Adolf Hitler was dead!
He shook himself and signalled the men to carry on. He returned through the passageways to Baum, shaking like a leaf.
Ten minutes later Baum was dressed in Hitler’s pyjamas and in his bed. Hitler himself was being consumed by the flames of the furnace!
The next morning, again everything went according to plan. Goering thought Doctor Morell was going to have a heart attack when he told him what had happened and what he had to do. As Goering had surmised, the huge bribe offered, backed by the menacing presence of the troopers, convinced a very reluctant Morell to play his part. In any case, at this stage of the game, who among the dedicated Nazis would believe that Morell was not involved in the conspiracy?
Hitler had always induced fear in his subordinates. This now helped the plotters as none of the SS soldiers would ever look at him, even when he walked past them. From the moment he climbed into Hitler’s bed, Baum, a one-time failed actor, actually started enjoying himself. He gave an even more spectacular performance four days later when he was departing from Carinhall. The fact that he now had less than an hour to live did not spoil it for him in the least.
Goering, mightily impressed with Baum’s performance, was briefly seduced by the thought of using the fake Hitler as his puppet over the coming months. During the course of that time the ‘Fuhrer’ would retire and hand over all his powers to his faithful deputy, Herman Goering. Later he would die gracefully. A tempting scenario!
Reluctantly he accepted that the army and his co-conspirators, would not stand idly by while he usurped control. He let the thought drift away.
Baum’s briefcase, supposedly packed full with his working papers, was stuffed with high explosive. The papers in it had gone into the furnace along with their owner. Baum would trigger the device by opening the briefcase and simply turning a switch once he saw the agreed predetermined spot. And that would be that.
Baum and Goering’s handshake lasted a long time as they said their goodbyes. The SS troopers nearby noticed this and put it down to the fact that Goering had taken good care of Hitler while he had been ill. The Fuhrer was expressing his gratitude.
Hitler’s car pulled away, followed by a second one with Doctor Morell in it. Goering hurried inside the house. He couldn’t breathe. It was nearly over. But this last bit of waiting was agony.
Goering need not have worried. One hour later the brave Max Baum was dead and the entire SS guard contingent was under arrest. A shaken Doctor Morell in the following car, had been slightly injured in the blast, and he had also been arrested, before being discreetly released after an hour or so. Later his testimony about suspicious behaviour by the two SS officers of the guard contingent, led to their swift conviction and execution as part of the attempted coup.
Over the next two days one hundred and twenty six leading Nazi and SS figures were quietly arrested. Two of these were cleared of any wrongdoing but were kept in comfortable custody pending release of the news. The remainder were executed.
For the present the Nazi party was effectively defunct.
With the Battle for France being effectively over, and peace terms agreed with Great Britain, von Brauchitsch and several of the other Generals flew back to Berlin late that afternoon. Goering was due to broadcast over German radio, three historic announcements.
It had been decided to give primacy to the news of the assassination of Adolph Hitler, and the subsequent uncovering of the Nazi coup attempt by the Army. The memory of their beloved Fuhrer would not be sullied by announcing the names of the coup ringleaders this day. Goering would only say that that they had been arrested, given a fair trial, found guilty, and justly executed.
Then the news of the armistice with France and peace with Great Britain would be released.
The Military Council listened on a radio in an office at The German High Command Centre in Berlin where they were now installed.
Goering gave a masterful and moving speech, surprising many in the Council. In sad and hushed tones he broke the news and manner of the Fuhrer’s death. He extolled the virtues of the man who, almost singlehandedly, had lifted Germany out of the travails that had followed the Great War and the depression following the Wall Street Crash in America.
His voice became stern as he talked briefly of the evil and power-hungry plotters, and their fate.
Finally he became more upbeat, more vibrant. Skilfully reminding them that Hitler had championed re-armament for Germany in earlier years, and how this had paid off. The superb German Armed Forces had taken these weapons and used them to gain unprecedented successes against Poland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and France. Six countries defeated and occupied in less than ten weeks! The British army in Belgium defeated. And all for their beloved Fuhrer.
He left the news of peace with Britain until last. But this was the item that the population loved most of all. It was the cream on the top!
All the good news had muted the response to the bad news. Germany’s population quickly came to terms with the change in the political situation in their country.
After all, they were masters of Europe, weren’t they? And the future looked very rosy for the German nation.
Von Brauchitsch leaned back in his chair and surveyed the officers around him. “Well gentlemen, Fat Hermann has performed splendidly. We could not have asked for things to have gone better.
Our troops stationed near major cities have been reinforced and are on alert as a precaution against unrest, but I am optimistic that there will be no trouble.
Next week we need to decide which civilians we bring into an expanded Governing Council. After that, our increased workload will make the last few months seem like a holiday”.
Germany had been brought back from the brink of self-destruction!
Adolf Hitler, (or at least the apparent remains that had been recovered from the bomb scene), was given a magnificent state funeral. Every important person in Germany was there. Few foreign dignitaries, however, had taken the trouble to attend. One detail that was noticed by many people was that the only swastika openly displayed at this event, was the one draped over the coffin.
Amongst the crowd watching, were the U-boat commanders Karl Schiller and Peter Braun, together with their families. As the cortege passed them, they exchanged a knowing look. They had been sworn to secrecy but they knew how close Schiller had come to ‘torpedoing’ the peace.
Following the declaration of peace with Germany, the British political establishment lost no time in looking at the question of their own future.
After two days of deliberations, the multi-party Cabinet had agreed to recommend to Parliament that the existing National Government composed of the three main political parties, remain in power for at least the next six months. This would allow sufficient time to see how Germany fared with its reforms, and how Italy reacted to being told to make peace with Britain and also vacate the little bit of French territory they had only so recently occupied.
The general feeling was that the National Coalition Government was running the country in a capable manner and an election for a new government should not be called before the following spring at the earliest.