Himmler studied them for the telltale signs of poison. The most common means, cyanide, took effect nearly immediately. It had been nearly ten minutes since the first bite, and now the women were enjoying the test a little too much. Once again annoyed but, more importantly, anxious to move on to the dinner meeting, he bellowed.
“Verlasse uns!” Leave us!
After the room was cleared and the place settings reset, the military leaders were escorted in. Each was assigned a seat based upon their rank and branch. As always, Himmler was seated to Hitler’s left, and Martin Bormann was to his right.
Throughout dinner, small talk was had, but as the dessert was served, Hitler was ready to discuss the war effort. The military leaders provided their guarded opinions, using carefully chosen words to avoid the ire of der Führer. During the after-dinner conversation, Himmler and Bormann whispered with their leader as their input was requested.
Prior to the gathering, Himmler had spoken with the Luftwaffe general who’d recently met with Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita in Calais, France. As part of a casual conversation regarding the imperial sword Yamashita presented to the Nazis, the general broached the subject of chemical weapons. He relayed to Hitler and the attendees the Japanese proposal to incorporate chemical weapons into their arsenal.
This didn’t go well. Hitler exploded in anger. He admonished the general for bringing the taboo subject to his dinner table in his home, the Wolf’s Lair.
Himmler quickly covered for his accomplice by relating the topic back to the sword and the loyalty of their Axis partner—Japan. Despite the changed mood, the conversation turned back to the ongoing war in Europe and the upcoming election in the United States. As Hitler opined that three-term incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt was weak and sickly and would likely lose to Thomas Dewey, Himmler resigned himself to the fact that the Führer would never agree to Project Tabun.
His eyes studied the other men in the room. He wondered if they were thinking about their own leader in the same terms that the Führer was assessing President Roosevelt. He allowed himself an imperceptible chuckle, and he couldn’t help but stifle a slight smile as he thought to himself:
I’m engaged in high treason against Mein Führer. Would anyone like to join me?
Chapter Sixteen
August 1944
11th U-boat Flotilla
Bunker Bruno
Bergen, Norway
Himmler loved everything about Norway—the landscape, the climate, and his perceived racial purity of its people. He was enamored with Norwegian women and even encouraged Nazis to take them as mistresses so they could create more good German soldiers.
Early in January of 1941, Himmler began to make the rounds across the newly constituted Nazi empire. His stop in Norway quickly turned from business to pleasure. Just like he encouraged his officers to cohabitate with their Norwegian mistresses, he kept several for himself in Oslo, Narvik, and Bergen. The result was an explosion in the birth rate of Nazi-fathered children in Norway that came to be known as Lebensborn, which literally meant fount of life.
The practice became widespread to the point the SS initiated a state-supported program to classify these children as racially pure and healthy based upon Nazi ideology. The mothers and their children were monitored and paid by the Nazis. They were provided far better living conditions than other Norwegians. Those who were the mistresses of the highest-ranking Nazis, like Himmler, were treated like royalty.
Himmler had a dual purpose for visiting Norway during this time. First, he wanted to spend time with each of his two mistresses with whom he’d fathered children. Both women, two sisters named Jorgensen, lived in Oslo and Narvik. They were introduced to Himmler during his first visit to Oslo in 1941, and he immediately took them as mistresses, providing them living accommodations in both major cities so he could visit them at will.
As a result of these visits, both women became pregnant near simultaneously and bore sons who were now three years old. And, as had happened before, Himmler impregnated them both within days of each other during a December visit in 1943. Both women were having healthy pregnancies and expected to give birth sometime in August or September.
After touching base with his mistresses and children, Himmler traveled to the 11th U-boat Flotilla base in Bergen for an important meeting with the commander of the Nazi submarine base. After Norway had been captured by the Germans in April 1940, military leaders saw the great potential for using Norwegian harbors as bases for U-boats operating in the North Sea, the Arctic, and later in the North Atlantic.
The small town was handpicked by Himmler in 1941 to establish a U-boat flotilla there. The city was nestled in between mountains and fjords, tucked away from Allied spy ships patrolling the North Sea. Its deep waters were ideal to submerge the U-boats deep beneath the surface before they entered the sea and the scrutiny of the enemy.
Himmler directed a U-boat bunker to be constructed in Bergen that initially included seven pens, three dry docks, and three wet docks. The seventh pen was used for fuel and weapon storage barges.
However, Himmler later expanded the base to include ship and U-boat building. Defenses were enhanced with anti-aircraft guns and housing units for soldiers. As a result of its strategic importance, it was often referred to during Hitler’s briefings as Bunker Bruno.
The German U-boat program was constantly advancing with technology. From the first prototype submarine vessels, known as Type I, through the most technologically advanced sub, the Elektroboot, Type XXI, Bergen housed all of them at some point in time.
For this meeting, Himmler was most interested in the advancements made in the Type IX U-boats as an oceangoing submarine for sustained operations far from their base. U.S. intelligence confirmed that Type IX boats were used along America’s coastlines in an attempt to disrupt the stream of troops and supplies headed for Europe. The Type
