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216 15 hitler is ready Anne gave it but a fleeting glance and then—without the slightest trace of emotion—remarked, “the Albatross.” —Kay Smith, on Anne Lindbergh’s reaction to her husband’s receiving the Service Cross of the German Eagle, 1938 Truman Smith’s promotion to lieutenant colonel in 1938 was good news, as were two more visits to Berlin by Charles and Anne Lindbergh , during which they were once more guests of the Smiths. The visits were a source of personal pleasure for both couples. Anne wrote on 1 April 1938 that living in England for two and a half years had given the Lindberghs the peace and quiet they wanted, but she added with obvious regret, “I had not made a single friend.” She had found a friend in Kay Smith in Berlin.1 The purpose of the Lindberghs’ visits to Berlin was to gain even more access to German leadership and more information about the Luftwaffe. Hitler’s never-ceasing expansion of his control of all instruments of power in Germany and his bold initiatives in Austria and Czechoslovakia were important events that demanded Truman’s constant, careful attention and drained his energy. Nothing held still, as a torrent of dramatic events in Middle Europe shared headlines with Italian neocolonialism in Africa, Japanese aggression in China, civil war in Spain, and Stalin’s show trials in Moscow, all during the worldwide economic depression that persisted through the 1930s. The timing and publicity of an otherwise minor matter, Goering ’s handing Lindbergh a German medal, became bad news with damaging consequences for both Lindbergh and Smith. The results of Smith’s physical examination, required for his promotion in December 1938, brought more bad news. It revealed diabetes, a revelation with decidedly unhappy consequences. Truman didn’t know much about the disease when he was diagnosed with it, but he did know about half a dozen high-ranking hitler is ready 217 German generals who were diabetic but were still holding important positions in the German army and air force. He presumed that he would simply be treated and allowed to continue on active duty. But Kay, in retrospect, called the diagnosis “a stunning blow . . . a crushing blow” that made her ill with anxiety.2 Smith, who hadn’t been feeling well for some months, observed, “I doubt whether I had ever worked so hard in my life as I did in 1938.”3 The cocktail circuit and his smoking habit no doubt aggravated his poor physical condition. Anticipating his scheduled relief from Berlin in the summer of 1939, he wrote to General George C. Marshall for help in getting an assignment to troop duty at a western post where he could have more physical exercise and outdoor activity. Smith did not know at the time that by army regulations, diabetes required medical retirement from the army.4 Of course the reason for his strenuous exertions in Berlin was the near-impossible task of keeping up with Hitler, who was all about action and movement. He was unrelenting in consolidating power at home and in taking bold measures in Middle Europe, measures that repeatedly took Europe to the brink of war. To ensure his control of the army, Hitler removed War Minister Werner von Blomberg and commander of the army Werner von Fritsch and replaced them with more pliable men. There is an interesting sidebar to Hitler’s changes at the top of the German military hierarchy at the beginning of 1938, told by Kay in her memoir. She and her husband, who was on an official visit to The Hague in 1938, took the opportunity to meet with Rabe and Hildegard von Pappenheim in Brussels. (Rabe had been assigned from the attaché office in Berlin to be military attaché in Brussels.) The couples spent a pleasant evening together. When the Smiths came down for breakfast the next morning, Kay wrote, “Hildegard, at the head of the table, had red eyes and tears were on her cheeks. Rabe was very agitated.” Asked what had happened, Hildegard said, “General Blomberg was recently married and now the Party charges him with marrying a whore! A licensed whore! What makes it worse, Hitler was his best man and now feels he has been insulted. Blomberg is to be dismissed. The entire Army is disgraced through this.” Kay added, “It turned out there had been those who did not like Blomberg who was a fine man and a gentleman.” [18.117...

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