Goering was thinking furiously. He had to escape from Carinhall quickly. He had established some good contacts in Italy, not least being Mussolini himself. Relations between the unrepentant fascist Mussolini, and Germany’s new regime had deteriorated into cold formality. He was sure that with all the secrets and information he had in his head, he would be welcomed with open arms.
He had more than sufficient cash and assets stashed away in Switzerland to live comfortably for the rest of his life. His wife could follow later. There was no way those self-righteous liberals in the Governing Council would take reprisals against family members.
He started to plan with his two henchmen. The same two who had killed Hitler. He would come out on top of this setback!
They had left the suburbs of Berlin behind when his beautiful Mercedes blew up. All three occupants were incinerated.
The military vehicles and their occupants escaped serious damage although the rear one sheared off the road in an effort to avoid the conflagration. Another civilian car screeched to halt behind it and its frightened driver jumped out. He looked at the carnage with fear written on his face. He was quickly chased away by the officer in charge of the army unit.
As he drove back to Berlin, the Abwehr agent congratulated himself on a job well done.
The news of the Nazi plot and their apparent assassination of the President of the Governing Council was released that evening over the radio by the Interior Minister. Speer later held a press conference. The uncovering of the plot by the police was praised and held up as an example of the efficient working of the new police policy. Speer would take the credit for this on behalf of the Governing Council.
His statement explained that, on being made aware of the plot, the army had provided extra guard units to the Governing Council members, but despite this, the plotters had managed to penetrate the President’s security. Field Marshall Goering had been a tireless worker for Germany for many, many, years. He would be greatly missed.
Speer was a very straightforward person. He was a super-manager. A grand administrator, rather than a politician. Although he managed the radio broadcast and press conference extremely well, he hated every minute that he had to spout lies about the departed Goering. Lies, damned lies. Just like a politician!
The German public accepted that they had been saved from reverting back into a warmongering totalitarian Nazi state. The death of Hermann Goering created no outburst of hysteria or national mourning. In the minds of many he was the last of the old discredited regime. At Goering’s own request, according to a document newly discovered at his home, he was not given a state funeral.
The Governing Council heaved a collective sigh of relief that everything had gone smoothly.
The trial of the Nazi plotters was due to begin the following month.
Jamie MacLellan finished his latest personal report to the President.
Dear Mr President
I wish to take this opportunity to offer my sincere thanks to you for sending me to Germany last June. I have found the work truly exhilarating and I consider myself to be very lucky to be in this country during this period of radical change.
The trial of the Nazi plotters has started. I was able to attend the first two court sessions to see for myself how justice works in the new Germany. I was pleasantly surprised. Apart from procedural differences, I perceived it to be as fair as our own judicial system, and perhaps a lot less theatrical. I want to attend more of these hearings as they help me stay in tune with German thinking.
As regards the demise of Hermann Goering, he does not seem to be greatly missed. I think he was probably no more than a figurehead and spokesman for the Governing Council. I also have it on good authority that he was somewhat ineffectual when he was Aviation Minister.
It seems that the old Nazi concentration camps are now empty except for genuine criminals and a small number of undetermined cases. These are housed in one camp and the others have been closed. Permanently!
The economy continues to improve. The Interior and Agriculture Ministers have been quite innovative. The Economics Minister so far cannot be faulted for any of his actions.
You already have my military reports via the embassy. All the German capital ships have been sold. The Russians finally signed a deal after they heard the Germans were contemplating accepting an offer from the Japanese. After all the border clashes between Russian and Japanese forces in recent years, the last thing the Soviets want to see is an even stronger Japanese Empire.
As you already know, the European Alliance is now a reality. Beyond all the political statements and the press reports, I can give you a little more background.
Norway, Denmark and Poland signed simultaneously with Germany. The Scandinavian countries have small populations and, following the recent war, they are looking for some kind of guarantee against future invasion. The same is true of Poland, but they, of course, have a much larger population. Talking to officials from these countries, I ascertained that they all have one definite thing in common. They see the Soviet Union as a future threat. Especially Poland.
Germany is re-equipping the armed forces of those three countries with the same equipment that the Germans are currently using. They are doing this free of charge as an unspoken form of reparations for the unprovoked invasions by Germany under the previous Nazi regime. Once the re-equipping is complete, sometime next year, the four countries have agreed to spend at least five percent of their annual budget on defence the following year. Thereafter their defence budgets must never fall below three percent a year without formal agreement from all the other alliance members. Germany herself will apparently exceed this budgetary requirement for the immediate future.
The Poles were not happy that the city of Danzig voted to become part of Germany, but then it was never truly Polish anyway. I meet regularly with Polish officials at embassy functions, etc, and their previous hatred of the Germans has diminished. They may never actually like them, but they certainly respect them these days.
Holland is expected to join the Alliance in the very near future.
The referendum in Belgium yielded the expected result in terms of the two different language groups wishing to separate. The big surprise was the eagerness with which the Flemish speakers in the Northern half of the country entered into negotiations with the Dutch to become a semi-autonomous province of Holland. These discussions are still ongoing but I hear everything is proceeding smoothly.
In the Southern French speaking half of Belgium the politicians are still squabbling among themselves about their future direction. There is some talk of union with France, but the German occupation of Northern France is hindering this.
I have heard that the German Foreign Affairs Minister will be visiting France shortly, possibly to discuss a final peace treaty. The last of the French prisoners of war have now been repatriated from Germany, which resulted in a fairly high level of unemployment in their home country. To alleviate this, the Germans agreed to an amendment of the armistice agreement and allow Vichy France larger armed forces. This absorbed a considerable number of the returning soldiers.
The Japanese had their nose put out of joint when France, backed by Germany, refused their request for military access to French Indochina. They were infuriated by Germany’s sale of a battlecruiser to China, and two battleships to Russia. They were apoplectic when it was announced that Germany was going to provide China with military aid.
As far as I have been able to ascertain, the aid will be in the form of tanks, aircraft, guns, trucks, mortars, rifles and machine guns. All of it is German surplus stock or captured French material and much of it approaching obsolescence, but still superior to anything the Chinese have, and better than much of what the Japanese have at present. German and French military personnel will also be sent to train them in their use.