The moment Lossow's meeting with his still nominal allies ended, his secretary knocked on the door again. "Sir, Generals Danner, Ruith and Kress want to meet you as soon as possible," they said, and the Commander looked up at her with what seemed closer to an attempt at killing someone with looks than a normal human expression. "Let them in," he ground out. The three men did not even wait for the secretary to say anything, and forced their way in.
"Gentlemen, what...," Lossow started, but a fellow veteran of the Boxer Rebellion named Jakob Ritter von Danner did not let him continue. "What are you thinking?! We leave for a day and I hear you bent the knee to the "Little Corporal." I am not having any of this, Lossow. I am the commander of this city, and you will not turn traitor on my watch! They agree, and we are not afraid to check, who the soldiers will follow if we split," he told the Reichswehr Commander.
Adolf Ritter von Ruith and Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein nodded in confirmation. Given the three general together were the combined leadership of the 19th Infantry Division, this was not an idle threat. "There is no reason to yell or fear, Mr. Danner. Our superiors have already been made aware and if you wish to act against the putsch leadership or their followers, you have my blessing," he answered and eyed the door to make sure nobody was listening.
"It is von Kahr and von Seisser that you should worry about. I do not take orders from civilians," he added. Danner folded his arms and changed to a more neutral facial expression. "Seisser is almost certainly on our side. The state police have already thought with these thugs. It was his subordinate, who introduced himself as Major von Imhoff, who told me about everything. He sent someone named Captain Wild to guards the Commissariat and make sure von Kahr will not be a problem, and Michael von Godin is gathering policemen to challenge the main group in the streets."
Lossow looked at him with an amused chuckle. "Then what is the problem?" Danner slammed his hands on his desk. "You not only publically declared your support for traitors, but you invited them to our office and made them your guests. You made yourself looked like a traitor and did nothing that would indicate you are planning to backstab them. Be glad we did not come in here with our guns drawn, you are a sorry figure of a man. Unless you want to die, then repudiate the putsch before someone else does!"
He then waved at the other generals, and the men left without waiting for a response. "A good commander can act in ways that make his enemy think him an ally. Perfecting this ability makes one an unbreakable man," he said to an empty room. "I will act, when necessary. Go ahead and soften up the enemy for me, if you want. I have my own ways." For the first time he took a cigar to enjoy instead of using it to relax. He would enjoy the looks of Hitler, Ludendorff and Röhm, when they realised their own stupidity.
Cardinal Faulhaber was surprised, when instead of Matt; it was the reportedly captive von Kahr that entered the room instead. "Gustav, what has happened? Last I heard, you were held hostage by the National Socialists." The other man nodded. "I was, your Holiness, but after seeing their dedication, I believe they have done the right thing." That was not the reaction the archbishop was expecting. "Excuse me, you wish to join their cause?"
"I will tell you, what I told Matt before. I am convinced now is the right time to overthrow the treasonous yolk that binds us. You have condemned the elites in Berlin at great personal risk last year; surely you have not decided to now offer your support." The cleric sputtered. "I do not hold them dear, but, Gustav, this is a foolish endeavour. These men have only a veneer of piety and have no time for God and his Christ." He raised his right hand with an index finger extended.
"Even you Lutherans agree that Our Lord described such actions well, as record in the Gospel by Matthew, and called their doers hypocrites and whitewashed sepulchres, which are full of bones and filth. A truly grand irony it is, that men, who fulfil this description of the Pharisees, are such profound Jew haters themselves. Their newspapers only confirm they are truly serpents and vipers. That is why, Gustav, I implore you to change your mind, before you bring about your own ruin."
Kahr looked like Faulhaber had just plunged a knife into his heart. "You would surrender such an opportunity to free ourselves over personal disputes?!" The other man now rose to his feet. "Bear not the yoke with unbelievers. For what participation hath justice with injustice? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness," he quoted from the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians. "Let not their sweet words take you in. Matt is correct, and I am sure, if you call our Prince, he will agree."
The State Commissioner then sat in Matt's chair with emphasis. "Let us see, if you are correct," he said with an annoyed tone and dialled the number for Berchtesgaden palace, where the royal family of Bavaria had moved after the Bavarian state took over the Neuschwanstein and Linderhof palaces as part of a compensation agreement back in March. A female voice answered. "This is the Berchtesgaden palace, who is calling?" "Antonia, this is von Kahr and Faulhaber, we wish to speak with your husband."
"Ah, I will get him at once gentleman," replied the Princess of Luxembourg and the men could hear a distant shout for "Rupprecht" before an older male voice started to talk. "Gentlemen, is this not an issue that we could discuss at a later time? There is a group of men here insisting on meeting with me," he said. Before von Kahr could answer, Faulhaber jumped in. "What sort of men are they?"
"They are declaring themselves to be monarchists, but I know them from previous meetings. They are members of a paramilitary unit led by a man named Röhm. He has been an annoying thorn in my side these last few months with constant promises of restoring my throne, if I join their party." Of course, they had been trying to make overtures with the Wittelsbach family, Faulhaber thought.
"Then we must talk now," continued the archbishop, and tore the phone from von Kahr's hand. The State Commissioner looked at him with a combined look of bewilderment and offence. "They are members of a group calling themselves the National Socialist Workers' Party of Germany, and they have launched a coup d'état here in München. I would bet anything they want you to voice your support for them. We called you for that reason.
They took Kahr hostage, and he then gave them his words to support their attempt to take over the country by emulating Mussolini and marching on Berlin like he did on Rome." "And Kahr has agreed with them? They are the rudest lot I have seen. Given your tone, you do not want to have anything with them either, I assume." "And you assume rightly, your Highness. Their actions have already raised eyebrows in the Vatican and I cannot help, but be concerned, what their rule would do to us."
"Then I will tell them to leave at once. Now, will you please give me Kahr again?" The archbishop gave back the phone to an annoyed looking State Commissioner. "Yes, this is Kahr again." "Heed my words, Gustav. Do not do this! They do not care for any of us. In their meetings they only discuss fighting, nationalism and power. They rarely discuss much else and keep talking about how some guy named Hitler is the great saviour of the country. There are better ways to achieve our goals. If you persist, it will be without me, nay against me."
"I understand," said von Kahr and put the phone down, or rather slammed it down. He looked up at Faulhaber and forcefully exhaled. "Fine, you were right." The cardinal nodded and sat back down. "Now, are you convinced?" The man slammed his fist on the table. "Fine, I will retract my oath. But if they seize me by power, I will tell them you and the prince interceded against them," he responded with an almost hysteric tone at the end. "I will take the fall for you, if this becomes the case," promised Faulhaber with a nod.
Alphonse was looking over the library at his brother's current flat. Edward himself had gone to the bathroom to take a shower before going to bed. Noah had already taken the couch and fallen asleep on it. "This is an interesting library," Al said as Ed came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. "Is there a specific order to any of it?" Ed took the toothbrush out of his mouth and said through the slight foam, that "Each shelf is one category. The top is rocketry, the middle is all other scientific books, and the bottom is novels."
Alphonse looked at the bottom shelf. "Wait, "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Around the Moon" are novels? I thought space travel is still only theoretical." After Edward washed out his mouth, he was finally able to reply. "Those two are novels by a guy named Jules Verne. His books became famous during the second half of the last century and are all adventure stories written around the idea of there being some sort of invention, which he inferred could eventually exist from existing technology."
"That is not a kind of literature, I would think of," Al noted. "Sounds like something both hard to get right, but then easy to use as a plot device." Noah turned around on the couch with some quiet grumbles. "Sorry," whispered Edward in German and walked closer to his brother, so they could converse at lower volume. He started looking for a specific book on the upper shelf. "Even Heiderich's rockets could barely reach the stratosphere.
Verne sidestepped everything and just used a freaking massive cannon and a bullet projectile, which was fired at the moon. His book is not concerned with a return trip, the amount of gunpowder or the ridiculous expanse of building a cannon that is 900 feet long and has a bore with a radius of 60 feet." Alphonse gave an impressed whistle, before slamming a hand over his mouth. He then mouthed his best approximation of "Entschuldingung" to Noah, who now gave him a little glare through half-lidded eyes.
Ed smirked at the "Endshuldinunk" and then finally found the right book. "If you want something serious, have a look at Robert Goddard's work," he said, and handed him a book called "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes." "I would tell you to have a look at Hermann Oberth's doctoral thesis, but it's in German, and we only have as a rough draft for his upcoming book, because we ingratiated ourselves to him and helped him with his research. He then ended up having to go to Klausenburg anyway, because they rejected it here for being, quote, utopian nonsense."
"Should make some light reading before bed," Al said as he turned the book around in his hand. Edward had noticed he seemed less tired. "You are darn chipper for it being midnight. Have you finally joined the ranks of teenage night owls like every other boy," he joked, though the humorous tone was severely dulled by his concentration being used up holding his body from collapsing on the floor.
"Did you not notice it was barely afternoon in Amestris? For me, it's something like five in the afternoon, if that," his brother started and then more quietly added, "I also drank two mugs of dark coffee in the morning, so we'll see if I can fall asleep before the eastern horizon turns orange." Edward managed to laugh more openly, but for the sake of Noah made sure to remain relatively quiet. "So, a proper coffee addict as well." The eye roll that Al gave him made it harder to contain the laughter.
"You were already downing mugs a day, when you were ten. You do not get to insult my coffee habits, thank you very much. Now, didn't you spend most of the walk from that stream to here yawning? To bed with you, young man! Hush, hush," Alphonse replied and slowly showed him towards his bedroom. Ed snickered and thought to himself that he really missed this sort of brotherly hazing. He already had a few more jokes in mind, but that was for tomorrow.
"Are you going to take the other bed," he asked before he opened the door. It would be sort of awkward to just give someone Alfons' bed, when he had just been murdered in cold blood. On the other hand, the couch was barely large enough for one person, and Noah already had to use it for several days. "It seems a bit macabre, but we don't really have something else. We only have pillows and sheets to use," he added.
"It's fine; I'll take two sheets and use the floor. There are worse places to sleep than this place," Al replied and made a symmetrical hand gesture indicating the flat. "Besides, if you are freeloading, then I am too. For a place that costs nothing, a roof over one's head and actual bedding is amazing." He fully turned back to Edward. "Now go to sleep, before you crash to the floor like a puppet, whose strings got cut. I can see the bags forming under your eyes as we speak."
Before closing the door, Ed noted that his brother had no place to demean him for that. Although not visible at first, there were area of brown and violet below his eyes too. It took extreme forces of will to take off his shoes and coat and get properly changed. He was so tempted to just crash into the soft blankets and let sleep take him, but it would be a mess to clean up the stains he shoes would leave on the white fibres. Finally, the day was over. It took seconds between his eye closing and falling under.
The phone in the office of Franz Matt rang, and Faulhaber picked it up. "Hello, this is..." Before he could say anything else, Matt talked over him. "Your holiness, have you talked with Commissioner von Kahr?" It took a second for the archbishop to get over the sudden interruption. "Ah... Yes, I have. You need not worry; the Prince and I have convinced him not to provide aid to the putsch. What are you up to now? He has only told me you refused to join him and then left somewhere else."
"I am putting together a new cabinet to insure continuity of leadership. Soon you will probably hear of it because we have taken command of a printing facility and ordered them to begin printing posters we will use to spread our message. City councillors Karl Scharnagl and Hans Rauch helped with the design of the poster itself, and we intend to have one on every street corner before sunrise. After I make all the necessary arrangement, I will depart to Regensburg just in case.
If von Knilling is held hostage, then I am the de jure head of the Bavarian government. Given there is no clear successor after me, getting taken by their men would cause unwanted questions over legitimacy," the Vice Minister-President answered. "Is von Kahr still with you?" "No, he left to arrange things on his end. He woke up some of the clerks and magistrates to help him. He is planning to make a radio announcement around three in the morning.
On top of that, he is also going to declare the National Socialist party and their Oberland and Reichskriegsflagge paramilitary units dissolved and illegal throughout the Free State. Tell your man to avoid Maxvorstadt and Schönfeldvorstadt at first, lest they be discovered by the rebels too early and forced to cease their important work or worse be shot without warning. They would be judged as national and racial traitors if caught, that much is certain, given what I have heard."
"I will keep this in mind, your Holiness," said Matt, and Faulhaber heard distant mutters and some rustling of paper. "Pardon me; I need to have a look at the first prints." Slightly louder mutterings with now distinct voices, but still too silent to be understood over the phone, were heard for about a minute. "Apologies for that. I believe we have a good format, and they have been told to start printing. Do you wish to hear the words?" Faulhaber agreed, and after more rustling, Matt started to read.
Proclamation
The Hitler-Ludendorff Putsch declared that the constitutional government was overthrown. But, the constitutional government still stands, and it appeals to the entire bureaucracy, police and the Bavarian contingent of the Reichswehr to remain true to their constitutional government and to refuse to serve these revolutionaries.
Whoever acts contrary to this will be treated as a Traitor.
The government expects the Bavarian people in city and countryside alike will refuse obedience to the Prussian Ludendorff and his adherents, who have undertaken to lead our Bavarian and German people into unspeakable misfortune.
Further proclamations will follow.
November 9, 1923
For the entire constitutional ministerial cabinet: Dr. Matt.
"What do you think," Matt asked in a tone more in line with normal speech than the extremely formal and even tone he had adopted, when reading earlier. Ritter von Kahr meanwhile came back into the room. "I believe it is good. It is certainly succinct and to the point. Now I have to end our call, Mr. Matt. The State Commissioner has returned, and I believed it is time for us to leave the building. I am retiring back to the Frauenkirche, and he is leaving for his radio announcement in a more secure location."
"Excellent. I thank you for your help, Father. I will try to contact you as soon as possible. Tell von Kahr that I am glad he has seen the light and look forward to continuing our cooperation in the future. God bless you," Matt finished and put down the phone. The cardinal did so as well and turned back to the other man in the room. "Shall we move, then?" Kahr nodded. "I have told the clerks and magistrates that helped me to leave for their homes under threat of judicial consequences."
The men gathered their things and turned off the lights in the room. As they left the New Town Hall, von Kahr turned around and suddenly cursed. Faulhaber turned to see the reason for such uncouth language and found that someone had replaced the current German tricolour flag of black-red-yellow with the older Imperial tricolour of black-white-red. Honestly, the image felt more joyful than anything, but this was not the context in which he wished to see this. "Let it be. It would cause much more ruckus if we went to get it taken down rather than leaving it to be."
When von Kahr arrived at the General State Commissariat, which he used as his main office, it was surrounded with men dressed in Reichswehr uniforms. He approached them carefully with no knowledge, whether they were allies of Hitler and Ludendorff or not. Before he got too close, the men pointed his guns at him. "Halt, who goes there," said a man dressed in a captain's uniform. "Gustav Ritter von Kahr, the State Commissioner. Are you the leader of this group?"
"I am Captain Karl Wild," the man introduced himself. "We are here with the approval of Commander von Seisser to keep this building under protection from traitors. If you wish to continue, then you must be under our guard." That did not quite make it clear, who these men supported. Seisser had also caved in the beer hall, but he may have also turned his cloak. "Against whom do you wish to protect me," he asked. "Against the National Socialists and their putsch attempt." Von Kahr smiled and nodded.
"We are allied then," he said. The captain raised an eyebrow at him, and he showed him the papers in his hand. "I have come here to repudiate my earlier declaration made under threat of death. I also intend to declare these traitors outside the law. Come with me, sir, and you shall see that I tell the truth. Neither I nor Seisser meant our words.
Blackmail is not something we respect, even if people seek our support against the much greater traitors that reside in Berlin." The captain made a hand gesture for his subordinates to point their guns down, and they did so. "We shall see, Mr. von Kahr. If you are saying the truth, we will gladly support you. Now, lead us to your office, so that I may look at these papers in a place more fit than a barely lit street."
Alphonse was reading through one of Goddard's calculations on the amount of propellant necessary to reach the moon when a sound outside the window suddenly brought itself to his attention. The initial whine was soon replaced by a loudly speaking voice, which he did not understand because it was in German. He opened the window and saw a few other windows on the other buildings throughout the street opening with people looking out of them. Realising he needed a translator; he went to wake up Edward.
Ed was lying on his back and looked like he flopped down backwards into the back and did not bother to put his limbs into any reasonable position. "Sorry, brother, but I need you for a bit," Alphonse said, and the boy did not react even a bit. He took him by his right hand and pulled slightly. This time he got grumbles, and he tried to tug harder. Instead of waking up, Edward turned wiggled around a bit and turned his head to the side.
"Ed, I need you to wake up. Just for a little bit, then you can go back to sleep," Alphonse said a bit louder. This time he got a verbal response. "It's still dark. Why are you waking me up, Alfons?" Unfortunately, it was in German. "Come on, Edward, wake up! Something important is going on, and I can't understand what it is." That little yell made Edward open his eyes, and this time the response was understandable. "What? Alphonse?" A brief look of confusion passed Ed's face, then a look a surprise, and a second later a realisation.
Edward finally became fully conscious, or as much as someone, who just got two hours of sleep after an exhausting day. "What's going?" "There is some sort of city announcement outside, and I don't understand a word of it." Ed threw the blanket off himself and tried to sit up. He loudly yawned and could not find the strength to raise his hand to cover his mouth. "God damn it, it's not even three yet. This better be important." He barely rose to his feet and started walking into the front room.
Noah was already sitting on the couch and listening in. The voice making the announcement was clearly male. "The State Commissioner Gustav Ritter von Kahr will now make an important announcement regarding events that are occurring within the city as we speak. We implore all citizens to listen in despite the current time, as it is of major importance that they are informed. I will now give the word to Mr. von Kahr." Edward summarised for his brother's sake as the announcement briefly went silent. A cough was heard and a different voice than earlier started to talk.
"Citizens of München, a revolution is brewing within the city. A group of associating itself with the völkisch movement has deemed itself the only true representative of Germany's people and have decided to seize power by force, while you, the ordinary people, will be given the choice between bending the knee and being shot. These unscrupulous and dishonourable men took me and my colleague hostage at the Löwenbräukeller beer hall yesterday evening.
With guns and threat to our life, they demand that we accept their demands and declare our support for their cause. We did so to preserve our life only, and declare that those declarations are completely null and utterly void. We completely abjure any connection with the National Socialist Workers' Party and their allies in this treasonous action against the government of Bavaria.
I implore all to support the rightful leadership of the Free State, which is now represented by the Vice Minister-President Doctor Franz Matt, who has taken the chains of command after the Minister-President Eugen von Knilling has been made an unlawful prisoner by the thugs to seek to unlawfully seize control of the city and nation in the name of the German people, without approval of the very same.
For these crimes, I declare their party dissolved. I declare the groupings known as Oberland and Reichskriegsflagge to also be dissolved. Their restoration is illegal, and their members are to immediately withdraw their membership and support for them and any of their, now legally deposed, leadership. All who do not subject themselves to the rightful authority by sunrise shall find themselves opposed to the true leadership of the Germany people, and we will not refrain from using force.
Rebellion is not tolerated, treason shall be punished. This and the countless posters already spreading through the city are the only warning. Do not heed them at your peril. The cabinet will continue making announcements by any available means within the coming hours. Heed the orders of rightful authority and nothing shall before you. Fail to do so and know that you remove yourself from our protection."
It took a moment for the announcement to sink in. Edward then tried to translate as best as his foggy mind allowed and then returned to bed, because he did not have the energy for this. He was out within a second, and Alphonse closed the window. Noah looked a bit bewildered, but eventually decided to go back to sleep too. It looked like the status quo would remain and there was no need to actively plan on forming an escape plan.
The series of swear words and profanities both Adolf Hitler and Erich Ludendorff uttered during and after von Kahr's announcement truly showed the versatility of the German language. In a matter of less than twenty sentences, they had insulted half the man's body, his entire personality and a good chunk of his family, with particular attention to his mother. Hitler looked ready to shoot some people who looked at him funny, and Ludendorff had a scowl that seemed more deadly than chlorine.
Over the last hours, their followers had dragged civilian prisoners to the beer hall. They included nine Socialist figures from local politics and about twenty Jews who had the misfortune of being on the street when the Nazis passed by. Now most people in the main hall looked tired and ready to throw in the towel. This could not be allowed. Germany depended on their success, and if they could not even take one of the constituent states, what hope was there of taking over the nation.
Finally, Ludendorff loudly slammed a table with his fist and yelled at everyone within earshot. "We will march! Spread the word! The Patriotic Fighting League will march, and whoever stands in our way will be mowed down!" For the first time in half an hour, Hitler looked pleased and nodded. It was clear why Ludendorff was a celebrated hero and leader. He showed dedication, bravery and initiative as befitting a true Aryan man. "It shall be done! Go and tell your fellows to prepare," he yelled, and the room cleared out.
A moment later, someone came back in. It was a dark-haired policeman with glasses that both Hitler and Ludendorff had occasionally seen at party meetings, but did not know the name of. "My Leader, one of our men, has brought news from the Alt Schwabing district. It appears the building used by the Thule Society to store weapons suffered a fire and has burned down. The police are on the scene, and the Reichswehr is there as well. Some of our supporters have asked if you wish to do something," he said after kneeling on the ground.
Why should any of this matter? Hitler made a dismissive hand gesture. "There is no need to be bothered. Tell them to leave their places and come to join us. We shall march through the city towards our destiny, and at that point such triviality will not matter. However, before they leave, they should ensure that as many weapons as possible are in the hands of our allies. Make sure this is made clear to them. Just because we are of a superior race does not mean we can rest on our laurels. Sloth is an insidious killer of the will that must be fought at all times."
Policeman Hughes rose and bowed toward him. "As you wish, My Leader. I will make your will known to them." He then gave a sharp party salute and left the room. Hitler turned to Ludendorff. "Where exactly shall we march? I can think of several places that would make for a good show of our force." Ludendorff rose from his chair with a smile. "The Bavarian Defence Ministry shall be the best choice, in my opinion. A march through the Old Town and the Ludwigsbrücke will make for an impressive parade."
"Like the Roman triumph of old, but done by the people, who managed to defeat three of their legions without breaking a sweat. I love this. We must make this a great spectacle. We shall march in patriotic song and triumph over the cowardly with ease. Come, we must prepare," said Hitler, who appeared to be going into ecstasy at just the mental image of it all. Already, he saw himself as the new Arminius and the city as the new Teutoburg Forest. One day, another statue will join the Hermannsdenkmal.