The air vice marshal paused before replying, as if wanting to be certain Swalcliffe really had finished. ‘I hear what you say, Lord Swalcliffe, and it is not without some merit, but on balance I’m inclined to the same view as Tom: namely that we cannot afford to ignore the V-1 and V-2 programmes. Tim has done some analysis of the detailed answers Kurt gave to the questions we sent.’

The young wing commander opened a notebook. ‘There’s no question that the intelligence we’ve received from Kurt has added significantly to what we know about the weapons. For instance, we now know that the V-1 is to be launched from a special ramp and that it has a maximum flying time of one hour, after which the missile drops to earth and its warhead explodes on impact. He was also able to provide more detail on the V-2: the fuel is a mixture of liquid oxygen and alcohol, and after a minute it can reach a height of around twenty-three miles. It’s probably more accurate than the V-1 and its warhead weighs one ton.’ He spoke for another ten minutes, and as he came to an end, he closed his notebook. ‘Our conclusion is that there are clearly a number of problems facing the programmes, but we do not think this necessarily means they’re insurmountable ones. We think it is possible they can be solved, and therefore both programmes represent a real threat to this country and cannot be ignored.’

‘And may I add,’ Hamilton stood up as he spoke, and moved to the side of the maps and photographs behind him on the wall, ‘that from our point of view, the information Kurt gave on Peenemünde being the single site where both the V-1 and V-2 are being developed and manufactured is of enormous importance: if that was the only intelligence that resulted from Laertes’ trip to Berlin I’d have been delighted. We were simply not aware of this hitherto.’

He picked up a cane and pointed to a map of northern Europe. ‘This is Peenemünde, part of Germany even before the war, on an island called Usedom, south of the island of Rügen, on the Baltic coast. It is about seventy miles due east of Rostock, and the same distance south-west of the Danish island of Bornholm. To the south-east – about sixty-five miles away – is the Polish city of Stettin.’

‘Kurt described it as a massive site, did he not?’

‘He did indeed, Sir Roland.’

‘So I presume reconnaissance has been relatively easy?’

‘Tim?’