Iron Cross

Chapter 071 Crow (1) At 3pm on February 19th, inside Hero Harbor in the Azores. A hotel called "Hot Springs" is operating normally, and its owner Tom Phillips is a well-known and capable person. After taking over the almost bankrupt hotel 25 years ago, through unremitting efforts, it has now become a small and famous hotel in Hero Harbor. Although the hotel's decoration is not luxurious and the facilities are not advanced, the warmth and welcoming atmosphere it creates have made many guests very satisfied. It is also a landmark building in Hero Harbor. But not many people know, even Tom's wife and children who spend their days with him don't know his background - he was originally an intelligence officer for MI6 in the UK. 25 years ago, at the end of World War I, he received this task and was dispatched to Hero Harbor. Even the initial cost of acquiring this hotel was covered by MI6- a shrewd boss would not spend money in vain, but clearly told him that his salary for the next 20 years had been fully advanced, and he must make profits by operating the hotel to maintain his own livelihood. After receiving the task, he was very excited and kept repeating the secret code for the connection given by his superiors, afraid that he would forget it. He carefully managed the hotel to gain cover, while also eagerly waiting for someone to come and meet him. He thought he would soon receive the task, but all that awaited him was disappointment. As time passed, he became more proficient in managing the hotel business, but his excited mood gradually calmed down. He lurked in Hero Harbor, carefully managing the hotel and gradually getting it back on track with thriving business. He got married, had children, started a family, and integrated everything into this city. Day after day, year after year, he has been waiting for the signal to connect, but Great Britain has never actively contacted him, as if he had never been this person year, he couldn't bear this torture anymore and sneaked back to England under the guise of visiting relatives. He found that many of his classmates who had trained together had disappeared, and his boss who had assigned him the task and personally given him the code name "Crow" had died of the Spanish flu outbreak shortly after the end of the war - he was completely missing. Twenty years passed silently, and Tom gradually transformed from a young man full of youthful vitality to a middle-aged uncle. When his children left Hero Harbor to study in Portugal, he became a completely forgotten chess piece. In 1938, just one week before Germany's invasion of Austria, Tom's deadline for the mission had reached 20 years - his superiors had told him that if no one contacted him within 20 years, he would automatically leave MI6 and gain freedom, and could do whatever he wanted except not to reveal this secret. But he hadn't given up yet. He knew there were spies from other countries on the island, and he could even vaguely distinguish some - many people had initially stayed at his hotel, but many had hurriedly left. He watched as these spies changed wave after wave, but he had never seen anyone like him who had been lurking for so long. He has been a bit restless these days. Recently, the results of the Anglo German Battle of the North Sea have been announced all over the world, causing a huge uproar in Hero Harbor: the German side has confidently stated that they have sunk a large number of Royal Navy warships, including 4 battleships and 8 cruisers, with minimal losses themselves;The British side announced the sinking of two German heavy cruisers, severely damaging the main ships such as Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, and Zeppelin, while also retaliating and sinking some small warships. They only lost some old warships themselves, and the losses were minimal. Due to the lack of strong evidence from the Germans, the photos published in the newspapers also appeared blurry. In addition, the results they announced were too sensational, and not many Portuguese believed them. On the contrary, the results announced by the Royal Navy seemed more appropriate, and everyone agreed that the Germans were completely lying or bragging. Due to his professional sensitivity as a spy, Tom instinctively realized that there was a problem: if the Germans tried to lie, they didn't need to fabricate such absurd results. There is only one reason to explain this kind of news: the Germans do have so many achievements, or even if there is a discrepancy between the achievements and the real situation, the Germans believe that the difference is not significant and within their tolerance range. He had been pondering hard, but soon gave up - he had already left MI6 and was now a true Portuguese. Why bother with all this? The noise coming from the direction of the dock caught his attention, and the sound grew louder and louder, as if there had been a major disturbance. Louis... "he asked the child playing football in the yard," Why is there so much noise outside? What happened Sir, I don't know either. Let me go take a look In less than 10 minutes, Louis rushed into the hotel like a gust of wind and said to Tom, who was checking in passengers, "Sir, there's a ship! No, it's a warship! There are many warships on the dock! I heard they're Germans What? "He was surprised. Don't you know yet? "The passenger who was about to check in laughed." I knew it before I came. The German fleet has arrived and has been waiting outside the port, requesting to enter the port for supplies. The city government may not have agreed initially. The Germans raised their cannons and planes began to take off, looking ready to fight. We were scared enough, but the Germans didn't attack us. The ship quickly entered the port and docked. Now it should be a compromise between the two sides The attention of other guests was also drawn to this, and someone asked, "Can we really start fighting No... we are a neutral country What's the use of a neutral country? Didn't Germany also attack the Netherlands and Denmark back then Hitting us is not good for Hitler. Do the Germans still expect to cross Spain and occupy us Why doesn't the city government agree to let the German fleet dock for supplies? According to Chinese legislation, this is completely allowed Probably afraid of offending the British Others were arguing one sentence at a time, but Tom couldn't listen anymore. He instructed his wife to stay in the hotel and went to the dock to see what was going on. On the dock, there were already a sea of people, all attracted to watch the German fleet and point at the majestic warships. The rumors from the outside world are correct. The elusive and long unseen German North Sea Fleet suddenly appeared on the outskirts of Hero Port around 1 pm and requested to enter the port for supplies and maintenance. The Portuguese authorities instinctively refused, but faced with Tirpitz's gun ports and two aircraft carriers taking off like a demonstration, the word "no" was eventually not spoken out and could only obediently agree to the other party's request to enter the port. As a remedy, while accepting the German fleet to dock, the municipal authorities reported the emergency situation to Lisbon and the latter promptly notified the British side. Tom, like many others, carefully observed the composition of the German fleet through a telescope. However, slightly different from what was reported in the newspaper, it seemed that the German fleet was missing the Prince Eugen and the Scharnhorst. Nevertheless, whether it was the Tirpitz, Zeppelin, or another unnamed aircraft carrier, they did not appear to have significant issues as announced by the British. After flying proudly around Hero Harbor, German carrier based planes landed one after another, appearing very skilled. Faced with this situation, Tom felt his heart constantly tighten. The dock was filled with people pointing and commenting, and there were also many hurried individuals carrying cameras taking quick photos. Tom knew they were not spies, they were all well-informed journalists who feared chaos in the world. They were worried that there wouldn't be any major news - this news would definitely become the explosive headline of tomorrow's newspaper. His observation was quite good. The Scharnhorst had already made an early turn midway and was accompanied by two destroyers to a Spanish port for emergency repairs. At night, many people could hear the roar of the motor, and Tom, with a heavy heart, had an instinctive restlessness, but he dared not go to the dock to see what was going on. After various struggles and weighing the pros and cons, he made up his mind to take the risk of observing. He originally thought that the huge movement of the German fleet just now was preparing to leave the port overnight, but after careful observation, he discovered a terrifying scene: the unknown aircraft carrier was spitting out tanks and armored vehicles one after another, and then soldiers with live ammunition were running out of the cabin. He wanted to call out, but as if someone had choked him, he couldn't make a sound and could only stare in horror. Soon, he knew that the alarm was completely useless, and the police and sentries on duty at the dock also noticed the Germans' unusual behavior. Although the weak Portuguese tried to stop them, they retreated after the Germans decisively fired their guns. All the key points near the dock were occupied by the German army. By dawn, everyone was surprised to find that the streets were filled with German armored vehicles armed with live ammunition and patrolling everywhere. All key institutions, including the dock, warehouse, oil depot, telegraph office, and city government, had been controlled by the Germans - in short, Hero Harbor had been completely occupied by Germany. Tom knew what had happened without going out. The Germans were reading out the order to enforce the state of emergency over and over again through loudspeakers, and announcing a curfew from 8 pm to 8 am every night. Then, one order after another was issued for execution, and all British and American cargo ships in the port were confiscated, but ships from Portugal and other neutral countries remained unharmed. Although the Lisbon authorities immediately protested to Germany and even threatened to resort to war, the tone quickly declined by noon of the same day: the border forces in the north and south reported the discovery of German armored units, and there was intelligence showing that the Scharnhorst had docked at the port of La Coru ñ a in northern Spain. Despite Portugal being one of the top navigators in Europe during the Age of Discovery and having a top-notch navy, it had long since declined and could not match the naval strength of the Scharnhorst - they did not know that Scharnhorst was actually seriously injured. Now, the global focus is on Hero Harbor