Chapter 73: The Sinking Demon

"Oh...... Typhoon! Typhoon! I'm New York, damn we were hit by enemy rockets...... We...... Yes...... Boom Boom Boom ......"

When the anxious and panicked voices of the long-range communication radio station were all but monotonous and disrhythmic electronic noises, there was a dead silence in the US Air Operations Command in eastern Norway. One by one, the soldiers froze in place like sculptures, allowing several other communicators to transmit real-time messages from other planes.

Tall, thin and with a broad voice, General Ledeckar was a respected veteran of the U.S. Air Force, whose flying career dates back to before World War I, and his most precious youth was devoted to this military force with unlimited potential. Before his retirement, he took on the burden of this special operation and showed his undiminished courage and courage, but people are not as good as heaven, and the well-planned operation finally failed to escape the blow of "accidents", and at this moment, even the face that has always been as steady as a rock has a rare despair.

"Doctor's ......"

The general spoke, and the atomic bomb technology expert Rout was present. Dr. Furscher knew what he meant, and the middle-aged man with glasses shook his head in despair: "The detonating device was installed before takeoff, and if the plane exploded or crashed in the air, the existing safety ring would not be enough to avoid an abnormal detonation." This is the worst we can expect...... The Swedes may hate us forever! ”

The general trembled and took out a cigarette from his pocket, "That is, it has either exploded or is about to explode...... On the territory of Sweden? ”

Dr. Furscher, who was of German origin, replied with a pale face: "There is a more than ninety-five percent probability of such a situation, unless the heavens favor Sweden exceptionally." ”

General Ledeckar held a cigarette in his mouth, groped for a match in his trouser pocket with his left hand, and the adjutant on the side subconsciously took out a lighter and wanted to do it for him, but saw the general shaking his head with a blank expression, and walked to the phone alone: "Help me pick up the Allied European Command, General Marshall's straight line." ”

The communications officer complied, and General Ledecka, who was forced to heat a match and light a cigarette himself, pressed his mood for intense fluctuations. The phone was quickly connected, and the general tossed the cigarette he had just taken two puffs into the can box filled with water, picked up the phone, and in a deep tone addressed the five-star general George Murphy, who had replaced Eisenhower in his own command of the Allied forces in Europe. Marshall reported: "Sorry, sir, I think we are in big trouble, big trouble that cannot be recovered! ”

Three weeks later, the port of Severodvinsk, USSR.

In the twilight, the southern military district of the northern port was guarded by many guard sentries, but regardless of age and rank, the Soviet officers and men here looked bitter and gloomy, a sign of deep despair, in contrast to the longing for victory in the war in early spring. After a long winter of bitter fighting, the Soviet camp won the key match point on the battlefield in Central and Eastern Europe. In the eyes of ordinary Soviet soldiers and civilians, perhaps as long as they grit their teeth and exert their strength, they will be able to plant the red flag on the French coast, and whether the Western allies sincerely pray for peace or not, the decision is in the hands of the great Soviet Union, but Moscow's decision-making makes them feel unbelievable, and the move to seek the skin of the tiger is only exchanged for a truce of a few months, and the repeated tolerance of the top brass has also become connivance, and the sudden change in the situation in June finally put the Soviet Union into an unprecedented passive situation. Following Germany, Austria and other countries, Norway, Sweden, and Turkey also officially joined the allied camp and declared war on the Soviet Union. People no longer pay attention to the official defense of the Soviet Union that it does not have an atomic bomb and does not have a nuclear attack capability, New York and then Stockholm, the two nuclear explosions completely ignited the anger of the Western world, and now except for a few supporters such as Hungary and Romania and those countries that do non-neutral things in the name of neutrality, the Soviet Union has been attacked everywhere, and worse, the evolution of events has made it ......... justified the United States to use atomic bombs to attack the Soviet Union.

In a short period of more than half a month, Leningrad, Lipetsk, Chelyabinsk, Smolensk, Baku, and even Kromna, which is less than 100 kilometers away from Moscow, were bombed by atomic bombs. The industrial zones located within Europe were threatened by nuclear death, far more terrible than conventional bombing, normal production was simply unsustainable, and the remaining enterprises had to be relocated to Siberia, and although the industrial system in the east was operational, the drastic increase in the distance of transportation of raw materials and finished products undoubtedly reduced the efficiency of the supply of military machines. In addition, the combat operations of the Soviet army on the front line were also constrained by the threat of atomic bombs, the field troops did not dare to carry out large-scale build-ups, the defense of key cities and fortresses also became trembling, and the fronts that the Soviet soldiers had bought with their blood and lives were constantly lost. Had it not been for the heavy losses suffered by the Western Allies in the early battles, the Soviet forces on the front line would likely have collapsed in a demoralized retreat.

The ensuing bad news repeatedly undermined the confidence of Soviet soldiers, and the resignation and political scrutiny of some senior generals did not bring light to this darkness, and what was needed was a change that would essentially reverse the disadvantage, or be completely abandoned.

The beacon lights in the port of Severodvinsk flickered tirelessly with a specific pattern, and when the bright stars of the summer night began to decorate the sky, a submarine covered in darkness quietly surfaced outside the harbor. The signal lights on the boat soon signaled the corresponding light signals of the harbor navigation lights, and a short time later, a military clipper boat sailed out of the harbor. As the ship's searchlight swept over the submarine, the Spanish flag fluttering in the wind on the submarine's conning tower was in sight. The Western European country, which was under the control of the Lanco dictatorship, was the most elusive force in the current landscape, and its special position during World War II allowed it to be exempted from the post-war punishment of the Allies, and even accelerated the country's reconstruction with the help of the Allies' economic aid. After the outbreak of World War III, almost all regions can see the busy figure of Spanish merchant ships, their trade with the Western allies accounted for the bulk of the volume, and the more profitable guns and artillery were exported to the Americas and Africa, rare minerals, aluminum ingots and industrial equipment and other military-related materials were sold at high prices to the Soviet Union blockaded by the allies, especially in the northern waters of Norway, various types of Spanish ships were repeatedly intercepted and detained by the ships of the allies but still repeatedly banned.

Seeing that their armed clippers sent a "safe" signal, the Soviet shore defense units deployed near the port immediately raised their guns and let them go. Under the guidance of the Soviet clippers, the submarine in a floating state sailed straight to the heavily guarded pier in the southern district, and at this time, the Soviet soldiers with loaded guns had already retreated 100 meters, and all of them who remained on the dock were empty-handed. At the entrance to the enclosed anti-aircraft shelter, less than 50 meters from where the submarine was scheduled to dock, a Soviet general with a mustache took a few puffs of his cigarette, obviously having extremely complicated feelings about this submarine in typical German style but with Spanish identity. After the submarine landed on the shore, two officers in Spanish naval attire left the boat and landed, the leader was majestic and calm, and the follower was burly and proud, carrying a delicate black briefcase in his hand, and walked to the air defense bunker under the leadership of the Soviet personnel. The Soviet generals snuffed out their cigarettes, shook hands with the leading Spanish officers at the entrance, and led them into the bunker with pretended politeness.

On the dock, the personnel of the two sides who had not been instructed stared at each other from a distance of several meters, and the visitors did not look like VIPs who sent charcoal in the snow, and the greeters did not look like the bitter masters who were down-and-out to help, and the strange atmosphere made people worry that they might go off at any time. Fortunately, there were no suitable large military airfields in Norway and northern Sweden, and the Western Allies had not yet begun bombing operations in the northern part of the Soviet Union, and Severodvinsk, Murmansk, and Arkhangelsk were spared the fate of other Soviet ports, but only temporarily. After Sweden entered the war, the Allies had already begun to build new military airfields in the east and north of the country, and by this time there were still three or four months before the cold winter in Sweden, and the fear of bombing was likely to become a reality within the year. …,

After a long ten minutes of waiting, the officers of both sides stepped out of the air raid shelters, and the expressions on the faces of the Soviet generals and the Spanish officers did not change significantly compared to before. After the Spanish officers returned to the submarine, the crew quickly opened the special cargo hold located at the rear of the submarine's control tower, and the Soviet officers and soldiers on the dock followed suit, carefully using the rail-mounted cranes, but the crew did not board the submarine directly, but the crew used steel cables to secure the cargo that had arrived secretly for thousands of miles. Under the watchful eyes of the personnel on both sides, the crane lifted the large wooden box with only a few simple letters on the outside and slowly moved to the railroad tracks on the east side of the dock, where a six-car armored train was parked, and the steaming white gas was sizzling, and it seemed that the stokers were adding pressure to the boiler. On the journey of more than 100 meters from the pier to the armored train, the Soviet generals deliberately lowered the brim of their hats and vigilantly observed the reactions of the surrounding Soviet officers and soldiers. When the cargo was safely loaded, he silently led his entourage onto the back armored car, and in a few minutes, the armored train with turrets and anti-aircraft machine guns left the port in a steam that resembled a wheezing sound.

After unloading, the Spanish-flagged submarine slowly left the dock. Standing on the conning tower of the submarine, the officer in the uniform of the Spanish Navy took out a knight's cross from his pocket and silently put it on, while his crew looked at the Soviet port with strange eyes, which had not yet been bombed by the Allies. By the time the submarine finally disappeared into the water outside the harbor, the Soviet servicemen on the dock had swept away the debris, as if nothing had happened, but what had happened was about to change the world.

*J