Where this would lead to, von Altendorf did not know. He thought it was unlikely he would live to see any spectacular results from this.
Baron von Altendorf often wondered what secrets his friend had Walther harboured about the manner of the death of Adolf Hitler. ‘ I will never know. Perhaps it is just as well’. He missed his friend.
On matters closer to home, von Altendorf’s son, Klaus, was now a General, and still commanding tank brigades. It was a source of immense pride to him when he had heard Klaus described as the finest commander of armour since Rommel. To be compared to the legendary Rommel!
Erica, his beautiful daughter, remained happily married to the Englishman, Jeremy Blackstone, who was now providing invaluable assistance to General Sieckenius. So he had been informed by the Defence Minister.
They had a permanent home in Berlin, but spent at least every other alternate weekend with their three children, at the family estate. Keeping the old man company. He considered himself very lucky in respect of his family.
The Baron stared into the distance. So many memories!
He had now finished writing his memoirs at last. He had decided to call it PAX GERMANICA. The title was inspired by one immutable fact that was crystal clear to him.
The last decade had been THE GERMAN PEACE.
THE END
THE CENTURY OF DEATH.
With 200 million war and war related deaths in the twentieth century, it could well go down in history as ‘ The century of death’.
Can it happen again? The answer is YES! And will remain so until the world’s weak, incompetent, self-seeking, power-hungry, or just plain corrupt politicians start to learn from history.
Not that I think there is much chance of that happening!
‘LIES, NOTHING BUT LIES’. That is what springs into my mind when I read the latest sayings of politicians. There is a huge gap between the rubbish they utter for public consumption, and what they actually think.
It is my utter contempt for the vast majority of the world’s ruling elite that partly motivated me to write this book.
When one looks at the carnage and damage inflicted upon the world by one man, Adolf Hitler, it defies comprehension. His legacy — the communist superpower of the Soviet Union, later followed by communist China — has a baleful effect on the world to this day.
Without the rise of the communist superpowers there would have been no Korean War or Vietnam War. Chairman Mao would not have caused the deaths of millions of his own citizens through his insane domestic policies. There would be no rogue North Korea with a mad man for a president developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.
Two years ago I visited my wife’s family in Russia. Really nice, warm hearted, normal people. I subsequently learned that three of her mother’s brothers were sent off to fight the invading Germans in World war II and, along with countless other Russian soldiers, they never returned. The manner and place of their death is unknown to this day.
Knowing of the bestial treatment meted out to Russian prisoners of war by the Nazis, one can only hope they died on the battlefield.
This discovery left me with a feeling of infinite sadness. It was also another motivation for me to write The German Peace.
This book should not be considered an anti-war novel. If a label has to be applied it should be thought of as an indictment of the world’s ruling political elite.
Could World War II have been avoided? Of course it could! And this is what THE GERMAN PEACE is about. It is the story of what SHOULD have happened.
Facts, actual events, and real people are woven throughout the story. One thing is for sure, this story is considerably more plausible than the incredible world shattering events that actually happened from May 1940 onwards.
March 2017
Copyright © 2017 Derek Pennington
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction, portions of which are based on actual events and real historical figures.
Derek Pennington
dekpennalthistory@yahoo.com