Chasing Gold: The Incredible Story of How the Nazis Stole Europe's Bullion (73 page)

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Authors: George M. Taber

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  Held in the interior: Winston Churchill,
Their Finest Hour
, p. 487.
15.
  The final victory: Henry Adams,
Years of Deadly Peril 1938-1941
, pp. 299-336.
16.
  He considered suicide: Charles de Gaulle,
Memoirs
, p. 125. Michael E. Haskew,
De Gaulle
, p. 135.
17.
  Before the cease-fire: Adolphe Lepotier,
La Bataille de l’Or
, p. 318.
18.
  All the foot dragging: Pierre Arnoult,
Les Finances de la France 1940-1944
, pp. 232-234.
19.
  Embassy in Bucharest:
Ibid
., pp. 235-238 and 249-250. Didier Bruneel, p. 138.
20.
  It eventually did: Herman van der Wee and Monique Verbreyt,
A Small Nation in the Turmoil of the Second World War
, p.187. Ansiaux, Hubert.
L’Or et les valeurs de la Banque National dans la tourmente de 1940, Revue Générale
, Brussels, part III.
21.
  Watch it happen: HM, Book 345.
22.
  That never happened: Yves Bréart de Boisanger to Hemmen, March 22, 1941, FNB No. 15,733/DE. Pierre Arnoult,
Les Finances de la France 1940-1944
, pp. 255-258. Herman van der Wee and Monique Verbreyt,
A Small Nation in the Turmoil of the Second World War
, p. 184.
23.
  Nazi war effort: Pierre Arnoult,
Les Finances de la France 1940-1944
, pp. 209-226.
24.
  Algiers to Marseilles: FNB No. 993 CM/15, Didier Bruneel,
Les Secrets de l’Or
, pp. 137-141.
25.
  Belgium never responded: Pierre Arnoult,
Les Finances de la France 1940-1944
, p.261.
26.
  During the war: London Gold Conference of 1997, pp. 67-70 and 538.
27.
  Gold to anyone: Pierre Arnoult,
Les Finances de la France 1940-1944
, p. 210.
28.
  Also never happened:
Ibid
., pp. 218-222.
29.
  On September 6, 1939: war diary DE104/A4-3 Serial 001-45 and ships logs. NACP RG 24 NND 927605 AND 803052.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: BALKAN DISTRACTIONS
1.
    Their finest hour: The Churchill Centre, www.winstonchurchill.org.
2.
    Undertake a naval invasion: Gerhard L. Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, pp. 148-149.
3.
    Shortest possible time: Hugh Trevor-Roper,
Hitler’s War Directives
, pp. 79-80.
4.
    Many to so few: The Churchill Centre, www.winstonchurchill.org.
5.
    Teeth taken out: Ciano Diplomatic Papers, p. 402.
6.
    Have occupied Greece: Chester Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, p. 63.
7.
    Turned into a fiasco: John Stoessinger,
Why Nations Go to War
, p. 39.
8.
    New York Fed: Paul Hehn,
A Low Dishonest Decade
, p. 111. Fold3.com #269909657. Jack Bennett report June 11, 1946. Arthur L. Smith, Jr.,
Hitler’s Gold
, p. 164. New York Fed gold purchase, January 6, 1941, SZ-167.
9.
    Yugoslavia and Greece: Chester Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, p. 70.
10.
  A rapid campaign: Hugh Trevor-Roper,
Hitler’s War Directives
, p. 93.
11.
  Found its soul: Winston Churchill War Papers, 1941 p. xxxix.
12.
  April 27 in Greece: Hugh Trevor-Roper,
Hitler’s War Directives
, p. 108.
13.
  About 28 tons: NYFED, File C261 Greece.
14.
  Cases containing silver: TCA Greece. NACP RG59/62D115 Box 19.
15.
  In concentration camps:
Ibid
. pp. 5-15.
16.
  Tons in Britain: NYFED, File C261 Yugoslavia. London Nazi Gold Conference, Dusan Biber, pp. 411-415. Jacob Hoptner and Henry Roberts,
Yugoslavia in Crisis 1934-1941
, p. 156.
17.
  Federal Reserve: NYFED, File 261 Yugoslavia.
18.
  New York Federal Reserve: Gianni Toniolo,
Central Bank Cooperation at the Bank for International Settlement
s, p. 219.
19.
  On the bullion: TCA Yugoslavia. NACP RG59/62D115 Box 22.
20.
  And the gold:
London Gold Conference
, Dusan Biber, p. 411.
21.
  To the Reichsbank:
Ibid
.
22.
  A splendid haul: Wilfried von Oven and Jürgen Hahn-Butry.
Panzer am Balkan–Erlebnisbuch der Panzergruppe von Kleist
. Berlin: Lipert, 1941.
23.
  End of the war: TPA Yugoslavia.
24.
  Remained in the country:
London Gold Conference
, Dusan Biber, p. 411.
25.
  New York Federal Reserve: NYFED, file 261 Yugoslavia.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE SOVIET UNION STARES INTO AN ABYSS
1.
    Can be exterminated: Hugh Trevor-Roper,
Hitler’s War Directives
, p. 3. Hitler, Adolf,
Mein Kampf
, ch. IV, p. 155.
2.
    The area’s riches: Hugh Trevor-Roper,
Hitler’s Table Talk
, pp. 623-624.
3.
    Command upon notification: IMT 1743-PS. Albert Speer,
Inside the Third Reich
, p. 238.
4.
    City of Kazan: Timothy Green,
Central Bank Gold Reserves since 1845
, World Gold Council. RGASPI Fond 5, op.1, file 2761.
5.
    Into Bolshevik hands: Oleg Budnitskii, Kolchak’s Gold: The End of a Legend, russiasgreatwar.org. RGASPI Fond 5, op.1, file 2761.
6.
    Soviet Central Bank: RGASPI Fond 5, op.1, file 2761.
7.
    World’s largest cities:
Lenin’s Collected Works
, 2nd English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965, Vol. 33, pp. 109-116.
8.
    Tons in 1925: CIA study of October 17, 1955. CIA/SV/RR 121 entitled
Soviet Gold Production, Reserves and Exports through 1954
.
9.
    To finance industrialization:
Ibid
. GARF, Fond 4433, op. 12a, file 698, Osokina, Torgsin, p. 527.
10.
  The communist nation: John Morton Blum,
From the Morgenthau Diaries 1928-1938
, pp. 55-57.
11.
  The same period: NYFED Report June 11, 1937, C261 Soviet Union folder.
12.
  Such as aircraft engines:
Ibid
.
13.
  Worth $11 million arrived:
Ibid
.
14.
  Treasury’s special account:
Ibid
.
15.
  Gold from Russia: NYFED, C261 Soviet Union folder. John Morton Blum,
From the Morgenthau Diaries 1938-1941
, p. 269. HM, 455:313, October 20, 1941.
16.
  Going to Germany: RGAE 2324-20-4462. HM 259:270, April 30, 1940.
17.
  Even 600,000 horses: Gerard L. Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, p. 264.
18.
  Back to France: Adam Zamoyski,
Moscow 1812
, p. 547.
19.
  Trusted Adolf Hitler: Constantine Pleshakov,
Stalin’s Folly
, p. 70. Winston Churchill,
The Second World War, The Grand Alliance
, pp. 303-305. David Murphy,
What Stalin Knew
, p. 189 and Appendix Two.
20.
  Night in their offices:
Ibid
., p. 6.
21.
  The whole Politburo: Rodric Braithwaite,
Moscow 1941
, p. 65.
22.
  Final three sentences: Constantine Pleshakov,
Stalin’s Folly
, p. 115. David Murphy,
What Stalin Knew
, p. 218.
23.
  Into the night: RGASPI FOND 17 OP.164, FILE 659, pp. 67,69.
24.
  From the invaders. Politburo Protocol 34/34—OP.21-29 June 1941, point 144, 27 June 1941.—Fond 17, op. 166, file 659, pp. 189-190, RGASPI; typed original.
25.
  The Kremlin Armory: RGASPI No 34/34, point 115, Fond 17, op. 164, pp. 67, 69.
26.
  Novsibirsk and Chelyabinsk: GARF Fond R6822. Politburo meetings Protocol No 34/34, point 115—Fond 17, op. 164, file 659, pp. 67, 69, RGASPI.
27.
  Night of July 5: GARF, Fond R-6822.
28.
  Care of the body: TsAFSB RF, A. 17, op. 25, file 9 pp. 172-173. TsA FSB RF, Fond 17, op. 25, file 9, p. 184.
29.
  Continued their duties: TsA FSB RF, Fond 17, op. 25, file 10, p. 86, GARF, R-6822-1-377.
30.
  Tons of gold annually: GARF, R-6822-1-410, p.1. R-6822-1-377, p.4. R-6822-1-409, p. 155, R-6822-1-409, p. 8.
31.
  We’ve shitted it away: Simon Sebag Montefiore,
Stalin
, p. 374.
32.
  Quickly approved it: Rodric Braithwaite,
Moscow 1941
, pp. 82-83.
33.
  He appeared gloomy: Edvard Radzinsky,
Stalin
, p. 471. David Glantz,
When Titans Clashed
, pp. 62-63.
34.
  You, of course: Rodric Braithwaite,
Moscow 1941
, pp. 83-84. Edvard Radzinksy,
Stalin
, pp. 468-472.
35.
  You my friends: www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/documents/stalin1.htm.
36.
  Surrounded by Nazi troops: Ukrainian Business News enews.com.ua/show/283964.html.
37.
  Long-term supply job: FDR, Henry Hopkins Papers, Container 306, Book 4. Welles-Hopkins on July 21, 1941, 740.001 EW 19390. PSF: Safe File.
38.
  Aggression of Hitlerite Germany:
Ibid
.
39.
  The English letter: Michael Fullilove,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, p. 292.
40.
  Lines would hold: FDR, Henry Hopkins Papers.
41.
  From the Germans: Michael Fullilove,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, p. 308.
42.
  Since the 1930s: Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev,
The Haunted Wood
, p. 44.
43.
  The Roosevelt administration: Fond 06, op.3, P. 21, folder 280, AVP.RF.
44.
  Space of two weeks: Charles Burdick and Hans-Adolf Jacosen,
The Halder War Diary 1939-1942
, p. 446.
45.
  Revenge of reality: Nikolas Cornish,
Images of Kursk
, p. 7.
46.
  But fertile land: Rodric Braithwaite,
Moscow 1941
, p. 85. Timothy Snyder,
Bloodlands
, p. 180.
47.
  Would not fall: Rodric Braithwaite,
Moscow 1941
, p. 85, and David E. Murphy,
What Stalin Knew
, pp. 232-233.
48.
  Forward substantial reserves: Janusz Piekalkiewicz,
Die Schlacht um Moskau
, p. 205.
49.
  Beginning of December: Fedor von Bock,
The War Diary 1939-1945
, p. 345.
50.
  From enemy attacks: Allen E. Crew,
Fighting the Russians in Winter
, p. 12.
51.
  Against the Nazis: John Morton Blum,
From the Morgenthau Diaries
, Vol.2., pp. 255-272.
52.
  To buy weapons: GRAE Fond 2324-20-4697.
53.
  Nearby vessels saluted: Nigel Pickford,
Lost Treasure Ships of the Twentieth Century
, p. 129. RGAE Fond 2324.
54.
  Lend-Lease kicked in: RGAE Fond 2324-20-4697.
55.
  Fragments and jewelry: IMT EC 320-2.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: MELMER GOLD
1.
    Hitler’s government work: IMT 3944-PS. Nuremberg Trial, May 15, 1946 session. Report to Colonel Bernard Bernstein, May 8, 1945 outlining history of the Melmer deliveries. NACP RG 260, Box 423, 940.304.
2.
    On the matter: IMT, May 7, 1946 session of trial. IMT 3944-PS.

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