John Schettler - Hammer of God

“Let him try running half way across Cyrenaica again with his tanks,” said Churchill. “With Brigadier Kinlan’s force poised on his flank, we can chop off his head in one fell swoop! Now then… what this buys us in the short run, gentlemen, is a most needed currency, and ironically, that coin is time. I now see that my plan to try and get Wavell his tanks by pushing the Tiger convoy through the Mediterranean is not necessary. He’ll still need them, but they can go round the cape with any other naval reinforcements Admiral Tovey might choose to assign here. This foil we can hold at the enemy’s throat will keep him at bay while we get back on our feet here.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said Wavell, and he detailed the operation planned against Benghazi, and related other concerns concerning Crete, Iraq and Syria. “I had planned to send the 7th Australian Division out west with the rest of the ANZAC Corps, but given these ominous warning about Crete, and the rumblings of Rashid Ali and his golden Square rebellion in Iraq, I have second thoughts. We also have the Vichy French stronghold in Syria to worry about.”

“We could not help Greece, and I have paid a political price for that,” said Churchill, “but what about Crete? The Joint Intelligence believes that a combined sea and air attack is imminent there, and it must be stubbornly defended.”

“That intelligence may be accurate,” said Wavell, “but may I now introduce a new arrival to this conference, the Captain of the Russian ship that has been operating in league with our naval forces here, Anton Fedorov. He made some very telling points on this matter that I think you should hear.”

Fedorov had travelled to the conference on the KA-40 with the others, but was meeting Churchill for the first time now, and was greatly awed by the moment. He had been relieved that Churchill saw the need to maintain the secrecy of this small group of confederates, now how could he convince Churchill not to take the wrong turns in the long war ahead that could waste time and cost lives. After some discussion of his ship, its operations in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean, they finally returned to the issue of Crete, and Fedorov shared the same warning he had given Wavell earlier.

“All the forces presently at Crete were reinforced by two full brigades of tough Australian infantry, veterans of the Greek campaign, yet they could not stop the German attack, and the whole affair lasted no more than ten days time. The Germans will also be emboldened by their success at Malta in making this attack.”

“But might they not be over emboldened by that same success,” said Churchill? “Isn’t this an opportunity for us to face down and come to grips with this elite German airborne force, and put our best troops on the line against it? Breaking it would surely give the Germans pause, for if we were to yield the island without a fight, the Germans would turn their glaring eyes on Cyprus next, and from there it is only one short airborne hop to Palestine.”

“In that you are correct, sir, and in the history I know, the forces committed to Crete made the Germans pay a very high price for the island, so high in fact that Hitler forbade the use of the airborne divisions in any other similar assault for the duration of the war.”

“Then that alone is sufficient reason for us to do everything possible to defend the place.”

“You could do so, but without the guarantee that the Germans would again sustain heavy losses. I must tell you now that we are not the only men that may be tampering with the course of these events. There are others, and one other man is of the gravest concern. While we stand here with you, he has instead chosen to ally himself with Hitler and his Nazi regime, and may be advising the Germans even as I offer this foresight in your planning. I am speaking of Ivan Volkov, and what I will tell you now will be every bit as shocking as the presence of General Kinlan’s brigade in this distant desert outpost.”

“Ivan Volkov? My God,” said Churchill. “Is anyone else coming to dinner? Out with it man, I want to hear everything you have to say.”

The door opened slowly and he entered, the dark shiny band of his hat catching the light as he strode boldly forward. The click of his boots on the hard wood floor echoed a confidence that also stiffened his posture, and hardened the lines of his shoulders. At his side he carried a ceremonial baton, with a jeweled handle of the finest leather and a metal tip. His uniform was immaculate, charcoal grey trimmed in black, and his breast was gilded with the gold and silver of medals.

He was born in the heart of the capital, Berlin, Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Lewinski, the son of a Prussian general, but raised more by his aunt than his own parents. Unable to have children, she had all but adopted the young Fritz Erich as her own son, even to the point of giving him the name she had borrowed from another Prussian general when she married Georg von Manstein. And so the man who might have grown up to be General Lewinski, instead was christened General Erich von Manstein, and he soon distinguished himself as one of the most able and capable generals in the German Army.

The son of two generals served in the first war, taking part in the capture of the citadel of Namur, being wounded at the battle of the Masurian Lakes, and later was at Verdun and the Somme. He was so talented that he was one of the select group of only 4000 officers the German Army was permitted to retain after the First World War. When Heintz Guderian proposed dramatic new changes to German war doctrine, Manstein became a bridge between the old infantry tactics and the new emphasis on the slashing maneuver of armor. When then Chief of the Army General Staff, Ludwig Beck, opposed Guderian’s ideas about tanks, Manstein proposed the creation of the Sturmgeschutz self-propelled assault gun to work in direct support with the infantry.

Many thought Manstein would soon take Beck’s place, but the politics of OKW saw another man rise to that post, Franz Halder, and the incident embittered the relationship between Halder and Manstein for years to come. Yet as a skilled planner with a sharp strategic mind, Manstein was at the heart of all the early German successes at war. It was he who had guided the plan for operations against Poland, and it was his decisive change to the German Fall Gelb plan to attack France that resulted in the swift defeat of that nation.

Halder was none too happy about that. He had drafted a plan for a sweeping attack in the north, but Manstein instead insisted that the armor could emerge from the unexpected axis of the Ardennes forest in a “sickle cut” behind the enemy that would unhinge the entire defense. Halder had Manstein transferred to get rid of the man and his ideas, but they prevailed when Hitler ordered a version of the plan that was much in accord with Manstein’s thinking. The result was now history.

It was no surprise then, as Hitler now contemplated an array of many options in the months ahead, that he summoned Manstein again, much to Halder’s chagrin.

“Greetings, General.” The dark eyes flashed with energy, but the handshake was cold, as if the man had no soul. Manstein never forgot that observation he soon made about Hitler, though he would nonetheless serve his country to the best of his considerable abilities. Now he wondered what this meeting was all about, and why he would be privileged to be granted an audience with the Fuhrer himself. Hitler wasted no time getting to the reason.