Post by Diarist on Nov 23, 2016 16:01:09 GMT 1
Our visit to 10 Downing Street was over after 15 minutes. The bottom line being that it is Winston's Ministry of Defence and if he has no problem with hiring Prince Edward then the PM has none. He won't be Secretary of War though because that is a cabinet post. The favourite title at the moment is (Special) Assistant to the Secretary of Defence. Edward will be at the MoD this morning to find out what has been decided. I invited Generals Winkelmann and van Overstraeten as well as Colonel de Gaulle to a working breakfast then we retired to my office. At the breakfast table we only talked about the new armoured division design but now Charles and I told them about the secret mission to occupy the Saar if Hitler attempts the remilitarization of the Rhineland.
"You two Generals are here to help us draw up contingency plans for the occupation of the Rhineland north of Cologne and west of the Rhine. King Leopold and a few more people in Belgium know of these plans but nobody in Holland knows anything. We want to present your leaders with plans before the end of January. France and Britain will respond to a German violation of the Locarno Treaties and we hope that Belgium and Holland follow our example. Needless to say this all very secret and you are not authorized to contact anybody at home."
I then told them about my discussions in Germany at the weekend and we believe that Hitler and his crew will be toppled if we show resolve and resist German moves. The Wehrmacht is also against such a move because they are not ready for a war but they'll follow Hitler's orders until we respond. After that we have no idea what will happen.
"How do you intend informing my Government?" General Winkelmann asked.
"It hasn't been decided yet but we are working on a royal visit to The Netherlands."
Colonel de Gaulle showed them the French plans and I described how we envisage a Dutch-Belgian response. I reiterated that we are not insisting that their nations respond because we believe that Britain and France can counter Hitler without them. However if they do respond Belgium and Holland would benefit economically from the area their forces occupy. Our goal is to cripple the German economy which in turn would terminate their war machine and Europe will be a lot safer.
"One more thing you need to know. This is not a TRADOC mission. Only General Gort and Charles know about it so you need somewhere to do the planning. May I suggest my Ministry in London. Some of my colleagues have been tasked to plan the operation so it isn't so secret there. We have cars here at TRADOC so you three can have one placed at your disposal."
"I'll be in France starting next year so we only have a few days together here," Charles added.
"When do we start?"
"Whenever you wish but you need to know that Prime Minister van Zeeland will be in London before Christmas and that means probably this weekend. I would begin serious planning after the holiday season in January. So, gentlemen. I have to go to a meeting in London. Why don't you two travel with me to work tomorrow morning but be here not later than 06:30. Charles, can you talk to General Gort about receiving one of our Hillman's."
"I can do that. Have a good day, Bob."