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Boo.... His....Down with 2Coats.....
I agree! So....
Im actually writing the next 2chapters as I post this. Update later this evening......
With my third project now started my effort will be switching back to this AAR for the time being. Expect more updates throughout the week.
2Coats
I agree! So....
Im actually writing the next 2chapters as I post this. Update later this evening......
With my third project now started my effort will be switching back to this AAR for the time being. Expect more updates throughout the week.
2Coats
CHAPTER35: Secrets Revealed
Germany, 1938: It was a busy time in Berlin and in the rest of Germany. Businesses were sprouting up all over the country. As a result unemployment declined and German citizens stopped starving, but not because the economy was recovering or because stability had returned.
Just a few years ago the country was reeling from the effects of The Versailles Treaty, disgraced and humbled, in front of the world community for starting The Great War, The War to End all Wars.
No, these were the signs of a country in the midst of mobilisation. A country preparing to take back what its government and its people felt were rightly belonged to them. The new businesses, the availability of provisions, the lower levels of unemployment, all these were due to the growth of Germany’s military capacity, nothing more, nothing less. Mobilisation was gathering pace.
Rendezvous
Berlin, Early May 1938: In a telegraph office in the eastern suburbs of Berlin, agent Coats sat at his familiar desk in his office of employ. His co-workers were sat at nearby desks their attention diverted to their work.
In the last few weeks, due to the increasing volume of transmission traffic, Coats had requested that the business take on some additional personnel to assist Johann Bäcker and Coats in their efforts to keep up with the amount of requests they were receiving for government work.
This limited recruitment drive resulted in a young woman in her early twenties called Marlene Keitel and a teenager of sixteen years called Harold Schumacher being employed, to handle the more basic tasks, taking the burden off the shoulders of Coats and Johann.
It was getting late in the day and the four workers were still in the office working to ensure that the days backlog was cleared ready for tomorrow. Suddenly, one of the telegraphs on Coats’ desk sprang to life.
It was the message he’d been expecting from his intermediary in contact with British Intelligence Headquarters in London. No one in the office bothered to look up at Coats, as he attached the headphones to his head and put his right index finger over telegraph switch. He heard the impulses of code come through his headphones clearly enough.
The sequence of dots and dashes played out unheard by anyone but agent Coats.
As his mind constructed each word and sentence, the message carried by this transmission began to register. When the last syllable was decoded and the message understood, Coats rose from his plain wooden chair and strode to the coat stand. Noticing Coats was no longer at his desk Johann looked up from his work and spoke.
“Hans, is everything ok?” Johann asked Coats. Hans was his operative cover while in Berlin.
“Nothing” replied Coats as calmly as he could. Realising he was not making eye-contact with Johann he looked up as he put on his light coat and hat. By this time the 2assistants™ had also stopped what they were doing, and were eagerly listening in.
“I just need to attend to a personal matter. I won’t be long!” Coats continued.
Johann immediately volunteered “Can I help?”
Coats replied “No, it’s a family matter”
“Your family” Johann teasingly said. “When will I get to meet them?” he asked.
With a straight face Coats cut the conversation off “Hopefully, soon!” With that final remark he left for his meeting with his contact in the Reichstag, Colonel Shultz.
Tiergarten District, Berlin: Coats ran down the near deserted street. He was late for his rendezvous.
As he neared a junction where a bakery shop stood on the corner, he smashed straight into another person coming from around the corner. He smashed heavily into the other person, knocking the other man and himself, both to the ground. For a moment both men lost awareness of their surroundings as they examined the aching parts of their anatomy. When both men were satisfied that no permanent damage had been done, they unsteadily set about trying 2stand™ up.
Coats looked at the man he had accidentally collided with. It was a German officer, a Captain in the army.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you coming” Coats apologetically voiced.
The German captain finished wiping himself off with his gloves.
“Are you ok?” asked Coats in mock worry.
Without taking his eyes off of the parts of his body he dusted, the soldier answered “Ja, Ja. I am. No bones broken.”
“You should watch who you run into, sir!” the soldier continued in an unthreatening manner. “If you had run into the wrong person, you could have been in a lot of trouble” he warned.
“Er, yes. I’m terribly sorry, but I am late for my train” Coats offered falsely.
“Of course!” replied the German officer understandingly. “Apology accepted” he declared. Then without looking at Coats, he motioned that Coats should be on his way, with a wave of his gloves.
“Thank you” replied Coats before he continued on his way. As he began to half run, fast walk and half-limp onto his final destination, the German officer looked up at the rear of the figure of Coats and watched as he made his way up the street. When he disappeared around a corner further down the street, he turned and was on his way.
St. Marks Church: Coats finally arrived at the Protestant church located a few buildings away from the train station. He slowed down to a walk and was breathing heavily now, attempting to reclaim the lost oxygen his lungs were craving.
He stopped directly outside the church entrance and clamed his rapid heart rate. When his anatomy had returned to normal, he opened the door and walked into the dim lit church.
The church gained its minimal luminance from the candles lit by church goers around the sanctuary. Coats strained to see the layout of the church. Two banks of simple benches filled the middle of the church. The benches were arrayed in rows numbered around twenty.
A simple altar was at the head of the church and behind it, a simple wooden cross. To the sides of the church were a few painting of various religious figures.
Coats completed surveying the church scene in front of him. 2figures™ were present. A woman knelt at one of the paintings at the front of the church on the right. On the left, a figure was sat down, three rows from the back. Coats immediately recognised him from the rear. It was Colonel Schultz. Coats moved towards him and sat down.
Without turning 2face™ him, the colonel berated Coats.
“You’re late!! What kept you” asked the colonel sharply.
“I had a run in with a Captain” responded Coats casually.
“Well, if you are late again, don’t expect me 2be™ here when you finally do turn up!” declared the colonel aggressively. “I am taking enough risks as it is!” he went on 2explain™. Coats gauged from his tone that the colonel was not his usual assured self.
“Fine!” retorted Coats, “I won’t be” he stated. “Do you have anything for me?” he asked inquisitively.
“Ja” responded the colonel, and passed a small package to from under his overcoat to Coats’ side.
Agent Coats took the package and slipped it into his trouser-line. As he did so the colonel warned him.
“I almost got caught taking these! I believe that the General Staff and the secret police may suspect something!” he confessed. Coats turned to face him.
“Still you know what is at stake, you must continue!” he demanded.
“I’m not sure I can!” declared the colonel. “Especially after you see what the report from the Führer's adjutant, contains” he continued.
“Don’t let the side down colonel” exclaimed Coats. “We shall meet here in a month’s time” he recommended.
“Very well, but if I don’t show, then something will have happened to me” warned the colonel.
Agent Coats looked at him as he rose to leave and whispered “See you next month colonel!” With that he left through the front of the church.
A minute later, Colonel Shultz also left the church, the unhappier of the 2men™.
The Report
Telegraph Office, Weissensee District: Around an hour later, Coats turned the final corner of the street where the telegraph office stood. He slowed his paced and walked past the front of the office which was now dark and unoccupied.
He rotated his head to see down the full length of the street on both side of him, and seeing it was clear headed back to the office and let himself in. After locking up behind himself he went 2his™ desk and pulled the small package from out of his trousers. He lit one of the candles on his desk.
He pulled the tags off the official looking envelope and pulled out the negatives that contained the photographs taken by Colonel Shultz. The documents contained details on the following information on different section of the strategic command within the government.
Under the section entitled Foreign Intelligence, a list of diplomatic and covert activities by foreign governments were outlined. It was reported that Turkey held a few minor diplomatic events with the Soviet Union and France. In New Zealand, the citizens had switched to a rightwing government. Italy and Yugoslavia had also held some low key talks in Sarajevo. This couldn’t be the important information the colonel was taking about.
The research section highlighted the only major advancement completed this month was the development of Telemetric Guidance.
Agent Coats turned to the military section of the report and began to read. His left eyebrow automatically began to rise. “’ello” he whispered under his breath.
Under the name of General Werner von Fritsch, Minister for the Army and Hjalmar Schacht, Minister for Armaments, the report detailed that four new panzer divisions were complete and ready for deployment into the field. These were the 4th, 5th, 6th and 10 Panzer Divisions. Also, this month had seen the formation of the 3rd Fliegerdivision.
Agent Coats thought to himself. This is very interesting. Very interesting indeed! He began to setup his equipment ready to transmit the new information to his intermediary in due course.
As he typed on the telegraph device, he did not notice a shadowy figure obscured from view, behind the ever so slightly ajar door at the rear of the room. The figure watched Coats intently and then closed the door without making a sound and tiptoed away.
Afterword: Maddogg1178, BRAVEn, Morpheus506 (One E), IBaLkid and Low. Thanks for reminding me that some of you still read this. I intend to spend the next week or some, moving the plot forward until the beginning of the war on Sept 39, which one game year. Extra piccies will be posted later. Im sick of them at the moment!.
Thx again for your compliments. I will keep writing this AAR.
Germany, 1938: It was a busy time in Berlin and in the rest of Germany. Businesses were sprouting up all over the country. As a result unemployment declined and German citizens stopped starving, but not because the economy was recovering or because stability had returned.
Just a few years ago the country was reeling from the effects of The Versailles Treaty, disgraced and humbled, in front of the world community for starting The Great War, The War to End all Wars.
No, these were the signs of a country in the midst of mobilisation. A country preparing to take back what its government and its people felt were rightly belonged to them. The new businesses, the availability of provisions, the lower levels of unemployment, all these were due to the growth of Germany’s military capacity, nothing more, nothing less. Mobilisation was gathering pace.
Rendezvous
Berlin, Early May 1938: In a telegraph office in the eastern suburbs of Berlin, agent Coats sat at his familiar desk in his office of employ. His co-workers were sat at nearby desks their attention diverted to their work.
In the last few weeks, due to the increasing volume of transmission traffic, Coats had requested that the business take on some additional personnel to assist Johann Bäcker and Coats in their efforts to keep up with the amount of requests they were receiving for government work.
This limited recruitment drive resulted in a young woman in her early twenties called Marlene Keitel and a teenager of sixteen years called Harold Schumacher being employed, to handle the more basic tasks, taking the burden off the shoulders of Coats and Johann.
It was getting late in the day and the four workers were still in the office working to ensure that the days backlog was cleared ready for tomorrow. Suddenly, one of the telegraphs on Coats’ desk sprang to life.
It was the message he’d been expecting from his intermediary in contact with British Intelligence Headquarters in London. No one in the office bothered to look up at Coats, as he attached the headphones to his head and put his right index finger over telegraph switch. He heard the impulses of code come through his headphones clearly enough.
The sequence of dots and dashes played out unheard by anyone but agent Coats.
As his mind constructed each word and sentence, the message carried by this transmission began to register. When the last syllable was decoded and the message understood, Coats rose from his plain wooden chair and strode to the coat stand. Noticing Coats was no longer at his desk Johann looked up from his work and spoke.
“Hans, is everything ok?” Johann asked Coats. Hans was his operative cover while in Berlin.
“Nothing” replied Coats as calmly as he could. Realising he was not making eye-contact with Johann he looked up as he put on his light coat and hat. By this time the 2assistants™ had also stopped what they were doing, and were eagerly listening in.
“I just need to attend to a personal matter. I won’t be long!” Coats continued.
Johann immediately volunteered “Can I help?”
Coats replied “No, it’s a family matter”
“Your family” Johann teasingly said. “When will I get to meet them?” he asked.
With a straight face Coats cut the conversation off “Hopefully, soon!” With that final remark he left for his meeting with his contact in the Reichstag, Colonel Shultz.
Tiergarten District, Berlin: Coats ran down the near deserted street. He was late for his rendezvous.
As he neared a junction where a bakery shop stood on the corner, he smashed straight into another person coming from around the corner. He smashed heavily into the other person, knocking the other man and himself, both to the ground. For a moment both men lost awareness of their surroundings as they examined the aching parts of their anatomy. When both men were satisfied that no permanent damage had been done, they unsteadily set about trying 2stand™ up.
Coats looked at the man he had accidentally collided with. It was a German officer, a Captain in the army.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you coming” Coats apologetically voiced.
The German captain finished wiping himself off with his gloves.
“Are you ok?” asked Coats in mock worry.
Without taking his eyes off of the parts of his body he dusted, the soldier answered “Ja, Ja. I am. No bones broken.”
“You should watch who you run into, sir!” the soldier continued in an unthreatening manner. “If you had run into the wrong person, you could have been in a lot of trouble” he warned.
“Er, yes. I’m terribly sorry, but I am late for my train” Coats offered falsely.
“Of course!” replied the German officer understandingly. “Apology accepted” he declared. Then without looking at Coats, he motioned that Coats should be on his way, with a wave of his gloves.
“Thank you” replied Coats before he continued on his way. As he began to half run, fast walk and half-limp onto his final destination, the German officer looked up at the rear of the figure of Coats and watched as he made his way up the street. When he disappeared around a corner further down the street, he turned and was on his way.
St. Marks Church: Coats finally arrived at the Protestant church located a few buildings away from the train station. He slowed down to a walk and was breathing heavily now, attempting to reclaim the lost oxygen his lungs were craving.
He stopped directly outside the church entrance and clamed his rapid heart rate. When his anatomy had returned to normal, he opened the door and walked into the dim lit church.
The church gained its minimal luminance from the candles lit by church goers around the sanctuary. Coats strained to see the layout of the church. Two banks of simple benches filled the middle of the church. The benches were arrayed in rows numbered around twenty.
A simple altar was at the head of the church and behind it, a simple wooden cross. To the sides of the church were a few painting of various religious figures.
Coats completed surveying the church scene in front of him. 2figures™ were present. A woman knelt at one of the paintings at the front of the church on the right. On the left, a figure was sat down, three rows from the back. Coats immediately recognised him from the rear. It was Colonel Schultz. Coats moved towards him and sat down.
Without turning 2face™ him, the colonel berated Coats.
“You’re late!! What kept you” asked the colonel sharply.
“I had a run in with a Captain” responded Coats casually.
“Well, if you are late again, don’t expect me 2be™ here when you finally do turn up!” declared the colonel aggressively. “I am taking enough risks as it is!” he went on 2explain™. Coats gauged from his tone that the colonel was not his usual assured self.
“Fine!” retorted Coats, “I won’t be” he stated. “Do you have anything for me?” he asked inquisitively.
“Ja” responded the colonel, and passed a small package to from under his overcoat to Coats’ side.
Agent Coats took the package and slipped it into his trouser-line. As he did so the colonel warned him.
“I almost got caught taking these! I believe that the General Staff and the secret police may suspect something!” he confessed. Coats turned to face him.
“Still you know what is at stake, you must continue!” he demanded.
“I’m not sure I can!” declared the colonel. “Especially after you see what the report from the Führer's adjutant, contains” he continued.
“Don’t let the side down colonel” exclaimed Coats. “We shall meet here in a month’s time” he recommended.
“Very well, but if I don’t show, then something will have happened to me” warned the colonel.
Agent Coats looked at him as he rose to leave and whispered “See you next month colonel!” With that he left through the front of the church.
A minute later, Colonel Shultz also left the church, the unhappier of the 2men™.
The Report
Telegraph Office, Weissensee District: Around an hour later, Coats turned the final corner of the street where the telegraph office stood. He slowed his paced and walked past the front of the office which was now dark and unoccupied.
He rotated his head to see down the full length of the street on both side of him, and seeing it was clear headed back to the office and let himself in. After locking up behind himself he went 2his™ desk and pulled the small package from out of his trousers. He lit one of the candles on his desk.
He pulled the tags off the official looking envelope and pulled out the negatives that contained the photographs taken by Colonel Shultz. The documents contained details on the following information on different section of the strategic command within the government.
Under the section entitled Foreign Intelligence, a list of diplomatic and covert activities by foreign governments were outlined. It was reported that Turkey held a few minor diplomatic events with the Soviet Union and France. In New Zealand, the citizens had switched to a rightwing government. Italy and Yugoslavia had also held some low key talks in Sarajevo. This couldn’t be the important information the colonel was taking about.
The research section highlighted the only major advancement completed this month was the development of Telemetric Guidance.
Agent Coats turned to the military section of the report and began to read. His left eyebrow automatically began to rise. “’ello” he whispered under his breath.
Under the name of General Werner von Fritsch, Minister for the Army and Hjalmar Schacht, Minister for Armaments, the report detailed that four new panzer divisions were complete and ready for deployment into the field. These were the 4th, 5th, 6th and 10 Panzer Divisions. Also, this month had seen the formation of the 3rd Fliegerdivision.
Agent Coats thought to himself. This is very interesting. Very interesting indeed! He began to setup his equipment ready to transmit the new information to his intermediary in due course.
As he typed on the telegraph device, he did not notice a shadowy figure obscured from view, behind the ever so slightly ajar door at the rear of the room. The figure watched Coats intently and then closed the door without making a sound and tiptoed away.
Afterword: Maddogg1178, BRAVEn, Morpheus506 (One E), IBaLkid and Low. Thanks for reminding me that some of you still read this. I intend to spend the next week or some, moving the plot forward until the beginning of the war on Sept 39, which one game year. Extra piccies will be posted later. Im sick of them at the moment!.
Thx again for your compliments. I will keep writing this AAR.
Last edited:
You kiddin. This is one of the best AAR's around. Otto is a very easy character to root for. The story is oozing with tension. Espianage at its best. Im lovin it.
iBaLkiD is spot on. This AAR already belongs to my Top 5 of all-time. So please keep on writing, we crave to hear more about agent Coats and Otto...
CHAPTER36: Suspicious Minds
Almost a month passed by. Mobilisation continued as planned, tanks, planes, ships continued to be built. Divisions of men continued to be conscripted and trained.
Morning Routine in the Reichstag
Adjutants Office - Reichstag, Berlin: Otto walked into the unguarded adjutant’s office of the Führer. It was early morning. The guard and agent Höffen the secret police agent assigned to “supervise” Otto had not arrived yet.
Otto took off his overcoat and placed it along with his briefcase onto his desk before turning right round and heading back to hallway he had just walked in from. He headed to the kitchenette situated at the end of the corridor on the left and began to make some coffee. Unbeknownst to him as he filled the cafeteria with water from the tap, a figure left Otto’s office and stealthily crept past the open doorway.
Otto prepared to make freshly made coffee for himself and the Führer. Although, not a fan of Sanka coffee, it was the Führer favourite brand and therefore, easily available throughout the land. As he placed the cafeteria over the heating element, he began to recount his personal objectives for the day in his mind.
While doing so the roster guard for today walked in and asked “Güten tag, Corporal, is the coffee ready?”
Otto shook his head before replying “I will bring you a cup when I head back, Luther.”
The guard thanked him before heading to his posts outside the adjutant’s office door, on this corridor. A few minutes later the coffee pot boiled and Otto made three cups of coffee. Just then, agent Höffen walked past and shouted a hollow ‘Hello’ to Otto as he continued to the office without waiting for a reply.
Otto thought to himself that he must really speak to the officer in charge of staffing and possibly make a complaint about Höffen’s incompetence. Over the last few months for one reason or another, Höffen the secret police agent sent to ‘oversee’ Otto, had been the cause of extra work and inefficiency, not to mention the possible security lapses were starting to become frequent!
Although Otto had initially regarded duplicating his monthly reports with apathy, he was becoming concerned how these reports were being mislaid or moved and incorrectly replaced in his filing system. Unsatisfied with how numerous the number of times he had found documents misplaced or lost, he began thinking that perhaps Höffen was secretly passing these documents to the Security Ministry. For what ends he did not know! Afterall, Wilhelm Frick the Security Minister was on the recipient list for these documents. Otto was confused, he didn’t have enough information to accuse anyone let alone prove that anything unhand was transpiring.
He split a few drops of hot beverage on his hand which brought him round from his reverie. He placed the cups and saucers on a silver tray along with a jug of fresh cream and a pot of sugar. He picked up the tray and headed back to the office, pausing to allow Luther, the guard to pick up a cup to devour before the rest of the Reichstag became full of personnel.
The guard opened a door to his office and he made his way to the opposite side of his office where Höffen was already sat working at his desk.
As he passed Höffen’s desk, the police agent gingerly asked “What no coffee for me?”
Otto ignored him, but he registered that Höffen seemed to be noticeably happier than he had ever been. He turned to regard Höffen attempting to note anything in his appearance or manner that could help him identify why Höffen appeared to be happy. He saw nothing. He crossed the rest of the office in a few more strides and knocked on the far door that led to the Führer office. He waited a moment and entered. The room was empty. The Führer was late in. He must have been held up for some reason. He strode up to a nearby side table and left the tray upon it, before taking his cup and saucer back with him.
He emerged back into his office and closed the door behind him and sat down at his desk.
Something didn’t feel right! He lifted his head. He focused his ears. Höffen was whistling. It was low but audible. Otto turned his head to look at Höffen. He couldn’t believe his ears. In the months that Höffen had been assigned to his office, he had barely made any sort of remark, comment or action that would display he was at least part human. Otto shook his head and a grin appeared on his face. He started to look for the report that he was compiling for this month. His briefcase was open. It had been shut when he’d left.
‘What’s going on here?’ he thought to himself. He looked around his desk to see if he had removed the paperwork and placed it on his desk. No there was no paperwork there. He rose from his desk and walked around to the other side and examined the floor. No luck there either. He turned to look at Höffen sat at his desk. He was about to open his mouth to ask a question when there was a knock on the door. Secret police agents von Dammer and Heinkel walked in, in their imposing shiny black long coats.
Höffen stopped whistling and looked up. Otto turned around to face them. Before he had a chance to speak Agent von Dammer spoke with authority.
“Corporal Schmidt, we have a warrant for your arrest on the charges of treasonable negligence. You are to come with us immediately for interrogation!” ordered von Dammer.
Agent von Heinkel stared at Otto with the eyes of a maniac. Otto began to protest!
“What? This is preposterous! Who has accused me of these charges?” he demanded.
Von Dammer replied a smear of satisfaction upon his face “By orders of Wilhelm Frick and the Führer.”
Otto became stunned. He couldn’t move, talk or think. He was barely able to breath. He was paralysed with shock. The sudden realisation that he was being set up filled his mind. No wonder Höffen had been whistling and was happy! Where was the Führer, his friend or so he thought, at his time of need! A thought entered his mind. If he could just talk to the Führer for a minute, he could sort out this mess!
Von Heinkel motioned to grab Otto. “Wait!” Otto protested. “I want to speak with the Führer!” he desperately pleaded.
Von Dammer coldly replied “Well, the Führer does not wish to be disturbed at this time!”
With that von Dammer and von Heinkel placed the Austrian Corporal under arrest and led him away to the Security Ministry building for interrogation.
Left alone, agent Höffen began to clear Otto’s desk of his personal belongs and declared “Some redecorating is in order!”
The Clandestine Conspiracy Continues
Unkmarked room - Reichstag, Berlin: In a sealed room deep within the Reichstag, Colonel Shultz handed a stack of papers to a smoking man sat on an armchair. He had already photographed them, and saluted before leaving to take the negatives to Captain Coats his British Intelligence contact. He left the smoking man to read the contents of the documents.
The documentation contained intelligence reports of diplomatic activity. Turkey and the Soviet Union had held low key talks on border controls. Afghanistan had received a small detachment of military advisors from Italy. Sweden and France had agreed to settle a very minor historic dispute.
The Heer section of the documentation also described the further deployment of more panzer divisions, designated; the 2. SS-Division 'Das Reich’, and the 7. Panzer-Division. Also deployed were two divisions of mountain troops; the 3. Gebirgsjäger-Division and the 6. Gebirgsjäger-Division.
The Kreigsmarine section declared the completion of an additional destroyer group the Zerstörergeschwader 52 in dry dock.
The Luftwaffe section described the completion and testing of two fighter squadrons; the Jagdgeschwader 20 and the ZG 26 'Horst Wessel' squadrons were almost combat ready.
As he read through information contained in Otto’s latest unfinished report, he chain-smoked through the pack of cigarettes he kept in his inside left tunic pocket, only pausing to open another packet when he ran out.
Outside the Reichstag, Otto was being driven to his interrogation.
Almost a month passed by. Mobilisation continued as planned, tanks, planes, ships continued to be built. Divisions of men continued to be conscripted and trained.
Morning Routine in the Reichstag
Adjutants Office - Reichstag, Berlin: Otto walked into the unguarded adjutant’s office of the Führer. It was early morning. The guard and agent Höffen the secret police agent assigned to “supervise” Otto had not arrived yet.
Otto took off his overcoat and placed it along with his briefcase onto his desk before turning right round and heading back to hallway he had just walked in from. He headed to the kitchenette situated at the end of the corridor on the left and began to make some coffee. Unbeknownst to him as he filled the cafeteria with water from the tap, a figure left Otto’s office and stealthily crept past the open doorway.
Otto prepared to make freshly made coffee for himself and the Führer. Although, not a fan of Sanka coffee, it was the Führer favourite brand and therefore, easily available throughout the land. As he placed the cafeteria over the heating element, he began to recount his personal objectives for the day in his mind.
While doing so the roster guard for today walked in and asked “Güten tag, Corporal, is the coffee ready?”
Otto shook his head before replying “I will bring you a cup when I head back, Luther.”
The guard thanked him before heading to his posts outside the adjutant’s office door, on this corridor. A few minutes later the coffee pot boiled and Otto made three cups of coffee. Just then, agent Höffen walked past and shouted a hollow ‘Hello’ to Otto as he continued to the office without waiting for a reply.
Otto thought to himself that he must really speak to the officer in charge of staffing and possibly make a complaint about Höffen’s incompetence. Over the last few months for one reason or another, Höffen the secret police agent sent to ‘oversee’ Otto, had been the cause of extra work and inefficiency, not to mention the possible security lapses were starting to become frequent!
Although Otto had initially regarded duplicating his monthly reports with apathy, he was becoming concerned how these reports were being mislaid or moved and incorrectly replaced in his filing system. Unsatisfied with how numerous the number of times he had found documents misplaced or lost, he began thinking that perhaps Höffen was secretly passing these documents to the Security Ministry. For what ends he did not know! Afterall, Wilhelm Frick the Security Minister was on the recipient list for these documents. Otto was confused, he didn’t have enough information to accuse anyone let alone prove that anything unhand was transpiring.
He split a few drops of hot beverage on his hand which brought him round from his reverie. He placed the cups and saucers on a silver tray along with a jug of fresh cream and a pot of sugar. He picked up the tray and headed back to the office, pausing to allow Luther, the guard to pick up a cup to devour before the rest of the Reichstag became full of personnel.
The guard opened a door to his office and he made his way to the opposite side of his office where Höffen was already sat working at his desk.
As he passed Höffen’s desk, the police agent gingerly asked “What no coffee for me?”
Otto ignored him, but he registered that Höffen seemed to be noticeably happier than he had ever been. He turned to regard Höffen attempting to note anything in his appearance or manner that could help him identify why Höffen appeared to be happy. He saw nothing. He crossed the rest of the office in a few more strides and knocked on the far door that led to the Führer office. He waited a moment and entered. The room was empty. The Führer was late in. He must have been held up for some reason. He strode up to a nearby side table and left the tray upon it, before taking his cup and saucer back with him.
He emerged back into his office and closed the door behind him and sat down at his desk.
Something didn’t feel right! He lifted his head. He focused his ears. Höffen was whistling. It was low but audible. Otto turned his head to look at Höffen. He couldn’t believe his ears. In the months that Höffen had been assigned to his office, he had barely made any sort of remark, comment or action that would display he was at least part human. Otto shook his head and a grin appeared on his face. He started to look for the report that he was compiling for this month. His briefcase was open. It had been shut when he’d left.
‘What’s going on here?’ he thought to himself. He looked around his desk to see if he had removed the paperwork and placed it on his desk. No there was no paperwork there. He rose from his desk and walked around to the other side and examined the floor. No luck there either. He turned to look at Höffen sat at his desk. He was about to open his mouth to ask a question when there was a knock on the door. Secret police agents von Dammer and Heinkel walked in, in their imposing shiny black long coats.
Höffen stopped whistling and looked up. Otto turned around to face them. Before he had a chance to speak Agent von Dammer spoke with authority.
“Corporal Schmidt, we have a warrant for your arrest on the charges of treasonable negligence. You are to come with us immediately for interrogation!” ordered von Dammer.
Agent von Heinkel stared at Otto with the eyes of a maniac. Otto began to protest!
“What? This is preposterous! Who has accused me of these charges?” he demanded.
Von Dammer replied a smear of satisfaction upon his face “By orders of Wilhelm Frick and the Führer.”
Otto became stunned. He couldn’t move, talk or think. He was barely able to breath. He was paralysed with shock. The sudden realisation that he was being set up filled his mind. No wonder Höffen had been whistling and was happy! Where was the Führer, his friend or so he thought, at his time of need! A thought entered his mind. If he could just talk to the Führer for a minute, he could sort out this mess!
Von Heinkel motioned to grab Otto. “Wait!” Otto protested. “I want to speak with the Führer!” he desperately pleaded.
Von Dammer coldly replied “Well, the Führer does not wish to be disturbed at this time!”
With that von Dammer and von Heinkel placed the Austrian Corporal under arrest and led him away to the Security Ministry building for interrogation.
Left alone, agent Höffen began to clear Otto’s desk of his personal belongs and declared “Some redecorating is in order!”
The Clandestine Conspiracy Continues
Unkmarked room - Reichstag, Berlin: In a sealed room deep within the Reichstag, Colonel Shultz handed a stack of papers to a smoking man sat on an armchair. He had already photographed them, and saluted before leaving to take the negatives to Captain Coats his British Intelligence contact. He left the smoking man to read the contents of the documents.
The documentation contained intelligence reports of diplomatic activity. Turkey and the Soviet Union had held low key talks on border controls. Afghanistan had received a small detachment of military advisors from Italy. Sweden and France had agreed to settle a very minor historic dispute.
The Heer section of the documentation also described the further deployment of more panzer divisions, designated; the 2. SS-Division 'Das Reich’, and the 7. Panzer-Division. Also deployed were two divisions of mountain troops; the 3. Gebirgsjäger-Division and the 6. Gebirgsjäger-Division.
The Kreigsmarine section declared the completion of an additional destroyer group the Zerstörergeschwader 52 in dry dock.
The Luftwaffe section described the completion and testing of two fighter squadrons; the Jagdgeschwader 20 and the ZG 26 'Horst Wessel' squadrons were almost combat ready.
As he read through information contained in Otto’s latest unfinished report, he chain-smoked through the pack of cigarettes he kept in his inside left tunic pocket, only pausing to open another packet when he ran out.
Outside the Reichstag, Otto was being driven to his interrogation.
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Frick, thats B-S man. Otto is not a damn traitor! I would shake my head in disbelief if i could.
Nice update. Dont harm Otto tho
Nice update. Dont harm Otto tho
Wow, great as ever, sorry, this AAR kinda slipped outta my radar for awhile, and I decided to come back to it. It is quite excellent, one of the best story driven AAR's to date.
Foreword: Fuhrerdammerung it would seem that its slips out of a few peoples radar, mine inlcuded!
elbasto, BRAVEn, iBaLkid Otto will be interrogated in the next part of this chapter which will be posted in 4 parts in total.
As for everyone else that has PMed me, I will get back on track with this AAR. In truth I have been attempting to write updates but the quality has been that good. Hopefully this post is!
Cheers
CHAPTER37: The Interrogation of Otto Schmidt
Meanwhile, in the adjutants office located in the Reichstag, the newly self-appointed Adjutant of the Führer, secret police agent Günter Höffen was busy re-arranging his predecessor’s filing system. It was…… ‘inefficient’!
As he set about rearranging section B of his new important files, the buzzer on Otto ……, no Höffen’s desk sounded. It was the Führer summoning him or rather summoning Otto from next door. Höffen put down the papers his was holding and marched through the connecting doors into the Führer office.
Sat on the sofas beside the grand ornately framed bay windows of the leader’s office, Adolph Hitler was in discussion with Security Minister Frick. Höffen advanced to within a few feet of the chatting pair and saluted his leader and his superior.
“Yes mein Führer what can I do for you?” he asked.
Without turning away from his discussion, the Führer barked an order.
“Bring us fresh coffee, Otto, if you please.” Startled at the Führer lack of recognition for his new adjutant, Höffen coughed again causing the Führer to stop in mid-sentence and turn to face him. Frick also turned to face Höffen; a look of near panic grew upon his face.
“Where is Otto and who are you?” demanded the Führer.
Frick shook his head in a futile attempt to stop Höffen boasting of this mornings ‘unofficial’ operation. Höffen realised his error and almost flushed with helplessness.
“Agent Höffen, at your service!” he blurted.
“One of your men no?” the Führer asked Frick a look of grave seriousness on his face.
“Indeed, mein Führer, one of my best! Should we not continue?” responded the security ministers, attempting to placate his leader and change the subject in a single attempt.
The Führer paused for a moment repeatedly looking at his security minister and his new adjutant, one at a time as if contemplating something. Frick held his anguish inside, a few beads of perspiration appeared on Höffen’s forehead. The awkward silence was ended when the Führer again spoke.
“Very well! The coffee if you will, and send in Otto!” insisted the Führer.
Wilhelm Frick’s face mutated from forming a relaxed expression, when he heard the first part of the Führer words, to one of horror on hearing the request for Otto. Parts of the security minister’s anatomy tied itself into knots. Realising the potential for the discovery of Otto’s illegal arrest Höffen brainstormed a reply.
Apologetically Höffen responded. “Mein Führer, I would, but ….” he stuttered momentarily before regaining his composure.
“He left rather swiftly without mentioning anything!” Höffen finished.
This part although true, was stretching the truth of that morning’s events to the extreme!
With subtle curiosity in his voice, Adolph Hitler stated to the 2others™ “This does not sound like Otto! He would have left a message with someone.”
After yet another pause of contemplation ensued before he continued. “Very well. Bring in coffee if you please, for four! Out guests from Czechoslovakia will be thirsty after I finished with them.”
Then he laughed. A sick twisted laughter. Wilhelm Frick joined him. Höffen merely saluted, before turning around and heading back out of the Führer office.
With the fading echoes of laughter in his ears Höffen closed the door behind him as he heard the Führer along with his security minister returned to their discussion.
Agent Höffen marched out of the Head of State’s room and through to the kitchenette, where Otto had made coffee a few hours earlier. As he waited for the kettle to boil, he thought to himself “Dam I wish we had of arrest Otto this afternoon instead of morning! I hate making coffee.’
Later that day, after Otto had been frogmarched into an interrogation cell and left there to stew for several hours, finally some activity could be heard outside. The car journey to the compound was a short one.
As usual the sight of a car with security ministry markings was never held up, by anything! As von Heinkel drove the car along its short twisting route, von Dammer sat opposite Otto throughout the journey, staring straight at him, as if to prise the answers from within him.
Neither man said much, Otto knew that whatever he threaten, or complained nothing would change his situation. For now, he would have to bide his time.
Arriving at the heavily guarded front gate, the car was let through and Heinkel drove through the triple security posts within
elbasto, BRAVEn, iBaLkid Otto will be interrogated in the next part of this chapter which will be posted in 4 parts in total.
As for everyone else that has PMed me, I will get back on track with this AAR. In truth I have been attempting to write updates but the quality has been that good. Hopefully this post is!
Cheers
CHAPTER37: The Interrogation of Otto Schmidt
Never keep the Führer Waiting!
Meanwhile, in the adjutants office located in the Reichstag, the newly self-appointed Adjutant of the Führer, secret police agent Günter Höffen was busy re-arranging his predecessor’s filing system. It was…… ‘inefficient’!
As he set about rearranging section B of his new important files, the buzzer on Otto ……, no Höffen’s desk sounded. It was the Führer summoning him or rather summoning Otto from next door. Höffen put down the papers his was holding and marched through the connecting doors into the Führer office.
Sat on the sofas beside the grand ornately framed bay windows of the leader’s office, Adolph Hitler was in discussion with Security Minister Frick. Höffen advanced to within a few feet of the chatting pair and saluted his leader and his superior.
“Yes mein Führer what can I do for you?” he asked.
Without turning away from his discussion, the Führer barked an order.
“Bring us fresh coffee, Otto, if you please.” Startled at the Führer lack of recognition for his new adjutant, Höffen coughed again causing the Führer to stop in mid-sentence and turn to face him. Frick also turned to face Höffen; a look of near panic grew upon his face.
“Where is Otto and who are you?” demanded the Führer.
Frick shook his head in a futile attempt to stop Höffen boasting of this mornings ‘unofficial’ operation. Höffen realised his error and almost flushed with helplessness.
“Agent Höffen, at your service!” he blurted.
“One of your men no?” the Führer asked Frick a look of grave seriousness on his face.
“Indeed, mein Führer, one of my best! Should we not continue?” responded the security ministers, attempting to placate his leader and change the subject in a single attempt.
The Führer paused for a moment repeatedly looking at his security minister and his new adjutant, one at a time as if contemplating something. Frick held his anguish inside, a few beads of perspiration appeared on Höffen’s forehead. The awkward silence was ended when the Führer again spoke.
“Very well! The coffee if you will, and send in Otto!” insisted the Führer.
Wilhelm Frick’s face mutated from forming a relaxed expression, when he heard the first part of the Führer words, to one of horror on hearing the request for Otto. Parts of the security minister’s anatomy tied itself into knots. Realising the potential for the discovery of Otto’s illegal arrest Höffen brainstormed a reply.
Apologetically Höffen responded. “Mein Führer, I would, but ….” he stuttered momentarily before regaining his composure.
“He left rather swiftly without mentioning anything!” Höffen finished.
This part although true, was stretching the truth of that morning’s events to the extreme!
With subtle curiosity in his voice, Adolph Hitler stated to the 2others™ “This does not sound like Otto! He would have left a message with someone.”
After yet another pause of contemplation ensued before he continued. “Very well. Bring in coffee if you please, for four! Out guests from Czechoslovakia will be thirsty after I finished with them.”
Then he laughed. A sick twisted laughter. Wilhelm Frick joined him. Höffen merely saluted, before turning around and heading back out of the Führer office.
With the fading echoes of laughter in his ears Höffen closed the door behind him as he heard the Führer along with his security minister returned to their discussion.
Agent Höffen marched out of the Head of State’s room and through to the kitchenette, where Otto had made coffee a few hours earlier. As he waited for the kettle to boil, he thought to himself “Dam I wish we had of arrest Otto this afternoon instead of morning! I hate making coffee.’
Later that day, after Otto had been frogmarched into an interrogation cell and left there to stew for several hours, finally some activity could be heard outside. The car journey to the compound was a short one.
As usual the sight of a car with security ministry markings was never held up, by anything! As von Heinkel drove the car along its short twisting route, von Dammer sat opposite Otto throughout the journey, staring straight at him, as if to prise the answers from within him.
Neither man said much, Otto knew that whatever he threaten, or complained nothing would change his situation. For now, he would have to bide his time.
Arriving at the heavily guarded front gate, the car was let through and Heinkel drove through the triple security posts within
MMmmm, im back, as will Otto return.
I have no doubt.
Heads will roll.
Somebody call Johhny Cochrane before things get out of hand!
More please!
I have no doubt.
Heads will roll.
Somebody call Johhny Cochrane before things get out of hand!
More please!