The air hung stagnant in the barracks as the prisoners slept. Their breath shallow in their chests as the stale air slowly suffocated them. The last epidemic had taken many of the younger soldiers and left the others pale and thin as their disease ridden home kept them running to the latrine. The stalags had been suffering during the last years of war and the Kommandants had little control over the water supply which was the main source of the continued epidemics. Headquarters in Berlin kept a tight hold on what supplies went into the camps as they were losing the war and feared for their future in Germany. The food supplies were infrequent and most often arrived after the German troops had taken what they wanted.
Several seasons of mud and cold rain had left the compound of Stalag 13 in a severe downtrodden state. The collection of barracks appeared rain washed and cold with their tin roofs rusted and unkempt. The chill within the barracks permeated everything, including the thin blankets that the sleeping prisoners huddled under. The bunks were crowded together so close that there was barely enough space in between to stand. In each barracks stood a large pot bellied stove that hardly gave out enough heat to warm the nearest bunk.
The cracks in the walls, invited in the wind and rain and sometimes snow and kept the men shivering and pale.
Within barracks two, there lay an RAF corporal who tossed and turned in sleep as the wind whistled through the cracks next to the roof. He mumbled in his sleep and rolled onto his side; his breath came out in cold white puffs and his face was pale with deep shadows under his eyes. His last meal had been two days before which was much like all his other bunk mates sleeping around him. In the beginning of his time in the POW camp, he'd eaten better and been part of a top secret underground mission. There were tunnels hidden beneath their barracks that the men still used but the missions now were minor and done by men he didn't know.
Colonel Hogan, Carter, and Kinch had been recalled to London a year before and shortly after Lebeau had been taken to the Concentration Camps when he was caught in disguise as a gypsy. Newkirk had been ordered to remain in the operation until the other three returned. When they left, things had changed and Newkirk found himself pushed away from doing missions and found himself feeling more and more like a POW for the first time since his arrival in the camp. He had heard horror stories of the concentration camps and feared his small french friend to be dead as the search and rescue attempts had all failed. It had been over a year since Lebeau was suspected of being a gypsy and taken away.
Newkirk stirred in his sleep and woke suddenly. He turned and looked around at the other sleeping soldiers and then back at what used to be Colonel Hogan's office. He sighed and wished things were different and that he had his friends with him. The bunk bed shook and rocked as Tom Eddis shifted on the bunk beneath him. Newkirk leaned over the side of the bed and looked down at Tom, watching him sleep. Tom was a big guy. He'd come to the camp shortly before Lebeau was taken away and had become good friends with Newkirk during that difficult time.
Tom sighed and opened his eyes and stared up at Newkirk. He raised an eyebrow at his English friend and mouthed the word 'what'?
"I miss my friends. There's been no word of them from London" whispered Newkirk.
"Your Colonel and the others are on missions for London elsewhere, Newkirk. You know that. They'll return only when they are needed" whispered Tom.
Newkirk looked around the room and a great sadness washed over him. "What about Lebeau?" he whispered
Tom frowned and looked up at his friend, feeling his sadness.
"He'll be okay. He's a strong little guy. When Colonel Hogan returns we can all go looking for him" said Tom, knowing he was talking rubbish since he had no idea when Colonel Hogan was returning and after all the reports he'd heard about the concentration camps he didn't think Lebeau had survived.
"I wish I could go look for him now. Its been a year already and even we are doing badly here. There's hardly any food and so much disease" said Newkirk as he laid his head on his hand and gazed unseeing across the room. He felt so tired but too miserable to sleep and when he did sleep; it was full of disturbing dreams about his friends. He sighed and closed his eyes as sleep overcame him anyway.
Tom got out of bed and stood up. He reached out and shifted Newkirks head and arm back onto the bed so he didn't fall out. Frowning, he laid his hand on Newkirks back and felt shocked by the bones sticking out as the Englishman was so very thin. Since Colonel Hogan had left, their new Senior POW officer had taken over command and been hopeless. He had died in the last epidemic and another man had taken his place. The new Colonel was never around when the men needed him and he was in such a depressed state of mind that he neglected his duties to his men who were starving at the hands of the Krauts.
Sergeant Schultz had been transferred to another post and Colonel Klink had died in the last epidemic that had claimed most of the other prisoners. The underground missions were on a temporary stand still as so many of the men had died. They kept in touch with London by radio, but rarely got involved as they once were when Colonel Hogan was around.
The new Kommandant was an angry man who sometimes hit the prisoners and believed in torture to keep his rules observed. Newkirk had suffered at the hands of the new Kommandant only twice and still had problems with his right ankle if he didn't pay attention.
Life at Stalag 13 had changed for the worse.
Colonel Hogan ran through the thick trees bordering a German factory of ammunition and signaled Carter to take off running. They ran along the edge of the woods until they came to a waiting truck where they threw themselves into the back as Kinch floored the pedal and sped off as the first set of explosions illuminated the sky. Carter shifted position sitting against the wall of the truck and smiled at the Colonel.
"Sounded good! Right on time too!" he said.
"Thank God you remembered your watch this time!" teased Colonel Hogan as he watched the sky glowing orange with the timed explosions.
They sped along the road and headed for the camp where they kept their headquarters while they worked on their mission of destroying all the ammunition plants in Germany. Since leaving Stalag 13, they'd not heard what had happened to the tunnels or how the missions were going. Colonel Hogan had wanted to leave Newkirk in charge, but London had sent a new Colonel to work with the men and had told Newkirk to give it a rest for a while. Colonel Hogan hoped Newkirk and Lebeau were doing well and that Klink and Schultz didn't miss him too much. They'd arranged for a 'prisoner transfer' so that Klink wouldn't wonder where the three of them were for the year they had to be gone. Their mission was coming to a close and soon they hoped to be on their way back to Stalag 13 to finish where they left off.
Back at the base camp, Kinch monitored the radio in the small room under the stairs in the abandoned farmhouse where they'd called home for the last year. Colonel Hogan and Carter ate beans from cans and chatted about how nice it will be to get back to Lebeau's cooking after so many meals of cold beans!
A message came in from London as they were bedding down for the night and Kinch relayed it to Colonel Hogan as Carter propped himself up on an elbow from his pallet on the floor.
"London says we are to make our way back to Stalag 13 to pick up where we left off!" said Kinch. "One thing, though. Headquarters said something about not being able to get through to the camp for the last few months and did mention something about there were changes."
"What kind of changes?" asked Carter.
"Well, Lebeau is not there and hasn't been for some time" said Kinch, looking a little worried.
"That seems odd. Maybe he escaped. But that doesn't sound like Lebeau to me" wondered Hogan out loud. He looked around at Kinch and Carter. "Lets travel by night and be there by morning. We can catch up on sleep once we arrive" he said as he started to gather up his things and stuff them into his rucksack.
They packed up and made sure to not leave anything around that would give a clue to someone else that they'd spent time there. They drove the truck as far as they could and then abandoned it twenty yards from a check point and slipped into the dark woods.
The sun was just rising as they reached the tunnel entrance and Colonel Hogan frowned as he saw how unused the tree stump was as there were vines and branches blocking their path. They cleared away a few branches and lifted the lid and climbed down into the tunnel.
"It doesn't look like anyone's been down here in months. Its a little creepy" said Carter as he picked his way over a pile of soft dirt that had fallen down from the beams a long time ago. The passageway wasn't lit and it was very hard to see more than a few fee in front of them.
A sense of doom started to ebb in Colonel Hogan's heart as he lead the way to the radio room. There was no one there and there appeared to have been a cave in near the radio which had covered part of the wirings with dirt.
With a heavy heart at not knowing what to expect; Hogan tapped on the entrance to the barracks to see if anyone would let them up. He waited and then tapped again, listening intently.
Footsteps sounded above him and the tunnel was bathed in painful light as the bunk bed lifted and a face looked down.
It was a big man that Hogan didn't recognize right away. He squinted up at the man and then he knew him. "Tom Eddis! Its us; Colonel Hogan, Kinch and Carter. Is it safe to come up?" he asked as Tom nodded and put out a helping hand to him.
The smell in the barracks hit him first and he reeled back at the odor of stale air. Roll call had obviously just happened as the prisoners were all outside and only Tom seemed to be in the barracks. Colonel Hogan stepped into the room, closely followed by Carter and Kinch who both looked around in surprise.
"Thank God you're here, Colonel Hogan" said Tom as he tapped the tunnel closed again. "We're in bad shape here since you've been gone"
Colonel Hogan looked around in worry. "What's happened here? Where's Newkirk and Lebeau? I must speak to Klink at once!"
Tom held out a hand to stop him and a sadness passed through his face that froze Hogan in his tracks.
"Shortly around the time you left, Lebeau was taken away to the concentration camps while he was on a mission disguised as a gypsy. We don't know if he's dead or alive and all our rescue attempts failed. Newkirk was pushed off the missions as you know and is barely alive with all the epidemics passing through here. Our last Senior POW officer died in the last epidemic as did Klink. Schultz was transferred out of here long ago" said Tom as the others stared at him in disbelief.
"Where is Newkirk now? Can you find him for us?" whispered Colonel Hogan as he tried to digest what Tom had just told him. Tom nodded and left the barracks to look for his friend with a spark of hope in his heart. He found Newkirk sitting in the dirt with his back up against barracks four. His knees were tucked up and his head was back against the wall with his eyes closed. He looked ill and too thin. Tom knelt down beside his friend and shook his shoulder gently.
"Newkirk, your friends are here. They're going to help us; they want to see you. Can you get up, Newkirk?" Tom nudged Newkirk again and didn't get a response as he realized the Englishman had passed out probably from lack of food. Tom looked around for any curious guards and then carefully he picked up the Englishman and was bothered by how light he was. Newkirks' head rolled back and Tom shifted him in his arms so that his head didn't hang at such an odd angle. He carried him back to barracks two and struggled into the doorway.
Colonel Hogan, Carter and Kinch sat at the small table and jumped up in surprise as Tom came in with Newkirk in his arms. They rushed to help him put Newkirk on a nearby bed. Colonel Hogan turned to Tom with deep worry lines furrowing his brow.
"What happened to him? You are both so thin and your clothes are ragged! What's happened here? When was the last time you guys had any food?" demanded Hogan as he watched Carter and Kinch try to awaken their friend who remained motionless and pale. He was shocked by how bad the conditions were in camp and the news of Lebeau was almost too much to handle. He felt sick with fear and worry.
Tom sank down onto the bed next to Newkirk and put his head in his hands as if exhaustion threatened to consume him too. "We haven't eaten for a few days now which has been how we've been living since you left. Newkirk has been really ill for the last couple of months. He's very weak now and the next epidemic will probably kill him. We've lost so many men already. The water is contaminated too and the Kommandant is a killer. We are dying here. Its only a matter of time" he whispered as Kinch and Carter looked at Hogan for some kind of helpful order.
"Tom, we need to close up shop here and get everyone back to London. It's too dangerous for any of you to stay here any longer. Can you start rounding up all the remaining prisoners so we can start sending them out to the subs. Kinch, radio London and have them stand by to receive a few hundred POWs. Carter, help me look for food and lets get Newkirk down into the safety of the tunnels" said Hogan as he pushed aside his feelings of horror and tried to focus on the needs of his men.
Tom stood up and made for the door to start gathering up the other prisoners as Kinch went back down into the tunnel. Carter felt tears prick his eyes as he lifted Newkirk easily over his shoulder and carefully carried him down into the tunnel below.
Colonel Hogan went into his old office and stopped short with a gasp at what he saw. A small breeze from the partly open window, gently swayed a man who had hung himself from a beam in the ceiling. His neck was broken and his eyes stared into nothing. Colonel Hogan dragged his eyes from the scene and then retreated back into the common room, carefully closing the door behind him. So that must have been the most recent Senior POW officer. He didn't recognize the man and wondered who he was and why he'd hung himself.
The barracks door opened as Tom returned with a group of prisoners who made Colonel Hogan's heart ache to see them. They walked listlessly behind Tom and were so pale and thin that he couldn't understand how they remained upright. Their clothes were in rags and filthy and hung on their frail bodies. One man stopped suddenly as he made eye contact with Colonel Hogan and with a sudden pang, Hogan recognized the soldier as Olson who had been on many missions in the past with them.
"Is that you, Colonel Hogan?" asked Captain Olson in a very weak voice. He raised an almost skeletal hand to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.
"Yes, its me. I'm going to help you get out of this place. Please follow Tom down into the tunnel and we'll work at finding you something to eat, all right?" said Hogan with a deep sense of sorrow as he watched the prisoners coming into the barracks. They were all as skinny as Newkirk and looked near deaths door.
It took nearly all day to get all the prisoners down into the tunnel; but finally Colonel Hogan was the last one going down into the tunnel from the barracks. He was astonished to discover that of the five hundred men he had left a year ago; only eighty men remained. A sudden unpleasant thought occurred to him and he pulled Tom aside.
"Where are all the dead? How did the Krauts dispose of the bodies?" he whispered fearfully.
"They burned the dead, Sir" whispered Tom in a tone of complete desolation.
To be continued...