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

HEIL HITLER!

MANFRED ALOIS GRAF VON LUTZENBERGER

AMBASSADOR OF THE GERMAN REICH TO

THE REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA

So van Ribbentrop has told him of Phoenix? Is he smarter than he looks? Obviously, you don't get to be a deputy for eign minister unless you are bright.

I wonder how many others I don't know about are privy to

Operation Phoenix?

"You may inform the Foreign Minister that I appreciate his entrusting the document only to someone like yourself, and that I will hold myself ready to meet with him at his earliest convenience."

"I will relay your message, Herr Reichsfilhrer-SS."

Von Lowzer rose to his feet but made no move to leave the office.

"Something else, von Lowzer?"

"The message, Herr Reichsfiihrer-SS. You still have it."

"I thought it was for me," Himmler blurted.

"The Foreign Minister thought that making copies of the document was unwise," von Lowzer said.

"Yes," Himmler said, signifying nothing.

"I am under the Foreign Minister's orders to show it as soon as possible to the others who have an interest," von

Lowzer said.

"Bormann, for example?"

Von Lowzer nodded.

"Bormann hasn't seen this yet?" Himmler asked.

"You are the first to see it, Herr Reichsfuhrer-SS," von

Lowzer said. "Except, of course, for the Foreign Minister."

And yourself, of course. I'm going to have to find out about you.

But that's interesting. Von Ribbentrop sent the message to me first.

"And your next stop is where?" Himmler asked casually.

"Reichsleiter Bormann, Herr Reichsfiihrer-SS, and then

Admiral Canaris. Then I will go to Wolfsschanze, to see

Generalfeldmarschall Keitel and Admiral Donitz."

Generalfeldmarschall Keitel, chief of the German army, and Admiral Donitz were with Hitler at his secret headquar ters. As were Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring and Propa ganda Minister Josef Goebbels.

Obviously, von Lowzer knows a good deal. The location of the Fiihrer, and of those officials with him, is known to only a few wholly trustworthy people.

But does that mean von Lowzer knows everything about

Operation Phoenix?

"Then I had best not keep you," Himmler said.

He picked up the message from Buenos Aires and read it through again carefully before handing it to von Lowzer.

"You will be good enough to tell the Herr Foreign Minister that I understand the gravity of the problem and am at his disposal to discuss it?"

"Of course, Herr Reichsfiihrer-SS," von Lowzer said, rendered the Nazi salute, and walked out of Himmler's office.

Himmler waited three minutes-long enough for von

Lowzer to have certainly left the outer office-and then pressed the lever on his interoffice communications device and ordered Frau Hassler to summon Oberfuhrer von

Deitzberg.

"The Reichsfiihrer-SS requests your presence immedi ately, Herr Oberfuhrer," Frau Hassler's voice announced metallically through the intercom device on von Deitz berg's desk.

Von Deitzberg had been sitting slumped in his high backed chair with his feet resting on an open drawer. He put his feet on the floor, leaned across his desk, pressed the TALK lever, and very politely said, "Thank you very much, Frau

Hassler."

He slumped back into his chair and smiled at his deputy,

SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Erich Raschner. "Raschner, I believe the Reichsfiihrer has just seen the telex from Warsaw," he said.

The telex had been laid on his desk by a Signals Oberschar fuhrer, the SS rank equivalent to technical sergeant, at 1120.

As Adjutant to the Reichsfiihrer-SS, von Deitzberg was charged with the administration of all correspondence-mail, teletype, or radio-that would come to Himmler's personal attention. That is to say, von Deitzburg was the gatekeeper for a good portion of the information flow to the Reichsfuhrer-SS.

He determined what was important enough for Himmler to see, what he himself could deal with, or what he could pass farther down the chain of command for action.

Next, he determined when the Reichsfiihrer-SS actually saw the correspondence that in von Deitzberg's view merited his attention. Very rare pieces would be important enough for von Deitzberg to personally carry to Himmler himself. Imme diately below that priority were messages that he would leave with Frau Hassler for delivery to Himmler the moment he was free. Below that priority were several categories: Some corre spondence was stamped IMMEDIATE ATTENTION and placed in the box on his desk reserved for the Reichsfiihrer SS; some was stamped IMPORTANT and then placed in the box; and some, finally, was simply placed in the Himmler box without a stamp.

At least once an hour, a Signals messenger (always an SS noncommissioned officer) would make deliveries to von

Deitzberg's In box and pick up the contents of the Out box.

The Reichsfiihrer-SS's correspondence would be immedi ately passed on to Frau Hassler, who would sort it (IMME DIATE ATTENTION material on top, IMPORTANT below that, and unstamped on the bottom), and then place it on

Himmler's desk at the first opportunity.

Reichsfiihrer-SS Heinrich Himmler's time was, of course, very valuable. Oberfiihrer von Deitzberg was a splendid manager-with the result that he was gatekeeper not only of

Himmler's correspondence but of his appointments. He was the final arbiter of who got to see the Reichsfiihrer-SS, when, and for how long.

Even senior government officials, like Deputy Foreign Minister von Lowzer, had to pass through von Deitzberg's "gates." When someone senior appeared unannounced to meet with

Himmler, the SS officer on duty in the lobby of the building would pass the official into the elevator, then immediately tele phone von Deitzberg. If von Deitzberg decided that the

Reichsfuhrer-SS had no time for the official, von Deitzberg would head him off in the corridor and explain that he was so very sorry, but the Reichsfuhrer-SS had just left, and could he be of some help?

Today, von Deitzberg had decided that von Lowzer could be passed into the office of the Reichsfiihrer. Whatever von

Lowzer's business, asking him about it, and then checking with Himmler about that, would be more trouble than sim ply passing von Lowzer in. Thus von Deitzberg was not aware of the reason for von Lowzer's visit with the Reichs fiihrer.

As for the teletype message from Warsaw announcing the

Jewish insurrection, ordinarily, on receiving a message of that importance, von Deitzberg would have immediately car ried it to Himmler and handed it to him personally. But today the Reichsfuhrer had been lunching with his wife at the Hotel

Adlon and hadn't been expected back until at least 2:30.

And besides, that message offered von Deitzberg a per sonal opportunity.

The only trouble with his job was that he was so good at it. That meant, in other words, that he had become indispen sable to the Reichsfuhrer-SS. And that meant Himmler always listened sympathetically to his requests for an assignment in the field, and more or less promised one at the earliest opportunity; but that never seemed to happen.

He didn't want to stay in the field, and wasn't asking for that. What -he wanted was a brief assignment in the field-ten, fifteen days, no more than a month-so it would appear on his record when he was being considered for pro motion. And besides, he had no doubt that he could clean up this Warsaw insurrection nonsense in ten days.

Moments after the teletype from Warsaw had reached- his desk, von Deitzberg had ordered Raschner to call the Luft waffe and order a Heinkel bomber flown to Templehof Air field, where it was to be prepared to fly "senior officers of the office of the Reichsfiihrer-SS" to Warsaw on twenty minutes' notice. Raschner had also reserved two compart ments on each of the next three trains departing for Warsaw, in case the weather should preclude travel by air. Von