Jamie was thoroughly enjoying his work at the bank, and while he and Katherine missed Germany and Europe, San Francisco was now their home. Business was booming. In the past month alone, they had taken orders for three merchant ships from Germany, plus a lot of other machinery and equipment. Frank O’Donnell’s Mercedes Benz car dealerships were importing large numbers of the vehicles. On top of this, he had discovered he had a talent for banking.
He believed his future was assured, interesting, and profitable.
Prince Paul, the Regent of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was deep in discussions with Baron von Altendorf. He was extremely concerned for his country. The ethnic divisions and hostility among his peoples were simmering, and close to boiling point.
Yugoslavia had only existed as a country since 1918. Following the end of the Great War, certain territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire had merged with the formerly independent Kingdom of Serbia. The Serbian King, Alexander I, became the King of Yugoslavia.
Political unrest soon led to King Alexander banning political parties and assuming sole executive power in 1929 with the aim of curbing separatist factions within the country. In 1934 he was assassinated. His young son Peter succeeded him, but was too young to rule. His cousin, Prince Paul, had been appointed Regent.
The various ethnic groupings had continued their squabbling, and this had been aggravated in later years by the meddling of the Nazi and Fascist dictators, as well as communist agitators. The departure of Hitler and Mussolini from the scene provided only a temporary respite. The despairing Prince had started to believe his country was becoming ungovernable. Hence his visit to Germany.
It had been nearly three years earlier that Yugoslavia’s ambassador to Germany had first brought up the possibility of that country joining the European Alliance. The reservations of the German Foreign Minister were equally as pertinent now, as they had been then. The Yugoslav respected him for them.
Prince Paul had now devised a drastic plan. But without the assistance of the European Alliance he knew it would be impossible to implement it, and his country would unavoidably descend into anarchy and war. He wanted to end the ongoing strife by dismembering Yugoslavia into its seven basic ethnic components. These being Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Each to become a completely independent sovereign nation.
The Prince believed such a separation of the ‘tribes’ was inevitable, but the conflicting demands by the different language groups, and various splinter factions, would be irreconcilable and make voluntary partition impossible to achieve. Compromise would have to be strictly imposed. An iron fist in a velvet glove was needed. As an early twentieth century American President, Theodore Roosevelt, had once said, ‘Speak softly but carry a big stick’.
His plan was to call all interested parties and regional politicians within Yugoslavia to a national conference. There, without prior warning, Prince Paul would firmly lay down the law. Thousands of copies of the proposed boundaries of the soon to be created countries would be distributed.
To say there would be an uproar, would be an understatement. Threats would be made by all and sundry, against him and everyone else, including the Pope! It would be complete and utter chaos! He fervently hoped nobody would sneak a pistol into the conference!
The only thing that would prevent immediate warfare breaking out would be the European Alliance simultaneously flooding the country with soldiers acting in a temporary peacekeeping capacity. The existing Yugoslav army would initially be confined to barracks to avoid conflicts of interest until the situation had normalised. It would then be disbanded by transferring units and individual personnel to whichever country their loyalties lay.
Unbeknown to Prince Paul, the Germans had a very comprehensive dossier on his country, and von Altendorf was, if anything, even more pessimistic about the situation than its ruler was. He patiently listened to the proposals, and formulated his reaction.
“Your Highness, I understand your dilemma.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “What you are asking for is not easy. The European Alliance is a purely defensive body. Germany itself does not, and will not, interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.” He looked at the crestfallen Yugoslav.
“However,” he saw the Prince’s eyebrows lift slightly in positive anticipation, “there has been a something of a precedent in the past. At the request of the Chinese Government, Germany helped that country with military aid, including a small number of military advisers. This was agreed specifically to help the Chinese leader eliminate the threat of a communist takeover in his country. This was the major factor in persuading us to provide assistance in 1941.
A slightly lesser consideration was that such aid would also give the Chinese forces the ability to fight Japanese aggression and thus force the Japanese to the negotiating table. We wanted to avoid the possibility of their war escalating out of control and drawing in the United States and the European powers with colonial empires.
While I shudder at the thought of becoming involved in the melting pot of factions and nations that is, unfortunately, Yugoslavia today, I believe that if the problem is not resolved, and quickly, a nightmare situation could unfold in your country. Our intelligence services have reported threats of ‘ethnic cleansing’ being uttered by certain leaders. Conflict within your own borders will inevitably impact on the neighbouring European countries. And this is perhaps something the European Alliance should give some serious thought to.”
He hesitated for a moment longer.
“I am prepared to bring this matter up for immediate discussion at the meeting of the Governing Council tomorrow. You must realise that even if the Council agrees with your plan they cannot speak for the European Alliance, they can only recommend. Also, because the envisaged operation is not a defensive one, it would require the unanimous agreement of all Alliance members.
Do you have any idea of the number of troops that may be needed, and for how long?”
“My Chief-of-Police, who is an old and trusted retainer, using our proposed frontier changes, calculated around thirty thousand. Probably for a period of between three months and six months.”
“Very well. I will be able to advise you of progress tomorrow afternoon. May I suggest that we meet here again at four o’clock in the afternoon? If there is a delay for any reason I will inform you.”
Prince Paul realised that things had gone as well as he could reasonably have hoped, even if he had nothing definite as yet. He was deeply grateful that the old Baron had been so understanding.
The Governing Council debated the Yugoslavia question for two hours. The military members poured over maps and coastal charts to assess it from a military point of view. They were actually enjoying themselves! A military campaign was something they understood. In the end it was thought thirty thousand troops inside Yugoslavia would probably be sufficient, but the neighbouring Alliance countries would also have to reinforce their own border troops as a prudent precaution. Also the Alliance should introduce naval patrols off the island studded Yugoslav coast.
Field Marshall von Brauchitsch suggested that the operation would be an interesting exercise in co-operation for the Alliance. It would also test their command structure and readiness for action.
All agreed with von Altendorf that confronting the issue now was a wiser course of action than letting matters spiral out of control. A meeting of the full Alliance Council was requested for the following day.