Скачать или смотреть The Catastrophic Mistake That Completely Crippled the Allies

November 9, 1939. The car crept toward Café Backus, just meters from the German border, in the Dutch town of Venlo. MI6 operative Captain Sigismund Payne Best felt a stinging sense of doom. Something was wrong.

Ahead, Dr. Franz Fischer stood waiting. Best didn’t trust him, nor did he trust his promise of bringing down Hitler from within. After questioning him for hours, he was certain Fischer was a Nazi spy. But Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain didn’t listen; he was sure this was a golden opportunity to put an end to the war before it truly began.

Now, here he was, along with his partner Major Richard Stevens, practically inside Germany. The usual border barriers were missing. Odd. Best slid a hand into his coat, feeling the grip of his Browning pistol.

Smiling, Fischer gestured toward the café, where a high-ranking German general, the alleged leader of the coup attempt, awaited. Best stepped out of the car.

A deafening screech of tires tore the air.

An open-topped military vehicle roared in from the German side, packed with soldiers. Gunfire erupted as the German truck blocked the British car. The MI6 spies scrambled, pistols barking in response, but they were outgunned, outnumbered. The trap had been sprung.

The day would be remembered as both one of the greatest German intelligence victories and one of Hitler’s biggest blunders of the war.