The Lady of Zagreb and Bernie's P38 Safety Catch

edited January 2016 in Root
Did Bernie leave the safety catch on or off his P38 when he, inadvertently, left his gun in Dalia's bedroom?

Comments

  • Interesting question.
    Did he anticipate the outcome?
    These are the sort of subtleties that are worth exploring because they add some real depth (and involvement) to the stories.... we readers are treated as having brains...

    In A Man Without Breath we have at the end the interesting question as to the "mistake" made by Dykov when he attempts to say that the motive for killing the two signalmen was not as Admiral Canaris suggested and is shot by Kluge before he can say anything......but was it a mistake?
    A clever quick thinking man he knows his future is bleak.
    Probable questioning by the Gestapo, a concentration camp, and finally death.
    Canaris has already suggested that by the time he has been in Berlin he will have revealed a lot.... this is him setting the scene for Von Kluge?

    On reading carefully one sees that the outcome was what was hoped for.
    Dykov dead at Kluge's hands and Kluge unlikely to be embroiled in any difficulties where he might betray the other conspirators. On the contrary, their now helping cover up his indiscretions - is it likely Dykov had been gathering information and passing it to GRU? Not really, he is a survivor and better GRU knows nothing about him. They would give him ever more difficult taks to perform putting him ever more at risk ... he is just laying low but the suggestion he has been in radio contact with GRU is again to put Kluge under pressure (no mention of his selling out to Hitler) and puts him in their debt.
    It seems Dykov knew the score and knew he could count on Kluge giving him a quick end. He may even have hoped, not knowing about the Hitler assassination plotters, that if Kluge shot him Kluge would be in trouble. But clearly he would know that this would not be the best time to mention the real reason - unless he expected to be shot by Kluge.

    All in all a very nicely plotted and developed plausible end game..... (PS I just can't see Hollywood ever managing to get it right.... too concerned that their audience would be too dumb to understand what was happening).
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