The mechanics were relatively simple. From English collaborators and
German agents-in-place we received regular reports on our targets' daily
movements, along with predictions of their future agendas. That part
was easy.
Churchill tramped all over the country with his fat cigar, inspecting
troops or viewing air-raid damage. With an assassin willing to die in
the deed, the prime minister was as good as dead King George presented a
more difficult problem, but not insurmountable. Though better protected
than Churchill, he occasionally left Buckingham Palace to put on a show
of solidarity with the common people.
What made the mission impossibly difficult was Hitler's commandment that
the operation be carried out on the tenth of May.
Limiting the mission to a single day meant that our assassins would have
to strike regardless of circumstances I wasn't concerned about their
chances of survival; on the contrary, we wanted to insure that the
assassins would be killed in the accomplishment of their mission. But I
also had to be reasonably sure that the targets would be sufficiently
exposed for our men to reach them. When I expressed my apprehension to
Heydrich, however he assured me that Hitler had devised a diversionary
ploy that would bring our targets into the open on the given day. At
the time he would tell me no more than that.
With Helmut's help I set to work selecting our assassins.
We had decided to choose three men-one man for each target, with one
backup man I . n case of unforeseen circumstances. The men we
ultimately chose were named William Banks and William Fox. I shall
neverforget them. The confusion caused by the similarity of their names
was circumvented by their nicknames. Banks, a red-haired giant, was
known as 'Big Bill, ' and the more diminutive Fox as 'Little Bill.
' The backup man-selected by Helmut-was a distasteful little fanatic
named Sherwood This Sherwood almost wrecked the operation on the first
day. During the Spanish war he'd been captured at Jarama, and the first
time he saw me he turned pale as a fish. When Helmut asked him what was
wrong (I spoke little English) Sherwood asked if I had ever been in
Spain. Naturally I said I hadn't, whereupon the little man told his
comrades that I could have been the twin brother of a certain El Muerte@
sadistic Russian interrogator who worked for the Germans in Spain.
Helmut laughed outright, and the rest o us joined !f in. All but
Sherwood The memory had shaken him badly. It had shaken me too.
In Spain-where I had used my Okhrana methods ruthlessly-the communists
had christened me El Muerte.
My job was to motivate Banks and Fox to carry out their suicidal
attacks. Helmut had prepared them well, and this made my role much
easier From the day he founded his tiny cell, Helmut had promised his
disenchanted men that when the revolution came, they would be called on
by Moscow to carry out the first strikes against the iniperiali's't
oppressors.
My years in the Okhrana had given me an encyclopedic knowledge of
communist-methods and terminology, and I used it to the full in dealing
with these Englishmen.
I told them solemnly that Hitler intended to break his pact with Stalin
and attack Russia within thirty days. To this terrifying news I added
the usual Stalinist drivel, .e that while the industrialized nations
would eventually fall like rotten apples from the tree, the war had
presented an opportunily we could not afford to let pass. Now was the
time for revolution, I cried with passion, and the names of the martyrs
who struck down the imperialist leaders would be engraved forever in the
histories of the new world.
Stalin, I told them, had decided to save Russia and ignite the worldwide
revolution in one daring stroke. Not only were Churchill and George VI
to die, but the leaders of imperialist France and the fascist leaders of
Italy and Germany. The forged documents I carried added the weight of
holy writ to my tale, and these two Englishmen accepted it all with
grave pride. It was a sobering thing to see-two men who had fought so
bravely for their homeland agreeing to bring it to its knees.
Of course, in their minds they were liberatorsdowntrodden proletarians
who would free their fellowcountrymen from the clutches of warmongers
like Churchill.
One week before the target date we received reports that Churchill would
be spending the weekend of May 10th at Ditchley Park, a private country
house owned by a friend.
The king, of course, would be at Buckingham Palace. Soon after I
received a coded message from Heydrich, outlining the 'diversion' that
Hitler would provide. The Fuhrer had ordered an air raid on London for
the night of May 10th-to occur simultaneously with our mission. And not
just any air raid, Heydrich said, but the largest bomber strike yet
visited on the city. Hitler believed that such a raid would not only
provide us with a perfect diversion, but would also demonstrate to the
English the futility of continued struggle against GermanyThe moment I
read this message I decided to change the strike date to May 11th,
regardless of Hitler's orders. I knew that our targets would not leave
their protected shelters during the air raid,- and if our assassins
attempted to break into Ditchley Park or Buckingham Palace, they would
be shot dead long before they reached their targets. But on May
11th-when both Churchill and the king would emerge to view the
unprecedented bomb damage of Hitler's raid-the chances of success would
be highest.
The weapon we chose for the attacks was the British Sten gun.
Although prone to jamming, the Sten was easily concealable and insured
that a high number of bullets would penetrate the targets. Each man was
to carry a revolver as a backup in the event of a jam.
Five days before the strike date, I suggested to Helmut that we dismiss
the alternate-Sherwood-from training.
Helmut agreed and informed Sherwood of the change. From this moment on,
things began to go wrong. First 'Big Bill' Banks, the man assigned to
kill Churchill, refused to remain in the safehouse during the final days
before the strike date.
His parents lived in London, and he wanted to spend his last days with
them. Helmut's best efforts could not change the man's mind.
'Little Bill ' Fox-the man assigned to King George-had no family, and
