As they were talking, the crowded venue suddenly became commotion. The Paris reporters who had just gathered around and slapped him with "murdering countless films" turned around and rushed towards the door.
"Ah..." Mrs. Katie pretended to be shocked and drank all the champagne: "She is here."
"Who is coming?" Czechoslovak actress Lida Barova's eyes were full of curiosity.
"Who else could it be besides Josephine Baker?" Mrs. Katie smiled charmingly.
In 1939, as the drums of war reverberated across Europe, Secret Service chief Jacques Abtey, the head of French military intelligence, recruited an unlikely spy: France's most famous woman, Josephine Baker. Josephine Baker, to collect information about Nazi Germany and other Axis powers. Normally, the French secret service looks for people who can conceal their identities and travel safely to serve as spies. For American-born black dancer and singer Josephine Baker, this was no problem at all.
Josephine Baker was born in the slums of St. Louis in the United States in 1906. She grew up in a rat-infested hut without a father. He received only sporadic education and got married for the first time at the age of 13. Suffering discrimination because of her skin color, she came to Paris at the age of 19 and became popular playing a burlesque jazz dancer in a concert hall wearing a tight latex skirt. After singing and acting in films as the "adopted daughter of France," she became Europe's highest-paid female star.
Baker's fame makes her the most unlikely candidate for a spy, since she would never be able to travel covertly as a spy, but that's exactly what makes the prospect of her espionage career so enticing. Her huge fame will be her biggest cover. The French secret service hoped that Baker could use her charm, beauty and fame to seduce diplomats at the Nazi embassy and extract secrets from their mouths.
In January 1941, Josephine Baker was ordered to Morocco to establish a liaison and transmission center in Casablanca. When crossing the Mediterranean, the performers in the team brought a total of 28 large pieces of luggage, as well as a large number of pets: monkeys, rats and dogs. The more conspicuous Baker's high-profile travels became, the less suspicious the Nazis became of her. In North Africa, she worked with the French Resistance and obtained passports for Jews fleeing the Nazis in Eastern Europe until June 1941, when she was hospitalized with peritonitis. During her 18-month hospitalization, she underwent multiple surgeries. Because of her serious illness, people thought she was about to die. The black writer Langston Hughes even wrote her obituary himself. After recovering briefly, Josephine Baker resumed her espionage work, so much so that American diplomats and members of the French Resistance gathered around her hospital bed for a meeting.
In November 1942, as part of Operation Torch, she witnessed the landing of American troops in Morocco from her hospital balcony.
But why did the gears of fate send the legendary French female spy Josephine Baker back to Paris in advance?
You know, it was not until October 1944, after the liberation of Paris, that Josephine Baker returned to the city she loved so much and had been away for four years. Dressed in her blue lieutenant's uniform, dotted with gold medals, she sat in the back seat of her car and enjoyed the countless flowers showered on her by the crowds on the Champs Elysées.
However. When she looked through the crowd and met a familiar figure, actress Anneliese Akerman immediately understood. Carol Baker, a female doctor in the North African German Army who was dressed in military uniform, is now publicly identified as Josephine Baker's personal physician.
Except for the superb medical skills that allowed Josephine Baker to recover in advance. Obviously, he wants to gain enough trust from this legendary star female spy. There must be other reasons behind this. So when her casual eyes caught another familiar figure, the answer to the mystery immediately came to light. It was Irene, a Greek female guerrilla who was pretending to be the personal bodyguard of superstar Josephine Baker.
"(The sisters reunited) It's great." Actress Anneliese Akerman couldn't help but murmured to herself.
"(The cast) is really great." Czechoslovak actress Lida Barova also expressed the same emotion.
"So, ladies, here's to a trip to Sicily!" Mrs. Katie immediately looked for opportunities to get closer to the Czechoslovak actress Lida Barova.
"Cheers to the trip to Sicily." Czechoslovak actress Lida Barova also accepted the olive branch offered by Mrs. Katie. The set is also a place of human relationships. It is also the most natural choice to establish a good relationship with the assistant director who holds the real power first.
At this time, the influence of European female stars from Germany, France, Czechoslovakia and other countries was rapidly fermenting. As early as February 1, 1943, the Führer's train, renamed "Brandenburg", had quietly set off. Travel to Sicily, Italy's Mediterranean gateway.
Take the "Head of State Train" without the "Head of State Box" = "B52KDL1 War Machine Locomotive" × 2 + "SdPI 4i-39 Front Air Defense Car" + "Front Luggage Car" + "Command Car" + "Guards Car" + "Front Dining Car" + "Passenger Car" × 2 + "Lunch Car" + "Front Sleeper Car" × 2 + "Bath Car" + "Rear Dining Car" + "Rear Sleeper Car" × 2 + "News Car" + "Rear Luggage Car" + "SdPI 4i-39 rear air defense compartment".
On the speeding train, there is a "passenger car" open to non-military personnel on board.
Mrs. Katie, who was chatting and laughing happily, and several female stars were going through the routine casting process before the filming of an untitled movie.
"Who's next?" Czechoslovak actress Lyda Balova turned her attention to the new file that Mrs. Katie had just opened.
"Ah, she is a female singer from Stockholm." Mrs. Katie read out her Swedish name skillfully: "Eva Karlsen. Nicknamed 'Iceport Canary'."
"Looks good." Black female star Josephine Baker could tell at a glance that she was very experienced.
"The last Ingrid Schüler and the last Gundrun were both singers. I don't understand, are we going to make a musical?" Czechoslovak actress Li Da Barova was a little worried because this was not her strong point.
"The filming of outdoor scenes also involves labor." Mrs. Katie, who had not said a word, was obviously deliberately concealing it.
"Besides?" Czechoslovak actress Lyda Barova also heard the omission in Mrs. Katie's tone.
"Also, we need to figure out one thing." Mrs. Katie didn't seem to be a tight-lipped person. Or deliberately making people think so.
"Is it related to the 'landing'?" Czechoslovak actress Lida Barova also seemed to be suspected of showing off. Using an ambiguous answer deliberately implies that she still maintains a close relationship with "someone". Can learn many unknown secrets. For example, this trip seems to be a "special event" outdoor shooting trip.
This is actually not a secret.
In early 1943, decisive changes had taken place in World War II. In the North African battlefield, the Allies achieved an overwhelming victory. The next stage is the landing operation in southern Europe, which Germany also knows very well. What they didn't know was the exact location where the landing operations would be carried out. Which Mediterranean island will the Allies use as a springboard to launch a large-scale attack on the Italian mainland?
It comes down to it. Landing operations are the obvious target of the next military operation. The problem is that the German High Command cannot determine where the Allied forces will land.
Of course, the largest and least likely target is Sicily.
Because the terrain of Sicily is difficult, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is the main obstacle to attacking the German mainland and clearing the Mediterranean transportation lines. There are more than 300,000 defenders stationed on the island, 14 airports have been built, nearly 100 artillery positions, equipped with more than 1,400 aircraft and thousands of cannons. If they attack forcefully, even if they win, the Allies will have to pay a huge price.
After many sand table simulations, the German High Command came to a reliable conclusion: Even if Sicily could eventually be captured, the heavily damaged Allied forces would no longer be able to launch a large-scale landing campaign in Europe for a long time.
"Soldiers who, deception also."
Precisely because it is the most likely landing target, there is a high probability that it will not be Sicily.
This is almost the consensus of the German High Command and the Führer himself.
In other words, this grand trip to Sicily must also be closely related to the Allied landing battle.
