Berlin, Luftwaffe Headquarters, Office of General Albert Burkhalter
September 24, 1943, 1900 hours
General Albert Burkhalter was tired. It had been a long, frustrating day; another day of meeting with the Führer, and listening to rants about incompetent Generals who were losing the war for Germany.
Incompetence! Well, the man is an expert on incompetence. I think he wrote the book on it. Mein Kampf indeed. Mein Gott! Ever since the defeat at Stalingrad, our army has been losing ground to the Russians. We lost all of North Africa just this past May. Now the Americans and British are fighting in Italy. And the Italians, they were the smart ones, deposing that windbag Mussolini and then signing an armistice with the Allies. That should have been an indication to the Führer that things were beginning to be hopeless. But what does he do? Sends Otto Skorzeny and his commandos to rescue Mussolini and then just yesterday, creates the Italian Socialist Republic in the area of Italy that we still control.
Burkhalter reached for the schnapps bottle to pour a drink. It was becoming a habit, he knew. But anything was better than watching the slow death of the country that he knew and loved.
He knew that he should read the reports that piled up during the day, before he got too drunk to care about them. Reluctantly, he pushed the bottle aside and picked up the report sent over by the Abwehr. As he started reading, he gasped in surprise. The report indicated that the Allies had obtained the blueprints for the secret Hühnerfalke bomb guidance system.
How did they get those? They were classified and not out of my possession once. Sure, the tests at Stalag 13 were a failure ... Stalag 13. That was the only place that I took the blueprints. I wanted them on hand during the tests. While I was there, Klink had them, but I had assumed they were safe there. So how did they get to London?
Burkhalter reached for his bottle again and filled his glass. He drank it down and refilled it.
The only way they could have gotten to London is from Stalag 13. Klink is too stupid to be an Allied spy. Yes, the stupidity could be an act, but I have been around him enough to see that the man is stupid to the bone. But facts are facts. The only place that those plans were not under my personal supervision was at Stalag 13. The leak had to come from there.
Burkhalter downed his next drink and sat back in his chair. Pieces of a puzzle were slowly starting to fall into place for the General. He was beginning to see a bigger picture. It was a picture that could spell defeat for Germany in the war.
Somehow Hogan must be sending this information to London. The man is confident, even cocky, and is a very competent officer. There must be a reason why he doesn't escape from the camp. It could be that he is choosing to remain there in order to pass back information to the Allies. Hochstetter is always babbling about how there are more acts of sabotage around the Hammelburg area than any other point in Germany. A coincidence? It is starting to seem unlikely.
What Burkhalter was finally realizing was that Colonel Hogan could be the leader of an operation being run right under the nose of the arrogant, incompetent Colonel Klink. It made sense to him; Klink is the perfect person to have if you needed a Kommandant that was easily fooled.
Suddenly, the light went on in Burkhalter's mind. It suddenly became clear.
Wait! Just this summer, we had reports from our operative in Allied Intelligence that information was coming from the area of Stalag 13. I confirmed that by having Klink pass information about the phony factory in the area. The Allies bombed it, and the information could only have come from Stalag 13. My aide, Major Kohler, was implicated in the leak. At the time, I was happy to have him take the blame, because he was ambitious and wanted my job. But now I see it perfectly. Colonel Hogan must be the leak, and if he can figure out how to get rid of a German officer and keep his operation running, he's a very smart and capable operative.
Burkhalter was troubled by this knowledge. If he was correct, and Hogan really was an Allied spy, he could become a big hero by exposing the entire operation and putting it out of business.
But putting Hogan out of business could prolong the war by years. He doubted that anything could save Germany from defeat at this point; it was just a matter of time.
So the General had a dilemma, expose Hogan, gain personal advancement and prolong the pain and suffering of the country, or say nothing and allow Hogan to continue to operate, hopefully shortening the war.
Now, Burkhalter decided, was the time to get drunk.