# 46

The Kaiser Meets with his General Staff.

 

Reading between the Lines from Donald Britton Conrad's book: 

Kaiser Wilhelm: In the Service of  God and Evil.

Part I

 

Two guards met at their assigned intersection and rested their rifles on the corner wall of Wilhelmstrasse 81, the German war office.

“Well, Hans, how’s the family? How is thine dear wife’s pregnancy going?”

Both men lit cigarettes and hid the lighted ends behind their backs. Smoking on duty was a court marshal offense.

 

“The family is good. My oldest son goes to the gymnasium this year. Martha claims that the baby kicks like a mule and she can’t get any sleep because of sharp tummy pains. I felt her stomach. I tell thee Siegfried, the kid is a lively one!”

 

“How goes it by thine gang?”

 

“Just fine! My little Albert has the measles which for some reason he does not find difficult.”

 

They heard the jangle of a sword scraping on cobblestones. “Quick! It’s the Sergeant of the Guard approaching.” They extinguished their cigarettes by grinding them beneath their boot soles. The guards shouldered their rifles just at the sergeant arrived on the scene.

 

“Halt!” said Hans. “Wer gehts da!”

 

“It’s me stupid! Sergeant Klaus.”

“Es tut mir leid!” said Siegfried. “It is very dark at this corner.”

 

 

“Yeah! Enough bullshit! I smell cigarette smoke. At any rate, keep alert. We were told that the Kaiser and the General Staff will meet tonight at about nine o’clock.”

“I wondered why the lights were on all over the third floor.”

 

“Get on the stick and continue your rounds.”

 

“Ja wohl Herr Sergeant!”

 

“Ach du lieber! Here they come!”

 

Four touring cars pulled up in front of the War Office. Officers climbed the front steps in order of rank. In silence, they arrived at the third floor boardroom. Each officer found his usual chair situated along the oblong table. Whiskey and crystal glasses were set before the staff. Each man filled his glass to the rim. Cigar smoke soon filled the air.

 

The Kaiser entered the room and the officers stood up like twenty fence posts. “Heil unserm Kaiser!” shouted an officer of the lowest grade. “Zum Ruhme Vaterlands!”

“Hoch! Hoch! Hoch!”

The Kaiser motioned for the group to be seated which they obeyed as though robots.

“Please forgive me gentlemen, but tonight I again suffer from inflammation of my ear. I have it stuffed with cotton, so please talk directly and loudly to me.”

 

“You men have put on your grave looking faces. Therefore, I assume that this meeting is a serious one and we are here for serious business. What’s up Julius?”

 

“Yes indeed, Wilhelm,” said General Helmuth Moltke whom the Kaiser nicknamed Julius, “We got some details of the Devonshire meeting of economists that met recently.”

 

“What did the bad boys decide?”

 

“So far we learned, from decoding secret telegraphs, that the English, French and Russian economists are in agreement that the Triple Entente should make every effort  to break the German economic power as well as its military and political domination in Europe. The economists say it is essential to act in such a way, that separate and independent German states should reappear as of old.”

Wilhelm rubbed his chin and said, “We now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the policy of the Triple Entente to encircle Germany is undeniable. I long believed that they planned to strangle our nation either by economic means or by war.”

 

 

Admiral Tirpitz said, “At first, I inferred that the cause of the next war would be the long existing rivalry between Britain and Germany. I foresee a grand sea battle that would settle the problem once and for all. I gather that the damned French crave to regain Alsace and Lorraine. The Russian Bear gets into the act by demanding an unrestrictive outlet to the Mediterranean Sea. It’s a damned hodgepodge I tell you!”

 

 

“Oh, it’s beginning to steamroll,” said Moltke. “The Triple Entente is meeting at this very moment to plan, what I consider will be the greatest attack Europe has ever seen! We obtained proof of this,” said Moltke, “from secret messages between French Ambassador Paleologue and Russian Foreign Minister Sukhomlinoff. Fortunately, our Intelligence organization easily decoded the messages!”

 

 

“Oh God in Heaven!” moaned Wilhelm. “What do they think will come of their stupidity?”

 

 

There was no reply from his Generals.

 

 

The Kaiser stood up and paced the floor. The Staff remained silent watching the All Highest meditate.

 

 

“I think it is vital for us to meet at a location away from Berlin in order to discuss our plans for a military response to those bastards!”

 

 

General Moltke said, “That is a great idea, Your Majesty! Where do you suggest we meet? It must be a very secret.”

 

 

Wilhelm stopped his pacing. “I have just the right place in mind!”

 

 

“Where might that be?” said Moltke.

 

 

I have a trusted relative who resides on Borkum, one of the Frisian Islands off the coast of Denmark. It is an isolated place free from prying eyes.”