"Of course not! They think they've got us with their blockade, don't they? That all they have to do is to sit tight on the Maginot Line and hold the seas and that Germany will gradually be starved into surrender as she was in 1918. But they're wrong. In 1918 Germany and her allies formed one block entirely surrounded by enemy countries with the exception of outlets through Holland, Denmark and Sweden. To day only one of Germany ’s frontiers is definitely closed by an enemy army the French frontier from Luxembourg to Basle. From any other quarters we can draw supplies to supplement the vast stocks that we laid in before the war and our internal arrangements for making the most of our own resources are infinitely better, so we can carry on for years; and it is I who tell you this I, Hermann Goering who planned it all."
Gregory bowed, feeling it a good sign that the Marshal seemed so willing to discuss the war, and went on: "Your amazing organizing abilities are well known, Marshal, to anyone who is even slightly acquainted with the new Germany; but what is going to happen when a real war starts?"
"You mean a Blitzkrieg or the launching of a campaign on the lines of the last war entailing the movement of hundreds of thousands of men?"
"Yes. I can well believe that you have very wisely anticipated your normal requirements in vital commodities for a number of years and that with the supplies you can acquire through neutrals you will be able to ensure your population sufficient food to keep them from open revolt almost indefinitely; but once a total war breaks out you will have to use millions of gallons of petrol a day to keep your huge air force in the air and will be called on to replace the enormous wastage of munitions, tanks, equipment. Are you quite so sure that the structure won't then crack under the strain?"
Goering smiled grimly. "Like most other people you still think in terms of 1914-18. But this is a different kind of war and we hold the trump cards because of our geographical position and, to be frank, our lack of scruple. If we choose we can carry the war into Norway, Sweden. Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary or Rumania, any day we wish, and overrun these countries before the Democracies could possibly establish defensive fronts in them. That is why all these little nations must continue to do what we tell them whether they like it or not. On the other hand, the Democracies cannot attack as through any of our neutral neighbours, because that would mean abandoning their high principles. For the same reason they cannot threaten them and therefore cannot get the assistance out of them that we can."
"I appreciate your frankness, Marshal, in admitting that Germany is prepared to use methods which are quite obviously debarred to the Democracies."
"Why should I not be frank with you? Britain and France can't have it both ways. During the peace they made the League of Nations their instrument used it in a thousand ways to further their own interests under the guise of securing the so called rights of the small nations. Now there is war how can they throw overboard the League and all the commitments with which it has landed them? In consequence the Democracies fight with one hand tied behind their backs whereas we, who have never pretended to have any other aim but to secure for Germany her rightful place in the world, fight with both hands free."
"That, admittedly, gives you a big advantage for the time being," Gregory nodded, "but in the event of a great land offensive the whole situation might change entirely."
"Who said there would ever be a great land offensive? The
Democracies do not wish to repeat the blood baths of the Somme and Paschendaele so they certainly will not attack our Western Wall which is infinitely stronger than any of our defensive lines in the last war. And where else can they attack us? Nowhere; without infringing the neutrality of one of the small nations and thereby having world opinion swing against them. They won't do that, so it's up to us; and it might suit us best to remain on the defensive while we develop the resources of our neighbours until the point is reached where we are entirely independent of the outside world."
"Fortunately or unfortunately, as the case may prove I gather that some of your more impatient colleagues are not in agreement with such a policy?" Gregory replied.
"No," Goering admitted angrily. `The fools cannot see that, given a little time, Germany will be in just as strong a position as if the Reich extended from the northern coast of Norway to the Black Sea and that, mark you, without the unnecessary sacrifice of a single man or plane. These neutrals, countries which comprise by far the largest part of Europe, dare not resist any reasonable demand that we choose to make; and what more could we possibly ask? To march into them would only mean the destruction of their economic systems; whereas while we refrain from waging war upon them their industries remain going concerns which are being used for the benefit of the Reich."
It was grand strategy upon the Napoleonic scale, and Gregory admitted to himself the sense and force of the Marshal's argument but he was given little time to ponder it as Goering went on almost at once, with a change of tone:
"But we're not here to discuss the European situation. Tell me as briefly as you can what you've been doing in Germany."
Gregory very wisely refrained from saying that it would take the whole evening to do justice to the full story of his adventures, but he was an excellent raconteur and he meant to attempt the game by which Scheherazade, in the Arabian Nights, managed to postpone her execution from day to day believing that although he had no chance of keeping Goering amused for a thousand and one evenings his tale would still be incomplete when the Marshal's next appointment was due and he would reprieve his audacious visitor until after at least one more session or perhaps two by which time it was unlikely that he would be quite so fixed in his determination to have the story teller shot. In consequence Gregory started at the first week of the war when as an old soldier he had been desperately anxious to get back into the Army but found himself unable to do so owing to his being over the age limit for a new commission or even acceptance as a private.
That won Goering's sympathy at once and he listened intently as Gregory spoke of the joy, at such a time of dejection, with which he had accepted the most unexpected offer of a secret mission that would enable him to serve his country. He told the story of his first secret visit to Germany, his meeting with Erika von Epp and his escape only to be interned in Holland, with such vividness that Goering alternately bellowed with laughter as he heard of the impudent tricks by which Gregory had escaped arrest or nodded with the appreciation of one brave man for another as he learned how Gregory had shot his way out of the traps which the Gestapo had set for him.
By the time Gregory had reached the point in his adventures where he found himself caught and about to be murdered by Marxists in the East End of London there was quite a pile of cigarette butts in the big ash tray; yet Goering remained enthralled and with obvious annoyance drew a telephone receiver from a hidden ledge under his desk in answer to a low buzzing.
"What's that?" he said. "A quarter past eight? Gott im Himmel They have been waiting dinner for me for a quarter of an hour? All right. Tell them that I am still in conference. Lay places for two in the private dining room, bring cocktails now and have dinner ready in a quarter of an hour."
Replacing the receiver he looked across at Gregory. "I have guests, but this house is always full of people and for once they must do without me at all events till later. I wouldn't, for anything in the world, miss hearing the rest of your extraordinary exploits. You must dine with me."