ISLA UTGARD, ARGENTINA
9 MARCH, 1943
(12:37 A.M./UTC-3)
* * * * *
The plan--in its highly classified totality--was this.
A Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber would be the first to take off from the HMS REDOUBTABLE II (a modified IMPLACABLE-class aircraft carrier), due to its slower speed. And, after dropping off a Chariot Mark I riding torpedo in the shallows of Bahia Huemul (two miles south of the village of San Carlos de Bariloche), it would head northward toward Lake Traful. Stopping there for a refueling rendezvous with American SIS agents from Buenos Aires.
One hour after the first aircraft's departure, a Grumman Goose flying boat would take off, escorted by a Grumman Bearcat night fighter. And the only passenger aboard that flying boat--aside from Brevet Captain Phillips--would be Sub-lieutenant Alfred ("Just call me 'Alfie' ") Coppersmith. A British naval frogman, of Kalderash gypsy descent, born and raised in the East End of London.
As Major Throckmorton had explained it in their own compartmentalized briefing:
"Sub-leftenant Coppersmith will be driving the Chariot. Once you take off on her, try to travel atop the surface of the lake as long as possible. For, once you're submerged, you'll only have enough nitrox mixture in your breathing apparatus for one hour.* Which is the same duration as the charge in the Chariot's electric motor! Hence, the minimal amount of equipment you can safely tow along with you in your sealskin duffel bags."
At twenty-two hundred hours and forty-five minutes, the night fighter pilot broke radio silence with the pilots of the flying boat.
"Martlet to Barnacle Goose. Martlet to Barnacle Goose. Good news. Repeat: good news! Flying Fish has just informed me that she is finished laying her eggs. She will now grab a bite to eat before returning to the Rookery. Would you care to join her? Over."
"Barnacle Goose to Martlet. Barnacle Goose to Martlet. Would love to! We just have to drop off a couple barnacles first. Over."
"Rodger that, Barnacle Goose. This is Martlet. Over and out.
With that, the Bearcat made a U-turn and headed straight back for the carrier (anchored just outside the Argentine territorial limit). Meanwhile, the flying boat continued on alone to Lake Nahuel Huapi. There, it landed (at twenty-three hundred hours and five minutes) just long enough for Phillips and Coppersmith to quietly slip into the water near the Chariot.
Two minutes afterward, the torpedo-riding commandos were off.
As specified, it took them a full hour to make landfall on the southeastern side of the island code-named "Utgard." Ergo; they abandoned the now-powerless Chariot in five feet of water. Swimming--then wading--ashore through their own efforts. This was immediately followed by usage of the Bowie knives, sheathed to their left hips, to cut open the sewn-shut duffel bags.
By zero hundred hours and seventeen minutes, they were fully dressed in black turtleneck jerseys with matching slacks, boots, watch caps, and burnt cork-smeared faces. Furthermore, they had used foldable spades to bury their wet suits. Then, after inspecting their respective Colt M-1911's (with attachable silencers), they donned their respective backpacks and moved out.
Towards the "Red Cross" facility at the center of the island.
Twenty minutes later, they came to a dead stop when they heard a massive crunching of underbrush from somewhere due west of them. So, naturally, they went to see what it was, as stealthily as possible. This led them toward the right lower corner of an installation surrounded by barbed wire. Making this so-called "refugee relocation center" look more like a prisoner-of-war camp. And when the two men saw what was headed toward the main gate of this installation, their lower jaws dropped like anchors on overly-greased chains!
It was a small army of scantily-clad, blue-eyed blonde giantesses (each about fifty feet tall) carrying a naked, struggling, raven-haired giantess about a hundred feet long.
tbc
Giantess World
Chapter End Notes:
*Nitrox: nitrogen-and-oxygen.
Martlet: actual RAF code-name for the American-built Bearcat.
Martlet: actual RAF code-name for the American-built Bearcat.