Voroshilov's most trusted man, and both are completely loyal the Kremlin."
Gregory swallowed another couple of mouthfuls of the iced champagne. "I take it, then, that the Kremlin would not risk sending its political battalions against the Finns but would use the main army which you say is in such poor condition?"
"Naturally. They will rely on sheer weight of numbers to smash the Mannerheim Line because it doesn't matter how any of their conscripts they kill; whereas large losses among their crack political troops would leave the Kremlin Government exposed to the danger of an internal revolution."
"Do you think such mass attacks by inferior troops will be efficient to overcome the Finnish resistance within say a, month?"
"I doubt it; because it is not only the troops that are of such poor quality; they will be worse led than any other army in Europe."
"Do you mean because Stalin has bumped off so many of is best officers in these constant purges since the Tukachevsky conspiracy of 1937?"
Goering nodded. "It's been infinitely worse than most people suppose. There's no doubt that Stalin nipped the 'Tukachevsky conspiracy only just in time. Nearly every officer importance was involved in it and the Ogpu have been tracing them up ever since. During the last two years he has liquidated 75 out of 8o members of the Supreme War Council, 13 out of 19 Army commanders and 195 Divisional commanders. Altogether they have murdered 350 odd generals, but even that not the worst of it. Over 30,000 officers of all ranks have been slaughtered."
"Thirty thousand " Gregory exclaimed.
"Yes. That means that hardly an officer above the rank of Major has been spared and practically all their qualified staff officers have been eliminated. Men who were captains last year re now commanding divisions and sergeants have become company commanders overnight. The Navy and the Air Force have suffered equally in proportion. The result is bound to be absolute chaos when the Soviet forces are called on to under take a full scale campaign."
"You have, of course, irrefutable proof of this in your Secret service files?" Gregory asked.
"Certainly. We have far too many agents operating in Russia for them all to be mistaken."
"How much of this do you think the Finns know?"
"A little, perhaps; but not very much compared with ourselves. Finland is a small country and her resources are limited. For every agent the Finns have working in Russia we probably have a hundred."
"Good. Now, what you've told me more than confirms my own suspicions, and this is the plan I had in mind. Get the facts from Berlin and sit up all night compiling a full report upon the Soviet Army and Air Force, backed by all the available evidence."
A quick smile lit Goering's eyes. "I see the ideal You're suggesting that I should tip off the Finnish Government that the main Red Army is only cardboard."
"Exactly. There can be no doubt that Marshal Mannerheim would rather fight than give in and from what we know of the Finnish War of Independence I'm certain that most of the Finns are with him. But the Government is the snag. Politicians are not soldiers; the thought of their cities lying in ruins and their women and children being bombed to Hell makes them prepared to go to almost any lengths rather than go to war. If only you can convince the Finnish Cabinet that their country will not be overrun immediately and that in spite of Russia's numerical superiority there's a good chance of their being able to hold out until other countries and the February snows come to their assistance, you'll have done the trick you'll have saved Finland as a possible base for future German operations when the present war is over."
Goering shook his head. "I believe it could be done; but one thing makes such a course impossible. To convince them that the reports are genuine I should have to send a personal emissary with full authority to let the Finns know that, whatever Germany ’s ostensible attitude may be, I am behind them. That would mean going behind the Führer’s back. Himmler's agents are everywhere, even in the highest offices of the Government. There are very few people indeed that even I can absolutely trust, and those few are marked men. If one of them disappeared Himmler would send out a general call through his Foreign Department, U.A. 1. Every Gestapo agent outside Germany would be turned on to hunt for my man; his presence in Helsinki would be discovered and reported, and that alone would be sufficient to give away the fact that I had been trying to double cross von Ribbentrop. I'm not frightened of him I can take care of myself and I'm a much bigger man than he is but there would be hell to pay, and I'm not ready for a showdown with him yet."
"I feared the problem of a suitable emissary would prove a knotty one," Gregory nodded; "because anyone you send on such a mission must be a man of some standing, otherwise the Finns might become suspicious and get it into their heads that he was not sent by you at all. But surely you can find some aristocrat an Army man for preference who is outside politics someone important enough to impress the Finns and at the same time a man whom you could completely trust someone, for example, like our late friend, Colonel Baron von Lutz?" '
In spite of its size the room was now blue with the smoke of innumerable cigarettes, yet Goering lit another and puffed upon it. "Yes, someone like that," he murmured. "Von Lutz would have been just the man, but he's dead; and unfortunately,, where a month ago I could have found a dozen like him who would have done equally well, they were all either killed or have gone into hiding as a result of the Army Putsch."
Gregory smiled. "Then it seems there's nothing else for it.
If you're to pull this job off and you must, for the sake of your own future and that of Germany you'll just have to send me."
"You?" Goering exclaimed.
"Yes; why not?" Gregory grinned now that he had whipped the cover from the life boat which he had been secretly fashioning for himself during the last few moments, and hurried on: "Nobody knows that the Baron is dead. He might have been burnt in that cottage last night or he might have escaped. Even if the S.S. men find his body in the woods the news of his death will never get as far as Finland because he wasn't important enough for it to be reported to the Gestapo agents there. I'm wearing his clothes at the moment and although our faces weren't alike our build was much the same. I am a born impostor, and as I spent the best part of three weeks in hiding with the Baron I know all about his family and his whole history. All you have to do is to furnish me with a passport in the Baron's name and an aeroplane. Haven't you realized yet that I can be darned useful to you alive whereas I'll be no good to anybody once I'm dead?"
Goering began to pace rapidly up and down. "That's all very well, but how do I know that I can trust you? You're an Englishman. Why should you offer to work for Germany? To save your life, you may say; but I should not believe that. You are not the kind of man who betrays his country."
"To do as I suggest would not be betraying my country," said Gregory swiftly. "In this instance the interests of Britain and Germany are identical. Britain has always championed the small nations so she would naturally be anxious that the Finns should retain their independence. Further: if Russia's demands are resisted, and she is compelled to fight for what she wants, that will give her an even better excuse than any she has at present for delaying in sending supplies to Germany. That is the price a very small one, in my opinion which you must pay if you are to save Finland as a possible base for future operations. But I'm concerned with this war, not the next; and by providing Russia with a spot of bother, so that she is less able to help you, I'm assisting my own country. As far as the future is concerned, I don't see why the Western Powers should object to Germany ’s compensating herself for her lack of colonies by absorbing Southern Russia and making Asiatic Russia a German protectorate."