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Weaving A Web To Freedom
Book Three: Fliegerabwehrkanonen Spells FLAK
By Marty Miller Breedlove
Chapter 21
I've Got Something to Tell You
"The American Colonel was not involved in any of the sabotage activities last night." This statement was not to be challenged. "You will have to continue your search for the saboteurs. And I would like to know how the Underground learned of those guns."
"Ja," Hochstetter agreed, swallowing nervously, that was one question he did not want General Kaltenbrunner to get answered. Since Hochstetter himself had purposely leaked the information to draw out the underground and have them play into his trap. He hadn't counted on being in the hospital when that attack occurred.
"The soldiers at Dozier's camp said a man appeared out of the woods and talked with Oberst Dozier. Colonel Hogan said the man told them his name was Captain Voss, of the Gestapo. Can you verify that?" Kaltenbrunner stared down at Hochstetter waiting for an answer. The surprised look on the Major's face told Kaltenbrunner the name was recognized. He arched his left eyebrow and waited.
Startled by this twist of events, Hochstetter felt his muscles tighten as he made eye contact with the General. "Ja, Captain Voss and I were working on infiltrating the Underground unit responsible for the acts of sabotage surrounding Stalag 13." This was the first Hochstetter had heard from or about the Captain since he disappeared into the Underground organization. "I have not had contact with him since he left about two days ago. It is good to know he is alive and well." How much does Kaltenbrunner know? Hochstetter wondered.
"Excellent, Major! How close are you to stopping them?" Kaltenbrunner was relishing the idea of taking the good news to the Fuhrer, personally.
"I don't know…" Hochstetter's voice trailed off as he looked into space. "I mean, I wasn't planning on being in the hospital. We took advantage of Black Paw's capture to lure them into accepting Captain Voss, as one of Reichmann's messengers. We gave him the code name Daniel."
"Didn't they think that it was suspicious for someone to come forward after Reichmann's death and claim to be one of his messengers?" The General asked.
Hochstetter smiled, "That is where we were ahead of them. You see, since I was present when Reichmann died, I had time to act. I realized it would take a while for the news to filter down, so I put this plan into action before it was known Reichmann was dead. The radio frequency we were able to get from Reichmann's during his delirium, proved beneficial. Though it wasn't Papa Bear's, it was one of the groups working with him. We arranged a meeting between them and Captain Voss on the pretense he was a messenger being sent by Black Paw. Captain Voss went as 'Daniel' and gave them some false information."
Hochstetter almost choked on his words. False information had been tried in the past. It didn't work. They had leaked information on Dozier's anti aircraft artillary. This Papa Bear was to smart to fall for false information.
"We now had first contact established. So when the news filtered down that Black Paw had been captured and killed, Daniel again made radio contact asking for help hiding from the Nazis. This brings us to where we are currently. We hope to learn enough to shut down this spy ring and capture their leader 'Papa Bear'!"
Burkhalter had been listening to Hochstetter's story and commented, "Good, then perhaps you will leave Stalag 13 alone and stop making false accusations every time a bridge blows up!"
"With Hogan cleared of being involved in any of last nights sabotage activity, I admit it looks doubtful that Stalag 13 is connected. But I will delay my answer to that until I have all the facts. Captain Voss was obviously with the Underground unit last night, or at least knew enough about their operation to warn Oberst Dozier. It is quite possible he knows a lot more than what he passed on last night!"Hochstetter looked at his dangling leg and frowned. "All I can do, right now, is sit and wait. If I could have been in the field we may have already had our answers."
Kaltenbrunner followed the Major's gaze and looked intently at the traction apparatus attached to Hochstetter's fractured leg.
"This appears to be a serious injury and looks quite painful. It was obviously a dangerous and life threatening situation. You were unable to get out of the burning building without help?" Kaltenbrunner looked intently at Hochstetter waiting for his answer.
"Nein, Herr General. A timber from the ceiling had fallen on me pinning me to the floor. I thought it was one of our soldiers that was coming to get me. The Gestapo does not ask prisoners for help!"
Kaltenbrunner nodded with approval. "That is good! Nobody in their right mind would have willingly put themselves in that kind of danger for an enemy soldier. The American Colonel's actions adds weight to our belief that he is responding to our procedures. This will look good when we present the research, along with the pictures, to the Propaganda Ministry."
Hochstetter agreed out of habit. "Ja, Herr General."
"Do you know of any reason the American Colonel would have had to save your life, Major?"
"Nein, Herr General there is no reason for Colonel Hogan to want to help me!" Hochstetter was getting nervous. It seemed they were trying to connect him to Hogan. Did they think he was a traitor because Hogan came to his aid?
"Excellent! Then the American came for you entirely on his own volition."
Kaltenbrunner spun around and looked at Burkhalter. "This is a good sign!"
Hochstetter looked at both Generals with a puzzled look on his face.
Burkhalter puffed out his chest, "Then it is possible we have broken through Hogan's resistance!"
It finally donned on Hochstetter what this was about. It was about the experiment they were conducting on Hogan. He had thought they were done with that. Hochstetter felt relief now that he realized this was not about him.
Kaltenbrunner nodded saying, "It is very possible that the work we have done on the American has not been entirely without results."
"Do we wait to see how far this progresses or do we again move forward aggressively?" Burkhalter asked Kaltenbrunner.
"We will gather our facts and present them to our scientists and doctors to assess. They will decide the next step," Kaltenbrunner answered. "But I admit, I am encouraged by the apparent change."
"You are encouraged even though Hogan denies having any changes in his views of the Third Reich?" Burkhalter wondered out loud.
"As Oberst Knefler explained it to me before I left Berlin, the question is, would he even be aware of what was happening? Would he begin doubting his own beliefs, or would he be spared the self doubt and eradicate his morals and values from his memory, altogether, while replacing them with our doctrines? The hours of indoctrination and programming he was subjected to were aimed deep at his subconscious, to the core of his beliefs and ideology. Perhaps we were wrong in expecting a sudden transformation, but rather will see a slower deeper change as his old ideals are eroded away and the new are accepted at a subconscious level. In which case, General Burkhalter, over time, our philosophies will simply become his ethics and principles," Kaltenbrunner explained.
"And the beauty of it is he would be doing it to himself." Burkhalter smiled, "We can just sit back and watch!" The Luftwaffe General folded his hands across his chest. "I have to admit to a certain feeling of satisfaction at the prospect of watching this happen, especially with this one. His audacity and unfaltering ideals were an irritation and a challenge." Burkhalter confessed from his seat next to Hochstetter's bed.
"His strong will is precisely why he was chosen, General Burkhalter. But the last laugh may be ours!" Kaltenbrunner looked at Major Hochstetter. "This is where you come in, Major. Now that you have confirmed that Oberst Hogan rushed in to pull you from the fire, without a threat of a reprimand for himself or his men, his rescue of you will suffice as tangible evidence of a change in behavior."
Hochstetter was lying quietly listening to the information being shared between the two Generals. "Certainly, Herr General…only, I don't exactly know what you're getting at."
Burkhalter spoke up savoring the moment, "Colonel Hogan will be brought here for propaganda pictures to be taken with you, tomorrow morning. We will show that he chose to put his own life in danger in order to save a soldier of the Father Land. And not just any soldier, but a Gestapo Major at whose hands he had suffered through intense interrogation." The distressed look on Hochstetter's face was worth the trip from Berlin for Burkhalter.
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Schultz stood outside of Hogan's quarters and gestured for him to enter, "If you would, Colonel Hogan."
"Schultz, you did your duty; you brought me to my door, you can leave." Hogan assured his escort. The Colonel had some information he wanted to share with his men but first he had to be able to get to them.
"Nein, inside please, Colonel Hogan."
Hogan turned toward Kinch, "Kinch I have…"
"Nein, the Kommandant said no communication with the other prisoners." Schultz stated, emphatically and then lowering his voice, continued, "He wants you to rest up for tomorrow. So please go into your room and rest."
Hogan gave Schultz a harsh look and said, "The Kommandant said no visitors. Kinch is not a visitor, he lives here.
"What, do you think I am stupid?" Schultz asked, standing between Hogan and Kinch.
"Colonel Hogan, please go into your quarters before the Kommandant throws us both into the cooler!"
"You don't have to tell Klink anything!"
Hogan tried to step around the big Sergeant, but Schultz effectively blocked his path.
"Nein, Colonel Hogen!"
Kinch attempted to get past, effectively distracting Schultz.
Hogan looked at Newkirk, pointed at the door, made a circular motion with his hand, and then pointed toward his room.
Newkirk nodded, faded back, and slipped out the door.
"Okay, Schultz, you win! I'll talk to you later, Kinch. Right now I'm going to lie down! You should lie down, too!"
Hogan turned and headed into his quarters, closing the door behind him.
Schultz looked at Kinch. "Why did he want you to lie down?"
"Oh, um…he knows…I a…I've been having trouble sleeping since that plane came down on top of us!" Kinch yawned and headed for the barrack door.
Schultz, confused, asked, "Wait, I thought you were going to lie down?"
"I am. You don't expect me to lie down in here!" Kinch looked at Schultz with a shocked expression on his face and headed out the door.
Schultz looked at LeBeau, "Do you have any of those cookies left you gave me this morning?"
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Hogan listened to the banter through his door as he slowly slipped his jacket off. He went to his window, opened it, and Newkirk climbed inside. The Englander took off his jacket and hat and handed it to the Colonel, while Hogan held his bomber jacket open for Newkirk to slip on. "Have a nice nap!" he whispered, as Peter lay down on Hogan's lower bunk. The Colonel draped a blanket over Newkirk and then dropped his crush cap over the Briton's face. Hogan eased his left arm carefully into the sleeve of Newkirk's jacket, and gingerly pulled it on, I forgot where the bottom of this jacket "hits", he thought, as it pressed uncomfortably into his left side. Slipping Newkirk's cap on, he eased out of the window, shoved his hands into his pockets, and walked with his head down, heading for Barrack 5 and the tunnel entrance.
Kinch had turned on the hot plate to heat up some left over coffee, and handed a cup to the Colonel as he came in.
"Thanks, Kinch!" Hogan took a sip before setting it down on the table that was used for planning their missions.
"Colonel, what did Schultz mean when he said the Kommandant wants you to rest up for tomorrow?" Kinch asked.
"It seems that my rescue of Hochstetter has excited the 'Brass' and they want to exploit it as a change in my behavior with some propaganda pictures!" Hogan put his hand on the table for support and closed his eyes for a minute.
Kinch did a quick assessment, "Are you sure you're up to this right now, Colonel?"
"I don't have a choice. There's a shipment of MG – 42's passing through Hammelburg tonight by train. We have to stop it. I think the best place will be the trestle on the other side of the town."
"That's going to be awfully soon after having just blown the cannons. The patrols will be heavy." Kinch said, conjuring up a mental picture of the woods between Stalag 13 and Hammelburg
"Maybe," Hogan answered, as he pulled the map out and laid it on the table. Unfastening the jacket he casually crossed his arms to support his aching side. "But then again, maybe they won't be expecting another hit this soon." The two men leaned over the map and made their calculations of time and distance and then estimated when they would need to start. When they had finished, Hogan rolled up the map and asked, "Did you gather any more information from Dozier's command tent? I assume that is what you were doing in there, since I wasn't able to make the rendezvous and look for myself." Hogan rubbed his face and sat down.
"Colonel, I think you better get back topside and lie down!"
"In a minute, Kinch. Tell me what you found."
"We've got the diagram of the radar unit. Dozier had it in a footlocker with, what would have been the new gun location. London is sending a plane for it. They'll tell me when and where at their next broadcast."
"Good." Hogan took a long drink of coffee before continuing.
"Along with seeing the train schedule, while I was at SS headquarters, I saw an envelope on Krantz's desk. It had the official seal of the Third Reich and a list of names written on the outside. One of the names was Dozier's. I'm thinking it may be the proposed locations of their new radar directed Eighty-eights. I've got to go back to SS headquarters and have a look." Hogan looked determinedly at Kinch.
"We'll all go." Kinch said. "Who's Krantz?"
"Captain Krantz SS, he seemed to be the one assigned to interrogate me. There was another…" Hogan pinched the bridge of his nose trying to force himself to concentrate. "…Hildebrand…Lieutenant Hildebrand."
"Colonel, it sounds like you have quite a story for us…later! I'll brief the men and have Carter make our explosive packs. You go get some rest and we'll be ready by the time you wake up." Kinch tried to look encouraging.
Hogan nodded, "Thanks Kinch, I'm on my way. Tell London, we may have more information if they can give us one more night."
Hogan started to stand. "Sitting down was a mistake. I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be to stand back up!" Hogan smiled, but his eyes told the truth, he was dead on his feet.
Kinch got up to help.
"I can make it back. You need to stay here."
"That's okay, Colonel, there's plenty of time before London broadcasts. I'll go back up with you. You'll need somebody to keep Schultz distracted while you make it to your bunk…in case you fall flat on your face!" Kinch added, smiling.
"My son the pessimist!"
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Hogan's door opened nine hours later, and a ragged bleary-eyed commanding officer stumbled over to the table. LeBeau stopped mid stir on his sauce and watched with satisfaction as the Colonel eased himself down on the bench next to the table. "You had a good long sleep, Colonel. Do you feel better?"
"I'll let you know in a minute. Any …" Hogan cleared his throat, "…coffee left Louis?" Hogan hung his head and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Oui, Colonel," LeBeau poured a cup and set it and a glass of water down in front of Hogan. "It's good to have you back, Colonel."
Hogan nodded, "It's good to be back. It got a little tense there for awhile." Maneuvering around the water glass LeBeau had put in his way; he reached for the coffee, raised it to his lips, and took a drink. The warmth felt good and he grasped the cup with both hands absorbing some of its heat. "Mmm, coffee's excellent Louis!"
The Colonel looked around the room, "What happened to my guard dog?"
"You mean Schultzie? Once he saw how sound you were sleeping, he left, mon Colonel."
"Are you telling me that, sometime after Newkirk and I switched places again, Schultz went in and watched me sleep? What made him think I wouldn't get up after he left?"
"I think it was the fact that Wilson arrived and was able to look you over without your waking up."
Hogan swallowed his coffee with a gulp. Looking at LeBeau, who had gone back to stir his sauce, he frowned and said, "No he didn't."
LeBeau, smiling, continued stirring his sauce, and watched the swirls in the figure eight his spoon made as it sliced through the creamy white mixture.
"Did he?" Hogan asked.
Looking up, LeBeau pursed his lips and nodded.
Hogan looked down at his rumpled clothes, "What did he do…no don't tell me!" Rubbing his eyes Hogan commented, "I feel like…I've been drugged!" Hogan stretched his neck and felt the muscles in his shoulders pull.
"You have." LeBeau set the sauce off the wood stove and sat down across from Hogan. "Wilson gave you some morphine."
"So that's why I didn't wake up while he was here."
"That, plus you were exhausted. You hardly moved when he gave you the shot of morphine," Louis confirmed, and then continued. "As Wilson examined you, Schultz explained how they found you on your knees with an SS officer pointing his gun at your head."
Hogan stared at LeBeau for a moment, searching his memory. He remembered very little before waking up at SS headquarters.
"I don't remember the SS at the bridge, and what was Schultz doing there? I'll have to talk to Schultz."
"By the time Wilson had finished with you…" Louis continued. "…Schultz decided you were incapable of getting out of bed, let alone escaping."
"Schultz stayed while Wilson examined me?" Hogan asked.
"Oui, Colonel, he said it was Klink's orders," LeBeau answered.
"Swell! Well so much for privacy!"
Hogan groaned, as he pushed himself up from the table, and then, looking back at Louis, asked, "Where are the guys?"
"Carter and Newkirk had to go over the Kommandant's car and make sure the SS returned it in, quote, 'The same, excellent, condition it was in when they borrowed it'." Louis answered.
Hogan filled a pan with water and set it on the stove to heat. If he wouldn't be allowed to shower until morning, he would at least indulge in some warm water to wash up with. "The SS borrowed Klink's staff car?" Hogan asked.
Louis looked with sympathy at his Colonel. "That's right, you wouldn't remember that. It is how the SS took you in."
"It's how…maybe you should fill me in on what you know that I don't. But first, where's Kinch?" Hogan asked.
"Oh he's around somewhere. Do you want me to go find him?"
"No, let's give him some time to show up. He's probably finishing up the details for tonight's mission. I want to wash up anyway, and you can fill me in on Klink's car." Hogan picked up the pan of water and headed to his quarters.
"Oui, Colonel," Louis, was glad the Colonel said, no. He was supposed to keep Hogan occupied while the medic made his report to London. "And you can fill me in on how you got shot!" Louis added, as he stood, crossing his arms and looking at his commanding officer.
Hogan, surprised, stopped to look at LeBeau, "Wilson?"
"Oui, Colonel, Wilson. Plus, I was in the room, too!"