This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any actual resemblance to persons or historical persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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© Copyright: 2004. Lisa Philbrick
Stalag 13
November 1944
Day 4
Kinch came up from the tunnel and found Colonel Hogan sitting at the wooden table with the others.
"Just heard from the Underground in Düsseldorf. Miller's there. They're keeping an eye on him. The Krauts kept him holed up at a Ministry radio station pretty much all day and just took him to a hotel a little while ago. Looks like other musicians are involved, juveniles..."
"Juveniles?" Carter said.
Newkirk snorted. "So much for them lettin' him have POW's for that band they wanted."
"I was counting on that too," Hogan said. "I think Miller was counting on that."
"You mean he was trying to offer a way for us to go to Düsseldorf with him?" Carter asked.
Hogan nodded. "He knows what we do here and I think he knows that sometimes we have to be out of this camp in order to do what we do."
"But the Underground could pick up from this point," Kinch said. "They can get Miller out of Düsseldorf."
"But Miller doesn't know about the Underground. If somebody he doesn't know, shows up to escort him somewhere he might panic. Besides, did the Underground say they had a plan of action for getting him out?"
"No, they didn't. They figure you have one."
Hogan sighed. "That's the problem. I don't." He stood up from the chair and fell into pacing behind the stove and around the table, behind where Newkirk and LeBeau sat.
"But Colonel, you told the Major that you did..." Carter said.
Hogan stopped pacing and looked at the Sergeant. The dark eyes, however, were not angry. "I know..." he said softly. "We couldn't do anything with him in the cooler anyway, we had to get him out, but...I also didn't want him to spend any more time than he had to in there."
"The cooler's the cooler," Newkirk said. "We've all spent some time in it."
"Yes, but Miller hadn't before now. See, Miller wasn't trained like a soldier or a pilot, like we all were. The psychological training, the physical training. Not to say he's soft, the conversation we heard with the Propaganda Ministry is proof of the contrary to that. He's got brass and he knows how to use it. And I've got a gut feeling that if he had to, he'd fight like hell. But when I watched him be marched to that cooler, and then to see Hochstetter come out with the jacket..." Hogan paused and looked at his coffee cup. "I dunno, maybe it's because he is Glenn Miller...and I just don't think the Krauts have to treat him like a dog to make their point."
There was a pause and then Kinch spoke, understanding what the Colonel was trying to say. "You're concerned what kind of effect this could all have on him..." he said.
Hogan looked at his radio man and nodded. "I don't want him to go through what some of us here have gone through. I don't think he would be subjected to any of that, but I wouldn't trust those Gestapo goons as far as I could throw them." The Colonel stepped back to the head of the table and placed his coffee cup down.
"Well now that he's out of the cooler, and we know where he is in Düsseldorf, what are we going to do?" Kinch asked.
Hogan paused in thought and placed his foot up on the chair, resting his arm across his knee. "After roll call tonight, I'll go to Düsseldorf and see what the situation is, maybe I can get to him and tell him about the Underground. It may be possible the Underground can spring him within the next 12 hours."
"How are you going to get to Düsseldorf? It's an awfully long walk, Colonel..." Newkirk said.
"Hopefully somebody in Hammelburg will be nice enough to give me a ride," Hogan replied and looked at Kinch.
The radio man grinned. "I'll see if there's a taxi available..." Kinch turned and headed for the tunnel.
"Colonel," Carter spoke up, "I've been thinkin'....couldn't we have tried to get the Major out during the night when he was still in the guest quarters? Bring him here and then get him out through the emergency tunnel?"
"I thought of that. And had we done that, Major Miller would have been the first successful escape from Stalag 13…."
"…and Hochstetter would have torn this camp apart," Newkirk finished.
"Exactly. Miller is a Gestapo prisoner...not a POW. And assuming Hochstetter didn't discover our operation, he would have forced the blame on Klink anyway and had him sent to the Russian Front. Either way, we would have been out of business."
Carter nodded, understanding.
"So not only did we have to get him out of the cooler, we had to get him out of Stalag 13 all together," Newkirk said.
LeBeau snorted. "Yeah, by telling him to agree to commit treason!"
"He won't be in Düsseldorf long enough to commit treason," Hogan said confidently. But in the back of his mind, there was a seed of doubt. He was under pressure from London, he had no idea what kind of situation there was in Düsseldorf, he didn't know how quick the Propaganda Ministry would throw together a broadcast and above all that…he had no immediate plan. As he stared into his coffee cup, he wondered if he was losing his touch…