The Rise of the Fourth Reich - ThereAreNoSunglasses

THE STRANGE CASE OF RUDOLF HESS 45Interestingly, Hess’s flight brought him through the weakest section ofthe British coastal radar net, plus he overflew a Royal Air Force base twicewithout provoking any response—clues that orders had been given somewherealong the chain of command to facilitate his arrival. But he missedhis landing spot and, low on fuel, finally was forced to bail out over a farmjust south of Glasgow. Unarmed, his ankle broken from the jump, he wascaptured by a farmer with a pitchfork. The Home Guard quickly becameinvolved and the whole secret operation was blown. Although Hess initiallyclaimed to be a Luftwaffe pilot named Alfred Horn, this subterfugequickly failed. “Horn” kept asking to be taken to the duke of Hamilton.The whole scheme was a massive embarrassment to all concerned. Everyone,including Hitler, had to disavow any connection with the plot.After all, for Hitler to admit that he was preparing to make peace withBritain would have tipped off Stalin that a German attack on Russia wasimminent.British intelligence found itself conflicted over the Hess affair. “MI6was supportive of a negotiated peace with Germany, as it saw CommunistRus sia as the real enemy,” noted the three authors, “whereas SOE [SpecialOperations Executive] was in favor of an alliance with Stalin against Hitler.As the Prime Minister’s creation, SOE was naturally pro-Churchill.”This rivalry led to strange occurrences along Hess’s path to prison. He wasmoved to a variety of locations, some recollections of his whereaboutsconflicting with others. There was every opportunity for pulling a switchbefore Hess was finally locked up in the Tower of London.Picknett, Prince, and Prior introduced yet another mystery—the deathof George, the Duke of Kent, King George VI’s youngest brother and thefirst member of the royal family to die while on active military servicesince the fifteenth century. The duke, like others in the royal family, wasan admirer of the Nazis and was likely to have joined a peace group in anegotiated peace. He also served as an unofficial intelligence officer to hisbrother, the king. (It may be noteworthy that in 1939, King George installedthe duke as the grand master of En glish Freemasonry at a ceremonyat Olympia in West London.)Superficially, the duke’s death on August 25, 1942, was the result of aroutine wartime air accident. It was reported that the Sunderland flying