Post by Diarist on Jan 18, 2017 13:29:56 GMT 1
At the daily Wehrmachtamt conference Admiral Canaris announced that the French have moved their 1st Motorized Division from Lille to the border with Saarland.
"Gruppenführer Heydrich has already informed us of that, Canaris." He and GEN Werner von Blomberg were not the best of friends.
"And did Herr Heydrich also inform you why it was moved there, Herr General?"
"Spit it out," Göring said impatiently.
"It is being converted to a Panzer Division along British lines. I may remind you that this division was part of the French Mobile Corps commanded by the mysterious George P. Smith which spearheaded the invasion of Italy last September. The armour commander of that Corps was COL Charles de Gaulle who is coincidentally also the armour commander of this new division. De Gaulle is known to us I believe."
"Correct. He has written a book about Panzer tactics. We gave one of our Panzer Divisionen to COL Guderian so why is that so unusual?" Von Blomberg answered.
"In London last November I met both de Gaulle and George Smith. His real name is George Smith Patton, an Oberst (Colonel) in the U.S. Armee and a Panzeroffizier who was pretending to be a French-Canadian General in Italy. Both officers belong to TRADOC. So to recap there is a TRADOC Colonel who is creating an armoured division of British design on our front doorstep."
"And how long will this conversion take? 6 months or maybe a year?" Heydrich joined in the conversation.
Even von Bloomberg had to smile then. "Herr Heydrich, motorized infantry battalions can deploy much faster than Panzer battalions. How many do they have, Herr Admiral?"
"Nine, Herr General."
"And they can be at the Rhein in less than a couple of hours. Thank you, Herr Admiral." While silently thinking, "for putting this SS bastard in his place."
"We are planning to move in March. Is there any reason why we can't move at an earlier date? What is your opinion, von Manstein?"
"It would require at least two weeks to move the operation forward, Herr General."
"You have 10 days."
"Jawohl, Herr General."
What General von Blomberg didn't know was that this move had Bob Carter's hand print all over it and he knew that Canaris would see it. Was he hoping to deter Hitler or goad him into making an early move? Canaris decided to follow von Manstein to his office.
"Do you need more than ten days, Erich?"
"What do you think, Admiral?"
"When you brief von Bloomberg or whoever my advice is to make it sound better than it really is." Then left the room without waiting for an answer.
"Gruppenführer Heydrich has already informed us of that, Canaris." He and GEN Werner von Blomberg were not the best of friends.
"And did Herr Heydrich also inform you why it was moved there, Herr General?"
"Spit it out," Göring said impatiently.
"It is being converted to a Panzer Division along British lines. I may remind you that this division was part of the French Mobile Corps commanded by the mysterious George P. Smith which spearheaded the invasion of Italy last September. The armour commander of that Corps was COL Charles de Gaulle who is coincidentally also the armour commander of this new division. De Gaulle is known to us I believe."
"Correct. He has written a book about Panzer tactics. We gave one of our Panzer Divisionen to COL Guderian so why is that so unusual?" Von Blomberg answered.
"In London last November I met both de Gaulle and George Smith. His real name is George Smith Patton, an Oberst (Colonel) in the U.S. Armee and a Panzeroffizier who was pretending to be a French-Canadian General in Italy. Both officers belong to TRADOC. So to recap there is a TRADOC Colonel who is creating an armoured division of British design on our front doorstep."
"And how long will this conversion take? 6 months or maybe a year?" Heydrich joined in the conversation.
Even von Bloomberg had to smile then. "Herr Heydrich, motorized infantry battalions can deploy much faster than Panzer battalions. How many do they have, Herr Admiral?"
"Nine, Herr General."
"And they can be at the Rhein in less than a couple of hours. Thank you, Herr Admiral." While silently thinking, "for putting this SS bastard in his place."
"We are planning to move in March. Is there any reason why we can't move at an earlier date? What is your opinion, von Manstein?"
"It would require at least two weeks to move the operation forward, Herr General."
"You have 10 days."
"Jawohl, Herr General."
What General von Blomberg didn't know was that this move had Bob Carter's hand print all over it and he knew that Canaris would see it. Was he hoping to deter Hitler or goad him into making an early move? Canaris decided to follow von Manstein to his office.
"Do you need more than ten days, Erich?"
"What do you think, Admiral?"
"When you brief von Bloomberg or whoever my advice is to make it sound better than it really is." Then left the room without waiting for an answer.