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

"I asked how you would feel about going there."

"From what I've heard, it's a beautiful city," von

Deitzberg said.

"It was decided in there that you should go to Buenos

Aires to find out what happened there," Himmler said.

"Jawohl, Herr Reichsprotektor. May I take Raschner with me?"

Himmler nodded.

"And Canaris suggested that you go in a Wehrmacht uni form… that of a Generalmajor," Himmler said. "He said he thought you would attract less attention that way. How do you feel about that?"

"I think he has a point," von Deitzberg said. "But how could that be done? Wouldn't Keitel object?"

"There will be no objections from Keitel," Himmler said flatly.

"It will be a strange feeling putting on a Wehrmacht uni form again," von Deitzberg thought aloud.

Himmler smiled knowingly at him.

Actually, the thought of putting on a Generalmajor's uni form-and I won't just be putting it on, there will be some kind of official appointment, even if temporary; I will be a

Generalmajor-is rather pleasant.

The von Deitzberg family had provided officers to Germany for centuries, and Manfred had been an Army officer-an

Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) of Cavalry-before he trans ferred to the SS.

In 1911, when Manfred was ten years old, his father- then an Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel)-had been assigned to the German garrison in German East Africa.

Manfred had clear memories of the good life in the African highlands, of their large houses, the verdant fields, the black servants.

His father had loved Africa and had invested heavily in

German East African real estate, borrowing against the family's

Westphalian estates to do so. When war came-Manfred was then fourteen-his father had been rapidly promoted to

Generalmajor, and had served until the Armistice as deputy commander of German military forces in German East Africa.

The Armistice had brought with it an immediate reversal of the von Deitzberg family fortunes.

Under the Versailles Treaty of 28 June 1919, Germany lost 25,550 square miles of its land and seven million of its citizens to Poland, France, and Czechoslovakia. Its major

Baltic port, Danzig, became a "free port" administered by

Poland. Most of the Rhineland was occupied by Allied troops. The Saar was given "temporarily" to France; and the

Rhine, Oder, Memel, Danube, and Moselle Rivers were internationalized. Austria was prohibited from any future union with Germany.

All German holdings abroad, including those of private

German citizens, were confiscated. Almost the entire mer chant fleet was expropriated. One hundred forty thousand dairy cows and other livestock were shipped out of Germany as reparations, as well as heavy machinery (including entire factories) and vast amounts of iron ore and coal.

Billions of marks were assessed annually as reparations, and German colonies in Africa and elsewhere were seized by the League of Nations and then mandated to the various

Allies (though not to the United States).

Under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, all the von

Deitzberg family property in what had become the former

German East Africa had been lost.

And since the loans against the von Deitzberg estates in

Westphalia had been still on the books of the Dresdener

Bank, when payments could not be made, the estates were also lost.

Soon afterward, Generalmajor von Deitzberg had com mitted suicide. He had not only been shamed that his deci sions had resulted in the loss of his family's estates, but he was unwilling to face spending the rest of his life in a small apartment somewhere, living only on his retirement pay.

Army friends of the family had arranged a place for Man fred in the cadet school, and in 1923, when he was twenty two, he had been commissioned a lieutenant of cavalry like his father and his grandfather. The difference for Manfred was that the family could no longer afford to subsidize its sons' military pay-meaning that Manfred had to live on his army pay, and it wasn't much.

Furthermore, because the Army was now limited to

100,000 men by the Versailles Treaty, promotions had come very slowly. In 1932, when Manfred was finally promoted

Oberleutnant, he was thirty-one and had been in the Army nine years.

A month before his promotion, he had joined the National

Socialist German Workers party, recognizing in Adolf Hitler a man who could restore Germany-and the German army-to greatness.

The next year, he learned that Heinrich Himmler was expanding the "Protective Echelon" (Der Schutzstaffel, formed in 1925 to protect Hitler) of the Nazi party into a more heavily armed, army-like force to be called the

Waffen-SS.

Manfred suspected that the Waffen-SS would become in time the most important armed force of Germany. And he knew that Hitler did not wholly trust the Army-an opinion shared by most of the senior National Socialist hierarchy.

The majority of the army's officer corps came from the aris tocracy, who looked down not only on Hitler himself (whom they referred to privately as "The Bavarian Corporal") but also on many in his inner circle. The Nazis were well aware of this.

Nevertheless, von Deitzberg had concluded that a profes sional officer who truly believed that National Socialism was the future would fare much better in the Waffen-SS than in the Wehrmacht, if for no other reason than that the

Waffen-SS would in the beginning be short of professional soldiers, since its officer corps would come predominantly from one branch or another of the police (many police officers had joined the Nazi party very early on).

He was well aware that you can't make an Army officer out of a policeman-no matter how good a Nazi-by simply putting him in a uniform and calling him Sturmbannfiihrer or Obersturmbannfiihrer. It takes training and experience, and he had both.

His application for an SS commission was quickly approved, and within a year he had been promoted to Haupt sturmfiihrer (captain). He was promoted to Sturmbannfuhrer

(major) two years after that-much sooner than he would have received the equivalent promotion in the Wehrmacht.

At the time of his promotion, von Deitzberg had been sta tioned in Munich, which exercised administrative authority over, among other things, the concentration camp at Dachau.

His superior staff work in this position brought him to the attention of Brigadefiihrer Reinhard Heydrich, Himmler's adjutant.

Like von Deitzburg, Heydrich had been a professional officer (in the Navy, in his case). But for Heydrich it wasn't problems with making ends meet that sent him into the SS.

Rather, he had been forced to resign his naval commission because of an unfortunate affair with a woman. His military experience still left him convinced-with von Deitzberg- that you can't make good officers just by pinning rank insignia on them.

Heydrich had von Deitzberg assigned to his office in

Berlin, and there they became friends.

This turned out to be a mixed blessing. Heydrich liked fast cars, fast women, and good food. The SS provided his

Mercedes, and the fast women were free, but usually only after they'd been wined and dined at Berlin's better restau rants, where Heydrich was seldom presented with a check.

Since von Deitzberg did not enjoy Heydrich's celebrity, waiters and bartenders were not at all reluctant to hand the checks to him.

In August 1941, in the Reichschancellery, Hitler had per sonally promoted Heydrich to Gruppenfiihrer (Major Gen eral) and von Deitzberg-newly appointed as First Deputy

Adjutant to Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler-to Obersturm bannfiihrer.

After a good deal of Champagne at the promotion party at the Hotel Adlon, von Deitzberg confided to Heydrich that, although the promotion was satisfying for a number of rea sons, it was most satisfying because he needed the money.