Chapter 2

Corporal Steiner was promoted after that incident directly to the rank of Captain mostly because he was the key element of his special unit and because he could be counted on to follow orders without question. It was even rumored that he had personally executed one of his men for making disparaging remarks about the great leader even if everyone knew them to be most certainly true. Of course, it was just gossip but it served to make each man under his command thing twice before saying anything out of line about the higher command or to question an order for their deployment. His unit was expanded to almost fifty personnel and he found it necessary to split the troop up into two sections that he directed on a dual track for separate assignments.

His second-in-command was a strange fellow who had quit a nice job at the University just to command the elite squad. His name was Conrad Gudarian and he had some mannerisms of a feminine nature although Karl knew for a fact that he was only attracted to members of the opposite sex. It was just his persona and he would never change no matter who whispered behind his back. Conrad was the only shooter that Karl was forced to admit was a better shot than him. In fact, he had never seen the fellow miss a single shot no matter how difficult.

The one thing that Steiner did not get involved into with his unit was the harassment operations being run out of the "Brown Shirt" detachments. He didn't consider the brawny, low intelligence members of the SA to be real soldiers. The seemed more like the training units back at school that walked around with wooden sticks and metal insets in their boots for better kicking power. His own special section of the dreaded SS "Death's Head" unit was versed in all aspects of soldiering from setting up a camp to specialized sniper training. He had control now of a half dozen units of approximately thirty personnel each. They were considered the "prima donna's" of the elite forces and stayed far away from the anti-Jewish operations. Most of his recruits were loyal and highly intelligent with absolute obedience to orders.

They did their best to blend in with the regular Wehrmacht but the officers viewed them with suspicion because they did not come under their "chain of command". The sight of their SS insignia and "Death's Head" design led most of the uniformed men to consider them the dreaded "Gestapo" and they gave them wide berth in both camp and off-duty. They were used sparingly to keep their existence a secret from the SA and even the mainline forces of the SS. Each member of the units had special training in silent killing with any available object from a rolled-up newspaper or magazine to a part of a pen or a pencil. He assigned almost half of the force to a special operation at the Reichstag in late February of 1933. They were all dressed in civilian clothes and kept their mouths shut to hide their ethnic backgrounds. He also had two large buses filled with the bodies of communist agitators from the Polish border area which he kept a secret until the last moment. The bodies were armed with Russian small arms and they some had foreign passports hidden inside their clothing.

Earlier in the month the great leader had issued an executive order that prohibited any meeting or protest against national order. It did not seem too harsh at the time and little was said in the media about it because the majority of media professionals were all in the pockets of the great leader and his entourage. Now it was time for the unfolding of his plan for complete takeover of the Fatherland in what might be perceived as the normal response to an emergency "crisis" that was not really a crisis at all.

The fire was dramatic and very effective. It was caught on German and American newsreels and blame was given to Communist agitators with ties to Soviet Russia. Within a few short weeks, the partial burning of the parliament building let to the loss of the right of free speech, right of assembly and ironically freedom of the press.

The use of this "crisis" ploy was used again a few years later when the Polish borders became an issue and the German-Russian Treaty was created as a mechanism to divvy up that adjacent country. It was some of Karl's men that were involved in that act of deception as well.

By the time of the Polish question, Steiner was a Major and in charge of an elite unit of well over five hundred special trained SS troops. They reported directly to the officer in charge of the great leader's bodyguard and were considered a back-up force for the ultimate protection of the Fatherland. In only a few short years, Germany had evolved from a defeated nation of jobless paupers into a country united for only one purpose ... total world domination.

Steiner was much caught up in the day to day operations and seldom had spare time for recreational pursuits. However, he had used the "back up" females from the auxiliary units to keep his juices flowing in good health. They were just a procession of single-minded young blond girls with only one thought in mind. They had been indoctrinated from childhood on the heroic merits of producing strong soldiers and workers to fuel the Reich after the attrition of armed global conflict.

His friendship with Lena Hoffman was something that he kept well hidden because he knew his military duties would be far too difficult for her to accept at face value. He was happy to learn she had no Jewish affiliations more for her sake rather than his own set of values. Unfortunately, her family did have Russian connections as they had left the Ukraine before the onset of Stalinist oppression. She had attended the University at Heidelberg and specialized in female medical problems. It was a subject that he avoided in conversation much to her distress.