 The story imagines a slightly altered timeline of events surrounding the German occupation of the Netherlands, most notably the time between the German invasion of the Netherlands, which occurred in 1940, and the death of the Kaiser and German invasion of Russia, both of which took place in 1941.As described in the story a detachment of Wehrmacht troops under the command of an SS Officer was sent to guard Wilhelm II, but Krebbs is an imagined character.Churchill offered the Kaiser asylum in the United Kingdom, but the invitation was conveyed to him in different circumstances from those described in the book.