CHAPTER 10 – A BITTER PILL TO SWALLOW
14:45 (Madrid Time)
Thursday, November 25, 1943
Main entrance of the Palace Hotel
Downtown Madrid, Spain
The two armed Spanish Guardia Civil policemen stationed at the main entrance of the Palace Hotel, in Madrid, presented arms with their rifles as yet another group of foreign diplomats and V.I.P. guests walked in after stepping out of a convoy of three cars flying American flags. Once the newcomers were inside, the two policemen returned their rifles to shoulder position. One of them then spoke in a near whisper from the corner of his mouth to his comrade.
‘’Present arms, shoulder arms, present arms, shoulder arms: at the rate we have to salute all those big shot dignitaries, my arms will fall off before sunset.’’
‘’Yeah!’’ replied the other policeman. ‘’And some of them looked like real sourly pricks! The German foreign minister in particular seemed to be a first class asshole, looked at us as if we were simple pieces of shit.’’
His comrade nodded his head once at that: foreign delegations had been arriving all day at the Palace Hotel, in order to participate in a much publicized peace conference in which Germany and Great Britain would be the main players. Now, the whole of Europe was holding its breath, hoping both for an end to the fighting and fearing a future where Germany would be left the undisputed master of Europe.
Inside the hotel lobby, a Spanish man dressed in a good quality suit and with two younger men and three women at his back stepped forward to greet the American delegation in good English, addressing Harry Hopkins directly.
‘’Welcome to Madrid and to the Palace Hotel, Señor Hopkins. My name is Raphael Hernandez and I was sent by the Spanish Foreign Ministry to greet your delegation and help it in any way possible during the peace talks. To that effect, I brought with me a team of five talented translators who will be able to guide you around Madrid and who will also be able to translate for you in a number of languages which will be used during the conference.’’
President Roosevelt’s main political advisor briefly bowed his head to Hernandez as a matter of courtesy.
‘’Thank you, Mister Hernandez. Your translators and guides will certainly prove useful to us. I however have to tell you that we came with the sole intent of observing these talks and not participate directly in them. I would appreciate if you would convey that point to your foreign minister and to the other delegations.’’
That left a surprised Hernandez speechless for a short moment.
‘’The United States are not going to participate directly in the peace talks? But, your country is one of the main combatants in the present war.’’
‘’True, but my President has decided to continue the fight until our ultimate victory over Japan and Germany. I know that this will affect seriously the outcome of these talks, but President Roosevelt wishes for the resolve of the United States to be made clear to all.’’
‘’I see! I will certainly pass this information to my minister, Señor Hopkins. In the meantime, let me and my staff help you get installed in the Palace Hotel. The talks will officially open tomorrow morning, at nine. How many separate rooms will you need for your delegation?’’
‘’I will need one suite for myself and my secretary, plus four separate but adjacent rooms for the rest of my staff.’’
Hernandez nodded his head to that and turned around to speak with one of the hotel receptionists, who gave him keys for a suite and four rooms. Hernandez then gave the keys to the Americans while smiling to them.
‘’I believe that you will find the Palace Hotel most comfortable, ladies and gentlemen: each of its 800 rooms has a private bathroom and a telephone and the hotel also features a number of top quality restaurants and clubs. If you will now follow me, please.’’
Forty minutes later, as Hopkins and his female secretary, an employee of the State Department in her late forties, were finished unpacking, someone knocked at the door of their suite. Hopkins looked at once at the FBI agent provided to him as a personal bodyguard.
‘’Jim, could you check out who that is, please?’’
‘’Right away, sir!’’ replied the agent, who took out his service revolver but kept it in his back while going to the door and unlocking it. Opening the door by a few inches, he saw that it was Raphael Hernandez, alone, thus let him in. The Spaniard entered and bowed to Hopkins.
‘’Excuse me for disturbing you, Señor Hopkins. I came to bring you an information pamphlet about the peace conference. I had it corrected quickly by adding the mention ‘Observer Status’ beside the info about your delegation. Every national delegation will receive a similar pamphlet, printed in their language. Be advised that any country that has an embassy in Madrid will be allowed to attend the talks as observers. Many neutral countries already expressed an interest in following the talks, so there will be quite a few people present in the conference room. Here is your copy of the corrected information pamphlet.’’
‘’Thank you, Mister Hernandez. You are a very efficient and helpful host indeed.’’
‘’Thank you, Señor Hopkins. Have a good day!’’
‘’The same to you, Mister Hernandez.’’
The Spaniard then left, with the FBI agent locking back the door behind him. Hopkins read quickly through the thin pamphlet brought by Hernandez before looking at his secretary.
‘’Miss Granger, please ask the other members of our delegation to come to my suite right away.’’
‘’Yes, Mister Hopkins!’’
Once all the members of his delegation were assembled in the lounge of his suite, with the door firmly locked, Hopkins started speaking in a low voice, in order to avoid being overheard through walls or the ceiling.
‘’Well, here we are, ladies and gentlemen. The announcement that we came only as observers is bound to raise many questions among the other participants of this peace conference. I will not stress enough the need for all of you not to elaborate with other delegates on the reasons why we didn’t want to participate fully in the talks. So, keep your mouths shut and do not trust anyone, even if the person asking is a supposed friendly or neutral. If asked, simply say that the United States is resolved to defend itself and to regain the territories it lost in the Pacific. Unfortunately, in view of the desperate supply situation they are in presently and of the very heavy losses in ships and aircraft they suffered in the last few weeks, I fully expect that the British will be forced to accede to the German demands during these talks, thus will leave us mostly alone in fighting the Germans and the Japanese. The one big unknown factor is what will happen then to the other member countries of the Commonwealth and of the British Empire, like Canada, Australia and South Africa, which still have the military potential to continue the fight by themselves. As for us here in Madrid, our main goal will be to gauge which way things are going and, most importantly, if the defeat of Great Britain will motivate some countries that are presently officially neutral to turn coat and join Germany and Japan, or at least give the Axis economical support by giving it access to their natural resources. While you are to keep mostly mum, keep as well your ears wide open for any such signs or rumors of changes of allegiance. Well, that’s all I have to say at the present time. You may go back to your rooms and freshen up before supper. I will see you all again tomorrow morning.’’
15:52 (Madrid Time)
Suite 501 of the Palace Hotel
‘’WHAT DO THEY MEAN, OBSERVER STATUS ONLY? THE UNITED STATES IS ONE OF THE MAJOR BELLIGERANTS IN THIS WAR. AND THEY WOULD REFUSE TO EVEN PARTICIPATE IN THESE TALKS?’’
Walther Schellenberg, Chief of the SD Ausland18 and also officially the next person in charge of the German delegation after Ulrich von Ribbentrop, let the German Foreign Minister rant like a frustrated kid for a moment. In truth, despite his titles and positions, Ribbentrop’s stature among the Nazi leadership had been in decline for quite a while already and he was looked at mostly with contempt these days in Berlin. Even the Führer was increasingly growing tired of his incompetence and sycophancy. Hitler and the other Nazi top leaders were putting too many hopes in these talks to let an idiot like Ribbentrop in charge of the show in Madrid. As a result, Schellenberg was the true leader of the German delegation, with Ribbentrop forced to abide by his directives. Walther finally cut off Ribbentrop’s rants with a dismissive gesture.
‘’We actually shouldn’t be surprised to see the Americans refuse to participate fully in the peace talks, Herr Minister. Their industries and war potential are still mostly intact and they still have the capacity to eventually have enough forces and equipment to be able to roll back the Japanese in the Pacific. Then, they will probably turn against us and try to retake Europe from us.’’
‘’Nonsense! We just wrestled control of the Atlantic away from them, while the Japanese Navy has nearly full control of the Pacific.’’
‘’And the Japanese are presently badly overextended, while their war industries have only a small fraction of the capacity of the American war industries. In one year, the Americans can produce more ships, aircraft, tanks and guns than what we have in our whole inventory at present. More importantly, they have access to nearly unlimited resources, like minerals, oil and foodstuff, while we have to ration everything in Germany.’’
‘’And what about our submarines? Our new boats have been decimating their navy and merchant shipping nearly at will.’’
‘’True, for now. However, they will eventually produce more ships and aircraft and will develop better anti-submarine weapons, enough so that we may lose the qualitative advantage we presently enjoy in terms of submarine warfare. What we are badly missing right now is more long range weapons to strike at the United States territory. We notably don’t have a bomber with the range to strike the United States from Europe. Also, let’s not forget that we are presently engaged in a hard fight with the Soviets and that things have not been going very well for us on the Eastern Front lately. So, let’s forget the blind propaganda stuff and let’s be more realistic, shall we?’’
By the tone use by Schellenberg in pronouncing his last sentence, Ribbentrop understood that it was more an order than a suggestion. Hiding his fury and frustration, he thus simply nodded his head and turned around, walking inside his bedroom and slamming its door behind him.
17:19 (Madrid Time)
Friday, December 3, 1943
Dance Hall of the Palace Hotel
Madrid, Spain
Sir Anthony Eden, Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom, felt sick to his stomach as he grudgingly signed the armistice treaty declaration that was the final product of the peace conference. Great Britain was in essence being emasculated militarily, forced to either destroy or ship to Canada all of its remaining warships and armed aircraft, in exchange for opening the submarine blockade to cargo ships carrying foodstuff, medicine and a very limited amount of refined fuel. However, the ships that wanted to get to the British Isles would be forced first to submit to German inspection at a few fixed passage points. Great Britain would not be occupied by German troops and the German air bombardments, which had already been suspended temporarily during the talks, would stop for good. Any violation of the importation limits would however result in a resumption of German air bombardments and the closing of the passage points. Even worse, Great Britain was now losing permanently its possessions in Asia and the Pacific which had already been taken by the Japanese. Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Burma were thus now officially Japanese territories. As for India, Great Britain was allowed to keep it, but was going to be demilitarized, in order not to present a threat to Japan. Another humiliating and painful point was the loss of Egypt, Sudan, Palestine and Iraq, given away to either Italy or Turkey in exchange for avoiding further air bombardments of Great Britain. Gibraltar was also to be demilitarized, with all the heavy guns, planes and ships defending it to be either removed or destroyed on the spot. The Axis Powers thus were gaining full control of the Mediterranean and of the strategically vital Suez Canal and would now have full access to the oil of the Middle East. On their part, Australia, Canada, South Africa and other member countries of the British Empire not occupied by the Axis Powers had used their status as sovereign countries to refuse to sign the armistice, vowing to continue the fight in this war, something that was one of the few bright spots Eden could see today. The fact that the United States was going to continue the fight as well was another bright spot for him, but it had especially enraged the Japanese, who had hoped to be able to end the fighting in the Pacific, so that they could reorganize their conquests and regroup and rebuild their overextended forces.
An ecstatic von Ribbentrop was next to sign the armistice declaration, with the dozens of photographers present snapping pictures after pictures of him and of the other officials that would sign the declaration. However, Anthony Eden gave him a cold look when Ribbentrop tried to shake his hand. That moment as well was taken in picture, illustrating how bitter this pill was to swallow for the British. On his part, Harry Hopkins felt depressed as he and his delegation left the Dance Hall, where the talks had been held: this was a truly dark day for freedom and democracy around the World.
13:52 (Berlin Time)
Monday, December 6, 1943
Führer’s conference room, Chancellery Building
Berlin, Germany
Grossadmiral Karl Dönitz, participating in a top level meeting of the German High Command presided by the Führer himself, was growing increasingly aggravated and frustrated as that wind bag of Hermann Göring bragged about how his great Luftwaffe was going to be able to singlehandedly push back the Soviets once he will have time to transfer most of his combat squadrons from the victorious Western Front to the Eastern Front. He could see from the corner of his eyes that Albert Speer, the Minister of Armaments, Joseph Goebbels, the powerful Minister of Propaganda and the even more powerful head of the SS Corps, Heinrich Himmler, were getting as aggravated as him. Dönitz finally slapped one hand on top of the conference table, cutting off the fat leader of the Luftwaffe.
‘’Enough with your promises, Göring! Bragging and making promises are the only things you are good at! If not for your litany of blunders, mismanagement of the Air Ministry and your broken promises, we could have won the war three years ago!’’
‘’What are you talking about?’’ shot back Göring after a moment of stunned surprise at that attack against him. ‘’My planes crushed both the Poles and the French and…’’
‘’And then let nearly half a million Allied soldiers escape from Dunkirk, when you promised that your Luftwaffe would be able by itself to finish off the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force. Then, only months later, you promised the Führer that your planes would sweep the British from the sky and allow our army to invade England. You failed! You then promised to have the British submit to us by bombing London. The British didn’t break, while the R.A.F. got the best of your Luftwaffe. You then promised that the British wouldn’t be able to bomb our cities and factories and you were proved wrong, again! When our Sixth Army got surrounded at Stalingrad, you promised that your transport planes would be enough to supply our troops by air. They failed again, miserably! As for that air raid that sank most of the British Home Fleet last October and about which you just spent a good two minutes washing your mouth with, it was both planned and led by Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring, who piloted the lead bomber. At that time, you were in Prussia, hunting deer at your forest lodge. I know that because I checked with your staff then. During all that time, my submariners were fighting and dying at sea while strangling the maritime supply lines of the British. The British were starved into submission by my submarines, not by your planes. The American Navy was also cut to size by my submarines, something that greatly helped our Japanese allies to gain predominance in the Pacific. Our ground troops and tankers are now pushing back the Soviets thanks to the tungsten that one of my submarines brought from Chile, along with thousands of tons of refined fuel and of bauxite. And now you want more resources allotted to your Luftwaffe so that you can, and I quote ‘crush the Soviets from the air’ unquote? Enough with your empty promises and mismanagement! We have been waiting for years for your Air Ministry to produce a heavy bomber capable of hitting the American East Coast. Well, we are still waiting, while my submarines have been alone in hitting the Americans along both coasts, and this without Luftwaffe support. Our new aircraft programs are not advancing because your Air Ministry is rife with graft, traffic of influence, incompetence and lack of vision.’’
Dönitz, still fired up, then looked at Adolph Hitler, who had been watching all this with increasing annoyance directed at Göring.
‘’Mein Führer, I say that Herr Reichmarschall Göring should be replaced as the leader of the Luftwaffe and head of the Air Ministry, for gross incompetence, mismanagement and graft.’’
Before Göring could even open his mouth to protest, Albert Speer got up from his chair and looked straight at Hitler.
‘’I concur with everything that Grossadmiral Dönitz said, Mein Führer. In truth, I consider Herr Göring to be a dead weight for our war effort. I can’t count anymore the times when he arbitrarily allotted juicy but also useless development contracts to a number of his friends and supporters in the aircraft industry. We could have had a good long range bomber in service months ago, yet the RLM19 is still prevaricating about which design to favor and push to completion and series production. We need somebody with true vision and competent leadership at the head of our aircraft production and of our air combat units.’’
‘’I also concur with those views, Mein Führer.’’ added Joseph Goebbels, closely followed by Heinrich Himmler. Feldmarshalls Kluge, Manstein and Rundstedt, representing the ground forces, also came down in support of Dönitz’ views. Hitler finally spoke after Rundstedt while looking severely at Göring. Both men had a close friendship dating back to the1920s and had fought together to form and expand the Nazi Party, but the list of bad decisions and of broken promises made by Göring in the last few years was a long one that could neither be denied nor ignored. On the other hand, thanks to Dönitz’ masterful handling of his submarine arm, Germany had just defeated one of its three most dangerous foes, no thanks to Göring.
‘’Hermann, I believe that you should go home and let me decide how and where our war resources will be allotted. As of tonight, Herr Kesselring will be in charge of both the Luftwaffe and the RLM. You may leave now.’’
With the wind utterly taken out of him, a red-faced Göring could only salute Hitler before turning around and walk out of the conference room. Once he was gone, Hitler looked at Albert Speer.
‘’Speer, I will need you to stay at the end of this meeting. The same goes for Grossadmiral Dönitz.’’