TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

by mileslacey

In Hammelburg the air raid sirens sounded again. SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Grimm Wagner swore as he clambered out of bed and grabbed his coat as he dashed down to the cellar. On the way down the stairs he passed a couple of neighbours who grumbled about the bloody British. The building was beginning to shake from the pounding of the anti-aircraft guns in a nearby park by the time he reached the now crowded cellar where children were shivering in fright as their equally terrified parents tried to reassure them that everything would be all right.

He'd only just returned from Berlin six hours earlier where he had been hunting down some of the traitors who'd tried to assassinate the Fuhrer. He had lost count of how many people he had executed in the last three months but he had no doubt every person he had killed richly deserved what had been done to them. Like all patriotic Germans he took great pride in doing his job well.

Only one thing was spoiling his perfect record. It was the curious case of the Stalag XIII prisoner of war camp.

By all accounts its Commandant Oberst Wilhelm Klink was one of the most incompetent German officers to ever hold a position of authority yet he had managed to achieve something not even the toughest concentration camp Commandant had managed to achieve: no escapes whatsoever. At least, that's what the files on the camp that were in Berlin would suggest but he had dug much deeper and discovered something much more interesting. Though the camp had no escapes he was intrigued to find nearly everyone who had transferred out of the camp managed to escape while in transit. This was, indeed, a very curious state of affairs.

When the air raid ended he returned to his apartment. After getting dressed he drove out to Stalag XIII.

He did not announce his arrival. When he was stopped at the main gates by the obese sergeant-in-arms Hauptfeldwebel Hans Feldwebel he simply pulled out his Gestapo identification papers and snapped, 'Open up the gate!'

He walked into Klink's office, catching the bald monocled officer by surprise.

'Heil Hitler, Herr SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Wagner!' Klink saluted weakly as he got to his feet. 'What an honour to see you again.'

Wagner smiled but did not shake Klink's hand. 'I understand you came into possession of a Morse Code telegraph key from the tunnel that collapsed a few months ago.'

'Yes, SS-Sturmbannfuhrer!'

'Fetch it for me, please.'

Klink walked over to the office safe. He took out the item then handed it to him.

'Did you find out where it came from?'

'Colonel Hogan told me he had no idea where it came from. I put him in the cooler for two months but he wouldn't change his story. We let him go when we learned there was a perfectly logical explanation for the key.'

Wagner said, 'Which is…?'

Klink stated, 'They built the camp on a disused rubbish tip.'

'Seriously?'

Actually, it didn't surprise him at all. Wagner had travelled extensively through Europe in search of the Greater German Reich's many enemies and it had taken him to some of the most vile places imaginable, including the Jewish ghettos of Poland and elsewhere. He had been in a place called Kutno which had a ghetto built on a rubbish tip. It had surprised him to see how innovative the inmates had been when it came to building furniture and shelter for themselves and their families. He had no doubt that both past and present prisoners here in Stalag XIII had shown the same degree of initiative, especially if the standard of the collapsed tunnel had been any indication.

It also reminded him of how often local Nazi bigwigs tended to totally underestimate their enemies. In their minds they thought it would be so funny to see the racial trash of Europe living in trash but they had also provided them with the tools they needed to achieve what they had.

After tossing the key in his hand a few times he walked out of the office without saying anything more to Klink.

In his barracks Colonel Hogan gestured to his radio operator United States Army Air Corps Sergeant Richard Baker to turn off the listening device. The return of Wagner bothered him. Contacts in the anti-Hitler resistance had informed him that Wagner was like a bloodhound. He did not give up until he had his man and he would go to any lengths to get him. He took great pride in his work and it was one of the reasons why he held such a high rank at such a relatively young age without the right connections.

Wagner did not bother knocking on the barracks door. He kicked open the door and bellowed, 'Everyone except Hogan, get out!'

No one moved.

Hogan smiled and said to the others, 'You'd better do as he said. I'll be fine.'

Corporal Louie LeBeau asked suspiciously, 'Are you sure? He's Gestapo!'

'I'll be fine, LeBeau. I doubt even he would violate the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war.'

Wagner allowed himself a wry smile.

Once the other prisoners were gone Hogan said, through gritted teeth, 'Perhaps you would like to sit down, Herr SS-Sturmbannfuhrer?'

'No, thank you.'

'We just received some genuine Brazilian coffee in our Red Cross parcels the other day. Would you like one?'

'You're a very charming man, Colonel Hogan, but I didn't get my rank by being swayed by charm.'

'I don't doubt that at all.'

'I am going to give you a simple choice. You tell me just what sort of operation you're running here or there will be serious consequences.'

'There's nothing going on here. SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Wagner -.'

'Yes, yes, I've heard the speech before, Hogan. The problem is, Colonel, you are full of shit. We both know the only reason why your mob has not attempted to escape is because you're involved in what the military would call covert operations. I call it terror attacks aimed at sabotaging the war effort of the Greater German Reich.'

Hogan grinned in that condescending way he always did when he encountered someone who was actually smart enough to figure out something major. 'And how do you think we would be able to carry out covert operations from here?'

'That tunnel was too well constructed for an escape tunnel. It was built to last. That means it was intended to be used many times and I believe it was intended to be used for prisoners to leave the camp, carry out sabotage operations then return. As long as Klink continues to maintain his perfect record of no escapes from the camp no one has bothered to look into what's going on.'

Hogan's expression changed slightly, something that would've been missed by most Gestapo officers.

Wagner allowed himself a wry smile because he knew that Hogan had just confirmed his suspicions.

'The problem is, Hogan, that things are never quite what they seem. It is quite natural for prisoners of war to try and escape so even the toughest prisoner of war camp will have at least a few escape attempts. But not Stalag XIII. So, obviously, something must've been going on. While I was interrogating traitors involved in the attempt on the life of our Fuhrer I learned of just how extensive the sabotage operations in the Hammelburg area have been. Your band of criminals have really been busy.'

'You have an active imagination, Herr SS-Sturmbannfuhrer,' Hogan jeered but the slight tremor in his voice betrayed the fact he was now genuinely fearing what was going to happen next. 'My men have never escaped because Commandant Klink is such a tough camp commandant.'

Wagner jeered, 'I don't think so.'

'And considering how many people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the plot to kill Hitler I'm surprised you haven't considered that maybe it is your own countrymen who've carried out those operations.'

'Oh, I have no doubt some traitors to the Fatherland have been involved but these sabotage operations are not the work of amateurs. You may as well stop playing games and admit what's going on. We have ways to make you talk, you know.'

'No doubt, torture will do that.'

Wagner shook his head slowly, tut-tutting as he did so. 'In my long and esteemed career in the Gestapo I have learned that people will simply tell you what you want to hear when they have their fingernails ripped out. I prefer more… refined… methods.'

Outside, LeBeau whispered to Royal Air Force Corporal Peter Newkirk, 'If the boche tries to take away the Colonel I'm going to kill him.'

Newkirk cautioned his pushy French comrade, 'Let's see what Wagner does before we do anything we'll regret.'

They had been standing outside for the best part of an hour, watching the door of the barracks, the situation getting tense, when suddenly the door opened and Hogan was escorted out by Wagner.

LeBeau rushed for Wagner but he simply punched LeBeau out cold with his killer left hook. The other prisoners only backed off when Hogan, putting on a brave face, said, 'Don't worry, I'll be back shortly.'

No one believed him.

Wagner led Hogan straight to his car and pushed him into the back seat then he climbed into the front seat. This was strictly against protocol to take someone into protective custody without another Gestapo officer but Wagner didn't think Hogan would be able to do anything with his hands tied behind his back.

As the car drove out the gates Hogan's men threw stones, dirt and whatever else they could find at the car.

It was the last time they ever saw Hogan or Wagner alive.

Later that day as Klink was coming to terms with the loss of his Senior Prisoner of War Officer the obese General Albert Hans "Hansi" Burkhalter walked into his office, unannounced as usual.

Normally the obese man was loud and obnoxious but, today, something was off as the General actually returned Klink's salute.

Without saying anything he opened his briefcase and took out a bloodstained cap that Klink immediately recognised as belonging to Hogan. He placed it on the Commandant's desk.

'Wilhelm,' Burkhalter said. 'Colonel Hogan is dead.'

'Was he executed by the Gestapo?' Klink stammered.

Burkhalter sighed. 'Ironically, Hogan and that annoying SS-Sturmbannfuhrer were killed by assassins hiding in the nearby woods. Someone must've forgotten to tell them that Hogan was in the car.'

'Or they attacked the car because they knew Colonel Hogan was in the car,' Klink said mournfully. 'Hogan got us out of a lot of trouble many times.'

Burkhalter remarked in the closest he ever got to a positive tone of voice, 'That has been the first intelligent thing you've said since this damned war began. Maybe there's been a brain inside of your head after all. Pity it didn't reveal itself until it was too late.'

'What do we do now?'

'You can do what you like. I'm getting the heck out of here before they string me up in a Gestapo prison with piano wire.'

THE END