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east with the forces
he had. He should have waited.”
    “He was ordered to do exactly
that,” said Hitler with a wag of his finger, “but ran off half-cocked on his
own. Paulus reports he has finally talked some sense into Rommel. Yes, he was
inadequately supplied, so I have sent him more troops.”
    “A waste of time and resources,”
said Manstein. “Yes, they will present a growing threat in the Western Desert
of Libya, but a threat that is still a thousand kilometers from the Suez
Canal.”
    “I have considered this,” said
Hitler, “But it was not mere a supply problem that led to this recent setback. Have
you heard the reports about these new British tanks?”
    “I cannot say that I have, my
Führer.”
    “That was the shock Rommel got
when he moved east. I am told the British have new heavy armor, better than
anything we have—a tank twice the size of their old Matildas, and my panzer
commanders tell me even that old tank was difficult to kill. Very well, we will
get new tanks soon enough, but in the meantime Rommel will be doing little more
than trucking in fuel and supplies for the next two months. In the meantime,
OKW is urging me to eliminate the British outpost on Crete.” Hitler pointed at
the map. “Do you agree?”
    Manstein considered this for a
time, then began pointing with his baton. “You could take Crete easily enough.
Student’s troops showed what they could do at Malta. But it would be weeks
mopping up there before the Fliegerkorps was ready to operate again. In the
meantime, what will the British do? They are watching Rommel in Libya, but must
also look over their shoulder at the trouble stirring in Iraq. Frankly, I am
amazed that they have not moved against the French in Syria yet, but this is
most likely because they do not have the troops in hand to do so.”
    “This is what Ivan Volkov tells
me,” said Hitler.
    “Volkov? I was not aware that you
have met with the man.”
    “He communicates with me
regularly, as he is very fond of making predictions about this war—a self
styled prophet, or so I am told. OKW is set to attack Crete, but Volkov tells
me this is useless. In fact, he has gone so far as to warn me it will likely
result in very heavy casualties. Do you believe this?”
    “I have not seen the intelligence
on the British defenses on Crete, but every airborne operation is inherently
risky.”
    “Then what to do, Manstein?”
    Manstein had a quick answer. “Why
does the southern axis for Barbarossa offer us the real prize? The answer to
that is simple—oil. Once we push through to join with Orenburg, then we have
everything we need to end this war favorably. Yet how do we get those resources
home to Germany? We cannot ship anything across the Black Sea until we control
it, and it seems Raeder’s little plan for Hindenburg and Bismarck has met a recent setback.”
    The look on Hitler’s face told
Manstein that he had hit a nerve with that. “He tried to cover up the damage to Hindenburg and explain it all away,” Hitler said hotly. “It seems the
British have more than new tanks! They also deployed some kind of new naval
rocket bomb that was able to strike our ships from well over the horizon.”
    “Oh? I have heard nothing of
this.”
    “You have been up north with your
Panzer Korps.”
    “It hardly matters,” said
Manstein. “Raeder will not be able to move ships into the Black Sea. The Turks
will not permit it, yet that is of no concern. If Barbarossa does take the
southern axis, we can eliminate all the bases the Soviet Fleet must use to
contest the Black Sea. Orenburg already controls everything from Novorossiysk
to Batumi on the eastern shore, and with Barbarossa we will take Odessa,
Nikolayev, and Sevastopol in the Crimea. After that, the only place the Black
Sea Fleet can go is Istanbul.
    “That is a neutral state,” Hitler
cautioned.
    “Well enough, but do not worry
about the Black Sea Fleet. Frankly, I believe we can neutralize it with our