Rouble Nationalization – the Way to Russia’s Freedom. Nikolay Starikov

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СКАЧАТЬ href="#n_131" type="note">[131] As a result, England recognised the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria to Germany despite having a treaty with Austrians in which the British promised to protect their independence.

      In August 1939 only one flight could take place. And it is exactly where Hitler's envoy would fly and which country the Fuhrer chooses to make an arrangement with that the flight was for.[132] Having no response from Stalin was supposed to prod Hitler into negotiating with the English. The German leader simply did not have any other options. This is why we can state that the supposed lack of response from Stalin could have meant an entirely different scenario for Europe. And this scenario would have been even more tragic for Russia, as straight after defeating Poland the German troops would have turned up at the Russian borders and the Russian Army would have had to fight the Wehrmacht on its own and two years earlier and France or England would not have been obliged to reinforce Russia.

      Who would have found it profitable if a war between Russia and Germany had started in September 1939? England. Who would have found it profitable to pit two peoples against one another in order to then join the battle second when the rivals had bled white? England. And a nine-hour delay in delivering the urgent and important letter is an historical fact which no one can deny. So, who could have tried to impede negotiations between Germany and Russia through holding up a message from one head of state to the other? The answer is obvious. There is one thing I do not understand: why has no one else tried to answer this fascinating question before, since answering it makes a lot of things clear. Even too clear. This was a question of national importance and Great Britain used the help of the secret service apart from all diplomatic sources…

      Who could have provided the 'extra' six hours for Stalin's letter? English agents in German institutions. What institution exactly is not really that important; Foreign Ministry, intelligence, ciphers, Ribbentrop's deputies. If you want to know who exactly was responsible, get hold of German archives; they must have the answer. Such a blunder could not have remained unpunished. Either the German secret service or Ribbentrop himself must have reacted to this obvious sabotage. There must have been a reaction – severe but concealed. Within a month someone must have drowned, died in a car crash or of a sudden heart attack. Quietly. With no publicity. With nothing but a portrait at work with a black ribbon. Some crying colleagues. A true Aryan. Blind Death has taken him away. With a pension for the heartbroken widow.

      I do not know what happened to the British agent who put everything at stake performing the task of his bosses in London; I do not know his name. But I do know names and surnames of other real foreign agents who were in Germany back then.

      Story two

      About a Russian agent

      This man was not just an agent; he was considered the most valuable agent of the USSR in Nazi Germany. A book about him is actually called 'His Majesty the Agent'[133]. With a capital letter as they use for royalty. And this is not for nothing – Willy Lehmann was indeed a very precious agent. For as many as twelve years he supplied very sensitive information to Moscow under the pseudonym of Breitenbach, while working not just for an agency but for the Gestapo. 'Willy Lehmann took the initiative and offered his services himself… Lehmann spent twelve years working for Soviet intelligence. During that period he did not make a single professional mistake, nothing that could have attracted any suspicion',[134] says the author of the book, Theodore Gladkov, about the agent. Having started working with Soviet intelligence even before the Nazis came to power, he passed on the last piece of sensitive information on 19^th June, 1941. On that day, Lehmann reported the exact and accurate day of the German invasion of the USSR.[135] After that, contact with him was broken.

      As a result, there was a very strange situation: there was a very precious agent but no contact with him. 'By spring 1942 the Centre managed to restore contact with none of their agents in Berlin'[136]. That means there was physically no one who could have contacted Lehmann. Then it was decided to send some liaisons over the front line. Two agents were sent to Berlin and both were arrested by Willy Lehmann's colleagues' from the Gestapo. One of them held on to the last and died under torture; the other one started collaborating with the Nazis. A radio game started. Later on, the arrested Soviet agent insisted that he had given a coded sign that he was working under control which, allegedly, had not been noticed by the radio operators of the Centre. On 4^th December, 1941 a password and terms of contact with Breitenbach were sent to the receiver controlled by the Gestapo…

      In December, after the 11^th, the telephone rang in Lehmann's apartment. Late at night. There was nothing special in it for an agent. It might have been an urgent call. In his many years of service, it had happened many times… A service Horch was already waiting for him. He opened the door, dived into the car, and immediately handcuffs clicked on his wrists… There was no warrant for his arrest. He was to be delivered, and that is it… No one knew of Lehmann's case except for the head of Gestapo, Mueller and a few more people. Lehmann was doomed. He was denied even a mockery of a trial from the very beginning, even with a predetermined death penalty… And there was nothing but a short message in the internal Nazi 'Bulletin on 29^th January, 1943 which said that 'Willy Lehmann gave his life for the Fiihrer and the Reich. The only truth in this message must have been the month of his death – December 1942.'[137]

      In a very quiet, peaceful, family-like manner. He gave his life for the Fiihrer and the Reich. Well, why trouble the public? Why cause puzzlement and anxiety? Nothing happened to Lehmann's wife. Could it have been different if her husband had lost his life for the sake of Germany? 'Margaret Lehmann was not subjected to any sanctions or oppressions. Not out of humanism, of course, but purely to keep the secret. In the beginning she was told that Willy died during a 'secret' mission.[138]

      It is very, very seldom that truth does come to the surface. Secret services sacredly keep their secrets.

      Story three

      About an English agent

      This story is of particular interest because its main character was a regular German diplomat which, however, did not stop him from working for English intelligence. Our character was called Wolfgang zu Putlitz. He came from an ancient and noble family, did his military service in the Kaiser's army and after Germany's defeat in the First World War he became a diplomat. His well-known surname and connections helped him take the post of Head of the Consular Department in the German embassy in London in 1936.[139] And it seems like he was recruited. Why 'seems'? Because in his memoirs, Putlitz, being a man of sound judgement, does not say anything specific about his connections with English intelligence.[140] He tells his readers about his 'friendship' with the English. Yet the results of this friendship are so telling that there can be no doubt about the nature of this relationship.

      The German diplomat writes about many interesting things. For example, just before the beginning of the Second World War, he is appointed at the German mission in Holland. Being a German diplomat, he is commissioned to… get a large batch of oil and other strategic raw materials to the Reich. It did not have time to get through the German-Dutch border before Germany's attack against Poland and was blocked. Where are the raw materials from? They are from England.[141] As an English agent, Putlitz is trying to do the opposite and prevent the Nazis from getting a single drop of the oil. And he writes a letter to… the English intelligence centre (as he does not admit to being an agent, he just 'sends them a letter'!). How does he know the address? 'Everyone in the Hague knew that the British intelligence СКАЧАТЬ