“And once they have the ports repaired, they can flood reinforcements into Europe,” an SS officer said. Kesselring, who would have been delighted to have the divisions of King Tigers that that man commanded in the Netherlands, said nothing. “We have to evict them from there quickly.”
Himmler nodded. “I assume that we’ve added bombardment by V1s and V2s to the problems that the Allies have to face?” He asked. “How soon can we remove them from the continent?”
“We’ve been launching V1 missiles, which have had little effect because of their anti-aircraft defences, and V2s, which have been having some effect,” Roth said. Kesselring nodded to himself; he knew that he had to talk to Roth. “We’re launching them as fast as we can build them, but Allied interdiction is having an effect.”
Kesselring nodded grimly. The Allies had been worried about causing civilian casualties, but no more – they’d hit thousands of targets all across Germany, shattering the road and rail networks. Germany had been seriously disrupted; almost the entire transport network, which the Speer Machine depended upon, had been ruined.
“I understand,” Himmler said. “Field Marshal, when can we launch an attack?”
Kesselring sighed. “I don’t think you understand the problems,” he said. “Almost all of the divisions that were within the Netherlands and Belgium are gone. The revolts in Belgium, supported by Allied air power, have shattered our forces, and they have been very careful to crush any of our forces within their occupied regions and outside – there are only fragments left, hardly enough to do more than a few isolated sabotage incidents.
“The forces that were positioned in France” – against his advice, he knew – “have also taken a battering, even though the Vichy forces have managed to prevent any unrest. We’ve been trying to move units back… and they hunt us from the air.” His voice became darker. “We have to move under cover of darkness to have any hope at all of surviving; it will take us weeks to move forces into position for a counter-attack.”
He sighed. “We’re having better luck with infantry units, but without tank support they can’t hope to stem the tide, let alone push them back into the sea. Our communication network has taken a battering as well, and enemy jamming is prevalent across the radio network. In effect, the communications network that we depend upon is being destroyed, and we have no way to replace it quickly. Our forces will be fighting at one more disadvantage; even with their training to seize the initiative, they will be unable to score more than local victories.”
“I can help with one thing,” Speer said unexpectedly. “Some of the new King Tigers were being prepared for delivery to the front. We can move them from the factories tonight, and then…”
“Move them under shelter,” Kesselring said. “In the daytime, we might as well paint bulls eyes on them.”
“See to it,” Himmler said. “Field Marshal, what do you suggest we do next?”
“We have to build a defensive line, a series of defensive lines,” Kesselring said grimly. “We have to put everything there, hoping to blunt and destroy their attack, which has to be coming. We don’t know how long it will take them to overcome their supply difficulties, but it won’t be long. Have the agents in America suggested anything?”
“Nothing,” Roth said, with a nod from Himmler. “The reports we got were contradictory, to say the least.”
“We still have rockets to launch at the bridgehead,” Himmler said. “We can use them to force them to slow down their efforts.”
Kesselring saw his chance. “If I may borrow Obergruppenfuehrer Roth, he can assist me in figuring out the correct targets,” he said. “I don’t know enough about the rockets and their capabilities.”
“You have had a lot on your mind,” Himmler said. “Very well; make sure that the defence line is as tough as you can make it. Call up everyone to help create the line; old men, women, children… all of them.”
“Can we take men from the camps?” Speer asked. “They can’t be moved and they will be useful working themselves to death.”
The good nazi, Kesselring thought dryly, as Himmler nodded. Speer was merely the man who’d hidden his evil from the world. It had been a dark day for the world when Hitler had chosen to ignore the evidence against Speer in favour of his considerable talents.
“Summon my Grand Vizier,” Himmler ordered. “Field Marshal, Obergruppenfuehrer Roth, use the rockets to bring us victory.”
Obergruppenfuehrer Roth allowed himself a moment of puzzlement, even though he had enough sense not to question Himmler’s orders. He had thought that Kesselring had been fully briefed on the rockets, by Speer if not the specialist rocket division. He kept his puzzlement from his face as Kesselring led him into the Wehrmacht sections of the massive bunker, away from the collapsed regions of the bunker. A British bomb had nearly ruined a section of the bunker, fortunately not exposing it to the sight of the British.
Roth blinked as Kesselring led him into a private room, and then performed a basic search for electronic surveillance devices. He wanted to ask what was happening, but a strange sense of… doom kept him quiet, even as Kesselring waved him to a chair.
“We have lost the war,” Kesselring said grimly. Roth opened his mouth to protest. “They can simply move faster than we can and they can see everything we do,” Kesselring continued. “Between you and me, I was… rather over-optimistic when talking to Himmler; I’ve already written the forces in France out of the coming final battle.”
Roth started to rise. His loyalty was to Himmler. “Sit down,” Kesselring snapped. The note of command in his voice was powerful; Roth sat back down before his mind had caught up with it. “You’re not a stupid man, Herman; can you tell us any way out of the predicament?”
Roth gave the question serious consideration. “If we kill enough of them…?”
“We won’t manage it,” Kesselring said flatly. “In the worst-case scenario, they can put two hundred thousand superbly trained and equipped men into the Netherlands in a week, perhaps less. They will certainly focus on reinforcing as quickly as possible; I would, in their place. Once they’re ready to advance, and they will certainly be ready ahead of us, no matter what Speer thinks, they will give us the impossible task of holding a line from Hamburg to Bonn, which we will have to hold everywhere.
“When they come, they will have better tanks, better weapons and total air superiority,” Kesselring continued. “We will not have the advantage in anything, but numbers, and the troops we can put into the line will not be all front-line; some of them will be old men or young boys, and they will be unequal to the task.”
He sighed. “And if they get bored of the battle, they can resort to blowing a five-mile wide hole in the line,” he concluded. “You’re not a stupid man… do you think we can win?”
Roth felt despair, fear… and terror. He reached for a hope. “We could withdraw to the east,” he said. “Make our stand there…”
“Which will merely prolong the misery of our population and the devastation of our industrial base,” Kesselring said. “They will destroy the Rhineland and its factories; they will remove people from our control and they will not be stopped! Obergruppenfuehrer Roth, whose side are you on?”
Roth lifted a tear-stained face. “How can I betray the man who supported me?” He asked. “The Fuhrer was always good to me.”