JUPITER, UNKNOWN TO AFHQ AND AGAINST IKE’S WISHES, HAS BEEN IN SICILY ALMOST 24 HOURS. HIS MISSION: (A) LOCATE AND RESCUE MAXIMUS AND OPTIMUS (B) LOCATE AND DESTROY ANY NEW TABUN MUNITIONS (C) DETERMINE VALIDITY OF REPORTS OF UPWARD OF HALF-MILLION ENEMY TROOPERS. AND NOW, IN RECEIPT OF MY MESSAGE TODAY, (D) LOCATE AND BE PREPARED TO ELIMINATE SS-OBERSTURMBANNFUHRER OSKAR KAPPLER SOONEST BUT BY 7 JUNE.
LT COL J WARREN OWEN -- KNOWING NONE, REPEAT NONE, OF THE ABOVE -- TODAY INFORMED ME THAT AFHQ BEGINS SOFT BOMBING OF SICILY ON 17 JUNE, AFTER DIVERSIONARY SOFT BOMBING OF SARDINIA, CORSICA, AND PORT OF NAPLES ON 7 JUNE.
LASTLY, AN INTERESTING PIECE FOR OUR PUZZLE. AS A WAY TO KEEP OSS BUSY -- AND PRESUMABLY THE HELL OUT OF AFHQ’S WAY -- LT COL OWEN HAS BEEN SENDING GERMAN AND ITALIAN GENERAL OFFICERS TAKEN POW IN TUNISIA TO BE INTERROGATED BY US AT OSS DELLYS.
OUR CHIEF INTERROGATOR IS CAPT JIMBO LINDER, A NORTH CAROLINIAN FLUENT IN GERMAN WHO WAS SCHOOLED IN SWITZERLAND AND UPON GRADUATION RETURNED TO STATES AND JOINED NAVY. LINDER, AS SHARP AS THEY COME, MISSES NOTHING.
IN THE COURSE OF INTERVIEWING AFRIKA KORPS MAJ GEN HELMUT VON ECKARDT, OF THE 5TH PANZER ARMY, LINDER THOUGHT THAT HE WOULD BE CORDIAL TO THE GENERAL AND CASUALLY MENTIONED THAT CONDITIONS FOR VON ECKARDT SOON WOULD IMPROVE WHEN HE WOULD BE SENT TO BE INTERRED IN LONDON.
LIND
ER SAID VON ECKARDT DAMN NEAR CAME UNGLUED. HE TRIED -- AND MISERABLY FAILED -- TO CONCEAL DEEP CONCERN ABOUT THE TRANSFER. VON ECKARDT ANNOUNCED THAT HE WAS QUITE CONTENT WITH REMAINING IN DELLYS UNTIL WAR’S END, WHICH HE SUGGESTED WOULD COME SOON ENOUGH. WHEN LINDER ATTEMPTED TO FIND A REASON, VON ECKARDT GAVE UP NO CLUE.
LINDER KNEW THAT HE SMELLED A RAT, THAT IT WAS EVIDENT VON ECKARDT FEARED SOMETHING SIGNIFICANT. WHILE THE VILLA THAT VON ECKARDT SHARES WITH TWO OTHER OFFICERS, ONE GERMAN AND ONE ITALIAN, IS AS NICE AS ANY QUARTERS IN DELLYS, ALMOST ANYTHING IN LONDON WOULD BE A VAST IMPROVEMENT.
THE VILLA IS WIRED, AND WE MADE CERTAIN THAT COGNAC AND SCHNAPPS WERE IN AMPLE SUPPLY.
THE NEXT NIGHT, AFTER LINDER’S INTERROGATION OF AFRIKA KORPS COL LUDWIG MULLER, MULLER AND VON ECKARDT WERE HAVING AFTER-DINNER DRINKS. MULLER ANNOUNCED THAT HE WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO BEING TRANSFERRED TO LONDON. THEIR LOUD ANIMATED CONVERSATION THAT FOLLOWED, FUELED BY THE ALCOHOL, WAS CLEARLY RECORDED BY OUR LISTENING DEVICES.
VON ECKARDT TOLD MULLER THAT THEY QUOTE DON’T WANT TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR LONDON WHEN WERNHER VON BRAUN’S VERGELTUNGSWAFFE BEGIN FALLING UNQUOTE.
VON ECKARDT DESCRIBED THE V-1 AND V-2 AERIAL TORPEDOES AS BEING ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP, AND COMPLETELY DEVASTATING, SUCCEEDING WHERE THE BLITZ ON LONDON HAD FAILED. VON ECKARDT WENT SO FAR AS TO SAY TO MULLER THAT HE WOULD TAKE HIS OWN LIFE BEFORE BEING SENT TO LONDON.
LINDER IS NOW WORKING ON A METHOD TO FIND OUT WHAT EXACTLY VON ECKARDT KNOWS ABOUT BOMBS, INCLUDING CURRENTLY INTERVIEWING HIM ABOUT PREVIOUS COMMANDS THAT MAY INDIRECTLY POINT TO HIS INVOLVEMENT WITH SAME.
WILL KEEP YOU POSTED ON ALL THE ABOVE. AND LET ME KNOW WHAT WILD BILL WANTS JUPITER TO DO WITH KAPPLER.
END QUOTE
FINE
TOP SECRET
* * *
Bruce passed the message to Stevens and angrily said, “That damn Canidy is back in Sicily! What does he think he’s doing?”
Stevens read it, then said, “Dick has his hands full, that’s for sure. I know you don’t like what he tends to do, but you have to admit he gets the job done—”
“But at what cost? He’s risking not just his life.”
“—and if he can quickly get to Oskar Kappler in such a way that old man Kappler believes Bormann made good on his threat to harm his family, then the old man will really work to help us.”
Bruce looked at him a long moment.
“Let’s leave that to Stan,” he said, then tapped his writing pad. “We have Kappler’s wife and daughter to deal with.”
Stevens nodded, then looked back at Fine’s message.
“At least Ike having Jimmy Doolittle’s bombers strike farther north will keep Hitler guessing—convince him we are softening them up and bypassing Sicily entirely. And maybe keep attention off Canidy.”
“What do you think about that general? That’s really the first word we’ve heard about the aerial torpedoes that’s not been fed to us or been pure propaganda. Short of von Braun, it’s right from the horse’s mouth.”
“Well, I’ve known Jimbo—call sign ‘Limbo’—since he flew off-the-book ONI missions out of Miami,” Stevens said. “He is a damn good guy. And damn bright. Stan is right that he misses absolutely nothing. I wonder what we can find out about this von Eckardt for him?”
“I don’t know. But we have to try. It certainly looks like von Eckardt knows something that we needed to know yesterday. When Ike hears about this, we damn well better have some answers.”
[TWO]