Antibes
A special thanks to Speedar and Terry Doyle for their technical assistance with this chapter.
The three friends surveyed the inside of the tent. There were ten bunks, three bunks high. They noted a bunk had already been claimed, most likely by the German interrupter. Karl and Ralf took the bunk by the short wall with Ralf occupying the top bunk and Karl the lower one. Johannes took the bottom bunk. This way there could be only one approach to the bunks but it also meant if there was an incident, they would be trapped. Unlike Stalag 13, there was no common table. With the exception of a large bucket for night urination and shelves which looked like a small bookcases by each set of bunks, there were no other furnishings. With no windows, the only ventilation was an open door flap. Because there was no light, the inside of the tent was dark and dreary. There was no stove in the tent for heating or cooking.
After each prisoner claimed a bunk, a call went out for all prisoners to immediately assemble outside. After the last prisoner arrived, a French Commandant and his pet interrupter stood before the assembled group. Through the interrupter, the following announcement was made.
"I am the commanding officer, Commandant (1) Rene Lambourne. Welcome to Interment Camp 38. This group is assigned the task of clearing twenty-five miles of mined beaches. You will be awaked at 0500 hours. You will dress, shave and fall out for inspection by 0530 hours. At 0545 hours you will have breakfast and at 0600 hours you will assemble to be transported to your work site. Your work day will end at 1800 hours, when you will be transported back to the compound for your dinner and showers. You will not be required to work on Sunday and wash tubs will be given to you on that day for the purpose of washing your clothes. All personnel will be confined to the dormitory between the hours of 2000 hours to 0530 hours. Any complaints or concerns will be made to Brigadier (2) Perrigo." Lambourne gestured to the man standing to his left. "He will be in charge of your compound. You will do what he tells you without question."
"Insubordination and other offenses will be severely punished. Anyone attempting escape with be shot on sight and the rest of you will be punished. When you are outside of this compound, you will speak only when spoken to, that includes each other. You will maintain a clean and neat appearance at all times. This includes your bunks and all areas inside this compound. You will now line up in an orderly fashion at the mess tent to pick up your bedding and personal supplies. Are there any questions?"
A hand went up belonging to a man who looked to be in his forties. "Are you telling me, a Sturmbannfuhrer (3), I am required to answer to enlisted personnel?" he asked angrily.
The Commandant fixed his cool gaze onto the SS officer. "There is no German army or a German government. You have no rank and therefore you have no privileges such a rank would entitle you to. Any other questions?"
Johannes raised his hand, "Herr Commandant, I do not see any mine clearing equipment when we came in. Could you tell us what tools are available to us for clearing the mine fields, who has laid the mines and are they anti-personnel or anti-tank mines?"
"You will be given the equipment you need when you arrive at your work site. They are German anti personnel mines." The Commandant replied through his interrupter. "Do you have any experience clearing mines?"
"My experience is extremely limited." replied Johannes.
"Good then you can teach the others today and they will be ready to go to work in the morning. I appoint you as their spokesman and leader. That is all. Dismissed."
Grumbling to themselves the men lined up at the mess tent.
As Karl waited in line, he tapped Johannes on the shoulder. "How bad is it?"
"I won't really know until we get out there but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I didn't see any mine fails or mine rollers when we came in. Hopefully we will at least have some metal detectors to work with." Johannes said with a grimace.
"What is a mine fail or mine roller?" Ralf asked from behind Karl.
"A fail is an attachment to an armored vehicle such as a tank. It has two arms attached to a rotor. Attached to the rotating rotors are chains which have fist size balls at the end. They pound the ground and detonate the mines. It is used for anti-personnel mines. The roller is also attached to an armored vehicle. It has two arms attached to it with heavy rollers placed in front of the tank's tracks. The rollers literally roll over the mine to detonate it. Theses are usually used for anti-tank mines."
"How dangerous is it?" asked a worried Karl.
"Dangerous with the right equipment, can be suicide without it." replied a grim Johannes. "The anti-personnel mines have a hair trigger. They are nasty things to work with."
Karl and Ralf looked at Johannes with worry and fear.
Shrugging his shoulders, Johannes continued, "Then you have the problem with where they are and who made them."
"Why is that?" asked Ralf.
"If ground water seeps inside, the internal mechanisms can corrode and degrade making the mine more dangerous. If there is corrosion, then the slightest thing can set them off or they can just detonate on their own. If it was American or British mine it would have non corrosive parts and therefore safer. Since it was made by us.…..well what do the Americans say? Oh yes, we are up the creek without a paddle."
"This is what they want us to do?" asked an appalled Karl.
"What choice do any of us have?" replied Johannes with a look of resignation. "One more thing, stay away from the interrupter."
Both Karl and Ralf looked at Johannes with a confused look on their face.
"Look that private is a dead man and there isn't anything either of us can do about it. I watched the others while the Commandant gave his little speech. The hardcore SS in this group see him as a collaborator and will dispatch him as soon as they have the chance. You guys could easily get caught up in that if you try to befriend him. Don't look at me that way Karl. I don't make the rules and I can't fight every man here for some poor sucker is too dumb to have any sense of self preservation."
Karl looked over at the young private who was slated to die for such a minor infraction of the 'Code'. A shiver ran down his spine as he wondered what would be his fate be if they knew some of the things he had done during the war. Would Johannes leave him to his fate as coldly as the private was being left to his?
When they finally got inside the mess tent, they were outfitted with a sheet and blanket, two pairs of underwear, two pairs of socks, two pairs of work uniforms with the black triangle already sewn on the sleeve, a mess kit, and a pillow. Taking them back to the tent dormitory, they each made their beds and stowed their gear. Exiting the tent, they found a shade tree to sit under. Soon others in the group began to gather around them. When everyone was present, Johannes began to speak.
"My knowledge of demining landmines is limited to what I have witnessed others doing. I have never done it myself. Is there anybody here with any experience with mines?" The group stared back at him in silence. "Alright then, I don't think we are going to have the proper equipment. Hopefully we will at least have some metal detectors but we can't count on that. So you are going to have to know the manual procedure to locate and detonate landmines. First you get down as low as you can and with a knife or some other piece of metal; you very gently probe the ground at an angle until you locate a metal object. It is important to do this at an angle as not to depress the pressure plate. You mark its location and very carefully with your hands or a spade you begin to remove the ground covering the mine. Once uncovered, you will see a small hole near the pressure plate. This is where the safety pin had been. You can carefully insert a sewing pin which will keep it from detonating. The problem is we would sometime booby trapped them to keep this from happening. You can also deactivate them by carefully unscrewing the sensor and removing the wires from the plunger. If we are lucky, we will have charges to detonate them from a safe distance."
Johannes listened to the grumbling from the assembled men before continuing. "The mines are probably SMi-35 or 44s (4). They do not detonate in the ground but launch the explosive into the air about waist high. They will then explode with ball bearings and other shrapnel. That means that they will rip through anything they meet leaving a person looking like a plate of ground meat. The kill radius for them is 20 meters with casualties up to 140 meters. (5) If you accidently detonate one, don't stand there or try to run. Drop face forward onto the ground. You will be hurt but it maybe the difference between life and death."
One of the men in the back spoke up, "We are suppose to clear twenty-five miles of these things? It's suicide." The other men in the group agreed whole heartily with the assessment.
"And what would be our other option?" asked Johannes.
"We could escape." came a reply.
"Where to? Who would assist us? I think we need to be realistic. The Alps are to the north and east of us. Do you plan to walk across the Alps or around them? There are only two ways we are leaving here, either in a box or after the beaches are cleared."
A thick silence fell on the group. No one looked at anyone else. Each lost in his own thoughts.
Finally Ralf chimed in, "Well I don't know about anyone else but I'm looking forward to a decent shower. I think I'm starting to kill the flies that land on me."
Laughter rang out at his quip and a solider reached out and tousled the young man's hair good naturedly.
"I think Ralf has the right idea, at least for now. Lets all wash and sleep in a real, if not lumpy, bed tonight." Johannes winked at Ralf in a silent thank you for relieving a tense situation. Ralf's smile lit up his face as he scrambled to be the first one to the showers.
Morning came early to the men at IC 38. While everyone was hungry, it felt good to be clean and shaven. Sleeping in a bed was heaven for the men and their outlook was better than it had been the day before. They were searched before loading themselves into the truck. Johannes, Ralf and Karl sat together in silence as the trucks rolled out of the compound. Fifteen minutes later they had reached their destination.
Karl hopped out of the truck and looked at the beach with awe. He had seen pictures of the ocean before but had never seen it with his own eyes. He stared transfixed at the beautiful blue ocean. The whiteness of the beach hurt his eyes but he didn't care. Looking into the distance he saw where the ocean and the sky meet and blended seamlessly together. He looked at the small white clouds that dotted the sky and wondered if he had seen any place that was more beautiful.
His mind wandered and he daydreamed of Ilsa playing on the beach and swimming in the water. Of course he would have to teach her to swim but he could see her laughing and playing happily here. Then he realized if she were to play on this beautiful beach she would surely die. Like the Venus Fly Trap, this place of beauty was a dead trap for the unwary. He closed his eyes to block out the image he had created.
The Brigadier was handing out their equipment; a dull knife, sewing pins and a wooden stake to mark the mines. An area had already been marked off. They lined up, thirty abreast and ten feet apart. They then got down on their knees to begin the slow process of locating and disarming the mines. No one spoke or even wanted to. Their entire concentration was on the deadly task before them. At noon, they were given water and a 30 minute rest period before having to return to their work. In the afternoon, the sun beat down on them and the southerly wind chapped their faces and hands. Sand got into every crease and crevice, causing them severe irritation and misery. At the end of the day they each had disarmed four mines. Karl couldn't see them completing one mile during his lifetime, let alone the twenty-five that they were required to do.
Karl was starving and eagerly was looking forward to dinner. It had been three days since he had eaten and his belly was protesting loudly. Entering the Mess Tent with his friends, Karl picked up a bowl and a spoon. He was then given a thin bowl of a grey gruel he couldn't identify and a hunk of bread the size of his fist. To wash it down, he was given a glass of water. Not caring what the mystery substance was, Karl sat down and ate it hungrily. Karl was tired and his back and knees hurt but he was happy sitting there eating with his friends. Talking about the day helped ease the tension that had formed a knot between his shoulder blades.
Everyone talked about how nothing had happened today and perhaps the task was not going to be as hard as they thought it would be. They were slapping each other on the back and congratulating each other. Laughter and friendship rang out in the small tent. Karl noticed Johannes said nothing during this time. He just sat there eating with a grim look on his face, keeping his own counsel.
After washing their dishes, Karl, Ralf and Johannes walked over to the shade tree and sat down. Johannes was looking down at something between his boots, not speaking. Finally Karl couldn't stand the silence any longer.
"Johannes, you were quiet during dinner. Is something the matter?"
Looking up at Karl, Johannes gave a tired sigh. "Don't be fooled by our luck today and don't mistake it for anything but luck. You can't let your guard down and get cocky. This is dangerous work and even with the proper tools, which we don't have, accidents will happen. I wouldn't be surprised if most of the guys here won't be by the end of the month."
Karl looked at his friend. It was now or never, he thought to himself. "Johannes, you seem to know a lot of stuff that doesn't fall into your stated job description. How do you know the things you do and what aren't you telling us?"
"Do you want to tell us everything about what you did in the war Karl? Is there any little secrets you are hiding?" Johannes asked in a somewhat mocking tone. Karl dropped his head, not able to meet Johannes eyes any longer. "That is what I thought." Pausing he continued, "There are things we don't want others to know about ourselves. I admit I might have been in a certain position before the end of the war to know certain information but like you Karl, I prefer that information to stay hidden."
"I understand Johannes. I won't ask again." Karl said quietly.
Johannes smiled, "Why so glum? We got a food, clothes, shelter and good friends. What more could we need?"
The second day was much like the first but they were given coffee, a hunk of cheese and a piece of bread for breakfast. It was just after the noon break when it happened. The explosion immediately killed five prisoners and seriously wounded four more. Luckily Karl and his friends were on the other end of the line and physically unhurt. Upon seeing what was left of the five unlucky prisoners and hearing the screams of the wounded, Ralf buried his face in Karl's uniform and cried.
Seeing Ralf was about to be sick, Karl helped him down to the water's edge, followed closely by a guard. Taking off their boots, Karl wade Ralf into the ocean and began to put ocean water on his face to help calm his down. Turning back to look at the guard, Karl saw a sympathetic look on his face but his weapon was pointed directly at him. Karl understood the message, comfort the boy but anything else will get you shot.
Author's notes:
1 Commandant is the French Calvary's equivalent to Major
2 Brigadier is the French Calvary's equivalent to Corporal
3 Sturmbannfuhrer is the SS equivalent to a Major
4 The American's named the SMi-35 and SMi-44 'Bouncing Betties' while the French called them 'The Silent Soldiers'. Over 23,000 were planted on the southern beaches of France in anticipation of the Allies invasion of Italy.
5 American training manuals warned of casualties up to 140 meters.
There was an estimated 50,000 German POWs in France engaged in landmine removal between mid 1945 and 1947. It is believed that 1,800 POWs and 500 Frenchmen lost their life during this operation. There where millions of landmines buried during the war. Europe continues to have a serious problem with the landmines which were laid by both the Axis and Allies during WWII.
For all those who have been worried about what Hogan and the rest of the Heroes have been up to, you do not have to wait much longer. In the next chapter entitled 'Frankfurt' you will get to see what Hogan and the boys have been up to and get to meet some interesting people along the way. Please don't forget to R & R, they are my bread and butter.