SoligenGermany

November, 1944

Day 8

In the same early dawn light and rolling fog that was covering Grevenbroich, two inconspicuous black sedans drove deliberately down the empty dirt road leading to Wilhelmina's vast farmstead. The two cars drove up the drive to the farmstead and headed directly toward the large barn, driving around to the backside of the building.

Fritz and Emery were waiting. There was little exchange of small talk, just the exchange of vehicle keys. The two men then went into the barn with Fritz and Emery. The large barn doors were opened and the two men drove away in Fritz's panel truck.

With the arrival of the two cars, Wilhelmina led everyone from the house to the barn, where they would be divided up between Fritz and Emery. She packed extra rations of food and water, knowing they would not have the opportunity or the time to stop and eat anywhere along the way, and these were placed in the trunks of each vehicle. The group was then divided up between Emery and Fritz. Avril, Johann, Oskar and Roderick would travel with Emery. Ahren, Adler, Erik and Major Miller would travel with Fritz.

Major Miller sported his new moustache, and different comb but Emery had decided against any other kind of makeup. Touch ups would have to be done frequently and it would just be too much of a hassle. As it was, Miller was hardly recognizable, especially once he removed his glasses. The moustache, which got a giggle from the kids, was, however, turning out to be a little irritating to him. He poked at it, not quite trusting that the darn thing was going to stay put and he glanced at Fritz and Emery. "This thing's going to drive me nuts."

The two men chuckled. "Leave it alone," Emery said. "It just takes some getting used to."

"Hmm," Miller agreed. "Hopefully I won't sneeze the wrong way."

The goodbyes to Wilhelmina were kept short. The boys piled into the cars but Major Miller hesitated. He looked at Wilhelmina.

"Remember," she said. "Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

"We won't," he said. "Thank you again for all you've done."

Wilhelmina nodded. "Go," she said gently.

Major Miller turned slowly, put his grey fedora hat on and walked to the passenger door of Fritz's car. He was the last one to get in. The two cars then started and Emery pulled out of the barn first. Through the back window of both cars, the young boys waved to Wilhelmina. She waved back, until the two cars were at the end of the drive and turning onto the road. As they disappeared into the early morning fog, Wilhelmina pulled the large barn doors shut.

Stalag 13

Day 8

After the morning roll call, Hogan and his men returned their barracks. LeBeau made up a list of items he needed from the kitchen and the canteen and sent one of the other prisoners from the barracks out to get them. Although confined to barracks, LeBeau would not let his comrades go hungry. He actually greeted the upcoming thirty day stay in the barracks with reprieve, as he would not have to be subjected to the bland German food of the prison camp. Instead, he could make the simple, and better tasting, French dishes and they would be better fed in the next thirty days than the rest of the camp.

Kinch, meanwhile, was checking in with the Underground. Colonel Hogan stood right next to Kinch as the coded message came through. Kinch was scribbling quickly on his note pad and when the Underground finished transmitting he transmitted a quick acknowledgement and then looked at Colonel Hogan.

"We don't have to worry about those two kids we saw last night." Kinch looked at the message he scribbled. "They couldn't make the trip but provided diversion. Led the hunting dogs to another trail... Grevenbroich." He handed the pad of paper to the Colonel.

Hogan looked at it and nodded, relieved. "That's good," he said. "I had my doubts though. Thought for sure they had balked at making the trip and were going to lead the Gestapo straight to Major Miller." Hogan paused. "Do we know why they didn't go?"

Kinch shook his head. "The Underground didn't elaborate. But we do know that Major Miller made it out of Düsseldorf and to Soligen, and should be on his way north right now."

Hogan nodded and handed the pad back to Kinch. He then looked at his watch. "He should make to Wilhelmshaven by tonight, in time to meet up with Goldilocks." Hogan paused again and looked at Kinch. "Grevenbroich, that's southwest of Düsseldorf isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Hochstetter is going to figure Miller went in one of two directions. South to France, or north to the coast. That diversion those two kids provided should make Hochstetter think Miller's heading toward France and he'll concentrate his search that way. That should give Fritz and Emery clear sailing to the coast."

"What if Hochstetter figures out they're heading to the coast?"

"If the diversion in Grevenbroich lasts long enough, it should be too late for Hochstetter to catch up once he figures it out. All the same though, the Underground should keep an eye on Hochstetter. We've all known him too long to know that he never does what we think he's going to do."

RemscheidGermany

From Soligen the two black sedans headed east on different, yet parallel, routes toward Remscheid, literally the next town over. From there they would continue eastward, gradually looping around at Werdohl to head north. This route was chosen in order to avoid the congestion of the cluster of cities between Düsseldorf, Essen, Bochum and Herne. The more populated the cities and surrounding towns, the more checkpoints one had to pass through and the more chance there was of being found out.

The two cars traveled parallel to also avoid the chance of being found out. The plan was that for every so many miles, the two cars would meet up as a check to make sure the others were all okay and then split up again until the next meeting point.

Fritz explained this all to Major Miller as they drove on through the fog heading toward Remscheid.

"Do you expect we'll run into much trouble?" Miller asked.

"I will be honest with you Herr Miller, I always expect to run into trouble." Fritz glanced at the bandleader and smiled. "That is how I have been able to be successful at what I do."

Miller chuckled softly and nodded. "Always assume the worst. Then there are never any surprises."

"Ja. I would like to think that having done this so much that I should expect less trouble. But no two escapes are truly the same. Therefore, each escape is always like it's the very first time I have done this." Fritz chuckled. "Of course, I have learned many lessons from these many escapes. But each one always has something new that I haven't encountered before."

The sun was starting to burn off some of the fog when Fritz and Miller reached their first checkpoint. Miller removed his glasses and slipped them into the inside pocket of his overcoat, seeing nothing now but a blur out the front windshield.

Fritz slowed the car as he approached the barricade and one of the two soldiers came over from the guard hut. He paused a moment to look into the car, looking at Fritz, Miller and the three kids in the backseat. He then looked back at Fritz. "Heil Hitler. Papier?"

"Heil Hiltler..." Fritz said blandly. Miller handed his Soldbuch to Fritz who handed both Soldbuchs to the soldier. The soldier looked at Miller's first and peered into the car comparing the man sitting in the passenger seat to the photo in the Soldbuch. Satisfied with the identity, the soldier then gave Fritz the once over. With the identity check completed, the Soldbuch's were handed back.

"Danke, Major, Hauptmann." The soldier gestured to the kids in the back seat. "Hilter Jugendrekruten?" he asked with a smirk. Hitler Youth recruits?

"Nein. Delinquents, entgangen von einem Arbeit Lager nahe Opladen. Ein Landwirt fand sie in seinem Stall gestern Abend. Wir nehmen sie zu den Gestapo Headquarters in aufgehoben zu werden und Remscheid, zurück zu dem Lager genommen worden." No. Delinquents, escaped from a work camp near Opladen. A farmer found them in his barn last night. We are taking them to Gestapo headquarters in Remscheid to be picked up and taken back to the camp."

The soldier nodded. "Die ist eine Schande," he said. "Die Armee benötigt mehr Soldaten." That's a shame. The army needs more soldiers. He waved to his comrade to lift the barricade.

Fritz gave a shrug. "Es gibt immer possibility das." There's always that possibility.

The soldier smiled and gave a salute. "Heil Hitler."

Fritz raises his hand up. "Heil Hitler..." The car moved forward past the barricade.

Once they were out of sight of the checkpoint, Miller dug out his glasses and put them back on. "What the hell was all that?"

Fritz chuckled. "Merely using our cover. That the kids here had escaped from a work camp near Opladen and were found locally and that we are taking them to Gestapo headquarters to be picked up and taken back to camp."

"You know I thought of something. What if some soldier at some checkpoint tries to talk to me?"

"They won't."

"You sure?"

Fritz nodded. "I will be doing all of the speaking as I am the ranking officer between the two of us. There would be no need for them to speak to you."

Miller gave a quiet sigh of relief. "Good. By the way, I think you should get a promotion. Then they can ignore me all together."

Fritz laughed.