General Rawson sensed somebody behind him and looked over his shoulder.
"You must have a clear conscience, Se?or Frade," Rawson said, letting him know that he had seen him sleepingor possibly heard him snoring. "Either that, or you have a commendable faith inOutline Blue."
He's in a good mood. The revolution must be on track.
"The latter, mi General," Clete said. "Judging from the map, it looks like it's going well."
"Not here," Rawson said, pointing at the School of Naval Warfare. "There is resistance here. Machine guns. There have been some casualties. The First Infantry is stalled."
Clete blurted, "Can't they bypass it? Come back later and clean it out?"
"They could, they should, and I have ordered them to do precisely that," Rawson said. "I had to order the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry to stop their advance."
He pointed to those flags.
"I don't understand."
"I am not in communication with the commanding officer of the First Infantry," Rawson explained. "They had a radio truck with them, but it has stopped functioning, and the telephone lines all along Libertador are not working. They were probably disconnected by the Navy; there is a switching station inside the compound."
What about sending a messenger?
Rawson read his mind.
"I've sent three messengers, and they have either been unable to get through, or the legitimacy of the order is being questioned."
"What about dropping them a message?" Clete thought out loud.
"Excuse me?"
"You have three Piper Cubs on the airfield. One of them could be there in ten minutes. Just drop your orders to the commanding officer."
"Drop?" Rawson asked, confused.
"You put the message in a pouch, with something heavy, like a wrench or a brick. You tie a long piece of cloth to the pouch, so that they can see it coming down, and throw it out the window."
"Is that possible?"
"It's routine in the Marine Corps," Clete said.
"How do you keep the message from falling into the . . . wrong hands?"
He almost said "hands of the enemy." But these sailors aren't enemies, they're people who just haven't gotten the word. Which probably explains why the infantry commander hasn't blown them away. They're trying to spill as little blood as possible.
"You fly low enough, and slow enough, over the people you want to get the pouch so you can't miss."
"That's very interesting."
Clete warmed to the subject.
"As far as that goes, there's a couple of soccer fields right next to the Navy School. You could land a Cub there and deliver the message in person."
"Is that possible?"
"Yes, it is."
"You would be willing to do that?"
Oh, shit!
Actually, I was thinking that Capit?n Delgano would be just the man for the job. For one thing, he's got a lot more time in Piper Cubs than I do; and for another, I don't think I want to explain to some loyalist Argentine sailor what I'm doing flying an Army airplane for the revolutionaries.
"Yes, Sir," he heard himself saying. "If you'd like me to."
"Excuse me for a moment," Rawson said. "I would like a word with General Ramirez."
He was back in two minutes with Ramirez, who obviously thought the idea had great merit.
"What I was thinking. Mayor Frade," he said, "was that we have two problems which might be solved if you believe you can drop a message to the First Infantry by small aircraft."
Are you ever going to learn to keep your mouth shut?
"Yes, Sir?"
"Outline Bluecalled for the two columns to converge simultaneously on the Casa Rosada. The First Infantry would move down Avenida del Libertador, while First Cavalry and the Second Infantry would move down Avenida Cordoba. As I'm sure you'll understand, that will have a certain psychological effect. As a matter of fact, the simultaneous arrival of the two columns was your father's idea."
"Yes, Sir."
"The First Cavalry and the Second Infantry have been halted, as General Rawson told you, at Pueyrred?n and Cordoba. Now, if we can send word to the First Infantry to bypass the resistance at the Naval School, we can start the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry moving again. But since they are so much closer to the Casa Rosada than the First Infantry, we again have the problem of arranging for them to move in concert. At the moment, we have communication with the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry, but we cannot count on the telephones continuing to be operational. You see the problem?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Once we start the First Infantry moving, do you think it would be possible to observe it from the air as it moves down Avenida del Libertador?"
"Yes, Sir, of course."
"And then, when they are the same distance from the Casa Rosada as the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry, to drop a message to them to resume their march?"
"There is only one problem I see with that, mi General," Clete said. "Or two. The first is that I'm not qualified to make an assessment like that. I would have no idea when the two columns were, time-wise, an equal distance from the Casa Rosada."
"Oh. I didn't make myself clear. General Rawson would be in the airplane. His presence at the Naval School is essential to the whole idea. So he would be with you; and he would make the decision when to order the First Cavalry and the Second Infantry to resume their march."
"The second problem, Sir, is that while I can fly the Lockheed by myself, should that be necessary, Capitan Delgano cannot."
"I think by now we can safely say that the success ofOutline Blue is a given," Ramirez said, "and we will not need your aircraft. What we must do now is finish the operation with as little loss of life as possible. What I'm saying is that the honor of the officers defending the Casa Rosada will be satisfied when clearly irresistible forcethe simultaneous appearance of the two converging columnsmakes further resistance obviously futile and surrender honorable. Lives will be saved!"
"Yes, Sir. I take your point."
"God go with you!" Ramirez said emotionally, and grasped both his shoulders. "Your father would be proud of you, my boy!"
Here lies Major Cletus H. Frade, USMCR, who survived Guadalcanal and slept through most of the Argentine Revolution of 1943, butfor reasons that have never been made clear died while trying to land a Piper Cub on a soccer field. General Arturo Rawson, who had just been appointed President of the Governing Council of the new military government, was also killed in the crash.
[THREE]
The Office of the Military Attach?
The Embassy of the German Reich
Avenida Cordoba
Buenos Aires, Argentina
0525 19 April 1943
Standartenf?hrer Josef Goltz,Oberst Karl Heinz Gr?ner thought, looks to be in complete possession of his faculties; Der grosse Wienerwurst looks as if he's about to wet his pants.
Goltz was shaved and in uniform. First Secretary Anton Gradny-Sawz was unshaved, his hair was mussed, he was not wearing a necktie, and his face was flushed.
"We almost couldn't get through," Gradny-Sawz announced. "There are troops all along Avenida Cordoba. We were stopped"
"The First Cavalry and the Second Infantry Regiments," Gr?ner said, directing this information to Goltz. "Obviously headed for the Casa Rosada. I have no idea why they have stopped. If there were resistance, gunfire, I would have heard it."