The Portuguese vessel Reine de la Mer (really a replacement, replenishment vessel for German U-boats) was sunk in Argentine watersby Americans, everyone believed but could not directly prove.
"I received a Foreign Ministry briefing, Herr Admiral."
Canaris looked at him for a long moment.
"Well?"
"I was informed that the Portuguese government has in the strongest possible terms protested the sinking to the United States government. I was further informed that the Americans deny any knowledge of this."
"The Portuguese have also protested strongly to the Argentine government," Admiral Canaris added. "More important, the Spanish Foreign Ministry called in the American ambassador to express their 'grave concerns' about the Reine de la Mer, and made it clear that there would be 'grave consequences' if anything like that happened in the future to a vessel flying the Spanish flag."
"So I was informed, Herr Admiral," Goltz said. "The Spanish said they would regard such an attack as 'an unpardonable act of war.'"
"Since the Americans do not wish to see the Spanish join the Axis, Standartenf?hrer, one would think that would be enough to make them think twice about attacking a Spanish-registered vessel in Argentine waters. Or even boarding a Spanish vessel on the high seas to search for contraband. Were you briefed thoroughly on this by the Navy?"
"I was informed during my Navy briefing: That the replacement replenishment vessel will sail from Sweden, via the English channel, directly to Buenos Aires. That she will notify both the German and British authorities she is bound for Argentina. And that she will have the Spanish flag on her hull floodlighted at night, so there can be no mistake as to her nationality and neutral status."
'And'?"
"That five other Spanish and Portuguese vessels will be crossing the Atlantic toward Argentina at the same time"
"Notat the same time!" Canaris interrupted impatiently.
"I misspoke, Herr Admiral. Pardon me," Goltz said. "At twenty-four-hour and forty-eight-hour intervals ahead of the Comerciante del Oceano Pacifico!'
"The idea is that the Americans, who expect us, of course, to send a vessel to replace the Reine de la Mer, will board any suspicious vessel. We have taken steps to make sure their agents in Spain and Portugal believe the other ships are suspicious. The moment the Americans stop Ship One, the vessel will radio that it is being boarded. The Portuguese or Spanish will immediately summon the American ambassadors in Lisbon and Madrid to protest. If the Americans sight the Comerciante del Oceano Pacifico who will be doing her very best to avoid being sighted (she'll sail far into the South Atlantic, and then approach Buenos Aires from the south)perhaps they will not be so eager to stop her after this has happened two, three, or four times."
"I thought it was a clever plan, Herr Admiral," Goltz said.
"It is overly complicated, and enormously expensive, and I would not give it more than a fifty-fifty chance of succeeding," Canaris said coldly. "It was justifiable only in that a replenishment vessel is essential for submarine operations in the South Atlantic."
"I understand, Herr Admiral."
"Two of three members of the OSS team which took out the Reine de la Mer left Argentina immediately afterward. The team leader, Oberst Frade's son, and a man named Pelosi. Pelosi returned four days ago. . . ."
"I had not heard that, Herr Admiral."
"There was a radio from Oberst Gr?ner. He's a good man. He has someone in the Foreign Ministry. Pelosi now has diplomatic status, as an assistant military Attach?. My feeling is that he was returned to assist a follow-on OSS team which will probably be sent when the Americans learn we have replaced the Reine de la Mer."
"The third man of the OSS team? The Jew?"
"He is still in Argentina, working covertly. The Americans apparently feel he can garner information from the Jews in Buenos Aires. Shipping information, that sort of thing. The head of their FBI in Buenos Aires is also a Jew. I have the feeling Ettinger, the Jew, may be working for him, and no longer is connected with the OSS. In my judgment, that OSS teamthey are of course known to the Argentineshas ceased to exist as an operational unit. Thus I believe we can count on the OSS sending an entirely new team down there when the Americans learn the Oceano Pacifico is on station. When that happens, it may be necessary to eliminate them. This of course has to be done very carefullyreferring to my earlier remarks about not antagonizing the Argentine sense of nationalism. The first OSS team down there was eliminated with great skill by Gr?nerthere was not even notice of it in the newspapers. Please tell him I expect the same sort of first-class work when the time comes to deal with the next OSS team to show its face."
"Of course, Herr Admiral," Goltz said with a smile.
Canaris looked at him curiously, as if surprised that his words could have been interpreted in any way as amusing.
"May I ask a question, Herr Admiral?"
Canaris waited for him to go on.
"The third member of the former OSS team. You say he is working with the Jews in Buenos Aires? Is there a possibility"
"That he will put his nose into the source of our special funds?" Canaris interrupted. "Yes, of course there is. If that happens, you have permission to eliminate him, taking the same great care I've been talking about."
"And not before, as a precautionary measure?"
"I'm getting the idea I am not making my point about Argentine sensitivity, Standartenf?hrer. Let me make it again. You will do nothing that might even remotely annoy the Argentines unless there is absolutely no other option. We want them to think of us as allies in the war against communism, not, for example, as the kind of people who come to their country and blow up ships or eliminate people. Now, is that clear?"
"Perfectly, Herr Admiral."
Canaris looked at him coldly, as if wondering why someone with such visibly limited mental powers could be entrusted with the mission he had been given.
"Three, Standartenf?hrer," Canaris went on after a long moment. "I have supported from the beginning the idea of acquiring property in Argentina for operational purposes. As a matter of fact, the concept was originally mine. If my recommendations had been listened to as far back as 1937, we would already have property in place. Not only for the immediate operation planned, but for other purposes. I repeated these recommendations at the time the Graf Spee (On December 13, 1939, in what became known as "The Battle of the River Plate." the battle-damaged German pocket battleship Graf Spee was driven into the harbor of Montevideo in neutral Uruguay by the British and New Zealand cruisers HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles. Intense diplomatic pressure from England and the United States forced the Uruguayan government to order the Graf Spee to leave the harbor within the seventy-two-hour period called for by the Geneva Convention, or be interned. On December 17, 1939, at the personal order of Adolf Hitler, the Graf Spee was scuttled just outside Montevideo to keep her from falling into British hands. The German community in Buenos Aires, 125 miles across the river Plate, chartered a fleet of small boats and took her crew to Argentina, where they were interned.) was scuttled, and again nothing was done. The result of that inactivity is now obvious. Here we are embarked on an operation far more important than anything else I can think ofimportant to the very existence of the Thousand Year Reich. And we're starting from scratch so far as acquiring property is concerned. Not to mention that we have been unable until now to even seriously plan to repatriate the Graf Spee officers, something that should have been done three years ago."