"Higgins, Jack - Sheba" - читать интересную книгу автора (Higgins Jack)

'My thanks,' Canaris said. Til find my own way.'

He went out of the huge doors and stood at the top of the steps, buttoning his greatcoat, looking out at the rain. He went down the steps and had the rear door of the limousine open before his driver realized what was happening, and climbed in beside Ritter.

'My office,' he called to the driver, then closed the glass partition.

Ritter started to stub out his cigarette as they drove away, and Canaris sat back. 'Never mind. Just give me one of those things. I need it.'

Ritter got his cigarette case out and offered a light. 'Is everything all right, Herr Admiral? I saw them all leave. I was worried.'

'The Fiihrer, Hans, gave us his personal order to invade Poland on September the ist.'

'My God,' Ritter said. 'Case White.'

'Exactly. He has been negotiating with the Russians, who will do a deal. They'll let us get on with it in return for a slice of eastern Poland.'

'And the British?'

'Oh, they'll declare war and I'm sure the French will go along. The Fiihrer, however, is convinced they will do nothing on the Western Front and for once I agree. They'll sit there while we wrap up Poland, and his feeling is that once it's an accomplished fact, we can all get round the negotiating table and get back to the status quo. Britain, as he informed us, is not our natural enemy.'

'Do you agree, Herr Admiral?'

'He's right enough there, but the British are a stubborn lot, Hans, and Chamberlain is not popular. Since Munich his own people despise him.' Canaris stubbed out his cigarette. 'If there was a change at the top, Churchill for example...' He shrugged. 'Who knows?'

'And what would we do?'

'Implement Case Yellow. Invade the Low Countries and France and drive whatever army the British had brought across the channel into the sea.'

There was a pause before Ritter said, 'Could this be done?'

'I think so, Hans, as long as the Americans don't interfere. Under the Fiihrer's inspired leadership we have reoccupied the Rhineland, absorbed Austria and Czechoslovakia plus one or two bits and pieces. I have no doubt we'll win in Poland.'

'But afterwards, Herr Admiral? The French, the British?'

'Ah, well now we come down to why the Fiihrer kept me back when everyone else left.'

'A special project, Herr Admiral?'

'You could say that. He wants us to blow up the Suez Canal on the ist of September, the day we invade Poland.'

Ritter, in the act of snapping his cigarette case open, said, 'Good God!'

Canaris took the case from him and helped himself. 'He got the idea from this Colonel Rommel who commanded the Fiihrer's escort battalion for the occupation of the Sudetenland. He thinks highly of Colonel

Rommel and with reason and there is a certain mad logic to the idea. I mean, the Suez Canal is the direct link to the British Empire. Cut it and all shipping to India, the Far East and Australia would have to go by way of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope. The military implications speak for themselves.'

'But Herr Admiral, how on earth would we get men and equipment into the area?'

Canaris shook his head. 'No, Hans, you've got it wrong. We're not talking direct military action here, we're talking sabotage. The Fiihrer wants us, the Abwehr, to blow up the Suez Canal on the day we invade Poland. Put the damn thing out of action. Close it down so fully that it would take a year or so to open it again.'