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Episode 163: Spear and Shield (14)
June 24, 1942
Ministry of War, London, England
"Germany drove out all Soviet troops from its and allied territories except Finland. "Currently, the Soviet military relies on the Stalin Line built along the German border."
As British Army Chief of Staff Alan Brooke explained, Churchill smoked a cigar and stared at the map.
"How long do you think it will take the German army to break through the Stalin Line?"
"The Soviets are confident that the Stalin Line is invincible... ."
Brooke shrugged.
"If I were to evaluate it calmly, three weeks would be the longest."
"The reason is?"
"First of all, it has only been two years since the Stalin Line was built, so many parts are unfinished. According to plan, it would have been completed in the summer of 1943, but the war broke out a year early, and when the war broke out, the Soviet Union halted construction."
"Why?"
"After investigating, they said it was because the morale of the military could be affected if the construction of the defense line continued. "We started construction again in a hurry, but it is said that there is no progress in the construction due to the German army's continuous air raids and artillery bombardment."
Tsk tsk tsk. Churchill clicked his tongue and turned his head back to the map.
Still, the German military seemed to be concentrating on Hungary and Romania, perhaps thinking that it would cost too much to break through the Stalin Line head-on.
Let alone the Berlin vacuum, the Soviet Union, whose territory was being invaded, was begging Britain's pants.
Please form a second front as soon as possible and turn the German army's attention to the other side.
Even before Stalin's request to open a second front, Churchill had chosen France as the best place to begin his 'crusade' to drive out the Germans from Western Europe.
"Of course the location should be France."
"Of course."
Churchill and the British army also had in mind France as the best place to form a second front.
This was not to please the Free French friends living in London, but because there was really no place other than France where they could land.
Belgium and the Netherlands are close to Germany, so they are good for advancing into mainland Germany, but on the other hand, because they are so close, not only are the German troops reinforced quickly, but their defenses are also solid.
If you make a mistake, you could become a rat caught in a trap, surrounded by reinforcements from mainland Germany and German troops stationed in France.
Denmark was also once a candidate, but unlike France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, which are friendly to Britain and can expect cooperation from their residents, as they are a midway point between Norway and Germany, they are on very strict alert. Hostile.
Can we expect help from them? It's a good thing they don't throw grenades from behind.
In the case of Spain and Portugal, not only are they the farthest from Germany, but they also have to cross the Pyrenees Mountains, located between the Iberian Peninsula and France.
Of course dismissed.
A plan was also proposed to land in Norway to block Germany's supply of iron ore and join the Soviet army between the Finnish and Swedish borders, but this was rejected on the grounds that an advance into mainland Germany was impossible.
Even with France selected as the final candidate site, there were many differences of opinion within the military. Where will you land in France?
The point that was mentioned as the first priority was definitely Pas-de-Calais.
It is easy to land because you only have to cross the Strait of Dover, and reinforcements to the mainland are quick, so it is by far the best landing site.
The problem is that the German military could not have known this.
The Pas-de-Calais area was already full of various defense facilities, including concrete positions, bunkers, machine gun torches, and fixed batteries using tank turrets.
And behind the coast, armored divisions are lined up waiting.
Unless you wanted to be pushed into the sea by a tank unit as soon as you landed, it was better to give up Pas-de-Calais.
"In the end, I have to choose one of the districts except Pas-de-Calais… ."
"How about Dieppe?"
Brigadier General Louis Mountbatten, commander of the British Joint Operations Command, recommended Dieppe.
Although not as large as Pas-de-Calais, Dieppe was also close to England, making it easy to transport troops and supplies.
It is originally a resort area and has a port, so it is a good environment for landing and is an appropriate distance for receiving air support.
Another notable point was that the Brittany Peninsula and Cotentin Peninsula, which were mentioned as other candidate sites, were too far away from Paris, but Dieppe was closer to Paris than Calais.
Dieppe, northern France, was chosen as the landing site for the Allied forces.
After Dieppe was selected, the Allied forces devoted themselves to landing training every day with the goal of landing in Dieppe.
Churchill devoted himself to the success of the operation by receiving daily reports on the training process and results.
Originally, Churchill had planned to carry out the operation in early July, immediately after the declaration of war on Germany, but faced with opposition that not only were preparations insufficient but the deadline was too tight, the scheduled operation date was postponed to August.
There were many opinions about whether it would be a good idea to declare war at that point, but Churchill dismissed it.
"The closer the Jerrys get to Moscow, the fewer people will support the war. "War must be declared when even one more citizen maintains hostility rather than fear toward Germany!"
Churchill's stubbornness was stubborn, and in the end, the military had no choice but to raise the white flag first.
In fact, time was too short to carry out an amphibious landing operation even in August, but Churchill scolded them, asking if they were planning to land in the middle of winter, when the sea turned to ice, so they could not even say anything.
"Not for the Russians, but the current situation is actually good news for the British Empire and its allies. "The more German soldiers are tied down on the Russian battlefield, the fewer enemies the Allies will have to face in France."
If the Soviet Army was pushed back, the morale of the British people would naturally drop, so Churchill's wish was to keep as many German troops as possible on the Eastern Front while maintaining the current border.
In this way, the number of German troops the Allied Forces will have to deal with will be reduced, and the advance into Germany's mainland will become easier.
"dismissal!"
Churchill, who was planning a way to drive out the Nazis from Western Europe and bring Eastern Europe under the Union Jack's sphere of influence, put down the pen he was holding when his secretary intruded.
Annoyed at having his plans interrupted, he spoke bluntly.
"What kind of fuss is this?"
"This is urgent, Your Excellency."
Churchill, who saw his secretary's face turning pale, was puzzled and accepted the telegram the secretary gave him.
"… … !?!"
Soon, even Churchill's face became as discolored as a sheet of paper. She was so shocked that she could barely speak.
"Oh, no… … What happened... … "
***
A day before Churchill heard the news.
William Damond, a high school math teacher, was riding his bicycle home as usual.
Whistling his favorite Colonel Bogey March.
Before arriving home, he stopped by 'Jackswood', a 10-minute walk from his house.
Harry, the owner of Jackswood, an ordinary grocery store that could be found in any neighborhood, had known William since childhood.
Although we weren't close enough to be considered family, we knew what each other liked and disliked.
"Howdy."
"Howdy."
When Daymond arrived at Jackswood, Harry was repairing the rear wheel of his son's bicycle.
"What should I give you today?"
"wait for a sec. Let's see… ."
Daymond took out his notebook and looked up what his wife had told him to buy today.
"A bag of brown sugar, two strips of bacon, a can of pineapple, two cans of milk, butter, black tea, Emmental cheese. And give me a copy of The Times."
"Okay."
Harry stood up, rubbing his oily, dirty hands on his apron, and entered the store. Daymond did not go in.
Three minutes later, Harry returned with the ingredients that Daymond had ordered. Except brown sugar and canned pineapple.
"The brown sugar and canned food are in the warehouse. "Just read the newspaper."
While Harry headed to the warehouse to retrieve some brown sugar and canned pineapple, Daymond opened the newspaper.
What kind of article came out today? .
"W-What is this…?" ..!?!"
As soon as he opened the newspaper, Daymond's eyes widened in surprise when he saw the title of the article on the front page.
"Now, here. "Just give me one pound and eightpence."
After a while, Harry returned with canned brown sugar and pineapple and held out his hand.
But no matter what Harry said, Daymond's eyes were fixed on the newspaper.
"Hey, what's going on? I'm not even listening to people talking-"
"Look at this!"
Harry, who had never been good at voting due to his lack of interest in what was going on in the world, was puzzled by Daymond's reaction.
What kind of article did you read that made you make such a fuss?
However, he changed his mind after reading the article on the front page of the newspaper.
"… … .???"
Something that I never thought would happen, something that shouldn't have happened, ended up happening.
-Shock! Five spies from Cambridge University!
***
Cambridge Five.
Spies of the century who shook not only Britain but the whole world.
What's even more shocking is that all of these people were not spies sent by the Soviet Union, but pure British people born and raised in England.
However, they betrayed their country by giving loyalty to the Soviet Union, the 'fatherland of ideas', rather than to their own country, England.
Since all five spies are graduates of Cambridge University, the list of members, nicknamed the Cambridge Five, is as follows.
Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, John Caincross and Donald Maclean.
Kim Philby and Guy Burgess worked as intelligence agents for MI6 and provided internal information to MI6, Anthony Blunt provided information obtained while working as a codebreaker at M15, John Canecross provided internal information from the codebreaking agency, and Donald Maclean provided information from the British Foreign Office. He took the information he collected while working for the Soviet Union.
Due to the activities of the Cambridge Five, not only MI6 and MI5, but even the CIA, which frequently exchanged information with MI6, suffered a crushing blow and were unable to fully recover from the damage until the 1970s.
The Cambridge Five even changed the fate of Korea in the distant Far East. When the South Korean and UN forces advanced to the Yalu River, Kim Philby declared that even if China entered the Korean War, the United States would not use nuclear bombs, and furthermore, would not attack the Chinese mainland. Information was given to the Soviet Union that the war would be limited to the Korean Peninsula.
After hearing the news, the Soviet Union relayed this fact to China, and Mao Zedong, gaining confidence, decided to enter the war.
As a result, the Korean Peninsula became the only divided country in the 21st century, and millions of young Koreans suffered from conscription.
Finally, the opportunity to resolve the grudge has come.
I instructed Heydrich to mobilize all SD and Afbear agents infiltrating the UK and leak information to all media outlets in the UK to expose the existence of the Cambridge Five.
At the same time, the existence of Soviet spies in the United States was also revealed.
As expected, the British and American media reported this extensively, publishing articles on the front pages of newspapers about the identity of Soviet spies who were secretly working in their countries.
Naturally, the two countries were in an uproar, and the people were extremely shocked.
I found out that during the war with Japan, communists were spreading their country's secrets to the Soviet Union.
Churchill and Roosevelt would be very embarrassed by this whole situation.
Their plan was to join hands with the Soviet Union to prevent Germany's expansion, but they found out that the Soviet Union was deceiving them behind the scenes.
And since the entire nation became aware of this fact, it became impossible to handle it quietly.
There was one more thing left to explode in America, but I was saving this for later, just in case.
First of all, this alone is enough to shake the authority of the Roosevelt government.
***
June 27, 1942
White House, Washington DC, USA
"oh my god… ."
Roosevelt could not hide his despair.
I couldn't believe everything I had said was true... .
When articles about Soviet spies first appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, he thought it was nonsense and did not believe it.
However, as a result of the investigation, it was found that all the articles published in the newspaper were true.
Harry Dexter White, Foreign Affairs, U.S. Treasury Department.
Alger Hiss, Assistant Secretary of State.
Both of them are highly trusted by Roosevelt and have access to a lot of classified information in the United States.
Immediately after the news that they were Soviet spies was published, FBI Director John Edgar Hoover strongly insisted to Roosevelt that these two should be investigated.
Roosevelt wanted to say that the newspaper was wrong, but the atmosphere was so unusual that he had no choice but to allow it.
As a result,
"White confessed and admitted that he had acted as a spy for the Soviet Union. Heath is still on the run, but I am confident we will be able to apprehend him soon."
"… … .her."
Roosevelt felt like he had been hit on the head with a hammer.
The people he trusted so much were actually spies receiving secret orders from Stalin.
White confessed and Heath disappeared before the FBI came knocking on the front door.
Currently, the police and FBI are tracking Heath while also investigating his family, relatives, friends, colleagues, and subordinates.
"I don't know how many Russian spies there are in the White House, sir. "We are currently checking what information they passed on to Russia."
Hoover answered in an extremely businesslike manner. Roosevelt remained silent while Hoover spoke.
The incident turned American society upside down.
After the Pearl Harbor attack, American anger was focused on Japanese people living in the United States.
Roosevelt also took the lead in suppressing Japanese people by promulgating Executive Order 9066.
However, due to this incident, the anger of Americans was directed not only to the Japanese community but also to the Communist Party.
Angry demonstrators demonstrated in front of the Soviet embassy, and the American Communist Party headquarters was devastated.
In the UK, an incident occurred where a British Communist Party official and a Soviet embassy employee were beaten to death by citizens on the street.
Roosevelt, who did not hide his pro-Soviet tendencies, was heartbroken.
He supplied food and medicine in the name of toll taxes to the Soviet Union, which cooperated with America's support for the masses, and after the outbreak of the German-German War, he even secretly supplied weapons and ammunition through Britain.
It was based on his belief that cooperation with the Soviet Union was essential to check Germany, which threatened world peace, and he had no regrets about it at all.
But not anymore.
Even his position as president would be in danger if the public and the opposition party, who were filled with anger over the Soviet Union's unscrupulous spying, found out about it.
"Don't worry, Your Excellency. "The FBI will definitely catch him and bring him to justice."
"I understand. "Let's go now."
Hoover slowly turned around with a wry smile.
Hoover, who was an anti-communist from early on, had a strong antipathy towards Roosevelt's pro-Soviet policy, and when he received the report from his subordinate that White had confessed, he jumped up from his seat and shouted hurray.
'That guy must have come to his senses. otherwise… ..'
After Hoover left, Roosevelt thought hard.
Inside the drawer was a document authorizing fuel aid to the Soviet Union.
Roosevelt, who was pondering, opened a drawer, took out a document, and lit it on fire with a lighter.
Roosevelt watched it until the paper was completely burned to ashes.
