"I don't see how such a declaration would help you to win the war, though," Erika remarked.
"Don't you?" Gregory laughed, "I do. The Siegfried Line is too strong for us to attack it across the French frontier without appalling losses; but they're still only digging it along the Luxembourg and Belgian borders. If we chose to walk into the Low Countries one fine night we might outflank the main line and carry the war into the enemy's country. They would only put up a formal show of resistance, then join us, because they hate the Nazis as much as we do. We could scrap this childish nonsense about territorial waters and put British into the Norwegian fjords, where the strain on the crews would
be much less in bad weather, and we could cut off the iron ore supplies which come down to Germany through Norwegian waters. We could do the same thing along the coast of Yugoslavia and stop the supplies of bauxite coming up the Adriatic from Dubrovnik to Trieste. With the Turks' consent we could send a part of the Mediterranean Fleet through the Dardanelles into the Black Sea and cut off the oil tankers that bring supplies from Batum to Constanta and Varna before they go through to Germany and believe you me, it's oil that is going to win this war. That's why perhaps, years hence it will be fought out in the Near East. There are a thousand and one things which we could do to give the Nazis hell, if only we went into this thing with knuckledusters instead of kid gloves."
"Do you think they'll stick to their programme now Britain and France have come in?" Freddie asked.
"As far as Scandinavia and Holland and Belgium are concerned, yes. A German landing in Norway would be a clever move to draw a big proportion of our troops away from the central theatre of war, so let's hope we don't fall into the trap. But once they invade Holland and Belgium we'll have a real
chance to get at them, so they may be compelled to alter their plans. It's going to be awkward if they follow it to Stage 9 and drive through Switzerland while Italy attacks France from the south; but the need for oil may force them to attack Romania first."
"Perhaps," said Angela. "But where is all this speculation getting us?"
"Nowhere," Gregory grinned. "So let's get back to the business. This document is of immense significance for two reasons. Firstly, although the Allies declared war on Germany when she had reached only Stage 5 of her programme, it shows her true intentions. I'm prepared to swear that I got it direct from Hermann Goering. Copies of it, with my affidavit of that fact, ought to be sent to every neutral Government to inform them that Germany had deliberately planned to enslave the whole of Europe. Even if some of them doubt its authenticity it may cause them to take steps against the Nazi fifth columns which are undermining their powers of resistance and to reconsider their position a bit more carefully. Secondly, it is the penultimate paragraph which is of such vital importance. I'll read it to you again.
" If at any stage before the last Britain does decide to fight every effort must be made to prevent other countries from becoming involved, so as to limit the area of hostilities. Immediately we have subdued whichever of the smaller nations has refused to be peaceably absorbed, and whose resistance has caused Britain to declare war upon us, our next objective must be to secure a peace by negotiation which will leave the remainder of Europe as far as possible unaltered from what it was at the cessation of hostilities. Then, after an interval for recuperation, the next stage must be undertaken; until all stages have been successfully completed either by diplomatic pressure or, if necessary, by a series of short wars.'
"Now do you see what I'm driving at?" Gregory said grimly. "This is not only the outline of the German plan to put the whole of Europe in her pocket; and having achieved that, to secure world dominion; it shows how she intends to do it. She does not mean to exhaust herself by another giant effort such as she made in 1914 1918, and to exhaust other nations by dragging as many of them as she can in as her allies. It is a far cleverer and much more dangerous scheme. It has worked, too, in four stages out of five, as the Russo German Italian bloc have already conquered Austria, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia without having had to fire a single shot. For Poland Germany has had to fight but, as we all know, as soon as Poland had been overrun Hitler opened a peace offensive. He didn't pull it off, but if a stalemate continues in the West as time goes on everybody will get bored and dispirited; among the people of France and Britain there will be a growing feeling of resentment at having had their lives thrown out of gear for a war that isn't a war at all."
"That won't be the case if Hitler goes into Holland and Belgium," Freddie remarked. "It will be war with a vengeance, then."
"True; and if Goering is overruled this plan may be abandoned for an attempt to force a quick decision. But say they do attack the Low Countries, what happens next? The great Armies will clash on the Yssel and the Maas. There will probably be a few weeks' terrific fighting and the Allies will stem the German advance on the Albert Canal and the please. They'll dig in there and unless the Germans drive through Switzerland there will be another stalemate, perhaps for years as there was in the last war. Then, after a time, Hitler will start another peace offensive. People will be bored and war weary. His fifth column in London will get busy among the cranks and idealists that support organizations like the Nordic League and the Peace Pledge Union and an agitation will he started on the lines that Hitler isn't such a bad fellow really. They will be saying: `He would never have attacked Poland if the Poles had let him have Danzig back. Now that he has rectified the wrongs and they were wrongs done to Germany by the Versailles Treaty he's not asking anything else and he's quite prepared to make peace. So why should our young men have to spend the best years of their lives in battle dress, and why should we be burdened with this incredible taxation which is sending us all bankrupt, when we could quite well make a decent peace by negotiation?'
Freddie nodded. "Yes. Lots of people will come to feel like that if this war drags on for years without any sign that there may ever be a finish to it; but even if we did make that sort of peace Europe would remain an armed camp, so the Germans wouldn't dare to proceed with their plans any further."
'That's where you're utterly wrong, Gregory declared. "We had riots in our Army after the last war because the men were anxious to get home and they couldn't be demobilized quickly enough. The same thing would happen again and all the business people would start pressing for a reduction of taxation. Our Army, Navy and Air Force would dwindle and we should cease to manufacture the latest types of planes and munitions. Everybody would say that we had all we needed and our types would become obsolete, because Germany would not react in the same way at all. Hitler would be training another generation of German youth for the battlefield; Goebbels would be stuffing them with his propaganda; Goering would be improving his aeroplane designs and turning out better models than ours as hard as he could go.
"Within a year Hitler would be ahead of us again and ready to make his next move with impunity or, if need be, to fight another nine months' war. That is why this document has got to be placed in the hands of my old friend, Sir Pellinore Gwaine-Cust, who will put it before the Cabinet and the Allied War Council. He will vouch to them for my integrity; that if I say I got it from Goering's safe I did get it from Goering's safe. As it is irrefutable proof of Germany's intentions it may be the means of checking any move towards peace until Germany is down and out and split up into little pieces once and torah. It must reach them at the earliest possible moment. Therefore, I intend to leave for England to morrow."