Chapter Two Thousand Eight Hundred and Five
22nd December 1979
Fort Meade, Maryland
Taking the boys, and Ritchie included his brother Bobbie in that, to the Air & Space Museum earlier that day to get them out of the house had been a no brainer. The vast collection of airplanes and rockets had few rivals. With it being a few days before Christmas and on a weekend the Museum was crowded. Still, everyone had fun. Something that was easy to forget about Bobbie was that he had worked at the Lockheed Assembly Plant in Burbank for years. So he was able to tell them all about the things that he had worked on. That had included a number of the planes and engines present as well as explaining the convoluted process of installing and tuning a Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major in an airliner back when he had first started. Ritchie had taken a look at the monster supercharged 28-cylinder engine that the museum had on display and couldnât for the life of him understand how Bobby was so hopeless with cars.
Later, after they got home Ritchie remembered that he still had work to do. The Colonel had asked if Ritchie would start doing the âKnow your Enemiesâ film presentations in Fort Meade having heard that he had done them at Los Alamitos Joint Training Base. Everyone knew that the films were a complete load of manure, but it was useful because it showed how the men in the various European Armies, particularly those of Germany, saw themselves. Through a connection he had in a front company that was run by the CIA, Ritchie had acquired a stack of film canisters. Most of them were forgettable war films that were basically popcorn viewing. There was however a biographical film about Manfred von Wolvogle that Ritchie marked for further viewing by the analysts. The idea was to get into the heads of the Panzer Dragoons who in the event of a war would be among Ritchieâs worst enemies, who better than the original Panzer General. He did make a note that in the opening minutes there was scene where a five-year-old von Wolvogle is watching his father leave to fight in the Franco-Prussian War and Ritchie recognized that the woman playing his mother was Suse Rosa von Knispel, the granddaughter of von Wolvogle himself. There was an Italian film that revolved around the involvement of the Italian Army in the Ukrainian Campaign during the Soviet War that depicted the German Panzer Corps as heavy handed, food obsessed oafs. Ritchie figured that the men in the various Special Forces Groups would enjoy it.
Finally there was an hour-length documentary film that had appeared on the German equivalent of PBS. It revolved around Nikolaus Oswald Prinz von Richthofen zu Breslau, Heir to the Throne of Silesia as he went about his business over the course of a few days the previous autumn. There were shots of him going to college classes or conducting drills with what was identified as the Cadet Corps of Silesia. While Ritchie figured that the CIA wouldnât have much use for this film with the focus being on minor royalty in a German State that few in America had ever heard of, the State Department would probably find the information extremely useful.
The focus shifted Nikolausâ life at home with a shot of him riding his horse who the narrator said was named Zwei. It was mentioned that the cameramen swiftly learned that Zwei was an ill-tempered brut, prone to biting and kicking. Nikolaus said that Zwei was mostly Trakehners, whatever that meant, but there was a real possibility that he might be part alligator or rottweiler. The narrator said that Zwei was Nikolausâ mount when he had been serving in one of Germanyâs Cavalry Regiments in Argentina. Which was a bit surprising.
Then they cut to Nikolausâ interactions with his little sister Ingrid Minke as she was talking about what she wanted to do on her upcoming tenth birthday. It was obvious that the two of them were close and that Nikolaus was extremely patient with her. Something about the way that Nikolaus carried himself was familiar, then it occurred to Ritchie that he was Manny von Mischnerâs cousin. Ritchie couldnât remember, but Manny might have mentioned Nikolaus a time or two as well as a Sabastian, two younger cousins who thought he was some sort of hero.
âSo this is what you doâ Ritchie heard his mother say as she stepped into Ritchieâs home office and saw the television and VCR.
âJust a small part of it, Momâ Ritchie replied, âSharing with the men what I know about German Culture.â
Ritchie knew that his mother tended to look at the men in the First Special Forces Command thought the same lens as she had viewed his classmates back when he had been in grade school. It was bit to his annoyance that they sort of acted the part.
âThat boy, he looks a bit like Lloyd Bridges sonâ Concha said, âYou know, the one who joined the Coast Guard.â
âThis isnât a telenovelaâ Ritchie said, âItâs a documentary about the Prince Nikolaus of Breslau.â
That was when the next scene featured Niko speaking with his fiancĂ©e. âShe is very pretty, who is she?â Concha asked.
âThat would be Monique Chansonâ Ritchie replied, âShe is engaged to Nikolaus, but because she is the granddaughter of a Lutheran Bishop there is a bit of controversy over their marriage.â
Concha gave Ritchie a look. âAre you sure that this isnât a telenovela?â She asked.