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.
The Hogan's Heroes characters, settings, ect. are owned by other entities who have not endorsed this fic nor have they given permission for their use. Author makes no claims to these characters and is not making any profit off their use.
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© Copyright: 2004. Lisa Philbrick
Düsseldorf Hotel
Düsseldorf, Germany
November 1944
Day 4
Brandeis Fritz was a dark haired, stout individual, who looked more like a German baker than the leader of the local Underground. But in fact, he was both, and his baker's trade had provided a most convenient and useful cover. He had run the Underground unit in Düsseldorf for almost two years and was always keenly aware of what went on in the area, if not by information coming in the usual channels, then by the orders for pastries for parties for high ranking German officials. When Colonel Hogan had sent word that the Gestapo would be bringing in a very special US Army officer to town, Fritz had ordered the usual sentries to take positions to keep an eye out for the arrival. Hogan, as always, did not take the chance by revealing names through the communiqué and Fritz treated the information and the impending arrival as he treated any other such event, with the utmost importance. He never would have guessed in a million years who the special Army officer was and had never expected one of his sentry's to report back to him in absolute shock.
"You will not believe who it is!" the young man had said, his eyes wild with surprise.
Fritz could feel the clamp around his heart, thinking that a very high ranking American officer had been captured. Was it Patton? Arnold? God, don't tell me they somehow grabbed Eisenhower?!
"Who??" he prompted.
"Glenn Miller!"
Fritz blinked. "Glenn Miller?" He stared at the sentry for a moment. "What the hell is this war coming too??"
"I don't know, but I know it was him. I have no doubt."
Fritz had immediately sent the sentry back out to help keep an eye on the bandleader and to report his whereabouts whenever they changed. Once Miller had been taken to the Düsseldorf Hotel, Fritz sent a communiqué back to Colonel Hogan. Hogan had then replied that he would be coming to Düsseldorf.
So Fritz stood in an alley way, just outside the door of his bakery where his organization sometimes met, smoking a cigarette and casually waiting for Colonel Hogan's arrival. As Fritz waited, he wondered what kind of plan was going to be involved for getting the Major back to England. Surely it was going to have to be a doozy....
A car pulling into the alley distracted Fritz from his thoughts. The car approached slowly and then flashed it's headlights twice. Fritz tossed his cigarette aside and moved toward the car. The passenger door opened and Colonel Hogan stepped out, dressed in civilian clothes.
Fritz nodded at the Colonel as he approached. "Guten Abend," Fritz said.
"Good to see you again, Fritz," Hogan replied. Fritz led the Colonel into the building as the car backed out of the alley.
"One of my sentry's recognized your special officer," Fritz said, after the door closed. "Tell me he's wrong."
"If he saw Glenn Miller he's not wrong."
"It's really him??"
Hogan nodded. "Propaganda Ministry's prize catch."
Fritz shook his head. "I can't believe it," he sighed. "London wants him back fast I'm sure."
"They do. And we're going to do everything we can to get him back to London. Your sentries have been watching him?"
"Ja. The Major is being held at the hotel just down the street. My men have been keeping an eye on him since they brought him into town this morning."
"Do we know what floor he's on?" Hogan asked.
Fritz nodded. "Sixth."
"What's Hochstetter got for security?"
"Extremely lax, considering. He has two guards in the lobby, four guards doing alternating routine patrols around the hotel and one guard on the sixth floor."
"One guard??"
Fritz nodded. "Apparently Hochstetter doesn't think Major Miller is likely to try to escape, let alone put up much of a fight."
"Hmmm..." Hogan thought a moment. "Is the guard directly outside Miller's door?"
"No. The guard just patrols the hall."
Hogan nodded, his thoughts continuing. "How often do they rotate the guard on the sixth floor?"
"We don't know. Miller's only been there for a few hours. We don't know what kind of shifts Hochstetter's going to run."
Hogan nodded again. He paced for a moment. "Could we get in?"
"Sure, we can pose as hotel staff." Frtiz looked at Hogan. "What are you thinking, Colonel?"
Hogan stopped pacing and looked at Fritz, a gleam in his brown eyes. "I'll tell you exactly what I'm thinking...."
Fritz and Hogan gained access to the hotel through a back door, where a member of Fritz's group let them in and then provided them with hotel wait staff uniforms. Bypassing the lobby and main stairs, they took the service stairs. Knowing Miller was on the sixth floor, Fritz and Hogan left the service stairs at the fifth floor and resumed the ascent using the main stairs up to the sixth.
Hogan and Fritz each carried a server's tray and as expected they were stopped by the guard. Fritz explained they were delivering a late dinner to one of the other guests on the floor. The guard asked to see what was hidden beneath the trays. They showed him and the guard nodded in approval. Hogan and Fritz then turned in one direction while the guard turned in the other. They paused as the guard took a few steps away from them and Fritz put his server tray down on a nearby hall table. He then turned back to the guard and with pistol in hand, he brought the butt of the gun down on the back of the neck of the guard.
The guard fell to the floor in a heap, his rifle hitting the floor with a thundering thump.
Down the hall, a restless American bandleader was still awake. He heard the thump and subsequent commotion and he went to the door to see what was going on. When he looked out into the hall, he saw two of the hotel staffers dragging the Gestapo guard down the hall toward him. One of the staffers looked up at him and Miller recognized, with surprise, Colonel Hogan.
"We're coming in," Hogan said. Miller stepped back into the room and held the door open as Hogan and Fritz carried the Gestapo guard into the room. He then shut the door and the Gestapo guard was dumped on the floor.
Hogan turned to Miller's questioning look. "We're getting you out of here. Right now." He glanced at Fritz who was starting to remove the uniform from the Gestapo guard. "We're going to have you wear this uniform..."
"What?!"
"Just do it, we don't have time to argue." Fritz handed the Gestapo uniform jacket to Hogan who passed it to Miller. The guard's boots and trousers were unceremoniously taken from him and passed to Hogan, who passed them to Miller. "Go on..."
Miller disappeared into the wash room and did a quick change from US Army brown to Gestapo black. He came back out and Hogan looked at him. Miller was not amused.
"If I'm caught dead in this uniform I'm going to come back and find you..."
Hogan said nothing and took the Major's US Army uniform jacket, trousers and shoes and put them on the bed, next to the pack that was the Major's kit. He quickly folded the trousers and jacket and put them in the pack. The Major's crush cap was then tucked into the pack and the pack was closed. Fritz, meanwhile, was handing the guard's helmet and rifle to the Major. He then tugged on the uniform coat, straightening it upon the Major's shoulders. The jacket was much too big on the Major.
Hogan took another look at the Major. "It'll have to do," he said. He handed the pack to Miller. "C'mon..." He walked to the door and Miller and Fritz followed.
Hogan opened the door and looked out on the hall, which was empty. He glanced at his watch and turned to Miller and Fritz. "That car should be here in about five minutes. Go."
Fritz stepped out into the hallway and Miller followed, hefting the rifle on his right shoulder, his pack slung over his left. The two went to the door of the service stairs and disappeared behind it.
Hogan left the unconscious Gestapo guard in the room and shut the door. He then walked, normally, toward the main stairs picking up both serving trays on the way and tried to appear unhurried as he approached a janitor's closet. He quickly placed the trays on a shelf in the closet and shut the door. He then walked back to the stairs and descended them casually. When he got to the third floor landing, he passed another Gestapo guard who was on his way up. Hogan slowed and looked back at the guard as he disappeared around the turn to the next flight of stairs.
"Oh Lord..." Hogan quickly turned and went back up the stairs to follow the guard.
Fritz and Major Miller, meanwhile, were descending the last few flights of stairs. When they reached the first floor landing, Miller paused to relieve his right shoulder of the weight from the weapon, while Fritz cautiously approached the heavy wooden door that led to the street outside. There was no window in it, meaning Fritz would have to open it just enough to peek out and hope he wasn't caught just by opening the door.
Miller watched as Fritz put his left hand on the door handle and took a deep breath before pulling the door open just a crack. The sidewalk and street looked empty for the moment. He pulled the door open a little wider, keeping a look out for Gestapo and for somebody to be standing outside of a car, smoking a cigarette. There was neither. Fritz glanced at his watch and figured he had another minute before the car was to pull up.
At the same time, Hogan had followed the other Gestapo guard back to the sixth floor. He watched from the stairs as the guard, when he didn't find his compatriot who he was to relieve for the night, rushed down the hall to what had been Miller's hotel room and found his comrade in there. With Miller missing, and his buddy's uniform missing, the guard immediately concluded that the American Major had escaped and he broke into a run back to the stairs. He rushed past Hogan, never giving him a second glance and thundered down the stairs.
Hogan bolted into a run down the sixth floor hall to the where the service stairs were located. If possible, he was thinking to get Miller back up to the sixth floor before the Gestapo mobilized.
Just before the guard went flying down the main stairs to alert his comrades, Fritz spotted two guards as they passed by the service door. He allowed the door to close just enough to leave a sliver of an opening and he paused, waiting for the two guards to pass by. After a few moments, he opened the door a little wider again and saw a car pull up to the curb. He watched this car, saw the lone person step out and stand by the vehicle and then saw the orange glow of flame from a lighter be placed to the end of a cigarette. Fritz looked at the Major and nodded. He opened the door wide, letting the Major step out first and then followed, neither of them hearing the hurried echoing steps coming down the service stairs behind them. The heavy wooden door closed.
The guard who had discovered Miller missing was alerting his comrades in the lobby. They immediately jumped to action, one man going outside to alert the men on patrol, while the other went with the first guard to check other exits of the hotel. The first being the service stairs.
Outside, two of the patrol guards, the same two Fritz had seen just a few moments earlier, were met by the lobby guard, who quickly explained the situation. The two men turned around and headed back in the direction they had come from. The lobby guard went the other way to find the other two patrol guards.
Fritz instructed the Major to walk to the car where the man stood smoking a cigarette and to get in. Miller nodded and took a few steps. Fritz veered off and started to go across the street.
Hogan made it to the first floor landing of the service stairs and found it empty. He had little time for reaction when the door leading to the rest of the hotel suddenly clicked open, forcing Hogan back up the stairs and out of sight of the two Gestapo guards who came through. The wooden door was yanked open and the Gestapo guards spilled out onto the sidewalk.
Miller swung around at the commotion behind him and saw the two guards coming toward him. In a panic he threw the rifle off his right shoulder and lobbed it at the guard that was coming closest to him. The guard went down upon contact with the rifle and Miller broke into a run, heading toward the back of the hotel.
"Halt!" the other guard shouted. He took off after Miller.
Across the street, Fritz turned at the sound and saw the American Major running. The man by the car was waving at Fritz frantically. We have to get out of here! Fritz hurried over to the car, demanding to know what happened.
"The guards came out of the service door. The Major panicked. We must get out of here or they will find us."
"Where's Colonel Hogan?"
"I don't know. But we must get away from here!" the man pulled the back door of his car open for Fritz. The underground leader had no choice but to get in. The man closed the door and jumped behind the wheel, the engine turning with a terrible shriek and the car lept away from the curb.
The two guards from the front of the hotel, saw the car as it took off into the dark of the street. Hurrying down the sidewalk they found their comrade who had taken the brunt of the rifle Miller had thrown at him, who was picking himself up off the sidewalk. They then heard the commotion down the sidewalk, where the Major's escape route was cut short.
The sudden sound of gunfire in the air brought everything along the street to an abrupt stop. Seeing two more Gestapo guards in front of him, one with rifle pointed in the air, the other with rifle pointed directly at him, forced Miller to stop running and immediately place his hands up. Although they didn't shoot directly at him, they could have. The guard behind Miller came up directly, preventing any chance for Miller to turn back the other way.
Hogan heard the hurried departure of a car....and then the shooting and he froze. "Oh damn..." Assuming the worst, Hogan leapt over the railing of the bottom stairs and carefully opened the door looking out on the sidewalk and street. He saw Miller was surrounded by Gestapo, who were escorting him back down the sidewalk. But the Major was standing, which although was a relief to the Colonel, the failure of the attempt weighed more heavily. Hogan closed the door and in defeat went through the doorway to the rest of the hotel, heading back to the kitchen area.
HHHH
In the few minutes it took Major Hochstetter to get from Gestapo Headquarters to the hotel, Major Miller had dressed back into his US Army uniform and returned the Gestapo uniform to the guard it had been taken from. Miller then sat in his room under the watchful eyes of four Gestapo guards, as they waited for Hochstetter to arrive.
Hochstetter was livid and he came storming into the hotel lobby and charged up the stairs to the sixth floor. Which was probably a good thing, for Miller, as the climb up all those stairs took some of the edge off the Gestapo Major. But he was quite upset when he arrived at Miller's room. A quick explanation was provided by one of the four Gestapo guards who pointed to the one who had been duped and also held up the pack that was Miller's kit. Hochstetter grabbed the pack angrily and then turned to Miller, scowling.
Miller looked back at him, neutral. Boy I'm in trouble now...
"Well Major..." Hochstetter said as he stepped toward Major Miller, "did you enjoy your walk?"
Miller drew in a deep breath. "I had to try it once," he replied.
"Once is all you get!" Hochstetter snarled through clenched teeth. He stepped up next to Miller and leaned forward so that he was directly face to face with the band leader. "Who helped you?"
"Nobody."
"Nobody?" Hochstetter found this a little hard to believe.
Miller feigned offense. "Nobody...I knocked your guard out myself."
Hochstetter puffed up but managed to maintain restraint. "You wish to test my authority, ja?"
"No," Miller said. "Frankly, I wish to get the hell out of here."
"I warned you when you first got here that if you tried to escape you would not be treated as lightly as other prisoners of war."
"Yes, I know. But I think your threats are a little empty, Major. There's one thing holding you back."
"Nothing holds me back!"
Miller flinched a little but kept going, raising an eyebrow to Hochstetter. "Not even the Propaganda Ministry?"
Hochstetter growled and turned away from Miller in frustration. "The Gestapo are not babysitters!"
Miller found this amusing. "Are you implying I'm a waste of your time, Major?"
Hochstetter turned back to Miller. "With the exception of the one purpose you will be serving us...yes you are complete waste of my time!"
Miller looked at Hochstetter, still amused. "That's good to know," he said.
Hochstetter's smile was sinister. "Don't get too brave, Herr Major. You assaulted one of my men, took his uniform and attempted to escape under my authority. This will not be forgotten. If it were up to me, you would be severely punished right now." Hochstetter stepped toward Miller. "However, do not believe that the Propaganda Ministry will let what you have tried to do this evening go unpunished. Hauptmann Reigels, I'm sure, will suggest appropriate course of action."
"Another night in the cooler?"
Hochstetter chuckled. "A Gestapo prison cell and the cooler of a Luftstalag are two very different things, Herr Major, and I would be more than happy to introduce you to a Gestapo prison cell..." Hochstetter paused and looked at the pack he held in his hand. "In the meantime, your pack is being confiscated and you will now have a guard posted directly outside your door. Although your continued health is dependent upon the Propaganda Ministry, remember that they will only take so much of your audacity."
Before they cut the dogs loose. Miller sat quietly, figuring he'd grated on the Gestapo Major's nerves enough. Although Hochstetter would have liked to have made more of a point to the American Major, he settled for Miller's silence. He looked to one of the guards and nodded before turning to leave the room. The guards were all then dismissed and the hotel room was emptied of Gestapo.
Miller let go a sigh. He took little comfort in the thought that the Propaganda Ministry was what was sparing him from Hochstetter's full Gestapo backed wrath.
HHHH
Hogan found his way back to Fritz's bakery and remained in Düsseldorf long enough for one of Fritz's sentries to gather some information on what the Gestapo reaction was to Miller's escape attempt. To Hogan's surprise, and concern, what the sentry overheard from two Gestapo guards at the hotel was that Miller had acted alone in the attempt. There was no suggestion of any outside help and no mention of the two hotel staffers. The guard who had been knocked out, apparently truly believed that it was Miller who had struck him from behind. Miller, himself, even said he did.
Hogan made plans to return to Düsseldorf the following night. Fritz made a promise to the Colonel that if there was another chance to rescue the Major before then, he and his group would take it and would let Hogan know what was going on. Colonel Hogan expected no less.
When he returned to Stalag 13 and the emergency tunnel, he found Kinch was waiting for him. There was no hiding the haggard look of defeat on the Colonel's face. "What happened?" Kinch asked.
"Nothing," Hogan replied. "Except I damn near got him killed."
Kinch looked at the Colonel, waiting for further explanation. Hogan looked at his radio man and let a rare moment of self-disappointment show. "We tried to sneak him out of the hotel but they caught him. Gestapo doesn't know Miller had help though, they think he acted alone." Hogan sighed. "Hochstetter more than likely went up one side of him and down the other...and I had to leave him there to take it. Every time I think I'm keeping him away from the Gestapo wrath, I do something that just brings it closer."
"Thing is..." Kinch said, "if he's taking the heat for the escape attempt, that protects the underground and preserves a future chance to get him out." Kinch paused a moment, considering how to broach the next subject. "Colonel, he knows the game. Don't you think you ought to stop treating him like a celebrity and treat him like a fellow soldier?"
Hogan looked at the sergeant defensively. "I'm not treating him--" The Colonel cut himself short, suddenly realizing Kinch was right. Hogan gave a soft snort and looked down. "I guess I have been putting him on a pedestal of sorts." He paced away from Kinch a moment. "I just don't want anything to happen to him. I want to get him back to England and back on that radio where he belongs and I want him back there in one piece and unscathed." Hogan looked at Kinch. "That's not too much to ask is it?"
"Of course not. But we both know that the escape route isn't the most comfortable trip to take. And I know he's not expecting a first class train ride here. He knows it's going to be a little rough. You keep trying to smooth this thing out for him, we'll never get him out of here."
Hogan paused, considering what Kinch just said. He softly chuckled. "You're right. He's shown that he knows what's going on and he's willing to do whatever I need him to do to help facilitate this thing." Hogan paused, recalling something Miller had said the first day he had been brought to Stalag 13. "You know he said he didn't think of himself as much of a soldier..." the Colonel looked at Kinch, "but he's wrong. And I guess I've been a little wrong myself."