“A word, Herr Reichsführer,” Kesselring said. “In my office.”
Himmler followed the Field Marshall into his office. It was one of the few rooms in the bunker that didn’t have an SS listening device inside. The only other rooms were Hitler’s apartments, which he shared with Eva Braun, and his own office. The Wehrmacht experts regularly swept the rooms – under the pretence of searching for British bugs – and removed the SS bugs. It had become almost a game between the SS security experts and the Wehrmacht experts, Himmler knew, and he had tolerated it because it gave his people better training than anything the SS could provide elsewhere.
He shook his head. Perhaps it was time for that practice to end. The Wehrmacht might be a hotbed of subversion.
“Herr Reichsführer, we cannot withdraw the troops from Norway,” Kesselring said flatly, as soon as they were alone. “We have to order them to surrender.”
“The Fuhrer would not like that,” Himmler said, rather unnecessarily. “He dares not lose face in front of Stalin.”
“Herr Reichsführer, we do not have the air or sea transports required to either supply them or withdraw them,” Kesselring said. “Most of the air transport capability was destroyed over Malta. That little we have left would be totally exposed to British aircraft.”
“Then we will have to do what we can to divert British attention,” Himmler said. “Are the V1s not ready?”
“Yes, but you know how unreliable they are,” Kesselring protested. “Even with the improved targeting data, we still cannot guarantee that they will hit anything worth hitting.”
Himmler shrugged. “They are cheap and don’t cost a life to build,” he said. “I think that’s worthwhile, don’t you?” He smiled darkly. “These British are far too concerned about civilian deaths,” he said. “We’ll simply launch a handful of them at the British cities.”
Kesselring met his eyes. “The Fuhrer wishes to use gas,” he said. “You know what they’ll do in return.”
Himmler nodded grimly. “Ignore that order,” he said. “I’ll cover you; claim that the gas-armed missiles were shot down.”
Kesselring nodded. Himmler almost laughed; the poor man had to be wondering what the hell was going on. Kesselring being beholden to him would make life easier, in the future. A reputation for being reasonable might just come in handy, when the Fuhrer overdosed on something and died.
Professor Horton looked up from the book he was reading when the SS guard knocked on the door. After a quick and futile check for intruders or ambushers, the SS guard stepped aside, allowing Himmler to enter. As always, the Reichsführer looked like a dapper little schoolmaster, except his smile never touched his eyes.
“Good” – he glanced at the clock, having long since lost track of the passage of days – “morning, Herr Reichsführer,” Horton said.
Himmler scowled at him. “It’s not a good morning,” he said. “The Americans have invaded Norway. Why?”
Horton wanted to scream at the unfairness of the question. Even his extensive knowledge of history didn’t cover events that hadn’t happened. Still, Himmler demanded answers… and the lives of his family depended on the answers.
“Convenient target,” he said finally. “They have to give the army some experience, and diving into Norway is the only way to do it if they won’t want to risk a clash with the Russians as well.”
Himmler’s eyes glittered. “You feel that they would be scared of the Russians?” He asked. “Could we lure them into conflict with them?”
“Perhaps,” Horton said. “They won’t want to add to the enemy list with so much trouble in America itself.”
Himmler smiled. “Indeed,” he said. “We have been working on shipping supplies to the different factions in America, particularly the ones that agree with us, as well as selling guns through Portugal to the Mexicans.”
Horton blinked. Yet again, Himmler was showing that he was far more clever and dangerous than future history had painted him. “The French Canadians were more than happy to accept help from the Vichy French, but we have to smuggle the weapons in via Portugal again,” Himmler continued. “However, what about Norway?”
Horton considered. “Their logistics can’t be very good,” he said. “However, they’re likely to be better than your logistics, simply because they command the sea and the air. Once they overwhelm Norway, I think they’ll try and turn it into a bomber base.”
Himmler nodded. “And, where will they land the year afterwards?”
Horton considered. There weren’t many options, really. “Depends on what they want to do,” he said. “Landing in Spain would force you to fight on the end of long supply lines, but it would take them years to fight their way up through Spain to France to Germany. Italy wasn’t such a bright idea the first time around, even with more of your factories positioned in Italy, but they might want to lay claim to Sardinia and Corsica as more bomber bases. Once they have entire fleets of bombers, they’ll overwhelm you by force of numbers.”
“The precision weapons are bad enough,” Himmler scowled. “We’ve been building newer weapons of our own, but every so often they hit something vital by accident and we get tossed back a few weeks.”
“France is probably the most likely target,” Horton said. It occurred to him that a combination of modern technology and luck could put a force in Denmark, but he dismissed the thought. “It worked before.”
“We’ve been building defence lines for the last three months,” Himmler said. “They would have to be determined.”
“It rather depends on the outcome of the battles in Norway,” Horton said. “Can you resupply them?”
Himmler shook his head. “The Fuhrer has ordered that they stand and fight to the last,” he said. “They should tie up the enemy for several weeks.”
“I suppose,” Horton said.
Himmler’s next meeting was with someone totally different, the head of the German atomic project. SS Obergruppenfuehrer Hans Krueger heard the news with a grim face.
“The Fuhrer has decreed the use of the special weapon in Norway,” Himmler said. “How long will it be before the weapon is ready?”
“The weapon can be made in a week,” Krueger said. “It’s basically simple; we take the extremely radioactive rubble from the British site and pack it all into the container. Once we move it to the target, we detonate it, which will spread radioactive dust everywhere.” He coughed. “Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict the immediate effects – the British didn’t send us that data, after all.”
Himmler smiled at the weak joke. “Tell me, how can it be used in Norway?”
Krueger took a moment to think before answering. “Herr Reichsführer, I would advise against using it in Norway,” he said. “I have a strong suspicion that trying to ship one of the weapons to Norway would result in the weapon ending up at the bottom of the sea.”
“I know,” Himmler said. He’d been hoping that Krueger would raise that objection. “Do you have an alternative deployment plan?”