"Well if it's as urgent as all that." Hills smiled, and leading Gregory to the bathroom he produced clean towels, scissors and a razor.
As Gregory went to work to make himself a little more presentable he gave the Vice Consul an outline of his doings in the last few months, then he passed him the pencilled translation of the typescript that had come out of Goering's safe.
"Amazing " muttered the beaky nosed Vice Consul when he had finished reading. "And you're quite right about this thing. It proves up to the hilt just what so many of us have been afraid of. Germany never meant to fight over Czechoslovakia or Poland but, if she had to, her game was to make the war as short as possible, and localize the conflict; get a negotiated peace as soon as she could, then gobble up another slice of Europe a few months later."
"That's it," Gregory agreed, "and the devil of it is, the plan still holds. There's a strong party among the Nazi leaders who're for changing it now that a major war is actually on. They want to overrun Belgium and Holland in order to have a slap at Britain, or to go down into Rumania and collar the oil; but the really clever boys are for keeping a stalemate going and their Army and Air Force virtually intact. Goering himself told me that and, although he didn't say it, there's no doubt now that he's hoping that Britain and France will get bored with the war and worried by its financial strain; so that through the mediation of Roosevelt or Mussolini they'll agree to a round table conference. Hitler will just give way a little bit but hang on to most of what he's got and after a nice breather be all ready to jump a new and bigger claim this time next year."
"Well, what d'you want me to do?" Hills asked.
"As time is such a vital factor and I can't speak Russian there are several ways in which you can help me," Gregory replied and, over breakfast, he went into details.
When they had finished the meal they went into Hills' office and Gregory sat down to a typewriter on which he drafted a letter in German. It' was headed: "Karinhall, 27.rr.39," addressed to Marshal Voroshilov, Commissar for Defence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and ran:
"My dear Marshal,
"This is to introduce to you Colonel Baron von Lutz. The Colonel Baron is not a member of the Nazi Party and unfortunately some of his criticisms have given great offence to certain of our Party Chiefs, particularly Herr Himmler. The affair will, I hope, blow over in due course but it is most desirable that the Colonel Baron and three friends of his should leave Germany for a time.
"As he is an old war comrade of mine, and a very dear personal friend, I should naturally afford him my protection; since there is no question at all of his being a tractor to the Fatherland; but I do not wish to enter into a quarrel with my colleagues if this can be avoided.
"He is a most able officer so it occurred to me to send him to you as he may prove of assistance should the Finns maintain their resistance to the Soviet demands and it becomes necessary to launch a campaign against them.
"If you would receive him kindly and enable him. to arrange accommodation in the Soviet Union for the other members of his party, which includes two ladies or, if they wish, give them facilities to travel to one of the Scandinavian States I should consider it a personal kindness.
"Heartfelt greetings and, in the event of a campaign, all success to your Arms."
Having addressed an envelope for the letter Gregory took from his pocket Goering's original letter of introduction to Wuolijoki.
With great care he proceeded to trace the signature, Hermann Goering, in pencil, again and again upon a thin sheet of paper. Then taking a pen he wrote over each signature until, after a ‘hundred or more trials, he was satisfied that he could do this with a bold, flowing hand. He next traced one more signature on a clean piece of paper, blacked its back with his pencil and, writing over the name, got a faint rubbing of it at the bottom of the letter. When he had inked this in it would have taken an expert in caligraphy to tell that it was a forgery.
Having completed his preparations he asked Hills to accompany him to the station for Helsinki, as the line to Finland now terminated at the Russ6n rail head on the Karelian Isthmus, and the Vice Consul would he able to inquire about trains for him and see him off. It was still only nine o'clock in the morning when they left the house and Gregory, bathed and clean shaven once more, felt that in the last two and a half hours he had accomplished some most satisfactory work.
They visited several shops, in which Hills purchased a fibre suitcase, shaving tackle and other necessities for Gregory, then proceeded to the station, where no difficulties arose. Gregory's railway warrant was made out to carry him to the Soviet G.H.Q. and as the Karelian Isthmus was the major front of the war, which was raging less than seventy miles away, trains were leaving for it with troops or supplies every half hour. After seeing Gregory into his carriage and having received his heartiest thanks Hills departed. Ten minutes later, just as day was breaking, the train moved out.
For the first few miles there was little of interest to be seen; the creeks around which Leningrad is built were frozen over and once they had left the city behind the panorama was the same snow covered landscape that Gregory had known for many days, except that it was broken by many more buildings. The train travelled no faster than the one on which he had come south from Kandalaksha and it halted just as frequently; but after an hour it reached the pre war Russo Finnish frontier and half an hour later entered the southern part of the Mannerheim Line from which the Finns had been forced back.
Here, in spite of the snow, there were many evidences of the war that had swept over the land a month or more earlier. Broken down lorries and limbers lay abandoned at the roadside; here and there a now silent gun still reared its muzzle to the sky out of a concrete emplacement that had been battered to pieces. Every village through which they passed, and every
building, not only bore the marks of shell fire but in most cases had been blasted to the ground by the terrific pounding of the Russian bombardments. In many places tangled heaps of barbed wire straggled up out of the snow, sometimes with a frozen corpse still hanging on them like a scarecrow V the train puffed on there was more and more evidence of the frightful carnage which had taken place as the Russians had hurled division after division against the Finnish lines. By one o'clock Gregory could hear the distant booming of the guns and at a little before two the train halted in a siding. All the troops got out and Gregory saw from the many trains collected there that they had reached rail head.
The notice boards were all lettered in Russian, so he had to ask his way to the Railway Transport Officers' quarters, but he found an officer who could speak German; a tall, fair faced fellow who obligingly took him along to a block of hutments which housed the R.T.O.
Having explained that he was a German officer who had to report to Marshal Voroshilov he was told that the Marshal had gone forward to Battle Headquarters as he had now taken over the direction of operations in person; but after a short wait Gregory was led out to a car which was taking two other officers up there.
The road was a solid jam of troops moving up and down lorries, tanks, guns, infantry, ambulances, motor cycles and horse drawn vehicles so, even in the car, they made slow going. One of Gregory's companions spoke a little English but not enough to carry on an intelligent conversation and, after smiling an exchange of greetings, Gregory contented himself with watching the thousand activities that were going forward in the wintry scene.
Soon they had reached the area where the Russian heavies were shelling the Finnish positions ten miles or more away. These monster guns were mostly on railway sidings to which lines had been specially run for them from rail head. Their blast was terrific and where the sidings were near the road each round nearly shattered the ear drums. Flights of great black bombers were roaring overhead as they came up from their bases at Leningrad and Kronstadt to pass over the Finnish line. They saw no Finnish planes and Gregory guessed that owing to their smaller numbers they were having all their work cut out to protect the Finnish towns so were unable to spare aircraft for bombing the Russian back areas.