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“That’s what I thought. Of course, we’ll have to arm these policemen. Rifles at first, made by factories constructed at discreet locations. Two point four million units, plus appropriate stock and spare parts, accompanied by an appropriate number of grenades, helmets, boots, uniforms—new design for police, though gray will do nicely for them—bayonets, backpacks, and such things for men who might one day be drafted as soldiers. “By September First, I want the first four hundred thousand ‘policemen’ to be hired. They will be trained as units by retired Reichswehr officers, with an eye to the eventuality that they will one day be comanded as soldiers by our beloved one hundred thousand man Wehrmacht, which shall be groomed as the officer corps of the full-strength military. By December First, I want the next four hundred thousand hired and trained. Feel free to draft these men, Röhm, since it is the ‘German Army’ that can only be composed of volunteers, according to the Versailles Treaty. Every three months, four hundred thousand men will be trained in ‘law enforcement.’ By January First, Nineteen Twenty-Two, I want a police force of two-point-four million men armed and ‘patrolling’ the streets, fields, and roads of our nation, keeping it safe from Bolshevism.” Röhm’s grin was back in full force. “Yes, mein Führer.” Halstead was circling the table of ministers once again. “And Goebbels, let us not forget the secrecy which must surround all these goings-on.” “Yes, mein Führer.” “As Minister of Public Information, it is your job to ensure that the public receives no information,” Halstead observed, prompting a roomful of chuckles. “Let irony prevail: use Herr Röhm’s police to crack down, much preferably before the fact, on any and all members of the press who dare to point out the changes occurring inside the Reich. I want absolute secrecy. In fact, I want this new government portrayed everywhere possible as an arbiter of peace, the Third Reich as a bulwark against Bolshevism.” “Yes, mein Führer.” |