21 Oct 1935 - TRADOC HQ

[Diarist]

We had a wonderful afternoon at the Gort residence yesterday. The good news is that George and I are now members of the Saffron Walden Golf Club although I have no idea when we shall find time to play there. Wallis was in great form yesterday. The negative comments about her in the press are written by people who have never met her. The locals were surprised to learn that Prince Edward was at the Parachute Training Course.
Today's a busy day for me. I called the Spanish Embassy and told LTC Rodriguez that my wife has a letter for him. I gave him her phone number so they can arrange a meeting. It just happens that he also has one for me. It can only be Admiral Canaris.

The lawn was still too damp yesterday evening so I'll have to rig my parachute at Duxford in a hangar. Then Mark Williams arrived with the seven squad leaders chosen to destroy aircraft at the seven airfields. We even have a plan for them to evade capture. Only the umpire stays behind to explain what has just happened to the AOC. Each sergeant has a dossier with a plan of the airfield, the location(s) where the aircraft are normally parked, and where they get back on their aircraft. Some of them will be flying with the aircraft for the next couple of days pretending to be part of the aircrew so they can familiarize themselves with the layout of their target base.
Now I'm going to Duxford myself. Just a courtesy visit because my force won't be arriving until Wednesday.
At RAF Duxford I looked for Wg Cdr Sowrey and found him near to a group of Valentia's.
"These really do look new. Much different to the aircraft of the 216th in Egypt."
"They'll quickly deteriorate in Iraq, believe me."
"Which hangar as been reserved for your squadron. I need to repack my parachute."
"I'll walk with you. Mark gave our pilots an interesting presentation but aren't we breaking a few rules?"
"Bill, between the two of us. The next war is going to much worse than the last one. It'll be a no-holds-barred conflict and exercises of this kind aim to be as authentic as possible. We intend giving the 2nd Infantry a dose of hell. A 'battle' which will also jolt the armchair generals at the MoD out of their chairs. I haven't even told General Gort the full plan. Do they really believe that Hitler and Stalin will abide by our rule book. Rules are made to be broken, Bill. That's what they are there for."
"It'll be a rough ride for you afterwards, you do realize that?"
"We have a post-exercise plan too but thanks for your concern."
"Talk to me about the situation in the Near East. It's a very important region for our war effort. Is it still volatile?
For the next half-hour he gave me an interesting insight of the northern Arabian Gulf. To be honest I'm a bit concerned and will talk to Churchill after the exercise is over and the dust has settled.
"Fascinating how a parachute is packed."
"When I pack it myself I leave my reserve chute at home. Don't tell Sally that. How long are you staying in England."
"We are flying back to Iraq next week. We are only here now because you selected our unit for the exercise."
"Happy to be here a bit longer?"
"Of course. Many of us have family in nearby hotels."
"I'm glad that I have been able to help. So, I'm done."
"How are you getting to Old Sarum tomorrow?"
"If we have flying weather we fly with the 24th. They provide logistic support for TRADOC, i.e. they are our air-taxi service. I'll see you again soon."
Back at the HQ I returned a call to COL van Voorhis. The change to the movement plan has confused him.
"We are not going to offload the ISV's on our side of the front. We'll offload them in Gillingham after it has been captured so they have to be on the first train to move to Tisbury after the first ones have returned to Salisbury. We'll be in Salisbury tomorrow and all will be explained. It's George's brigade and it's his idea. It makes sense to me. Sorry about the short notice. Could you arrange for transportation at RAF Old Sarum tomorrow, please? If the weather's bad we'll arrive at the railway station instead. We'll let you know how we arriving before we leave here."
"Thanks. Goodbye."
Time for a late lunch.

[Diarist]

At lunch George was there so I sat at his table. "What the heck did you tell COL van Voorhis? You got him really confused. I just had to sort things out."
"Bob, I wrote simple instructions. Hell, it's not his forces anyway."
"He's only the forward commander with two battalions facing two brigades and you're suggesting not using ISV's which he would love to have himself if they're unemployed. Really considerate of you, George. Just tell him the whole story when you meet him tomorrow. OK?"
"OK. You ready?"
"It can't start soon enough..."
"Did you check the weather at Duxford?"
"The forecast is good. South-westerly winds for the next few days with a slight chance of rain. I hope the clouds aren't too low. If we can't see the target we'll abort the jump and land at RAF Old Sarum then try a first light jump a few hours later."
"What's the target?"
No idea. That's my mission for this afternoon. I won't tell COL van Voorhis either."
I went to the map room and studied the map. I need something out of sight of their HQ but not too far away. There's their Signal unit on a hill a few miles to west and open fields NW of the hill. They probably have transportation too. That'll do. We now have a Plan B.
Back in my office I drew up the mission plans and made it look somewhat official. I'm hoping I won't have to use the plan. Just before I was finished the phone rang. It was Sally.
"Hallo, darling."
"I have the letter."
"Open it and read it to me please."
He was informing me that Rommel and his family had been killed in a car accident in Spain. I asked her to read it again slowly. I'm trying to read something between the lines or does Canaris really believe that Rommel is dead.
"I know you are confused but I'll tell you everything when you are back here. Don't show the letter to anybody."
I went to General Gort and he asked what COL van Voorhis wanted.
"We've modified the operation plan which needed a corresponding change in the movement plan and he wasn't given enough explanation. Now he knows. I got a call from Sally. She picked up a letter from Canaris at lunchtime. I asked her to read it to me and he's informing me that Rommel and family have been killed in a car crash. I think he really believes it. Sally is confused because I haven't shown her the letter from the Foreign Office. I didn't think I needed to."
"We have a surprise for him when/if he comes to your wedding party next month."
"Yes, we do. This is my new Plan B in case we have to abort the jump on Thursday."
He looked at it. "Good plan, Bob."
"I still haven't giving up hope of capturing their HQ."

Plan B

[Diarist]

I was greeted by Sally with, "So what's going on?"
"I hope you had a nice day too, Sally. If the Gestapo thinks he is dead there will be no reprisals against his family or friends. It's that simple. Can I have the letter, please?" She handed it to me and I read it.
"Either Canaris really thinks he is dead or he is writing as if he believes Rommel is dead in case someone intercepts and reads his mail. Sally, Erwin deserted, he's defected, he's a traitor and if the Nazis believe he is dead they won't hunt him down or kidnap one of our people to demand him back in an exchange. He is better off dead. Irvine Miller is here. Understood?"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
I wrote down a phone number and gave it to her. "M.I.6, the Military Intelligence arranged his accident, not me. Why don't you ask them why they didn't tell you. They would then ask you a lot of nasty questions and they'd probably put a flag on my career. I'm sure you don't want that to happen. Even Irvine doesn't know yet. I shall tell him tomorrow when we meet."
"You told Lucy?"
"I had to tell her because she cannot contact anybody she knew as Lucie Rommel under any circumstances. She has to tell it to Gertrude and Manfred. They are all officially dead and dead people don't contact old friends. End of discussion, darling. Now, how was your day?"
"Busy."
"Mine too. Let's go home. Mum's cooking Lancashire hotpot."
I told General Gort that I'll be going straight to RAF Duxford tomorrow morning so I'll see him Wednesday evening at Old Sarum airfield in Salisbury.