Stalag 13
"Yes, Herr General...He has?" Kommandant Klink was saying into the phone. "So it has been confirmed? ... Yes, terrible, I know, what he did was a complete insult to Germany...Yes, Herr General..."
As Klink was speaking, Sergeant Schultz came into the office. He waited for the Kommandant to finish.
"Yes, Herr General, their punishment will remain in effect despite Major Miller's return to England...Yes...Danke, Herr General... What? Oh yes, Heil Hitler." Klink hung up the phone and looked at Schultz. "Yes, Schultz what is it?"
"Pardon me, Herr Kommandant, but the Gestapo has returned with Colonel Hogan and his men."
"Of course. I was just speaking to General Burkhalter. Major Miller has returned to England."
"He has? Oh that's wonderful---er, I mean that's too bad."
"Schultz! Watch what you say." Klink came around the desk and stopped next to the portly staff sergeant. "Although just between you and me, I'm not all that upset that he made it back to England."
Schultz nodded. The two then left the office to greet the returning POW's.
"Just play it cool," Colonel Hogan told his men as the car passed through the gate.
The car came to a stop at Klink's office, the Kommandant already waiting on the stairs. As everyone exited the car, Klink approached, looking at the "Gestapo" officers.
"Did they give you any trouble?"
"None at all, Herr Kommandant."
"Hmph. Naturally. Only me they give trouble to! Schultz, see these prisoners back to their barracks." Klink looked at the group of POW's. "And keep in mind gentlemen that despite Major Miller's miraculous return to England, you are still confined to the barracks for the remaining 30 days."
Hogan had to do all he could to hold back his grin. The rest of the boys were exchanging happy congratulatory glances.
Klink obviously noticed this. "Well, if you like being confined to barracks that much, I can add another 30 days to that."
"No, that won't be necessary," Hogan said, sobering quickly. The others followed suit. "My men and I will return to the barracks at once." He saluted.
"Dismissed." Klink saluted back.
Hogan and the boys turned and started across the compound, trying not to look like they were hurrying.
Schultz paused a moment beside the Kommandant. "I've never seen prisoners so happy to be confined to the barracks."
Klink could only shoot an annoyed look before heading back into his office. Schultz shrugged at the "Gestapo" men and followed after the POW's.
The "Gestapo" men exchanged amused glances before returning to their vehicle. Another Underground mission had been completed and was a success…
...thanks to Papa Bear.
London, England
Major Miller had no more than stepped on English soil when he was told that G2 wanted to have a talk with him. He asked if they could wait, at least long enough for him to partake in a shower and put on an American uniform again. They allowed this. But when Miller wanted to meet with his band members to find out where they were at, G2 balked and the Major was ordered to SHAEF headquarters immediately.
Down the hall from General Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith's office, Major Miller sat in a room waiting, albeit impatiently. He was exhausted and just wanted to put this whole thing behind him. He lit a fresh cigarette and looked around at the English furnishings of the room. The door behind him clicked open and Miller stood up.
In came a refined, sharp eyed, silver haired general. Miller paused in surprise and then saluted. The general looked at Miller somewhat sternly and returned the salute. "General Aloysius Barton.1 At ease, Major," the man said. He walked to the desk and put his attaché down. He remained standing a moment and looked across the desk at Miller.
Miller too remained standing and was getting the feeling he was in some serious trouble for blowing off G2's initial request for this chat. Although he didn't outwardly squirm at this general's unflinching gaze, inwardly he cringed. "Sir I...apologize for my tardiness."
The general snorted. "You call four hours tardy?" He sat down behind the desk and opened the attaché. "However, I'm not surprised you would blow off Army protocol at this time. You've been doing it since day one. Sit down, Major."
Miller did, without a word.
"Perhaps this is insignificant to you, but you were kidnapped and held by the enemy for approximately nine days. We're just a little curious as to what has transcribed over the past nine days."
"And you need to know this the minute I'm back?"
Barton's look was sharp. "No, not the minute of your return. But certainly sooner than four hours after. Major, obviously you're not aware of what Supreme Headquarters has been doing for the past nine days while you've been gone. Since the Germans never publicly admitted to having captured you in the first place, SHAEF has not revealed you were captured at all. Your conspicuous absence has been explained that you have been under the weather. Your band has continued its regular performance and recording schedule, but all of the live broadcasts were suspended for the time as the Germans had threatened life and limb if your band was heard on the radio. The explanation for that was given as technical difficulties."
Miller had known of the suspension of the live broadcasts but was stunned at the rest of it. "You mean...this whole thing has been kept quiet? Nobody knows I've even been gone?"
"With the exception of your band members, no. Eisenhower's orders. Preservation of troop morale."
"I see..."
"Therefore, the importance of this debriefing is three fold. We want to know what happened while you were there, what was it the Germans were planning to do with you for propaganda and who helped you to escape. And had you reported here four hours ago as you were supposed to, we'd be through a good portion of all that by now."
"With all due respect, sir, I'd like to just put this whole thing behind me and get back to the band. We've got a lot of work to do before we transfer to Paris. But if you want to know everything that happened, I'll tell you everything that happened."
Barton nodded. "Then let's get started..."
A little over two hours later, the door of the office opened and Major Miller stepped out, holding his crush cap in hand. He appeared uncharacteristically subdued, and if anybody had seen him at that moment, they would have seen him reveal more in his expression than he had ever let show before. Miller had seen a lot in this war, just as a bandleader and just in the six months he had been in England. His usual stoic facade didn't always hold up. And at that moment right there, it was down completely.
He took a couple of steps away from the door after closing it and then paused again. General Barton would be the last person to know of what had really happened in Germany. Due to the sensitivity of Colonel Hogan's operation, Miller was sworn to secrecy. He could tell no one of what he saw at Stalag 13.
That itself wasn't what subdued him. He had expected to be hushed about it anyway. What subdued him was the vast clandestine aspect of the whole thing, combined with the knowledge that very few people even knew where he had really been. The Germans never said they had him, SHAEF never said he was missing or had been captured. It was like he was neither here nor there and he could tell no one what really happened.
In essence he was getting what he wanted -- to put the whole thing behind him. If asked, he was to say he had been ill. Period at the end.
But something was nagging at him. Colonel Hogan, his men and all those people of the Underground put a lot on the line to get him back to England. More than he deserved. And he hardly had a chance to express appropriate gratitude.
The door opened again and General Barton stepped out. Miller turned and the General looked at him. "Something wrong, Major?"
Miller thought about his idea for a moment. "Well, no sir, but...I was wondering something. Would it be possible to send a message to..." Miller caught himself and looked around the empty hall, "...those boys?"
Barton considered this a moment and then nodded. "Yes, I think that can be arranged. I'll have a cryptologist contact you, they can work your message into code."
Miller hesitated. "I was thinking more of something that could be read on a broadcast?"
Barton didn't look so sure. "Major..."
Miller held a hand up. "I know, I know. But...if I'm going to express my appreciation to those boys I want to do it the same way I've been doing for all the other boys fighting in this war."
Barton thought it over for another moment and then nodded. "It can be done. I'll let the cryptologist know."
Miller nodded and gave a respectful smile. "Thank you, sir." He saluted the General and turned to leave.
Barton let the bandleader go a few feet before calling after him. "Miller."
Miller stopped and turned. "Yes sir?"
For the first time that afternoon, Barton smiled a little. "Welcome to the club."
Miller snorted. "Thank you, sir. I...only wish I could put together a house band for it."
Barton laughed.
Stalag 13
Day 10
The following evening at seven-thirty, Kinch came up from the tunnel.
"Good news, Colonel," Kinch said as the entrance clattered shut behind him. "The Underground says that Fritz is back in Düsseldorf and will recover from his wound."
Carter, Newkirk and LeBeau, who were all seated at the table and had been fiddling with the radio, cheered. Hogan nodded with a smile. "That's good to hear, Kinch."
"Got a message from London too. There's apparently going to be a coded message in Miller's broadcast tonight."
Hogan raised an eyebrow. "Coded message?"
"That's what they said. The usual signature, Unsung Heroes."
"Hmm. Interesting…"
"I wonder what kind of message London would have Miller send?" Carter asked.
"Probably our next mission," Hogan said. "It's probably some corker and they want to sweeten it up with a little Moonlight Serenade."
The men chuckled.
"If you ask me," Newkirk said, "I think we should have a little time off before our next mission." He turned the dial on the radio to tune it, clearing the sound of the BBC broadcaster doing the news.
"Unfortunately, nobody asked you," LeBeau said and slapped Newkirk's hand away. "I had that tuned just fine before!"
"I was just fine tuning it---"
"Colonel! Schultz is coming."
Hogan no more than looked at Newkirk then the corporal had the radio snatched up and heading back to its hiding place in a foot locker. Newkirk then dove for the bunk that was over the tunnel and lounged back, appearing relaxed.
Everyone else in the common room appeared oblivious when Schultz came in with another guard. Hogan looked up from the table. "Hi Schultz! Little early for the poker game aren't you?"
"Jolly joker… Nein, the Kommandant has ordered a surprise check of the barracks."
Hogan looked at his watch. It was ten minutes to eight. "Now? This is the first night of our poker tourney and some of the guys are getting anxious. Can't this wait until morning?"
"No! We will inspect the barracks right now!" Schultz turned to the first bunk near the door and then suddenly stopped, turning back to the Colonel. "And there is not suppose to be any gambling in the barracks! Colonel Hogan, you know that!"
"I know that, Schultz. And you know that. But we can both pretend that we know nothing, can't we?"
Schultz chuckled. "No, no….I know nothing. You…" Schultz stopped chuckling and sighed. "…know everything." He turned back to the bunk and went about his duty.
The men of the barracks stood, rather impatiently, as Schultz and the other guard went through the spot check. Colonel Hogan glanced at his watch and then bore his gaze into the two guards. Hurry up!
Finally, at five minutes after eight, they finished. Schultz however, still seemed to be looking for an excuse to hang around and the talk of a poker game had done it. Hogan looked at Schultz with admonishment. "Schultz, I'm ashamed of you. You know there's no gambling allowed in the barracks!"
"There isn't? Oh! That's right!" Schultz looked sternly at all the prisoners. "There is NO gambling allowed in the barracks!"
"Exactly. And given how much you lose you should be sticking to that rule for awhile."
"Don't remind me." Schultz rolled his eyes and headed for the door of the barracks. Once he was gone, Newkirk pulled the radio out of the footlocker and turned it on.
"I hope we didn't miss it…" he said. With the BBC tuned in once again, he placed the radio down on the table and everyone gathered around to listen. Kinch readied his pad of paper and pencil.
"….for the medley this evening we have something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue for all of our unsung heroes out there. We know you are ever vigilant and remain steadfast and all your duties, even against truly incredible odds. Our thanks for what you do we express often and our prayers are with you in everything you do. Together we will all see this through. You remain in our hearts from London to Paris to Rome and to Moscow. Our first tune…."
As the music played, Kinch transcribed the message. He then smiled and looked at Hogan. "'You are all truly incredible. Thanks for everything. See you in Paris.'"
Hogan looked from Kinch to the radio and smiled. "I'll be darned…"
----
At the AEF band's makeshift studios in Bedford, England, the music from the orchestra filled the ears and hearts of the seven boys who had made the trip to England with Miller. Despite the uncertainty of their futures, the boys were confident things would turn out okay. Hearing the orchestra live and in person was a thrill they only could have dreamed of. There was a sense that, for a moment at least, things were right in the world.
Back home in Germany, there were two more boys listening. Hans and Josef were huddled near a radio in Hans's room, tuned to the BBC and playing low. They smiled to one another hearing Major Miller's voice and then the band start in.
Yes, for one brief moment, all was right in the world…
Notes:
1. "The General Swap" ep.49 -- Jeff Evans (AGroovie1)'sstory Debriefing: A Navigator's Story prompted the idea for this scene which has me thinking of a potential Part Three (but if I never get around to writing it, it's no big deal, as Part One and Two are pretty darn sufficient. LOL). Given Miller's sworn secrecy of Hogan's operation and then his eventual disappearance just a few short weeks after the events in this story…well, I'm thinking more alchemy with history let's say.
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Sustaining the Wings: Author Notes
Since I went through several revisions and different versions and had several different files hanging around with this story, I'm unsure whether all of my little notes and tidbits made it into the footnotes of the various chapters for both part one and two. So I figured I'd put together this massive author note to cover everything. LOL
First a huge thank you to Cuz and Linda who beta read the second half of this massive story. Your suggestions and encouragement were greatly appreciated.
Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944).
What? Glenn Miller was a real person? Uh… yes, he was. LOL
I have written a long rambling spiel in a vein attempt to explain why I put Glenn Miller himself in this story and it explains nothing. I'm not going to duplicate it here. I think tho', after these many months of writing, I've come to the simple conclusion: Danged if I know why I put him in this thing. He just showed up! LOL
Anyway, for those of you who don't know anything of the man, here's a very short lil' bio blurb…
American band leader, trombonist, and arranger who led one of the most successful big bands of the swing era. Actually formed two bands, the first one failing miserably, the second one being the one that took off and never looked back. Recorded hugely popular era defining hits such as "Moonlight Serenade" "In the Mood" "Pennsylvania 6-5000" "Serenade in Blue" and "String of Pearls." At the height of his popularity, Glenn disbanded his orchestra and enlisted in the armed forces going on to put together and even greater band there. Things did not take shape immediately, however, as Glenn had to endure basic training, the terribly disorganized Special Services Corps, Army bureaucracy, red tape and "Mickey Mouse colonels and majors" who saw him as a threat with his idea of bringing modern music into the Army bands. Even Time harped on him about it, criticizing that instead of marching their feet, soldiers were "swinging their hips." But eventually everything blew over and the popularity of the band with the GI's was the only thing Miller cared about. Sixty years later, one of the shining marks of not only the USAF but of the other services is their mix of modern music being played along side the traditional marches.
Historical references regarding Miller…
Anna continued, "Of course, now with you as our guest, the Propaganda Ministry has a most unique opportunity. Major, you speak some German, do you not?"
"No."
"Oh, come now. We've heard you on your broadcasts. You've improved greatly in the short time the broadcasts have been airing. Of course, we know you're not nearly as fluent as the young girl that is on your broadcasts with you...what is her name?" Anna paused. "Ilse. And the young man who sings the songs in German...Sargent... Desmond? Yes, Major we know all about the broadcasts and we've heard you speak German. And we've heard your music."
Between October and November of 1944, Major Glenn Miller and the American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Forces took part in several broadcasts on the ABSIE (American Broadcasting Station in Europe) directed toward German soldiers and citizens. The ABSIE was part of the Overseas Branch of the Office of War Information (American propaganda) and broadcasted to the continent news, talk and entertainment in different languages in order to prepare the occupied territories for liberation. The German program was hosted by "Ilse" with Miller and the AEF band as a musical guest. Miller would speak with Ilse and to the audience in both English and German (reading from a phonetic German script) and many of the songs with vocals would be sung in German by Johnny Desmond.
"Hey, maybe we can be Stalag 13's answer to the Crew Chiefs," Carter suggested in humor. The Crew Chiefs were the group vocalists with Miller's AAF/AEF band.
"Well, Major, most of your day is spent rehearsing with the band and that is time I do not want to interrupt. I figured now would be satisfactory, as I have read that keeping late hours is not unusual for you." I'm sure his schedule changed (dramatically) once he went into the service, but during his civilian career Miller's night schedule was that he went to bed at 4 in the morning and got up around noon time.
"It's an honor to meet you, sir," Carter said. "I've got several of your records back home. I even saw ya in person once, just before I went into the service. And I saw you in Sun Valley Serenade." Carter paused. "Haven't seen Orchestra Wives yet." Sun Valley Serenade (1941) and Orchestra Wives (1942) were the two films from 20th Century Fox that featured the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The films were one of the first to feature a swing band as part of the plot instead of just having the band for one or two show scenes or to provide incidental music (often for a really awful and forgettable film). Miller, known for his shrewd business thinking and skill of commerciality, was the one who suggested the band be part of the plot and that the plot had to be at least fairly believable. The films did very well and remain popular even after all these years, serving as some excellent footage showcasing the Miller band at its best. (Now if only 20th Century Fox would release them on DVD! With extras! And recovered footage if any survived!)
HH Episodes/Characters referenced:
Anna Gebhart/Axis Annie ("Axis Annie" ep. #85). Anna Gebhart/Axis Annie was inspired by a real life German propagandist, Mildred Gillars (who was actually an American) who was dubbed Axis Sally by GI's. I knew there was no way she would want to miss out on an opportunity like this.
Maurice Dubois ("Nights in Shining Armor" #70 and "Is General Hammerschlag Burning?" ep. #73). I've only seen the "Nights" episode, but I dug his character and thought it appropriate to use him in this story. Although the time period of this story France is liberated, I figure Dubois to still be helping the Underground, possibly now working in Belgium, but occasionally crossing into Germany.
General Aloysius Barton ("The General Swap" #49) (See end of chapter above)
General Clarifications with regard to Hogan's Heroes
I am no expert on Hogan's Heroes. LOL. But I do know I took a couple of exceptions in regards to the tunnel system under Stalag 13. They are….
1. I never figured out if the stove the fellas come up through once in awhile is in Klink's quarters or the guest quarters. Near as I can tell from the various episodes I've seen (I have not seen all of them) it looks like it was done interchangeably, that is Klink's quarters was often hijacked for guests. LOL. So I don't know if there were any guest quarters at the camp or not. But for the purpose of this adventure, there is a guest quarters, which is located next door to Klink's quarters and there is no direct tunnel access. What, you think I'm gonna make it that easy? )
2. Some episodes showed a tunnel access to the cooler. For the purpose of this adventure, there is no tunnel access.
One more afterthought…. I noticed while flipping through the Brenda Scott Royce's book that there's a trivia section and one of the questions has to do with matching the hero to the girl who stole his heart. One of the ladies was a Wilhelmina. I have not seen all the episodes of HH, but I'm sure the Wilhelmina in the question is probably some young beauty. Believe me, the Wilhelmina in my story is not the same! LOL.
Historical context
Charlie and his Orchestra. The plot line of Miller and Swing music being used for the purpose of German propaganda wasn't as far fetched as I had initially thought. Keeping in mind that all Swing and jazz music was banned in Germany (it was considered "the art of the subhuman," musicians were persecuted and swing youths were jailed), Charlie and his Orchestra was a band put together by the head of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry, Dr. Joseph Goebbels, for the purpose of propaganda against the Allies. The bandleader, Charlie (real name: Karl Schwedler), spoke perfect English and would pepper messages between songs about the evils of FDR, Churchill and the Allies in general. The songs themselves were cover versions of the various latest hits, lyrics added or changed to a pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic tone. Everyone whoever heard the broadcasts knew it was a German ploy and a bunch of crock, but the band was often recognized as being a viable and talented outfit. Many of the musicians were sought after when the war ended. Who knew? LOL.
The young boys in the band were inspired by the boys in the 1993 film Swing Kids.
Miscellaneous
"There I was. Little Nell saved by Simon Legree." Dukes of Hazzard fans will recognize this quote. LOL. Little Nell, a character in Charles Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop and Simon Legree, the brutal slave owner from Uncle Tom's Cabin.
For a truck load of links about Glenn, Swing music during the war (as both propaganda and resistance) and the Hitler Youth you can check my site (link is in my profile as fanfictionwon'tallow links in stories.)
Thanks to all of you out there who stuck with me through this monumental story.