it was too late. Hitler had taken over the Wehrmacht; Keitel and his OKW were loyal to him; von Fritsch was in disgrace on indefinite leave pending the findings of a Reich court of honour – convened eventually with Göring as president – and before Canaris could prove von Fritsch’s innocence and the false witness, Schmidt, could be made the scapegoat for the whole affair by being forced to admit he had lied, Hitler had taken over Austria. With this triumph on top of his previous record of success against the ‘Versailles powers’, he was unassailable. Von Fritsch could be satisfied that his
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