Opening Moves

‘[priority code] ZZZ

[agent] Kalibr

[date code] 250645b

[personal code as an authenticator] OV322628BK

[distribution1] route x-eyes only

[distribution1] AalphaA [Comrade Chairman Beria].

[message] Reassigned Alamagordo NM. At O.R. material produced sufficient for 4 weapons max. Strength A. type-2. Wellington not possible. End-low.

[message ends]

Message authenticates. Codes for non-compromisation valid.

RECEIVED 11:26 2/7/45-B.V.LEMSKY’

“Four? Enough for four, Comrade?”

Beria replaced his glasses.

“Admittedly we expected material enough for three maximum. One for test purposes as we have confirmed. Two for offensive purposes against our slant-eyed comrades, also confirmed by the GRU’s asset in Washington. We can already sabotage the facility as we know without Kalibr and so this will not alter anything Comrade General Secretary.”

Stalin looked unconvinced, so he pressed on.

“Our intelligence is good. I concede we only recently discovered how advanced the project was and that they approached testing but we now know for certain what assets they have and we have known for a long time what they intend. We have agents in place awaiting orders to damage the project. Our security is intact despite the Washington routing problem. That the Capitalists may have additional material for another bomb does not change anything. I see no cause for concern here Comrades”

Beria finished with a confident flourish of the hand.

Stalin took the message from Bulganin and read it once more.

With an expansive gesture, he fired the message across the table at Beria and it slid almost menacingly onto his lap with all the weight of a death warrant.

“The party will also hold you to that, Comrade Marshall.”

Beria stood as if to leave.

“One last thing Comrade.”

Beria waited.

“Do not send the preparatory code to our agents.”

The NKVD Chairman, missing the point, drew breath to remonstrate.

Stalin held up his hand and with lightness inappropriate for the moment added, “Initiate Napoleon immediately.”

Chapter 9 – THE RELOCATION

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.

William Jennings Bryan

0235 hrs Friday, 6th July 1945, The Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg, French Alsace.

Colonel Frisson had been remarkably efficient and organised the segregation of the seven selected German officers. It would have been preferable had he exercised some thought, as his efficiency obviously telegraphed the impending departure of Knocke and the others to every German in the camp. Initially rumours of trial and execution abounded but a message was smuggled out through an easily bribed French-Alsatian soldier.

The prisoners were relieved to hear that the seven were not harmed and were relocating to another base for further debriefing.

The interview between Knocke and Lavalle had taken place on the Sunday; those with Knocke’s named candidates were satisfactorily concluded over the next four days. Perversely, the French had chosen Biarritz as the name for their symposium as it was not associated with Alsace, which was the symposiums actual location. Perhaps because it would all appear wholly French if, heaven forbid, news of it came out.

And so it was that Knocke and his comrades found themselves en route by truck to a secret location within Alsace, not to Biarritz in the south-west of France. It was the early morning of Friday 6th July 1945. The significance of that date brought a wry smile to some of the faces in the back of that truck. Two years previously, many of the group had been involved in the bitter combat in and around the Kursk Salient, and each man wrestled with memories of comrades lost in those dreadful days.

They passed incognito through the growing dawn, crossing from Germany into Alsace on their way to a sleepy little hollow called Orschwiller and their meeting with destiny and Colloque Biarritz at the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg.

Elsewhere in Europe, three other such groups were assembling in comparable secrecy, in and around Hamburg, Paderborn, and Frankfurt. All three comprising similaly tried and tested men who had also agreed to provide the unique services of the secret symposiums. The first two locations housed German officers of similar stature and rank to those assigned to ‘Biarritz’.

Frankfurt was different, graced with General grade officers of all nations, and concerning itself with higher matters.