"We are fighting the Nazis!" said Feldhandler excitedly. "What on earth are you saying?"
"I'm saying that we have no business here—righting wrongs that have already happened nearly a hundred years in the past. We should return to the capsule and do what we can to get home. If you won't help I'll do it myself."
"Can you?" said Mofaz with an uncharacteristic hint of weakness.
"No, she can't" said Feldhandler. "She's wasting your time—and mine." Without waiting for a reply the scientist walked off.
"Well" said Yatom. "Can you?"
"I don't know" said Perchensky, with a sob. "I want to go home."
"We all do" said Yatom, looking especially hard at Mofaz and his sergeants. "But you are not telling me anything new."
Perchensky didn't answer. Yatom turned from her, and addressed his men. "Okay, we are soldiers. Anybody have a problem with taking this place tomorrow?" he asked, jabbing at the map with a thick, dirty finger that landed on Treblinka. Nobody protested. "Then let's get some rest."
Chapter 20
Reinhardt Heydrich had planned, as usual, to drive himself home in his personal green Mercedes It was a point pride that he drove at his pleasure and alone within his little Bohemian empire, pretending no concern for his personal safety. Though he routinely traveled about without guards, Heydrich was cautious, and always went about armed. He was an inviting target, and he knew that a least a few partisans were about the cities and countryside of the conquered Czech nation.
But this very boldness added to his reputation as a man of action. His fearless reputation encompassed his own headquarters, and within the wider Reich bureaucracy itself. How different than Himmler he was! Himmler—who Heydrich had it on good authority—had become sickened when a bit of Jewish brain splashed upon him during a mass execution in the east, and would never take such risks—or demonstrate such sangfroid.
Heydrich was about to leave his office ir1 Prague in the early evening of May 26, for dinner at his country estate, when Globocnik called. Like Globo, at first he had a hard time accepting that Sobibor had been attacked and overrun. He instinctively whipped his anger at the Austrian General, upon whose watch the disaster had occurred.
Globo temporized like a good bureaucrat, blunting the attack, pointing out, however subtly, that the loss of Sobibor was Heydrich's burden too. Heydrich paused to consider how he would handle the situation with his own superiors, Himmler and ultimately the Fuehrer. That would take some time, he reflected. It would mean missing dinner again and a night at the office. He had to be careful, for Globlochnik was Himmler's ally.
On the other end, Globocnik allowed the yomer man to assail his competence and manhood, biting back on his own anger. Then in the dead air of Heydrich's exhaustion, Globo offered his good news — that his men were on the trail of the partisans and a capture was imminent.
"How imminent, Globocnik?" asked Heydrich.
"We are on their tail. I believe they are heading to Treblinka."
"Have you warned Dr. Eberl?"
"Yes. But...General Heydrich, as you know. ..Eberl is a fool."
Heydrich ignored the insult to Eberl, who was his man. But Globocnik was right—Erbel had proved to be an incompetent.
Heydrich had planned to replace him with Stangl and maybe move Wirth to Sobibor but now. Heydrich controlled himself and spoke now with the preternatural calm that frightened friends and enemies alike.
"Alert Erbel and reinforce him" said Heydrich, as if speaking to an irresponsible child.
”
Globocnik continued carefully "I lack the forces to fufill my usual responsibilities, hunt down these partisans, and to reinforce Eberl. I've only some platoons of Order Police and Ukranians to spare."
Heydrich knew that Globo was not lying. They all worked with very limited resources. The Fuehrer wanted the Jews exterminated but on a shoestring budget. The massive war against the Soviet Union ate up Germany's best manpower with remarkable hunger, including ever increasing numbers of the SS. And Heydrich could not send regular Wehrmacht troops to Treblinka or Belzac, even assuming he could pry some away from the Army High Command known by its acronym OKH (
"You will have to do what you can with what's available" said Heydrich without a trace of sympathy. "Take some police out of the ghettos. Mobilize the German training detachment and the Ukranian recruits at Trawiki for service in the field. I will remain here for the rest of the evening. Keep me apprised of your progress."
Heydrich hung up the phone before Globocnik could come up with additional excuses. Somehow Heydrich would have to scare up some battalions of SS troops, and that meant dealing with Himmler.
