Iron Cross

The next day, Hoffman left the three senior generals who were excited about the turn of events and left Berlin directly for the Peenemünde rocket base. This is a small fishing village located in the northeastern part of Germany, facing the Baltic Sea and about 200 kilometers away from Berlin. The location is very secret and it takes about 4 hours to travel by car. Speer traveled in the same car with him as usual, but this time he did not drive the chief adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Fritz Dargos, out of the car.

"It's been a long time since I saw Comrade Bowman traveling with the Führer." Speer suddenly asked, "He used to be inseparable from you."

"Bowman?" Hoffman raised his brows and said with a smile, "He has recently been obsessed with catching spies, and he has endless energy. He reported to me the day before yesterday that following the clues of the Canaris treasonous group, another He caught a conspiracy group composed of former Social Democrats and Christian conservative intellectuals and civil servants, whom he called the Kreisau Group."

"Kreissau?" Speer recalled the name, suddenly reacted and exclaimed, "Isn't this the name of the Moltke family's manor?"

Hoffman nodded: "Yes, the leader is none other than Count Helmut von Moltke. He was originally an international law expert in the Foreign Intelligence Department of the Intelligence Agency. From the family genealogy, he is the grandson of the old Moltke. (Chief of the German General Staff in the Franco-Prussian War) and Moltke (Chief of the German General Staff in the First World War). In addition to him, there are a bunch of people in the so-called Nine Counts (Graf-Neun), all of whom came from the Junker aristocracy. "

"The royal family is also involved?" Speer knew that the head of state had always been very wary of William II, who abdicated in the Netherlands, and his direct descendants.

Hoffman sneered: "That's not true. The old emperor and his two sons are much smarter than the so-called 'young talents' of these ignorant Prussian aristocratic families, and they have avoided them cleverly."

The Ninth Earl is referred to as the 9th "Potsdam" Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht. This regiment was formerly the 1st Guards Infantry Regiment of the Second Empire. It has always been inextricably linked to the royal family and the Junker nobles. After the founding of the Weimar Republic, the 9th Regiment was stationed in Potsdam on the outskirts of Berlin for a long time to perform security duties outside the city. There were a large number of descendants of nobles among the officers. Treskov used this as his team before he went to serve on the Eastern Front. A conspiracy group was secretly formed within the group. Since Treskov had served in the regiment with Schmunt in 1918, he used Schmunt's relationship as the chief aide to the Führer to bring in two of his confidants who were serving in the 9th regiment at the time - reserve major Carl Hans von Count Hardenberg and reserve lieutenant Count von Lehndorff Stenot were placed in Bock's headquarters to serve as his liaison officers and eyeliners, and Major Linstorfer, an important member of the Kreisau Group, was transferred to Bock's headquarters. Arriving at the Ninth Army under Army Group Center. Under his arrangement, Count Fritz Dietlof von der Schulenburg, a member of the Kreisau Group, enlisted in the army and joined the 9th Regiment Supplementary Battalion as a reserve lieutenant. In addition, he had served in the "Nine Counts" "Lieutenant General von Haase, Ludwig, the son of General Hammerstein Eckwold (the general was dismissed in 1939 due to the Red General case) and others, Treskov tried every means to bring them all Transferred to the Eastern Front and established a network within Army Group Center. According to Bowman's tracing and Treskov's account, 19 officers who had served in the 9th Infantry Regiment joined the conspiracy group.

"It's shocking."

"So, do you think that the Junker nobles who resisted the general mobilization system did it for economic reasons? You are wrong. What they seek is far greater than you think." Hoffman said in an appreciative tone, "This kind of thing would not be exchanged for Göring. To do it, he must avoid revealing it - he is instinctively afraid of and humbled by the Junker nobles. Bowman is far more courageous than him, and he has the energy to push it to the end. The more important the person is, the more excited he is. Even poor Schmunt was targeted by him and had to return to Berlin from the Eastern Front to be questioned by the General Security Service - it was only Zeitzler and I who jointly guaranteed that his position was not shaken."

"He really got into trouble by accidentally making friends." Speer now knew why the big shots feared and hated Bowman so much, calling him "the most complete lackey of the Führer" behind his back. He originally thought that Bauman always followed the Führer. I followed closely, but I didn’t expect the reason to be here. Since the conspiracy incident, Bormann's terror index has skyrocketed, and he has a tendency to catch up with Himmler, who has always been eerie and scary.

"I have to say that Bowman seems to be born to do counter-espionage. He has a very good sense of smell. Several heads of the General Security Bureau complimented him in front of me as a natural expert. I asked what the reason was, and what do you think they said?

Not only was Speer curious about this answer, but Lieutenant Colonel Dargos in front also pricked up his ears. Bowman was his old superior.

"The General Security Bureau searched a villa of a Junker noble, but could not find any evidence. Several people were at a loss. As a result, after thinking for a few minutes, Bowman found evidence from under the smelly feeding trough in the stable. He was proud of it. Arguing arrogantly, no one can think of the Junker nobles who think they are hiding in a dirty and unwilling place..."

Everyone who heard it laughed. The Führer just used the word "smell" very well.

Hoffman seemed to be in a good mood: "Let me tell you another joke. One day Bowman came over mysteriously and reported to me that he had installed special drugs in his teeth."

"**?" Speer was surprised.

"Yes. Because he watched the entire process of interrogating prisoners by the General Security Bureau, he said, 'Before watching, I thought I could hold on for 15 minutes based on my imagination. After watching the execution process, I thought it would be difficult to hold on for more than 10 minutes. After a detailed understanding of the relevant scientific principles and personal experience, I felt that even more than 5 minutes was a luxury. He thought that he had made too many enemies, so he decided to do this to prevent accidents. Once he was persecuted by a little person in the future, he could just bite him lightly. Once it’s over, you’ll tell me to pretend too.”

"You?" Speer was startled.

Hoffman waved his hand: "I didn't express approval or disapproval of his behavior. I just asked, 'Comrade Bowman, what should I do if I accidentally fall and knock my tooth after pretending?' Just like the last time I was in Dongfang." He suddenly fell down at the line headquarters. He frowned and thought for a long time but couldn't answer me. The next day he told me that he went to the dentist to have it removed, so if you pay attention in those two days, you can see him. He often covered his mouth with his hands - he was hit by the dentist's drill twice just for the persecution in his mind."

Thinking of Bowman covering his mouth, everyone laughed again.

Taking advantage of the time on the road, Speer, after laughing, made a brief report on military production: After the implementation of the "three-shift" adjustment, the production efficiency has been greatly improved, and the output in the past two weeks has been more than the previous month. At the same time, he told Hoffman that the expedition team to explore tungsten deposits had set off, and earlier that the exploration team to Libya to inspect oil had also set off.

Hoffmann was very satisfied with this. He took out a map and handed it to Speer. This was a map of the distribution of minerals that he had worked out over the past two days. Most of them were located in areas controlled by the Third Reich and its allies. For example, the chromium ore in Albania, the nickel ore in the swamps of Finnish Lapland, the aluminum ore in the Helicon Mountains of Greece, etc., the latter took a quick look and put it away carefully. If all these minerals are true, the resources needed by the Third Reich to maintain the war will basically be available. Originally, the only concern was the labor issue, but now that the head of state has arranged for prisoners of war and Jews, Speer feels very confident about the future.

The Peenemünde base is hidden behind a forest. For safety and confidentiality, the nearby population has long since moved away. Before the convoy arrived at the gate of the base, the base director, Major General Wald Dornberg, and some important scientists were already waiting at the gate to greet them. The Guard troops who had arrived earlier formed a tight security lineup. Hoffmann saw Dr. von Braun, the young Third Reich rocket authority, at a glance among the welcoming crowd. His suit stood out among the crowd of military uniforms around him.

After shaking hands and greetings, a group of people surrounded Hoffman and others and walked towards the launch site of the base. Major General Dornberg seized the time to report: "I heard that the head of state is coming to inspect. We have been working overtime recently and will carry out the inspection as originally planned in October. The launch of the experimental A-4 rocket (the precursor of the V-2 missile) was advanced to today.”

"Very good. It's the first time for me to see this big thing take off with my own eyes." Knowing that this was a project that Braun was directly responsible for, Hoffman asked, "Doctor, are you sure?"

"We're very confident." Braun was confident and pointed to the open space in front of him on the left, "Please look at it, head of state, it's right there."

Following the direction of his finger, Hoffman had already seen a high-erected A-4 rocket. Probably because he was in a hurry, the rocket was not painted, and it shined like an aluminum alloy in the sunlight. Braun said that the rocket had completed the injection of liquid propellant, so he declined the request of Hoffman and others for a close visit on the grounds of safety.