To Catch a King

1 There is little attempt at concealment.

2 The revetment of the anti-tank ditches is weak. Other anti-tank obstacles do not seem to be adequate.

3 Wiring against infantry coincides on location with anti-tank obstacles so that the same bombardment would destroy both.

4 Anti-tank crews seem insufficiently trained.

5 Work does not seem to be carried out intensively and very few troops were seen.

‘You see?’ Heydrich said. ‘Every evidence of a first-class military mind. Anyway, take it away. Go through the whole file. Get to know the man and then at least you’ll know what you’re talking about.’

‘You wish me to take on this task?’

‘I’m not certain. I’ll let you know this evening. In the meantime, do me the usual departmental report. Everything von Ribbentrop said. I want it all down on paper.’

When Schellenberg reached his own office he called in Frau Huber, Heydrich’s confidential secretary. She was thirty-eight, a sensual, rather fleshy-looking woman with no make-up, her hair pulled back from her face in a tight bun. She was a war widow already; her husband, a Sturmscharführer in the Leibstandarte SS Division, had been killed during the French campaign. In her simple white blouse and skirt, she was surprisingly attractive.

Schellenberg quickly dictated an account of his meeting with von Ribbentrop. ‘As soon as possible, please.’

She went out and he opened the Windsor file and started to work his way through it. It didn’t take long, just under half an hour. As he finished, Frau Huber returned with the completed report. He checked it over and signed it.

‘The usual copies?’ she asked.

‘Yes, one for the Reichsführer, one for me and one for the file.’

She went out. He sat there frowning for a moment, then picked up the phone and asked for Admiral Canaris at Abwehr Headquarters on the Tirpitz Ufer.

The admiral, it seemed, was not available. Schellenberg smiled. That probably meant that as it was Thursday afternoon, Canaris would be riding in the Tiergarten. He picked up the telephone, ordered a car and left quickly.

When Frau Huber went into the copying room, there was only a middle-aged woman on duty who was unfamiliar to her.

‘Who are you?’ she demanded.

‘Irene Neumann, I usually work in Central Office.’

‘I see. Run this through the machine now. Three copies. One for the boss, one for General Schellenberg and one for me. I’ll wait.’

The other woman set the machine up quickly. For your eyes only – most secret. She took in that much and then the phrase Duke of Windsor seemed to jump right out at her.

Frau Huber lit a cigarette and paced about the room restlessly. ‘Hurry up, for God’s sake.’

As the machine started, the phone rang in her office and she hurried to answer it. It was a routine matter taking only three or four minutes to handle. As she finished writing a memo, there was a nervous cough and she turned and found Irene Neumann standing there.

‘Three copies, you said, Frau Huber?’

‘All right. Put them on the desk.’

The other woman did as she was told and went out. Back in the copying room she closed the door carefully, then opened a drawer and took out the extra copy of the Windsor report that she had made. She folded it carefully, raised her skirt and slipped it inside the top of her stocking.

A moment later, the door opened and a young woman in SS auxiliary uniform entered. ‘Have you been busy?’

‘Not particularly.’

‘Good. You can go now.’

She started to unbutton her uniform jacket and Irene Neumann took down her coat from behind the door and left.

Admiral Wilhelm Canaris was fifty-two. A U-boat commander of distinction during the First World War, he was now head of the Abwehr, the Intelligence Department of the German Armed Forces High Command. Although a loyal German he, like many of the officer class, loathed most aspects of the Nazi regime, an attitude that was to lead to his downfall and execution towards the end of the war.

Schellenberg was on close personal terms with him and they frequently rode together in the Tiergarten. As he waited beside his car, he could see the admiral now, cantering along the ride between the trees followed by his two favourite Dachshunds who were obviously experiencing some difficulty in keeping up with him. He saw Schellenberg when still some little distance away, waved and turned towards him.

He reined in and dismounted. ‘Business, Walter, or conversation?’

‘Interchangeable, I usually find.’ Schellenberg called to his driver, ‘Come and hold the Herr Admiral’s horse.’

They walked amongst the trees, the Dachshunds waddling at their heels.

‘How goes the war then, Walter? From your point of view, of course.’

‘Well, Herr Admiral, I think we could agree on that.’

‘And Sea Lion?’

‘Only the Führer has the facts there.’

‘And expects the British to sue for peace any day. Do you think they will?’

‘Not really.’

‘Neither do I. Not with the Channel to cross. And they always do so damned well with their backs to the wall. You heard the gist of Churchill’s speech? Fight on the beaches, in the streets. Blood, sweat, tears.’

‘There’s still the Luftwaffe to come.’

‘I know,’ Canaris said scornfully. ‘Fat Hermann boasting again. Reduce London to ashes, bomb them into submission. Wasn’t that what he was supposed to do to the British army at Dunkirk? Instead, the Luftwaffe got all hell knocked out of it by a handful of Spitfires.’

His face was stiff with anger and Schellenberg watched him closely. He genuinely liked Canaris; admired him as a man. On the other hand, the admiral was undoubtedly indiscreet. He was already suspected by Heydrich and Himmler, as Schellenberg well knew, of having leaked the date of the attack in the west to the Allies, which, if it was true, had certainly done them little good.

‘Well, what is it, Walter? What do you wish to discuss? I know that devious mind of yours by now. Spit it out.’

‘I was wondering,’ Schellenberg said, ‘whether you had an opinion on the Duke of Windsor.’

Canaris roared with laughter. ‘Has von Ribbentrop gone crazy at last? Don’t tell me he’s dropped that one in your lap? My God, he really does have it in for you, doesn’t he?’

‘You know all about it then?’

‘Of course I do. He approached me personally yesterday. He knows we have an organization in Lisbon. He seemed to think we could handle the whole affair.’

‘And why don’t you?’