Faked Passports (48 page)

“‘12. Our advance into Hungary will bring us to the borders of Rumania. Bulgaria is already a Russo-German sphere of influence. She will be instructed to demand the return of the Dobruja. Russia will put forward her equally good claim
to Bessarabia and on behalf of Hungary we shall claim the last province of Transylvania. Entirely encircled and threatened on all sides, Rumainia must succumb and join the Federation, of which Bulgaria will also automatically become a part.

“‘13. To secure ourselves in Europe the Near East should also be brought under our domination. If our advance to the Mediterranean provoked Britain to conflict Russia must attack Irak to draw pressure from us if we are waging a major war in the West. If we have accomplished Stages 8 and 11 by peaceful means Stage 13 is another step in which we shall probably encounter armed resistance, as in Irak we shall
for the first time
be attacking a territory which can be considered as a part of the British Empire. Hence, for this operation we must provoke trouble in India simultaneously. India is ripe for revolt and German propaganda must ensure a rising there which will occupy a large portion of the British forces. Should a major war eventuate in the Near East Turkey should either be persuaded to come in with us or be overrun by attacks from Russia and Bulgaria in the same operation.

“‘14. Supported by Italy, Spain will now take over Portugal and by entering the Federation close the Western end of the Mediterranean.

“‘15. Pressure from us exerted through Turkey and Irak, and by Italy through Libya, should now secure Palestine and Egypt, closing the Eastern End of the Mediterranean.

“‘16. France must now be cut off from her sources of strength in Africa by the taking over of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia from bases in Spain, Italy and Libya.

“‘17. France will now be the only remaining European country outside the German Federation. If we have succeeded in separating her from Britain she may surrender peaceably. If we have not done so, however, war is bound to result at this stage; but by that time our resources will be so great that the destruction of the British Empire is certain.

“‘It is impossible to forecast at which stage of these operations Britain will decide to fight, but if we can negotiate No. 2 successfully there is good reason to suppose that she will not feel herself forced to declare war until we go into Holland and Belgium at Stage 8 or even until her interests in the Mediterranean are directly threatened by Stage 11.

“‘If at any stage before the last Britain does decide to fight every effort must be made to prevent other countries from
becoming involved, so as to limit the area of hostilities. Immediately we have subdued whichever of the smaller nations has refused to be peaceably absorbed, and whose resistance has caused Britain to declare war upon us, our next objective must be to secure a peace by negotiation which will leave the remainder of Europe as far as possible unaltered from what it was at the cessation of hostilities. Then, after an interval for recuperation the next stage must be undertaken; until all stages have been successfully completed either by diplomatic pressure or, if necessary, by a series of short wars.

“‘It is impossible to forecast the dates for any of these stages as some may merge into others and shorter or longer periods be required for recuperation between stages, according to the intensity and duration of the series of short wars Germany may be called on to wage before the major conflict, but it should be possible to complete the whole series of operations in from ten to twelve years. Whatever the time taken, five years will be required for reconstruction after the defeat of the British Empire and the whole of Europe having been united under German leadership. The German Federation and Japan will then launch a joint attack on the United States of America in order to subjugate that distant but dangerous English-speaking people. This final campaign will, within twenty years, leave the German race dominant throughout the world.'”

Gregory laid down the paper and looked round at the others. “You see how immensely important this document is.”

“I see that it would have been important if we'd discovered it before the war,” Angela answered, “because if the British Government had had it they would have known what Hitler's intentions were; and that every time he declared he had no more territorial ambitions in Europe he was lying in his dirty teeth. But fortunately they got on to his game quite early in the programme and decided to fight when he'd only got as far as Stage 5—wasn't it? Anyhow, the partitioning of Poland.”

“That's right; Stage 5,” Gregory nodded.

“Well, then,” she continued, “now the war is on, that's all that matters. The rest of the plan can be considered as a washout.”

“They have got as far as Stage 6, really,” Erika put in: “since the Russians have carried out the next move allotted to them and attacked Finland. Gods knows what has happened to the Finns since the beginning of January, but I should think
the Red Army must have forced the Mannerheim Line by now from sheer weight of numbers. If so, the principal crook is probably preparing for the next step in the programme.”

“That's it,” Gregory agreed. “Number 7 is the absorption of Norway and Denmark. If Stalin has done his stuff the Germans may have arrived in Copenhagen and Oslo while we've been sleeping our heads off here.”

“Britain and France won't be sitting still doing nothing, though,” Freddie put in. “If Germany has moved into Norway and Denmark the Allies will establish a Scandinavian front.”

Gregory's thin mouth twitched in his old cynical smile which had returned to him with his memory. “Yes.
If
the countries attacked
ask
us to come to their assistance and
after
the Germans have seized every port, railhead and air-base worth having.”

“If we are not invited in, then, we'll just have to sit and watch the Nazis putting two more countries, with all their resources, in the bag.”

“That's it. And if the neutrals do ask for help we'll send it—of course. But our Expeditionary Force will have to land at miserable little fishing villages with only one rickety, wooden pier apiece and totally unfitted for military bases, while the German planes bomb them to Hell.”

“That puts the Allies in a pretty nasty fix, then.”

“It certainly does; since they're still mugs enough to observe the law of nations. If I had my way I'd scrap every pre-war treaty in existence until the war is over and go into these places before the Germans can get there, whether the neutrals liked it or not.”

“But we couldn't do that,” Freddie exclaimed in horror.

“Couldn't we!” Gregory's cynical laugh echoed through the room. “By God we could! And if we had the guts to do it we'd soon put paid to Hitler and all his crew. Regard Europe as a village, the nations as its householders and Britain and France as its two strongest and wealthiest inhabitants. What would they do if one of the villagers went mad? They would appoint themselves sheriffs and issue a declaration on the following lines:

“‘A homicidal maniac is at large and we have taken on the extremely dangerous and expensive job of catching him, for the safety of all concerned. As he is breaking into people's houses, damaging their property and murdering their occupants, to facilitate our catching him we hereby assume the right to enter
any house without a warrant and give notice that we will prosecute anybody who supplies him with food or shelter with the utmost rigour of the law.'”

“That would be ratting on all we've said about entering this war to protect the rights of small nations,” Freddie said dubiously, “and we'd lose the sympathy of all the neutrals.”

“Not at all! We should only be suspending international law for the duration of the conflict. Directly it was over we would restore every country's independence and respect their rights just as we have always done in the past. As for the sympathy of the neutrals, what is it really worth? Nearly all the small European nations are under Germany's thumb already; and the United States is not going to enter the war
against us
because we take the law into our own hands. As a matter of fact they would all become very much more pro-British if only we showed some guts and that we really meant to get down the bully of whom they're all so terrified. They all want to keep their liberties but they kow-tow to Germany because they think we're weak and effete; and they're scared stiff that we might make a negotiated peace which would leave Germany free to give them a dusting up after the war, if they don't do just what she tells them now.”

“I don't see how such a declaration would help you to win the war, though,” Erika remarked.

“Don't you?” Gregory laughed, “I do. The Siegfried Line is too strong for us to attack it across the French frontier without appalling losses; but they're still only digging it along the Luxembourg and Belgian borders. If we chose to walk into the Low Countries one fine night we might outflank the main line and carry the war into the enemy's country. They would only put up a formal show of resistance, then join us, because they hate the Nazis as much as we do.”

“Perhaps,” said Angela. “But where is all this speculation getting us?”

“Nowhere,” Gregory grinned. “So let's get back to the business. This document is of immense significance for two reasons. Firstly, although the Allies declared war on Germany when she had reached only Stage 5 of her programme, it shows her true intentions. I'm prepared to swear that I got it direct from Hermann Goering. Copies of it, with my affidavit of that fact, ought to be sent to every neutral Government to inform them that Germany had deliberately planned to enslave the whole of Europe. Even if some of them doubt its authenticity it may cause them to take steps against the Nazi fifth columns which are undermining their powers of resistance and to reconsider their position a bit more carefully. Secondly, it is the penultimate paragraph which is of such vital importance. I'll read it to you again.

“‘If at any stage before the last Britain does decide to fight every effort must be made to prevent other countries from becoming involved, so as to limit the area of hostilities. Immediately we have subdued whichever of the smaller nations has refused to be peaceably absorbed, and whose resistance has caused Britain to declare war upon us, our next objective must be to secure a peace by negotiation which will leave the remainder of Europe as far as possible unaltered from what it was at the cessation of hostilities. Then, after an interval for recuperation, the next stage must be undertaken; until all stages
have been successfully completed either by diplomatic pressure or, if necessary, by a series of short wars.'

“Now do you see what I'm driving at?” Gregory said grimly. “This is not only the outline of the German plan to put the whole of Europe in her pocket; and having achieved that, to secure world dominion; it shows how she intends to do it. She does not mean to exhaust herself by another giant effort such as she made in 1914–1918, and to exhaust other nations by dragging as many of them as she can in as her allies. It is a far cleverer and much more dangerous scheme. It has worked, too, in four stages out of five, as the Russo-German-Italian bloc have already conquered Austria, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia without having had to fire a single shot. For Poland Germany has had to fight but, as we all know, as soon as Poland had been overrun Hitler opened a peace offensive. He didn't pull it off, but if a stalemate continues in the West as time goes on everybody will get bored and dispirited; among the people of France and Britain there will be a growing feeling of resentment at having had their lives thrown out of gear for a war that isn't a war at all.”

“That won't be the case if Hitler goes into Holland and Belgium,” Freddie remarked. “It will be war with a vengeance, then.”

“True; and if Goering is overruled this plan may be abandoned for an attempt to force a quick decision. But say they do attack the Low Countries, what happens next? The great Armies will clash on the Yssel and the Maas. There will probably be a few weeks' terrific fighting and the Allies will stem the German advance on the Albert Canal and the Meuse. They'll dig in there and unless the Germans drive through Switzerland there will be another stalemate, perhaps for years as there was in the last war. Then, after a time, Hitler will start another peace offensive. People will be bored and war-weary. His fifth column in London will get busy among the cranks and idealists that support organisations like the Nordic League and the Peace Pledge Union and an agitation will be started on the lines that Hitler isn't such a bad fellow really. They will be saying: ‘He would never have attacked Poland if the Poles had let him have Danzig back. Now that he has rectified the wrongs—and they
were
wrongs—done to Germany by the Versailles Treaty he's not asking anything else and he's quite prepared to make peace. So why should our young men have to spend the best years of their lives in battle-dress, and why should we be
burdened with this incredible taxation which is sending us all bankrupt, when we could quite well make a decent peace by negotiation?'”

Freddie nodded. “Yes. Lots of people will come to feel like that if this war drags on for years without any sign that there may ever be a finish to it; but even if we did make that sort of peace Europe would remain an armed camp, so the Germans wouldn't dare to proceed with their plans any further.”

‘That's where you're utterly wrong,” Gregory declared. “We had riots in our Army after the last war because the men were anxious to get home and they couldn't be demobilised quickly enough. The same thing would happen again and all the business people would start pressing for a reduction of taxation. Our Army, Navy and Air Force would dwindle and we should cease to manufacture the latest types of planes and munitions. Everybody would say that we had all we needed and our types would become obsolete, because Germany would not react in the same way at all. Hitler would be training another generation of German youth for the battlefield; Goebbels would be stuffing them with his propaganda; Goering would be improving his aeroplane designs and turning out better models than ours as hard as he could go.