Chapter 49 Chapter Forty-eight

Mars is a small town to the east of Reims, from where a railway line begins its long ascent up the mountain in the direction of Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Nuremberg.The tunnel was just outside the town through which supplies flowed from home to German occupying forces in France.If the tunnels were breached, Rommel would be out of ammunition and in trouble. The town itself has a bit of Bavarian character, full of brightly painted half-timbered houses.The town hall is erected on the tree-lined square opposite the railway station.The local Gestapo chief has taken over the mayor's large office and is now poring over a map with Dieter Frank and Captain Bern, who is in charge of the tunnel's armed guards.

"I put 20 men on each end of the tunnel, and I sent a team to patrol the hills," Byrne said. "If you want to defeat them, the resistance group will need to use a large number of armed forces." Dieter frowned.According to the lesbian Diana Caulfield he interrogated, Flick took six women, including herself, with him, which has now been reduced to four.However, it is also possible that she joined another group or made contact with French Resistance leaders near Mars. "They have a lot of men," he said. "The French think the big attack is about to begin."

"However, it is difficult to conceal a large force. So far, we have not found any suspicious targets." Bourne was thin and small, and wore a pair of glasses with thick lenses, which is probably why he was placed in this remote area and was not allowed to go to the combat unit, but he made a good impression on Dieter, and felt that this young man The officers are smart and efficient.Dieter was outwardly willing to take his word for it. "Is this tunnel vulnerable to explosives?" Dieter said. "It's built of solid rock. Of course, it's not completely indestructible, but that would take a truckload of explosives."

"They've got dynamite." "But then again, they've got to get the explosives here before we can see them." "That's true." Dieter turned to the chief of the Gestapo and said, "Have you received any reports of suspicious vehicles or anyone coming to town?" "Neither. There is only one hotel in the town, and there are currently no customers. My people go to various bars and restaurants every lunch time, and find nothing unusual." Captain Burne said hesitantly: "Can you think of it this way, Major, that the report you received about the tunnel attack was just a deception, a distraction, to divert your attention from the real target? "

Dieter had already begun to consider this possibility, and it made him simmer with fire.He had learned from failure after failure that this Flick Claret was a master deceit.Was she playing tricks on him again?The very thought of it humiliated him. "I personally interrogated the prisoner, and I believe she is not lying." Dieter replied, trying to suppress the anger in his voice. "But your words are probably correct. Maybe the prisoner's information is also wrong, and he did it on purpose to prevent accidents." Bourne tilted his head and said, "Here comes the train."

Dieter frowned.He heard nothing. "I have good hearing," the little man said with a smile, "probably to compensate for my sight." Dieter had ascertained that there was only one eleven o'clock train leaving Reims today for Mars.Therefore, Michel and Lieutenant Hesse should be on the next train. The Gestapo chief went to the window. "It's the train going west," he said. "I remember you saying that your men are on the train going east." Dieter nodded. "It's actually two trains, one coming in each direction," Byrne said. The Gestapo chief looked in the other direction. "You're right, there's a train over there too."

Three people came to the square.Dieter's driver, who was leaning against the hood, immediately stood up straight and stubbed out his cigarette.Next to him is a Gestapo motorcyclist, ready to restalk Michel at any moment. They walked towards the station entrance. "Is there another exit here?" Dieter asked the Gestapo. "No." They stood there waiting.Captain Byrne asked, "Did you hear the news?" "No. What news?" Dieter replied. "Rome has fallen." "my God." "U.S. troops arrived at Piazza Venezia at seven o'clock last night."

As a senior officer, Dieter felt it was his responsibility to keep up the morale of the troops. "It's bad news, but it's not unexpected," he said. "But Italy is not France. If they attack us, they'll find they've got something to offer." He hoped he was right. Westbound trains are the first to come in.While the passengers of this train were loading and unloading luggage on the platform, the eastbound train rumbled into the station.A small group of people waited at the entrance, and Dieter watched them quietly, wondering if anyone from the local resistance had come to meet Michel at the station.He saw nothing suspicious.

A Gestapo checkpoint is located next to the ticket gate.The Gestapo chief went over to his subordinate at the table.Captain Bourne leaned against a post to hide himself.Dieter got back into his car and sat in the back seat, looking out at the train station. If Captain Byrne was right and the blast tunnel was just a diversion, what was he going to do?The situation is not optimistic.He has to choose.Are there any other military targets near Reims?The Château de Saint-Cécile was obviously one, but the Resistance had just carried out a failed sabotage operation a week ago - would they do it again so soon?There's an army camp to the north of the town, and a couple of railway marshalling yards between Reims and Paris...

This path doesn't work.No matter how you guess, it makes sense.He needs information. He could have interrogated Michelle as soon as he got off the train, pulling out his nails one by one until he spoke—but did Michelle know the truth?He might confess a cover-up and take it as true, as Diana did.Dieter had better keep track of him until he meets Flick.She knows the real target.She is the only one who should be interrogated now. Dieter waited anxiously, watching the passengers walk out of the station after their documents were checked one by one.A whistle sounded, and the westbound train left the station.More passengers came out, ten, twenty, thirty.The eastbound train left the platform.

Then, I saw Hans Hesse hurried out of the station. Dieter said, "What the hell is this..." Hans looked around the square, spotted the Chetron, and ran over. Dieter jumped out of the car. Hans said, "What's the matter, where is he?" "What do you mean?" Dieter exclaimed angrily. "You followed him!" "I followed him! He got off the train. I couldn't see him when I was queuing through the checkpoint. After a while, when I was in a hurry, I pushed forward, but he was gone." "Will he be on the train again?" "No, I followed him to leave the platform." "Is it possible that he got on another train?" Hans grinned and said, "When I found out that he was gone, we were passing the end of the platform of the train going to Lance..." "That's what happened," said Dieter. "Damn it! He's on the train back to Reims again. He's a decoy. The whole trip was a cover." He was furious that he had fallen into this trap. "what should we do?" "We catch the train, you can follow him again, I still think he'll take us to Flick Clarets. Get on the train, let's go!"