The Honor Of Spies - The Honor of Spies Part 74
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The Honor of Spies Part 74

"Excuse me, sir. 'Senora Schenck'?" Schafer asked.

"I generally give junior officers one opportunity to ask an inappropriate question of me," von Deitzberg said icily. "That was yours."

"I beg your pardon, Herr Schenck."

"Men traveling with good-looking females to whom they are not married cause gossip. Men traveling with their wives do not. You might try to remember that, Schafer."

"Yes, sir."

Inge came tripping down the stairs.

From their faces, it was clear that she was not what Schmidt or Schafer expected to see.

"I apologize, sir, for keeping you waiting," Inge said.

"Don't make a habit of it," von Deitzberg said coldly. "Gentlemen, my wife. She knows your names."

Inge nodded at both of them.

"I thought, Herr Schenck, that if it meets with your approval, we could have dinner at my quarters at the base."

"You are very hospitable, Herr Oberst," von Deitzberg said.

Schmidt waved them toward the door.

[THREE].

Quarters of the Commanding Officer

10th Mountain Regiment

San Martin de los Andes

Neuquen Province, Argentina

2100 5 October 1943

There were five Argentine officers waiting for them in el Coronel Schmidt's dining room. The dining room was much larger than von Deitzberg expected it to be, as the house itself was much smaller than he expected it to be.

It was hardly more than a cottage, sitting in a group of cottages across a road from the barracks, stables, and other buildings of the regiment. Von Deitzberg couldn't see much; nothing was brightly illuminated.

Against one wall of the dining room were three flags: the Argentina colors, a red Nazi flag, and an elaborately embroidered flag, the 10th Mountain Regiment's colors.

As the officers were introduced to Senor and Senora Schenck, young enlisted men in starched white jackets immediately began passing champagne glasses. When everyone held one, Colonel Schmidt said, "Gentlemen, I give you el Presidente Rawson."

Champagne was sipped.

Schmidt toasted again: "Gentlemen, I give you the Fuhrer of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, and his Final Victory over the godless Communists."

This time the glasses were drained.

"Well, gentlemen, since my wife and I were never here, I don't suppose it much matters what I say," von Deitzberg said.

He got the expected chuckles and took another sip of the ritual postdinner brandy before going on. It was Argentine, and surprisingly good.

"But let me say it's good to again be with my fellow sailor, Sepp Schafer--who, come to think of it, is also not here."

That caused applause and laughter.

And reminded everybody that I am important enough, what I'm doing here is important enough, to justify sending us by submarine.

"Let me say something about the current situation," von Deitzberg said. "I'm sure you have all heard that it was necessary for the Wehrmacht to withdraw from Africa, and also that our forces suffered a terrible defeat at Stalingrad. And, of course, that our Italian allies betrayed us, and as a result of that, the Americans are now in Italy.

"Those are facts. Not pleasant facts, but facts. A professional soldier must deal with the facts, not with things as he wishes they were.

"But there is another fact here that applies: The great military philosopher Carl von Clausewitz wrote, 'There is only one decisive victory: the last.' "

More applause.

"What went wrong? Von Clausewitz also wrote, 'The most insidious enemy of all is time.' "

Von Clausewitz didn't actually say that, but it sounds like something he would have said if he had thought of it. And I don't think there are any really serious students of von Clausewitz in this room to challenge me.

"Time has been against us," von Deitzberg went on. "The rocket scientists at Peenemunde, while their work has been brilliant, just haven't had the time to develop rockets that not only are more accurate than the ones currently landing in England, but will have the range to strike the United States.

"But it's just a matter of time until they do.

"Luftwaffe engineers have developed a new fighter, the Messerschmitt Me- 262, which uses a revolutionary new type of propulsion, the jet engine. It is faster than any other fighter aircraft in the world, and it is armed with 40mm cannon. It can fire at American and British bombers from a distance greater than their .50-caliber machine guns can return fire. Once it goes into action, it will cause unacceptable losses to British and American bombers.

"There is already a squadron of these aircraft flying in Augsburg. But there has been time enough to manufacture only twenty or thirty of them.

"But it's just a matter of time until they do.

"Time has been working for our enemies.

"So now we make it work for us.

"How do we protect our rocket engineers from being killed by the Soviet Communists if they should temporarily overrun our rocket facilities? More important, how do we prevent our rocket scientists from being forced to work for the Soviet Communists?

"The same thing for our aeronautical engineers.

"The same thing for our physicists, who are close to developing a bomb more powerful than the imagination can accept.

"If the Soviets came into possession of German technology, it would mean the end of the Christian world.

"I'm sure the answer has already occurred to many of you.

"We bring them to Argentina, secretly, by submarine. Germany has the largest fleet of submarines in the world.

"And we set them up, with new laboratories, perhaps even manufacturing facilities. If things go even worse for us, with time working against us, certainly with manufacturing facilities.

"Where?

"I'm sure that answer has already occurred to many of you, perhaps all of you. I know that it has occurred to el Coronel Schmidt.

"Right here, in this remote corner of Argentina."

There was a burst of applause.

"As you can well understand, this has to be accomplished with the greatest secrecy. The Communists are everywhere. And the Jews. The Antichrist.

"El Coronel Schmidt and others have been working on establishing these refuges for German scientists--and their families--for some time, and will continue to do so.

"But there is another problem, the real reason I am here. This is always distasteful for professional officers, but again, we must deal with things as they are rather than with things as we may wish them to be.

"I am speaking of treason, which von Clausewitz described--I forget the exact quote . . ."

Probably because I just made this one up. But it does sound like something he would say.

". . . but it was to the effect that treason is simply another way of showing cowardice in the face of the enemy. On the battlefield, there is a simple way of dealing with those who throw down their arms and refuse to fight. One conducts a summary court-martial to establish that those are the facts. And if they are, the traitors, the cowards--whatever they are called--are tied to a post, stripped of their military insignia, offered a blindfold, and shot, with as many of their former comrades in arms as can be gathered watching.

"In the First World War, when soldiers of regiments refused to fight, every tenth soldier in the regiment was shot. We Germans believe in honor and justice, and we don't shoot people we don't know for sure have run from the enemy. But we do execute those we know have shown their treason, their cowardice.

"I am ashamed to tell you that a trusted officer of the German Embassy in Buenos Aires, Wilhelm Frogger, and his wife--who, like my wife, was an agent of the Sicherheitsdienst, the secret police branch of the SS--have deserted their post and gone over to the enemy.

"They were assisted in running by an American, a slimy Jew by the name of Milton Leibermann, who works for the American FBI. Leibermann thought that--probably with the assistance of the head of the OSS in Argentina, a man named Frade--he could hide the Froggers from us, save them from the execution they so rightly deserve.

"He was wrong. I am almost positive that some excellent detective work on the part of the Sicherheitsdienst agents in the embassy has located them. In Mendoza. Once we are sure of this, SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Sepp Schafer and I will carry out the unpleasant duty of executing these swine.

"It gets worse. I have to tell you that an officer of the SS, Sturmbannfuhrer Werner von Tresmarck, has deserted his post in Montevideo, Uruguay. He went--initial investigation indicates this happened within the last week--to Paraguay, taking with him a substantial amount of money he stole from the embassy. There hasn't been time for a summary court-martial, of course--it may have to take place in Germany, as he is entitled to be judged by officers of equal or superior rank and there are not three officers like that available here--but when it takes place, and if it finds this swine guilty, SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Sepp Schafer and I will run him down, recover what he stole, and carry out his execution."

I don't think, judging by the looks on the faces of these people, that I would have any trouble at all finding volunteers for a firing squad for either the Froggers or von Tresmarck, or both.

"There is only one thing worse than a traitor," von Deitzberg said solemnly. "And that is someone who encourages--by argument, or by payment--another to betray the duties and obligations which he has sworn an oath to God Almighty to carry out.

"So the silver lining in this despicable black cloud for me will be the opportunity to kill Milton Leibermann of the FBI for doing this to the Froggers, and especially, especially, Don Cletus Frade of the OSS, who tried and failed to turn his father into a traitor, and when that distinguished officer refused, murdered his own father--or had him murdered, which is the same thing--so that he could place the Frade assets in the service of Roosevelt and international Jewry."

Von Deitzberg saw the look on el Coronel Schmidt's face.

Didn't know that before, did you, my friend?

Why the hell didn't I think of that until just now?

Goebbels is absolutely right: The bigger the lie, the more people who'll believe it.

[FOUR].

Casa Montagna

Estancia Don Guillermo

Km 40.4, Provincial Route 60

Mendoza Province, Argentina

1300 7 October 1943

Don Cletus Frade, who with his wife was sitting on the verandah of Casa Montagna sipping wine as they watched the fifth chukker of the game between the Ramapo Valley Aces and the Mountain Husares, did not pay much attention to the dark green 1939 Ford Tudor when it first appeared.