“I had my doubts as well, Heinrich. One can only hope that it is not too late and that events have not gotten that far past us.”
“There is jubilation in Germanica that Roosevelt is dead,” the man said. “Goebbels and Schoerner are beside themselves with hope that the Allies will fall apart. Please tell me that will not happen.”
“I cannot speak for Harry Truman any more than you represent Josef Goebbels. However, I do not think that the Allies will collapse. France and Britain might reduce their commitments, and Russian advances will surely grind to a halt, but the United States has more than enough resources to deal with your Germanica by itself.”
“Of course, but does it have the will? How many more casualties are you willing to take?”
“That remains to be seen,” Dulles answered with a candor that surprised Ernie.
Ernie sat still like a statue. This Heinrich had also brought an aide and the two men looked at each other curiously. Apparently both Heinrich and Dulles wanted either a witness or protection. On being introduced to Ernie, Heinrich had stated that the conversations would be in English out of deference to both Dulles and Ernie’s lack of German language skills.
“Do your leaders know that you are here?” Dulles asked.
“Yes, but they will deny it if pressed. Even though you and I have met before, this conversation would never have happened, just like the others.”
Ernie sucked in his breath. Now he knew who this Heinrich was. He was General Heinrich von Vietinghoff, previously commander of all German forces in Italy. Now he commanded the southern flank of the Alpine Redoubt, or Germanica.
There had been rumors that the Germans had earlier been trying to negotiate the surrender of all forces in Italy and that a top general was leading the efforts.
Vietinghoff laughed at the surprise in Ernie’s face. “I see that Captain Janek has figured out who I am. Congratulations, Captain, but there are no state secrets here. The new Republic of Germanica merely wishes to establish unofficial and deniable contacts with the United States. Herr Goebbels feels that the Alliance against Germany is going to collapse. Therefore, we are here to try to stop the killing.”
Dulles saved Ernie from making a blunt comment and offending the German officer. “General, the killing will stop when your forces and your so-called government agree to an unconditional surrender.”
“That is what you say today. What will you say tomorrow when the United States is all alone? Already the American people are clamoring for an end to this tragedy if only so you can wreak justifiable vengeance on the Japanese.”
“I’ll admit that what you say has some merit, but not enough to deter us. Harry Truman is going to surprise a lot of people. He is going to be a very strong president. By the way, General, who the devil thought of the name Germanica?”
Vietinghoff laughed hugely. “That is the brainchild of our propaganda minister, Herr Goebbels himself. He felt that the name of Germany might be distasteful to some, while Germanica might not. Please don’t ask me if I think it makes any sense.”
The boundaries of the Alpine Redoubt, or Germanica, were firming up. They ran west from the Black Forest and through the Alps past Stuttgart. They continued for more than a hundred miles past the Brenner Pass and then south and across the Danube. From there the borders of Germanica ignored official national boundaries and took in parts of the Italian Alps. Vietinghoff commanded the southern or Italian front, as he had before the decision to activate the Redoubt.
“And what does Herr Goebbels want for his new bastard child, Germanica?”
“For one thing, he will renounce the Nazi Party and everything it stood for.”
Dulles almost laughed. “Everything? Will he renounce massacring millions of Jews and other innocent people? Will he renounce the invasions of Poland, Russia, France, and a host of other nations? And more importantly, will he and the others around him admit to their roles in the atrocities?”
“Goebbels will acknowledge that terrible mistakes were made, but claim that a new order has taken over. As to the others, I’m sure they will claim that they were merely following orders, just as I was.”
“And what does Goebbels want in what I presume would be recognition of this new state?”
“In return for recognition, the killing would stop and a true recovery could begin. Also, Goebbels and the others who now lead Germanica and who might be considered war criminals want amnesty for their alleged actions. Others on your list of war criminals will not be accepted into Germanica.”
Dulles bristled. “That can never happen. The world will want justice.”
“As well as being a very subjective term, justice is so elusive,” said Vietinghoff. “We will be publicizing our requests to the world. I rather think we will find sympathetic audiences from people in the United States and Great Britain. There are many soldiers who are sick of the war and whose mothers dread the arrival of a telegram that might say that their son or brother or husband has been killed in action. By forgiving a relative few, many lives can be saved. You may hate the thought, even consider it a pact with the devil. But, as the war drags on and the casualties continue to mount, you will find that a great number of people will support it.”
“That remains to be seen,” said Dulles. Ernie thought Dulles was shaken by the audacity of the proposal.
Vietinghoff continued. “In return for peace in Europe, you will be able to concentrate your considerable resources on those nasty Japs who so treacherously attacked Pearl Harbor.”
Jesus, thought Ernie. It sounded all so logical. He looked at his German counterpart and that man’s eyes were wide with surprise.
“Nor can you concentrate your forces against our ever strengthening citadel here in Germanica. We are ringed by mountains that only a few expert climbers can cross and are impossible, impassible, for an army. There are only a few ways to get at us and they will all be well fortified. Storming the heart of Germanica would require that you pay a terrible price. Worse, your air forces will find that there is nothing they can effectively bomb and that any of your secret wonder weapons won’t be used because they will upset the Swiss.”
Vietinghoff continued. “You should let it be known that we too have secret weapons and we will be prepared to use them. I know that some of them have had rather spotty records, but admit it: our jets and our rockets have done well. So let me suggest the existence of a bomb so powerful that it can destroy an entire city, yet is so small that it can be carried in one airplane.”
Ernie could not help himself. “That’s impossible,” he blurted out.
“Is it?” Vietinghoff answered and smiled coldly. “Look at the expression on your leader’s face. He has heard rumors of both German and American bombs and knows that both countries are working on them. I assure you that I know nothing about the science involved except that it has something to do with splitting atoms. I am confident that he will immediately communicate what I have just said to his leaders in Washington. Their reactions will be quite enlightening. In the meantime, do consider the sensitivities of the Swiss.”
Dulles’ face was turning red. “There are many in my government who say the hell with the Swiss. They say there are too many Swiss who are pro-Nazi.”
Vietinghoff shrugged. “I cannot argue with that assessment. Many people in many countries, including Switzerland, found a lot to admire in National Socialism. At least they did until we began to lose and the extent of the killing of the Jews became known. The death camps were a terrible mistake. However, soldiers like me were powerless to do anything about it. At least, Allen, I tried. We both tried to end the war in Italy where I had command. We talked to each other and we almost had an agreement whereby the German armies in Italy would surrender.
“In the meantime,” the German continued, “we will use the resources we’ve hoarded in the past several months. When our food supplies run low, we will buy them from the Swiss who will be afraid to deny us. That is if they even want to. They, of course, will buy food on the world’s markets and have them shipped to Switzerland and then to Germany, I mean Germanica. The Swiss will either extend us credit or they will take appropriate funds from the many accounts we now have in Swiss banks.”