Chapter 127: Foreign Volunteers
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26-December-1919
At the Mitau railway station, we were waiting for one of the shipments coming from Germany. I had once again done one of my things and found a way to create a shell company that served as cover to obtain certain materials that were difficult to acquire within our industry.
I had bought a bankrupt German import company and sent one of my men to bid for several ships belonging to merchant companies that were also going bankrupt. The official objective was to trade with Sweden.
Part of the facade consisted of importing food for the German market, buying Swedish surpluses such as salted fish, turnips and other similar products. In reality, all of it served to hide that we were importing tungsten from Sweden.
We needed that material to manufacture armor-piercing ammunition, since we were about to begin a campaign against the British Navy and lacked enough shells with high penetration capacity.
The cannons I had ordered developed in Ukraine were almost finished. Only a few details of the weapon remained to be resolved before mounting it on the chassis of an enormous tank.
We were literally placing the cannon of a battleship on a land vehicle.
The intention was to constantly harass the British Navy and force it, once and for all, to stay away from the coast. If we succeeded, the British forces deployed near Riga would be left in an extremely vulnerable position.
The British had tried to divide our forces by opening new fronts in different regions. The main one was in Poland, where they intended to provoke a civil war.
To achieve that, they had sent the members of the Polish forces formed in France who still remained on French territory. However, those men had been massacred after falling into our trap.
One day in advance, we withdrew all Polish soldiers deployed near the German border from their posts. Then we intercepted the trains transporting the troops of the Armée Bleue, packed into wagons originally intended for transporting horses in order to move the greatest possible number of men in the shortest time.
With that, we eliminated tens of thousands of Polish soldiers in a single blow, men who would have represented an enormous headache. Had they managed to deploy, they could have forced me to divert thousands or even tens of thousands of my men.
The Poles did not want us inside their country. Not even after the territorial gift we had handed them. The puppet government we controlled remained extremely unstable and depended on our military presence to stay in power.
At least the war continued developing in a way that benefited us.
We had managed to arrange a meeting with Prime Minister Mihály Károlyi to discuss several matters affecting both Hungary and us. Abteilung IIIb, using its contacts within the former Austro-Hungarian organizations, had informed us that France was sending loaded trains toward Romania.
We did not know exactly what they were transporting, but it was obvious that the French were arming the Romanian Army.
Romania could enter the war with the intention of seizing the Moldavian territories that Ukraine had kept. That was quite obvious to me, but it also represented a direct threat to Hungary.
A Romanian Army armed by France could once again claim Transylvania or any other Hungarian territory it considered its own.
That was why we had begun negotiations with Károlyi to coordinate a response in case Romania showed expansionist ambitions. We also intended to include the Bulgarians in the agreement.
Bulgaria preserved most of its army intact and could prove extremely useful in containing the Romanians. If Bucharest decided to attack, it would find itself threatened from three different directions.
While I watched the boxes of Swedish tungsten being unloaded so they could be sent to Ukraine, where the material would be processed and used in the manufacture of armor-piercing ammunition, I saw someone approaching me.
The man was accompanied by a woman and four children of different ages. All of them carried suitcases of different sizes.
''That is far enough. Identify yourself'' one of my men ordered, stepping forward to block the path of the father of the family who was heading directly toward me.
''Hubert… Abteilung IIIb'' the man replied, showing the documentation that confirmed his identity.
''Ah… our scapegoat'' I said, observing the man, whose face was full of worry.
''Were you expecting him?'' Manfred asked, remaining at my side because he was also waiting for the arrival of some people.
''Yes. Someone had to take the blame for all the leaks. The French, British and Americans are already threatening Germany because they suspect it is sending us information. We simply gave the German government the perfect opportunity to blame a single person for everything that happened'' I explained, pointing at the German intelligence officer.
''My superior informed me that I would be generously rewarded for taking the fall and preventing the investigation following these leaks from threatening my superiors or the comrades who participated in sending information to you, Herzog'' the man said, pulling his wife closer to his side.
''Certainly. The information they sent me… sorry, that you sent me, saved me many problems and allowed us to eliminate between fifteen and twenty thousand Poles without having to carry out a major military effort. So I intend to reward you generously for it'' I replied, forming a slight smile.
''And what would that reward be? My superiors could not inform me of anything. They only said I would receive great compensation and that I had to leave Germany as soon as possible. As you will understand, mein Herzog, I have lost everything… Everything. My house, my reputation and my family's peace'' he said, pointing to his wife and children, who looked sad and were beginning to suffer from the winter cold.
''For the moment, you will board that train and travel to Odessa. There you will be given a house and recover the work you lost. You will take charge of counterintelligence operations in the city and receive a salary equivalent to the one you had in Germany. Alexander, order them to create a new identity for this man and his entire family. I do not want anyone to be able to find them or try to harm them. Send a message to some trusted bureaucrat so he can prepare all the documentation'' I said, turning toward Alexander, who remained beside me.
''At your orders, mein Herzog'' Alexander replied before leaving immediately to carry out my command.
''As for your final reward, it will depend on the outcome of all this. I do not want to pay you with our local currency because you could lose everything if the worst happens and we are defeated. In that case, you will receive enough Swiss francs to move to whatever country you prefer and begin a new life with your family. If we win, I will pay you in the currency of your choosing'' I said, nodding toward the former Abteilung IIIb officer.
The officer closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh before embracing his wife and his eldest son at the same time.
''Thank you… mein Herzog. That leaves me much calmer'' the officer said, bringing a hand to his chest after separating from his son.
''You have nothing to thank me for. It is a fair payment for such a great sacrifice. Now go immediately to the train. I think you are still in time. That convoy will pass near Riga before continuing toward Ukraine'' I said, checking my watch.
''Immediately. Come on…'' the officer said, gathering his family before heading toward the other train that remained in the station, where they were finishing loading the supplies destined for Ukraine.
''What about yours, Manfred? You said many would arrive today'' I asked, observing my chief of the air forces, who was smiling broadly.
''Well, there they are… BROTHER! COUSIN!'' Manfred shouted, raising a hand to greet a group of volunteers who had arrived on the train and were finally beginning to get off after their documents had finished being checked.
From one moment to the next, the large group of men began approaching us.
''Lothar, all well? Wolfram, I am glad you came'' Manfred said, embracing his relatives. Then he began greeting many of the other men by name.
''Karl, as I promised you, these are the former members of my Jasta, before I had to move with you to train the new pilots. This is Lothar, my brother, and Wolfram, my cousin. Boys, this is Herzog Karl, although he prefers that you call him only by his name. He is afraid that, if someone discovers his rank, they will try to shoot him'' Manfred said with a cheerful smile.
He was the only one who laughed.
The rest of the men merely stared at me, with a strange mixture of fear and respect.
''I thank you for coming and accepting my invitation to continue fighting. I do not know if your former commander informed you, but we are constantly working on new aircraft prototypes. Some are already almost finished and we will need experienced pilots to maintain control of the air and prevent the British from discovering our movements. The ranks all of you held in the German Army will be respected and we will try to match your former pay in our local currency. Any other questions may be directed to the chief of the air forces of the Baltic Duchy'' I explained, pointing at Manfred.
''Come on, do not be afraid. That thing about him eating the hearts of his victims is just propaganda that got out of control'' Manfred said, trying to relax his former comrades. ''Hey, and Göring did not come?''
''The owner of the Fokker factory offered him a contract in Denmark, but he said he would come as soon as he finished his work'' one of the pilots replied, looking at Manfred.
''Göring?'' I asked, observing the aviators.
''Yes. He became the commander of my group after the officer who replaced me was killed and the other candidates for the post died as well. He has a great deal of experience organizing a Jagdgeschwader, so having him would be of great help'' Manfred explained, looking me in the eyes.
''I understand. Proceed and report to your posts as soon as you can. We never know when the British will send new aircraft to search for our camps, especially now that we have just moved them'' I said, breathing deeply.
I remained watching as more people got off the train. It had become quite common for soldiers willing to continue fighting to arrive, or military men who, because of the new restrictions imposed on the German Army, were looking for work inside my territories.
The arrival of so many aces of German aviation was more than welcome. It was mainly because Manfred had begun contacting them by letters or telegrams whenever he had the chance.
The problem was that one of the monsters was also coming.
Göring.
I was not in a situation where I could reject someone with his experience, especially when he was willing to fight for us. However, I did not like the idea of having to rub shoulders with people like him at all.
Although that was precisely what I had exposed myself to.
In the eyes of most people, I probably would not be very different from those men. The only difference was that I surely had far fewer innocent deaths on my shoulders.
In theory, I was already a war criminal and the number of charges against me had to be increasing practically every week.
I remained at the station, observing the infantry that had just arrived. There were also German officers seeking similar opportunities and numerous members of the Freikorps. It had not been long since they crushed the Munich revolt, and now the Bavarian government wanted to get rid of those militias as soon as possible.
We were already organizing them into new units to send them to the front. Another possibility was to transfer them toward Ruthenia or Ukraine, in case it became necessary to prepare for a Romanian intervention intended to distract us and force us to divide our forces.
When I finished receiving the new German reinforcements, I returned to review the latest reports from the front.
Everything had to be prepared for when the new naval guns began arriving. With them, we could break the blockade of Riga and trap the British troops that continued bothering us around the city.
I had to achieve it before they discovered that, not too far from their positions, there was a damned dam almost finished.
I wanted to put it into operation as soon as possible. I was tired of burning absurd quantities of coal just to maintain the electrical supply.
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