Chapter 45: The End of the Mob
Wolrich's dislike of Goering was not influenced by his immediate superiors and former classmates, but in fact the vast majority of the population throughout the Third Reich, both military and civilian, lacked a favorable opinion of the air commander-in-chief, who behaved frivolously and arrogantly.
After the wheel of history turned to 1947, the turbulent current began to make people worry about the rise and fall of the world, and rumors of atomic bombs destroying the world intensified. Immediately afterwards, the all-out offensive of the Soviet army on the Eastern European front brought unprecedented shock to Europe and even the world, especially the rapid change of ownership of the Kaliningrad fortress area, which caused great panic within the Allied camp, and there was a dramatic subversion in the direction of public opinion on whether to use atomic bombs, and more and more people felt that only this powerful weapon of destruction could stop the Soviet attack, and in order to achieve this goal, they could even not hesitate to suffer a retaliatory nuclear attack by the Soviet Union on the United States and Britain. As a result, the capitals and large cities of semi-neutral countries such as Norway, Britain, France, and even Norway and Denmark are stepping up the evacuation of residents, and the Allies have obviously not given up their efforts to resist the Soviet offensive by conventional means, and the Allied forces stationed in Germany have been transferred to the front line. Under these circumstances, most of the Allied recruits who remained on German soil to enforce martial law and maintain order were inexperienced Allied recruits, and their numbers were more than half of those at the time of the New Year, but even with an extreme shortage of personnel, the Allied leaders did not dare to feel comfortable leaving German volunteers in the rear to carry out low-intensity alert missions. Some of these experienced soldiers were sent to Poland, some of them went directly to the front line to fight the Soviet army, and the rest carried out unprecedented civil engineering works on the Polish plain - to consolidate the "Polish defense system" with a depth of hundreds of kilometers. "Trying to use space for time to turn the tide of battle.
Taking advantage of the Allied preoccupation with their own preoccupations, Wolrich returned to the farmstead where Goering and other former Third Emperor officials were hiding with the new instructions of the Operations Command, and the operation to protect them from the Allied control continued, and his direct squad was also strengthened into the escort team. [.]
For more than 50 days, he spent more than 50 days in the cellar of the farmstead, for Herman, who had been accustomed to a life of luxury for more than ten years. Goering was undoubtedly a more painful bondage than a prison sentence, ranging from agitation and rage to silence. This change in mental condition not only makes people worry about his health. More persistently harassed and tormented by it. At the moment of seeing the light of day, Herman. Goering let out a long roar of exhaustion, but it was clearly too early to think he was out of the woods. Following the adjusted course of action, the task force protected them as they turned in the direction of Württemberg. In terms of the distance of railways or roads, this trip was only a little more than 200 kilometers, but only a third of the distance was actually made with the help of machinery, and the rest had to be walked not only on foot, but also through mountains and rivers, eating and sleeping, and so on for more than a week, they entered Württemberg-Hohenzollern. It belonged to the German area that was divided into French occupation.
When it comes to France, the military and political officials of the former Third Reich have reason to give full contempt, the stupid sit-down war, the dull and reckless French campaign, the Vichy government more docile than sheep, compared to the victory and defeat experience of the Soviet Union and Britain. Only in the French can Germany find the confidence to laugh to the end – a self-confidence that dates back to the First World War. With this strong self-confidence, Goering took the lead in making a strong request to the commander of the task force, Wiesenfeld: they urgently needed hot baths and hot food, otherwise they would either be devoured by lice or tortured to death by stomach pain, and would not be able to reach their destination dozens of kilometers away. …,
Along the way, Goering made a number of similar requests, most of which were rejected by Wiesenfeld, but this time, Wiesenfeld, after consulting with Wolrich, decided to meet the demands of the Reich Marshal "on behalf of" the senior officials in his fellow countries. After sending team members to scout cautiously. They entered a village surrounded on three sides by woods, Sbirol.
On the surface, the peaceful hamlet was not unrequited by the arrival of dozens of uninvited guests, and the inhabitants showed a kind of peaceful acceptance of these mysterious German soldiers. They made room for these people, and brought out of the cellar the precious grain, bacon, and good wine, and probably only one family was extremely incredible, because Herman could not be beaten. Goering took Keitel and Yodel, who were once high-ranking Third Reich officials, into their farmhouses, using their baths and beds, and even sitting in front of their fireplaces and talking......
For all this, both Wiesenfeld and Wolrich have faithfully written their respective records of action.
The initial result of the two task force officers was to spend a night in Spilol, but excessive alcohol and food intake made Herman in less than ideal health. Goering suddenly changed to acute enteritis, and at night he had diarrhea and fever, and after taking anti-inflammatory drugs, the symptoms were slightly curbed, but the whole person was mentally depressed and difficult to spontaneous. After being in the village until noon the next day, Wiesenfeld and Wolrich decided to have the task force take turns carrying the big man, who weighed more than two hundred pounds, on a stretcher, and before leaving, the task force asked the villagers not to divulge the passage of the unit and its members - this soft "gag order" was initially enforced, but over time it was inevitable that some people would not be able to keep their mouths shut.
For the able-bodied task forces, a simple addition of more than two hundred pounds would not slow down the journey, but the symptoms of acute enteritis made it convenient for them to put down Goering for a rest and rest every part of the walk. Even though he was weak, the Imperial Marshal did not forget to hum and chirp repeatedly, and even brazenly accused the task force of lacking wisdom and courage, and only deserving of the company of timid and cautious turtles, which made the task force hold their stomachs. It happened to rain again that night, and the pampered and self-righteous creature said that they were not willing to brave the rain to move forward, and shouted that the task forces were murdering the second heir of the empire in disguise, so Wiesenfeld had to let the task force find a farm to rest for a while. The village of Spylor is only 20 kilometres away. There are still more than 40 kilometers of rugged mountain roads to the German-Swiss border, which is theoretically in a dangerous zone that cannot be left for a long time, and the essence of this operation is the rapid forced march over long distances. In desperation, Wohlrich and his team did not enter the farm, but found an area in the nearby mountains and forests that was suitable for both strategy and interdiction, and combined with Wiesenfeld's task force to deploy a number of large-scale guard observation posts around it.
The war-scarred French were often reluctant to send combat troops to the battlefields of Eastern Europe. But in neighboring Germany, occupation troops were stationed. The French were so enthusiastic that they had a dozen infantry battalions and a large number of cavalry detachments in a small place like Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and they were only a few dozen kilometers away from Alsace anyway. There is no need to worry about logistics and communications.
Sure enough, shortly after dawn, the task force on guard in the southwest found a French cavalry of more than ten men moving through the forest, and the mountains and valleys could not pose any obstacle to their horses, and if they advanced at full speed, they would be able to rush to the depression where the farm was located in half an hour. Fortunately, the French cavalry had not yet noticed the anomaly, and they aimlessly marched north along the valley. If the direction remained the same, it would have been gone for a few hours, but the task force in charge of the lookout did not dare to slack off, and he quickly returned and instructed his companions behind him to be vigilant. As soon as he got the news, Wiesenfeld hurriedly ordered to be ready to evacuate at any time. Hearing that the enemy was only a seemingly inconspicuous cavalry squad, the frail Imperial Marshal shouted that he would wipe out all the incompetent French soldiers, and proposed that the contingent capture a nearby French airfield, and that he himself could fly the plane to take the group to Spain - the task force refused to reveal the Führer's whereabouts, and this guy always felt that the Führer was hiding in Spain, hatching a counterattack under the protection of the Franco regime. Fortunately, Keitel and others, who accompanied him, no longer took Goering's delusions seriously, and Field Marshal and Admiral Yodel repeatedly stated that they would not interfere in the operational decisions of the task force. Considering the heavier and heavier rain, the roads in the mountains and forests are becoming more and more slippery and muddy. Wiesenfeld continued to venture out with trepidation. …,
About two hours later, the task force spotted a company of French cavalry to the northeast. It is also equipped with machine guns and radio stations carried by horses. Seeing that the other side was menacing, the task force who was acting as a lookout on this side almost fired a warning shot, but fortunately, the French cavalry stopped by the stream to rest for a while, and only sent a few cavalry to guard the surroundings, and the clever task force quietly withdrew from the other party's field of vision, and immediately rushed in the direction of the farm with the spirit of a marathon, and finally rushed in front of the enemy to bring the warning to his commander.
Although the rain showed no sign of abating, Wiesenfeld had no choice but to forcibly evacuate the farm. Although he was very worried that the French would ask the Germans about the situation when they arrived at the farm, Wiesenfeld followed the "three principles" of the commander of the operation and did not take extreme measures to eliminate the mouth, but ordered his men to wipe out as much trace of the presence as possible, and made the German residents swear to keep it a secret. After leaving the farm in the rain, the task force escorted the former military and political officials of the Third Reich westward into the woodlands, and the task force behind them, who was responsible for the rearguard reconnaissance, soon observed the arrival of a large group of French cavalry at the farm. Upon hearing this, Wiesenfeld immediately ordered to speed up, while Wolrich led a direct team equipped with four sets of infrared night vision devices to break down.
The French cavalry that arrived at the farmstead did not leave until dusk, as if affected by the rain, which means that they most likely spent the night at the farmstead, and the Germans in the farmstead apparently did not reveal the secrets about the task force to them. After nightfall, conventional optical observation could no longer monitor the farmstead across the open field from the woods, and Wolrich led the group back, but before midnight came, the sound of horses' hooves could be heard behind him. In a hurry, Wohlrich and his squad had no time to set up an ambush, and the technical superiority of the infrared night vision devices was not enough to counteract the speed of the cavalry in the woods, so they had to hurriedly lay a few traps with grenades and mines, and then retreat in a completely different direction from Wiesenfeld. A few minutes later, the French cavalry struck the trap, and the sound of explosions in the rainy night was enough to warn the task forces who were retreating first. At this time. Instead of ordering his soldiers to shoot to attract the French cavalry, Wolrich continued to lay traps on his own retreat, and the French cavalry, who did not know the direction of the target's evacuation, did indeed search in formation, and soon triggered the trap on the way south, which made them judge that the opponent had fled straight in the direction of the Swiss border, so they pursued them south. yiji
Risking to pin down the French cavalry, Wohlrich's squad marched only a few kilometers to the south, and then took advantage of the cover of the rainy night to turn westward, although this move successfully avoided the pursuit of the French cavalry, but Walrich was well avoided. The French troops stationed in Württemberg would soon gather around. The garrison on the border must also be on full alert, and the situation after dawn will be extremely unfavorable for their side, and the only chance now is to find the secret tunnel that crosses the German-Swiss border into Switzerland, and with the help of the answering personnel, sneak into the Swiss hinterland before the allies can negotiate through diplomatic negotiations to induce the Swiss government to take a round-up operation.
At this moment. Albert in the Norwegian Sea. Speer didn't know the situation of the rest of the evacuees for the time being, he had heard that Papen and Schacht had been authorized to form a provisional government in Germany, and that Dönitz, Raeder and others had been exempted from release, and only he knew whether there was chagrin behind his calm expression, and this time, when Handmark revealed that Tromsø County had become a secret occupation of the Empire overseas, his surprised look was as strange as hearing that humanity would soon be free from the shackles of Earth and into space.
"We should arrive at the port of Tromsø tomorrow morning. And all your curious questions along the way will be solved. ”…,
Handmark's implication was for the gifted architect and production organizer to "enjoy the wonderful feeling of being in the fog on this last night." ”
At the end of February, the temperature on the European continent is gradually rising, but the Nordic sea is still cold and cold, drift ice floating, looking at the white coastline. There was an elusive trance in Speer's eyes. Perhaps, I have missed the most wonderful and legendary episode, and everything that follows is just to color the lines sketched by my predecessors.
The last night was spent quietly in these thoughts, and just after dawn, the cargo ship sailed through the strait into the waters of Tromsø, looking at the quaint and mysterious port, Speer asked Handmark: "Is the outbreak of war between the Allies and the Soviet Union inevitable, or is it because of its function?" ”
Experience the adventures and hardships of the Nuremberg operation. When he saw the figure of the port of Tromsø again, Handmark breathed a sigh of relief. He replied to Speer: "I have no way of answering this, and I am afraid it is up to you to find an answer yourself." ”
It is also a journey in search of answers. Some people go step by step to the end of the mystery, and some people go astray and face the test of life and death. When the same morning came, more than a thousand kilometers away in the mountains and forests south of Württemberg on the German mainland, Hermann. Goering, Wilhelm. Keitel, along with Joddle, Kaltenbruner, Shokel, and Frank, were sitting against the wet roots of the trees in a terrible state, and the task forces around them were also exhausted, and the scattered gunfire in the distance stabbed the nerves in the deepest parts of their brains. Far from getting out of the predicament, the overnight march deviated from the original route and burrowed into such a labyrinthine woods, the road ahead was blocked by a large cliff that was difficult to climb, and there were dangerous swamps on the left and right, followed by the French cavalry who had been chasing all night, and where to go became a choice between life and death.
It was rare for him to come down and walk for a while, and the Imperial Marshal gasped for breath, and for the time being, he had no time to scold the task force escorting him, and Keitel and the others could not help but show a look of disappointment, and when their eyes swept over Goering, they instantly revealed the content of resentment and hatred—if it had not been for the demands of this nervous fellow from moment to moment, they might have been breathing the air of freedom in Switzerland by this time.
"Surrender! At most, we will be arrested and tried, and both Dönitz and Raeder will be pardoned, and we will be locked up for a few years without cooperation at best. Keitel finally said what others dared to think and say, and the Führer's echo did not choose to obey from the beginning, but that a soldier like him simply did not have the mind and courage to compete with power.
As soon as these words were spoken, the surrounding task force members showed surprised expressions, and Wiesenfeld, who was looking anxiously at the map, also raised his head suddenly.
Those who had recently left prison were psychologically comfortable with the reality of returning to prison, but the task forces who had been with the secret base through Project Aryan Ark had no such option. As in previous operations, from the moment they decided to take part in the Nuremberg operation, their fate was to allow for victory rather than defeat, and each was armed with more than three tools of self-sacrifice - pistols, daggers and poison - to absolutely avoid falling into the hands of the enemy and revealing the secrets of the base. There are their families, their brothers, their beloved leaders and unfinished hopes for revival.
"Since we have repeatedly made mistakes, surrender is also the best punishment for us." Yodel said with a clear conscience.
"Sir!" Wiesenfeld stood up and swept over the crowd with an indifferent gaze, "If you don't know the secrets of the Führer and the Nordic base, it is acceptable to be captured by the Allies again, but since you already know the secrets that you should not know, we can only follow the three principles of action" and never let you fall into the hands of the Allies." ”
Hearing this, Goering shuddered, and he looked up at the gloomy clouds in the sky, and the holy sunlight was completely obscured, as if it were also the final portrayal of his life......