The T.V. show Hogan's Heroes belongs to Bing Crosby Productions. No ownership of the Hogan's Heroes characters is implied or inferred, and no infringement is intended.

Weaving A Web To Freedom

Book Three: Fliegerabwehrkanonen Spells FLAK

Chapter 6

A Difficult Decision

"BOOM, BOOM, BOOM…"

Hogan sat up, eyes opened.

"What...where...?

Looking around he realized he had fallen asleep at his desk.

"BOOM",

The building shook.

Grabbing his hat, he rushed into the common room where men were just beginning to roll out of their bunks.

"What's happening, Colonel?"

"I'm afraid to guess!

"BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM…"

Throwing open the door to the compound flashes in the distance quickly told him that Anti aircraft cannons were firing in sequence and sending debris down on the camp.

Suddenly a crash and blast of air took him to his knees. He watched as the radio detection truck was struck by a large piece of metal, sending the two German soldiers who had been exiting the vehicle flying several feet.

Hogan quickly turned to Kinch. "Get to the radio, Kinch, this is our chance."

"On my way!"

Hogan looked up at the white streaks in the sky.

"Heads up men, we're being hit by flak! Pass the word!"

There was no point in running for cover, you were just as likely to get trapped under a building as get hit by falling metal.

The camp sirens began to wail. Small fires began breaking out all around the camp.

"Grab some water buckets!" someone yelled.

Others grabbed blankets and anything else they could get their hands on to fight the fires.

Then a thunderous roar passed overhead laying a blanket of heat across the camp and a fraction of a second later a fireball leapt up into the night sky.

The scene was eerily haunting, as the light from the burning plane leaked through the forest making the trees appear as long armed monsters dancing with delight.

"CRASH" Wood splinters sprayed out across the camp bringing everyone's attention back inside the barbed wire.

"Look out!" LeBeau cried, pushing Carter aside. A red hot piece of metal bounced past. There was no time for a thank you, as the men watched and dodged the debris falling around them.

"That was the guest quarters!" Newkirk yelled, as he picked himself up off the ground.

Hogan and his men ran to the half smashed building and stopped. Glowing embers drifted down on them as they listened to Hochstetter screaming for help.

There was a split second of indecision as the voice from inside registered in Hogan's mind. He wanted to turn and walk away…wanted to say Hochstetter got what he deserved…that there was nothing he could do…except listen to the death screams of a man burning to death…and hear those screams for the rest of his life.

"Damn," Hogan swore, as he whipped his hat and jacket off. Throwing them on the ground, he disappeared inside before anyone could stop him.

"Colonel Hogan, STOP," Klink ordered, arriving too late.

Newkirk lunged for the building. LeBeau quickly grabbed one arm and Carter the other.

"Let me go!" Newkirk demanded struggling to break free.

"You cannot go in there, it would be suicide!" LeBeau yelled.

Carter, without lessening his hold on his friend, looked at the building, wondering how the Colonel was going to get out. The Colonel always has a plan…right? he asked himself silently.

"Your friends are right, Newkirk." Klink admonished. "Nobody's coming out of that. No sense in wasting more lives."

Newkirk, Carter and LeBeau stood unmoving. Time had stopped for them.

"Start fighting some of these fires," Klink ordered, as he tried to shake off the dread of reporting Hogan's death to Berlin. His job was to keep Hogan safely locked up and alive. Reporting Hogan's death would be in essence the same as reporting his own. Why, Colonel Hogan? he asked himself as the roar of the fire grew louder. You had every reason to walk away.

cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

Hogan crouched low and worked his way toward the bedroom. The fire had started on the other side of the house, but was moving fast.

"Hochstetter!" Hogan called, as he strained to identify the shapes around him. The crackling of the fire was masking all other sounds.

"Over here," came the pained answer, "I'm caught under a fallen beam. I think my leg is broken."

Hogan followed the direction of the voice. Smoke burned his eyes and made it almost impossible to see. Things were heating up fast.

"Where are you?" he called again, trying to get another fix on the direction he needed to blindly go.

"Here, I'm over here," Hochstetter answered.

The Gestapo Major could see feet moving in his direction and blinked as recognized who it was that had come to help him.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay in the barracks!" Hochstetter growled.

"I could leave!" Hogan managed to cough out, as he continued to move loose pieces of debris off of the Major.

Hochstetter did not respond. Instead he lay mutely starring at Hogan as he worked.

"Your right leg is caught under this beam. I'm going to pull up on this. Can you pull yourself out?" He managed to choke out. The smoke was stinging his eyes and tears began to roll down his cheeks.

He brushed them off with his shoulders, as he had secretly done once before, when his endurance level had been breached at the hands of the man he was now trying to save.

"I think so!" Hochstetter answered.

"Now!" Hogan strained, lifting the wood beam enough to allow the German Major to pull himself free.

"Aahh! Hochstetter cried in anguish. "My leg is broken. I can't walk!"

Hogan, coughing, grabbed the Major's arm and pulled him up on his good leg. "Come on. Before the rest of the ceiling comes down on us!"

Both men were now choking as the smoke thickened and the heat intensified.

Wrapping Hochstetter's arm around his shoulders Hogan dragged him in the direction he thought the bedroom window was located. Please, don't let them find me dead with Hochstetter's arm wrapped around me! he prayed.

Heat swished by Hogan's head as more debris came crashing down. Their time was running out. Feeling blindly he located the window and leaned into it smashing through the glass and pulling Hochstetter along with him.

ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

"Where's the Colonel?" Kinch asked as he came running up to the blazing inferno that was once the guest quarters.

His three silent friends could only look at him with pain-filled eyes, and then he noticed Hogan's jacket and cap on the ground.

Picking them up, his heart sank just as a spray of glass and two singed men came tumbling out of the flames. Blackened with soot and gasping for air, smoke wafted from their clothing.

Hogan, on his hands and knees, struggled to pull Hochstetter away from the burning building.

"It's all right Colonel, we'll take Hochstetter now," Kinch assured as he pulled Hogan away from Hochstetter and the blaze.

Hogan nodded coughing and struggling for air.

"Newkirk, grab Major Hochstetter and pull him away from the fire," Kinch ordered, looking over his shoulder.

Looking with disdain at the German lying unconscious in front of him, Newkirk reached down and pulled him out of danger by the collar before letting him drop with a thud to the ground.

Klink rushed to Hochstetter's side. "Guards, carry the Major to the camp hospital."

"Well, Colonel Hogan, you surprised us. You did make it out! But why did you go in there to begin with?" Klink could see Hogan was not able to answer.

"Take Colonel Hogan to the infirmary and then get back out here and help put out some of these fires."

Greatly relieved by this change in events, Klink left to check out the rest of the damage.

Unable to stop coughing and eyes filled with smoke and soot Hogan looked at Kinch and breathlessly choked out, "Had to…" cough, "…do it..."

"I know, Colonel…I know," Kinch answered.

Exhausted and out of breath Hogan collapsed in Kinch's arms.

"Colonel Hogan?" Newkirk called. There was no response.

Kinch picked his Commanding officer up in his arms.

"Carter, go tell Wilson we're bringing the Colonel in."

"I'm on my way!" Carter yelled, as he disappeared around the flaming building.

cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

LeBeau threw the door to the infirmary open and Kinch stepped in.

"Put him over here!" Wilson indicated a make shift table. "Carter said he ran into a burning building to save Hochstetter!"

"That's right," Kinch answered.

Wilson looked up at the door as more men were being brought in.

"Fella's, I don't know what's going on out there, but you're going to be more help out there than you are in here. And I don't need an audience."

The foursome made their way back to the still open door and slipped out one at a time, back into the mayhem.

Wilson had just begun to undo Hogan's jacket when he regained consciousness and came up off of the table coughing and gasping.

"I need some help over here!" Wilson yelled.

ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

After being chased away from the infirmary, Kinch and Newkirk were regaled to putting out fires, while Carter and LeBeau aided injured men to the camp hospital.

Except for the guest quarters, it was mostly small fires that were easily extinguished. The men were surprised at Klink's ability to organize. It didn't take long for him to get things back under control. This was a side of Klink they hadn't seen before.

The foursome gathered together, exhausted, while the last few fires were being extinguished and sat down on the ground to rest. Leaning into the lit match Carter was holding, Newkirk puffed on his cigarette, sending up a stream of smoke.

"I'm going to have re-evaluate my opinion of Klink," Carter admitted.

"Carter!" Don't go making more out of this than there is." Newkirk wasn't ready to admit there may be more danger behind that monocle than he had originally thought.

"Kinch, What did London say?" LeBeau asked.

"Plenty." Kinch looked at his friends and whispered, "Black Paw is dead!"

cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

Hogan watched impatiently. He had questions he couldn't ask. The slightest exertion would start him coughing which would deplete his oxygen and make him pass out.

Wilson was kept busy receiving men injured during the fallout and from fighting fires. All in all the count was not bad. Only seven men were injured bad enough to warrant an overnight stay at the infirmary. There were no deaths. Other injuries were minor burns and cuts and were treated and released.

Hochstetter had passed out when Wilson applied a splint to his broken leg, but was now awake and taking up temporary residence in the infirmary until Colonel Klink could get him in a truck and take him to the hospital.

"Wilson"...cough. "what"...cough cough. Hogan gave up as another bout of coughing overcame him.

"Your lungs were full of smoke, Colonel. It's going to take some time to get it all out. Stop trying to talk."

Hogan tried to talk again but choked on his words, setting off another round of violent coughing.

"Stay with him," Wilson said to his assistant. "I'm not worried about the coughing, but let me know if you see blood."

Wilson left to monitor Hochstetter's transfer to a stretcher.

cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

As soon as the camp was secure, Klink sent for a truck to transport Hochstetter and was now at the infirmary to accompany him on his journey.

"Try not to move his leg too much, he has a compound fracture and he's in a lot of pain," Wilson instructed.

Klink grimaced and turned away. Seeing Hogan, he asked, "Is Colonel Hogan going to be all right? Do I need to take him with us?"

"He's improving. I'll keep my eye on him for another hour or two."

"I'll leave Schultz here at camp. If you see he isn't improving send him on with Schultz," Klink offered.

"Danke, Kommandant," Wilson answered.

Klink approached Hogan, while Hochstetter was being loaded on the stretcher. "Colonel Hogan, your men did a commendable job putting out the fires."

"Thanks, Kommandant…" Hogan cleared his throat, "…I'll tell them..." cough "...you said so." Hogan ended his statement with another, though milder, coughing spell.

"HOGAN!" Hochstetter yelled. "Don't think this changes anything."

Hogan waved off Hochstetter and shook his head as the guards worked at carrying him out.

Dumbfounded, Klink looked at the Gestapo Major. Hogan had just saved his life.

"Ahh! Don't do that," Hochstetter growled at the guard who had just tried to move his broken leg.

ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

"Sergeant Wilson," Schultz called, upon entering the infirmary after seeing Hochstetter and the Kommandant off. "Why wasn't Hochstetter coughing as much as Colonel Hogan? Schultz asked. " Him I would like to see speechless,"

Wilson nodded. "Me too. But evidently being trapped on the floor kept him from breathing in as much smoke. Colonel Hogan, on the other hand, was on his feet the whole time and had both arms occupied trying to carry Hochstetter and move through the debris falling around them, so he was unable to hold anything over his nose and mouth to filter the smoke," Wilson surmised.

Schultz looked at Hogan, who was sitting on the side of the bed. "Shouldn't he be lying down? Why is he sitting up?" Schultz wondered out loud.

Wilson looked in Hogan's direction and raised his voice so he could hear. "He's improving. And he thinks he's going to walk out of here tonight, but he's not."

"I have to go," Schultz announced. "I'll be back later to make rounds."

Seeing Schultz leave, Hogan was able to choke out a short question. "Who's with Dirk?"

Wilson smiled and pointed to a cot in the far corner of the room. "I decided the best place for him was in plain sight, plus I couldn't be in two places at once."

Hogan looked at Dirk and smiled. "Was he …when Hochstetter...?"

Wilson smiled and nodded.

"Okay, since you won't stop talking, I have a question for you? Why did you go into a burning building to get Hochstetter. You had ample reason to enjoy his demise."

"It seemed like...a good idea...at the time," Hogan answered taking slow breaths inbetween.

And then more seriously added, "Probably live...to...regret it." Stopping to clear his throat, "…but I figured...if by some miracle..." Hogan paused. His ears began to ring but he continued. "I survived this war…" Another pause and a cough. "I was going to have enough... bad memories to live with."

Hogan broke into a coughing spell as tunnel vision began to set in. No longer able to talk he assured himself, There's a difference between right and wrong. Something the Nazis are trying very hard to make me forget."

Hogan suddenly felt very tired and fell into an unsolicited sleep.