the fact that his program of non-violence had no place in the Germans' way of thinking. He knew damned well that his presence was due to Papen's desire to play Caesar, rather than a victory of his own program. Attlee had met Gandhi several times, and at the very least had no doubts of the man's sincerity. His "Quit India" program was poorly timed and at the outside treasonous, but he himself believed wholeheartedly that it was the right course. Glancing between Gandhi and Papen, Attlee made a rapid decision. It would have to be codified over the course of the conference, but the fact was that Gandhi, and indeed the Congress leadership as a whole, were simply more trustworthy than Papen. Even if they were filled with residual loathing for Britain, it was better than trusting the peacock chancellor.
"Of course," he continued, having made his decision, "I do not believe this is the time or place to discuss the grievances of His Majesty's Indian subjects, but," he added with a glance at Gandhi and Nehru, "I am amenable to such discussion and reaching a conclusion which satisfies the Indian gentlemen as well as the honor of His Majesty." Papen looked slightly nonplussed. He had clearly expected that Attlee would play the same card as Churchill - preserve the Empire at all costs! - but Churchill would have died in London.
Attlee smiled, seeing Papen's confusion. He would save whatever he could, and if that meant sacrifice in India - well, it was to some degree inevitable, especially now that they had seen that the King-Emperor could be defeated on the battlefield. Britain, though... Britain would survive.
---
In the weeks that followed, Attlee achieved a handful of minor miracles: he allowed for Indian self-rule, but he saved the Royal Navy from any sort of restrictions as Germany had been placed under at Versailles. The British Army was functionally disbanded anyway, and Papen had connived at maintaining it at a status similar to the Reichsheer in the 1920s. It was the Kaiser who had intervened at this point. He had pointed out that the British had as many proud traditions as the Reichsheer, and that to extinguish them, especially after the gallant defense of the island, would be nearly criminal. Thus, even if they had achieved little tactically, the 2nd Battalion of the Coldstream Guards' defense of the hills south of London had saved the Army.
Germany gained much of Africa, the Suez Canal, and the northern islands, as expected, but Papen's ministers had apparently chosen to operate without their master's direct knowledge in many cases. A cabal of German industrialists, including Alfried von Bohlen of the Krupp firm, Ernst Baron von Siemens, Economic Minister Albert Speer, and the Crown Prince, had approached Lord Beaverbrook under the aegis of the German Crown Prince, well-known for his interest in the aviation industry in a side session of the general meeting offering German assistance in rebuilding British industry, at a price. The price was perhaps far steeper than Britain could afford, at Ludwig Ferdinand's instigation of all things. He had been impressed with the performance of the British Spitfire fighter, and thus the entire production line of the Rolls-Royce company's Derby factory was to be sold to Daimler-Benz and transplanted to Stuttgart. Beaverbrook was intensely suspicious of the offer, considering that the Derby plant produced not only the excellent Merlin engine, but the more powerful, larger Griffon. In the end, the German corporations got their way, with the result that German arms manufacturers financed much of the postwar reconstruction of the country they had helped destroy.
Of all the attendees of Wilhelmshaven, the only one who walked away completely disappointed was Eamon de Valera, who had been first liberated by the Germans, then expected Ireland to be returned to independence and even given Ulster. Attlee had forestalled this early on by acceding to the rather ridiculous Flanders-Hainaut-Netherlands situation. He then used the German partition of Belgium as an argument for Britain's continued presence in Ireland. "The Irish peace, after all, was a separate peace not attached to this treaty in the slightest," Attlee declared in private talks with Neurath, whom he greatly preferred to Papen.
Nearly as bitterly dissatisfied with Wilhelmshaven was Sir Alan Brooke, Ironside's replacement as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, who, upon seeing the proposed final map, turned away from it and declared, "The sun has set on the Empire." Brooke recognized immediately what Indian independence meant: the war against Japan was, for the foreseeable future, lost. Now Britain must fight to hold Australia. The war between the United States and Japan might mean the Americans would assist Britain, but, based on the tardiness of American troops reaching Britain, he had his doubts about the effectiveness of American arms.
... however great update, can't wait for the English solution...
