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“How droll,” von Ribbentrop said, moving on to cover his failure to catch the wit. “Helmut, we’re going to have, I fear, some trouble with our Hungarian friends. It has been suggested that you be sent down there to see what you can do about it. The general and I would like to hear how you feel about that.”
“That would depend, Herr Reichsminister,”von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
“Depend?” Kaltenbrunner interrupted.
“On the nature of the trouble and whether or not I could do some good. Or do you just want me out of the way so my report on the French won’t reach the Führer?”
Kaltenbrunner snorted. Joachim von Ribbentrop looked at him to see whether he was amused or angry. When he saw him smiling, Ribbentrop laughed.
“The nature of the trouble is spelled Horthy,” Kaltenbrunner said, referring to the regent of Hungary.
Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz raised his eyebrows.
“I would spell it Hungarian,”von Ribbentrop said,“rather than single the admiral out. The Hungarians are having second thoughts about their alliance with us.”
“If the question is out of line, please forgive me,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said. “But is there anything concrete?”
“Yes, there is,” Kaltenbrunner said. He stopped and looked at von Ribbentrop. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t discuss Voronezh1?”
Joachim von Ribbentrop shook his head.
“For hundreds of years, von Heurten-Mitnitz, the Hungarians have beensplendid fighters. Under the Austro-Hungarian empire, of course. One would presume that equipped with the very latest German equipment, they would be able to at least hold their own against the Russians.”
He then delivered, dispassionately, a rather detailed report of Hungarian reluctance to engage the Russians at Voronezh, down to the numbers of tanks and cannon lost to the enemy.
“And I am unable to believe,” Kaltenbrunner concluded, “and Ribbentrop agrees with me, that their senior officers would have acted as they did, except on orders from Horthy. Or someone very close to Horthy. With his blessing,
so to speak.”
Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz said what was expected of him: “Then the officers should be shot, and the men forced back into the line.”
“The Führer believes that would be unwise,” von Ribbentrop said. “He believes that when the Hungarians come to understand that the alternative to an alliance with Germany is not neutrality and peace but enslavement by the Bolsheviks, they will fight in keeping with their warriors’ tradition.”
“Perhaps he’s right,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
“And perhaps he isn’t,” Kaltenbrunner said. Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz was surprised at Kaltenbrunner’s bluntness. Only a few men would dare to suggest that Adolf Hitler erred. “That’s where you would come in, von Heurten-Mitnitz.”
“I don’t quite understand,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
“Reichsmarschall Göring, Dr. Goebbels, and some others are going to Budapest to reason with Admiral Horthy,” von Ribbentrop said. “And there is no doubt that they will return with a renewed pledge of allegiance from Horthy. And a new ambassador will be appointed. Inasmuch as Göring and Goebbels will appoint him—and not from the ranks of professionals, Helmut, since we bumblers have obviously failed to do what we were supposed to do—I rather doubt that he will report that the Hungarians have resumed trying to save their skins the minute Göring and Goebbels turn their backs.”
“Forgive me if I seem to be jumping ahead, but if I were there, I wouldn’t be believed, either.”
“Not by those two, of course not,” von Ribbentrop said. “No more than you were believed when you raised the alarm about an American invasion of North Africa.”
“But the Führer would,” Kaltenbrunner said. “Once we remind him that you are the man that no one listened to about North Africa.”
“I see,”von Heurten-Mitnitz said. He understood their reasoning, and understood, too, that doing what they asked was a good way to get himself shot.
“What I’m going to do, Helmut,” von Ribbentrop said, “is make you first secretary of the Embassy. You have the rank for the job, and the experience. There will be no objection from any quarter. And then you do exactly what you did in Morocco. Except that you send your thoughts directly to me. This time, they will not be ignored. I will share them with the general, and when the time is ripe, we will take them to the Führer.”
“It would make my position vis-à-vis the ambassador difficult,” von Heurten-Mitnitz protested.
“Germany’s position, von Heurten-Mitnitz, is difficult,”Kaltenbrunner said.
“Your man in Morocco, General,” von Heurten-Mitnitz said, “Standartenführer Müller, was very valuable to me there. It would be helpful—”
“He’s yours,” Kaltenbrunner said.
