Seeing that his commander was lost in his own thoughts and that no answer was forthcoming, Seydlitz came to attention. "Will that be all for now, Herr Oberst?"
Looking up with sad eyes, the battalion commander shook his head. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Be prepared for long delays and no resupply once we get started. For the first time since the last war, the German Army will have two corps and six divisions, with all attached and supporting active duty units, in motion at once, and all headed in the same direction. Added to that we may see reserve units, provided the Chancellor is given his wish and the permission to activate them, scrambling to join up with their parent brigade. And," the battalion commander added with a flourish, "just to make this whole affair more challenging, American logistical and support units that were left in Germany are already on the road. They will be converging on the Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels training areas from all over southern Germany in preparation for storing their equipment and leaving Germany per the Chancellor's demands."
Unable to think much beyond the scope of his own thirteen Leopard II tanks, Seydlitz could not imagine why, given Germany's excellent road system, such movements should be a problem. No doubt, he thought, his commander was simply exaggerating. Then another thought came to mind. "Who, Herr Oberst, will replace us here at this border? If we leave here, the Americans will be free to slip into Bavaria."
Looking at Seydlitz for a moment, the battalion commander shook his head. "That, Captain, is highly unlikely. If the Americans intend to march to the sea for ports of embarkation, or try for the nuclear devices as the General Staff suspects, they would be taking the long way around by going through here. Everything points to an effort to break out of the Czech mountains onto the North German Plain where there is room to maneuver, and then to the sea. Besides, by marching through Bavaria, the Americans would never come close to the storage sites west of Berlin where the nuclear devices are. But," he added, "just in case, the 1st Mountain Division will be deploying north from the Austrian border to replace us, although their primary mission will be to keep the American units assembling at Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels from slipping across the border to join the Americans already in the Czech Republic."
Visualizing a map of Germany in his mind and considering the logic of what his commander had told him, everything made sense to Seydlitz. Though the 1st Mountain Division lacked the ability to stand up to a mechanized force, it would have more than enough to contain the American support units assembling in Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels. Satisfied, he pointed out that one of his platoons manning a roadblock ten kilometers from where they stood was out of radio contact due to a mountain that blocked radio transmissions. Since he would have to drive over to that platoon's location to contact it, and he had less than an hour to get moving, Seydlitz asked his battalion commander if he was finished with him.
Unable to provide his subordinate any further information or guidance, the battalion commander told him no, there was nothing else, and left. Seydlitz, like thousands of junior officers like him, began to set into motion the German Army's great leap into a nebulous situation, unsure of itself, its role, and, most importantly, where its duty and loyalty truly lay.
With the babble of the World News Network early-morning report providing background noise, Ed Lewis and his chief assistant sat down to go over Lewis's schedule for the day. Neither man paid much attention to the news commentator until he announced that they were cutting over to the White House, where the President's press secretary was about to hold a short press conference. For the first time, Lewis acknowledged that the television was on, asking his assistant to turn the volume up. As he did so, Lewis settled back in his seat, propped his feet up on his desk, and prepared to listen to the latest official statement from the White House.
The prepared text was, as usual during such situations, rather bland and contained few specifics. In a nutshell, all it announced was that President Wilson had ordered the immediate withdrawal of non-essential American military personnel and their dependents from Germany. Dependents, alerted the day before, were already flooding into points of embarkation. The Army and Air Force support units still in Germany that had not participated in the Czech operation had begun to concentrate at the Grafenwöhr and Hohenfels training areas, where they were, according to the presidential spokesman, to prepare their equipment for temporary storage. Lewis, of course, already knew all about these actions. What he was waiting for was the question-and-answer session. Only then would he be able to gauge how well Big Al's movements and his grand deception plan were succeeding.
The news correspondents in the White House briefing room didn't waste any time. The CBS White House correspondent was on his feet firing away before the President's press secretary could acknowledge him. "There are reports from Reuters this morning that the American forces in the Czech and Slovak republics, rather than preparing to stand down to a lower state of readiness, are in fact massing on the Czech border south of Berlin. The Reuters report claims Chancellor Ruff and his government view these moves as both threatening and provocative. The German Army, according to the report, is redeploying forces to counter this threat. How do you explain this in light of what you just stated?"
The press secretary shuffled his notes before looking down at the CBS correspondent. "I am sure you are well aware that tensions are quite high over there. I have no doubt that the Germans are overreacting to harmless moves. No doubt the forces that this news story, which I have not seen, is talking about are those that were involved in the Ukrainian operation and are simply completing their withdrawal from that country."
The CBS correspondent, as well as most of the other reporters and correspondents in the room, wasn't satisfied with this explanation. Pressing his point, the CBS correspondent countered. "While what you say may be true, why would those forces be shifted all the way to the German border and not around Prague or Pizen where the rest of the Tenth Corps was deployed? And what of the reports from Prague yesterday of massive movement of American forces out of that city headed north?"
The presidential press secretary was now beginning to become visibly uncomfortable. "I am sorry, but those are questions best asked of the Pentagon. We do not keep track of every unit here. Now if we could continue."
The press secretary pointed to a reporter from the Washington Post, who jumped up and hammered him. "If, as you say, the President is in fact meeting all the demands of the German Chancellor, how do you explain the news story being aired by WNN this morning of Chancellor Ruff's public statement that the movement of American forces is designed to threaten Germany and is not, as President Wilson's statement claims, meant to defuse the situation?"
The frustrations of the presidential press secretary were obvious as he grasped the podium with both hands and glared at the Washington Post reporter for several seconds before even attempting to answer his question. Satisfied that all was beginning to unravel as theyWilson, Big Al, and hehad hoped, Lewis told his assistant to turn the television off before they continued.
This request struck Lewis's assistant as strange. Lewis, a confirmed news junkie, always had someone, if he couldn't, listening to the WNN channel. It was therefore strange that he should give up watching such an important White House briefing. Perhaps, he thought, Lewis had simply given up on this situation. Maybe he was disgusted and didn't want to hear any more for fear it would only upset him. That theory, however, was shot when the assistant, after getting up and turning the television off, turned around and saw Lewis roll a pair of dice across the blotter on his desk. When the two cubes stopped rolling, he looked at the results and mumbled, "Not good. Hope Big Al has better luck." Then, with a smile, he looked up at his assistant as he scooped the two dice up and dropped them in the top drawer of his desk. "Well, let's get back to the schedule."