Colonel Berry

Chapter Thirty-One

At the sound of the knock on the door, David paused his briefing to take a sip of coffee. Sergeant Wilkins entered and strode across the office to the Ambassador. "A priority for you, Sir."

"Thank you, Wilkins." While the Sergeant departed, Evelyn scanned the message, then he read it aloud for David:

On Monday afternoon, the self-appointed Irish Citizen Army seized Dublin's General Post Office, and from its steps, the leaders read a proclamation declaring Ireland an independent republic.

Britain declared martial law on Tuesday evening with civil power in the hands of Brigadier-General Lowe. Initial efforts by our forces secured the approaches to Dublin Castle, City Hall was retaken, and we isolated the rebel headquarters in the Post Office.

The rebels have failed to take either of Dublin's two main train stations nor either of its seaports. This is allowing us to bring in reinforcements from England and from our garrisons at Curragh and Belfast.

More details will follow as this evolves.

David's expression changed as he listened, then he said, "Seems not a well-planned attempt. Done with little knowledge of strategy. They should have secured the rail stations and the seaports before declaring independence. If this is their best effort, it should be quickly quashed."

"It depends upon what popular support the leaders of uprising have. If it's broad-spread, the rebels will be difficult to identify and isolate. They're not in uniform, so who is friend and who is foe?"

"True. They will label themselves by their activities."

"As your men will be doing the next few days."

David grimaced. "Let's hope their activities blend in. This is the third trip into the area for one of them. For two others, it's their second, and for the other five, it's their first. The three with experience have been briefing the others on what it's like and what to expect."

"Theory is good, but practice is far better."

"They've been practising in the Gasthäuser in Schaffhausen, Winterthur and Zurich to get a feel of the Germanic culture and attitude."

"But that's Swiss, not German."

"We don't see much of it here in Bern, but the closer to the border, the closer the attitudes and behaviours are to the Germanic. The most obvious difference is that unattached women are rare in such places in Switzerland, and often they are seen as prostitutes. In Germany, there are far more women than men in the public houses."

"Historically? Or with the war?"

"It dates only to the early months of the war, I've learned. With many of their men gone, they're lonely or distraught or bereaved, and they seek company. The stability and comfort of their society have collapsed."

The Ambassador nodded. "Thus, the ease your men have with finding willing women."

"Yes, for sure. I've cautioned them to sample only, and to not become attached." David hopped his hand in a series of arcs. "To move from town to town and hotel to hotel as they pretend being fuse salesmen."

"With all the moving, how will they coordinate the explosions?"

"They have a central meeting place in Heidelberg, a university town, an historic arts and culture centre with no strategic installations or works. And it's relatively central to all the targets."

"You've done a lot of careful thought and planning with this." Evelyn laughed. "But I've grown to expect that from you."

"It's essential. The goal is to disrupt, and if only two or three succeed, we will have done that. They've been told to immediately abandon their target if all is not right. We want them all to return to Sonnenhang."