from Berlin.
Konrad Henlein, the leader of the SdP, was far from the most rabid of their number and, while he was strong in demands for regionalism, had never been a National Socialist. It was only pressure from others, rabid Nazis, and their success in the polls that had forced him to even consider incorporating the Sudetenland in the Reich.
According to Moravec, Henlein had been quite amenable to the Sudetenland regions remaining part of the Czechoslovak Republic, albeit with concessions, a position he maintained until he was outmanoeuvred by the National Socialists, who were being heavily backed financially from Berlin.
With less money to spend on elections Henlein had lost an internal struggle for votes against a faction led by an outright Nazi who was now his deputy, a thug called Karl Hermann Frank. He had then moved to the extreme right only to maintain his own position as leader of the ethnic Germans.
While what Moravec was telling him was of some interest it did not answer the central question of what this clandestine meeting was for. On and on he rambled until finally he came to the point, which was that the invasion was scheduled and the question as to how that knowledge would be received in London if it could be proved beyond doubt that it was not just some outline plan — the reason it had been dismissed before — but a real one ready to be executed.
‘It would have to harden their attitude to Germany.’
‘Enough to stop Hitler?’
‘It’s possible,’ Cal replied, thinking of his conversation in the courtyard of the Savile Club. ‘I can say no more than that.’
‘We cannot give up control of the Sudetenland without losing the means to defend the rest of the country. I suspect you know this.’
‘Of course.’
‘You asked about the Germans who fear Hitler will ruin their country?’
Cal did not speak; this was what he had come to Prague for.
‘That attacking us was bound to cause another war. Three we know of tried to change his mind, wrote strong memoranda saying it was madness, von Neurath, the Foreign Minister, Generals Blomberg and Fritsch; all were got rid of. Now General Beck, the Chief of the General Staff, has resigned, but it has not been made public.’
‘If a man of that stature took such a course there must be others willing to follow him?’
‘None as yet, they are behaving like sheep. Everyone who knows what is planned has been told it is Hitler’s unalterable will.’
That sounded like the Austrian Corporal all right: ‘unalterable will’ was one of his favourite sayings and a mantra adopted by those who worshipped him and his creed, as though the mere application of willpower could achieve whatever was desired, regardless of obstacles. It was an uncomfortable truth that, up till now, against all the odds, the little moustachioed bastard had been right.
‘Most of his senior generals are terrified of what he proposes and fear that he will use his leader’s speech at Nuremberg to declare his intention to invade.’
That was only a few days away. ‘Will they act if he does?’
‘If your country was at risk like mine, would you rely on a group of German generals to save you?’
‘No. Is there any prospect of help from elsewhere?’
‘The Polish jackals will not give us aid, they will not even let the Soviets cross their land to help us because they are itching to take back the Teschen coalfields, this while the Hungarians are circling like vultures too, waiting to feed on our carcass. Without help from the West we are doomed.’
‘You’re still negotiating.’
That produced a snort, which was supposed to pass for a laugh. ‘Let me tell you, my friend, a few days ago our president called in the two deputies Henlein has appointed to deal with us. He gave them a blank sheet of paper and a pen and asked them to write for themselves the conditions by which we could avoid a conflict, guaranteeing to accept whatever they wrote in advance.’
‘That sounds like surrender.’
‘It was not quite, but I think they were shocked. Oh, these men, they wrote such a list and Benes accepted it in a bid to avoid our country being smashed. Then we had a riot up north in Moravia, engineered by the German deputies, in which they claim a policeman struck a deputy with his whip. You will not yet have seen your English papers reporting this, but suddenly we are again, in Germany, killing innocents even if no one died. And what happened to those terms that our president agreed to?’
‘Don’t tell me, no longer acceptable.’
Then, surprisingly, he reverted to his grammarless English and the previous point. ‘If we you give proof absolute of what Hitler planning, what with it would you do?’
‘What kind of proof?’
‘The details of attack.’
That required a long pause; was he being offered such proof? ‘Get it back to London, put it in the hands of those who could make use of it.’
‘The newspapers also?’
‘Perhaps. That would not be for me to decide.’
Even in the gloom Cal saw the smile. ‘Politicians the newspapers fear when they do not them control.’
‘Why do you speak in English when your German is fluent?’
‘Not fluent my English, is it, like Vaclav?’ Finally the young man had a name. ‘I am wound, but practise I must, my friend, if I need flee. If Germans come, a bullet only I can expect.’ The switch back to German was seamless as was the change of subject. ‘There are only four places where this truth you seek exists.’
I seek, Cal thought. So this is where he’s going?
‘Naturally, the entire plan is at the headquarters of the German army in Berlin, along with those for defending at the same time the Rhineland from a French invasion.’
‘I hope you’re not going to suggest I go burgling in the Bendlerstra? e.’
The idea of Cal picking the locks on those Berlin offices tickled him and caused him to chuckle, before going on to say where other plans were kept, equally impossible to get at: Hitler’s Bavarian retreat, the Berghof, high in a large fenced-off and SS-guarded compound in the Obersalzberg, another set with the designated field commander who was, at this moment, engaged in training his troops for the invasion under the guise of autumn manoeuvres.
‘You seem to know a lot about something supposed to be a secret.’
Moravec was too wise to fall for that bit of fishing. He obviously had good sources right at the top of the German state but they were not going to be discussed. ‘Case Green…’
‘Which is?’
‘The name of the plan for the invasion of Czechoslovakia; the one for the defence of the West is Case Red. The Sudeten German Party does not have the plan but it holds documents given to Henlein by Hitler only five days ago relating to the invasion plan for Bohemia and Moravia, so that they know what to do when it comes.’
‘Such as?’
‘What assets to seize or destroy, where the Wehrmacht columns will seek to penetrate our defences so that they can cause mayhem in the rear areas, as well as their own targets to attack, like roads to block, certain bunkers and the Czech police stations.’
‘Is it not lunacy to give the details to such amateurs? From what I know they are not soldiers but street fighters at best.’
‘That is what has happened and it also proves that Henlein is in Hitler’s pocket. The man is no more than a puppet.’
Cal was trying to imagine that on the table of Chamberlain’s cabinet room and the effect it would have; it would blow the appeasement policy out of the water and expose the Sudeten German leader as a fraud.
‘And you know where this is kept?’
‘It is in the possession of Henlein.’
‘Then why don’t you just break in and steal them?’ Cal asked, though he suspected he knew the answer.
‘That riot I told you of, the man who was supposed to have used his whip, was dismissed. So was the police chief and six more of his men.’
That was followed by a deep sigh and a long and windy explanation of the constraints Moravec was under. He
