Origins: The Reich (14 page)

For Gallono, today
had the potential to be extremely good or incredibly bad, with almost no room in between.  That is how things were when dealing with Tomal, especially these last four hundred years or so, owing to his deteriorating mental state. 

Gallono had assembled his battalion on the exercise grounds.  Every soldier under his command stood at rigid attention in rank and file lines across the field on this crisp autumn morning waiting for inspection by Chancellor Hitler.

This would be Gallono’s first opportunity to meet the undisputed master of Germany.  If Tomal managed to remember that they were both working toward the same goal, the meeting could work wonders for their mission.  However, Tomal was just as likely to forget himself in a fit of jealousy or insecurity and have Gallono demoted or even executed.

Gallono did not fear execution, the ability to regenerate through the Nexus was quite convenient in that regard, and his ego could live with a demotion.  What kept him up at nights these days was a fear of failure.  Time was growing tight with the Alpha base on Mars.  There was no margin for error anymore.  A setback now would mean failure to their overall mission, and that failure would bring with it his death and the destruction of the Nexus.  Much was riding on the next few hours.

While waiting for Hitler and his supporting cast to arrive, Gallono’s gaze drifted to the edge of the muster field.  He spotted a woman there standing alone in her long brown skirt and white shirt.  Her name was Lucie, and he had gotten to know her quite well over the last few months since she was the secretary to his commanding officer.

At first Gallono took interest in her because any productive relations with a military officer began with his secretary.  As the months went by, against all efforts to deny it, Gallono found his relationship with Lucie ran deeper than just work. 

For the longest time Gallono carried absolutely no interest in these humans. They were a means to an end and nothing more.  These humans were not his species; therefore, any romantic involvement was out of the question.  It would be like asking one of these humans to mate with a kimono dragon or a humpback whale.  It was unnatural, and he did not find the creatures the least bit physically attractive – all that hair. 

Now, looking at her standing alongside the muster field, Gallono realized his interest in Lucie ran far deeper than even physical attraction.  She knew he was nervous about today’s events, and here she stood lending visible support to a person to whom she had no obligation.  She seemed to understand him in a way no one ever had, except maybe Hastelloy.  Perhaps preferences could change over time; four thousand years spent living as a human could do that he supposed.

Lucie cast a bright, reassuring smile Gallono’s way and pointed to her left where a long line of cars approached as the Chancellor’s motorcade drove onto the grounds. The sight forced Gallono to redirect his thoughts away from Lucie to focus once more on Hitler’s visit.

Heinrich Himmler was the first to emerge from the lead vehicle.  The head of the SS, a paramilitary arm of the Nazi party, was dressed in a midnight black uniform and set about issuing orders to the rest of his men in black.  Their uniforms were a stark contrast to the khaki brown political uniforms that Tomal and Hitler donned for this occasion.

Gallono watched from afar as they all greeted one another with a straight-armed salute, but not all of them.  Hitler kept his elbow against his side and lifted his hand in response.  The man was either too lazy to execute his party salute properly, or his ego required that he have his very own to give in return; somehow, he suspected it was the latter. 

When all of the silly salutes made by civilians to one another were finished, Gallono watched Himmler turn his attention to the side of the field and wave to his men.  Moments later two rows of SS members, dressed in black, marched onto the field to stand in front of Gallono’s assembled men.  Himmler even had the nerve to join them on the field and assumed the place of honor as head of the formation.

It was an almost laughably transparent grab for attention; however, one sideways glance behind at his soldiers being subordinated to these non-military types let Gallono know this was no laughing matter to them.  Each one, to a man, took extreme umbrage with the situation. To resolve the matter, Gallono, broke with protocol by stepping out of the formation and prowled over to Himmler standing tall and proud in his all black uniform.  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“We are here for the inspection of course.”

“An army inspection,” Gallono clarified.  “Your men are not in the military and therefore have no place in this presentation.”

Himmler turned his head to look at Gallono with mild annoyance at having to explain something he clearly thought was self-evident.  “Our place is as security.  My men have the task of keeping the Führer safe from harm.  As such, we will be in position between your men and the Führer.”

“The hell you will,” Gallono fired back while barely managing to restrain his impulse to dismember Himmler where he stood.  “My soldiers of the Reich will
not
be subordinated to civilians.  Least of all to pathetic whelps like you and your pretty boys dressed in black pretending to be soldiers.  If you want the privilege of standing in this formation, you are going to have to enlist like the rest of these honorable soldiers.  Otherwise you’ll get your asses out of the way unless you’re looking for a demonstration of what real soldiers can do to dressed up props.”

“How dare you?” Himmler began, but the arrival of Tomal cut short his tirade.

“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” Tomal asked knowing full well the issue at hand.  This little power play had Tomal’s stench draped all over it.

“The colonel has an issue with my security detail being present for this inspection.  I was in the process of informing him that the SS goes wherever the Führer goes, without exception, to provide for his protection.”

“The notion that Chancellor Hitler needs protection among soldiers of his army is as insulting as it is ludicrous.  I will not subject my soldiers to such indignity.  Either they leave this field, or my men do, and this little show is over before it begins.  Now which will it be?” Gallono demanded.

Tomal held an amused smirk for a few seconds too long for Gallono’s liking, but in the end ordered Himmler to stand down.  Gallono watched the spirits of his men soar to new heights as the boys in black departed from their presence.  They were members of a noble and elite institution, and they revered Gallono for proving that point to them in the presence of their chancellor.

The rest of the inspection ceremony went off without any further drama.  Hitler walked up and down between the lines of soldiers sworn to his service, and carried with him a mild grin of satisfaction.  Afterwards Gallono was surprised to find himself invited to a private dinner with the Chancellor.

Gallono arrived for dinner at the appointed hour and found himself escorted into a dining hall featuring a rectangular table with place settings for twelve.  Hitler, of course, sat at the head of the table with Tomal on his right and Himmler to his left.  Field Marshals from the army, Admirals of the Kriegsmarine, and Generals of the Luftwaffe occupied the remaining chairs. 

Since attaining the rank of colonel, Gallono rarely found himself the lowest ranking officer in a room.  This was one of those rare occasions, and that had him very nervous.  Would Tomal make political hay for himself by serving up retribution for Gallono standing up to Himmler earlier in the day?

“Ah, Colonel Rommel, thank you for joining us this evening,” Hitler graciously announced upon making eye contact with Gallono.  “Won’t you sit down?  We all have much to discuss now that you’re here.”

“As always, I’m at your service, my Führer,” Gallono answered on the way to his seat.

“Good,” came Hitler’s sharp reply as he looked over at Tomal.  “I had your book entitled
Infantry Attacks
recommended for me to read along with numerous papers you have composed on the topic of combined warfare tactics.” 

“I must say that I, or rather all of us,” Hitler amended as he gestured around the table, “Are fascinated by your theories of employing infantry, armor, and aircraft forces in concert with one another.”

“I am afraid at this point they are only academic theories,” Gallono responded.  “Per the terms of the Versailles Treaty, we are precluded from constructing heavy aircraft or armored vehicles in quantities able to support any offensive efforts in line with my theories.”

Hitler raised a hand to put a halt to Gallono’s reply and looked around the table with great intensity in his eyes.  “That is why all of you are here, because our military capabilities are about to expand.  As we sit here tonight, it is 1932.  Within ten years of this date, I expect our aggressive foreign policies to have provoked an armed conflict with one or more of our neighboring nations.  Your solemn duty as leaders of my military, sworn to my service, is to make sure our armed forces are ready when that day comes.”

The top military brass in the room took turns exchanging looks of concern and disbelief at what they heard.  One of the Admirals found the nerve to ask, “How?  The League of Nations will never stand for it.”

Tomal looked toward Hitler and received an inclined nod giving him leave to speak for the Chancellor.  “At first our industrial capabilities will be bolstered in secret.  By the time our oppressors learn of our growing capabilities and try to resolve things through proper diplomatic channels, it will be too late.  None of them wants another war; they will do or give almost anything to avoid it.  We must use that to our advantage if we are to pull ourselves out of this twenty-year long hell that we as a nation have endured.”

“This is my command,” Hitler added with a pounding of his fist upon the table.  “This is how our economy recovers and how our nation regains its standing and identity.  The only question is, where do we focus our industrial might?  That is where you come in, Colonel Rommel.  Based on your forward strategic and tactical thinking in the matters of modern warfare, I am appointing you as Commandant of the War Academy.  Your teachings will lead the way for our manufacturing as well as research and development efforts.”

Gallono had no hope of suppressing his delight with the news.  Tomal had come through.  Gallono may not like that the Nazi rise to power was based on backstabbing, bigotry, and hatred, but it got results.  Everything in Germany had now aligned to make a legitimate play at uniting all of Europe under one banner.

Tomal even had the humility to step aside and have Gallono do what he did best – warfare.  He focused his attention squarely on Tomal and raised his wine glass in a silent toast between the two of them for a job well done.

Tomal stood atop
a hastily erected stage in the crisp evening air in Berlin with a curious sense of serenity about him.  It certainly had nothing to do with his chaotic surroundings at the moment.  He presided over a gathering of some forty thousand students, Brownshirts, and Hitler Youth in Opernplatz Square. 

Behind the gathering rose the green dome of St. Hedwig’s Cathedral.  To the left stood the State Opera, and encasing the right side stood the blocky architecture of the Humboldt University law building. Set between the three immense structures was a cobblestone-paved courtyard with a blazing bonfire in the center.

Logs and kindling did not fuel this towering inferno that stood thirty-feet wide at its base, instead the flames fed off paper.  The paper was from the pages of books that Tomal and his Nazi propaganda division deemed un-German in spirit.

Tomal looked on marveling at the complete control he carried over these people.  Boys grabbed books by the armful and eagerly flung them into the flames with malice.  This was something Tomal took no pride in because, after all, they were children and easily manipulated.  What truly warmed his heart was watching the university students do the same.  These men should value the knowledge housed between the covers of a book more than anyone, yet they eagerly participated.  These were supposed to be the free thinkers in society, and they too gave in to the group mindset that Tomal commanded.  In fact, it was a student group that organized this event and invited Tomal to attend as the keynote speaker.

They had come so far from the fledgling years of the Nazi party, and now they reigned supreme.  They did whatever they wanted without recourse, both inside the borders of Germany and more recently, outside the borders as well.

A few years earlier, they tested the resolve of foreign nations to hold Germany to the terms of the Versailles Treaty.  Per the terms, Germany was forbidden to maintain or construct any fortifications in the Rhinelands along the western borders with Belgium and France.  The world did nothing when Hitler sent three thousand soldiers into the region to reclaim it as German land under German protection.

The fact that an additional thirty thousand German troops stood ready to take action if there was trouble played no small part in the inaction of the surrounding nations.  True to Hitler’s earlier prediction, the rest of the world was willing to do almost anything to avoid another conflict, and since the Rhineland was German territory to begin with, the rest of the world collectively looked the other way as it happened.

Next came Austria.  With that nation’s historical strong ties to Germany, it was only natural to annex them.  All it took was Hitler issuing an ultimatum to Chancellor Schuschnigg demanding he hand over all power to the Austrian Nazi party or face an invasion.  German troops entered Austria the next day and were greeted with enthusiasm by the populace, so again the world did nothing.

The annexation of Czechoslovakia was next on the expansion list.  The threat of conflict moved British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to organize a series of meetings that culminated in the Munich Agreement where the Czechs gave up the Sudetenlands to Germany.

The night the agreement was signed, Hitler and Tomal nearly laughed themselves into a heart attack.  Not only did the world do nothing, they ratified the arrangement.  When Chamberlin returned to London, the crowds greeted him with cheers for bringing ‘peace for our time’ the papers declared.  The agreement lasted for six months before Hitler seized the remaining Czech territory, installing a puppet state.  This still drew no consequences from other nations.

At that point, Tomal began wondering if he would ever goad the rest of Europe into armed conflict, or if Germany would be allowed to take the entire continent without resistance.

While German territory doubled in size without a shot fired, its military complex awakened.  Since that meeting in 1932, clandestine early on, but now completely out in the open, factories had been hard at work manufacturing guns, tanks, planes, and all manner of warships above the water and below. 

Manufacturing was not the only aspect showing progress toward war.  The research and development budgets were now set at unprecedented levels working on advanced armor, rocketry, jet engines, and even nuclear fission.

Tomal was certain that when word leaked out about these programs the world would at last throw down the gauntlet and take action, but it appeared they were just fine with it.  Hitler felt their next target, Poland, would draw no recourse either, since the action would also include the Soviet Union, but Tomal felt this would be the straw that broke the camel’s back.  The taking of Poland would mean another European war.  It would be an armed conflict that Germany would have little difficulty winning militarily; he knew it as an absolute fact deep down to the very fiber of his being.

The one question remaining in Tomal’s mind was whether the people of Germany were ready.  Looking upon the pile of burning books and the students who added more to the flames, Tomal knew they too were ready for what was to come.  What’s more, they were drawing closer to accepting the final solution to Captain Hastelloy’s minions: the Jews.

Weeks earlier, a Jew assassinated a German official in Paris.  Tomal chose that moment to test the German people’s resolve for hatred and violence against Hastelloy’s people.  During the course of two days, over two hundred fifty synagogues were burned, along with thousands of Jewish businesses trashed and looted.  Dozens were killed in the streets as the SS looted homes, schools, even cemeteries, while the police and common citizens just stood by.

The program was coined the ‘Night of Broken Glass’, and afterwards some thirty-thousand Jewish men were arrested for the crime of being Jewish and sent to labor camps.  This drew no reaction from the people other than cheers from supporters of the regime.

The true sign of the people’s indifference came when the state imposed a fine of one billion marks on the Jewish community.  Those remaining were ordered to clean up the mess and make repairs even though the state confiscated any insurance payments owed to them.

Yes, the people were ready.  Ready for war, and ready to remedy the Jew problem created by Hastelloy.  That fact had Tomal quite pleased with himself as he stepped up to the microphone to deliver his speech to the exuberant crowd.  The marching band leading a parade of banners around the gathering fell silent, as did the crowd, to let Tomal’s words be heard.

“Tonight you say no to decadence and moral corruption.  You say yes to decency and morality in family and state!  I consign to the flames the writings of Heinrich Mann, Albert Einstein, and Karl Marx.”

“The era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end.  The breakthrough of the German revolution has again cleared the way on the German path.  The future German man will not just be a man of books, but a man of character. It is to this end that we want to educate you. As a young person, to already have the courage to face the pitiless glare, to overcome the fear of death, and to regain respect for death - this is the task of this young generation. And thus, you do well in this midnight hour to commit to the flames the evil spirit of the past. This is a strong, great and symbolic deed – a deed that should document the following for the world to know. ‘Here the intellectual foundation of their puppet November Republic is sinking to the ground, but from this wreckage the phoenix of a new spirit will triumphantly rise’,” Tomal concluded.

**********

“I still find it unconscionable and inexcusable that learned men from universities all over Germany burned tens of thousands of books,” Dr. Holmes commented.

“And, I might add, they did it enthusiastically,” Hastelloy said.  “This was the extent to which Tomal and Hitler controlled the collective mindset of the German people.  They, with surprisingly few exceptions, went along with everything their Nazi leaders said during those early years.  It was a methodical conditioning process executed by two masters of their craft, and they did it to absolute perfection”

“All that knowledge burned,” Dr. Holmes sighed.  “It’s tragic and really ought to be memorialized with a statue or monument to ensure that it never happens again.”

“There is one,” Mark added to the discussion, “right in the center of Opernplatz Square; although most people walk right past it without even knowing it’s there.  The profoundly subtle nature of it is why I remember it so well from my time spent in Berlin.”

“The memorial consists of a glass plate three feet square set into the cobblestones.  Below, like looking through a window, it gives a view of a small room.  That room is lined with empty bookshelves painted pure white that are able to hold 20,000 books; so subtle, yet so moving.”

“Good memory,” Hastelloy complimented.  “There is also a plaque laid into the ground next to it engraved with a quote from Heinrich Heine’s play written in 1821.  It reads ‘Where they burn books, they will in the end also burn men’.  Rather forward thinking, wouldn’t you agree?”

Neither Mark nor Jeffrey Holmes had anything to add, so Hastelloy continued with his story.