A few days later, the news of the destruction of super-secret reached the ears of Americans, and President Roosevelt was shocked and furious. As a result, not only did the United States lose its grasp of Germany's intelligence and cipher information, but the experts deployed by the Americans in the manor to cooperate with the British side to jointly detect the German and Japanese ciphers were also killed. The United States has always been inferior to the United Kingdom in the cause of code detection, and this group of experts is here to exchange and learn, but now they are being served by the Germans.

Hopkins, a close friend of the president, wrote in his diary: "...... The President's indignation at Prime Minister Churchill after learning that the 'super secret' had been breached by the Germans was palpable – I had never seen him complain so much, even when the British were losing troops on the El Alamein front and asked us for supplies and equipment. He said, 'I'd rather lose another 1,000 tanks than lose super-secrets,' and this incident also had a negative impact on Operation Torch, which was about to start in North Africa, because we used to consider super-secrets when considering the balance of power, and now the whole operation has been overshadowed before it has even begun, and it is really difficult to explain ......

Three months later, there was a knock at the door of a cottage near Cambridge University, and a young woman came out and opened the door, her figure was haggard, her face was very bad, and there was an indescribable sorrow between her brows, and her former vigor had lost all its brilliance.

"You're Mrs. MacDonald?"

"I am. Who are the two of you? Looking at the appearance of the two suits and leather shoes, her heart couldn't help but lift, there have always been people in this kind of costume to disturb her recently.

"Introduce yourself. This is Mr. Christopher, an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I am Gerald, an employee of MI5. "It's okay to hear the front, but when I heard the name of MI5, the young woman couldn't help but start a fire." What are you doing here? I've said it many times, my husband is not a spy! Last month, the government cleared up the misunderstanding and not only restored his honour, but also awarded him the Medal of Loyal Service. ”

Her words were fast and urgent, and her voice was sharp and piercing: "Don't say that our family has nothing to do with the Germans, so what? Doubt us on this basis? The royal family is still a real German aristocracy. They have access to secrets, how can you not suspect them? ”

It seems that the person in front of him is really angry, and these words can be said. The two government employees glanced at each other with a wry smile on their faces.

"I'm so sorry to have wronged you." Gerald was able to bend and stretch, and bowed deeply in apologies.

Mrs. MacDonald's face looked a little better. A smile barely squeezed out of his face: "I wonder what you are doing today?" ”

"Our diplomats in Spain received a suitcase and a letter from the German diplomat in Spain. Oddly enough, all of these things are sent to you by name. Christopher explained, "According to our original counter-espionage regulations, the enemy country, especially the official sent by the enemy country, should be inspected by us before it can be handed over to you, considering the peculiarity of Mr. MacDonald's identity and the recent series of misunderstandings, Mr. Gerald, who is in charge of this matter, decided to make some workarounds - he came with me to hand over these items and letters to you, and then asked you to open them on the spot for inspection in our presence. ”

In order to strengthen the persuasiveness of their words. He shook a small suitcase with a seal attached to it and said, "The stuff is inside." ”

"From Germany? It's mine? ”

"Yes. Here are the letters. ”

"Okay then." Mrs. MacDonald examined the fire paint on the envelope and the seal on the trunk. After making sure it wasn't opened, he asked, "There won't be any bombs or other dangerous objects, right?" ”

"The stuff was handed over by diplomats, and the Spanish foreign minister was present, so it shouldn't have happened."

"That's good." Mrs. MacDonald said, "Come in, both of you, and to prove my innocence, please help me with this gentleman to open this box and examine the contents, and I will look at it." ”

"We're here to help." Along the way, the two of them had long been curious about this small and light-weight box, and they had always wanted to see what was going on, and considering the seal and the explanation on it, the two pressed it. Now that they had received the recipient's approval, the two immediately removed the seal and opened the unlocked suitcase.

After opening the contents and looking at them, the two couldn't help but gasp, and Mrs. MacDonald, who was watching from the sidelines, was also full of shock: the box was a yellow and clear color, all of which were rectangular gold bars, and she picked up one and looked at it, it was heavy, with a 10-ounce sign at the bottom, and the producer was a Swiss bank. There were ten of these bars in the entire suitcase, which added up to 100 ounces of gold - a fortune.

She herself was stunned, how could anyone give her these? The other two couldn't help but become more curious and eager about the letter, and they also showed deep suspicions. Mrs. MacDonald looked at the expressions on their faces, and then handed the sealed letter back to her: "Since things are strange, can you read the letter to me?" ”

"I'm happy to serve you, ma'am."

Gerald carefully unwrapped the fire paint mouth, pulled out the letter and read it:

"Dear Mrs. MacDonald,

We are all members of the Wehrmacht's Ranke commando.

First of all, allow us to express our sincere condolences and deepest remorse for the tragic passing of Mr. MacDonald! He is one of the few heroes we have ever seen who still fought for the interests of his country at the last moment of his life, and he is a true unsung hero.

It was a very sad moment in early October when we were ordered to attack the code-breaking base set up by British military intelligence at Bletchley Manor in Buckinghamshire, killing all the codebreakers working there, including Mr. MacDonald.

From our personal point of view, we have no conflicts of interest or personal enmity with each of the victims, and even our lead officer, Albert Ranke, has a good personal relationship with your husband. At the end of his life, he was still proud to have a friend like Mr. MacDonald - he was eternally grateful to your husband for his care and help, and his association with this noble gentleman was one of the few beautiful colors in his somewhat gloomy Cambridge school life. Regrettably, we believe that Mr. MacDonald and we are on the same page when we are deeply divided into two camps, where our country and our military are fighting each other, and where we, as soldiers who have pledged allegiance to our country, have no choice but to do our duty for the national good.

At the end of the operation, in order to cover our retreat and the urgency of the situation, Chief Ranke put on Mr. MacDonald's clothes and pretended to be himself to divert the pursuing British troops, and he exchanged his own sacrifice for the safe retreat of the rest of the team. This is a necessary expediency in the course of the mission, but it may cause damage to Mr. MacDonald's reputation and cause misunderstanding for your family, and we apologize once again and, if necessary, we can entrust a neutral third country to come forward to clarify.

In addition to our sincerest condolences and apologies, there was also 100 ounces of gold, the last words of Chief Ranke. I would have liked to give you pounds sterling, but in view of the exchange controls and bank transfers during the war, we chose gold supervised by a Swiss bank and transferred from our ambassador to Spain to your ambassador to Spain. This gold was purchased by him and all the members of the commando team with personal savings and bonuses, there is no half penny of official funds, we do not think that this gold can offset the pain of losing your husband and your children losing their father, this is only the most insignificant and unspeakable compensation, I hope you will not refuse.

Before parting, Chief Ranke, perhaps sensing that he was about to meet with misfortune, revealed to us a secret that he would never say until death: in fact, he has always been your deepest admirer, but he has never dared to say it due to his status and conditions. We have given it a second thought and decided to pass on this secret to you, hoping that it will not burden your mind.

We hope that the pain of war and killing will be inflicted only on our generation, that our children and grandchildren will always live in a united, harmonious and common Europe where there is no war and killing, only friendship and mutual assistance, and that our next generation can form a deep brotherhood with your next generation.

Although there is no definite information, we believe that Chief Ranke has been killed in the operation, and if so, can you please ask the Red Cross to find him a reliable burial place, at our expense, and we will move him back to Germany when the war is over; If Lord Ranke is still alive and well captured by the British Government, we hope that you will be able to visit him for the sake of the alumni of Cambridge......"

Before the letter was finished, Mrs. MacDonald had already burst into tears.

"The German commando captain ...... Mr. Rank...... ......Gerard was embarrassed, but some questions had to be asked, "What is the relationship with you, with your husband?" ”

"He was an alumnus and friend of mine when my husband was studying at Cambridge, and he was a man of good character and knowledge." She stared at the two men and scolded them word by word, "A Cambridge graduate who was once willing to swear allegiance to the British Empire, but who was repeatedly rejected by bureaucrats like you, was forced to choose Germany as a last resort - and it was you, not him, who destroyed the manor and destroyed my family. ”

"Madam, I'm so sorry, this is really a human tragedy."

End of volume III. I'll talk about the Eastern Front in the next volume. (To be continued.) )