Post by Diarist on Apr 17, 2015 11:22:11 GMT 1
Prince Edward, Commander Mountbatten and I arrived at the Admiralty just after 11 o'clock. They had been warned that TRADOC is on the way and sure enough we were intercepted by a Rear Admiral who brought us to Duff Cooper, the First Lord of the Admiralty. When asked why we were there I replied that we intend inviting a German Admiral to lunch - Admiral Wilhelm Canaris. He's the chiel of Military Counter-Intelligence and has an interesting peronnel file. He agreed to bring us to him.
Captain Wales and Commander Mountbatten left to reserve a table at the RNVR Club and Duff Cooper asked me about my trip to Paris yesterday and what the French think about the Anglo-German Naval talks. I told him that I had been present most of the time and there had been no mention of the talks. I briefed him about the arrangements we had agreed upon and that we shall be meeting the French delegation in Cherbourg tomorrow. I asked him for clarification about the official Admiralty opinion towards the Anglo-Naval talks. I told him that at TRADOC we considered any Treaty with Germany would legitimize Hitler's rearmament policy and we risk alienating France and we need the French to defeat the Italians. He supports that but there are political forces that believe a treaty with Hitler would keep him under control. I didn't reply to that.
The Rear-Admiral brought me to the conference where I recognized the Deputy Foreign Secretary, John Simon. I went to him and asked him to pass on a note to Admiral Canaris. A few minutes later I met the Admiral and I told him that I work for General Gort at TRADOC, "I'm sure you have heard of us". He had. I told him that nothing will be decided here today and that I've reserved a table for lunch. He excused himself from the German delegation and we left the Admiralty and walked to the RNVR Club. At the door I explained that we are guests of Commander Mountbatten, a club member and we were ushered to a fairly large table and I introduced the Admiral to the two other guests. They are both great-grandsons of Queen Victoria. We'd scarcely been seated for 10 minutes when Winston Churchill and Duff Cooper arrived.
I don't believe in coincidences and sure enough they joined us at our table. Admiral Canaris told us of his journey through Africa during the last war and how he managed to get back to Germany and continue the fight. That allowed Secretary Churchill to talk about his adventures in Africa. After lunch the conversation turned to current affairs. Apparently Germany doesn't have a TRADOC - each service has their own R&D operation. He told us about a Colonel Guderian who was having our armour publications translated into German at his own expense. (I made a mental note that we have to stop these publications). Admiral Canaris asked me why I had said that nothing would be decided in London. After receiving a nod from Winston Churchill I explained that it would legitimize Hitler's policies and we can't sign anything without our friends in Paris and Washington being involved. Germany is already building U-boats before any treaty has been agreed upon. My personal opinion is that Germany can build whatever and as much as you want. The problem is that you can only build what you can, not what you want to build. The Kriegsmarine is competing with Army and the Air Force for resources and you appear to be the poor cousin. That's the good news. The bad news is that we can build whatever we want and intend doing so primarily because Japan is leaving the Naval Treaties next year. We can build more than Germany so you'll never get anywhere near 35 percent.
Winston Churchill added that we have much wider obligations than Germany and we need a much larger fleet , also he doubts that Hitler is willing to wait 10 years for a well-balanced Kriegsmarine to be built. Hitler wants war, we don't ! "Is there any way to avoid this conflict? Is there any resistance against Hitler's goals?", he continued. Admiral Canaris avoided an answer but we got the message. The only resistance had been the SA and when Hitler had been given an ultimatum by the Reichswehr - "fix the problem or we shall" - Hitler silenced the SA leadership and the SA became part of the Wehrmacht.
We were beginning to like this Admiral so it was decided that Captain Wales and Commander Mountbatten would take him to St. James Palace to get a second car and drive to our Hotel. Secretary Churchill had indicated he had a few questions so I would follow later in our Hillman. After they had left I gave a brief summary of our plans. I forgot to mention the Lieutenant-General idea - that's still a secret in TRADOC! I told them of a few ideas we have on how to cripple the Italian fleet and that we are confident we can defeat Italy and deprive them of their African colonies.
They also asked about the undisclosed AirSpec. I replied that they should ask General Gort but they insisted and I'm only a Captain. I said we are planning a bomber with a range of 1200 miles and a maximum speed of 450 mph. and we don't want the Air Ministry to know that. Winston Churchill was obviously impressed and said that his lips are sealed. I told them we are not hurrying this project because we need Merlin engines and the new fighters have priority. We can wait for Mk.III or IV versions with hopefully more than 1000 hp. This led to a discussion about the new Merlin engine. We need to build more factories to produce the large number of engines required and we need to start building them now. Disguised as car factories, I suggested.
Shortly later they departed wishing me, (us), a successful mission in Gibraltar and I drove to our Hotel in Saffron Walden. More later.