Hell's Gate: A Thriller by Bill Schutt & J. R. Finch

Author:Bill Schutt & J. R. Finch [Schutt, Bill]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

In the Shadow of Hydra

We were told that our lives were not to be considered in the destruction of this target.

—SERGEANT J. G. MCLAUGHLAN, 405TH SQUADRON, RAF

Christ almighty, boys! Just look at the fires—just look at the fires!

—SERGEANT K. G. FORESTER, 90TH SQUADRON, RAF

The European red deer had been in Peenemünde for roughly ten thousand years by the time the rocket men arrived. Both species were drawn in by the same features: calm waters, dense forests of ancient oaks and pines, warm summers, and solitude. During the twelfth century, the Germans used the natural deepwater harbor at Peenemünde to gain a foothold before driving out the Slavic tribes that had inhabited the region since the end of the Ice Age. Except for a seventy-year interval in the seventeenth century (when the Swedes had somehow taken over the peninsula), the harbor was used almost exclusively by German fishermen, and by ships supplying the village of Peenemünde. During the winter of 1936–37, fishermen, their families, and all the inhabitants of Peenemünde had received “requests” from the government “suggesting” that they should consider relocation. While some of the villagers understood immediately that a nod from that direction was as good as a shove, and decided to haul up stakes, others (fishermen, mostly) expressed a rather vocal defiance—at least among themselves. There had always been minor squabbles among these men, but they were united in their stance that their hard work put food on the plates of Germans, even those in Berlin. In an unprecedented show of solidarity, they voted a pair of their most articulate brethren to represent them on an appeal to the Chancellery: “We must be allowed to stay.”

A week later, a team of marine engineers arrived at the deserted fishing village to begin construction of the extensive dock system that soon stretched like fingers into the dark, deep waters near the mouth of the River Peene.

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