Power of the Sword - Smith Wilbur (электронная книга TXT) 📗
Firstly, do we have any indication of when we can expect them to come out into the open and attempt their coup d'dtat? No, Prime Minister. The best I can do is an estimate based on our probable discovery of the weapons theft. They must have realized that the theft would be discovered as soon as the first consignment reached Cairo, and almost certainly they plan to move before that time. When would the shipment have reached Cairo? Two weeks from now approximately. So we must expect that they will make the attempt within days, rather than weeks? I'm afraid so, Prime Minister. My next question, Blaine. How complete is your investigation? Do you have a full list of the ringleaders of the OB and the stormjagers? Not a full list, we have only about six hundred names so far. I think it includes almost all their key men, but, of course, we can't have any way of being sure of that. Thank you, Blaine. The prime minister tugged thoughtfully at his small silver goatee beard. His expression was almost serene, his blue eyes calm and unworried. They all waited for him to speak again.
How sensitive are the names on the list? he asked.
There is the administrator of the Orange Free State. Yes, we know about him. ,Welve members of Parliament, including one former cabinet minister. Parliamentary privilege, Field-Marshal Smuts murmured.
We can't touch them. Then there are church leaders, at least four high-ranking army officers, top civil servants, one assistant police commissioner. Blaine read the list through, and by the time he had finished, the prime minister had already made up his mind.
We can't afford to wait, he said. With the exception of the members of parliament, I want detention and internment orders prepared for all the others on the list of suspects. I'll sign them as soon as they are drafted. in the meantime I want you to plan the simultaneous arrests of all of them, and make provision for their incarceration. 'There are the concentration camps built for Italian prisoners of war at Baviaanspoort and Pietermaritzburg, Blaine pointed out.
Good, Field-Marshal Smuts agreed. I want these men all safely behind barbed-wire as soon as possible. And I want the missing weapons and explosives found, and found quickly. We cannot afford to wait! Manfred De La Rey said carefully.
Every hour is dangerous, every day brings us closer to the brink, a week could spell disaster. We are not ready. We need time, one of the other men in the first-class railway compartment cut in. There were eight men, including Manfred, in the compartment. They had boarded the southbound express separately at different stops over the last two hundred miles. The conductor of the train was a sympathizer, and there were stormiagters in the corridors outside the compartment, acting as sentries. Nobody could reach them or eavesdrop on their conversation.
You promised us another ten days in which to complete the final preparations. We haven't got ten days, man. Haven't you listened to what I am telling you? It can't be done, the man repeated stubbornly.
It can be done, Manfred raised his voice. It has to be done! The administrator intervened sternly. Enough of that, gentlemen. Let's keep the fighting for our enemies. With an obvious effort Manfred moderated his tone. I apologize for my outburst. However, I repeat that we have no time to spare. The removal of the weapons from the railway workshops has been discovered, ten of our men there have been arrested. One of our men at Marshall Square has told us that they have received detention orders for over two hundred of our senior members and that these are to be served on Sunday, that is four days from now., We are aware of all that, the administrator intervened again. What we must do now is decide whether we can afford to put the entire plan forward, or if it should be abandoned. I will listen to each of your opinions and then we will vote. We shall stand by the majority decision. Let us hear first from Brigadier Koopman. They all looked to the army general. He was in civilian clothing but his military bearing was unmistakable. He spread a large-scale map on the fold-down table, and used it to illustrate his report in a professionally dispassionate voice. First he set out the order of battle of the army, and the dispositions of the troops, aircraft and armoured cars that remained in the country and then went on, So you see that the two main troop concentrations are at the infantry training barracks at Roberts Heights and at Durban awaiting shipment for overseas duty. With almost one hundred and sixty thousand outside the country, these do not amount to more than five thousand men. There are no modern aircraft, other than the fifty Harvard trainers. This makes it feasible to immobilize the troops at their present positions at least for the first few crucial days that it will take to seize control. This can be achieved by destroying all major road and railway bridges, particularly those over the Vaal river, the Orange river and the Umzindusi river. He went on talking for another ten minutes, and then summed up, We have our men placed in positions of command, right up to the general staff, and they will be able to cushion us from any forthright action by the army. After that they will arrest and hold the Smuts men on the general staff and bring the army in on our side to support the new republican government. One after another the other men present made their reports. Manfred was last to speak.
Gentlemen, he began. Within the last twelve hours I have been in direct radio contact with the German Abwehr through their representative in Portuguese Angola. He has relayed to us the assurances of the German High Command and of the Fuhrer himself. The German submarine supply vessel Altmark is at present within three hundred nautical miles of Cape Town carrying over five hundred tons of armaments. She awaits only the signal to steam to our aid. He spoke quietly but persuasively, and he sensed the mood swing in his favour.
When he finished there was a short but profound silence and then the administrator said, We have all the facts before us now. We must make the decision. It is this. Before the government can arrest and imprison us and the other legitimate leaders of the Volk, we put into effect the plan. We rise and depose the present government and take the power into our own hands to put our nation back on the course to freedom and justice. I will ask each of you in turn, do you say "Yes" or do you say "No? Ja, said the first man.
Ek stern ja. I say yes. Ek stern ook ja, I also say yes. At the end the administrator summed up for them. We are all agreed, there is not one of us against the enterprise!
He paused and looked at Manfred De La Rey. You have told us of a signal to launch the rising. Something that will turn the country on its head. Can you tell us now what that signal will be? The signal will be the assassination of the traitor Jan Christian Smuts, Manfred said.
They stared at him in silence. It was clear that even though they had anticipated something momentous, none of them had expected this.
The details of this political execution have been carefully planned, Manfred went on to assure them. Three different contingency plans were drawn up in Berlin, each for a different date, depending on the dictates of circumstances. The first plan, the earliest date, suits our present purpose exactly.
Smuts will be executed this coming Saturday. Three days from now - the day before the detention orders are served on our leaders. The silence drew out a minute longer, then the administrator asked, Where?
How will it be done? You do not need to know that. I will do what is necessary, alone and unaided. It will be up to you to act quickly and forcibly as soon as the news of Smuts death is released. You must step into the void he leaves and seize the reins of power., Let it be so, said the administrator quietly. We will be ready for the moment when it comes, and may God bless our battle. Of the eight men in the compartment, only Manfred remained aboard when the express pulled out of Bloemfontein station and began its long run southwards towards Cape Town.
