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

According to the report, the uprising had been going on for twenty-four hours, and there was no estimate of when it would be contained.

The Reichsfiihrer-SS grew aware that his knuckles on the band pressing down the teletypewriter paper to keep it from curling were white with tension. When he lifted it from his desk, the hand was trembling.

Obviously, I am very angiy, and-even though I have every right to be-therefore I should not make decisions that might be influenced by that anger.

One should never discipline children when angry, he con tinued, musing, his mind taking something of a leap. One should discipline children very carefully, and with love in one's heart, not anger. And then his focus returned to the matter at hand: My God, that's incredible!-filthy Jewish swine confined to a ghetto having the effrontery to rise in arms against the German State! Whoever is responsible for this incredible breakdown of order will have to be disci plined. Perhaps sent to a concentration camp, or shot.

But I will make that decision calmly, when I am no longer angry.

The Reichsfiihrer-SS pulled open a narrow drawer in the desk, rolled the teletypewriter print out into a narrow tube, then put it in the drawer and closed it.

Then he went to his private toilet, emptied his bladder, studied himself in the mirror, decided to have his hair cut within the next day or so, adjusted his necktie, and went back to his desk.

He pushed the SPEAK lever on his interoffice communication device. "Would you show the Herr Deputy Foreign

Minister in, please?" he asked courteously.

The left of the double doors opened a moment later. "Deputy

Minister von Lowzer, Herr Reichsfiihrer-SS," Frau Hassler announced.

Georg Friedrich von Lowzer, a plump forry-five-year-old in a too-small black suit, was carrying a leather briefcase. He took two steps inside the office and raised his arm and hand straight out from his shoulder in the Nazi salute. "Heil Hitler!" he said.

Reichsfiihrer-SS Heinrich Himmler stood up and returned a less formal salute: He bent his arm at the elbow and replied, "Heil Hitler!", then added, with a smile: "My dear von Lowzer, what an unexpected pleasure to see you."

"I regret, Herr Reichsfiihrer-SS, that I am the bearer of unpleasant news." Now what?

He smiled at von Lowzer. "Of such importance that someone of your stature in the Foreign Ministry has to bear it?"

"I believe when the Herr Reichsfiihrer-SS reads the docu ment, he will understand Herr Foreign Minister von Ribben trop's concern that it be seen immediately and by no one but yourself," von Lowzer said. He unlocked the briefcase, took a sealed, yellowish envelope from it, and handed it to Himmler.

"Please, have a chair," Himmler said graciously. Can 1 have Frau Hassler get you a coffee? Something a little stronger?"

"No, thank you, Herr Reichsfiihrer-SS."

Himmler stood behind his desk and attempted to open the envelope flap with his fingernails. He failed in that attempt and had to reach for his letter opener-a miniature version of the dagger worn by SS officers. It had been a gift to him from one of the graduating classes of the SS Officer Candidate School at Bad Tolz.

When the envelope had been slit, he found that it con tained another sheet of teletypewriter paper. He laid it on his desk, then placed a coffee cup at its top and his fingers at the bottom to prevent curling.

CLASSIFICATION: MOST URGENT

CONFIDENTIALITY: MOST SECRET

DATE: 23 APRIL 1943 FROM:

AMBASSADOR, BUENOS AIRES

TO: IMMEDIATE AND PERSONAL ATTENTION

OF THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF THE GERMAN

REICH

HEIL HITLER!

DEEPLY REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT

STANDARTENFUHRER JOSEF LUTHER GOLTZ

AND OBERST KARL-HEINZ GRUNER WERE

KILLED BY GUNFIRE AT APPROXIMATELY

0945 19 APRIL 1943 NEAR PUERTO MAG DALENA, ARGENTINA., MAJOR FREIHERR

HANS-PETER VON WACHTSTEIN NARROWLY

ESCAPED DEATH IN THE SAME INCIDENT.

INASMUCH AS BRINGING THE MURDERS OF

THESE MEN TO THE ATTENTION OF THE

Reichsfuhrer-SS Himmler looked up from the document and fixed his gaze on Deputy Minister von Lowzer, who was now sitting in the center of a small couch, his hands folded on his lap, his briefcase at his feet. "You are aware of the contents of this message?" he asked.

"I am privy to the details of Operation Phoenix, Herr

Reichsfiihrer-SS," von Lowzer replied solemnly.

ARGENTINE GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE MADE

IT NECESSARY TO EXPLAIN THEIR PRES ENCE AT PUERTO MAGDALENA, THE UNDER SIGNED HAS INFORMED THE ARGENTINE

GOVERNMENT THAT BOTH OFFICERS, IN

COMPLIANCE WITH ORDERS, HAVE RETURNED

TO GERMANY, AND HAS ARRANGED FOR THE

TRANSPORT OF THEIR REMAINS TO CADIZ,

ABOARD THE SPANISH MOTOR VESSEL

OCEANO PACIFICO, WHICH AS THE RESULT

OF UNSUPPORTED CHARGES OF ATTEMPTED

SMUGGLING HAS BEEN ORDERED TO LEAVE

ARGENTINE WATERS IMMEDIATELY.

CAPTAIN JOSE FRANCISCO DE BANDERANO,

MASTER OF THE OCEANO PACIFICO, WAS

DENIED PERMISSION TO OFF-LOAD ANY OF

HER CARGO, AND NONE OF HER CARGO OF

ANY KIND WAS UNLOADED IN ARGENTINA.

ABSENT SPECIFIC ORDERS FROM YOUR

EXCELLENCY TO THE CONTRARY, THE

UNDERSIGNED IS RELUCTANT TO ENTRUST

OTHER DETAILS OF THIS TRAGIC INCI DENT TO A RADIO TRANSMISSION. THE

UNDERSIGNED SUGGESTS THAT A FULL

REPORT OF THIS INCIDENT COULD BEST

BE MADE TO YOUR EXCELLENCY AND OTHER

OFFICIALS BY SOMEONE PERSONALLY

FAMILIAR WITH THE INCIDENT.

IN ADDITION TO THE UNDERSIGNED,

LISTED IN ORDER OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE

OF THE INCIDENT, THESE ARE:

MAJOR FREIHERR HANS-PETER VON WACHT STEIN

FIRST SECRETARY ANTON VON GRADNY-SAWZ

STURMBANNFUHRER WERNER VON TRESMARCK

OF THE EMBASSY OF THE GERMAN REICH

IN MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY.

THE UNDERSIGNED BEGS TO REMIND YOUR

EXCELLENCY THAT A LUFTHANSA CONDOR

FLIGHT IS EXPECTED TO REACH BUENOS

AIRES IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, AND

RESPECTFULLY SUGGESTS THAT ANY, OR

ALL, OF THE ABOVE-NAMED OFFICERS

TRAVEL TO GERMANY ON THE RETURN

FLIGHT SO THAT YOUR EXCELLENCY MAY

BE MADE PRIVY TO THE DETAILS OF THIS

UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT, AND OF OTHER

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS HERE OF IMPOR TANCE TO GERMANY.

THE UNDERSIGNED RESPECTFULLY AWAITS

YOUR EXCELLENCY'S ORDERS.