Koenig was pleased to be asked. “Along with the immense size of Ontario, it is the fact that every tank of ours destroyed, every bullet fired, and every man killed or wounded cannot be replaced. They can simply wear us down.”
“Correct. We have more than a quarter of a million men, thirteen hundred tanks, and a thousand planes, and not a one of them can be replaced. Halifax is being blockaded and only food shipments are being allowed out. In a while, we shall be praying for the relief convoys to arrive from Germany, and their arrival is problematic at best. For all intents and purposes, we are under siege.”
Siege? Koenig had read about sieges. Terrible, horrible things, they were. People wound up eating rats to avoid starvation, perhaps even cannibalism occurred. There had been rumors of that during the siege of Leningrad.
“Thank you for sharing your thoughts, general.”
“Sometimes, Koenig, it is good to simply put things into perspective. You’re a good listener and you don’t argue with me like my fellow generals do. However, what if all that we’ve done is wrong?”
“Sir?”
“What if the Americans establish supremacy in the air, which is extremely likely. In that case, we might not be able to move our forces close enough to the battle line to engage them. Indeed, it is possible that reinforcements will be decimated by their planes before they even get close to the battle. And what if the Yanks are able to send major warships, or even a number of minor ones, into the lakes? Then they would be able to destroy our submarines and then launch any number of amphibious assaults. They could flank the cities and we would have to abandon them.”
Guderian laughed and ceased his lecture. He gave Koenig an assignment. He was to talk to Neumann about the treatment of American prisoners of war since the Red Cross wanted to inspect the conditions in the prison camp.
Chapter Fifteen
In the White House map room, FDR was feeling the frustrations that were angering the entire nation. The American people felt that Germany had to be punished for her insolent and brutal attack on the U.S. mainland, so why wasn’t it happening?
He turned his wheelchair so he could confront Admiral King and General Marshall. “Gentlemen, I am catching grief and hell from my friends as well as my enemies in congress. I am being crucified in newspapers, magazines and on the radio for what they feel is our dilatory response to Hitler’s aggression. Everyone wants to know the same thing — when are we going to drive the Nazis out of Canada?”
Neither man was fazed by the outburst. Marshall spoke first. “I’m sure you don’t want me to remind you of all the times we were rebuffed when we wanted to do something about Germany and her intentions.”
FDR jammed a fresh cigarette in his holder. “Of course, not,” he replied sullenly. “I am well aware of the limitations imposed on me by a fickle congress and by the fact that I didn’t push them hard enough. History will judge me harshly for that. That said, what the devil can we do about the damned krauts?”
It was King’s turn. “We are already blockading Halifax and the only ships coming in are empty ones that will return to England with food as per our informal agreement. We are planning to attack and take Halifax itself, but that will not occur for a while, if at all. Simply put, we don’t need to take the place, only isolate it.”
“Well then, admiral, what about their so-called relief force?” the president asked.
“Intelligence says it’s beginning to form. We detect no great enthusiasm for it from either the German, French, or Italian navies. Even without help from the Royal Navy, I am confident that we can handle them.”
Roosevelt nodded. “And what are you going to do about Germans on the Great Lakes?”
King continued. “Mr. President, we are reluctant to send warships up the St. Lawrence because they would have to run a gauntlet several hundred miles long and would be subject to artillery and bombing in a narrow confine that would restrict maneuver. However we are sending anti-submarine bombers over the lakes and we are also arming smaller civilian craft. With enough of each, we will overwhelm and kill all the German ships. It’s only a matter of time.”
FDR snorted. “Time, gentlemen, is something nobody is giving me. General Marshall, what is the army going to do, and I do mean Patton? Hasn’t he been sitting there outside Windsor long enough?”
Marshall kept his face impassive. “Patton will move against the first line of German defenses in a few days, a week at the most. He now has one armored division that is fully equipped with two hundred and fifty Sherman tanks. Attacking on a narrow front, supported by planes and artillery, and along with two infantry divisions, they should bloody the Germans and push them back.”
“But not bloody far enough,” FDR muttered. “Hitler is broadcasting that he has super-weapons that he will use against us. Does he?”
“Nothing we don’t know about and nothing that can do great damage,” Marshall said. “Their basic super-weapon will be their Vengeance rockets that can be launched from Ontario and reach New York. Assuming, that is, that they have any in the first place. They might cause terror, but they won’t win the war. Nor will new tanks or new airplanes. They just won’t have enough of them to tip the scales.”
“The same holds true for their new or upgraded U-boats,” said King, “But what about our own super-weapons?”
Roosevelt quickly thought about the latest report from New Mexico and the monster bomb that was under development. “It will be at least a year,” he said with a sigh. “We will have to fight this and future battles with the weapons and brave men at our disposal.”
Heinrich Stahl had bought a 1938 two-door Chevrolet. With gas rationing on the horizon, the owner had been glad to sell it and he had gotten it for a song. Now he had transportation that was not shackled to the bus service, but could also use it for surveillance. If rationing came, he would have to do something creative, like stealing ration coupons or siphoning gas. He wasn’t worried. His time fighting the Russians had made him a skilled forager. His plan was to do as much damage as possible and then make it back to Canada and the security of the North Reich. The car was innocuous and, if he drove it around carefully and didn’t do something to make others suspicious of him, he could again hide in plain sight.
He had just come from an evening of talking with two of his lieutenants. They had met at a fairly crowded restaurant that had served execrable food that, combined with poor service, would have made him angry if it wasn’t for the fact that plans were coming along.
The waitress had been a sullen and sweaty Negress and he was certain that the restaurant’s owners were Jews. America truly was a mongrel country. Not even in France, which he considered an ethnic sewer, had he seen so many diverse races and nationalities. People who had been in America for generations had no memory of their forebears. Nor were they concerned. They had lost their heritage and that included a number of people with German last names.
Like a fool, he’d once had sex with a Negro woman in hopes that it would be exciting and savage and evocative of Africa. Only after did he find that she was from Philadelphia and didn’t even know where Africa was. Worse, she’d been a wretched fuck.
Many of the ethnic minorities he’d seen in America had fled from their homelands and in fear of the SS. They hoped they’d found safety and sanctuary in the United States. Too bad they were going to be bitterly disappointed when the Reich’s ultimate victory over the U.S. occurred. They would provide more fuel for the furnaces, he thought happily.
As always, he drove carefully and slowly past his house to see if anything was obviously amiss. He had put pieces of paper in the two doorways and looked to see if they had been disturbed.