Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [8]
The omnipresent map of Germany hung over Sean’s head. He stared at it. took the torn paper from the wastebasket, and retyped it, and then he went on to the next section.
WEHRMACHT: GERMANY’S REGULAR ARMY.
Policy: The Wehrmacht has fought a conventional war against American forces. However, atrocities against civilian populations have been catalogued by counter-intelligence. Particular brutality has been evidenced against the Greeks, Slavic peoples and Jews. Military Government must determine to what extent the Nazis dominated the Wehrmacht. In those areas under Wehrmacht command where atrocities were committed we must hold the Wehrmacht commander responsible as a war criminal.
Dammit, Sean thought, I won’t back down. If the army commander were allowed to blame the Nazis for atrocities in his area, we would be digging legal traps for ourselves that would leave hundreds of crimes unanswered.
Yet Sean knew in his heart that no regular German Army general would ever have to answer in a court
Then who was guilty?
Before him were a half-dozen books, each as thick as a Manhattan phone directory. These were the “official” guilty, the Blacklist. This was the heart of the Nazi cancer. But wasn’t the whole German body infected? Sean had argued endlessly that Nazism was the historical and political expression of the entire German people.
He opened the index to the Blacklist to support his report ...
BOOK ONE: NAZI ORGANIZATION:
GROUP ONE: PARA MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS SERVING THE NAZIS: These groupings are not the conventional armed forces serving Germany (Army, Navy, Air Force, etc.) ALL OF THE BELOW LISTED ARE TO BE DISBANDED UPON OUR ENTRY INTO GERMANY AND THEIR RECORDS SEIZED.
SCHUTZSTAFFEL. Commonly known as SS. The SS is the prime target of Counter-Intelligence. We shall arrest ALL MEMBERS OF THE SS regardless of rank.
ALLGEMEINE SS. These are regional German SS charged with running SS schools, institutions and particularly “overseeing” the political machinery of specified political districts. These people are armed only with small arms. We shall arrest all.
WAFFEN SS. This is a fully militarized body with its own armor, supply and administrative forces. WAFFEN SS has special duties such as ghetto guards, concentration camp guards, slave labor camp guards, slave labor factory guards throughout the occupied countries. In addition, WAFFEN SS units have served in combat on all battlefronts. It is impossible to estimate the number of WAFFEN SS which will be in Germany at the time of our entry. This is the hard core of fanatics. We estimate they will be the center of any guerrilla resistance. Arrest all members immediately.
NAZI PARTY STORM TROOPERS (SA). Commonly known as the Brown Shirts. This is a para military group that was instrumental in Hitler’s rise to power and ultimate seizure of the government. The Brown Shirts used terror tactics in crushing political opposition to Hitler and brutality against minorities. The membership is 1,500,000. We shall arrest all persons rank of Sturmbannfuehrer or above (Nazis rank: Major). Book One lists 30,000 blacklisted for arrest.
Sean turned the page of the index. Where did it end ... where did it end ...
NAZI PARTY MOTOR TRANSPORT CORPS (NSKK). A pre-military training for Nazi Party members for future service in Waffen SS tank or motorized units. Despite the innocent sound of name it is Nazi drenched. Arrest all persons of rank of Staffelfuehrer or above. Book Four lists 10,000 blacklisted for arrest.
NAZI PARTY FLYING CORPS (NSFK). This group was formed in the early 1930’s to circumvent the Versailles Treaty forbidding a German air force. They formed under the guise of a civilian flying club but held secret military training and maneuvers, schools for glider pilots, flyers, aircraft construction and maintenance. Arrest all of rank of Sturmbannfuehrer and above. Book Five blacklists 5,000 for arrest.
Damn, damn, damn, Sean thought. If we knew so much about what they were doing ... why didn’t we stop them?
AUXILIARY