Cover Name: Dr. Rantzau by Nikolaus Ritter;Katharine R. Wallace;

Author:Nikolaus Ritter;Katharine R. Wallace; [Ritter, Nikolaus]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2021-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

18

Border Closings

On May 3, 1940, I received the “top secret” order to explore airborne landing possibilities in Luxembourg, to investigate previously reported airborne landing obstacles in Holland and Belgium, and to examine and report on the overall status. This order was unique in the sense that it had to be carried out by May 8. It was clear what that meant!

My knowledge and experience were sufficient to enable me to draw certain conclusions. But it was not my job to engage in politics or political intelligence; although Canaris, in connection with important diplomatic events, always violated his own order to keep our fingers out of political intelligence, and he always called upon his own Intelligence I. Basically, the political reports from the SD always seemed entirely too austere and inaccurate to him.

At the time of the invasion of Czechoslovakia, everything had gone well once again, and the Munich Agreement had prevented the worst. But before the war with Poland, everyone who had access to more insight into the situation, even if only rumors from the anterooms of the Supreme Command, already had serious doubts about the consequences. Of course, the big success during the Polish war had enabled us to take a deep breath once more. It had again boosted our confidence in the leadership. But now, we were confronted by a new frightening uncertainty since we, based on our actions, could no longer doubt there would be an invasion of Holland and Belgium, although the general public was not yet aware. After September 1939 it would no longer be possible to stop a world war. [On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland; this was the beginning of World War II.] Now, we just needed to carry out our mission. I would personally handle Belgium and Holland, and for Luxembourg, only Röder came into consideration.

It was no mystery that secret talks had taken place among the general staffs of France, Britain, and Belgium even before the outbreak of the war. In November 1939, informants had brought messages regarding the buildup of fortifications in Gembloux in Namur, Belgium, as well as the buildup of tank barriers.

At the end of November, we received reports on terrain reconnaissance by French officers in Belgium. Our reconnaissance activities were stepped up. On November 4, Captain Thoran in Berlin had been given orders to explore the area around Ghent for suitable airborne landing sites.

By then, everything had been prepared down to the least detail, but the marching orders never arrived. Now, the prevailing circumstances were such that there could be no doubt about our invasion. Ongoing agent reports clearly indicated that all defense measures were concentrated almost exclusively on the eastern border of Belgium and Holland, in other words, confined to Germany.

In recent weeks, we had received new reports regarding the increased incidences of French officers seen in Belgian territory, and fourteen days before, a more reliable informant from Abwehr I had reported to our duty station that French tanks were positioned in the area around Bertrix.

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