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Weaving A Web To Freedom
Book Three: Fliegerabwehrkanonen Spells FLAK
Chapter Eight
Revelations
"Unfortunately, I can't get out of here right now. You will be on your own. Just learn as much as you can, but don't act on anything until I can be there for the 'kill'." Hochstetter shifted uncomfortably in his hospital bed, "If you act without me, your military career, will be over." The Major did not make idle threats. Voss knew he could consider that statement a promise.
"Jawohl, Herr Major. How long do you think you will be here?" Voss asked.
Hochstetter looked away disgustedly and chanted; "One week, four days, fourteen hours …" he paused, to look at the clock. "…twenty-three minutes, and fourteen seconds."
Voss wiped the smirk off of his face before the Major snapped his head back around to continue the conversation.
"I want to know who, where, and when, I can get my hands on the leader of this Underground unit that has been so active around Stalag 13. This 'Papa Bear' must be stopped." Hochstetter's gaze went through Voss and was now seeing what had not yet transpired. "Once caught, we will put him through the same rigorous interrogation that 'Black Paw' endured, except he will not be allowed to die… too soon. This man will suffer for his crimes against the Fatherland."
"Major, what if they do have a network capable of getting me to England? If I hesitate, they will become suspicious. But if I don't, I could end up on the other side of the war!"
Hochstetter settled his gaze on Voss and instructed, "If they are that organized, we must learn as much about it as we can. You will follow their route all the way to London if possible! Should that happen, just try to remain in character until you are contacted. We have agents of our own in England."
"Jawohl," Voss answered.
"There is something else we need to consider. The Underground will know the guns will be moved after that plane rained down on Stalag 13. If they didn't know their location before, they at least have an idea of the radius to look in to find them." Hochstetter reasoned. "I'll have to increase security!"
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Colonel Dozier walked along his line of triple "A's". The 88mm Anti-Aircraft Artillery formed the bulk of heavy flak defenses for Germany. Eighty-eights could fire Twenty-two pound shells up to 35,000 feet at a rate of 15 to 20 rounds per minute and could knock out any aircraft that was within 30 yards of the shell burst, with shrapnel damage being inflicted up to 200 yards. The shells exploded at a preset altitude sending metal splinters flying in all directions. Now that radar was being trialed, their effectiveness would improve as aiming became more precise.
"Herr Colonel, the courier has arrived with the orders and locations for the 'acht-acht' guns." Dozier looked around at the young soldier who was bringing him the news he had been waiting for.
"Good, let us go and see these plans." Dozier spun around and headed back to the tent, where he had set up his temporary command site. After last nights success he was confident that the testing of this new radar would be accomplished quickly and he would soon be in command of a large and even more successful "AAA" program.
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"COLONEL!" Kinch called, after seeing his commanding officer leave Klink's office and head for the infirmary. Hogan stopped and turned as Kinch came running up. "Lutz is in the tunnel and wants to talk to you."
"Lutz?" Hogan's face went from surprise to concern. "Is there a problem? I mean another one?" he amended, while taking a couple of easy breaths.
"He didn't say. He's waiting for you before he goes into any detail." Kinch shoved his hands into his well worn coat pockets while pulling his neck down into his shirt and jacket for warmth as a gust of wind whipped by.
Hogan quickly glanced back at the infirmary and then turned away heading for Barrack Two. He wanted to check on the men injured in last nights 'rain' of flak, but he wasn't looking forward to facing Wilson after his unauthorized departure from his care. He let the tension out in a relieved sigh, and briefly cupped his gloved hands over his mouth and nose attempting to inconspicuously warm the irritatingly cold air he was breathing.
"Something wrong, Colonel?" Kinch asked.
"Hmm? No, in fact I think you just saved me from a lecture on the finer points of military authority from Wilson." Hogan answered.
"Oh!" Kinch paled slightly and nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, you're right there. I've already been raked over the coals for not dragging you back. I assured him you were all right."
Kinch raised his eyebrows and glanced over at Hogan, adding, "He asked to see my medical degree. Well, maybe 'asked' is the wrong word," Kinch said, grimacing.
Giving Kinch a pained look, Hogan mumbled something indistinct, entered Barrack Two and headed for the bunk hiding the tunnel.
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General Burkhalter looked out the window of his office in Berlin while talking on the phone with General Kaltenbrunner, Chief of SS intelligence. The news Klink had shared was swiftly making its way to the top.
"The propaganda ministry wants to add this to Hogan's dossier, for later use." Kaltenbrunner was saying, "…and so do I." We will send a photographer to take pictures of Major Hochstetter and Colonel Hogan. Have the Colonel at the hospital the day after tomorrow. Make sure his military insignia and his face are clear in the pictures. We want there to be no doubt who he is. The pictures will be taken of the Major in his hospital bed, so that the seriousness of his injury is apparent."
"Please let Reichfehrer Himmler know I will see to this personally," Burkhalter crowed, his chest and cheeks both pumping up with pride. The General wanted to be sure his name was associated with this favorable situation that was about to be taken advantage of. The American Flying Ace was, after all, interred at one of his Luft Stalags. He would take the bow for his safe holding in an escape proof jail and perhaps for his further indoctrination.
"We may have made greater strides in our experiments than we originally thought!" Kaltenbrunner thought out loud, pleased with the idea, that the cocky American, that challenged them at Hohemark hospital during his testing, may have given up more than first thought. "It bears looking into. The American certainly had no reason to risk his life for the Gestapo Major. Keep me informed of any new developments."
"Jawohl, I'll make sure the Kommandant of the Stalag Colonel Hogan is being held in, calls me immediately if he notices any unusual behavioral changes," Burkhalter assured the SS Chief.
"Very good, Heil Hitler!"
Click, the call ended but expectations were beginning to soar.
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"...we were lucky it was only the guest quarters that was flattened," Newkirk finished. Carter nodded as LeBeau served up hot coffee.
"Boring our guest, Newkirk" Hogan joked as he and Kinch entered the tunnel.
Upon seeing Hogan, Lutz stood and extended his hand. "Your men told me that Dirk is here in your care. We've been watching Stalag 13 waiting for an opportunity to radio, or come in to see if he was here. Thanks for your help," Lutz began. "Not having found him ourselves, you were our last hope. I imagine Dirk told you what happened and you obviously have first hand knowledge of the anti-aircraft guns."
Hogan grabbed Lutz's hand firmly and replied, "Yes, we know, and so does London. There shouldn't be any more planes straying over these coordinates. One downed plane is enough!" Hogan said, with remorse and then in the flicker of a second, the pain was replaced with determination.
"There won't be any more hits this time around. We're taking those cannons out tonight."
Lutz dropped back in his seat.
"Here, Colonel." LeBeau held out a cup of coffee which Hogan took as he straddled a chair and leaned on its back.
"We're glad none of the others, attending that meeting, were injured or captured." Hogan paused. "Dirk said he thinks the Gestapo just got lucky. Is that what you think too?"
"We have no proof of it being otherwise, but there are some of us who are not quite sure since we have learned of 'Black Paw's' capture and subsequent death. That is one of the reasons I am here, to make sure Dirk had not also fallen into enemy hands and to talk with you about Daniel, the contact Black Paw sent with the information about the guns."
Hogan's interest was peaked at the mention of the little known agent.
"Dirk said that Daniel is German, what else do you know about him?" Hogan asked, taking a sip of coffee.
"Only that he was sent by Black Paw, or should I say Siegfried Reichmann," Lutz added.
"Who?" Hogan asked.
"Siegfried Reichmann, didn't you know?" Lutz asked, looking at Hogan for confirmation.
"No! London only called him by his code name." Hogan's eyes darted a look at Kinch, who shook his head indicating he had no additional information.
"Reichmann, worked for the Germans as a civilian in coding and deciphering. He was high on the security ladder. He encouraged the Nazis to keep their cryptology departments segmented, so that they are working on their own without collaborating or sharing results. He said this kept them pure, uninhibited and encouraged diversity in approaching code breaking," Lutz shared.
Hogan blinked, and straightened. Standing, he placed his foot on the chair he had just vacated.
"Maybe so, but without a central decryption agency it also leads to unnecessary duplicate efforts, fragmentation of potentials and low efficiency due to repetition. I'll bet that is why Reichmann kept them segmented," Hogan added.
Hogan turned to pace. "Reichmann was a civilian. His clearance was pretty high for a civilian." Turning back to face the group, he questioned, "Do we know how he was found out?"
"No, and as you can imagine everyone is being very cautious. The SD called in all of the Gestapo top interrogators to collaborate on getting information from Reichmann," Lutz continued.
Hogan bowed his head and momentarily shut his eyes. The reality of that statement reached deep into the nightmares of his memories. The sheer horror of what that implied was not easily faced.
"Major Hochstetter was among them." Lutz paused after this statement. "I didn't realize he was considered to be one of their best interrogators."
This last statement grabbed Hogan's attention. He snapped his head back up and looked at Lutz.
"Oh yes, he's good." Hogan turned and began to pace again.
"Do we know what information they got from Black Paw?" The muscles in Hogan's jaws clenched. Reichmann knew enough to send them all to the gallows.
"The word is nothing. How accurate that information is, we can't say. It would be just what the Nazis would want us to think," Lutz answered.
Hogan stopped his pacing and looked back at Lutz again, "It certainly would."
"All of this brings me back to the second reason for my visit." Lutz looked up at the Colonel. "Daniel, Black Paws messenger, wants asylum and out of Germany."
"That is not surprising. I mean, if he is on the level, it would be natural to want to disappear. What was the time frame on his visit. Did Daniel come to the meeting before Reichmann was picked up?" Hogan asked.
"Daniel said Reichmann was picked up while he was meeting with us. That could be true. The news of his capture came to us after our meeting," Lutz answered.
Hogan was busily turning over facts in his mind and piecing together inconsistencies.
"But your other source said that Hochstetter was one of the interrogators, and following the meeting, ole Wolfie has been on your trail and harassing us for the last two days." Hogan shook his head. "Something doesn't ring true here. There seems to be a fox among the chickens."
Puzzled, Kinch straightened from the table he was leaning on and asked, "Wouldn't he have had time to go to Berlin after he left here the other night? He didn't return until the following afternoon, that would have given him about fifteen hours that we don't know where he was."
Hogan shook his head and paced back to the table while unzipping his jacket to let some of the heat from the nervous energy he was producing escape.
"Stop to think of the scenario. Hochstetter makes a surprise raid on the barn and finds members of the resistance. They get away. He follows a trail of blood here. Now he knows one of them is wounded and not far away. I don't think he would have dropped the trail while it was warm and gone to Berlin."
Kinch nodded, "Not when he thought he was about to catch 'Papa Bear'. I see what you mean."
"And we know he returned to Gestapo Headquarters, in Hammelburg, yesterday morning, around ten a.m," Lutz said. "Our man in town confirmed this. He was cleaning the floor in the entry, when the Major arrived."
"That's only about seven or eight hours after he left here," LeBeau figured.
"And he was back here shortly after we returned from looking for those guns with Schultz. It must have been about four or four thirty in the after noon," Kinch said, as he looked over at Colonel Hogan.
"Right, if he interrogated Black Paw, he did it before the Underground meeting. Somehow Black Paw's capture was kept secret until after Daniel met with the underground." Newkirk interjected, his eyes widened as he looked around at his friends.
"Which means Daniel didn't get his information from Reichmann," Kinch added, standing a little straighter as the implication registered.
"So Daniel is a spy! Hochstetter knew how to get in contact with the underground from information gained during that earlier interrogation of Black Paw," LeBeau finished.
"And he used that information to set up a meeting using his spy, Daniel, to give information about the guns," Carter filled in.
Everyone stopped to stare at Carter. "What?" Carter asked, apprehensively.
"Carter, you've done it again." Hogan placed his hands on Andrew's shoulders. "Carter's right, the information on the guns was given to us intentionally by Hochstetter."
A puzzled look crossed Andrews face. "Why would Hochstetter tell the Underground about the cannons he was supposed to be guarding and keeping secret?"
"It was bait, Andrew," Kinch answered.
"Yeah, 'bear' bait!" Newkirk added.
"Mon, Colonel, that means we could be walking into a trap tonight!" LeBeau turned to look at Hogan.
"Yes, I'm sure that was the idea, but Hochstetter wasn't planning on being in the hospital either." Hogan was trying to decide what the Gestapo Major's next move might be. "Hochstetter was playing a dangerous game with state secrets!"
Hogan looked at Lutz, "Bring Daniel, or whatever his name is, into hiding."
"What?" Newkirk cried out.
"Why would you want to do that? Just get rid of him," LeBeau answered, adamantly.
"Wrong! We don't know who else is involved in this scheme of Hochstetter's. We need to bring him in alive." Hogan shoved his hat back on his head and rubbed the back of his neck.
"That is all ready being arranged," Lutz answered.
Hogan dropped his hand and stiffened, "It is?"
Lutz recognized the stance and quickly offered his defense. "We weren't going to tell him anything until we knew more and had talked with you," Lutz answered in defense of their actions. "But we also weren't sure we would be able to get to you. And if that were the case, we may miss our opportunity to get our hands on Daniel, should we find out he was not who he pretended to be."
Hogan nodded slightly as his shoulders relaxed.
"Well, I guess that scrubs it for tonight. I mean we can't go walking into a trap, right?" Newkirk asked, looking anxiously at his Commanding Officer.
"Oh no, ole chap, we're still going." Hogan smiled. The glint was back in his calculating eyes. "We're just going to alter our plans a little and take Daniel with us."
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Colonel Dozier sat in his tent, bored. The camp would soon be busy packing up for the move that would take place in the morning. The guns would be out of commission until after the move.
What kind of amusement can I find for myself tonight. I can't imagine Hammelburg offers much in the way of excitement, he thought.
I'll have to come up with my own entertainment His mind drifted back to his early morning visit to Stalag 13. "Hmm," he sighed, and then leaned back in his chair smirking.