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Since no one has found out what the connection is:

It's were they shot the 'Bladen Safe House' Scenes in "The Living Daylights". :D
 
Chapter 235




The Avro York that the SOE used as the institutional runaround had been waiting for them at an airfield east of Tripoli. It was far more spacious than the late Blenheim, considering it was based on a Lancaster. The take-off had been at night and the aircraft had been well away by dawn. Ian had left Felix behind at the station and was now escorting the defectors back to Britain. He knew that they were probably much less valuable to the Allies than they themselves thought, given that Bletchley was already providing a lot of Intelligence – but at the very least Canaris would be able to name any German sources that MI5 might have missed and what the Abwehr was up to that was never communicated via Enigma. Ian was not going to do the debriefing, he left that to experts from the SIS, but it was an opportunity visit a certain backery in London, and that was what he was going to do come hell or high water. When they crossed the British coast Ian looked out of a window, and he could see constant flashes from bombs and anti-aircraft fire from the direction of Portsmouth, so evidently the enemy still hadn't given up the 'baby blitz' against the southern ports that was more annoying than damaging considering the abundance of RDF equipped Night Fighters and anti-air Artillery that was ringed around those strategic locations.

Avro_York_SOE.png

The SOE Avro York 'Black Shadow' over the Bay of Biscay, photographed from an escorting Mosquito​

Flying in at night was a risky business at best, but Ian had overruled the RAF Officer in command of the plane on the grounds that secrecy was essential, it was bad enough that they had to refuel at a French Airfield outside Casablanca. The York was inbound for a small airfield in Buckinghamshire that was during the day used as a dispersal location for Bomber Command. Not only was this close to the location where the debriefing would be conducted but it was also convenient because the arrival of big, multi-engined aircraft in the middle of the night was something that happened regularly there. It was almost dawn already when the plane touched down at it's final destination, and Ian was the first off the plane. He knew that he was most likely not here for more than a few days at best, but being back in Blighty was always nice. Ian simply liked this damp, foggy little Island to bits.

Canaris and Oster were hustled into a car so that no one saw their German uniforms, with their baggage being loaded onto a lorry. Ian was aware where they were going, even though he hadn't been there yet. It was a manor in the countryside a few dozen miles from the base, and it would take the better part of two hours to get there. Stonor House had been in the possession of a Catholic Family up until recently when it had been taken over first by the Ministry of Defence as a recuperation home for wounded Officers and later by the SOE as a safehouse where turned agents and high-value Prisoners of war were interrogated before they moved on. Situated in the Chiltern Hills it was far enough off from everything to be perfect in that regard, the villagers were studiously unaware of what was going on at the mansion.


When the cars reached the perimeter of the property, they were stopped by RMP men, and the vehicles were searched. When they reached the front entrance and stepped out to get inside, Ian was relieved of his weapon as standard operating procedure.

Once inside, he excused himself and asked for the way to the communications room.

blah.jpg

The safehouse
The comms room was a room crammed full with Telephones and wireless sets and manned by a Lieutenant and several NCOs from the Royal Corps of Signals. The Lieutenant saluted and Ian asked for a secure line to London. He was lead into a small cupboard and closed the door.

“London 679 please.”

The number was a cover contact number for the SOE.

“The boss please.” were his next words.

“You have delivered the defectors to the safehouse?”

“Yes, Sir. I wonder if you had any orders for me.”

Ian could almost see Mountbatten smiling in that instant.

“I promise you can visit your family before you go back to Italy, but for the moment we want you to represent the Special Operations Executive at the debriefing.”


Great, that was just what he wanted (NOT). Sitting here with the boffins and the pipe smoking people from five and six, while his wife and his son didn't even know that he was in the country.

“Am I that obvious, Admiral?” he asked, knowing that it was useless to discuss anything with Mountbatten over the phone.

“No, but I'd be the same.”

Mountbatten paused.

“I want you there because you probably know them best, and because at the moment you are the only ULTRA cleared SOE officer on hand. I need you there to verify that they are not lying to us. These buggers could have the cheek to lie to us to keep their head if they decided to go back.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Mountbatten sighed and then Ian could hear someone come into the Admiral's Office.

“The deputy MinDef just arrived, so I must end this call. Do your best, Captain.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Ian bit back the sigh and turned back from a family man into a Naval Officer.

“Anything specific we want to know, Sir?”

Shuffling of papers and a hushed conversation could be heard.

“Let me see.....” more shuffling “Ah yes, yes. We'd like you to find out how much, if anything the Germans know about the Countryside manor,” meaning Bletchley Park and ULTRA “and of course without them finding out that it exists if they don't. You think you can do that, Captain Fleming?”

“I will find that out for you, Sir. Anything else? That RCS bloke outside is getting rather annoyed.”

“Oh yes. Try to avoid telling them about ULTRA.”

With that Mountbatten hung up and Ian then stepped out of the cupboard.

He ignored the pointed glance from the lower ranked Officer and decided to join the group of SIS Officers and defectors in the drawing room. When he opened the door he stopped for a moment to take in the utter surreality of the situation. The former headn of the German Military Intelligence Service was sitting in the chair in the drawing room of an English Country House, smoking Cigarettes made with Tabacco from India or Persia, wearing his parade Uniform as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

“Glad you could join us, Captain.”

“Glad I could come, Sir.”

The man who had spoken was M, the head of MI6 and Ian's old boss.

“Now that we're all here, perhaps we can begin.”

M took a sip from a cup of tea in front of him.

“Now, firstly, C has told me to tell you that he will be delayed, apparently London has something to say to him before he comes here.”

“That will not be a problem, Maxwell.” Canaris said.

Ian raised both his eyebrows at this familiarity between the two, not knowing that they had met before the war, both coming from Naval Intelligence.

“Now, since you are a guest here, would you like to begin, Captain Fleming?”

Ian nodded and quickly scolded himself for almost asking a question that could easily wait until much later.

“I've been told that you have been rather high inside a group of dissenting German Officers, is that true?”

Canaris nodded.

“It is, Captain. And before you ask, it was the main reason why Hans and I decided to defect even during a war. You see, we formed the Kreisau Circle, and unfortunately we weren't as good at concealing our efforts as we thought.”


“We as in.....” said M, clearly intent on coaxing a list out of his prize.

For the next five minutes Canaris had to be persuaded to do so, but in the end he dictated a list. Even though an MI6 man was acting as secretary, he was taking his own notes, and more than once he had to force himself to go on because the list was reading like a who's who of the lower and mid-level leadership of the Wehrmacht. It were fewer than he had expected and it reinforced his belief that short of the Union Flag flying over Berlin nothing would happen, but it was nice to know which Officers were reasonable and could be talked to if need be. The last on the list was the most surprising to Ian.

“Him?” he asked.

“Oh yes. The Feldmarschall is probably the least likely candidate and not active, but it was his patronage that allowed us to escape from France.”


“Oh really?”

Canaris nodded.

“Yes. We flew south under the guise of an unannounced inspection of Abwehr Operations at his Headquarters, and and he was even the one who told the Reichssicherheitshauptamt that we where here, so that his own head was saved, and that on my express wish.”

Among the names of those that knew or at least were suspected of being sympathetic were also illustrious names such as that of one of Germany's top scoring Panzer Aces and several Officers from what remained of the KM, in fact the latter were among the largest group. When Ian asked about this, Canaris replied:

“That's due to your colleagues that fly from your Carriers. The Kriegsmarine has fallen from favour, and being defeated even in port time and again without appropriate means to fight back...”

“Then why was the Luftwaffe reaction to these attacks so feeble? The Admiral in charge expected to be jumped by a cloud of Stukas at every corner.”

This time Oster was the one to reply in his former position as Canaris' Right hand man with the Armed Forces.

“That was a mix of your Air Forces tying down most of our bomber Force in Italy and due to the Corporal wanting to attack Eng...Britain.”

He paused.

“You see, the Fettsack in charge of the Luftwaffe was unwilling to even try and convince the Corporal to let up the attacks against this Island. I'm no flyer myself, but I've written more than one estimation of your Air defences, and they are very strong, even without my usual exaggeration.”

Ian smiled and then promised to forward this praise to Fighter Command.

“Something else that I want to give you is in this box.” Canaris said.

For the next hours the interrogation turned to everything from diplomatic codes to ongoing operations and more than once Ian asked for a small recess to telephone to London.


“It's...thought to have been destroyed during one of your carrier raids, and records at Wilhelmshafen, written by one of Göring's people to boot will show that it was.”

Ian knew what it was even before Canaris opened the lid and everyone else in the room who was ULTRA cleared knew too. Not wanting to reveal that particular programme just yet, having been allowed to at least make the Admiral aware of it if it couldn't be helped, no one said anything.

“This, Gentlemen, is the backbone of German military and Government Communications, the encryption/decryption machine we call Enigma.”

Bletchley_Park_Naval_Enigma_IMG_360.jpg

The machine at the Government Cryptography and Communications museum Wing of the IWM after the war.

He went on to explain the basics of the machine to the assembled British who already knew the machine better than he did.

“There are two main variants, the Army version with three rotors, the Navy version with four. There is one variant with eight, but that's not used by us. With that you will perhaps be able to read much of ou---their mail.”

Ian couldn't help himself and looked over at the head of MI5. Receiving just a grinning nod in return Ian said:

“We know that. In fact, we have been doing so since before the war. You see, the Polish Cypher Bureau cracked the Army version of the Enigma back in 1938, and when Warsaw fell, they came here. Since then we've also broken the Naval Enigma, twice in fact if you count the time they changed the Navy Weather Code after the Battle of Kristianssand. There's a delay of a day or two in that, but we probably know better where the U-Boats are than anyone outside the U-Boat Headquarters in Brest. It's not that we're not grateful for the four rotor version, it should ease the situation the boffins are in somewhat.”

Another affirmative nod came when Ian silently asked if he should go on.

“We knew when you were going to sortie the fleet, we knew that Sicily had been stripped of most defences, we knew of your losses in the Battle of Britain and of your change in tactics before your field commanders.”

Seeing the flabergasted expression on Canaris' face, he wished for a photograph Camera, for the man looked like someone whose entire worldview had just collapsed.

“And as a result of you knowing that we will make sure that you can't leave Britain again until we want you to. If you refuse to abide by the Official Secrets Act, we will treat you as high-value PoWs and send you to the Isle of Man into a solitary room for the remainder of the war. Welcome to the services of the British Empire.”

It was good to be British.



[Notes: It's probably unrealistic to tell them at all about ULTRA, but I couldn't resist writing that scene.]
 
Seeing the flabergasted expression on Canaris' face, he wished for a photograph Camera, for the man looked like someone whose entire worldview had just collapsed.

Me too. :D

Are we to bet who the Fox... erm... the Feldmarschall is?
 
Classy last scene, something the rule of cool demanded happen even if it would be a really bad idea in real life. :D
 
Agreed, very cool, very fun, and great story-telling!
 
Kurt_Steiner Well, it's quite obvious, innit? ;) (Have been watching Carry on up the Khyber as research for the next update.)

El Pip Rule of Cool was indeed the main reason. I just couldn't help myself.


Le Jones Thanks!




Update coming now!
 
Chapter 236

The things happening in Switzerland and Rome hadn't had any influence on the war itself. Both sides were still licking their wounds and bringing up reinforcements. The impact on events in the far east was more measurable.

For one CinC Far East released the North-West Frontier Force from it's defensive stance and reinforced them with three additional Regiment of Gurkha Mountain Troops, bringing up Montgomery's Command to six Divisions. More were going to come, mainly because the Nepalese Government feared the Communists even more than the Japanese and had declared war on the Soviet Union recently. As a result two Nepalese Infantry Divisions were going to join the North-West Frontier Force in a few days, and even with their obsolescent equipment these men where fine troops and would be very welcomed.

gurk_training_Indien.jpg

Soldier of the 2nd Nepalese Infantry Division

Montgomery had been given very specific orders by Field Marshal Auchinleck[1], he was to move from his defensive positions, cross the Chinese border and seize better defensive territory that would allow him to keep the passes and few roads in the area in British hands thus sealing the entrances to India. There was a chance that the Soviets might try and go through Afghanistan or the Japanese through Tibet, but the Soviets were well aware of the track records that Invasions of Afghanistan had and couldn't afford to spend half their time burning villages to keep their supply lines reasonably open, and the Japanese also know that there were not few roads into Tibet from the south, there were simply none at all. That this favoured the defence greatly was nothing new but couldn't be helped. Montgomery had prepared for this day a long time which is why he was able to get moving within hours of getting the orders and soon British forces began to climb up the tracks and 'roads' even deeper into the mountains from their bases in Kashmir, later to be one of India's most prosperous regions due to tourism and skiing. In 1942 however the soldiers took over. Montgomery was aware that he would have to use most of his men to bring supplies up to the passes to keep the defenders in trim, in all no more than two or three Divisions would actually defend the passes. Over the past weeks and months of semi-permanent Exile the General had read up on Mountainwarfare in Europe during World War One and elsewhere, and he knew that it could be dastardly bad. Because of that he was sending his best, most experienced and acclimatised forces to defend the mountains that surrounded the passes. A front stretching from Afghanistan to Tibet was most likely not possible and unpracticable anyway so outflanking was not an issue, no the main issue were the passes.

Supplies were always going to be an issue. Someone had suggested to use aircraft to help supply the forward troops, but when that idea had been floated at Headquarters, it had been dismissed because whatever freight aircraft there were had to be used for either the Singapore express or for the front in Burma. Building a railway would take years, but Montgomery had at least set the Royal Engineers to work improving the road networks that lead to his Headquarters in Peshawar and from there up to the border towns and villages where most of his units had been stationed. The year since they had started doing so had done a lot, not only had it created goodwill with the still fiercely independent locals, but it had also helped the European troops acclimatise whilst they were digging. The main road was now even partially paved and could easily take the traffic needed. It was a stretch, but in the absence of enough aircraft to take up the slack there was little he could do.

Tirah-11.jpg

In the mountains above the border and a few miles into China 2nd Company, 4th Battalion, South Essex Light Infantry was trying to digg defensive positions a two and a half miles on the Chinese side of the Khunjerab Pass. Trying was the operative word, because even at this time of the year digging was hard work. Captain Lawford, Commanding Officer of the Company would have liked using explosives to do the work, but the only explosives the unit had where the mines, and these were needed to keep the road closed. Building defensive positions here was a challenge considering the total absence of wood or any other vegetation beyond grass. It was a relatively good road that ran through the pass, and because of that the Battalion and thus by extension the Company was probably the best supported one of those that formed the forward defensive barrier. True, it was light on artillery but it did have two 6pdr anti-tank guns and an ample supply of HE shells for use against the soft targets that where expected. Lawford had decided that protecting these guns was of prime importance so he had bunkers hacked out of the mountain for them. At the moment he was standing on top of one of them and looking through his binoculars down the road. He could see some movement in the distance. There was little wildlife, but it could only be some animal...did not carry rifles nor mortar parts. They were clearly Japanese, though at least an hour's worth climbing away. He climbed down and sprinted over to his command post that overlooked the road as it wound down deeper into China. For the moment it consisted only of a barely heated tent and a shallow cave that he was going to have enlarged once the forward defensive positions where done.

“How are these machine gun positions coming along, Sergeant?” he asked when he came past

Sergeant Windrige, the most senior NCO in the Company, turned, saluted and replied:

“The last two Vickers are in position Sir, and the two .50s will be in a couple of minutes.”

That the Company had the two Brownings was something of a lucky break. The factory in Karachi that made them for issue to the troops in the Pacific was still very new, having opened only the year before and even so production was slow, less than twenty a month. Of those most went to help re-equipping the Dutch Forces and some of the Australians, but these two had somehow found their way to the Company. Lawford didn't know and knew better than to ask, all he knew that one morning a lorry with the guns and several thousand rounds of ammunition had been standing in the courtyard of their previous quarters, the men busy unloading them. But then again, Windrige had been born in Glasgow, so his ability to lay his hands on new, shiny and unofficial kit shouldn't surprise.

Since then they had concentrated on enlarging their ammunition stockpile, that too something Lawford was happy he didn't know too much about. His second in Command had once asked the Sergeant and then simply told the Captain that he wished he hadn't, but as long as no Redcaps appeared and demanded the kit back he wouldn't complain. Light Infantry had fewer medium and heavy machine guns to begin with even when serving in Europe, and it was even worth with the North-West Frontier force, the Battalion had been forced to give up all but eight of it's Vickers; at least they had kept all the Brens since those were the belt-fed variants who were worth their weight in gold in an environment where supplies where the supreme issue that faced the troops.

“Carry on Sergeant.”

“Yessir.”

He turned left up the hastily constructed footpath to the CP that would be very treachery in winter and entered the tent. At the back two soldiers were hacking away at the lengthening tunnel while two more draped additional camouflage netting over it. The RS blokes were setting up their sets and his second in command, a fresh and incredibly young Lieutenant named Watson, writing a report of some sort. Lawford saw that he had a book lying on the table with the back up, and as he stepped up he could see it was something by Kypling.

“We have incoming Nips, an hour or two out at best.”

“I thought we'd be able to see them climbing up. Should I stand the men to?”

“Not yet, Lieutenant. We need those Brownings in position first, and anyway we should try and get the men fed first.”

“What passes for food.”

The kitchen consisted of a field kitchen a couple hundred yards down the road towards India and again under a tent.

“We need to find a more permanent solution for that. At least the Tea is assured.”

“Indeed, first things first after all.”

The beehive of activity came to a sudden halt ninety-three minutes later when Lawford decided it was best to stand the men to. The troops entered the trenches and trained their No.4s, Brens, Vickers and Brownings down the road, ready to give the Japanese or Chinese a reception they wouldn't forget.

From the area in front of the CP tent Lawford had an excellent view of the situation and could see the German-style coalscuttle helmets.

“Chinese Mountain Troops I believe.”

“Sir?”

“Back in the 30s the Germans trained a couple of Chinese Divisions to German tactics and sold old Chiang some kit, including these helmets. Before the Nips tossed out our ambassador in 1941, Intelligence believe that they were using those units to form the core for the Chinese Mountain Divisions.”

“I see.”

It were indeed Chinese Mountain troops, and they had the same orders as Montgomery had gotten on the day the news about the invasion had reached him. That they were moving only now was due to the larger lagg in communications between the Provincial Military Headquarters in Dihua[2] and the fact that the first warning of the Invasion had been the Invasion itself. Back here the density of Japanese troops mixed with their Chinese...friends was less than zero, the next Japanese Officer was an unlucky bastard who had been stationed at PMH as a liaison but whose real job was supervision.

They were well-equipped as far as Asiatic Pact Armies went and most of them were more or less locally recruited and thus knew just how much the land could give. They had the best mountain gear that could be had and were rather confident about themselves and loyal to the Government in Beijing, unlike many of the underpaid, underfed and undermotivated men that made up the Infantry Divisions that formed the bulk of the Chinese Army. Confident in victory and not accustomed to defeat it would be a rude surprise to them when they ran into the British position.

In the CP Lawford hat put on the Australian Slouch Hat that he had somehow found himself with after waking up the day after a 'small gathering' in the Officer's Mess of an Australian Regiment shortly before the Battalion had been moved from North Africa to India.

“They're within range of the mortar section now, Captain.”

“Hold your fire.”


Lawford wanted to wait until even the Brens could easily reach the enemy and so the men waited behind their weapons. The Chinese advanced in road march formation and not spread out in any way. He wished for one of the heavier mortars the Army used in Europe that could fire anti-Infantry rounds that would slaughter the Chinese.

“Closer...closer...closer...”

He picked up the phone.

“Fire at will.”

The .50s and Vickers guns fired and immediately cut down the entire first row of Chinese soldiers. Before the echo of these first shots had faded, the Brens and the Mortars entered the fray and so shells began to explode among the tightly packed Chinese. The explosions themselves inflicted casualties, but the stone fragments flying about as a result inflicted a terrible carnage and soon the survivors withdrew to a safe distance.

“You think they've had enough, Sir?” asked Watson.

“Depends. If their commander is any good they'll try to get some support before they try again.”


As it turned out the Chinese had a good commander, because they pulled back. Whatever happened next, they would be back and with more men, guns and resolve.

The theatre however had two more battlefronts. Up north the Soviets were found it surprisingly hard going against the heavily entrenched and determined Japanese who had concentrated most of their Armour up north, and even though early model T-34s ripped them apart whenever they stood up in open battle, it was enough to slow the Russian advance to even more of a crawl than it would have been. Almost immediately Japanese Commanders began to scream for Anti-Tank Weapons, but for the moment the Japanese only had what was dubbed the poor man's anti-tank gun. Molotov Cocktails were made from fluids extracted from the Manchurian Oil Wells that had been discovered by accident in 1941, mere weeks after a war had begun to secure other sources. It was far from the best quality crude, but it was close to Japan and now the Japanese Army, aided by their Manchurian Allies fought hard and to the death.

The Pact had almost a Million men in Manchuria by the 12th of June, and more were arriving. The Soviets, like the Japanese before them, had underestimated the Chinese ability to quickly raise large numbers of peasant Infantry. True, many of these were barely trained and poorly armed, but Chinese factories, restored by the Japanese for their own exploitation where churning out light Infantry weapons by the hundreds of thousands, and soon the Soviet Soldiers in the Far East hated the bang of the Japanese-designed Rifles as much as their comrades in the west hated that of the Lee-Enfield.



[Notes: I'll try to get another one out in the next two days.]




[1]Front Commanders are Field Marshals (i.e. Cinc European Front or CinC Far East), Theatre and Army Commanders are full Generals, Corps Commanders are Lt. Generals, Division Commanders Major Generals.

[2] Known as Ürümqi or Ürümchi OTL since the founding of the PRC.
 
Some Hurribombers with napalm bombs would make wonders with the compact Chineses formations, methinks...:D
 
In the mountains above the border and a few miles into China 2nd Company, 4th Battalion, South Essex Light Infantry was trying to digg defensive positions a two and a half miles on the Chinese side of the Khunjerab Pass. Trying was the operative word, because even at this time of the year digging was hard work. Captain Lawford, Commanding Officer of the Company would have liked using explosives to do the work, but the only explosives the unit had where the mines, and these were needed to keep the road closed.

The South Essex? Captain Lawford? Is the battalion CO called Simmerson perchance? :D

I may incur the ire of others here, but you do not have to be so prescriptive with your rank requirements (eg Field Marshals for fronts etc). Above Corps level we weren't so organised and I worry that you're restricting yourself.
 
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Chinese overwhelm with strength of numbers? Or .50 cals tearing great big chunks out of the advancing Chinese?

I'll vote the 2nd :D
 
Kurt_Steiner Alas, they are all needed in Burma. More on that later.

Le Jones Simmerson? Dunno, but there is an Officer named Lennox who once served with the South Essex Light Infantry until nearly loosing a leg and who is now the Infantry/Close Combat instructor for the SOE. And btw, you know how hard I have to restrain myself not to use one R. Sharpe whenever I need a competent Junior Officer? Even so, I he strikes me as someone who'd serve with the Gurkhas, but since he'd be a Late Entry, he would probably serve either with one of the Rifle Regiments/Paras in Europe, the BIA or the Indian Army. Mind you, if I do bring him in it'll be something special. Of course Tea Time will always be paramount.

As for the ranks, I do that as much to remind myself (seeing that it is easier to remember what rank any given Officer is without sifting through my notes) as to show that the British Army is becoming ever more professional and task oriented as the war progresses.


Raaritsgozilla
In Mountain Combat the defender has an immense advantage, inner lines, tactical surprise (if he is at least somewhat smart) and morale. Unless the Pacties act fast or send half the Chinese Army, the Brits will stay put and get stronger every day, because soon you'll see Indians manhandling 25pdrs up the road.
 
You know I think the South Essex could probably die of old age in those positions, particularly with the 25pdrs and a smattering of extra heavy weapons.

That said I could do with never hearing about them again as long as we get to see some napalm Hurribomber action. So please to Burma and those magnificent men in their flying machines!
 
True enough, but that's the idea (not them dying of old age that is) of taking these positions, maximum defensive value for a minimum of troops.

THe Hurrybombers will feature in the next update, but in taht one a prominent Canadian will also feature.
 
Bad news. During saving the document to a backup location, the document was currupted because Open Office decided to crash then and there. Thus the entire update and the document was lost. I will try to re-write at least some of it before I go on Exam Hiatus, but don't hold your breath. For my Canadian readers, the scene I promised you is still on but delayed, because right now I dont feel like writing all of it again. Instead it's the Pacific again. Sorry.
 
That calls for a ritual sacrifice as the Gods are quite angered!

Let's burn a French!!!!


:D:D:D:D
 
That calls for a ritual sacrifice as the Gods are quite angered!

Let's burn a French!!!!


:D:D:D:D

I ran out yesterday. :(

Guys

Admittedly, despite his name Kurt seems to be Catalan based but you do realise what comments like this do to stereotypes about Germans. ;)

Wouldn't it be better, especially in a fairly public forum to keep national insults out of it? I know there were a lot of smilies there but why do it in the 1st place?

In terms of the two chapters that came up while I was on hols

a) Why would Canaris and Oster still be warning German uniforms heading into this meeting. If we want to keep their presence as secret as possibly then get them into civvies ASAP. I agree that in reality Ian would never expose the secret of Ultra like that. Bound to be gossip amongst the defectors and that could easily spread.

b) On the Tibetan front, given their suddenly been hit by a massive Soviet invasion why are the Japanese/Chinese trying to throw out the small British intrusion into Tibet? Or is it a local initiative?

Steve
 
Guys

Admittedly, despite his name Kurt seems to be Catalan based but you do realise what comments like this do to stereotypes about Germans. ;)

Wouldn't it be better, especially in a fairly public forum to keep national insults out of it? I know there were a lot of smilies there but why do it in the 1st place?

As all folks here know me, specially our French brethern, I like to tease about everything, and, from time to time, about France -hey, after all, Catalonia has also a long history of "friendship" with France, too-, with no offensive intention on my part, as we can see Atlantic Friend's answer. After all, I've read worse things about French from some Britons here :D

Anyway, if that disturbs you, I'll stop my jokes about France.

Sorry, Enewald, that only leaves Finland as good topic for me. :D:D:D:D