Berlin, Luftwaffe Headquarters, Office of General Albert Burkhalter
September 8, 1943, 2130 hours
General Burkhalter sat at his desk looking at the pile of papers that he had to go through. He glanced at the schnapps bottle sitting beside them and felt the urge to push everything else off his desk. The choice between immersing himself in his duty to the Führer and Fatherland and immersing himself into the blissful oblivion of drunkenness was a difficult one, and getting more difficult each day.
Duty to the Führer and Fatherland? Hah! Duty to the Fatherland is one thing, but the Führer doesn't care about the Fatherland. There are setbacks on every front of the war, and all he does is scream about how his generals betray him, or how the people of Germany do not deserve him. He cares only about himself.
Burkhalter sighed. Yes, he would get drunk again tonight, as he had most nights lately. His wife, of course, wouldn't like him coming home drunk again. He laughed. Berta doesn't like me to come home drunk. Berta doesn't like me to travel away from Berlin. In fact, I don't even thing Berta likes me. Berta likes only herself, and power. I am a General, and Berta likes that. Berta is married more to my uniform than she is to me. Burkhalter looked down at his uniform. I should give her the uniform. Here Berta, I hope you two will be very happy together.
But he would also do his duty and read his reports, just as he would also go back to Berta when he left his office. He poured himself a drink. One or two to soften the bad news, he thought to himself as he swallowed the schnapps.
He picked up the first report, sent over from Abwehr headquarters. It was a summary of the news of the day, including news reported outside of Germany that would never be printed for the general public to read. He read the first item and dropped the paper.
The Italian government announces that it has signed an armistice with the Allied powers.
Burkhalter reached for the bottle and poured another drink for himself.
The Italians are no longer fighting with us? Will the Allies now occupy Italy and move on Germany from the south as well? And what a surprise, the beloved Führer is not happy and vows to defend the Italian brethren against the traitorous illegitimate Italian government that overthrew Mussolini in July.
Burkhalter took another drink of schnapps. He knew that the war was being slowly lost, and that the longer it went on, the more his country would suffer.
He picked up the next report and winced. Just what he wanted to see, another report from Stalag 13. Colonel Wilhelm Klunk. For once, mein Führer, you actually got something right. The Kommandant of Stalag 13 is a Klunk. A very big Klunk.
He took another drink before reading the report from Klink. He knew what it would say – no successful escapes from Stalag 13. Yes, yes, a model of efficiency, the ideal that all Luft Stalags should strive for, and all because Wilhelm Klink is the most capable Kommandant in the Luftwaffe.
Burkhalter snorted. Colonel Wilhelm Klink was an idiot, and yet his prisoners didn't escape. That was very odd. Colonel Hogan, the senior officer in camp, didn't seem like the type of person that would want to stay in a prison camp. He also seemed like he was more intelligent than Klink, much more intelligent. So why hasn't he escaped?
Burkhalter started reading the report and became very interested. It seemed that a General von Rauscher arrived and wanted Hogan to witness a rocket experiment. The experiment was a failure, and resulted in not only the destruction of the rocket, but of the launch facility as well. Hogan witnessed the experiment, and it ended in disaster – again. It seems that Hogan is around for a lot of disasters.
Burkhalter thought back a few months, when the radio tower that he had ordered built near Stalag 13 was destroyed. He had almost gotten rid of Klink then, but there was that incident with the woman and the pictures, and Burkhalter was forced to keep Klink around. Yes, Hogan was around when the tower was destroyed, and when I was being blackmailed. Oh, not that I would care if Berta left me because she found out I was with another woman. But I could not jeopardize my career, or my life, by becoming involved in a scandal like that, so I had to relent and keep Klink. But why Klink?
The General shook his head. He had a feeling that there was something suspicious going on around Stalag 13. He picked up the report again and continued reading.
Major Hochstetter allowed the Russian rocket scientist and his Russian female translator to go back to Russia. Hochstetter is another idiot. But unlike Klink, he is a dangerous idiot. After that Hochstetter claimed that one of the prisoners of Stalag 13 was Russian, and demanded that he be turned over to the Gestapo.
Burkhalter read the sentence again. When was there a Russian prisoner at Stalag 13? He turned his attention back to the report.
The prisoner, an American named Sam Minsk, was reported taken by the Abwehr when in Hochstetter's custody, and later reported shot while escaping. Well, the Führer would be happy, one less prisoner to feed.
He put the report down and reached for the schnapps bottle. Forgetting the glass, he took a drink. Failed rocket experiments, Russians involved in the failed experiment being allowed to return to Russia, prisoners being taken from Stalag 13 by the Gestapo, then being taken from the Gestapo. Very strange things seem to happen at Stalag 13.
Burkhalter pushed the remaining papers aside. He had read enough. He took a long drink out of the schnapps bottle. Yes, he had read enough.