 As head of "Vowi" he had also built up extensive knowledge of IG Farben's main overseas competitors and he was able to supply the government with full details of the operations of Imperial Chemical Industries, a British chemical company that Ilgner had one eye on in the event of Operation Sea Lion being launched.As the war dragged on a Nazi defeat began to look inevitable Ilgner took steps to safeguard his own future.After a bomb struck the Unter den Linten offices in January 1945 Ilgner announced that he could not work under such conditions and, taking all sensitive documented material with him, relocated his office to Frankfurt am Main.