Halstead stopped the consumption of his half-eaten wienerschnitzel at the thought of the homosexual Röhm indulging in his particular spoils of war, and ordered his officers to follow him as he stood up, wiped his face and moustache, and headed for the front door of the establishment. A Reichswehr colonel who had heard of the Ordnertruppe’s decisive role in the Battle of Munich stopped him just inside the door to congratulate him, and Halstead accepted the expression with a temporary smile and a firm handshake before continuing on.
Marienplatz was ready for Halstead’s address by the time he and his six staff officers arrived on foot from the Torbräu: dozens of the new Darbeitpartei flags provided to residents and merchants whose properties lined the square now fluttered in a mild breeze that was blowing in from the west, a platform and podium had been set up between the exploded armored cars and in front of the decapitated City Hall, and hundreds of Ordnertruppe lined the edges and exits of the square after covering almost the entire city with cried announcements of Halstead’s eight o’clock victory address.
Halstead gave the center of Marienplatz a cursory inspection and ordered torches to be lit and set up on both outward corners of the platform. He also ordered the flag that had draped the wall of the Burgerbräukeller and brought along by a staff officer for just such an occasion to be erected behind the platform and in front of the destroyed City Hall. The torches were made out of broomsticks taken from shopkeepers’ hands and wrapped in kerosene-soaked rags, much like the platform itself had been created out of wooden crates covered with plywood sheets nailed firmly in place.
Halstead began his address to the still-filling square promptly at eight, in front of a squad of Ordnertruppe bodyguards standing with him on the platform and between the two torches that cast an eerie glow on the entire proceeding. “My fellow Germans! My fellow Munichers! Tonight we have achieved a tremendous victory over one arm of the Red Menace, over one particularly vile form of this evil Bolshevism which threatens to engulf the entire Continent!” The men standing guard over the speaker raised their rifles in acknowledgment of the victory, and Marienplatz erupted with the cheers of thousands.
“You might be asking what shall replace this Communist regime which has just been overthrown.” Much like he had done the night before, Halstead gave a tiny nod to an aide standing offstage before continuing his speech. “There shall be no replacements for now, but rather a restoration!”
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