7-9-April-1918
''What do you mean, Law Enforcement duties?'' I said, looking at the prince, who had given me my new instructions.
''What you heard, Oberst. I am afraid I have received instructions from my superiors that, because your division is in no condition for combat, considering that its equipment cannot be quickly replaced, we have to make maximum use of resources. The offensive is going very well, so we cannot waste men who would simply be waiting. That is why I received a direct order from the OHL for your division to be sent to watch Berlin, since protests are increasing and must be extinguished'' the prince said, although he was clearly annoyed at having to give me this order.
''The OHL gave a direct order to send me to do military police work?'' I said while raising an eyebrow, unable to believe what I had been ordered.
''Yes, I know. It is ridiculous considering how important your division has been in our enormous victory, but the OHL has said that you and your men certainly have enormous experience dealing with protesters and union leaders. That is why… Hindenburg requested that you help with this, since those protests threaten to cut military supply, at least until your division is once again at maximum operational strength'' the Crown Prince said, naming the man who controlled the government of the Empire.
''And what bug bit him now? We were doing so well'' I said, covering my face with my hands.
''I think it must be because of this'' he said, showing me the headline of some newspapers that portrayed me as a hero, as well as my men, with page after page about the lives of the men of the Baltic Division, and clearly that must have annoyed Hindenburg greatly.
''How long am I supposed to be there? I already have a date for when all the equipment I need will arrive so my division can be complete and fully equipped to serve, although not with all the reserves I would like to have'' I said, pressing my lips together.
''He said for the time you will be inoperative, so they do not have to keep sending supplies to someone who will not be actively fighting against Entente troops. So he may try to keep you in our industrial cities to solve the problem for the time you still need to recover'' the prince said with a slight grimace.
''Or leave me there until I request to return to my job of watching garrisons'' I said, placing one of my hands on my leg while running my hand over my forehead.
''Yes, it seems we are back to the original problem. Let us hope it is temporary. It would be the greatest stupidity in the world to waste our most effective division, when being there we are saving lives by avoiding butcheries. If we manage to repeat the process, we can end this damned war'' the prince said, clenching his fist, looking very annoyed.
''Good, let us hope all this is temporary. I do not like being at the front, but at least we are achieving great advances with all this'' I said, shaking my head.
''Good, you have your orders, so you will have to help the local police in the industrial belt of the Empire to prevent union leaders from continuing their protests and their calls to refuse to fight or work until the war ends.''
''Understood. Let us hope we see each other again soon, because if not, that would be bad news'' I said, shaking my head and saluting the prince.
Without saying more, I left the prince's tent and began walking with my crutches back to my camp, where I climbed into one of my division's vehicles and was transported back.
There I had to give the news that we were being withdrawn from the front temporarily. Clearly, among my men this news was music to their ears, since they would not have to keep risking their hides, and even I liked the idea.
But the problem was that I had invested much of the little I had in forming this division and achieving these advances, only for all that equipment to be wasted on subduing workers who refused to work.
So, taking some time and making sure we were not transporting any sick men among us, we began the return to the German rear.
On the way back, we observed how more forces were being sent toward the front, probably the new formations from the east, using those who met the requirements to march to the front.
Once on the trains, we traveled through the railway system back to the German capital. With almost no pause, a large part of my men returned with me. The only ones who stayed behind were the medical personnel fighting the fever and the sick.
Since until there was a vaccine, our best weapon was containment of the disease, and I prayed with all my heart that I was not bringing infected men into the heart of the Empire, since that would be an enormous catastrophe.
For the moment, the disease had been contained on the front lines and no cases had been seen in the rear, so I had great hopes that nothing would happen.
After several hours on the train and having to sleep while moving from train to train, we arrived at the capital, getting off at the railway station, where we began unloading the equipment and I would try to contact Abteilung IIIB to see what our job was.
I went to one of the barracks in the area, which was mostly empty, and we began leaving our equipment in the military warehouses, keeping only the vehicles and weapons, but leaving behind all the other heavy armament we had brought and captured.
''Walter, tell me what mission I have to do'' I said, observing how the head of Abteilung IIIB had appeared with several of his agents.
Walter raised an eyebrow and stared at me with a surprised grimace. ''I know we have the same rank, but do not take so many liberties either'' he said after clicking his tongue.
''I will take that into consideration, it is just that I do not know what I am doing here. We were doing very well at the front, achieving many advances'' I said, spreading my hands while smiling a little at the helplessness I felt in the face of the whole situation.
''You know very well that the man clinging to power does not like people shining too brightly, preferably if they shine far away from him. Now his great masterpiece, the spring offensive, has been quite overshadowed because an Oberst managed to direct the pocketing of a little more than 750,000 troops in a maneuver that lasted several days, with the joint actions of Army Group Crown Prince and the German and Austro-Hungarian troops from Italy. All the attention is on that'' Walter said after giving a slight smile at the situation.
''Damned idiot. Well, either way, if this is temporary, the man is right. We would spend a month or two waiting for equipment, so it is better that we do something other than sit at the front consuming resources'' I said after looking out the window of the Berlin barracks.
''Good, the work is serious, since many calls for strikes have begun. For the moment, they have remained calm because of the food and the news of victories, but once again the union leaders and other leaders are making calls to paralyze industry, especially Berlin's munitions industry. If that stops, we may have serious supply problems for the offensive'' Walter said after nodding and beginning to pull papers with information from his briefcase.
Walter began scratching the back of his head with his hand while reviewing several documents.
''Look, what matters most to me is that you go out into the streets and that they see your men, because there is a call for a strike in the next few days, or at least that is what my sources say, so we have to prevent it from working'' he said, handing over some documents with names.
''And what do I do with these? Do I warn them, arrest them or what?'' I asked, crossing my arms while observing the documentation and trying to memorize it.
''It depends on the men. We are trying to send them to the front so they die in the offensives or to prison, depending on their importance. The idea is for people not to know too much that we are cutting down the leaders of their strikes, so try to go unnoticed for the moment, showing force and trying to dismantle the strikes and return the men to their work posts'' the leader of Abteilung IIIB said while continuing to hand me more documentation related to the work I had to do.
I took all the documentation and placed it in one of the briefcases I had brought for this, then left the room, beginning to prepare everything necessary for the work.
Worst of all, many of the tactics that were legal in the east, such as sending them to forced labor in the mines, were not feasible in Germany. We had to find legal ways to disperse them and try to prevent their strikes or meetings from happening.
One of the ways was to capture the union leaders and send them to the front, but for that they had to be captured, and usually the workers defended them by putting themselves in the middle, preventing their capture.
The other option was to put them in prison preventively, but that fell into the same problem.
Investigations in the workers' houses usually ended in nothing, since only the family was there and not the subject in question, so many of the legal tricks we had to apply had already been applied and were not working, since Abteilung IIIB had information that a union leader who was in Berlin making calls for strikes had been sent to the front three times, but always managed to escape before reaching the front and returned to Berlin to cause trouble with his calls for strikes.
So the truth was that I did not know what the government expected me to do, since there were cases where they had exhausted every tool, unless they began repressing the protests with a force never seen before to capture the union leaders.
So, reading the documentation and letting the day pass to rest properly, at first light in the morning we went out with the trucks from the barracks, beginning to help the local police with their guard duties.
''Can we seriously just grab him and put a bullet in him?'' Ernst said, looking sourly at the idea of having to change our way of operating in Germany.
''Yes, we cannot send them to die in the mines. They are German citizens and we cannot simply send them to the mines without trial'' I said, bringing my hand to my mouth to contain a yawn.
''Look, it seems we already have work'' Ernst said, standing up in the back of the moving truck and trying to listen to a noise that, the more we moved through the street, seemed to grow louder.
The farther we advanced, the clearer it became, and apparently they were shouts in unison.
''This must be one of Germany's steelworks. They are steelworkers'' I said, taking my rifle, although it was unloaded, and began observing the terrain.
When we turned the street, we could see many workers at the entrance of the steelworks with their signs. Most of them were pacifist messages seeking the end of the war, although many others were complaints about the working conditions they were suffering under the general mobilization law.
The local policemen were trying to break up the protest without much success, since they were barely a small group against hundreds of angry workers.
Although the shouting stopped being so loud when they saw three trucks passing in front of them with grim-faced soldiers who stopped before them.
I began looking at my watch and then looked at the group of workers who kept shouting, but no longer as loudly and in many cases isolated.
''You have two minutes to return to your work or I will make sure all of you are sent to the front'' I said after standing up and observing the group of protesters.
''And who is going to work, you damned dog?'' someone shouted.
''Ukrainian visa workers who would be delighted to come replace you. With a snap of my fingers, I can double the workers, all from Ukraine, who know German, so you have one minute and 15 seconds left'' I said, looking at my watch.
After those words, only the sound of the engines could be heard and, from time to time, the wind passing through, and I watched as the workers slowly threw down their signs and the strike began to dissolve.
''That one there is the leader. He is escaping'' I said, pointing at the worker who was trying to flee instead of returning to work.
''That one is not getting away'' Ernst roared, beginning to run after him along with more soldiers.
''Collect the pamphlets and those signs. We have to see what we do with this, because those leaders hide like rats'' I said, running my finger under my nose.
-----------------------------
If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
-------------------------------
Hello everyone! If you'd like to read chapters in advance, you can support me on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Currently, there are 12 chapters available
without spaces
p atreon. com/Chill _ean_GUY
Thank you all for your support!