Iron Cross

At 1:55 a.m., when everything was quiet, two uninvited guests floated down from the sky over the British Isles. They were the first group of people from the Thunder Commando to land in England. The commando was originally called the Skorzeny Commando. After Rank joined, Skorzeny wanted to change the name to the Rank Commando. The two of them were humble for a long time and finally agreed to name it the Thunder Commando.

The two parachuted down from the sky almost at the same time. Fortunately, the wind was not strong that night. Otherwise, even if they were blown away a little distance in the air, they would probably be separated by more than ten kilometers when they landed. Randolph first landed on a newly plowed muddy ground. He fell a big somersault on the wet ground and fell hard. After a long while, he let go of the parachute in a daze, climbed out of the muddy flight suit and buried them. He put the revolver in his pocket and looked for maps and flashlights in the package he brought with him, as well as crucial radio accessories.

Almost at the same time as he landed, Schubert landed in a forest. He didn't fall flat on his face like Randolph, but he was hung upside down on a branch by his parachute. It took him a lot of effort to roll down from the tree. The things he carried with him were no different from his companions. He first tried to use a flashlight to light up a blink of light in the thick night, and then determined his approximate location. He called out in his heart: Great Britain, here I come!

Randolph and Schubert's tasks were clear: first to meet up to complete the preliminary survey and then call the country, and then the two of them designed a reasonable route and method to meet the main force of the commando landing. After some twists and turns and searching, after repeatedly pretending to be birds and other animals to communicate with each other, the two finally met at dawn and quickly found a place to live. They first needed to assemble the radio to report the successful landing to the country, and then they had two days to complete all the work and finally ensure that the plan was effectively implemented.

Randolph and Schubert's infiltration actually happened at a good time. If they had landed at night when the war had just begun and the British Isles were facing a massive German landing, they might have encountered endless patrols. At that time, the nerves of British anti-espionage were much more tense than they are now. The records and reports of police stations in various places showed that German spies were everywhere and elusive. The summary of the influx of situations almost drove people crazy: there were strange people, flashing lights at night, burning haystacks, suspicious neighbors heard strange knocking sounds on the wall, and energetic amateurs reported that they saw a person with a German neck. William Powell, who was once the head of the British Boy Scouts, insisted that he could determine that a person was a German spy by the way he walked.

In 1940, when Germany was in full swing in its invasion of Britain, such suspicions and endless reports made the police and gendarmes scramble to deal with them, involving a lot of energy, manpower and material resources. But by 1941 and even 1942, the exhausted police station no longer paid much attention to such clichés, and the public seemed to have lost interest in catching spies, because 99.999% of the situations they saw and reported were basically false after verification. Although the system of night patrols was still retained, it was just a routine at best. The British generally believed that the threat from the Germans had passed, and now it should be the German side that was worried about the infiltration of British spies.

This reason is clear with a toe: it is not easy to train a spy, how could the Germans throw spies here casually like throwing cabbages? Moreover, since the British used super secret codes to crack the German codes, MI5 has become more confident in counter-espionage. Anyone who infiltrates the British Isles will use telegrams in advance to notify the contact personnel who have been lurking in the UK before the war, and they only need to wait and see at the designated location. They did not expect that the Tianlei Commando would risk direct infiltration alone without contact with the spies lurking in the UK, and they did not expect that their German counterparts would use completely different radio codes - not the Enigma code system that has been encrypted layer by layer, but ordinary civilian code-level telegrams, which are almost the same as plain text, and the frequency is also fixed Commercial frequency, and only sent during daytime working hours. This abnormal mode of thinking easily deceived the monitors, who ignored it as a normal telegram exchange between the UK and the European continent.

After hard work, Randolph and Schubert designed a reasonable route according to the original plan earlier than planned, and then sent a telegram to the country to inform them, and the answer was only two simple words: received!

At nightfall on September 30, a navy submarine loaded with the Sky Mine Commando slowly sailed out of the U-boat secret cave near the Belgian coast. They would spend nearly 20 hours at sea and then arrive at the nearest place to Clacton-on-Sea on the east coast of England at night the next day. Crossing the English Channel during wartime was almost an impossible task, so the commandos chose a very cautious approach: they would stay afloat all the way when leaving the European continent, then dive after entering the dangerous area, and finally float and release personnel when approaching the British coast.

This is a special submarine transformed from a Type XIV supply submarine. It has a surface displacement of 1,695 tons and an underwater displacement of 1,963 tons. It is the largest submarine in General Dönitz's Seawolf force. It is not equipped with torpedoes and deck guns, and is only equipped with a small number of anti-aircraft cannons. When acting as a submarine cow, it can carry 400 tons of fuel, 4 torpedoes and fresh food. It also has a bakery to make fresh bread for the supply boats. The specially modified submarine is enough to transport a team of about 50 people. The submarine is filled with equipment and supplies needed by the commandos. The most important thing is the 8 sets of positioning devices. Only these can allow the aircraft to carry out a successful operation. bombing.

"Sir, we have received a telegram from the Pathfinders before departure. Not only did they successfully land, but they also found a relatively secluded resting point. They have completed the field survey according to the plan and are ready to respond." In the noise of the submarine In a complex environment, Skorzeny had to raise his voice to speak.

"Is there any possibility of their failure?"

"Normally not, and even if they fail, we still have to land to complete the mission. At most, we will take a little more risk."

"I believe in their luck and ability, we will definitely be able to complete this task." Rank nodded and then asked, "How to arrange the follow-up actions?"

"On the first night, we took a kayak to escape from the submarine, and then successfully landed with the help of Pathfinder; we will use the darkness to obtain enough transportation and quickly advance to the destination. In the following daylight hours..." Skorzeny pointed to the map and said, "It takes about 200 kilometers from the landing port to the target location. We need to play the role of British troops and quickly cross. Since this stretch is the core area of ​​​​the United Kingdom, we must not travel during the journey. Show the truth, otherwise we will be completely ruined..."

"Don't worry, I have lived in Cambridgeshire for a long time. I am familiar with this place. I will take you to your destination safely."

"That's good." Skorzeny continued, "After arriving at the destination, our task is to control the situation and start installing the positioning device. There should not be too much movement during this process, especially not to attract the attention of the target group. If They evacuate or call the police, even if we carry out bombing, it will not help."

"I understand." Rank asked, "Where is the retreat path?"

"We cannot return the same way we came. We must retreat to the northeast overnight, and the submarine will meet us there. During the day when we rush to the combat destination, he will conduct a deep dive and find a place to lurk - this boat can submerge at most To more than 200 meters, as long as he doesn’t make a sound or try to attack the enemy, the enemy will generally not be able to find him,” Skorzeny explained, “But we don’t go back immediately after getting on the submarine, we need to go in other directions first. Make a roundabout way to avoid being intercepted by the British."

"You have thought it through very well, so let's do it."

As Skorzeny said, Clacton-on-Sea was just the initial landing point for the Thunder Commandos. Their ultimate goal was Bletchley Manor, a mansion in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, central England. ) Manor in the town of Bletchley, which contains an ancient building that combines Victorian Gothic, Tudor and Dutch Baroque styles. The entire manor covers an area of ​​235 hectares. After the death of the original owners Sir Lyon and Sir Lady Lyon, the manor was prepared to be sold to developers for real estate construction. But the head of British MI6, Admiral Sir Hugh Sinclair, who was the former Director of Naval Intelligence, fell in love with this place. After lobbying the government to no avail, he spent 7,500 pounds out of his own pocket. Bought the entire estate.

The manor is located along the Varsity-Line, a train line connecting the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. Not far from the manor is Bletchley Railway Station. Mathematics and cryptography experts from the two universities can easily pass through. Trains arrive here to carry out work. At the same time, nearby communications and road transportation are relatively convenient, which was Sir Sinclair's main consideration when purchasing this place.

On August 15, 1939, the British Cryptozoological School founded by Sir Sinclair was the first to move here. The Admiralty, Military and Air Force departments of the school all occupied the ground floor, while the top floor was occupied by MI6. A telecommunications department, teletype machine room, kitchen and dining room were also set up in the fast manor for the use of all employees. In the early days when these institutions moved into the manor, because the pre-conceived cluster of wooden cabins similar to a resort had not yet been built, the staff were forced to live in the stables and nearby farmhouses. Later, the cabins were built one after another. Later, the level of residential congestion improved.