Confidence Game - Fourth Inning
Margaret Bryan, Patti Hutchins
This story overlaps slightly with the events chronicled in our
story Mind Games and continues until just after the events chronicled in our
story Game in Overtime. But this story
was also written in answer to two challenges posted on the Hogan’s Heroes
Smartgroup’s List. So to this end, we have taken up those two challenges and
have attempted to combine them into one story, as well as integrating them into
our continuing ‘Game Universe.’ We again do not make any claims on the original
Hogan’s Heroes’ characters. All other
characters are ours. But again, those
characters are free for anyone to use, if you so choose.
Our rating for this story would be PG-13 for strong language. Enjoy!
Confidence Game
Chapter Four
Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.
George Herbert
Hammelburg,
Hammelburg Telephone Company,
Day Four, April 5, 1943, 2100 Hours
Zilli Werner took off
her coat and the scarf covering her hair. She hung them up on one of the hooks
at the back of the cramped room that served as the telephone operator’s
cloakroom. Two other women soon joined
her there, as their shift was about ready to begin. This was where Zilli spent her evenings, six
nights a week, from
And now it seemed, that it was also going to allow her to supply her father and
his contacts in the underground with some desired intelligence about the
Gestapo in the surrounding area.
Although somewhat anxious about this new task, Zillie was truly happy to
help her father. She had certainly been
surprised, but also pleased when he admitted to her that he was involved with
the resistance in the area. Zillie,
herself, had always thought that the dogma being preached by Hitler was
despicable. And she knew her father had felt the same way, only she never would
have guessed that he’d involve himself with such deceitfulness, no matter how
strongly he felt.
Zillie now felt empowered with her father’s support behind her. It was time to
do her part in putting a stop to Hitler and the fools who supported him. She would do whatever she could to aid those
who fought against the Nazi Regime. Can you imagine, she thought to
herself, telling folks that only those with blond hair and blue eyes were
acceptable breeding stock! Even Hitler himself was brown eyed with black
hair. Where did this obsession of the
perfect Aryan specimen come from? It’s insane, but then so many of his other
‘policies’ are equally insane.
Zillie wended her way to stand behind the operator station to the far right
of the small workroom. As soon as Bernadette Adler stood from the station,
ending her last connection, Zilli slid onto the stool to take the woman’s
place.
“It’s been a busy night already,” Bernadette informed her with a smirk, “for
Herr Faust from out Diebach way, that is. He keeps calling Frau Kaufman. It is
so cute!”
“Has Frau Kaufman agreed to Herr Faust’s advances yet?” Zilli asked with a
giggle, well aware that it was common practice for the operators to listen in
on calls. They all tended to gossip,
amongst themselves, between calls. Zilli
knew that there was very little going on in the surrounding area that these
woman didn’t know.
“Nien. She keeps hanging up on him, just
when he’s getting to the good part too!” Bernadette heaved a sigh, though her
eyes were laughing. “Otherwise the night
has been quiet, too quiet.”
“You mean that Major Muenich from Creglingen hasn’t called in tonight?” Zilli
asked with her own smirk, knowing that the other operator was in love with the
Gestapo Major’s voice, not to mention having a secret desire to marry the man
if she could ever get her hands on him.
“Nein Zilli. No military activity on my
board tonight at all,” Bernadette replied sadly. “Though Heike had taken several calls from
Gestapo Headquarters in Gerolzhoten during the day. Although it appears that
nothing earth shattering occurred.” Bernadette reached down past Zilli to pick
up her used coffee cup, and throw it into the trash bin under the operator
station, while offering her replacement adieu, “Well have a good night,
Zilli. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Danke, Bernadette. Good night,” Zillie replied, just as her board lit up with
an incoming call. “Operator, how may I
direct your call…”
For a while, at least during their quiet periods, Zillie kept the other two
operators she shared the shift with gossiping about Bernadette’s fascination
with Gestapo Major Sepp Muenich. Their conversation continued with each woman
offering her own opinion about the Gestapo Officers stationed in the area. It
was generally easy to get to know the men’s voices as all had to report into
the Gestapo Area Commander’s Office in Hammelburg fairly often. It had actually
been easy for Zilli to develop a list, as she’d been asked to by her father, of
the Gestapo officers that lead small detachments nearby. But she was surprised
that she was also learning much more about the other types of military presence
in the area as well, including the construction of a new anti aircraft gun
emplacement in Creglingen. It was just that before now, it hadn’t been
something she’d been paying any attention too.
“Zillie,” Agatha began speaking excitedly after unplugging her current call,
“Did you know that Major Krueger was Colonel Vogel’s brother-in-law?”
“Nein!” Zillie replied surprised. Major
Gustav Krueger had made it to her ‘short’ list of Gestapo officers to give to
her father. Although now, she mentally
crossed him right off the list, as the citizens of Hammelburg certainly didn’t
need to inherit another Vogel! “How do you know? What has happened?”
“I just took a call from Major Krueger to Colonel Vogel at his home. Apparently Krueger’s wife, Marie, is pregnant
and has been having some difficulty today.
Herr Vogel appears anxious about his sister’s health is all,” Agatha
replied.
“Ah,” Zillie began but was shocked silent by the sounds of two explosions that
were close enough to set the windows in the Hammelburg Telephone Company
shuddering. “What was that?” Zillie
asked frightened. “There was no air raid warning.” She couldn’t help herself
and rose to peek out the blackened curtains and into the street. “Oh no,” she
said in a panic. “There’s a large fire at Gestapo Headquarters. It’s in the
parking lot.”
Before any one of the three women could react, their boards lit up like
Christmas trees, with concerned citizens reacting to the unexpected
explosions. Zillie reacted before her
companions. “Agatha, keep your line clear for emergency calls. Elena, contact
the fire department. I’ll try and clear the rest of these calls…”
All three women practically attacked their operator stations trying to ease the
fears of their neighbors as well as getting help to those who might have been
injured.
It had turned out to be, not such a quiet night after all…
Hammelburg,
Luft Stalag 13, Compound,
For the third time in a week Gestapo Colonel Vogel returned to Stalag 13,
although his time he brought with him two trucks containing close to two dozen
men. Both trucks slid to a stop in the
mud outside of the Kommandant’s quarters.
It had been raining hard for nearly three hours, and the compound was a
morass of ankle deep mud. The soldiers
in the back of each truck exited, some slipping in the uncertain footing, and
formed ranks awaiting orders from their commanding officer.
Sergeant Matthias Duerr, who was standing guard outside of Kommandant Klink’s
quarters, met Colonel Vogel and Captain Schotz as they approached. “Colonel Vogel, sir,” Duerr said with a hasty
salute. “Is there a problem? What can I
do for you?”
“I need to speak with Kommandant Klink, immediately. Wake him,” Vogel ordered imperiously waving
the Sergeant ahead of him into the building.
“At once, Herr Colonel!” Sergeant Duerr replied with another salute before he
fairly sprinted through the Kommandant’s door.
By the time that Vogel and Schotz had entered Klink’s sitting room they could
hear voices from what had to be Klink’s bedroom. Soon the Kommandant, clothed hastily in his
dressing gown, joined his surprise guests. “Colonel Vogel! It is
“What I want…” Vogel began dangerously. “Is for you to call an immediate roll
call. I wish to personally assess that
all of your prisoners are accounted for.
I believe you are missing at least one tonight,” Vogel accused.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Colonel. As you
know, we have never had a successful escape from Stalag 13. In fact, we had a complete roll call a little
less than two hours ago. Every prisoner
was accounted for at that time,” Klink adamantly informed the Gestapo
Colonel. “What makes you think that a
prisoner of mine is missing?”
“There was a bombing at Gestapo Headquarters tonight. Three of my men were killed and a number of
others injured. I know that your Colonel
Hogan was involved, and I will prove it!” Vogel snarled enraged.
“That is absolutely ridiculous, Colonel! You will not find your guilty party
here. But just so you will realize that
finally… I will order another roll call immediately,” Klink stated
emphatically, but not very happily. He
could easily see that Vogel was soaking wet, so it still had to be raining
outside. He just knew that Hogan would
be complaining in the morning about two roll calls in one night, and in the
pouring rain of all things. Regardless,
Klink turned to Sergeant Duerr to say, “Order a roll call, Sergeant.”
“Jawohl, at once!” Duerr responded and turned to exit.
“Wait! I want my men to accompany each of your barracks guards personally to
inspect and count the prisoners,” Vogel ordered.
Sergeant Duerr looked to Kommandant Klink for confirmation. Klink sighed inwardly, nodded at Duerr and
replied to Colonel Vogel. “Of course,
Colonel. But be assured that neither you
nor your men will find anything amiss here.”
Duerr left Klink’s quarters going at once outside to carry out the orders.
Klink returned to his room to dress quickly, shuddering as he pulled on his
still damp boots. He joined Vogel in the
compound to watch the sleepy, unhappy, and wet prisoners assemble for the
second time that evening. Shortly after
the entire prison population had come to stand in neat rows, the barracks
guards, each one accompanied by a Gestapo officer, began a methodical
accounting of the prisoners. Each
prisoner was inspected thoroughly by the Gestapo, as unknown to the guards of
Stalag 13… they were looking for a man who had been shot not two hours
previously at Gestapo Headquarters.
The inspection went on for nearly two hours. And the prisoners stood waiting,
while the rain never let up. Colonel
Vogel had personally examined the men in Colonel Hogan’s barracks. When he was finished with his inspection, and
had not found what he was looking for, he stood staring at Hogan wishing for
any kind of reaction from the American.
Hogan maintained a stoic expression as the rain continued to beat down
and although soaked to the skin, and still nursing the deep body-ache gained by
his close encounter with Vogel’s staff car, he carefully did not make eye
contact with the German. And he got a perverse pleasure out of knowing that
even though he and his men were stuck standing out in the ran for hours, so
were the Germans.
After the final report came in, and having gained nothing from the evening,
Vogel snarled angrily at the American Colonel, spun on his heel and sloshed
across to where Kommandant Klink stood.
“Are you quite finished, Colonel?” Klink inquired, snidely. “As you can plainly see, all of my prisoners
are present and accounted for. As they
were four hours ago. As they will be
four hours from now.
Instead of replying to Klink, Vogel raised his voice to order his own men back
to the truck. “Fall in! Return to base!”
I will catch that man one day! He is as guilty of complicity as any felon I
have ever met. But I must admit I
believe that he is too intelligent and crafty of an operative to sabotage the
same location three nights running.
Hmm, perhaps Hogan is not the one responsible for the petty vandalism of the
past few days. But I will certainly
discover exactly what Hogan is guilty of.
It is only a matter of time.
Hammelburg, Germany,
Home of Ludwig Bieber, Wankelstrasse
Day Five, April 6, 1943, 0220 Hours
Ludwig Bieber slowly woke from a self-induced alcoholic stupor. Lifting his
head from the kitchen table where he had passed out hours before, he realized
that he had not succeeded in his attempt to drink himself into oblivion.
Ludwig’s only desire after starting to read a letter from his old college
roommate, Ernst Rauch, an administrator at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institute of
Neurological Research in Berlin, was to die. Now that he knew the whole story,
all he wanted was to finally join his wife, Marta, his daughter, Karlise, and
his granddaughter, Ilka, in heaven.
Where they were sent by those, those…
Unable to finish that thought, and overcome as he was by an uncontrollable surge of grief and guilt, Ludwig
allowed his head to sag back
onto the table, and onto his still crossed
arms. A lonely man’s tears flowed
steadily, until suddenly, a bought of nausea had the older man jump up from the
table and stagger haphazardly toward his bathroom. Ludwig barely made it to a
position leaning over the toilet bowl, before that wave of nausea caused him to
throw up… repeatedly.
The distraught elder German stood hunched over, facing the toilet, for
uncountable minutes until the nausea and dizziness began to fade. After slowly
standing and regaining his balance, he went to the sink, splashed water over
his face, and took a small drink to remove the taste of bile still lingering
there. Looking up into the mirror over the sink, another wave of grief and
guilt assaulted him. The man he saw staring back at him, was the coward that
had fled
Using more cold water from the faucet, Ludwig wiped his face with both hands,
possibly trying to wipe away the image that he now had of himself. I’m so
sorry Marta, Karlise, Ilka. And, of course you, Reinhold. Can you all forgive
me? I knew things were not right in
Until you got sick again, Marta.
I should have just taken you home to Hammelburg. Everyone here understood your
condition. But with the urging of my fellow professors, as well as Ernst, I had
you admitted to the
With tears streaming down his face, Ludwig fled the bathroom, no longer able to
look at his reflection. Although, upon returning to the kitchen,
Ludwig’s heart began to pound in time with his head when his gaze fell on
Ernst’s letter… the letter that had instigated his failed attempt at
self-destruction. With his heart consumed with guilt and sorrow,
he accepted that he would now have to live the rest of his life with
the knowledge gained from his old college roommate. Ludwig had come to realize
that he was too much of a coward, and too inept, to ever again, make an attempt
to take his own life. He now accepted that the rest of his life would be spent
in a self-made purgatory… as a dead man among the living.
Picking up the only half-read letter, he asked out loud, “Ernst, how could you
have known all this, for all this time, and not told me? You were my friend, did
that not mean anything to you? But I suppose, I already know why. Power and
position was all that seemed important to anyone in
How quickly one’s life can change, huh Ernst?
Ludwig almost laughed, knowing as he did, that he had just read Ernst Rauch’s
obituary the day before yesterday. An odd feeling of curiosity eclipsed his
remorse and grief, even if just for a moment. He now wanted to read the rest of
Ernst’s letter, hoping to get an explanation for the man’s change of heart.
Ludwig had already assumed the letter was a deathbed confession of sorts… but
he just needed to hear the words from the man’s mouth. He picked up the letter,
and quickly turned the pages until he reached the place where he had stopped
reading last night, for he could not again read of ‘shock treatments’, ‘starvation’,
‘racial purification’, ‘castration’,
‘sterilization’, ‘murder’, nor ‘infant euthanasia’, especially since he now
believed he was the one truly responsible for allowing all that to befall his
family.
Although as he began to read
the remainder of the letter, a spark of anger developed within him, eclipsing
even more of the remorse and grief, for Ernst Rauch only wrote to defend
himself and the others in Berlin, who as he described, were involved in the
glorious pursuit of ‘cleansing the nation
of impure and undesirable elements’.
Ludwig, fighting off another wave of nausea, now clearly saw, that in addition
to the horrors that had befallen his family, there were very many more people
‘in the know’ behind the eventual loss of his position at the University as
well. For Ludwig knew that that had only happened after he started to
aggressively look for answers to his wife’s death, his daughter and
son-in-law’s murder, and his granddaughter’s disappearance.
How blind could I have been? What kind of man lets himself be intimidated
like that? I should have done more.
It was just that Ludwig had honestly believed at the time, that he could trust
Ernst. And after knowing that he had indeed angered the powers that be in
We were friends, Ernst. I thought I could trust you.
Of course, I am now not surprised that I heard nothing from you, even after my
repeated phone calls early on. I guess after that, I have only myself to blame
though, as I buried myself here in Hammelburg. Why? I do not know. Fear and
grief, maybe. Although, I would not have imagined what you just wrote to me,
Ernst. I only had thoughts of a mere accident in Marta’s death and robbery in Karlise
and Reinhold’s murder. As for Poor Ilka, I wasn’t sure what to think, but to
ever assume that all four deaths were the result our government’s mandate to
maintain racial purity…
It is so far from anything I would have thought could have happen to my family.
Until now…
Ludwig crumpled the letter
in his fist, anger and sorrow getting the best of him. He took the letter into
his living room to where his fireplace stood. Kneeling down, he took a long
match from the container on the hearth, and struck it. As the small spark
ignited the match, he glanced at the letter in his hand, and as if somehow that
lighted match struck a cord within him, he became mesmerized by what he was
holding.
Ludwig blew out the lighted match, collapsed onto the floor, and un-crumpled
the letter. He realized that this letter was the only real connection to his
family that he had left. As a new round of tears streaked his face, he took
careful strides in flattening the letter, and trying desperately to remove
every crinkle.
And somewhere in the back of his mind, although not yet a concrete notion, he
knew that this letter also served as evidence of his government’s evil
objective, an objective that had decimated his and possibly many other
families.
Hammelburg,
On the way to Geoff and Helga Hirsch’s Apartment,
“Papers,” a German Lieutenant asked abruptly of Oskar Freiling after stopping
the doctor’s car at the roadblock in the center of Hammelburg.
“I’ve got an emergency, Lieutenant,” Doc Freiling stated purposely while
handing the young German his papers, which thankfully, because he was a
physician, allowed him to be out during curfew hours. Oskar usually had no
problem making his way at night for emergencies, as most in Hammelburg knew
him. Although, this Lieutenant is new to this posting. And that didn’t
help Oskar’s nerves as the soldier was taking his own sweet time examining the
papers… and most especially since this trip across town was not actually a
medical emergency. But, an emergency of another type altogether.
“Ja, Ja,” the soldier replied half-heartedly as he scanned the papers. Barely
looking up at Oskar, the Lieutenant offered, “Everything seems in order, Herr
Doctor. You may go.”
“Danke, Lieutenant,” Oskar replied quickly and drove off at what he hoped did
not appear as panic speed, but rather, well within the limits of emergency
speed. “Oh Geoff,” Oskar exhaled out loud to himself. “What have you gotten
yourself into? What have you gotten me into? I now have to figure out a way
into your apartment building to warn Helga of your condition and make it appear
that I’m really responding to a frantic call from Helga about your health…
which, of course, she never made.”
Oskar fell silent, concentrating hard on how to make it passed the apartment
building’s manager, especially since Ina Schatz was one of the biggest
busybodies in Hammelburg. I somehow have to keep her from following me up to
Geoff’s apartment. I’m not sure how to hide the fact that Helga doesn’t know
I’m coming. More than likely, all the lights in the apartment will be off, and
Helga sleeping. It just doesn’t lend itself to the manifestation of an
emergency. Mein Gott, what do I say? My only saving grace is that Ina is sure
to know of the injuries Geoff sustained earlier in the day. I’ll just have to
convince her that he’s having a reaction to the medication I have him on.
I just hope I can persuade her.
Oskar’s heart began pounding as he pulled his car to a stop in front of Geoff
and Helga’s apartment building. Taking a deep breath, he approached the
entrance where he’d have to contact Ina Schatz first, as there was no way,
without her pass key, to get into the building, nor into the Hirsch’s
apartment, especially since he didn’t want to alarm Helga, nor did he want her
sprinting across the apartment on her ‘not’ broken ankle, in case Ina Schatz
did decide to follow him.
After ringing the manager’s doorbell a number of times, he heard footsteps just
inside the apartment. As Ina peeked through the curtained front window,
obviously to see if she could identify her early morning surprise visitor,
Oskar voiced his concern, loudly, “Frau Schatz, it’s me, Doctor Freiling. Oskar
Freiling, Ina. There’s an emergency. Geoff Hirsch needs my help. Please let me
in.”
“Mein Gott, Oskar,” Ina exclaimed as she exited her apartment and opened the
main door of the building. “You certainly know how to frighten an old woman.
Now, what’s this emergency? Geoff Hirsch, you say?”
“Ja, Ina,” Oskar agreed. “I need your pass key, seems Geoff is not doing well
on the medication I gave him yesterday. Helga called me in a panic.”
“Ah, I knew he wasn’t well when he came home early yesterday,” Ina assumed.
“Although, he never said what was wrong…” Ina replied with an open question in
her voice, hoping to get an explanation from the doctor, but was disappointed.
“I can explain later, Ina. I must get upstairs now,” Oskar said anxiously
extending his hand for the key.
“Of course,” Ina said turning back into her apartment and reaching for the set
of keys always hanging by the door. Handing them to the doctor, she asked. “Why
didn’t you just ring the Hirsch’s apartment? Not that I mind being waken up in
the middle of the night for an emergency, it’s just…” she offered as the doctor
practically disappeared up the stairs.
“I asked Helga to stay with her father, Ina,” Oskar said cutting her off, while
concocting an explanation as he left the older woman where she stood. “I was
worried for him. And I didn’t need to be treating two people tonight. Helga
isn’t all that steady on her broken foot yet. I could just see her end up on
the floor in her rush to get to the door. And what good would she do Geoff
then, re-injuring herself?”
Oskar disappeared around the bend in the stairs to the second floor with Ina’s
‘Ah, I see’ wafting in the stairwell. As the doctor made it to the third floor
and the Hirsch’s apartment, he was breathing heavy, but was relieved that Ina
Schatz had indeed stayed behind. Gently putting the key into the lock, Oskar
turned it softly as to forgo as much noise as possible. Finally, he opened the
door and stepped into the darkened hallway, only to be hugged, and scared half
to death, by a small blur that had to be Helga.
“Oh, Papa!” Helga shouted, taking who she thought was her father into a huge
embrace. “What have you been doing? It’s dangerous to be out at this time of
night!”
“Helga!” Oskar offered surprised, and quickly broke away from the grip Helga
had on him. Although, as he saw Helga realize that her father was not the one
that had just made an entrance, he grabbed onto the young woman’s arms, and
offered, “Helga, it’s me, Oskar. It’s only me. It’s okay.”
“Oh no, Oskar!” Helga almost wailed after actually ‘seeing’ her companion.
“What are you doing here? Please, please tell me Papa is all right. Please?”
“Helga, your father is alive,” Oskar spouted quickly. “But he was shot multiple
times tonight.” Taking her into his own embrace and leading her into the living
room, Oskar continued softly, “The pattern of the wounds indicates they were
most likely caused by machinegun fire.” Pushing her onto the soft cloth couch,
he explained, “I promise that he will be okay. He was still unconscious,
although stable, when I left to come here. But you need to know, that he had
managed to find his way, all alone, to my house after being injured. That is at
least good news, as it means that his injuries were not as bad as they could
have been. Although the loss of blood…”
“What happened?” Helga interrupted anxiously, not really wanting to know any
more of the gory details.
“I don’t have the full story, Helga. Your father passed out before he could
tell me anything. I can only imagine that his injuries were the result of some
encounter with the authorities, rather than some random robbery.” Oskar shook
his head negatively. “I’m sorry Helga, it just doesn’t make any sense that
Geoff was out so late at night, unless he was up to no good. Normally I’d say
it’s just not like him… but after yesterday afternoon…”
“You said he would be okay?” Helga again interrupted, asking nervously as her
body began to shake from the culmination of surprise, shock and fear assaulting
her senses.
“Ja, Helga,” Oskar assured. “He will. Physically, he will have a long recovery.
The bullets did some major damage to his left leg. Walking will be a struggle
for some time to come.” Sitting himself on the couch next to Helga, he put his
hand around her shoulder. “Your father’s other wounds will heal in time, but
I’m afraid that that’s not all we need to think about.”
Helga just looked curiously at Oskar, not sure at all what he meant, especially
since she wasn’t quite thinking clearly herself at the moment.
“There is one thing that’s certain here Helga. And it makes me sad to say it,
but your father has certainly made enemies now.” Oskar gave Helga a gentle kiss
on the forehead. “There will be no way to hide his injuries. And since someone
will be looking for the man they wounded in an altercation… Geoff can’t be
where that someone can find him.”
“What are you saying, Oskar?” Helga asked still overwhelmed.
Again, Oskar gave her another small kiss, though this time on the cheek. “I’m
saying that I think your father needs to leave Hammelburg, Helga. He just can’t
stay here.” Oskar stood and began to pace the small living room. “I haven’t
talked to the others yet and I have no real plan. It’s just that, I’m afraid,
we will have to come up with a plan to cover for your father’s disappearance.”
Stopping to face his young companion, and seeing the tears appear in her eyes,
he said, “I’m sorry, Helga. I see no other way. Too many in town know your
father. He cannot be laid up for months without someone figuring out what
happened, nor can he just disappear with out an explanation. People will
notice. And then you become a target as well.” Seeing the fear in Helga’s eyes
Oskar tried to say something comforting. “Maybe things will change when we get
the whole story from your father. Maybe it was just a robbery.” But I’m so
afraid that it wasn’t. Not with how very angry Geoff was yesterday afternoon. I
know in my gut that he was up to something last night. And we need to be ready to find him a safe
haven.
Helga, speechless, only nodded.
“Good,” Oskar assured and bent over and took her again by the shoulders. “First
things first. You need to call Ursula, and in a panic ask for me to come here
at once. Say your father is not breathing right. Ursula is waiting on your
call. It will give some credence to my trip here.” I hope. Oskar picked
Helga up off the couch and pointed her in the direction of the phone, and was
glad, in an awful way, that Helga was still in shock, as it would make her
phone call seem more real.
After Helga hung up the phone…
Oskar continued with the next part of his partial plan. “Okay, Helga. I’m hoping
that since the authorities do not appear to be in a mad rush of searching the
town, nor has anyone as yet traced your father to my door, that maybe, just
maybe, Geoff got away from his assailant unrecognized. So, on that assumption,
I need you to stay here today. We need to have everyone think your father is
home, but ill. I will stay with you for a bit, so it seems plausible that he is
indeed that ill. And we can be sure that Ina will let everyone know that as
well. Then, when I leave, my plan is to go home, check on your father, and
hopefully, if he’s awake, get the full story. Then I will go directly to the
cobbler shop and put a ‘closed due to illness’ sign on the door. That way, I
can easily use that as an excuse to make contact with Heinrich and Oskar
Schnitzer at Heinrich’s store. Hopefully together, we will come up with how to
solve this situation. Okay?”
Helga again only nodded.
Oskar, shaking his head took Helga into another embrace, which caused her to
breakdown into sobs. “We will find a way to make this work Helga. I promise, we
will.” Oskar led Helga, who was still sobbing, back to the couch, and held her
until it was time for him to leave.
Luft Stalag 13, Colonel Hogan’s Quarters,
Colonel Hogan was sitting at his desk contemplating the decision he’d made to
give up the names of some of his contacts. Granted he did trust the two men he
had divulged those names to. Oskar Schnitzer, Felix Unger, and their respective
groups, had proven themselves many times. And now… all were willing to do more.
Hogan knew deep inside that it was truly better for his organization if his
civilians could broaden and combine the myriad abilities of different cells,
but at the same time it was eating away at his gut. The more Hogan thought
about how easily this whole crazy operation could come crashing down on them,
the more he felt his stomach twist into tighter and tighter knots. I’ll
probably die of a bleeding ulcer before this war is over, forget getting caught
by the Nazis…
“Colonel,” Hogan heard Kinch call after hearing a knock on his door. “Can I talk to you, sir?”
“Sure, Kinch,” Hogan said almost glad for the interruption, although, he had
half expected Kinch and Carter to enter together. When he saw that it was just Kinch, he could
help but give him some grief. “So,
Sergeant, where’s your shadow?” he asked with a smirk.
“Carter is running some errands for me,” Kinch explained. “I really need to talk to you about him,
Colonel. I had hoped to, yesterday. But after Vogel’s visit, I thought I’d just
hold off until today. Are you feeling
better today? I noticed that you still seemed pretty sore last night after two hours
of standing outside in the pouring rain.”
“Yeah. I’m much better this
morning. Just some left over
bruises. Landing on the hood of a
Gestapo staff car certainly leaves something to be desired. Though, it figures that it would stop raining
just as Klink dismissed us,” Hogan answered.
“Yeah,” Kinch agreed and then became quiet.
“So, Kinch,” Hogan answered getting worried when his friend clammed up. “What’s this with Carter? Is there a
problem?”
“Well. That’s hard to say, Colonel,”
Kinch admitted nervously. “Remember how
you told me that he was trying to hide from Matthews and his interviews?”
“Yeah,” Hogan replied expectantly.
“Well. I think I found out why,” Kinch
said quietly, shaking his head.
“What is it, Kinch? It can’t be all that bad,” Hogan said matter of factly. Or
could it?
“Well, sir,” Kinch admitted. “I found
out that our shy kid from
“What?!?!” Hogan asked dumbfounded.
“Carter? Andrew Carter is a chemical explosives expert?”
“Yes, Colonel,” Kinch continued. “It
seems that way. The problem is that
Carter is terrified that he’s gonna kill someone. He knows he’s clumsy, Colonel. He just
doesn’t want to be responsible for people’s lives. I think that the only reason that admission
fell from his lips is that we were just talking casually. He told me about how he blew up his high
school science lab after I jokingly told him you were worried about him blowing
up stuff with his chemistry set.”
“We could really use some homemade explosives,” Hogan thought out loud. “We’re still waiting on
“You know, Colonel,” Kinch said. “I
probably should agree. But there’s just
this feeling I have. The kid I’ve seen
in the past few days is so different from that nervous kid that almost killed
me. I think it’s the pressure,
Colonel. I haven’t once asked him for
anything other than errands. He’s
admitted all this stuff to me on his own.
And with a confidence that I’ve never seen in him.”
“So what are you suggesting?” Hogan asked a little accusingly.
“I’m thinking that if I keep it as casual as possible, maybe coming up with a
reason we might need the explosives. Not
really asking him, but just saying it’s important,” Kinch schemed. “Then maybe I can get him to prepare some
stuff. But I’ll just try keeping the
pressure off.”
“Hell, Kinch. I’m not sure I’m happy
about Carter playing with explosives,” Hogan hedged. “But go ahead. Try.
It couldn’t hurt. No strike that,
it could kill. But, if you really think
Carter can handle it. I’ll trust
you. I just won’t go anywhere near
him. I wouldn’t want to make him too
edgy.”
“Good idea, Colonel,” Kinch agreed too quickly, and watched as a dejected look
appeared on his commander’s face. “Um,
sorry. No offense, Colonel, but staying
away from Carter would probably be the best idea. You have him so nervous as it is right now.”
“Okay, Kinch. Okay,” Hogan agreed
deflated. “Just be careful.”
Munich, Germany,
SS Headquarters, Office of the late General Stefan Geist,
Day Five, April 6, 1943 1005 Hours
After a good night’s rest in his hotel room and a wonderful breakfast
Preffrieger returned to the Munich office ready to begin an investigation into
the last case file that Major Eckold had researched. His investigation of a small local resistance
cell had ultimately killed not only him, but also nearly every other SS officer
involved with it. He had spoken with
Captain Schunck after Private Tieg fled from him the day before, but
unfortunately the Captain had been unable to shed any more light on the subject,
other than what would had been open knowledge to the entire staff. Schunck had not been present when the events
had unfolded, and had no first hand knowledge of any of it, but Preffrieger
knew that there had to be something further to uncover that would shed light
onto what had almost decimated the Munich SS.
Preffrieger slapped the file onto the desk, placed his full coffee mug beside
it and seated himself in the office chair.
Today he spared not a glance outside at the glorious scenery beyond the
window, but went quickly to work, hell-bent on finding the answers to this
mystery.
Farmland outside of
Hammelburg, Germany,
Werner Kemp’s Farm,
Day Five, April 6, 1943, 1020 Hours
Werner Kemp sat in his kitchen with his daughter Zillie waiting on the arrival
of his fellow underground members. An emergency meeting had been called, but as
yet, he didn’t have any specifics. The phone call he received from Oskar
Freiling was very quick and to the point, or more readily, not to the point.
The doctor called to confirm his house-call appointment at Werner’s for
“What do you think is wrong, Papa?” Zillie asked.
“I don’t know,” Werner replied, not really wanting to discuss it with his
daughter.
“I can stay and join you,” Zillie offered, knowing full-well her father had had
a hard enough time asking her to gather that information about the Gestapo. So
she expected his answer, to her offer, would be no.
“No, Zillie,” Werner said quickly. “You have done enough already. I will pass
the information you’ve discovered on. You need do no more. Go get some sleep.
Everything will be fine.”
“I can help, Papa. I’m not a little girl any more,” Zillie retorted heatedly.
“I said no, Zillie,” Werner reprimanded, and then stated emphatically, “The
answer is no.”
Zillie sighed, rose from the kitchen table, gave her father a small kiss on the
forehead, and said, “Some day, Papa. I will prove that I am more capable than
you believe.” She left the kitchen and headed to her room to get some sleep.
With her schedule as it was, she generally slept during the morning hours, and
did her chores in the late afternoon anyway.
Werner did not reply to his daughter’s terse statement, although his heart sank
as he watched her walk away. I have no doubt that you will, Zillie. But I
know it is a day I will regret. In my heart, I feel that you’ll be lost to me
when that day comes. I’m only trying to keep you safe. Please understand…that I
could not live without you.
Werner finally heard an automobile approaching…
He was expecting Oskar Freiling, although he wasn’t quite sure how the others
in his group were to arrive, as it would appear rather obvious if everyone
showed up in vehicles or even all at the same time.
Exiting through his back door, he greeted the doctor, “Good morning, Oskar. I’m
glad you could make our appointment this morning. I’m still not feeling as well
as I should.” As he reached the older man, Werner whispered, “What’s wrong?”
“Ah, Werner, you’re looking much better,” Oskar offered out loud, although
neither man expected to be overheard as far out of town as they were, but they
had all agreed to be as careful as possible. Finally the doctor whispered,
“We’re in a mess, Werner. Geoff Hirsch is in trouble. Come. I’ll explain when
the others arrive.”
Oskar Freiling looked around to make sure he saw no one, and entered the barn
as he would for the evening meetings, followed closely by Werner. Both men were
startled to find Hermann Schlick and Heinrich Berger already in the barn.
“I never heard either of you arrive,” Werner stated anxiously, with his heart
pumping a little harder than normal.
“That is a good thing, Werner,” Heinrich replied. “Although, our intention was
not to give you a heart attack.” Heinrich turned to Oskar Freiling, and asked
without any preamble, “Did Geoff regain consciousness? Was he able to tell you
anything?”
“Heinrich,” Oskar answered. “Geoff will be okay. He is awake, and has told me
much.” Oskar started to shake his head negatively. “It is not good news, but I
do not want to have to repeat myself. Let’s wait for Oskar.”
“But…” Heinrich replied.
“Not buts,” Oskar stated. “I know he is a friend, Heinrich. He is to us all. We
will wait.”
Heinrich said nothing more, only hung his head, and sat down on one of the
benches that Werner had scattered around the barn.
Thankfully, no one had to wait too much longer…
Oskar Schnitzer entered the barn, breathing heavily, “I’m sorry to be late.
It’s much harder making my way here on foot during the day, so much more
activity to avoid. Forgive me.” As the older German found his own seat on a
bench, he sighed, “So Oskar, how is Geoff. Did he regain consciousness? Was he
able to tell you anything?”
“Geoff is awake, and has told me what happened,” Oskar Freiling began. “It is
not good. But let us start at the beginning, for I know poor Werner here is the
one most in the dark about what happened, as I suspect Heinrich you and Hermann
have already talked on your way here, ja?”
Heinrich only nodded.
“Well, first off,” Oskar began. “Whether any of you can believe this or not,
Geoff is our vandal. He’s been the one slashing tires, and cutting the break
lines of those Gestapo vehicles. And last night, after becoming even angrier
because of the beating he took from Colonel Vogel, as well as learning that
Helga, and we all, have kept our little secret from him… he decided on his own,
to continue his vandalism hoping to distract the Gestapo from the work we are
doing to remove Vogel from Hammelburg. He was the one who caused the Gestapo’s
vehicles to explode last night by igniting one of the automobile’s gas tanks.
Fortunately, he was able to get away. Unfortunately, he was hit by machine gun
fire in his attempt to get away. How he made it to my house still amazes me.
And how he wasn’t caught or killed amazes me even more.”
Oskar Freiling exhaled heavily and found his own seat. “He will recover…”
“Excuse me, Oskar,” Doc Schnitzer interrupted. “I think I can explain why Geoff
was able to get away undiscovered.” Oskar shook his head. “He is just plain
lucky that Colonel Vogel suspects Colonel Hogan of every wrongdoing in town. It
seems that when the Gestapo couldn’t locate Geoff’s trail because of the heavy
rain, they immediately went to Stalag 13. Colonel Hogan’s note this morning
says as much. He and his men were made to stand out in the pouring rain last
night for hours while Vogel and his men searched for ‘something’. Colonel Hogan
has just asked us to keep our ears open for information about what that
‘something’ was, nothing more.”
“So Geoff is not being sought by the Gestapo,” Werner interjected. “That is
good, ja?”
“No, it only buys us a little time,” Doc Freiling replied. “Geoff will recover,
but he has a long, long road to travel. His left leg was badly damaged. It will
be impossible to hide his injury. Months of rehabilitation will surely bring
too much attention to him. And we also have to worry for Helga as well. I’m
sorry, Werner. The others know of my idea. The only way we have to save Geoff
is for us to find a way that he can leave Hammelburg undetected.”
“And your plan is what?” Werner asked quietly.
Oskar deferred to Heinrich, by nodding in his direction.
“Well, Werner. Both Oskars and I had a quick discussion earlier this morning.
We have to make it appear that Geoff has been killed somehow. It is the only
way that we believe both he and Helga will be free and clear of any suspicion.
And we are hoping that Colonel Hogan can help move Geoff out of the area.
Granted, until Oskar had talked to Geoff, we were planning all this with the
hope that last night would be somehow explainable, and we would not have to do
anything. But clearly, that is now not the case.”
“Again, your plan is what?” Werner repeated, not quite sure what to think. “You
all know, I think, that we don’t have all that much experience in this type of
thing. I want to help Geoff as much as any of you, but…”
Heinrich looked to Hermann before beginning his ex planation.“Hermannand I
have come up with a plan. We have been together since early morning, making
arrangements.” Heinrich fell silent, as an unexpected wave of emotion took him
off-guard.
Hermann came forward, put a hand to his friend’s shoulder, and continued for
him. “It is our intention to cause another explosion. This time large enough to
destroy much of Geoff’s cobbler shop.” Hermann squeezed Heinrich’s shoulder
tightly. “And which will also, if we can pull it off what we have planned, do
as much or more damage to Heinrich’s store, as they share the same storefront.”
“You are willing to lose your livelihood in this, Heinrich?” Werner asked
somewhat disbelievingly. “Even after
rebuilding once already.”
“It is something I must do, Werner.” Heinrich looked around the room at his
companions. “I owe Geoff everything for that livelihood. It’s been almost
twenty-five years now that we’ve shared our combined storefront. But, what most
of you don’t know, is that if it wasn’t for Geoff, I never would have been able
to afford to purchase that space to start my business.”
Heinrich sat back down on the bench before he continued.
“I remember the day, as if it were yesterday.” Heinrich smiled. “Olga,
eight-months pregnant with Viktor, and carrying Reuben on her hip. And me so
cocksure that I could make a living as a store owner.” He shook his head in
dismay. “Ha, what a pompous young fool, I was. We both walked into the space
that would become our store, and standing there was Geoff and the building’s
owner. Geoff was contemplating expanding his own space and was making a money
offer to the owner. I strode up to them, brazenly interrupted, and offered my
own monetary figure for the space, sure that I could sway the owner in my
favor.”
Heinrich glanced up at his companions, with an embarrassed smirk. “My bid was
not even close to what Geoff had offered. The owner just laughed, reached out,
took Geoff by the hand, repeated clearly what Geoff had offered, and then gave
him the space. Needless to say I was mortified. And Olga… Lord, there are so
many reasons why I love that woman. She looked at me as if I was her knight in
shining armor, gave me a kiss, and said, ‘We’ll find an even better place,
Heinrich. Don’t worry’.”
Heinrich laughed and shook his head. “Well, we made quite the impression on
Geoff, I guess. He agreed to purchase the space, and then he allowed me to set
up shop and pay him in installments until I could purchase the space outright.
He said he couldn’t see a young family trying so hard to succeed, and then
fail.” Heinrich glanced around again at his companions. “I owe him, and will do
anything to help him, even if that means losing the livelihood he gave to me.”
“Ach,” Hermann interjected. “All is not lost here, Heinrich. We already have a
plan for you to continue with your livelihood.”
“Ah yes,” Heinrich said as he stood and approached is childhood friend. “It is
good to have friends, yes?” Heinrich patted Hermann on the shoulder and turned
back to the others. “Hermann has graciously offered to give Olga and I space at
the Haus Brau until we can rebuild.” Heinrich turned back to Hermann and
embraced him. “Thank you, my friend.”
“Ach,” Hermann repeated, breaking the embrace with his longtime friend. “Enough
of that, we have work to do.”
“Ja, of course,” Heinrich agreed, but was reminded of something else entirely.
“Oh. Oskar, Oskar,” Heinrich said addressing each man in turn, “this whole move
to Hermann’s will interrupt some plans he and I’ve made with regards to you
both. We will need to talk later, okay?”
When both Oskars just accepted that statement silently, Werner’s frustration,
with not knowing the whole story, got the better of him and he offered loudly.
“So if this craziness is to work, I need to understand some things. Maybe it is
that I’ve missed something. But where is Geoff now? How is blowing up his shop
going to ‘kill’ him? Where do we get the explosives? Has Helga been made aware?
What is the plan?”
“Oh. I’m sorry Werner,” Heinrich answered. “You are right, we need to get back
to business. First of all, Geoff is recuperating at Oskar’s, in his storm
cellar. Oskar was able to contact Helga. She, right now, knows that we are
working on some kind of a plan. I’m going to ask Olga to go see her later,
under the pretense of checking on Geoff, and have her give Helga the specifics
of our plan. Hermann and I will be jury-rigging the shared water heater in the
basement of both shops to explode. Geoff is supposed to be resting at home
today. But I will confirm with anyone who asks that Geoff came into work late,
saying that he was feeling better, and wanted to work on the finicky water
heater, now that he had time. His idea will be to work late and sleep at the
shop. Only tinkering with the water heater causes it to explode, and with a
little help from Hermann, myself and some gasoline, the fire will spread
quickly. It is to look as if the building burnt to the ground, and that not
much of Geoff’s body is left to be found.”
“Do you think the Gestapo will just accept, no body to be found?” Werner asked.
“And how does Geoff manage to leave his apartment late in the day, get all the
way to work, enter his shop, and be seen only by you Heinrich?”
“We are only slightly ahead of you in this, Werner,” Heinrich continued. “I
know some people. People, who with a little monetary coaxing would will be
willing enough to rob a newly dug gravesite for a body and also cover up their
tracks. Olga will retrieve some of Geoff’s clothes from Helga, so we can
disguise that body. As to whether or not Geoff will be noticed coming to work…
I think there are enough quiet times in both our shops when he could arrive
seen only by me.”
“Ach,” Werner accused. “You are all crazy!” When he saw his friend’s startled
reaction, he sighed and said quickly, “What else is new, huh? How can I help?”
Heinrich smiled at his long time friend, “I think, Werner, we just need you to
be available. Most of what needs to happen is Hermann’s responsibility and
mine, alone. Olga can cover for me at the store today, and Erika can fill in
for Hermann.”
“Heinrich, Hermann,” Oskar Schnitzer asked concerned. “Don’t you think it’s too
obvious that you both are spending a good part of the day together? I know
you’ve been friends since childhood, but this is not something that happens
regularly. It could be construed by the wrong people as something out of the
ordinary, and that’s not good.”
“You make a valid point, Oskar,” Oskar Freiling supported. “Our covert
activities have to remain as close to our normal activities as possible.”
“You are both correct,” Heinrich explained. “And I can’t wait for the promised
radios from Colonel Hogan, then the less we’ll have to make up crazy excuses.
But for today, Hermann and I have a very good excuse. You see, many people have
seen us about town together recently,” Heinrich smiled at both older Germans,
“excluding you both.”
At the confused look on both Oskar’s faces, the three younger men laughed out
loud.
Heinrich continued, “I’m sorry. This is all related to what I wanted to talk to
you both about later. But, I guess now is as good a time as any, though. As I
said, the movement of my store into Hermann’s extra space will affect the plans
we were making. But for today, we can still pretend to make plans. Hermann and
I were going to throw you both a surprise 70th birthday party at the
Haus Brau. It was to take place next week. We decided to have it just prior to
your actual birthdays. Anyway, we’ve been planning it for weeks now. Many
people were invited. Only now it looks that it will not come to be…”
Heinrich hadn’t expected to make either man cry, but he stood dumbfounded as
both older German doctors’ eyes filled with tears. “Happy Birthday,” was all he
could think to say.
“Ach,” Oskar Schnitzer responded first. “I, for one, think I’ve already gotten
the best birthday present possible. You have all grown into men, I’m honored to
call friends.”
Oskar Freiling smiled and continued Schnitzer’s thought, “A better present
couldn’t be had, Oskar.” Then he smirked, and unable to help himself said,
“Although, I remember a few times when I wasn’t so sure I’d ever see them turn
into grown men!”
“Ja. Ja,” Schnitzer replied smiling, “remember the time…”
“Now, that’s enough,” Heinrich interjected not wanting to be reminded again of
his and his friends’ foibles as youngsters. “You are not disappointed?” he
asked feeling guilty, and not wanting to hurt the older men’s’ feelings.
When both men shook their heads, silently, Heinrich continued, “Good, good. So
we should get down to our normal business, as this meeting has already taken
too much time. I will start. Hermann and I have talked to Tiger this morning.
Hermann already had an appointment to pick up some of their 1938 Weisser
Burgunder for your party. It seems that in answer to Colonel Hogan’s question…
Tiger has a problem with space. I guess as big as the winery is, they only have
one cellar that they consider a safe haven. And even though a good size, she is
worried about the POWs’ anxiety and fears determining their actions. She says
she has had incidents between those she has hidden before. Too many emotions
breed trouble is how she put it. And she feels that any more than five is a
danger to them all. She has six men now, and is very anxious to move them.”
“So,” Werner asked. “What are we to do? Just pass this information along to
Colonel Hogan?”
“For now, I think that is all we can do,” Heinrich answered. “I had toyed with
the idea of Tiger transporting them to my store as now my involvement is openly
known to her. Only with our plans for tonight, that makes that a complete
impossibility. And since neither Louise nor her brother frequent my store that
often, a change in routine would be noticed. Plus the fact that I already have
to redirect Rolf’s morning delivery tomorrow, it would just be too much all at
once.”
Heinrich turned quickly to the veterinarian as he remembered a piece of
tomorrow’s puzzle, “Oh, Oskar. You can do as you did before, meet Rolf at the
“Of course, Heinrich,” Oskar Schnitzer answered. “But let me say something. I
do think we should just pass Tiger’s information along. You’re right, there is
too much happening all at once tonight. But you all should know that Colonel
Hogan did give me the names of his other contacts. Maybe they can be of help.”
“Who?” Hermann asked quickly. “Maybe we can get them too…”
“Hold on,” Doc Freiling interrupted. “I think we should step back here. It’s
important to make a good impression on these new contacts. We should set up a
meeting. Do we even know if Colonel Hogan has told them of us?”
“His note says that he has,” Doc Schnitzer stated.
“That’s good to know. But Oskar is right,” Heinrich offered. “Let us get
through tonight, and we can make a better plan of action.” That is of course
if we can get through tonight. “Tiger’s POWs are okay for now, at least.
Louise didn’t indicate that she was having problems, only that she would like
to avoid problems. We need to concentrate on Geoff tonight. Let’s just hope
that Colonel Hogan will forgive us this lapse in focus from our main objective.
Oskar, you will have to let Colonel Hogan know of our success or failure in
this endeavor tomorrow morning. All right?”
Schnitzer just nodded.
When Schnitzer offered nothing more, Hermann said in frustration, “Well, even
if we fail miserably tonight and end up dead. I still want to know who our new
contacts would have been.”
“Oh,” Schnitzer replied. “Colonel Hogan gave me four names. I only recognize
two.” Oskar reached into his pocket and opened the note he’d received from
Colonel Hogan. “The names are Felix Unger, Jenny & Willy Adler, and Greta
Koenig. I know a Jenny and Willy Adler. If they are who I think they are…. they
are old acquaintances of Frieda’s. But, I can’t say I know them all that well.”
“Did Colonel Hogan tell you anything more about them?” Heinrich asked.
“He mentions only that Felix Unger is the camp’s laundry man. He is responsible
for picking up and returning the German soldiers uniforms from the laundry
facility located in the lot adjacent to the supply depot,” Schnitzer reported.
“He mentions nothing else.”
“Anyone else recognize the names?” Heinrich asked.
Almost as one, the others answered, “Nein.”
“Then that means, we really should take our time, and not rush to contact these
people,” Heinrich stated. “You agree, yes?”
Almost as one, again the others answered, only this time in the affirmative.
“Okay, so it is time to break up this meeting,” Heinrich stated. “With the
Lord’s good graces, we will all still be here tomorrow to continue our work.”
As the men began to leave, Werner interrupted their exit with an anxious, “Oh
wait. With everything else that was happening, I almost forgot. Zillie has
given me the names of the Gestapo Officers that could be Colonel Vogel’s
replacement.” Werner reached into his pocket, retrieved the note, and then exasperated
said, “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s all right, Werner,” Oskar Schnitzer offered as he took the note from
Werner’s hand. “I will just pass this note along.” Oskar headed for the barn
door, under the assumption that the meeting was still over.
Hermann interrupted the veterinarian’s egress by yanking the note from Oskar’s
hand. “You are not leaving without telling us who those Gestapo Officers are,
are you?”
“Oh,” Schnitzer replied. “I guess not.”
Hermann began reading the note aloud, “So, we have a Major Sepp Muenich in
Creglingen, and a Major Gustav Krueger in Gerolzhoten. Ha, would you believe
that he’s Colonel Vogel’s brother-in-law!” Hermann turned quickly to Heinrich,
and asked anxiously, “Isn’t that where Viktor is living and working now?”
“Ja,” Heinrich offered, taken back that his youngest son was somehow now
connected to this.
“Let us cross Krueger off this list,” Hermann suggested, trying to ease the
surprise he saw in his friend’s face. “Viktor doesn’t need to become the next
of Vogel’s victims. There are enough others to choose from.”
“Ah, Hermann,” Heinrich replied. “As much as I would truly not want to subject
Viktor, his friends and neighbors to Colonel Vogel. This is not our decision.
Who are the others listed?”
“There’s a Colonel Alphonse Schmidt in Obersinn, a Major Josef Krause in
Aidhausen, and lastly a Colonel Gregor Feldcamp in Grafenrheinfeld,” Hermann
finished. “Zillie has also listed some information about other military
encampments in the area as well.”
“Wonderful, Zilli has done well,” Heinrich stated. And then, really trying to
end this meeting once and for all, he continued, “All right, it is time to pass
that information along too. We can trust Colonel Hogan to make the best choice
available.” Heinrich glanced at his friends, and tried to be re-assuring. “And
if everything goes well tonight, we will be making condolence calls of Helga
during the day tomorrow.”
Heinrich sighed, “But for now, we still have to much to do…”
Hammelburg,
Luft Stalag 13, Compound,
Colonel Hogan took a seat on the bench outside barracks two contemplating an
idea of how to get Klink off their backs, as well as taking any chance he could
get, to rest his still achy muscles. He
watched as the rest of the POWs broke from the
There was some amusement to be had out of the whole situation by watching
Colonel Klink tear into his own men.
He’d been running them ragged for days now. Every guard had been put on double
shifts. And when they weren’t on duty,
he had the
Colonel Hogan finally saw Sergeant Shultz break away from their maniacal
Kommandant, who was in the midst of making his rounds surveying the
compound. The Kommandant had taken to
being very involved in the daily running of the camp, much to the chagrin of
his own men, as well as the POWs. He
could now be found almost anywhere.
Hogan saw Shultz sigh with relief as he started across the compound away
from Klink. Poor Shultz. Klink’s got him crazy. I don’t think he’s had a minute’s rest since
this all began. Hogan got up slowly
from his spot on the bench wanting to intercept Shultz, but the big German had
stopped to take in the volleyball game being played in the compound. Hogan had to continue in his direction. Well I hope my idea works. Shultz will probably be more than happy to
help. Finding old Iron Eagle a
girlfriend will hopefully get him off all our backs. I really hope I can convince Shultz to do
some legwork for me; it could relieve some of the pressure we’re all feeling.
“Hey, Shultzie,” Hogan said happily as he came up behind the Sergeant and
patted him on the shoulder. “The Iron
Eagle has got you all running ragged.
You doin’ okay? I think I can talk LeBeau into a piece of strudel for
you later. That is, if you can ever get
a free moment.”
“Oh, Colonel Hogan,” Shultz sighed looking around the compound nervously. “Thank you, but I don’t think I can. The Kommandant has now threatened to put any
guards, who fraternize with the prisoners, on report. I can get in trouble by just talking to you.”
Colonel Hogan made his own survey of the compound before answering. He saw Klink come out from behind the
delousing station. “Hey, Shultz, here he
comes now. Act like you’re reprimanding
me for something. I really have to talk
to you. I have an idea to get the
Kommandant off everyone’s back.”
“Really!” Shultz exclaimed and went into his most dangerous pose, rifle at the
ready, pointed directly at Colonel Hogan.
“How? I’m all ears,” he continued still trying to look mean.
“Well. It’s like this…” Colonel Hogan
began, but stopped shocked in mid sentence as machine gun fire erupted in the
compound. Hogan had been so startled
that he hadn’t reacted. All he was able
to do was watch dumbfounded as Shultz fell to the ground after taking a hit. Hogan was then immediately sorry that he
hadn’t reacted -- as a bullet from Shultz’s gun -- tore through his left
arm. The big affable German guard
mustn’t have had the safety on his gun and when he got hit, the jolt caused him
to pull the trigger.
Hogan staggered slightly backward as the bullet impacted, but luckily was able
to maintain his balance. “We’ve got men
down,” he yelled slightly disorientated as he blearily took in the carnage at
the volleyball net. Men were down
everywhere, Germans and POWs alike.
Hogan was trying hard not to clutch at his injured arm, as he knew there
would surely be those that would require more medical attention. He would wait until the injuries were sorted
out before getting treatment. As he
slowly regained some of his composure, he tried to assess the rest of the
compound, but never got the chance as a number of his men as well as a number
of Germans began converging on his location.
There was pandemonium while the injured were being sorted out. Hogan was relieved to see
Hogan’s heart began pounding hard in his chest.
He could hear Klink’s panicked yelling of orders. He could even hear Kinch’s voice hollering as
well. Both seemingly trying to diffuse
another bad situation. Hogan holding his
injured arm tightly by his side, pushed with his good arm, through the crush of
men standing around the volleyball net, only to see a large gathering of POWs
near one of the guard towers. Those POWs
were being held at bay by a number of camp guards, with Kinch and Klink in the
forefront. No one looked injured, but as
Hogan approached, he watched some of Klink’s men, handcuff and force to the
ground, two of the other German guards. What
the hell happened? Goddamn bastards! Could they be responsible for the
shootings? And why would they shoot their own men? What in God’s name would
have caused that? It had to have been an accident. Or make that, it had better have been an
accident. Because if it wasn’t… I’ll
tear those Nazi bastards apart, limb-by-limb, myself.
Hogan tried desperately to control his own anger, pain, and fear, as he made
his way quickly to join Kinch and Klink in front of the mob of POWs at the
guard tower. It didn’t take much for him
to see that their anger and fear was building rapidly against the German
contingent holding them at bay. Cal
Hogan only saw his men’s angry and frightened faces staring back at him. It was the same look of desperation that he
had seen on all their faces when he first arrived at Stalag 13. He had hoped to never see that look
again. “You heard me!” he hollered in
the best command tone he could muster, hoping to snap them out of their
fear. Hogan sighed with relief as he saw
some of the men begin to focus their attention on him. “I want everyone not on triage in the
barracks until we straighten this out!” he ordered. He turned quickly to his second in command,
“Kinch, you’re in charge here. Get the
men into the barracks. And do it now!”
“Yes sir, Colonel,” Kinch replied immediately starting a search of the compound
to round up the barracks commanders to help contain the POWs. He was very glad that the POWs had all become
used to obeying their commanding officer at the drop of a hat. Their lives had always depended on it and the
Colonel had never led them astray.
“What did you say, Colonel Hogan?” Kommandant Klink asked completely taken
aback as he came to stand directly in front of his Senior POW Officer. He hadn’t yet had a chance to even
contemplate that people could have been injured with all of the hullabaloo at
the guard tower.
“Well, Kommandant. Those goddamn
bastards of yours,” Hogan said as the anger and pain got the better of him,
“shot five men, three of my men and two of your own guards. Sergeant Shultz went down right in front of
me. I didn’t even get the chance to find
out the extent anyone’s injuries,” he sighed turning his gaze back to where the
five men were still laying on the ground by the volleyball net. At least someone is still attending to
each of them. I just hope that means
there will be some good news.
Klink chose to ignore Hogan’s derogatory remarks when he noticed that the man’s
left arm was limp at his side and blood was covering his hand. He was also very relieved that Hogan had been
able to diffuse what could have become a disastrous situation. Klink was impressed all over again that Hogan
could control the POWs as easily as he had.
But he also knew that that ability had been one of the only reasons that
he had put up with Hogan’s outlandish activities until recently.
“Very well, Colonel,” Klink retorted quickly, although almost immediately
became extremely nervous as he realized that this whole situation might have
been his fault. “Let’s go check on the
injured together.” Klink ordered the two guards responsible for the fiasco
confined to the cooler under heavy guard, as well as ordering the rest of his
men back to their duty stations before he caught up with Colonel Hogan.
The American Colonel hadn’t waited for him before heading back across the
compound to assess the injured. As the
Kommandant came up behind his Senior POW Officer, he noticed that the man had
put both hands in his pockets as he walked back to the triage area. Trying to hide his injury? Why? Probably
because he won’t accept treatment until after his men are taken care of. I guess I won’t say anything unless the man
looks like he’s going to fall flat on his face.
I just hope, though, that none of these men are injured too seriously. I don’t know how I will live with myself
knowing that I might have been responsible.
It was me that assigned those two men to punishment duty together. Did I
push them and the others beyond their limits? This whole bloody mess started
because a fight broke out between those two men in the guard tower and somehow
their struggle caused the machine gun to fire a short random burst into the
compound. I heard the whole argument
begin, but I couldn’t stop it in time.
Now men could die. What am I
going to do?
Doctor Freiling’s Clinic,
Oskar Freiling was examining a patient when his wife Ursula came rushing into
the exam room. “Oskar. There’s an emergency at that POW camp. Multiple men shot, some critical, some
not. Kommandant Klink called and asked
that you come immediately!” Ursula’s heart was pounding; Oskar had explained to
her how Colonel Hogan and his men were being treated recently, but she could
tell by the look on Oskar’s face that even he had hoped it wouldn’t get this
bad.
“You told him we would be there, yes?” Oskar said anxiously. “We will have to finish up some other time,
Francesca. All right? I have an
emergency,” he told his patient even as he began gathering the medical supplies
that he would need.
After Francesca had left and the clinic door had been locked, Ursula asked,
“What do you think happened at Stalag 13?”
Oskar was silent for a moment, his frantic movements halted. “I do not know. I am afraid.
I am afraid for the lives there.
And that perhaps all of our hard work has been for naught. And today… of
all days, for this to happen. We have so much planned for this evening. What if
this is the end of it all, Ursula?”
“Do not borrow trouble before it is here, Oskar. Colonel Hogan has proven himself many
times. If it is possible, he will do so
again. You will see. I believe that it will be okay,” Ursula
scolded.
“Ja, ja. I have a lot of confidence in
Colonel Hogan. But to even loose one
person, one life, would be too much.
Those men do not need to stay there.
They only do so out of loyalty to Colonel Hogan, and to help us,” Oskar
replied continuing with his frantic packing. “What if Colonel Hogan is one of
the injured or maybe dead? Where does that leave us, Ursula?”
“Please, Oskar. I understand your concern,” Ursula agreed, taking his face in
her hands and kissing him on the forehead. “We all have our lives at stake in
this. But we cannot beat a dead horse by ourselves. Let us go and assess the
situation. If it is the end, then we will face it together.”
“Ah, Ursula,” Oskar replied. “What would I do without your steady presence?
You’re right. Let us go. We will find a way to do all that we have to do. I
just pray that we will be in time to save the injured.”
“So you do want me to come to be a nurse for you, Oskar?” Ursula asked unsure,
as she’d never gone with her husband to Stalag 13. She knew that her husband
had always tried to keep her from seeing that place up close.
“Ja, I think you had better. If there
are more than a few injured, you will be needed,” Oskar replied.
“What about Geoff?” Ursula asked. “He
still needs care. Should we leave him
alone?”
“He is awake and stable. I have
explained the situation to him. He knows
he cannot be seen or heard. Go and tell him we will be leaving for a
while. Bring him water and an extra
blanket. He should be all right. There
is really nothing else we can do,” Oskar said.
“Ja. I know. I will meet you at the car,” Ursula
replied.
Hammelburg, Germany,
The Haus Brau Restaurant,
Day Five, April 6, 1943 1300 Hours
Erika Strasse, the barmaid of the Haus Brau restaurant, and younger sister of
owner Hermann Schlick, dropped steins of beer off at a table for three of her regular
patrons, all workers from the Hammelburg Water Company. “Here you go,
Gentlemen,” she said with a bright flirtatious smile, knowing that even in
wartime that would get her better tips. “Let me know, if you’d like anything
else.”
A chorus of “Danke, Fraulein Erika” sent her on her way back toward the
kitchen, but as she turned, Erika noticed, out of the corner of her eye, that
someone had just occupied another table nearby.
“Welcome,” she said again with a bright smile before really seeing her new
customer. Her heart skipped a beat though, as she recognized the young man.
“Ah, Captain Dingle! I’d thought you’d
abandoned us for fairer luncheon spots,” Erika practically purred.
Captain Konrad Dingle, Commanding Officer of the supply depot just outside
town, grinned back at the lovely barmaid, “Nein, not likely, Fraulein Erika.
Things at the depot have just been very busy the last few days. An inspection.
So, you see, getting out to lunch was impossible. But the inspector has left, and now it’s back
to business as usual.”
“Oh, an inspection, you say?” Erika replied her interest peaked at the
unexpected news. “The war must keep you busy.” Ach, Mein Gott! What a silly
thing to say! Flustered and embarrassed by having said something so inane,
she continued with her job, by quickly clearing the Captain’s table of the
remains left by its previous occupants.
“Ja, busy indeed,” the Captain replied with a smile, never once even
contemplating that what she had said was anything other than intellectual conversation.
“Only this time, it was just a routine inspection. Although Major Trask, from
the regional office, never makes it just a simple inspection,” Dingle replied.
Glad that Dingle did not seem to notice her lapse in sanity, she offered, “Well
Captain, I’m just glad that it wasn’t another fraulein barmaid that stole you
away from the Haus Brau.” Erika smiled, and her eyes sparkled at the young
Captain.
“Nein, Fraulein! Never,” Dingle replied,
with his heart pumping just a little too hard, as he had come to enjoy his
regular visits to the Haus Brau. Erika had always been a pleasurable diversion
to his daily routine. A most pleasurable diversion... indeed.
“Wonderful,” Erika assured with a quiet and what she hoped was a seductive
smile. “So can I get you a beer, Herr Captain?”
“Ja, Fraulein Erika. Danke, but please call me Konrad,” Dingle replied with a
smile of his own, to match hers.
“Most certainly, Konrad,” Erika replied, and then almost sickened by her
behavior, hurried back to the bar where her brother was stocking the shelves
for the day. She grabbed his arm and
whispered, “Hermann, he is here! I need to speak with you!”
Hermann, catching on quickly that he sister was anxious, looked around the room
quickly to make sure of whom his sister was talking. He was glad that Captain
Dingle had once again graced his restaurant. At least, something has gone
right today. “Oh, I see,” Hermann offered, and followed his sister through
the kitchen to the far back corner of the restaurant.
Once they were safely ensconced in the back storeroom, Erika hissed at her
brother, “Hermann do you really want me to do this?”
“You must, Erika. Colonel Hogan really needs those automobile supplies, and it
would be very helpful in the future if we had access to the depot,” Hermann
explained, and then asked nervously, “Can you do it?”
Erika sighed and ran her fingers back through her hair apprehensively, “I think
so. I’m nervous, though. I don’t know how far I can go with this.
Flirting I can do. As a barmaid, it is part of the job. More than that… I just
don’t know Hermann. It’s been a long time… and he can’t be much older than my
own Dietrich!”
“Mein Gott, Erika!” Hermann took hold of his sister’s shoulders. “I’m not
asking you to do more than flirt. I only
suggested that you ask discreet questions of him while you flirt.”
Just then…
Quickly, and almost too quickly for Erika’s taste, a sly smirk took over her
brother’s face. “Although, I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Erika,” Hermann
teased. “If more is something you want…”
He never got to finish that statement though, as Erika’s hand came up quickly,
and painfully, to wipe the sly smirk from his face. “Don’t you ever talk like
that to me!”
Hermann grabbed her hand and apologized, “I’m sorry, but as you said, it’s been
a long time. Your Stefan has been gone for almost eight years now.” He squeezed
her hand tightly in his fist, and continued with, “You should, I think, take
young Captain Dingle’s attention, as a compliment. Whether you realize it or
not, you still look as you did, fifteen years ago.”
“Ach,” Erika rebuked. “Mind your own business.”
“Fine,” Hermann replied. “Then you will continue as you have? We really just
need information at this point.” But then, he smirked again. “Although, I was a
young man once myself, Erika. Be careful how far you tease, or one day, our
young Dingle just might have to go home and change his underwear before going
back to work.”
Erika glared angrily at her older brother, and left him where he stood, knowing
that she needed to get back with Captain Dingle’s beer before too much time
went by. As much as I love my brother, he
can be such a patience tester. But, I’ve agreed to this and I will do my
part. I just don’t have to like it. It is one thing to flirt as a barmaid. It is
another thing entirely to lead the young man on for nefarious purposes. I only
hope that I can get the information we need… with as little coercion on my
part, as possible.
Erika returned to where Captain Dingle sat, carrying a single stein of beer.
But as she looked into the Captain’s eyes – and most especially now just after
Hermann’s instigation – she saw something more in them than she ever had
before. Erika got flustered as she tried to place the stein on the table in
front of the Captain. She fumbled and dropped the stein of beer, which ended up
in the young German’s lap.
Hermann entered the bar from the kitchen, just in time to see Captain Dingle
leap from his seat and topple the chair he’d been sitting in. He couldn’t help
but laugh, as Erika the mother that she was, knelt down in front of the young
man and began a frantic wiping of the Captain’s uniform jacket and pants to
remove the excess liquid. Ha, not quite what I intended Erika, but I think
you may have achieved the same result.
Herman chose to step in and rescue his sister, as she had yet to see the look
on the Captain’s face. The young man was a study in utter desire, as the
attention she was offering, was a little more than he could cope with. Ah,
to be young again!
“My apologies, Herr Captain,” Hermann said as he reached the couple and took
hold of his sister’s shoulders and pulled her up from her knees. Giving her a
gentle shove in the direction of the kitchen, he reprimanded, “What a mess,
Erika. Go get the mop to clean the floor.”
As Erika wandered back toward the kitchen, Herman again apologized to the
Luftwaffe Officer. “I’m so very sorry for this Captain. Please allow me to pay
for your uniform to be cleaned.”
“Nein, Herr Schlick,” Dingle replied. “It was an accident. No har
“Then please,” Heinrich offered. “Allow me to offer you a free meal and all the
beer you can drink on your next visit. Ja? It’s it the least I can do.”
“Danke, Herr Schlick,” Dingle answered. “I will most certainly take you up on
that offer.”
“Good. Good,” Herman replied. “Let me show you to the door then.” Herman
followed the officer to the front of the Haus Brau, helped him on with his
overcoat, and sighed as the door closed behind him.
Erika came up behind him in a panic, and whispered, “Oh, Hermann. I made a mess
of things. What if I’ve scared him away?”
“Don’t worry, Erika. I have offered him free food and beer. He will be back,”
Hermann assured. Although Erika, I don’t think it’s the beer that is going
to bring him back. Because, if I remember anything from my youth… the look on
his face tells me that it is you he’ll be back to see. Only out loud all he
said was, “It will be fine, I know it,” for he really didn’t need another
reprimand from his sister. Hermann rubbed his cheek absentmindedly and returned
to his place behind the bar, leaving his sister with cleanup duty.
Finally,
after the excitement was over and the lunch rush ended…
Erika sat and tried to enjoy her own lunch, especially after the embarrassing
encounter with Captain Dingle. She took the opportunity to straighten and
stretch her tired back, as she knew, now would come the long slow glide into
the evening hours.
“Erika,” Hermann said coming from behind the bar after he’d finally got it
setup for the evening. “I am going
shortly. Heinrich and I will be occupied
most of the night. The party is close
and there is much to be done still.”
Erika knew that Hermann and Heinrich had things to prepare, faced as they were
with a dangerous night ahead. But she smiled and nodded, playing along for the
few patrons that still lingered. “Ja, have fun. This will be such a wonderful
surprise for them both. I bet no one has
given either of them a birthday party in years!”
“I wouldn’t take that bet,” Hermann replied, removing his apron. “You will be
able to handle tonight alone?”
“I should be able to,” Erika replied.
“It is a Tuesday, and business is usually slower on Tuesdays.”
“Good, then I will see you at home this evening. Good luck,” Hermann said giving his sister a
hug.
“You too,” she whispered in his ear while he held her close. “Be safe. I hope
that you and the others can do what you need to, to take care of Geoff.”
“We really have little choice, we must succeed,” he whispered back. “Or it will
be the end.”
Erika watched her brother leave, and though tears were threatening, she could
only smile. Her older brother had always been there for her. And even though he
teased her un-mercilessly, she knew he always cared, as attested to the fact
that she was sharing his apartment above the Haus Brau. Hermann had asked her
to move in after her husband Stefan had died, and her son Dietrich had taken
his own path in life, by joining the Waffen SS.
Erika could no longer keep the tears at bay, and quickly escaped to the back
storeroom unable to fathom how much her life had changed. She only ever wanted
to remember the happy days just after getting married to Stefan and giving
birth to their son Dietrich. Life was so much simpler. Her life was full
of love, hope and joy then. But today, with no husband – and no son to speak of
– it was only full of hate, fear and loneliness.
Her tears flowed uncontrolled until she heard a patron calling for another
beer. She wiped her face, plastered a smile there, and went back to work, for
it was all she could do…
Munich, Germany,
SS Headquarters, Office of the late General Stefan Geist,
Day Five, April 6, 1943 1430 Hours
General Preffrieger rose to his full height and stretched. He hadn’t moved in several hours, having been
fully engrossed in the case file spread open before him. It had been … interesting reading. The file containing the investigation into
this local resistance cell was incomplete at best, but Major Eckold had over
several months traced it out to the deaths of several of its suspected members
in and around the
There had even been no trace found of the Ohms family after Eckold’s execution
of suspected resistance members Edgar Ohms and Dieter Wirth in Rohrmoos, only
that their car had been found abandoned days later in
Preffrieger allowed his attention to move to the papers in the upper right
corner of the desk. These he had found
in General Geist’s office. Interestingly
enough, General Geist himself had added several pages of notes to the search of
the resistance cell in the area. He had
apparently been very interested in the investigation and according to Captain
Schunck had demanded daily updates from Major Eckold about his progress. While it was not odd that the General wanted
to be kept up to date on the investigation of a resistance cell… it was odd
that he was so committed to the investigation.
Still, even after reading files for most of the day Preffrieger still could not
say with any certainty exactly what had happened. Eckold had certainly been onto something
big. The resistance cell he uncovered,
even though small, appeared to be a well organized one. Yet, not one trace of a remaining member or a
contact to another cell is visible. That
in and of itself is … odd. And if
neither Hoztein nor Eckold murdered Klein, then Bruer had. But, to what benefit? Would Klein have
fingered Bruer of conspiracy or even as a member of the resistance cell that
Eckold had spent the last several months investigating? Hmm. Had Bruer ‘inadvertently’ held back the
investigation?
Preffrieger rifled back through the file, but could find no mention of Major
Bruer. The only officer consistently mentioned
other than Eckold had been General Geist, although Major Bruer had been General
Geist’s private aide.
Hmm. This just gets odder as I delve
deeper into it. I think I need to expand
my investigation.
Preffrieger quickly closed up the file on the
It was going to be another long night, and an even longer week ahead.
Hammelburg, Germany,
Luft Stalag 13, Infirmary,
Day Five, April 6, 1943, 1505 Hours
Kommandant Klink was standing just inside the door to the infirmary watching
the volunteers, German and POW alike, as they worked at making the injured
comfortable. There had been six men
injured in the horrible melee that occurred almost three hours before. Including two of his own men, a Corporal
Armin Zweig and Sergeant Shultz. The
other four were POWs. Corporal Philip
Belvedere, an Englander. Sergeant Peter
Murdock, an Australian. And two
Americans… a Corporal Douglas Engorn and Colonel Hogan. Four of the men had only incurred minor
injuries. The other two men, Armin Zweig
and Philip Belvedere had been injured seriously enough that Oskar Freiling,
Hammelburg’s only physician with a private practice, had been contacted for his
help.
The Kommandant was relieved when the doctor had readily agreed to come. He had arrived quickly with his wife in tow
as a nurse. The doctor now had both men
in surgery in a little room, off to one side of the camp’s small
infirmary. The doctor had been adamant
that only he, his wife, the camp’s medic and a person who could translate for
the medic be allowed into that room.
Klink had assigned Corporal Karl Langenscheidt to the doctor so he could
translate for Sergeant Wilson. He was
the only one in camp, besides the Kommandant and Sergeant Shultz, who spoke
English well enough to translate.
Klink was now glad to see that at least three of the four men in the main
infirmary appeared to be resting comfortably.
The fourth man, Colonel Hogan, had not moved from his sitting position
facing the closed door on the other side of the infirmary. Hogan hadn’t made any eye contact with the
Kommandant since Klink had told one of Hogan’s men that the Colonel had been
injured -- almost two hours ago. Klink
had only said something when it began to look as if the American Colonel was
not going to admit to it on his own.
Klink had seen the anger in Hogan’s eyes flare explosively when the Colonel
realized that Klink was the one who turned him in. The Kommandant had gotten very nervous as he
watched Hogan’s reaction. Klink knew
that the American Colonel would be angry about the whole situation -- and
certainly had the right to be. It was
just that Klink had never seen so fiery a look in the American’s eyes
before. It was a look that made him even
surer that someday he would pay dearly to this man for their
incarceration. Klink knew in his heart
that it was a price he would have to pay, but he also knew that the only way he
was going to keep the POWs safe was to have Colonel Hogan here. So he knew that it was a price he would
willingly pay when the time came. But
for right now -- he was just glad that he hadn’t had to confront the man behind
those eyes for the last couple hours.
I really don’t know what to do to relieve the anger and tension. I’m just glad that for now things have settled
down. The prisoners are confined to the
barracks on Hogan’s order. I guess I
should feel concerned that they are not there on my order. But at this point, it’s just probably safer
that I don’t force the issue. My men are
still on double duty and haven’t reported any problems from the POWs. Hogan’s man Kinchloe requested permission to
see Hogan just a short time ago and even that seemed only to offer a report on
the status in camp as well as getting a status report on the injured POWs.
Hopefully that means the threat of Hogan’s men retaliating to this awful
tragedy is over. It probably would have
already happened, if it were going to.
Especially with the situation being as volatile as it was earlier. I suppose though if that young man, Corporal Belvedere,
dies -- that in itself could begin another tragic series of events, especially
if the look I saw in Hogan’s eyes earlier was any indication of the anger the
POWs are feeling. I just hope that Hogan
realizes that the whole situation was an accident. If not, I’m just not sure of what to expect
next.
Although, I have to remember that I do have the upper hand here. I could crack down even harder, I
suppose. But that’s what caused this
whole fiasco in the first place. We’d
probably just end up with even more injured or dead. That’s just not how it’s supposed to
work. These men are the enemy, but they
are still my responsibility to keep safe until the war is over. I need to find a way to make sure that
happens. And I know that I need Hogan here
for that to even have a chance of happening.
Of course, Hogan truly has the right to make a protest to the protecting
powers. He could easily make it very
difficult for me. I really need to keep
him fro
Or maybe I should just get packed for the Russian Front? Or just plan my
funeral?
Klink turned toward the door of the infirmary when he heard Sergeant Matthias
Duerr enter the infirmary with a loud and tense, “Kommandant Klink!” having
spewed forth from his lips.
“What is it Sergeant?” Klink replied quickly, as his heart began pounding. He
just didn’t need another emergency.
After Duerr made his way hastily to where the Kommandant was standing, he
stopped, looked around, and thought better of voicing his message out loud. He
leaned closely into the Kommandant and whispered, “General Burkhaulter just
phoned sir. He wanted you to know that he will be here tomorrow to make an
inspection of Stalag 13, and then is planning to meet with Gestapo Colonel
Vogel as well.”
“Tomorrow!? Here!?” Klink asked in a panic of no one in particular. He can’t
be coming here. There’s just not enough time to make things right.
“Ja, Herr Kommandant,” Duerr replied just in case the question was directed at
him.
Klink shook his head. Funeral planning may indeed be the order of the day.
The German Colonel left the infirmary immediately, although not before asking
one of his men to have Doctor Freiling escorted to his office after the
surgery. Regardless of this present
emergency, he did want get a report from the doctor in person as to the medical
status of the two men. But with the
General coming the next day, he decided to cut the paperwork to transfer those
two soldiers out of camp, immediately.
He also wanted to get Sergeant Matthias Duerr to take over for Shultz
and have him help restore the camp back to its original level of security and
remove many of the restrictions that had been imposed in the last few days. All
the while hoping it would be enough to restore some semblance of normality to
his POW camp.
Normalcy ha! My life may still be over, even with all the restrictions being
lifted. Because if I can’t get Hogan to agree to a deal, or even worse… if that
boy dies… there will be no way I can cover for the disastrous events that took
place today.
I will be as good as dead, and deservedly so.
Hammelburg, Germany,
Luft Stalag 13, Infirmary,
Day Five, April 6, 1943, 1510 Hours
Colonel Hogan’s attention had been glued to the door of the makeshift
operating room where Doc Freiling was still working on one of his men as well
as one of Klink’s. Hogan had sat for the
past couple hours trying to control his anger as well as the pain from the
gunshot wound in his arm. But he
actually couldn’t tell what pained him more, his arm -- or his chest. That nasty clamp had taken hold of his heart
again. The one he had hoped he had
gotten rid of for good, just last month, after the pneumonia outbreak had
resolved itself. Just face it
Hogan. It ain’t never gonna go
away. And it’s gonna sneak up and grab
hold, when you least expect it.
Yeah. Yeah. I know.
I just can’t let it get the best of me anymore.
Easy for you to say.
Hogan turned quickly toward the entrance to the infirmary when he heard
Kommandant Klink raised voice, although he didn’t actually know what the
Kommandant was talking about. He hadn’t
been able to look the man in the eye since this whole thing began. Hogan’s anger, at himself, had reached
overwhelming proportions during the past few hours. He knew that if he let his anger get the best
of him now, he could easily take revenge on Klink and any other Nazi bastard
that got in his way. But he also knew he
had to cal
Not that Klink doesn’t deserve most of the blame for this whole bloody
thing, but I just can’t take it out on Klink.
I need him and this camp. If this
operation is ever going to work, I need to control everything that is going on
in this camp. And Klink, as much as he’s
a pompous ass, he’s the only pompous ass I know -- for sure -- that I can
manipulate. But right now, at this very
moment, I’m just not sure how to confront him.
I need to be able to balance very carefully, ‘the anger of the Senior
POW Officer’ with ‘the needs of the spy now calling himself Papa Bear’.
But, I also have to keep a lid on the anger and fear of my own men. And that may prove to be the hardest
part. I can’t let it go back to the way
it was when I first got here. I just
can’t. Right now, the men are paying
attention to my orders. But will it
last? What if Belvedere dies? My heart wants me to let the men wreak havoc on
the Nazi bastards, but I know I can’t do that.
How am I going to explain that to them? How am I going to explain away
the death of an 18-year-old kid? How can I allow those bastards to get away
with murdering an innocent young kid, without having it appear that they’ve
gotten away with it? I may have to figure out a way though if I’m to keep this
operation running. It’s just that that
poor kid doesn’t deserve to die in anonymity.
That’s enough Hogan. He’s not dead yet.
C’mon kid, you can make it.
To be continued…
Thanks for Reading
Patti and Marg
Author’s Note: The Odd Couple?
Little-known facts about Stalag 13’s laundryman.
"On November 13th, 1942, Felix Unger was asked to
remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife.
Deep down he knew she was right. But he also knew that someday he would return
to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood
friend, Oskar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out,
requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an flat in Hammelburg,
Germany, during WWII, without driving each other crazy?"
Look for answers to this question in an upcoming chapter of Confidence Game…
or maybe not…
Sorry we just couldn’t resist using Felix Unger as a character name in this
chapter of Confidence Game. It came about accidentally, as Patti and I went
through a list of German first names, and then a list of German surnames to
crosswalk some new character names, and lo and behold Felix Unger the laundry
guy was born.
Quite appropriate, we thought!
The authors would like to thank Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Tony Randall and
Jack Klugman for portraying one of the most enduring and endearing screen duos
in American stage, film and television history.
Text and original characters copyright 2004 by Margaret Bryan, Patti Hutchins
This copyright covers only original material and characters, and in no way intends to infringe upon the privileges of the holders of the copyrights, trademarks, or other legal rights, for the Hogan's Heroes universe.
