Death of a Major General

1. Crash Bolt

On April 26, 1939, the Luftwaffe Reuchlin test base. A middle-aged man came to the base materials office and said to the storekeeper, "Hello, I am Plant Director Bell of the Blue Sky Avionics Factory and would like to check the distribution flow of the batch of avionics bolts we supplied to the base."

The storekeeper checked Bell's ID, went into the data room, came out with the batch list in a short time, and said, "You mean the batch from April 1936, right? There are 400 sets in all, and as spare parts, they are kept in the underground warehouse." Bell walked out of the materials office and pulled a bolt out of his pants pocket, thinking freshly: How could the materials office say it was still in storage?

On June 3, 1936, Wavell crashed at the end of the runway after taking off in a Heinkel Lightning, the first Chief of General Staff of the Luftwaffe.

Bell was a comrade of Wavell's in the Army, retired from the Army, and ran a parts factory, which later became a supplier to the Luftwaffe with Wavell's help. After Wavell's accident, Bell attended the accident analysis meeting and received the bolt from Dr. Heinkel, an aviation expert.

Dr. Hein, a close friend of Wavell's, said, "At the time of the accident, many people heard the plane retrieve an ear-splitting whine. Afterward, I found this bolt in the cut part of the hair effect wreckage, and looking at the markings it should be produced by your factory."

Could it be that the bolt was a forgery? Bell looked closely at the sunlight, the screw vaguely a D mark. He understood that this shoddy bolt was intentionally installed in an unwanted part.

Bell thought of the circumstances of his final meeting with Wavell. In those days, Wavell and Major General Sheehan, the director of German aviation skills, had come to a point where they could not be crossed. Wavell believed that the Soviet Union was Germany's greatest enemy and that to be able to bomb the vast hinterland behind the Soviet Union up to the Ural Mountains, Germany had to have four-engine heavy bombers. To this end, he set about developing a heavy bomber, which he named the "Ural Bomber Project". Sheen, however, was a supporter of small bombers and dive-bombers, believing that heavy bombing was not needed and could not succeed.

To convince Sheen, Wavell invited Sheen to dinner at the Blue Sky Hotel. The Blue Sky Hotel was also Bell's property and was known for its wild game operation. However, the two men were not happy.

A few days later, Wavell flew his plane with conviction: "This time I pinched his pain." Bell, who came to see him off, was a bit fresh: "Who?" The company's main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public. Oh, yes, he does not eat that." Bell followed Wavell's gaze and saw a hare in the grass next to the runway, frightened by the sound of the plane's engine.

But Wavell never returned.

2. Flight record

Bell was dazed when a group of people came over to the flight building. They are the elite of German aviation: Dr. Heinckel of Heinkel Aircraft, Professor Messer of Messerschmitt Aircraft, the owner of Mercedes-Benz Hair Effect, and of course, Major General Sheehan.

Last month, the Heinkel aircraft broke the world record, which had been held by the Italians for five years, with a speed of 746.6 kilometers per hour. Then, the record-breaking flight of Messer's plane ended in a crash. Tomorrow, Professor Messer comes back with a new plane.

Because the two companies use the Mercedes hair effect, Mercedes's boss was happy: "so frequently fly, hair effect has to be tested back and forth, I do not have enough manpower." Bell had a bright idea: "My factory is right next to the base, can you give us the testing business?"

Hein also said: "Bell is the closest comrade of Major General Wavell in the Imperial Army, his factory is specially approved by Major General Wavell, the skill power is trustworthy." The Mercedes boss stood in awe: "I have the highest respect for Major General Wavell, so be it."

The record-breaking flight began. Fifteen minutes later, the plane landed. The Messer was tested at 755.138 kilometers per hour, breaking the original world record for the Hein.

Cheering, Shein shouted: "Two German planes break the world record twice in one month. Long live the Führer! Long live Field Marshal Göring!"

Without missing a beat, Baer stepped forward, "Gentlemen! To congratulate you on this remarkable achievement, I invite you all to be our guests at the Blue Sky Hotel!"'

Inside the hotel, the crowd drank and feasted.

Bell smiled and pushed a food cart, saying, "Gentlemen, our signature dish is here!" He uncovered the dinner plate and the aroma was overwhelming. Hein cheered and reached over his knife and fork. Professor Messer also forgot about Sven and chewed intently. Immediately, there was nothing on the plate, but Bell tightened his brow.' After the party broke up, Bell rushed to the testing workshop. On the inspection table, the hair effect of the record-breaking Mercer-type aircraft was lying quietly. According to the requirements, the skillful clerk had to track the temperature of its parts within 48 hours after the flameout.

Bell manipulated the machine, punched a hole in the cutout area of the engine, placed a bolt, and turned on the electrical and oil circuits. Sure enough, the effect retracted a series of ear-splitting whines. Bell was stunned: "This is the strange scream of the plane when Wavell crashed, does someone want to secretly put Wavell to death?"

Although the hair effect and the wrecked aircraft hair effect shape are different, the aerodynamic principle is the same. But the hair effect than to be sent by the Mercedes-Benz special car to the skills bureau for detailed inspection, private security above the eye, is to go to jail.

Bell took out the same thing from the safe and called the mechanic: "Turn it into a bolt."

3. uniformed civilians

This day over coffee, Hein informed Bell, whether Hein still Messer-type aircraft, are not as invincible as Sheen blowing the world. Because the record-breaking aircraft hair effect is specially made, the life span of no more than 60 minutes, so sent to the skills bureau for detailed inspection, in the hands of Hine only a walk in the park, will be thrown into the finished product library.

Bell froze: "So, you fight for the Luftwaffe orders, what else is the point?"

Hein sipped his coffee: "For Wavell's Ural bomber intentions. After Wavell's death, Sheen forced the Ural to be discontinued, but Hein kept up the development of the four-engine heavy bomber. However, this required a lot of money. If it won the contest with Messer, the Hein flyer would get orders from the Luftwaffe and everything would be fine."

But Sheehan's favoritism to Messer was well known, which made Hein very unfair: "A while ago Sheehan also said that Messer had punched a hole in the cutout part of the Mercedes engine effect to increase the air-cooling effect. Talking amateurishly, will cause uneven heat dissipation of the hair effect and increase the power loss." Bell was listening to the heartbeat, a group of people poured into the workshop, is Sheen, followed by the boss of Mercedes-Benz and Professor Messer. Mercedes boss to Bell a show of hands: "Our mutual help is over."

Hine was anxious: "Why?"

Sheehan waved his hand at Hein: "Marshal Goering has determined that the Messer is the standard aircraft of the Luftwaffe. We won't want any other aircraft, no matter how good they are." Hein was dumbfounded.

Messer saw this and said, "All right, let our competition come to an end, now I will be the host and we will all go to the Blue Sky Hotel for a good meal."

On the balcony of the Blue Sky Hotel, Hein sighed, "If Wavell were still alive, I wouldn't have lost so badly." Bell said soberly, "Wavell was born on June 3, and Hine replaced General Wimmer as skill director on June 9. There were whispers that Sheehan was prepared to replace Wavell as Chief of General Staff and went to the Skill Bureau to avoid suspicion." Hein read Bell's mind: "The aviation industry is the Führer's highest priority for the development of the war effort. Maybe Sheehan and Wavell have business differences, but the number of hands-on a highly decorated major general, he would not dare."

Bell led the conversation: "I heard that in the army, there are civilians in uniform." Hein was happy: "You also know this?"

The so-called civilians in uniform refer to Sheen. After joining the Nazis as a major general in the air force, his Jewish heritage was investigated by the Gestapo. Göring eventually stepped in and claimed that he was the illegitimate son of his mother and a German baron. Despite this, claims that Hine was Jewish have always circulated darkly in Air Force circles.

Hein whispered: "The so-called civilian in uniform, that's him. Because Jews don't deserve to wear uniforms." At that moment there was an alarming cry from the hall: "General Sheen is drunk." Bell rushed forward: "Let me help him to his room."

4. dead file without finding

In the middle of the night, Sheen woke up and found Bell sitting at the head of the bed. He was a little upset: "What are you doing here?" Bell a smile: "I want to ask the whereabouts of the bolt. I added a gold bolt to the hair effect before it was sent to you. After you tested it, it disappeared." "So it was you who did it," Sheen said they in no way cared.

During the detailed inspection, Sheen found the bolt, thinking of the incident in Weaver, he was surprised. After removing the bolts, he found that they were made of gold. He was relieved and guessed that it was probably a bribe given to him by Mercedes-Benz on the occasion of the delivery.

Sheen was emboldened: "I broke it into a gold cigarette case and offered it to Field Marshal Goering. The marshal obeyed my initiative before engrossing Hine out of the game." Bell growled low: "How on earth did Wavell die?"

It was the bolt that aroused Bell's suspicion. He used the convenience of testing to do experiments and found that after adding the bolt to the hair effect cutout area, it would cause hair affect asthma and retrieve an ear-piercing whine. 10 minutes later, if no action was taken, the bolt would break and fall into the hair effect causing bursting and destruction. Moreover, the source of the bolt with the D mark he found. He put the bolt out to bid on the pretext of expanding his business. As a result, a sample with the D mark was sent to him.

It was an ironworks workshop, and the D was the first letter of the workshop's name," Bell said. The owner informed me that someone had come in to make a bolt for a wagon. I took out a picture and he recognized you right away. Just because of a business disagreement, you have harmed Wavell with a bolt. If the Führer had known, your little life would have been lost."

Sheen smiled contemptuously, "It was the Führer who ordered Wavell's elimination." Bell was dumbfounded.

Wavell went around touting heavy bombers as the key to future warfare against Britain and the Soviet Union, and his foresight aroused the Führer's jealousy: "A little air force major general who would be more brilliant than me?" So Goering approached Sheehan: "The Führer's authority must be upheld. Wavell has been clever enough to challenge the Führer's authority, so he must die, and considering his contribution to the Luftwaffe, it would be better to let him die with some dignity."

Sheehan then created that air crash.

Bell was annoyed: "Don't write you off, you civilian in uniform." Sheen's face went white: "Field Marshal Goring proved my pedigree!" Bell smiled: "But the Blue Sky Hotel's signature dish of charcoal-grilled hare doesn't see it that way. The Talmud states that Jews are not allowed to eat rabbit meat. So you didn't even look at that dish, and Wavell found this and concluded that you were Jewish and tried to use it to force you to help with him."

Sheen's name opened: "You're a secret agent? When the Führer came to power, precious metals were controlled, and every gram of gold in Germany was registered. Only a secret agent, through secret channels, could have such a rich private reserve." Bell smiled bitterly, "Yes, but I'm a dead file."

The dead file refers to those chicken-hearted secret service, the location may seem convenient, but can not get costly information, have to half-dead to hold on.

Bell joined MI6 before World War I and was embedded with Wavell. After Wavell transferred to the Air Force, Bell knew that, compared to the far-sighted Wavell, Sheen, who came up on Göring's lap, was simply mediocre.

The more you become an official, the greater the danger to the Nazis you are loyal to," Bell said mockingly. So, I secretly helped you get rid of your opponent, of course, the most fearsome opponent of our British Empire." Sheen was stunned: "You killed Wavell?"

"Even if you added that bolt, the hair effect runs for 10 minutes before the effect can be produced. And Wavell's plane was just taking off and crashed. The reason was that the charcoal-grilled hare he ate for his last meal before flying had a seasoning I added on purpose. Two hours later, when Wavell took off in his plane, the drug suddenly kicked in between, and he fell into sobriety that killed him." Bell said, with a low growl, "Good luck with your official!"

He swung a fist and knocked Sheen unconscious.

The next day, the German intelligence organization withdrew a warrant for Bell, who was suspected of being a secret agent.

The following summer, the Nazi air force arrived in England. It was then that they noticed the defects of the dive-bombers. Sheen said reluctantly, "I never thought of fighting against Britain, but I will always remember a man named Bell. There is no doubt that it was this British agent who got us into the formidable position we are in."

But Goering didn't let him off the hook, and in August 1941, with the Luftwaffe losing everywhere in the field because it had no heavy bombers, Goering snarled at Sheehan: "You are responsible for the state of the air force, you civilian in uniform!"

Two months later, Sheehan committed suicide. Upon learning the news, Goering took a cigar from his gold cigarette case: "Sheen rendered a verdict on himself, lest I put him on trial."

Bell, however, was never heard from.

After the war, Dr. Hein made a special trip to the British MI6 to inquire, and was told, "Maybe that nameless dead body under the bridge hole in Berlin is him, or maybe he has been charred in the Nuremberg fire. In short, there are too many such dead files, that there is no need, for and can not find.