Chapter 963 Black Cat (Part 1)

ps: There are a lot of things going on in the office these two days, so updates may not be on time, sorry...

On July 1, 1944, nearly five years after Britain and Germany declared war, there was finally a passenger ship route from Hamburg to Great Britain for the first time.

But this time the passenger ship was different. Not only was it escorted by warships, but there were also aircraft patrolling overhead. Surrounded by a large number of swastika flags, the "Norddeutsche" of the Hamburg Shipping Company also flew the Union Jack flag of Great Britain for the first time in history. . Although it was a passenger ship, there was only one real guest on board - the Duke of Windsor, or Edward VIII. In addition to his family members, servants and a few close bodyguards, the entire ship was a German commando team ordered to protect him.

This 36-man commando team was formed based on the Rank Commando and the Brandenburg troops. It was led by Skorzeny, code-named "K Troop". All the team members can speak relatively fluent English. Compared with Operation SkyThunder, this time there were fewer manpower for violent destruction and more manpower for communications, explosion prevention, tracking, anti-eavesdropping, etc., and considering that Edward VIII also There are women, and four women are arranged in the team. Although they are delicate and weak women, they have no problem beating the big man Skorzeny with their skills.

In fact, Skorzeny mainly appears as a leader and co-ordinator. He is calm-minded and decisive. He has the least skills in truly unique skills such as fighting, stealth, and assassination. At most, his marksmanship is pretty good. They disguised themselves as various characters and surrounded the black cat. The bodyguards that Edward VIII originally relied on had no power to fight back in front of the commandos, so he readily appointed this unit as the inner circle guard.

Skorzeny's alias is David. After getting to know them, Edward became curious about them.

However, the opening line was unexpected: "I heard that you all call me a black cat?"

Skorzeny nodded awkwardly, but he still came up with a reason quickly and wisely: "Your Majesty, this does not have much derogatory meaning, but it is a kind of awe for you."

"Tell me about it." Edward VIII looked at him with a half-smile. In European legends and traditional concepts, black cats are unlucky animals that bring bad luck to them. He really wanted to hear what the other party had to say.

"First, black cats have formidable power. This power lies not only in themselves, but in the prestige accumulated by tradition - the British royal family has this prestige; second, black cats have a hard life - cats have Nine lives, His Majesty first abdicated, then restored, was first exiled to a small island, and then returned to Great Britain, which fully illustrates your fate. I know only one person in history with this legendary experience-Emperor Napoleon."

Edward VIII laughed heartily: "You are very good at talking, and you are very good at adapting to situations. What's even more rare is that you speak English very well."

"What do you think of the Führer's English?"

"Very good, very fluent, very elegant... great!"

"The head of state is a genius!" Skorzeny laughed. "The head of state started learning English about a year and a half ago. Before that, he knew almost nothing about English. But now I bet that if he can give a speech in English, he can do it." It’s watertight, but we’re much worse. I’ve been learning English for at least 15 years.”

Everyone was deceived by Hoffman on this point. As a later intellectual scholar, how could he not know English? But he knew that Hitler did not know English, so he gradually exposed it and created a jaw-dropping "genius" image.

Mrs. Simpson had seen the skills of several female bodyguards and was particularly interested in the adventures of others. She wanted to let Skorzeny talk more. Edward was also very curious about this.

"Your Majesty, Madam, you guessed it right. My comrades and I have carried out many missions. The most important experience was repeated battles with British spies. Many of them even went to Britain to carry out missions." Skorzeny mused. Said, "To be honest, I don't want to look back on this experience. Although we completed the mission, we lost our best brother... He stayed in the UK and did not come back."

"You mean?"

"That's right, it's the protagonist of that movie - Rank."

"Oh my God!" Mrs. Simpson said, "Did you really blow up that manor? You killed the code-breaking team, that's amazing!"

Skorzeny nodded.

Edward VIII was a little embarrassed. After all, he was a British man. He didn't know how to evaluate this matter.

"Your Majesty, the war is over. You have been working for peace between Britain and Germany. There is no need to feel depressed about all this - it was not caused by you." Skorzeny said calmly, "I personally have no ill feelings towards the British. Everyone It's all for the country. It's a pity that our fighting has won benefits and glory for the country. Some people in your country are fighting just to satisfy their ambitions. Even when you return to the country this time, they are still determined to harm you. In order to continue to provoke disputes between Britain and Germany."

When he heard him talk about this, Black Cat nodded sincerely.

Hoffman made it clear to him: "Your Majesty, I have always sincerely negotiated peace with Great Britain, but Great Britain has missed many opportunities: If your country and I had reached peace and formed an alliance at the end of the French campaign, we would now be the two countries leading the world. Head - Great Britain is responsible for the sea, and Germany is responsible for the land; if peace is negotiated after the North African campaign, Great Britain can at least keep India and most of its colonies; if peace was negotiated last year, you still have a chance to keep Iceland, but now... ugh."

Edward VIII also seriously thought about these words. If he had accepted Hess's peace conditions and realized Anglo-German co-governance, Europe would have been at peace long ago. The two families could even take over all the French colonies. How dare Pétain make such a noise? ——The German Army and the British Navy will beat the French to the point where they can’t even find the north, and Germany will not form an alliance with Japan. How can there be anything to do with Southeast Asia and India?

It's better now. France quickly surrendered. Not only did it save its huge African colonies, it took the opportunity to recover a little bit of its economy, it even ate up the Channel Islands of Great Britain. Britain's ranking in Europe dropped to fourth, and even Pakistan fell. Counting on Germany to put pressure on Japan to help Britain survive. But who can blame this?

A week ago, the British Parliament sent a telegram to formally invite him to return to the country to succeed the throne and take charge of the overall situation. However, Edward VIII was not in a hurry to return to the UK. Instead, he conducted some shuttle diplomacy on the European continent because he found that the future of Great Britain was now determined. Not in London, but in Europe.

He bid farewell to the Lisbon regime and expressed his gratitude for the hospitality and protection over the past year. He went to Spain to meet with Franco to communicate on the unresolved issue of Gibraltar; he went to France to meet with Pétain and Darlan to discuss the original issue. He apologized for the "Ballista Incident"; he went to Rome again, on the one hand he met with the newly appointed Italian Prime Minister Ciano and reached a verbal agreement, and on the other hand he discussed strengthening the relationship between Britain and Italy in the future; he even went to Romania to meet Antonis library to help Great Britain introduce Pristina oil - Germany has officially announced that with the end of the war on the Eastern Front, Romanian oil field oil can be freely sold in Europe, and does not have to be limited to selling to Germany. Now the UK is short of Oil, Edward wanted to finalize the energy supply as soon as possible; finally he went to Berlin and had a confidential discussion with Hoffman to discuss how to make policy adjustments in future European cooperation. Hoffman warmly received him and issued a speech on the British Outlook Statement.

Troop K took the opportunity to slowly appear in public places where Edward VIII appeared. They became familiar with his temper and life style and tried to learn more information. The appearance of some members in advance can reduce the suddenness when they appear in the UK in the future—— The British people knew in advance through newspapers that a group of bodyguards were sent to the king. By the time Edward left for London, the entire K Troop was fully integrated into the team.

Strictly speaking, Britain and Germany have neither achieved peace nor even signed a formal Armistice Agreement. However, because the British officially handed over two armored aircraft carriers as a guarantee, Britain and Germany have actually achieved a ceasefire. According to the unwritten tacit understanding between Britain and Germany, during this period, if anyone from the UK wants to immigrate to Canada, everything is done according to your convenience. If it is a transport plane, you can just notify it in advance; if it is a passenger ship, you can just accept a stop for inspection midway. The busiest thing now is Goebbels's Propaganda Department, which uses the "Voice of Europe" to quarrel with the British and American regimes from a distance.

While calling Churchill's coup treason, and at the same time calling Attlee's coup a surrender, one fact cannot be avoided: Prime Minister Churchill, who once called for leading 45 million people of Great Britain to resist to the end, has now abandoned the motherland and people he said he would fight to the end.

In order to establish a positive image and to rectify the name of the new government, Attlee's cabinet announced the cause of Marshal Pound's death, accusing the U.S. government of using the U.S. military stationed in the UK to stage a coup, detaining members of Congress, and trying to establish Churchill's "dictatorship and lackey" regime, while Churchill In turn, they attacked Attlee for surrendering and betraying his country and handing over the remaining main warships of the Royal Navy to Germany.

Both sides have shit under their butts and are in a state of melee, so that the people can't tell who is right and who is wrong, but there is one point of view that is relatively consistent. After Germany captured Iceland, the British Empire was completely trapped in the North Sea. , the Axis can trap Great Britain to death without fighting, so no one clamors such crazy things as "resist to the end and fight decisively on home soil".

A large number of middle- and upper-class people leave Great Britain every day. Air tickets and ferry tickets are difficult to get and the price is high. The middle class has sold all their belongings and cannot afford an air ticket or ferry ticket. Attlee's cabinet and King Edward VIII expressed concern about the flight of these figures, but Hoffman believed that this wave of flight was not a crisis for the new regime, but an opportunity for the new government - "The people who opposed His Majesty are gone. Those who remain will definitely support His Majesty."

Edward VIII was stunned by this conclusion, but then nodded in agreement. The simplest reason is that there are fewer officials and fewer parliamentarians. These positions need to be replenished, and those who will be filled in are the defenders of the vested interests of the new regime.