She closed her eyes in pain. Horst had explained, more than once, that the easterners regarded the westerners as soft, but she’d never really understood it. The Reich had never been noticeably more liberal in Germany Prime. Indeed, the only place where there had been any real hint of liberalism had been Germany South… and, even there, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time was more than enough to get someone sent to a concentration camp and brutally murdered. But it didn’t really matter. Whatever the cause, the easterners held the westerners in contempt. And that contempt was pushing them to commit atrocities.
Voss cleared his throat. “I don’t promise victory,” he said. “But as long as they don’t make a major breakthrough, we should be able to hold the line.”
“Except that we already have rats within the walls,” Admiral Wilhelm Riess said. The head of the Abwehr scowled at Voss. “They have at least one team of commandos in Berlin, perhaps more.”
“We have doubled security at all vulnerable points and mounted a number of raids on suspect households,” Voss said, sharply. “There is little else we can do.”
“They are already spreading SS propaganda,” Riess announced, loudly. He pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his briefcase and unfolded it, holding it in the air so they could see the words. “This was found near a recruiting station.”
He gave Gudrun a sharp look. “They clearly learned a few things from you.”
Gudrun scowled as she read the poster. It wasn’t much, merely a reminder that the SS was coming and all those who stood against their advance would be branded traitors, but the mere fact that someone had managed to put it in place was worrying. And yet, it would be easier for the SS than it had been for her, back when the underground movement had been starting out. There were fewer policemen on the street and a growing tradition of questioning uniformed authority.
“And this isn’t the worst of it,” Riess continued. He reached back into his briefcase. “My men caught a handful of brats distributing these!”
Gudrun frowned as Riess produced a handful of leaflets and placed them on the table. She took one and read it, quickly. The basic message was identical to the poster, but there was an offer of conditional amnesty for anyone who deserted the provisional government or simply turned on their comrades, when the main offensive began. She had no idea how many people would be tempted, yet – as the noose tightened around Berlin – she had a feeling that far too many people would be very tempted indeed.
“I see,” Schulze said. “And what did the distributors have to say?”
“Very little,” Riess admitted. “They were refugee children, already on the verge of starvation. Their families were to be given additional foodstuffs if their children distributed the leaflets around Berlin. We have rounded up and interrogated the families, but they don’t seem to know anything useful. We need tighter security.”
“Which we do not have the manpower to provide,” Voss snapped. “If we put more soldiers on the streets, we take them away from the front lines.”
“Then we need to expand our counter-intelligence network,” Riess snapped back. “The SS handled all such matters and the SS is gone!”
Gudrun groaned, inwardly, as the pieces fell into place. It was a power grab. The Abwehr – military intelligence – had long resented its subordination to the SS, although – unlike the Gestapo – it had managed to retain a separate identity. Expanding the Abwehr’s counter-intelligence responsibilities would give Riess far more power, which he could use to push himself into prominence. Why not? Himmler had done the same and, before the uprising, the SS had been one of the most powerful factions in Germany.
And if we let the Abwehr grow in power, she thought numbly, how long will it be before we have a new master?
She shuddered at the thought. She’d always had mixed feelings about the SS, but after reading some of the files she’d discovered just how far the SS had worked its way into the warp and weft of German politics. Politicians, military officers and bureaucrats had been steadily brought under the SS’s sway, bribed or blackmailed into supporting its decisions and enforcing its rules. She’d been taught to fear the informer from a very early age – like all German children – but she’d never imagined that high-ranking politicians could feel the same way. It had simply never crossed her mind.
“This is not the time to expand the Abwehr’s responsibilities,” Voss said. “We need to locate and remove other SS informers within the ranks.”
“And someone within the ranks may be helping them,” Riess pointed out. “Tracking down the commandos within Berlin might lead us to the informers.”
“I highly doubt they will allow themselves to be taken alive,” Voss sneered. “These men are trained to avoid capture.”
Schulze tapped the table. “This is a decision for another time,” he said. “Right now, the police are attempting to track down the commandos.”
“The police,” Riess said. He sounded scornful. “The Berlin police couldn’t organise a drunken rampage in a brewery, let alone find an experienced SS commando cell!”
“Nonetheless, they are all we have,” Schulze said. “Training your people to serve an expanded counter-intelligence function would take too long.”
Riess sat back, looking cross. Gudrun eyed him, wondering just what was going through his head. Irritation at having his power grab shot down so quickly, frustration at failing to take advantage of the chaos to benefit himself… or genuine concern? There was no reason why Riess couldn’t be worried about the SS commandos, even if he was inclined to use their existence to benefit himself. The SS and the Abwehr had been enemies for so long that Riess didn’t have any hope of survival if Berlin fell.
Karl Holliston will purge everyone who isn’t willing to pledge themselves to the SS, she thought. And he won’t trust the military at all.
Schulze cleared his throat. “Are there any other matters of concern?”
“The food stockpiles are under pressure,” Kruger said, flatly. “Right now, there is no hope of bringing in food from outside the blockade. Assuming that our remaining warehouses do not come under attack, we have enough food to feed the city for roughly one month at current rations. I believe we can stretch that out to two months if we cut rations to everyone, but the men on the front lines.”
“That will certainly cause problems within the city,” Gudrun said, quickly.
“Yes, it will,” Kruger acknowledged. “Quite apart from riots, there will be long-term health problems. Cutting food supplies to pregnant women, for example, may damage the babies in the womb. Cutting food supplies to children will cause other problems.”
Gudrun shuddered. She had a feeling she knew exactly what the SS would do, faced with the same situation. Round up everyone who was nothing more than a useless mouth – the old, the infirm – and execute them. No, murder them. Grandpa Frank had been a horror, a blight on his family, but she recoiled in horror at the thought of murdering him. He’d died a hero, perhaps making up for the sins of his past… how many others would be denied the same chance, if they were killed out of hand. There was no way she could condone such a solution.
And yet, the nasty part of her mind whispered, is it not better that they should die, so that the rest of us may live?
She told that part of her mind to shut up and leaned forward. “What will happen if we cut rations later – say two weeks from now?”