Griffin W.E.B. - Honor Bound 03 - Secret Honor

"And the purpose of this?"

"You told me, Herr Reichsprotektor, that you always felt you could judge far more about an individual from studying his face than by what came out of his mouth."

Himmler looked at him and smiled. "It's true, Karl."

"I believe it is, Sir."

"So you had a movie made? And what did you tell von

Tresmarck and the others was the purpose? That I wanted to study their faces?"

"They don't think I had anything to do with it," Cranz said. "And neither did the photographers. It's not very long,

Sir. May I suggest you have a look at it?"

"Canaris and the others will be here at four. We have to talk before then. One of the other things I believe, Karl, is that one should go to a meeting as well prepared as possible."

"And I have found that to be true, too, Herr Reichsprotektor."

"As you have learned that imitation-the most sincere form of flattery-goes a long way with Heinrich Himmler?"

"I wouldn't quite put it that way, Herr Reichsprotektor."

Himmler reached for his telephone. "I will require a pro jectionist immediately," he announced, and hung up.

The projectionist, a handsome young blond Stabsschar fiihrer, came into Himmler's private projection room from the corridor as Himmler and Cranz entered from Himmler's office. He gave a stiff-armed salute with his right hand and held out his left hand for the can of film.

"As soon as you can find time, Karl, there is film of that disgusting business in the Warsaw ghetto you will probably find interesting," Himmler said.

The private projection room was a small theater. There were two rows of chairs. In the front row were three com fortable leather armchairs, each with a table beside it holding a lamp, a telephone, a pad of paper, and a glass containing six freshly sharpened pencils.

Himmler waved Cranz into one of the chairs and raised his voice slightly. "Whenever you are ready, Stabsscharfiihrer."

A moment later, the room went dark and the film began to play.

The first shot showed two tracked vehicles, normally used to tow heavy artillery, but now towing trailers, moving between two lines of uniformed men, black-uniformed

Waffen-SS on one side of the road and gray-uniformed sol diers on the other. They stood with their rifle butts between their feet, their helmeted heads bowed in respect. Officers with drawn swords stood in front of the ranks of soldiers.

A casket covered with a Nazi flag was on each trailer.

The officers raised their swords in salute as each casket passed.

The next shot showed the mourners and dignitaries fol lowing the caskets, headed by General Galland.

"Major von Wachtstein is the fellow walking with Haupt mann Griiner, the two young Luftwaffe officers," Cranz said.

"Behind them, the chubby fellow is Gradny-Sawz, and the

SS officer is Sturmbannfiihrer Werner von Tresmarck, our man in Uruguay."

"I know the Austrian and von Tresmarck," Himmler said.

The next shot showed the procession moving through the gates of the cemetery. There were close-ups of von Wacht stein, Griiner, von Tresmarck, and Gradny-Sawz. Next came a shot of the Horst Wessel Monument, with the camera moving down it to reveal the caskets, now poised above the empty graves. The mourners and dignitaries were lined up at the head of the grave.

Two clergymen appeared, one in Army uniform, the other in the vestments of a Catholic priest. Though there was no sound track, it was obvious that both were performing funeral rites.

They were followed by two officers, first an Army gen- eralmajor and then a Waffen-SS SS-Brigadefiihrer. They! each delivered a brief eulogy, followed by the rendering of \ the Nazi salute.;

There were more close-ups of the faces of von Wacht stein, Griiner, von Tresmarck, and Gradny-Sawz.

The next shot was of a small battery of 57-mm antitank j cannon, which fired a salute. Then came a shot of the troops! and the mourners-with the camera lingering a moment on each of their faces-and the dignitaries rendering the Nazi salute as the flags were removed from the caskets, and the caskets being lowered into the ground.

This dissolved into a shot of Adolf Hitler, wearing his Iron

Cross First Class, rendering the Nazi salute, and then the I screen went white.

"Interesting," Himmler said, and then raised his voice slightly. "I'd like to see it again, Stabsscharfuhrer. I aril par- j ticularly interested in the faces of the mourners. Can you stop the film, or run it slowly, when those appear?"

"May I suggest, Herr Reichsprotektor, that I put the film in a still projector? There is a risk that the film might be damaged if I 'hold' too long in the motion picture projector."

"Then do that," Himmler said. "And tell the supply officer I want a motion picture projector in here that I can have stopped when I want it stopped without ruining the film."

"Jawohl, Herr Reichsprotektor. It will take me just a sec ond, Sir."

Himmler picked up the pad of paper and scrawled on it. "I am making a note to myself, Karl, about the Horst Wessel

Monument. I don't think it's quite what it should be. Maybe

Speer will have some ideas."

"I thought it was very impressive, Herr Reichsprotektor."

"Not impressive enough," Himmler said flatly.

There was a blur of images on the screen, and then the screen was full of a close-up of Hauptmann Griiner.

The Stabsscharfuhrer appeared with a small box con nected to a cable. "With your permission, Herr Reichspro tektor," he said, handing it to Himmler. "The top button moves the film rapidly backward; the button below, backward, one frame at a time. The next button moves the film forward, one frame at a time, and the lower button forward rapidly."

"Thank you, Stabsscharfuhrer," Himmler said, and began to experiment with the switch. He spent ten minutes looking at the close-ups, and then raised his voice: "How do I turn the projector off?"

The screen went blank and the lights came on.

"All right, Karl, tell me what you saw in the faces."

"Of the three, von Tresmarck, in my judgment, Herr

Reichsprotektor, looked most nervous. Gradny-Sawz slightly less nervous, and von Wachtstein least nervous of all."

"Nervousness, or guilt?"

"There was, I thought, some guilt on the face of von

Wachtstein."

"And to what do you attribute the guilt?"

"In my judgment, Herr Reichsprotektor, I felt that he holds himself responsible for the death of Oberst Griiner."

"You think he's our traitor, then?" Himmler asked evenly.

"No, Sir. What I meant to say is that he and Hauptmann

Griiner are close friends, and he was-for lack of a better word-feeling guilty that his friend's father had died in his company; that he had not been able to prevent it from happening, that he had somehow failed his friend."

"Not because he was responsible for telling the Americans where the landing was to be made?"

"After speaking with Kapitan de Banderano-"

"Who? Oh, the captain of the Spanish ship?"

"Yes, Sir. Kapitan de Banderano said that he was present on the ship when von Wachtstein learned from Gollz where the landing would be made, and that at the time, Goltz made reference to its being time for von Wachtstein to learn. He said that it would have been absolutely impossible for von

Wachtstein to communicate with anyone on shore after he had the information. And he painted quite a picture of von

Wachtstein's courage under fire on the beach itself."

"I have to tell you, Karl, that I was surprised a moment ago when you said you thought von Wachtstein held himself responsible. I watched his face very carefully. That was not the face of a man who had anything shameful to hide. I could tell by the eyes, the lip movement… even the way he held his shoulders."