Prologue: Part 1
"Colonel! Colonel Hogan! Can you hear me?" Carter called out through the dark tunnel, listening intently for any sound of movement behind the wall of dirt.
Darn it he thought as he remembered what had happened. He was manufacturing a bomb for the munitions factory that the heroes were supposed to blow up that night, and was just about to add the nitrogen. Hogan had just come down after a 'meeting' with Klink. Carter, being very giddy and happy from making the bombs, asked Hogan to watch the contents in the almost bubbling vials, while he got the nitrogen. As he left, there was a shout, then an explosion that knocked him against the wall, temporarily stunning him. When he came to, he realized that Hogan was trapped in the collapsed tunnel. He started digging and calling for help. The demolitions expert then realized that everybody would be outside enjoying the fresh, mild day.
He then ran to the tunnel entrance, banged it open, and climbed through. After quickly changing into clean clothes, so the guards wouldn't expect anything, Andrew Carter rushed outside to find the other occupants of Barracks Two.
Louis LeBeau, James Kinchloe, and Peter Newkirk were outside of Barracks Two talking 1uietly when Carter came rushing out and nearly ran over LeBeau, the short, gourmet French cook.
"Where's the fire, mate?" Newkirk asked, helping Carter off the ground while Kinch helped LeBeau.
"No fire," Carter gasped as Newkirk rolled his eyes, "Tunnel collapsed. Hogan's stuck!" He muttered out.
Sergeant Kinchloe instantly took command. "Cater-once you regain your breath, go grab some volunteers and dig a fake tunnel. LeBeau, run and get Wilson, the medic, and tell him what happened. Stay with him then, we don't need you fainting. Tell him to be prepared for the worst. Newkirk, find Olsen and Baker and bring them to the collapsed tunnel with shovels.
As they all dispersed, Kinch went to the collapsed tunnel. Once there, he inspected the damage; half of the tunnel was collapsed or crumbling. Damn it he thought as he remembered that Hogan was underneath all of the debris.
Olsen and Baker soon arrived with shovels and a stretcher leaning on the wall. Kinch grabbed a shovel from Baker's hand and started to dig the trapped POW out. "Olsen keep lookout!" he barked out, not waiting for a reply. After about five minutes, Kinch called a halt. He was starting to hear moans which meant that they were close.
"Colonel Hogan?" He called out tentatively.
No response.
"Hogan-can you hear me, sir?" Kinch called out again, louder. A weak, quiet moan was his answer. Newkirk dropped to his knees, and started to brush dirt out of his way. It didn't take him long to find something.
"Kinch! I found 'is feet!" Newkirk's cockney accent rang out through the enclosed tunnel.
The rest of the prisoners started sifting through the dirt as moans and groans started to become more pronounced. A couple of minutes later, Kinch's hand went though some of the dirt. When he pulled it up, it was wet and sticky. He took and quick intake of breath-it was blood, and there was lots of it.
"Damn it" the radio man muttered and started to sift faster, while calling Hogan's name louder and louder. Finally, he, Baker, and Newkirk came into contact with Hogan's body. He was moaning, and shivering and was starting to regain consciousness, but was alive! All three diggers sighed in relief. Hogan was still alive. Now came the hard part. The prisoners had to move Hogan into the fake tunnel to convince Klink that the accident rally was a cave in.
"Baker-go get Wilson and see if he can stabilize the colonel for now. Newkirk go help Carter and the others finish digging the fake tunnel. I'll stay with him" he said, indicating Hogan who was out cold again.
When Newkirk got into the barracks, he saw the five volunteers along with Cater changing from their dirt filled uniforms. "Ey mate," he started, "the tunnel finished up yet? Kinch was just asking about it."
"Yeah it's finished. What do we do now?" Cater asked, clearly upset. He was so upset that he was barley speaking. Just then, the door swung open, and Sergeant Wilson, the camp's medic, strode in. "Where's Hogan? Baker said that he needed to be stabilized so you can move him to the fake tunnel." He said briskly, yet not unkindly.
"'Ey's in the tunnel, mate." Newkirk replied as he walked over to the tunnel entrance. "Kinch! Wilson's here and Cater said that the false tunnel is ready." He called down after opening the secret entrance.
Good. Wilson, come on down. The Colonels in pretty bad shape. Cater, I know you hide explosives somewhere in the barracks so wire up the false tunnel so it looks like it collapsed." Kinch's muffled voice called up to the crowd.
While Wilson and Newkirk were down with Hogan, Kinch went up for a cup of coffee. What he found was surprising: He had been in the tunnel for about three hours! It didn't seem like that though. "Carter! Hurry up with those explosives and blow up the tunnel so we can move Hogan before roll call." He called to the silent man sitting on his bunk.
"I can't. All my explosives were used already. Besides, what if I hurt the colonel again and possibly kill him? I can't do this anymore……..I resign!" He spoke softly, his voice rising as he thought of what had happened.
"Carter," Kinch sighed, "Everybody makes mistakes. Everyday each one of us could possibly hurt him. I could knock him out by accident, LeBeau could poison him, and Newkirk could, well, Newkirk could cheat him, bore him, or pin him to death with sewing pins. Today just happened to be your bad day. No one blames you for the accident. Hogan would've wanted it to happen to him rather than you."
"Really?" Carter started to talk again. "Gee golly! That makes everything so much better now! Let me dig the explosives out of my bed post, and then we can wire the tunnel so it's gone forever. Then we can help the colonel!"
Kinch shook his head, amazed. Only Carter would think of hiding explosives in wooden bed boards. He went down to the tunnel to see if Wilson needed any help.
"Oh good. You're here. Hogan has about two lower broken ribs, a broken leg, and multiple cults and bruises." Wilson said. As he said this, they felt a rumbling tremor, which made loose dirt sift down from the ceiling.
"That's it." Kinch said when it stopped, "carter blew up the false tunnel. We can move Hogan now before roll call.
Wilson grabbed the stretcher propped up against the wall. After laying it flat he called up to the barracks, "Hey, I need three guys to help us move Hogan to the fake tunnel."
The first three people down were Private George Davis, USAF, Corporal Will Lawrence, RAF, and Private Henry Jakes, USAF. With care, they transported the unconscious colonel to the stretcher before strapping him in so he could go up the ladder. The transition went fairly smoothly until Hogan woke up and was unaccustomed to his surroundings. Fortunately Wilson had a sedative on him. After the move, Kinch rushed over to the Kommadant's office, acknowledged Hilda, the pretty blonde secretary, before barging into Colonel Klink's office.
"Colonel Klink, sir please come! There was an accident and Colonel Hogan was caught in a cave in! We dug him out, but we can't get him out without your help! Please sir! You've got to believe me!" Kinch quickly told the bald German officer. Klink was astonished. Why would Hogan try to escape? He knew the American joked about it; but really do it? Or try to at least. The German quickly took action. "Sergeant Shultz!" he waited until the fat guard reported to him, "Shultz, get a group of guards with shovels and cement and report to Barracks Two. Colonel Hogan has been injured while trying to escape. DISS-MISSED!"
Kinch and Shultz hastily saluted and left in their separate ways. The American walked into the barracks with a smile on his face. It disappeared when he was the looks of his comrades. "What's wrong?" he asked, "did something happen to the colonel? What's wrong?" he asked.
Nobody said anything. Not even Carter. LeBeau pointed out the window. Their local Gestapo annoyance officer had arrived in camp: Major Wolfgang Hochstetter.