“More to the point, he’s a bright intelligence officer,” Canaris said. “He’s been my liaison officer to von Ribbentrop. I think he would be useful in Buenos Aires. But before we send to him to Argentina, I think we should have him talk, one sailor to another, so to speak, with Kapitän de Banderano….”
“With who?” Bormann asked.
“The captain of the Océano Pacífico,” Himmler furnished. “He was also present at Puerto Magdalena.” And then he had a second thought. “He wasn’t on von Lutzenberger’s list.”
“An excellent reason to talk to him, wouldn’t you say?” Canaris said.
Himmler chuckled.
“She should make Cadiz on the eighteenth or nineteenth of May,” Canaris said, which told Himmler that Canaris had been thinking of Captain de Banderano before he came to the meeting. “That would mean Boltitz couldn’t go to Buenos Aires immediately.”
“I agree that talking to de Banderano is important,” Himmler said. “I can send someone with Boltitz to Cadiz, to report to us here after Boltitz talks to de Banderano. Then Boltitz could leave for Argentina that much sooner.”
“That’s fine with me,” Canaris said, then added: “And Herr Reichsführer, with all possible respect, I have another suggestion for you.”
“Which is?” Himmler asked with a tight smile.
“An army officer would draw less attention in Buenos Aires than a senior SS officer. And the less attention in a situation like this, the better.”
“You’re suggesting we don’t send von Deitzberg?”
“I was wondering how convincingly Oberführer von Deitzberg could wear the uniform of the Wehrmacht,” Canaris said.
“I take your point, Admiral,” Himmler said. “And I would say that Oberführer von Deitzberg would make a convincing Wehrmacht general officer. Do you think Keitel would object if I seconded him to the General Staff?”
“I think we can explain the situation to the Generalfeldmarschall,” Canaris said, smiling.
“Is there anything else?” Himmler asked, looking at each of them in turn.
No one had anything to say.
“If there are no objections, I’ll send the necessary cable, and arrange for their passage on the Condor,” von Ribbentrop said.
“And what do we tell the Führer at this time?” Dönitz asked.
“I would suggest that the Führer has enough to occupy his attention without bringing this to his table until we know what we’re talking about, and what we are going to do,” Bormann said.
He looked at each man in turn, and each man, in turn, nodded his agreement.
[THREE]
The Chancellery of the German Reich
Wilhelmstrasse
Berlin
2325 27 April 1943
The first of the official Mercedeses lined up on Wilhelmstrasse to transport the senior officers who had attended the conference in the Führer bunker was that of Reichsprotektor SS Heinrich Himmler. The Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler Regiment knew on which side their bread was buttered.
As soon as the car had moved away from the curb, Himmler turned to Oberführer Manfred von Deitzberg.
“Manfred, how would you feel about going to Buenos Aires?” he asked.
“Whatever the Herr Reichsprotektor thinks is necessary,” von Deitzberg replied.
“I asked how you would feel about going there.”