Chapter 13: The reluctant soldier
The following is excerpted from Sir David James' best-selling memoir, "The Accidental Hero."
I remember 4 February quite well. With the Yanks in the war and our Lend-Lease aid finally secure, I was ordered home to take on a new assignment. Even to this day, I do not quite recall what my assignment was to have been. I remember talking with my father in January about helping him with his statistics project, but I would have found that horribly boring. My language skills, impeccable breeding, and education ought to have made me a shoo-in for MI-6, I thought. I believe the exact words of the MI-6 recruiter's assessment were: "Candidate James is a pompous ass, unwilling to take orders and only too delighted to give them, whether or not he is entitled to. He is good with languages, and might make a decent if irritating clerk, but putting him out in the field would probably get men killed, and his only concern would be that his tuxedo would get horribly dirty." To be fair to the recruiter, he was quite right. As I write this memoir, I know only too well what an insufferable cad I was. In any case, I was rejected for field service, and I already had a clerical job, so I remained with the Foreign Service.
On that crisp February morning, I was at one of the family estates a few miles north of Edinburgh. I remember Father excitedly showed me the planned table of organization of a new Mechanized Corps, an outfit that put a premium on speed. I pretended to be utterly enthralled, but in truth could not care a fig. [1]
In my relative isolation, the news that Germany had landed troops in Glasgow came as very brutal and unwelcome news. I was not very fond of Berlin in my time there before the war, and I was even less fond of having Berlin come to visit me. I knew the Germans would head for Edinburgh eventually, so I imposed upon my father to leave the city and regroup. Although I tried to convince him that we had useful information to share with the authorities, in truth I was scared shitless of facing the most fearsome army in the world. We left for Aberdeen a few hours before British troops were engaged in Shotts. Once there, I wired my superiors about our situation, and they advised us to make our way south, evading the Germans if we could, at least as far as Newcastle. As you probably know, every available train was booked, no flights were running whatsoever, and our family car remained in the garage on our estate.
My father, mother, my two brothers, and three sisters, were crowded into a cousin's home in Aberdeen. I was the eldest lad, and it was my duty to retrieve the family car, as well as Father's work, some family heirlooms, and some buried cash that would be of inestimable value. I used my credentials to enter the Royal Navy base at Aberdeen, where I heard of our successful attack on the German fleet that delivered the Nazis to Scotland. My plan was to prevail upon an old chum at the base to help procure me a horse, which would allow me to more quietly enter Edinburgh without attracting attention. He was on patrol, so I sent a note to my parents, and waited at the base for approximately one week. I heard of our defeat at Shotts and that the
Wehrmacht was traveling east to take Edinburgh. Resigning myself to simply walking there, I picked up a copy of the
Times, thrilled to see our successes in Japan, and bought provisions for the journey.
There was more fighting around Shotts. That little town changed hands three or four times in a matter of days. A friend of mine from America, a member of the 10th Mountain Division, later told me of the preparations to regain Shotts as a necessary precaution to retaking Glasgow; at the time, fighting in Shotts meant no fighting in Edinburgh, at least not yet.
By 19 February, I made it to Dundee. Reports of our victory in the Pacific seemed not to matter when defeat on our own shores seemed so very near. I had never heard of Kumagaya, or its proximity to Tokyo, or its strategic value in cutting off access to the Japanese capital. What I had heard of were German pickets entering Edinburgh. Even victories at Shotts only delayed the inevitable.
Life takes a funny turn sometimes. By the time I entered Edinburgh, it was 24 February, and there was only a single German to be found. As luck would have it, that German was known to me, and I to him. His name was Lothair Edelweiss, an agent for Krupp. His presence in Scotland was purely coincidental, or so he told me. His purposes, he insisted, were legitimate, to broker a sale between a private seller in Edinburgh and his firm for some steel. I found such an explanation highly suspicious and told him so. He laughed at me, offered to buy me a beer, and we spent sometime reminiscing about our favorite girls in Berlin. It was the most expensive beer of my life. By 1 March, I was in Glasgow, deep within German held territory. Even rumors of victory at Lanark could not quell my fears.
Edelweiss was, as we all know now, no agent for Krupp; he was a member of the
Abwehr, German military intelligence. Knowing of my family's deep roots in Scotland, he hoped to use me as an asset to learn the weaknesses of the city. He intimated that agents of his had already found my family in Aberdeen, killed my relatives, and dragged my parents and siblings to Glasgow as well. He promised that they would be executed before my very eyes if I chose not to cooperate.
Apart from the threats and hints of blackmail, my captors were usually quite civil to me. They even shared stories of British victories in the Pacific, if only to denigrate their non-Aryan allies. Indeed, the day I arrived in Glasgow, we began our drive on Tokyo. We won that battle on 3 March and attacked Niigata, a key agricultural center, on 7 March. As the Japanese war effort drove on effortlessly, I was a prisoner in my own country.
Edelweiss visited me everyday. As we, finally, drove Germany out of Shotts and closer to Glasgow, he got more nervous. Instead of threatening my family, he began to try to bribe me, to offer me money, women, liquor, anything I wanted, if I would only share information on Edinburgh. He started to intimate that information on the University of Edinburgh was especially desirable. Instead of my usual silence, I responded with genuine astonishment. "The University of Edinburgh? You have my father, who graduated from that fine institution, taught there for ten years, and you're asking me?" Edelweiss stumbled for a moment, then angrily ordered his guards to have a go at me.
At this stage, I knew two things were absolutely true: the entire German invasion was not a true invasion, but targeted specifically at Edinburgh and its university, and second, that he didn't in fact have my family. I resolved to escape, and when the British Army attacked Glasgow on 8 March, that's exactly what I did.
An artillery shell exploded about 100 yards from my prison, and when Edelweiss sent his men off to help in the defense, I feigned illness long enough to get Edelweiss to enter my cell; I rapidly overpowered him, as he was taken off his guard. I took his pistol and forced him to march to the nearest British Army unit I could find. I asked their captain to send a message to my parents (who, of course, were still in Aberdeen) that I was okay and that our things from Edinburgh would be sent along. I, however, decided to take a bit of risk, perhaps still heady from my victory over Edelweiss. I went to General Deverell's camp and offered myself as a replacement for Edelweiss. I knew the man very well, spoke perfect German, and even bore a passing resemblance to him. Of course, his mistress or wife would have spotted me straight away, but I didn't care.
My mission was simple. Pose as Edelweiss, discover why Germany had spent so many soldiers just to take Edinburgh, and if possible, free British prisoners, if any others were held. Although our defeat in Glasgow was something of a setback, it did provide "Lothair Edelweiss" an opportunity to return to his duties without many questions asked.
On 17 March, as we all doubtless recall, Japan surrendered to British and American forces. The American paradrop on Fukushima was the last nail in Hirohito's coffin (figuratively speaking, of course). The settlement permitted Japan to keep its gains in China, at least for the time being, but all lands formerly belonging to the Allies were to be returned; further, the new government was to declare war on Germany and contribute as soon as possible. [2] Every single British (and American) soldier in Japan was given orders to embark upon transports and return home as quickly as they could.
To coincide with the Japanese surrender, thought to have a deleterious effect on German morale, I later learned that the Imperial General Staff ordered the attack on Glasgow for the day after Japan's surrender. The Germans in Glasgow were driven out of the city less than a day later; I, paradoxically, was forced to retreat with them. Germans were equally downcast about the loss of
Bismarck and
Tirpitz to British naval bombers. [3]
My first genuinely useful intelligence windfall came on 24 March. Italy had, of course, made three separate (entirely unsuccessful) attempts to take Malta in early 1943. Apart from that, it appeared that Italy's ambitions were limited to the Mediterranean, and a new campaign in North Africa only further reinforced that.
I, as Lothair Edelweiss, was assigned to look after some of the Italian officers who had accompanied the German army to Glasgow and joined our retreat. It appears that Edelweiss was not well regarded by his superiors (even after the escape of yours truly) and was a bit of a careerist. He had gained the rank of
Oberst purely through seniority and marrying a distant cousin of HItler's. At best, he was a harmless bumbler; at worst, some of his colleagues actually thought he was a British agent, because only a British agent would botch things so consistently and so completely. Thus, Edelweiss mostly had easy or undemanding tasks. Playing host to the Italians was one of those tasks.
Unlike the real Edelweiss, I was fluent in Italian, having spent a couple of years in Rome as a lad. I'd even, briefly, met Mussolini, although I very much doubt
Il Duce would remember me. I was careful to hide my fluency, of course, but I eventually learned that Hitler had convinced Mussolini to mount an assault on Belfast, of all places. The objective was, naturally, to divide our attention and convince Ireland, perhaps, to join the Axis. It could be no more than diversionary given Italian commitments to France and the Mediterranean. Nonetheless, I was able to slip the information to a friend in the Royal Navy (it was almost laughably easy to get a pass to leave Fort William) and warn them; the expedition was easily defeated, and while no Italian ships were sunk, the attack was repulsed.
Further, I shared some other incidental information on Italian plans in North Africa, which I am told helped convinced Sir Dudley Pound to keep two extra fleets in the Mediterranean, to outstanding results.
My return to Fort William on 3 April coincided with our further operations to cut the German army in Scotland in two, trapping two divisions south of Ayr. 8 April marked the return of our men from Japan, who were used to great effect in cutting off German escape to Dumfries. By 10 April, the divisions were totally surrounded and later eliminated.
By 21 April, the full might of the British Army had all the remaining Germans completely encircled. It was all I could do to slip back to our lines, find General Deverell, and report. I did not discover why Germany was so interested in Edinburgh at the time, but my help had been so appreciated that I was offered a position in the Intelligence Corps as a Major in recognition for my outstanding service. When the final assault began on 26 April, I was in Barrow at Army HQ.
On May 1, the last German in Scotland surrendered. Our far more active and powerful patrolling, and that of the Americans, prevented Germany from even attempting a second invasion. The North Sea and the Atlantic were once again ours.
Not all was bliss, however. The Soviet Union had easily defeated the Japanese in Korea as they pulled out of Manchukuo all too slowly. Korea in enemy hands was a threat to Japan, and we agreed to keep an American infantry division and the 8th Royal Marines in Tokyo as observers and to counteract any enemy threat. [4] Soviet amphibious capabilities were considered to be almost laughable, and there were even rumors of sharing British industrial capacity and technology with the Japanese to help them fight off any such attempt. The Royal Navy was needed in Europe. A brief attack on the British position in Romani was easily repulsed, the only direct contact on the Mediterranean between German and British troops.
I owe much to my tenure in the Intelligence Corps, and without the fall of Glasgow, I never would have had that opportunity. My adventures in that branch of the military, of course, continued, and you will hear more in later chapters. I only found out what we were actually doing in Edinburgh long after the war, but everybody reading this already knows of our secret project in Edinburgh. It does not bear thinking, what might have been had we failed there.
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[1] I thought about including SPARTy in the unit, but that would have pulled the average speed from 9.5 kph to 6.5 kph, making it only slightly faster than infantry. I didn't [and still don't] have a clear idea of where these units will be used, perhaps in France, perhaps in North Africa, and they won't be ready for quite some time. Still, it was a good suggestion (kudos cdub8d), and even if I don't use them right away, it will be nice to have them.
[2] I know that paratroopers to take VPs is considered gamey by some, but in reality, I already had armored divisions on the way there with no opposition; at best, it saved me a couple of days.
[3] I can't pinpoint when this happened, unfortunately: the "ships sunk" log unfortunately doesn't list either battleship among the fallen, but both were part of the German invasion force. I bombed Glasgow with my new naval bombers (a squadron of three) and a host of the extra CAGs I didn't actually need. I even briefly loaded as Germany to see if, improbably, they escaped. They didn't. Either they transferred them to someone else as an expeditionary force (highly improbable) or maybe the US got them, they did have a carrier group patrolling the Atlantic. In any case, they're gone, and I'm taking the credit, if for no other reason than blockading Glasgow and bombing the port into oblivion.
[4] Fun fact: The division the US gave me is the Big Red One, the US First Infantry Division, which is stationed mere miles from my present location. Sometimes we get to hear artillery exercises, which sometimes fools us into thinking there is thunder.
A very intense, but very brief period in the AAR. The key to my victory was strategic deployment of my infantry from England and, I suspect, territorial pride. The original Battle of Shotts, even though I lost, gave me time to get the rest of my infantry divisions in position. Cutting off Glasgow effectively neutered their entire supply chain and operations, and their fancy tanks and such ran out of gas. Shame when that happens.
What's next? That's a great question. The Soviets have done nothing of note apart from drive Japan out of Korea; they might even push Japan off the mainland entirely if they're bold enough. I'm not eager to get involved in the Pacific again after I just left, so Japan will have to do the best they can. That leaves me with either Italy or Germany. My current thinking is, probably, retake North Africa using my armored divisions, then take Sicily and work my way up the boot. I don't necessarily want Italy out of the war, even as my puppet, because then Germany would pour into France easily. I highly doubt twelve divisions will let me retake France. I've got eight more coming up in the next few months, but would even twenty be enough? I doubt that. Norway is another logical target, and probably fairly easy, but I'm not sure how much it gets me. Denmark is another possible avenue.
I am really hoping one of two things happens: a massive US invasion of France and/or a Soviet DOW on Germany. I'm not at all convinced either of those will happen in 1943. It's a very delicate balance between knocking out the Axis, but not letting the Comintern run roughshod over them. I don't think I can lose at this point, but I'm not sure I can win either. Removing Italy's naval capabilities will eliminate any possible threat Italy could present. From bombing Brest, I know most of their transports are there (or at least a lot are, seven or eight by my count.)
It will be interesting to see what happens, and as always, I welcome any and all advice.
