“But this is madness! Where will we get the troops required to support these operations? We are still locked in a death struggle with the Soviets, and everything else has been frozen on the northern front for the drive on Leningrad in the Spring.”
“Don’t fret, Halder,” said Hitler. “If you cannot manage the affair, then I will select the divisions required personally. In fact, I don’t think a single Korps will be sufficient. We will need one to move east into Northern Iraq, another to drive through the center and take Baghdad, then move on to the Persian Gulf. The third will move directly into Lebanon and take Damascus in Syria back from the British. This will completely stop their offensive towards Tripoli and Tunisia.”
Halder took a deep breath, looking over his shoulder and finding Jodl and Keitel. His eyes clearly indicated that he wanted them at the map table, and when Hitler saw them approach, he stiffened his resolve.
“Do not think you can reinforce your ideas by summoning these other Generals. I have given this a good deal of thought. The British will not expect such an operation. We will take them completely by surprise.”
“What operation?” Asked Jodl, looking from Hitler to Halder.
“He has it in his mind to resurrect the old Plan Orient.”
“That plan was never shelved,” said Hitler quickly, with a wag of his finger. “It was only delayed. And if it will sound better to you, we will call it Operation Phoenix, yes, rising again from the ashes. It is only January, and the campaign in Russia will be frozen solid for another three months. I am told all movement there is impossible now, for both sides. The temperatures are the coldest ever recorded in the last 200 years! In the meantime, while we prepare for the Leningrad operation, I will assemble the forces necessary for Operation Phoenix. In fact, I began these preparations a month ago.”
“What preparations?”
“Do not think I rely on you for everything, Halder. If you recall, I flew to the southern front to meet directly with General Manstein in order to discuss the move into the Caucasus. Now that the situation near Kursk has stabilized. I ordered him to begin immediate transfers to the south, so there will be ample forces available for this operation.”
Halder held up his hands in utter frustration. “He thinks we can now move through Turkey again to invade Syria and Iraq!”
“I do not merely think this, Halder, I will order it. So you had better stop with this stubborn opposition and instead make yourself useful in support of these plans. If you cannot do so, then I will find someone else to do the job!”
This infuriated Halder, who had been in a torment for months now as he watch the increasingly difficult situation in Russia. Once he had been approached by conspirators plotting to assassinate Hitler, but at that time he had refused to support them. Yet taking advantage of his position of authority, he often kept a loaded pistol in his service jacket pocket, and spent more than one night awake in a sweat as he struggled with the idea of shooting Hitler himself. That weapon was in his pocket now, but he resisted the urge to reach for it and end this madness once and for all.
Yet he could not stand there and listen to Hitler browbeat himself and the other senior officers at OKW any longer. “Are you telling me Manstein is behind this?”
“Of course not,” said Hitler. “Manstein has agreed that the move into the Caucasus could be pressed with greater vigor. To this end, we discussed Operation Edelweiss for the drive on Maykop, and by extension, the occupation of Baku. Of course, such an idea would have never entered your head, Halder. Look at the mess you have gotten us into in Russia! It took my personal intervention, and the considerable skills of General Manstein, to stabilize the situation there.”
“You blame me for the disaster in Russia? This is intolerable! Now you stand there making these foolish proposals, and most likely without even having any notion of the enemy strength, the logistical demands, the political ramifications of your plan. It cannot be done. Jodl… Keitel, tell him this is madness!”
“General Halder!” Hitler raised his voice, his hand displaying the telltale tremor as he removed his spectacles. “I have listened to your stupid rationalizations for far too long. You no longer have the aggressive spirit and mentality for a job of this caliber. I want men here who will fight, not those who drivel and whimper about what cannot be done. It will be done! I will order it, and any man who opposes these orders will be dismissed, or worse.”
Now the frustration and anger in Halder became too much. “My Führer… I have supported you through thick and thin, but this is simply too much. I am leaving. Enough with your threats. You may find someone else to preside over this insanity. I am finished!”
With that, Halder turned and stormed out, his hand in his pocket, fist clenched on the pistol, his anger seething. Yet he could not muster the resolve to turn about and use it, any more than Fedorov could have pulled the trigger to kill Sergei Kirov.
Now Jodl and Keitel stood there, aghast at what they had just seen. “Well?” said Hitler, looking at them like an enraged bull. “Do you both wish to join Halder in early retirement, or will you bend your backs to the task at hand here and prove yourselves useful? Send for General Zeitzler. I intend to appoint him as the new Chief-of-Staff of the Army this very moment!”
Neither Jodl or Keitel said a word, seemingly frozen when confronted by Hitler at the very edge of another of his terrible tirades concerning the duplicity and incompetence of his Army Generals. It has long been said that all it will take for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Whether Jodl or Keitel might count themselves in the ranks of good men remained to be seen, but that day they did nothing.
“Rommel could not deliver on his promises to give me Alexandria, and now he has his back to Tripoli!” Hitler reiterated his reason for this alarming new plan blooming in his mind like a dark rose. “Therefore I am now reinstating several previous Führer Directives. Order Number 30, concerning the movement of troops to Syria and Iraq will be reinstated immediately. All available mountain troops will be used, even if such forces are already allocated to the Leningrad Operation. Furthermore, Führer Order Number 32 will now stand as the overall guide for the remainder of our winter operations, and Plan Orient will be redesignated Operation Phoenix. Has anyone of you even noticed that the Japanese have recently taken Ceylon? They do not lack the imagination of my Generals, do they? Nor do they stand about whining over fuel and supplies. They just go and take them. These things will be found. The troops will be found, and this operation will proceed.”
Finally Jodl found his voice. “Then you mean to invade Iraq?”
“How else can I get to the Persian Gulf? And I also mean to invade Syria. How else will I get to Cairo? These operations will now be given the highest military priority. I will select the divisions personally and, unless you wish to follow Halder into the dustbin of history, you will carry out the orders I give and see to all the details. Understood? That is not all. Führer Directive Number 28 will also be reinstated—Operation Merkur.”
“But that will mean we will have to pull all the air mobile divisions out of North Africa,” said Keitel.
“Then do so! At Once! I will not allow the British to build up bomber bases on that island. It should have been taken long ago.”
Jodl passed a moment recalling that it had been Hitler who personally cancelled those plans for the invasion of Crete, all in favor of leap frogging directly into Lebanon and Syria after taking Cyprus. Of course, he said nothing of this, as Hitler rambled on.
“The plans for Operation Merkur will be re-activated immediately. The 15th Infantry Division presently at Toulon may be sent to replace the Fallschirmjagers, but I want them all ready for an airborne operation against Crete in short order. I have already ordered Goring to begin moving the necessary troop transports to Greece, and the shipping will be found—see to that, Jodl. See if Raeder can scrape up a few troop ships to move my mountain divisions. You have two weeks. I want this entire operation ready by the 15th of January.”