25.04.1912, Hotel Adlon, Berlin, 20:12:
The Hotel Adlon was the best Hotel in Berlin. It had been the best address, indeed, and was frequently used by guests of the state. Thus it was uncommon, that a group of officers, who were partly no flag officers at all, were using this hotel. General Keßler and Vice Admiral Lütjens, wearing the uniforms of a Prussian General and Imperial German Vice Admiral respectively, were invited to come into one of the quiet séparées, where people could talk undisturbed. They were surprised to meet Chancellor v. Bethmann-Hollweg.
"Herr Reichskanzler, how can we help you?" Lütjens asked.
"Well, I was told your story by the Kaiser. To be honest, it's still hard to believe. But the facts say something don’t lie." Bethmann-Hollweg said.
"I see. I guess a few days ago... Erm, in a few days?... Erm, you know, what I mean... Well, I had not thought this is possible as well. I would have called anyone a lunatic, who said such a thing." Keßler said. "But it's true."
"Look, I don't know, what has caused this. Or who. I simply have no clue and would also be not surprised, if that remains a mystery for ever. All I know is, that we have the chance to do something right, in order to prevent certain events." Lütjens added.
"Do you think, you're a tool of God?" the chancellor asked.
"Erm,..." Lütjens looked to Keßler, who looked at him. "Well,... no. But I have talked to a Bavarian priest, who was on the Titanic. He saw it as a providence, a sign of the Almighty. And I can't deny, that he has some points. But I am not a tool of anyone. I am not saying, I am the tool of the Lord to do this or that, however, I do want to stop certain events, which were bad for Germany."
The chancellor breathed. "Well, at least there is no religious problem arising."
"Well, some would exploit this, if it became public. One way or the other." Keßler remarked.
"And one can't disregard this 'providence' completely." Lütjens added.
"And of course the anti-Semitism is a religious problem as well." Keßler said.
"To be clear," the chancellor said, "I don't think religion should in any way have influence in this regard. I know, it's hard to argue against it, when something like this is happening. But we should disregard the religious component of this."
"I think, we can agree." Lütjens said. Keßler just nodded.
"Let me introduce you into the political situation. I want to remark, that I did not want to become chancellor. My appointment was an order for me. I want to keep peace and I want to introduce the SPD into the accepted political spectrum. I also want to limit the power of Wilhelm. He is too- problematic in some regards. Indeed we are trying to circumvent him, wherever we can."
The chancellor made a pause. "I'm also trying to find a modus vivendi with Britain and Russia. With France we will never find something like this, until they accept the reality. Because of that I oppose the fleet program, but support the army reforms."
"That may be a problem for you, now that a huge warship appeared, which is also the greatest warship afloat." Lütjens remarked.
"Yes, indeed." Bethmann Hollweg confirmed. "This will be a problem for the relationship with Britain. On the other hand you brought interesting information. I knew, there were forces in Britain, who would oppose us. I had some ideas, but I didn't know, how deep this ran."
The chancellor sighed. "Just two months ago we talked to Haldane, British minister of war. Indeed we accepted quotas for our fleet. But then the British did not want to sign a treaty of non aggression. Even in the case of a French attack on us they would not be ready to sign this. And Austria comes under more and more pressure from Serbia. Serbia would be no problem, if there weren’t any support from Russia. And Italy will betray us. Indeed they will soon start their attack on the Ottomans, who will lose two wars this year."
He took out cigars and offered them the officers sitting in front of him. They took the cigars and lit them. After a minute the chancellor continued. "That's the situation. We need to find a solution."
"Herr Kanzler," Keßler said, "we don't want a war." Lütjens nodded. "But we need to prepare, as the danger of war is still here. We need to defend us. And for that we need the means to do so."
The chancellor smoked, looked at the cigarre and said: "Me, too. I am trying to prevent a war. I also want to be prepared though." He smoked again. "Gentlemen, can I rely on your support?"
Lütjens and Keßler looked at each other and then nodded. "But that will include also a new fleet law." Lütjens added.
"Yes, it will. But we could make it in a way, the British would not leave the table immediately." the chancellor said.
"When U-234 is here we will have the blue prints of many weapon systems." Keßler said.
"Yes. And they will be costly." the chancellor said. "Costly in many ways."
They smoked again and turned to private topics.
They would meet again the next day.
Keßler invited Lütjens into his room, when Bethmann Hollweg had left.
"So we support him?" Keßler wanted to know.
"Yes. He seems to be the most prudent option. However, we must make sure, that he will support the armed forces as well. We need to be prepared. I fear war will come, regardless of what we do."
"I fear, you're right." Keßler answered.
25.04.1912, Wilhelmshaven, Reichshof, 22:30:
Otto Schreiber and Jürgen Graf had celebrated returning home. And although they had drunk, they were still sober enough to know, when to go. They were just leaving, when they saw another sailor of the Bismarck who was rather small. They didn't know him, but there were over 2.000 seamen on board, so that didn't mean anything. Passing by they heard him talking to a woman, who was most likely a prostitute.
"Yep, we're from the future." the man babbled. "I can tell you, we're from 1941..."
Oskar couldn't believe hearing that. He reacted at once.
"My friend, you're completely duun*. I think, the best would be to go home now." Oskar and Jürgen grabbed him. He protested, but drunk sailors were not much paid much attention to, unless they were making trouble and one being "escorted" home by comrades was nothing new. The man initially tried to defend himself, but soon relented. They brought him back to the street. In the next dark lane they stopped. After being sure, nobody else would listen, Jürgen started to rant.
"How, in the name of the Lord, can you be so stupid. Even being drunk is no excuse. You're talking about our darkest secret. Loudly! Why on Earth are you so idiotic? Who are you? We need to tell the Captain immediately. Der Alte** will know, what to do."
The sailor started to laugh. Suddenly the man, who appeared to be drunk, was sober. Oskar and Jürgen were perplex and looked at each other. "Thank you! You made my story even more believable. But you don't need to get me to your captain. I am Oberleutnant Wilhelm Canaris..."
"You can tell us whatever you want. We are taking you to the Captain!" Jürgen was adamant. Finally the man, who called himself Canaris, was brought to Lindemann on the Bismarck, which was still lying on Schillig roads.
Lindemann was already sleeping, when someone was knocking the door. After putting on the bath robe he opened. In front of him were Fregattenkapitän Oels and three sailors.
"What is so important to disturb me?" he was still nearly asleep.
"Herr Kapitän, these sailors," Oels nodded towards Oskar and Jürgen, "visited a bar, in which that sailor openly said, he was from the future."
Lindemann was completely awoke. "WHAT!?!!" He looked sharply towards the sailor. "HOW CAN YOU BE SO STUPID?" he nearly screamed.
"Herr Kapitän, I am Oberleutnant Wilhelm Canaris. I got the order by Kapitän Tapken from the Marinenachrichtendienst personally to go to certain... establishments and play the role of a drunk sailor. I was supposed to tell this story."
"I will talk to Kapitän Tapken. You're in big trouble, if this isn't true. You are to wait in my cabin. Sailors, you will keep an eye on him!" He nodded at Oskar and Jürgen, after which he left. The two of them just looked at Canaris, who was sitting on a chair. They stood there and waited for the captain to come back.
Half an hour later Lindemann, Oels and another man wearing the uniform of an Imperial captain entered the cabin.
"Is this Oberleutnant Wilhelm Canaris?" Lindemann asked Tapken.
"Yes, he is." the man answered.
Lindemann nodded to Oskar and Jürgen, who breathed
[1] .
"But that's a secret!" Oskar said.
"Yes, it is." Tapken answered. "And because of this we told it. There are more of these rumors floating around. We want to spread the truth to cover it. Revealing the truth in this case is so unbelievable, that they think, it's just a story to cover it. Hopefully they
[2] will report, that it's our idea to cover the background of the Bismarck. Therefore
[3] I sent a couple of trusted soldiers to certain inns, in which we assumed foreign spies could be."
Oskar and Jürgen were stunned. They looked at each other and then at Captain Lindemann, who just shrugged.
"As this problem was solved, we can go, I presume." Tapken looked at Lindemann, who nodded. "Oh, thank you for the good work, gentlemen. The Kaiser can be very grateful." He shook hands with both of them. Oskar and Jürgen found a 20 Mark coin in their hands. They had no time to say thank you.
Lindemann looked at them and then said: "Boys, you are lucky. But the order is still active. You DON'T say anything about the future. IS THAT CLEAR?"
"Jawoll, Herr Kapitän." both said at the same time.
"Oh, and you weren't here. You just brought a comrade back home, who was drunk. And the coin you got, because you had luck with the cards. Do you copy?"
"Of course." Both nodded. They had the feeling, they should leave the room fast.
"You're dismissed!" Lütjens ordered and breathed. He wished, they really hadn't been here.
* Low German for drunk
** The old one, term for Captain, colloquial
26.04.1912, Berlin, Stadtschloß, 17:00:
It had been a long day with discussions, some more heated, some more relaxed. However, the plans were made, at least roughly. They were now all somehow exhausted. They, that were the Kaiser, Bethmann Hollweg, Tirpitz, Lütjens, Keßler, and Helmuth von Moltke, the younger. In other rooms several other officers discussed details. These discussions would continue and likely last some more days. Then they were led elsewhere. Among these groups were also officers from Bismarck and the passengers of U-234.
"So I want to summarize, what information we have been able to collect." The Kaiser said. "At first, the strategic situation: France, Russia and Britain are allied. Britain, however, is unsure about the alliance with France and Russia. Some want to stay allied and fight us, others want to distance themselves from them. We need to help the latter. However, as Italy is betraying us, we have only the Austrians as allies left. We might get new allies in the Ottomans, the Bulgarians and the Japanese. But that's still a question of time. The Ottomans will lose the next wars. We can't help them at this moment, not much at least. The Bulgarians will be betrayed by their now allies and lose, what they gained. Both would be good for us. The first steps towards an alliance with Japan have been made. However, the plans, how to help our allies are not necessary to be discussed now."
The Kaiser made a small pause before continuing. "We need to keep the British out of the Entente. I think, we need to make another attempt to find a modus vivendi with the British. On the other hand we need to prepare for the worst case, meaning a war with the British, French and Russians. For that war we must be prepared. On the strategic front we need to change our strategies to a Russia first strategy. That strategy means, we need to attack in the east and stay on the defensive in the west. We need to fortify our border for such a war. Two armies will defend the west, the others will be sent east."
Moltke coughed, as he disagreed. "That means, we should raise another army to have three in the west." The Kaiser added.
He then turned to Tirpitz. "At sea we need something to calm down the British. We will make some adjustments to the new Fleet Law. First we will start building the first ships of the Ersatz Wörth class this year, next year the other two, followed by the first pair of the Ersatz Victoria Louise class. In 1914 and 1915 we take a sabbatical and build no further Großlinienschiff. However, in 1914 we will start to build four Ersatz Hertha class Große Kreuzer. That and the Bismarck should be actions, the British should have to chew through for the moment. But the pause, the promise to lay down no other Bismarck class ship before 1916 and the proposal to make a conference about the fleets should appease them. I don't know, what result will be reached on this conference," he made a small pause and knew the answer already, that the conference will end without real results, "will
[4] lead to a kind of appeasement. Other things we can discuss should be done as well. This way we are showing our willingness for finding an amicable solution."
He breathed and continued. "Nevertheless, we need to be prepared. Thus we will build three aircraft carriers and each year two heavy and six small cruisers, 12 destroyers and 24 torpedo boats. Furthermore we will build 18 submarines. In the case of war no capital ship will be built, but only cruisers, destroyers and Uboats. As new techniques need to be introduced first, new ship types can only be built at some point in the future. Therefore we need to use the existing plans, at first. The Type 1911 small cruisers will get four further ships. The AG Vulcan Stettin design for destroyers will be used for ours. And the cruisers get 15 cm guns and the torpedo boats 10,5 cm guns. The König class will get 35 cm guns."
He looked at his notes. "The army will get infantry weapons very fast, also these new steel helmets. We will ask Mr. Burstyn to show us his Panzer. New models we can build only after a while as well. Which is true for aircraft as well." He sighed. "Although I would like to see a jet fighter like this Me 262, I know, that this is not possible as of now."
He nodded towards Tirpitz and asked him: "Admiral, how do you want to escort U-234 home?"
"Majestät, I will send the SMS Blücher for a "training shooting" north. She will rendezvous with the submarine and then return home, faking engine problems. At night the boat will enter Wilhelmshaven. Hopefully undetected."
"Your majesty," the chancellor suddenly spoke, "this program will cost us money. And we will need to get more workers. We are low on workers already. That will be even more true in this situation."
"Well, can you make the Reichstag accept this?" the Kaiser wanted to know.
"Yes, but it may cost us something."
The Kaiser sighed. "Well. Tell them, if they agree to these laws, and some others to come, we and Our Highness
[5] accept constitutional changes. We will start in Prussia and will make a reform in the Reich as well."
"What kind of reform?"
"We will become a fully parliamentarian monarchy. And with basic laws granted on the Reich level as well. And a court to watch over it. On this way I hope, we can ban extremists."
"And the worker question?"
"Hmm. What options do we have?" the Kaiser asked.
"Well, our colonies are not so densely populated. And the seasonal workers we have are mostly from Italy and Poland. Especially the Poles we don't really trust." Bethmann Hollweg answered.
"Considering the time between the wars I can only concur." Lütjens remarked.
"French are not acceptable. The Austrians and Ottomans will need theirs. And there are too few Swedes and Dutch available." Bethmann Hollweg continued. "Russian Jews, perhaps."
"Chinese and Japanese?" Keßler asked. "What about them?"
"That may be possible, although we can't send them home after a years. Their stay must last longer." Bethmann Hollweg added.
Again the Kaiser sighed. "And what about the women?"
"Well, at least for some kinds of work it may be possible." the chancellor said. "That will be dramatic changes. We must speak to other politicians as well."
"I know. I know." the Kaiser said. "This is only the beginning."
27.04.1912, Berlin, Stadtschloß, 09:00:
Since the arrival of the battleship Bismarck German politicians had asked, where this ship was built and, more importantly, who had paid for it. That was the reason, that Kaiser Wilhelm II had invited several high ranking politicians to his residence. Georg v. Hertling, Zentrum, was the Bavarian minister president, Robert Friedberg, Nationalliberale Partei, Otto Fischbeck, Fortschrittliche Volkspartei, Ernst von Heydebrand und der Lasa, Deutschkonservative Partei, Octavio von Zedlitz-Neukirch, Freikonservative Partei, Friedrich Ebert, SPD, Johannes Kaempf, president of the Reichstag, FVP and Victor von Otto (minister president of Saxony). It had been a surprise for them when they heard the news about the Bismarck and her real origin. Some started to laugh, as they thought at first it was a joke. But it wasn’t. Soon the discussion became very earnest.
"So you want to strengthen the army and navy to cope with the situation of a new war, your majesty?" Ebert asked.
"That's true."
"And you want our factions to accept the payments for this armament?" v. Zedlitz-Neukirch wanted to know.
"That's correct." the Kaiser answered.
"And in return you want to give us more rights?" Friedberg asked.
"Indeed."
"What kind of rights do you want to give the Reichstag?" Kaempf asked.
"I want to form a parliamentarian monarchy." the Kaiser replied. "A true parliamentarian one."
"You can't be serious!" v. d. Heydebrand interjected. "We can't accept this. That will end in the abolishment of the Reich, in a revolution."
Some others nodded, others objected. But before a new discussion could be started, the Kaiser intervened. "Meine Herren, I don't have the intention to start a socialist revolution. Anyone who has some few sense left would not want that. On the other hand I don't want to have some idiot at the helm, who willingly leads the Reich into doom for murdering all Jews."
"That's why the antisemites are missing here." Fischbeck remarked.
"Indeed." The Kaiser nodded.
"I guess, they will say, the Jewish capital bought all of us." Ebert remarked drily.
The Kaiser had to laugh. "I think, it's the biggest irony, that we are here, because they caused so much trouble in the future. Because they will cause? Will have caused? Anyway, they won't see the irony, that their "successes" have lead to this discussion. This whole discussion is caused by them."
"I see." v. Hertling said. "You need to talk to the Bundesrat as well. These questions are needed to be discussed there as well."
"I will need to talk to many people." The Kaiser sighed. "The Bundesrat is the next.
"Yes. Otherwise my king would not agree to it." v. Otto said. "It could be dangerous to ignore them."
"But the more people know, the more can tell something." v. d. Heydebrand said.
"Yes, indeed. We are already telling several different stories about the origin of the Bismarck. Including stories about Martians, Atlantis – or indeed time travellers. The latter story is so unbelievable, that it can be shared. Well, under circumstances." The Kaiser said.