Lange did not quite understand what Ruff meant by bringing the Army's full weight to bear. He suspected that he knew but opted not to ask for a clarification, because he might not like the answer. By leaving the question open and ambiguous, Lange could always say later that he had misunderstood Ruff's intent. Slowly he answered, carefully picking his words so as to leave himself the greatest amount of leeway in dealing with his own moral questions as well as the Americans. "I am afraid, Herr Chancellor, that we were caught in the midst of redeploying to the east. Everything, from intelligence assets to logistical support commands, was in the process of preparing to counter the threat from the Czech Republic and Poland."
"I know that, General, I know that."
Not to be rushed, Lange shifted in his chair before he continued. "Yes, Herr Chancellor, I know that you know that. But I tell you this because I need you to understand that what we must now do will be no easy thing. The combat elements of the units in the east are only a small portion of the mass of men and materiel which we must turn around. I cannot simply tell everyone to turn and go south. First we must decide where we should send those units. That will be determined not by where the Americans are today but where we think they will be in seventy-two to ninety-six hours from now. This determination is based on solid intelligence and analysis of what we think their intentions are."
"I can tell you, General Lange, what the Americans' intentions are!" Ruff screamed. "They intend to embarrass this nation and its people."
Lange ignored Ruff's outburst. "Once we have a grasp of what their objectives and routes of march will be, we then have to look at where best to stop them. Given that, deployment plans, along with the march tables to shift units in accordance with those plans in an intelligent and orderly fashion, must be developed and disseminated in the form of orders at every level. Equally important to the movement of the combat elements is that of the combat service support commands. The necessary support facilities, all of which are now moving or established in the east, must be shifted back west, one hundred and eighty degrees, to support our operations."
Rooks, seeing that Ruff was losing his patience, leaned forward toward Lange. "This is no time, Herr General, for a lecture on operational tactics. To the point, man, to the point. What do you recommend?"
Taking in a deep breath, Lange realized that both Ruff and Rooks were interested in pinning him to a definite course of action when he hadn't even decided in his own mind what an appropriate response for the Bundeswehr should be. He needed time. Time to resolve matters of conscience, and time to determine how well the German Army would do in a fight with the Americans, if it came to that. Time was needed to bring under control those Army and Luftwaffe commanders who had already decided and were taking unilateral action that ranged from the simple refusal to answer messages from higher headquarters to the actual sabotage of aircraft. "We must, Hen-Chancellor, given the advantage that they have and the problems we face in redeploying our own forces, allow the Americans free passage through Bavaria. We are in no position to resist them there, and any effort to offer even token resistance would jeopardize our ability to stop the Americans further north."
Lange's statement, given in such a calm, almost casual manner, hit every man in the room like a slap in the face. Lammers, the Minister of Defense, almost jumped out of his seat. "We can't do that! We simply can't! Do you realize what you are saying?"
Looking at Lammers, Lange's voice was quite defiant, almost arrogant. "I know exactly what I'm saying. Do you?"
The point that Lange was making, using Lammers, was not lost on the others, especially Ruff and Rooks. For the first time they realized they were no longer in command of the situation that they had so carefully created. None of them had the background or knowledge to challenge Lange, who after all was "ein General." For, despite years of demilitarization in Germany, the opinion of a senior member of the General Staff was something that demanded respect, especially among this particular group of men. Therefore, even though they found Lange's pronouncement distasteful, everyone in the room realized that none of them could alter the basic laws of time, space, and terrain that governed military operations. Lange, who had spent a lifetime dealing with such problems, would set the pace and tone of German reactions for the next few days. Rooks, looking first at Ruff and Lammers, turned to Lange. "Please, Herr General, proceed."
"From southern Germany, the Americans have the ability to move west through Stuttgart and into France, which may allow them to enter northwest through Mainz and into Belgium, or due north from Würzburg through Kassel to Bremen, where their Navy will be able to intervene. Though I personally believe that the Americans will strike north for the sea, we cannot disallow the other possibilities. Therefore, I recommend that we commence redeploying our forces in such a manner as will create in central Germany a huge cauldron, with the 5th and 10th Panzer divisions remaining in the west, the 2nd Panzer and 4th Panzergrenadier deploying to form the eastern side of the cauldron, and the 1st and 7th Panzer throwing themselves across the Americans' line of advance to the sea in the north. The 1st Mountain Division, with the 26th Parachute Brigade attached, will follow the Americans, threatening their rear."
"Where," Ruff asked impatiently, "do you intend to stop the Americans?"
"If, Herr Chancellor," Lange responded with great emphasis on "if," "it comes to a fight, I expect it to be in the area south of Kassel. That, however, will not be certain for several days. In the meantime, both our forces and the Americans will be racing to see who completes their redeployments first and can get moving first. If we can unsnarl the massive tangle that our own divisions are in due to the need to turn around, we will be in place and ready. If the Americans, however, succeed in moving their forces out of the Czech Republic, gathering up loose units left in Germany, and get moving first, we will find ourselves fighting a series of meeting engagements with our forces which may still be in the process of deploying throughout central Germany. Either way, we still have several days in which the military will be unable to do anything, leaving Herr Lammers free to seek a peaceful solution to this crisis."
The unexpected reference to an effort to resolve the crisis through other than force of arms caught Lammers off guard. He could not, however, easily pass this off. If for no other reason than to keep Interior Minister Thomas Fellner, the voice of reason and the only figure respected by all political factions in Ruff's cabinet, satisfied and in line, Lammers had to respond in a positive manner. "Why, yes, that is a very, very sound course of action. I will, of course, continue to appeal to the Americans while the Bundeswehr prepares. But I must warn you, I hold little hope for that."
"And I, Herr Lammers, must warn you and everyone else that the Bundeswehr may not be able to deliver on the threats that you have been hurling at the Americans. In the first place, every brigade deployed has for the most part only two combat battalions with it. There has been insufficient response by the reservists needed in the two reserve battalions of each brigade to bring those units up to strength. In effect, each of our six panzer and panzergrenadier divisions has only six, maybe seven, tank or infantry battalions with it. Instead of a three-to-one advantage, as the number of divisions deployed by the Bundeswehr and the Americans would suggest, we have less than a two-to-one advantage when counting the critical ground combat battalions.