Author's Note: Others own the Hogan's Heroes characters. All other characters were created by me. Please do not use them without my permission.
Beyond the End – Part 7
By Diane Maher
The next morning, someone opened the barracks door and shouted that it was time for roll call.
Klink opened his eyes and realized that he had not been dreaming. He watched the men climb out of their bunks. There wasn't an officer among them, Klink noted with dismay. He thought, Wunderbar! I'm with the enlisted men as well!
Klink had nothing against the enlisted men as soldiers, but they weren't descended from aristocracy like himself. There was a class distinction between officers and enlisted men, which was the way things were in the German army, in fact, in most armies of the world. Why should I have to mess with these men? At least I allowed Hogan to have a separate room from the men. I deserve as much from his side as I gave him! Klink sat up and suddenly felt dizzy. He forgot about the lump on the back of his head. He steadied himself for a minute and decided to wait until everyone else was gone before climbing down from the bunk.
Below, Schultz groaned as he climbed out of bed and stood. He put on his uniform tunic, turned around and offered his hand to Klink.
Klink stared at Schultz for a moment before taking the offered hand. Pulling on his overcoat, Klink felt humiliated; if it had been anyone other than Schultz, he wouldn't have accepted the help. Looking around, Klink saw that no one else had seen the incident. He noticed that the barracks were similar to those in Stalag 13. The two men went outside for roll call. The compound resembled that of Stalag 13 in its general appearance. He was amused that he continued to make comparisons to his camp. Of course, Stalag 13 had been his home for the last three years. How could he not make comparisons to it?
Schultz waited for Klink to precede him out the door. The two men walked down the double row of prisoners and stood at the end of the line next to one another in the brisk morning air. "Herr Kommandant," Schultz began.
"Dummkopf! Don't call me that anymore!" muttered Klink.
Shrugging, Schultz whispered, "Look at all the men's faces. None of them look glad that the war is over for us."
Klink looked around at the men they stood with. Most had forlorn expressions on their faces; their uniforms were either torn in places, or were just dirty and well-worn. Looking back at Schultz, he whispered in reply, "Schultz, we are prisoners of the Allies, our enemies in this war, in case you forgot. All of us are waiting for judgment at their hands."
Schultz was perplexed when he replied, "Why? We haven't done anything."
"I know; we personally haven't done anything, but…but I…" Klink was choked up and couldn't continue.
"Sir, you didn't kill your prisoners. I was there, remember?" asked Schultz.
Klink nodded in agreement. "Crenshaw doesn't agree with you. The man despises me and I've only been here less than a day. How will I deal with him?"
With a shrug, Schultz replied, "You'll do the right thing for us, Herr Oberst."
Klink looked at his long-time aide and whispered, "I hope you're right, Schultz. Danke."
A man came up to them and counted them. The man was shorter than either Klink or Schultz, but was no less of a man for it. He looked strong; his arm muscles filled the sleeves of his tunic. "I'm the sergeant in charge of your barracks. My name's Hawkins. You two came in last night, eh?"
"Yes, we did," replied Klink.
"Oh, we've got a couple o' Jerries who speak English," chortled Hawkins.
Klink frowned, shook a fist in the air and replied, "Obviously, you dummkopf!"
Hawkins chuckled good-naturedly. "Good ta see ya got a sense o' humor, mate. You'll need it 'ere," he replied sarcastically.
Klink shook his head in amazement and thought, These are the people that defeated Germany? I can't believe this man's impertinence!
At that moment, Crenshaw came out of the administration building and strode across the compound with two men flanking him. His stride was more like a strut. Each of the two men with him carried machine guns. Crenshaw began, "For those of you who are new prisoners here, my name is Major Crenshaw and I am your commandant." He looked at the prisoners and continued, "You will obey the rules of this camp or be severely punished. As for the rest of you, I also want to announce that you have a new senior POW officer." Crenshaw glanced down at his clipboard before saying, "His name is Colonel Klink. Colonel, please step forward so the men can recognize you."
Klink couldn't believe Crenshaw's audacity. The man had purposely forgotten his name! At that instant, he was so angry that he longed to punch Crenshaw. But he refused to be baited. Free or captive, he was Wilhelm Klink, and he would act as a Prussian aristocrat - a Klink - should act. When Klink stepped out, he stood tall and dignified. Then he saw the smug look on Crenshaw's face, and he scowled in return.
Was this what it had been like for Colonel Hogan all these years? To stand in his place at roll call and watch me strut like a stuffed goose? Klink wondered.
"He is located in--" began Crenshaw with an eye towards Klink.
"Barracks 7," Klink finished. "Surely your guard told you that!" he muttered under his breath.
Crenshaw's aide noted the location on his clipboard. "That is all, dismissed!"
Klink followed the men back inside the barracks. "Where can a man get something to eat in this place?" he asked.
The private who had warned him not to take Schultz's bunk the night before said, "We'll get some food later today. Yesterday morning at roll call, the commandant announced that food was being rationed due to the shortages after winter. You won't get food until lunch. It's not the best food either."
Klink stared at the private incredulously. "What, no food for the prisoners? That's against the Geneva Convention!"
Looking at Schultz, an ironic smile came over Klink's face; he shook his head and chuckled. He couldn't believe he had uttered those words. How many times had Hogan said that very same phrase to him? He couldn't remember. It must have been thousands. Now here he was, saying those same words.
Schultz came and stood next to Klink. His eyes were wide and his tone was fretful when he asked, "No food? What will I do?"
The private said quietly, "You'll lose some of that weight, Sergeant."
Schultz self-consciously touched his great waistline. "Colonel?"
"I'll go and protest this to Crenshaw," muttered Klink.
"Sir, the senior POW officer tried that yesterday," the private said. Remembering who he was speaking to, he added, "Sorry sir, I just thought you should know."
Klink nodded and took off his coat. He looked for a place to hang it, but the others had hung their coats from the bunk posts. He supposed that it would do until he could put a nail in the wall. Looking around, Klink briefly counted the men in the room. There were twenty. He was surprised that there were so many men in one building. As he recalled, there were rarely more than fifteen men in Hogan's barracks in Stalag 13.
Since he couldn't eat until lunch, Klink decided to get as much information as he could about the prisoners in camp. How many officers were there besides Captain Gruber and himself?
Klink asked the private, "In what barracks was the senior POW located before I arrived yesterday?"
The private replied, "He's over in Barracks 12."
Klink was about to leave; then he reached up and pulled down his riding crop from its resting place between the mattress and the bunk frame. He had placed it there so it wouldn't get lost during the night.
Sliding his riding crop beneath his arm and feeling its familiar leather grip in his hand, Klink felt less intimidated as he headed to Barracks 12 and entered. As he entered, the men came to attention upon seeing his rank. Nodding in satisfaction at their respect for an officer, Klink looked around, crossed the room to where a tall, dark haired Wehrmacht Oberstleutnant stood and said, "I am Colonel Wilhelm Klink, former Kommandant of Luft Stalag 13."
"I am Oberstleutnant Karl Geist, I was with the 12th Panzer Brigade and was captured when Frankfurt am Main fell to the Allied advance," the officer replied as he came to attention.
"At ease," Klink said. "Oberstleutnant, please come with me. I'd like to take a walk so we can talk in private."
"Jawohl, Herr Oberst," replied Geist. As they left the barracks, he continued, "They let you keep your riding crop?"
Klink nodded. "I suppose that little scrap of a major doesn't care one way or the other. He despises me anyway."
"Why?" asked Geist. "He doesn't know you and yet you seem pleasant enough."
Klink grinned. "You hardly know me, Geist. You remind me a lot of the man who was the senior POW officer at Stalag 13."
Geist chuckled. "Should I be offended by that statement?"
Shaking his head, Klink replied, "Crenshaw despises me because I was a POW Kommandant. Somehow, he found out about what happened at most of the camps."
Geist frowned. "What happened?"
Klink looked around anxiously to make sure that they were alone. "Our late Führer ordered all camp Kommandants to kill all of their prisoners."
"Mein Gott!" replied Geist, his eyes wide with incredulity. "No wonder Crenshaw hates you! Did you go through with it, sir?"
Klink's hand tightened around the leather grip of his riding crop and he looked down at it for a moment. When he looked up again and his gaze met Geist's, he whispered, "No. I couldn't go through with it. I surrendered the camp to the senior POW." His shoulders slumped and he looked down at his feet, ashamed. "As a man who's been in battle with the enemy, I suppose you think I'm a coward."
His eyes wide with astonishment, Geist asked, "You disobeyed Hitler's direct orders and you're still alive?"
"I'm alive only because the man who came to check whether I followed those orders is dead."
Geist swallowed nervously. "Did your prisoners kill him?"
Again Klink shook his head. "I did. The general that came to camp threatened to kill the senior POW and my conscience wouldn't allow that. I feared for the lives of the men of my command if Colonel Hogan was killed. The then ex-prisoners might have decided to kill all of us if he was killed."
Geist was silent as Klink continued, "I knew that Hitler was dead by then and his order was insane. I couldn't follow it and that's how I wound up here in this place."
"I commend you for doing the right thing, Herr Oberst," Geist said, amazed. "As for how Crenshaw found out, there were some former Allied prisoners who managed to escape and arrive here from one of the camps where the prisoners weren't so lucky. They told him of what happened to their comrades."
Klink visualized the carnage with a shudder. It could have so easily happened at Stalag 13. Glad that he had prevented it in his camp, he put the image behind him and nodded. "Geist, I need to know how many officers there are in this camp and where they are. Also, can you give me a tour of this place?"
Geist replied, "There aren't many officers here. Besides the two of us, there are two others. I had problems with one; he's a major from the Gestapo. The other man arrived with you, sir. Captain Gruber is in Barracks 9."
Klink reached up, removed his monocle, cleaned it with his handkerchief and then put it back on his eye. "Captain Gruber was my adjutant at Stalag 13. This Gestapo man's been giving you problems? What sort of problems? Where is he?"
Geist nodded. "The Gestapo man is in Barracks 1. His name is Major Erich Heinzmann. He has been stirring up the prisoners trying to provoke them to escape. I'll introduce him to you."
"I see," commented Klink with a hint of a frown. "I want you to help me keep the men in line, including him. That idiot is likely to get all of us killed by Crenshaw."
"Jawohl, Herr Oberst," Geist replied solemnly. "I've pulled rank on him to try to get him to stop and he has for the last week. I would expect him to try something now that I'm no longer the senior POW here."
"I'll keep that in mind. Tell me, have there been many escapes from here?" inquired Klink.
"A few have tried, but most of the men are content to not have to fight and die for a lost cause. Since I've been here, there have been five escapes. Several others were shot trying to escape."
Klink cringed when he heard this. He had always threatened to have the guards shoot anyone trying to escape from Stalag 13, but it had never been necessary. His prisoners immediately surrendered when they were captured outside the wire. "Were those men inspired by Heinzmann?" asked Klink.
Geist nodded and answered, "My first night here as senior POW was shattered by gunfire outside and then having to go and see three men lying dead outside the wire, here." Geist pointed at a spot outside the fence and they continued on their tour of the camp.
Klink heard his stomach growl. "Do the officers eat with the enlisted men?"
"Jawohl," replied Geist with a grin. "The mess hall is fairly small. It's that building over there." Geist indicated the building with the sign reading, 'Mess Hall' over the double doors. There were men approaching the building. He looked at his watch and said, "It's time for lunch. We'd best get over there. It's first come, first served. Most of the barracks have one or two prisoners obtain what food they'll need from there and cook it on the stoves in their barracks. That way, they don't have to put up with the Allied guards. It keeps the tempers cool among our men."
Klink nodded and they headed over to the mess hall. Schultz saw Klink heading that way and followed. They were among the first arrivals at the doors. Once they entered, Klink saw that the mess hall was like every other mess hall he'd been in during his military career. The difference was that he didn't recognize some of the smells.
Geist led the way to the chow line. He picked up a tray and some utensils. Klink and Schultz did the same. After going through the line and seeing the scowls of the men grudgingly serving the food, and hearing their angry muttering, Klink understood why most of the prisoners consumed their meals in the barracks.
As the three men sat to a table in the corner, Klink said, "Geist, this is my aide, Sergeant Schultz. Schultz, this is Oberstleutnant Geist, formerly of the 12th Panzer Brigade."
Schultz swallowed a mouthful of food before responding, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Herr Oberstleutnant." He saluted after putting down his utensils.
Geist returned Schultz's salute. "I thought that as an officer you didn't dine with the enlisted men, Herr Oberst."
"Schultz has eaten many meals in my presence in the past," Klink replied.
"The food is not poisoned, Herr Komm-, uh Oberst," said Schultz with a shrug at his slip of the tongue.
Klink closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. It would take Schultz a long time to stop calling him Herr Kommandant. "Very good, Schultz."
"You use this man as a food taster?" inquired Geist, as his brow rose with curiosity.
Klink grinned. "We used to have gourmet meals at Stalag 13. He always tasted them before I got to eat."
"How was it possible for you to eat gourmet meals in a POW camp?" asked Geist, incredulous.
Klink speared a piece of potato from his plate and popped it in his mouth. "We had a French prisoner who was an excellent chef. However, if I wanted to utilize his services, it usually required giving the prisoners extra light, or extra writing paper or something like that. It was another privilege that Colonel Hogan and I negotiated between us."
Geist looked at Klink in wonder before commenting, "I see. It sounds like your prisoners were well treated."
Klink said proudly, "We never had an escape from Stalag 13."
"Not one? I'm surprised. Usually the Allied men would be chomping at the bit to get back to their own lines. But not at Stalag 13?" asked Geist, surprised.
"There were over three hundred attempts at escape, but none of them were successful. I am very proud that I didn't have to resort to browbeating the men like Crenshaw does," said Klink with a frown.
The three men consumed their meal in silence as more of the guards entered the mess hall. During this time, Klink wondered about what his responsibilities as senior POW were. His first day as a POW had gone fairly smooth so far. He hoped it would continue.
* * * * * * *
Later that afternoon, after visiting all of the barracks in camp, Geist and Klink headed for Barracks 1. It's time for me to meet this Gestapo officer, thought Klink.
As Schultz opened the door of Barracks 1 for the officers, Klink smoothed his uniform and made sure every hair was in place. The two officers entered, leaving Schultz outside. He supposed that Schultz would listen at the door. Or in his case, fall asleep listening at the door.
When Klink and Geist walked into the barracks, there was a poker game in progress, but the men put down their cards and came to attention. Klink inspected each man briefly. Nodding in satisfaction, he looked around the room for the Gestapo man. A short, blonde haired man wearing a black uniform with a red armband on it strode over to see what was going on. He had a towel draped over his shoulders and his hair was damp. Seeing the newcomer, the major stopped, clicked his heels together and saluted.
"Heil Hitler!" the major said. "I am Major Heinzmann, formerly of the Gestapo."
Klink stood tall, acknowledged the major's salute, and began, "I am Colonel Klink. Major, I..."
Behind them, the door opened. A guard entered and barked, "Klink! The commandant wants to see you!"
Klink turned and snapped, "That's Colonel Klink to you! I'll be there in a minute!"
The guard growled, "When the commandant says now, he means NOW!"
Klink didn't want to appear weak in front of this ex-Gestapo man, but he also didn't want to anger Crenshaw. He shrugged and followed the guard out of the barracks and to the administration building. He noticed the car parked in front of the building. They had visitors. Maybe it was the Red Cross inspector and he could complain about the lack of food his men were getting.
When Klink was admitted to Crenshaw's office, he said, "Colonel Klink reporting as ordered." Klink thought, I don't' believe this! I sound like Hogan again!
Crenshaw stood and said, "Gentlemen, this is the senior POW..."
The officer accompanying the civilian said incredulously, "By George, it is you!"
Klink turned as the Englander approached and found himself face to face with none other than Colonel Crittendon. His jaw dropped in amazement for an instant, but then he regained his composure, saluted him and replied, "It's good to see you, sir."
Crittendon returned the salute. "Hope these chaps are treating you well, Klink."
"I've only been here since yesterday," replied Klink. And I hate it already!
Crenshaw interrupted their brief reunion and suggested, "Why don't we go ahead with the inspection?"
* * * * * * *
Geist followed Klink and the guard out of the barracks. Heinzmann also followed and watched as Klink crossed the compound. Schultz was rubbing his eyes from his brief nap. Geist watched as Klink scrutinized the car parked in front of the administration building. As the portly Sergeant left his spot next to the door, Heinzmann gave Schultz a glare that were it fire, would have melted his helmet.
Geist saw by the look on Schultz's face that he thought it prudent to be as far from Heinzmann as he could get. Geist walked calmly over so that he stood between Schultz and Heinzmann. As Schultz sidled away past the officers, Heinzmann turned towards him. Schultz hastily saluted both officers and Heinzmann spat, "This Klink won't defend us against the Allies. What good is he?"
Schultz stopped and said indignantly, "The Colonel will do what is right for us!"
"How would you know?" demanded Heinzmann with a scowl.
"I've served with Colonel Klink for several years," replied Schultz.
The three men watched the events as they unfolded before them. Crenshaw, Klink, an officer of some sort and civilian who had a red cross on a white armband came out of the administration building.
Heinzmann spat, "Look at Klink, kissing Crenshaw's boots!"
Schultz looked towards the inspection party and said ingenuously, "I don't see the Colonel kissing anyone's boots!"
"Dummkopf! It's a figure of speech!" Heinzmann muttered angrily.
"Major, leave the Sergeant alone!" ordered Geist.
Heinzmann glared angrily at Geist and muttered something under his breath before turning away and storming back to his barracks.
"Herr Oberstleutnant, what did he say?" asked Schultz.
"You don't want to know. He's one man who I wish would either escape or get shot trying," replied Geist quietly.
Schultz stammered fearfully, "I know nothing!"
"Sergeant," said Geist. "Don't worry; I have no plans to kill anyone. Even Heinzmann doesn't deserve such an easy way out."
Schultz's eyes grew wider as he saw a knowing look in Geist's eyes and an amused twitch in the corners of his mouth. It reminded him of the way Colonel Hogan always looked before something happened at Stalag 13. "What do you mean?"
Geist shook his head. "I thought you wanted to know nothing, Sergeant."
Schultz nodded and ran to his barracks. Geist stood alone in the compound now, as the prisoners nearby had run for cover when Heinzmann came storming out of his barracks. Geist looked around and saw Klink walking with Crenshaw and the other two men. He wondered what was going on.
