Chapter Three: Escape

Colonel Wilhelm Klink was not a happy man. It was hard enough being the kommandant of the toughest prisoner of war camp in all of Germany without also having to play along with the delusional imaginings of the local Gestapo. The notion of Hogan being the leader of the Underground Resistance was simply ridiculous. Yes, Colonel Hogan had been at the center the many strange things that occurred in this camp, but he couldn't be Papa Bear, he just couldn't. Klink was an experienced and loyal officer of the Third Reich. He would have noticed. He would have stopped the American officer. This whole thing was a joke that had stopped being funny years ago.

But why then had General Burkhalter signed the order?

Klink gulped and tried to settle his nerves. Why couldn't he be more like Hogan who even in hand cuffs still looked calm and in control? Was it possible that the American officer had a plan?

Even though Klink had tried to forget about them, there was no denying that Hogan had gotten him out of bad situations before. The officer somehow always knew the right thing to do or say. Perhaps he would again...

Schultz slammed the door open. He was breathing hard as he began, "Herr Kommandant, I beg to report..."

"Schultz! I ordered you to bring me Sergeants Kinchloe and Baker. Where are they?"

"I do not know, Herr Kommandant."

"How can you not know?"

"They're missing!"

"Bah!" Hochstetter growled. "Get out of my way! I will find the prisoners myself."

Schultz looked like he was going to faint. "But, Major, the barracks is empty."

Klink couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Impossible. No one ever escapes from Stalag Thirteen."

"Are you telling me that an entire barracks of men has simply disappeared?" Hochstetter growled, the vein on his forehead bulging dangerously.

"Yes, Herr Major."

"The boys escaped," Hogan said. "That's wonderful news!"

"No one ever escapes from Stalag Thirteen!"Klink shouted. Then hurrying over to the window, he tried to open it, cursing it as it refused to budge.

"Schultz, open the window!"

As soon as the offending window was opened, Klink stuck his head through and yelled, "Guards! Sound the alarms, let loose the dogs!" Then as the alarms starting blaring and the dogs starting barking, he turned his attention back to the angry Gestapo Major and said, "I assure you these men will be found. No one -"

"Ever escapes from Stalag Thirteen," Hogan chimed in. Then winking at Klink, he added, "Sorry, Kommandant, I couldn't resist."

"BAH! Worthless, all of you!"

Langenscheidt burst into the room and Klink wanted to scream as the soldier began to stutter, "Herr Kommandant, I... I..."

"What is it now? Don't you see I'm busy?"

"Yes, Herr Kommandant. It's just, Herr Kommandant...the prisoners..."

"Have you found them?"

"They're missing!"

Hochstetter shouted, "Dummkopf! We already knew Barracks Two is missing."

"But, Herr Major, more men are missing."

"More!" Schultz exclaimed.

Hogan grinned. "More?"

"More," Klink repeated as he sank into his chair. This couldn't be real. This couldn't be happening. "How many?"

Langenscheidt gulped. "It appears ... that... all, Herr Kommandant."

"All!" Klink screamed.

"Oh, boy," Schultz said as he slumped against the wall.

"Klink, heads will roll for this. Your head will roll!"

Jumping up, Klink pleaded, "I assure you, Herr Major, they will be found. An entire camp of prisoners can't simply disappear!"

"They can't?" Hogan asked.

"NO ONE EVER ESCAPES FROM STALAG THIRTEEN!"

"What's happening?"

"Was Colonel Hogan arrested?"

"Do we really have to escape?"

Kinch ignored the barrage of the questions as he squeezed past the hundreds of men that now filled the tunnels and made his way down the emergency tunnel. Olsen would be at the exit, controlling the flow of men as they made their escapes. But from the way everyone was standing around, it didn't appear that anyone was moving...

Just as Kinch came to that realization, he spotted Olsen pushing through the crowd to get to him. "Kinch, we have a problem. The woods are full of Gestapo. They'll spot us before we go two feet."

Damn. It looked like Hochstetter had finally implemented his promised ring of steel. "Shut it down. No one goes out today." Then aware that every word they just shared had been overheard by dozens of men, he added, "Don't worry, a mass escape was just Plan A. Plan B is still in play." At least it would be as soon as he came up with Plan B.

Olsen nodded and turned back to guard the exit. Kinch made it back to the radio - it was a good thing Hogan had insisted on making the tunnels so wide and extensive or he wouldn't have been able to move around at all. Thankfully, the men had stayed clear of the radio room, which at the moment was empty expect for Carter, Newkirk and LeBeau.

"Kinch," Carter called out as he reached them. "Everything's set. I can blow the tunnel entrance in our barracks."

"Do it." It was risky, but Carter had done it before. And Kinch was beginning to fear that they would need to hunker down in the tunnels until the search calmed down and they couldn't allow the Krauts to find the tunnels. And if Schultz squealed or the guards properly searched the barracks... No, the decision was clear. That entrance had to be rendered impassable.

Walking right up to Newkirk and LeBeau, Kinch whispered, "I just spoke with Olsen. The woods are crawling with Krauts. No one can get out. We need to prepare for a siege. If the guards are all out searching, there's a good chance they've left the food stores unguarded."

Newkirk protested, "But what about Colonel Hogan? If we move now, we could grab him before Hochstetter leaves camp."

Kinch wanted to agree, but the worried looks on the faces of fellow POWs he passed in the tunnels convinced him that he had an even bigger job to do first. The job with which Colonel Hogan had entrusted him when he had made him his XO. "Look, Newkirk, I want to go after him too, but there are two hundred and ninety-eight men in this camp. If we are going to have any chance, we need those supplies. Get them and then we'll talk."

LeBeau nodded. "Kinch is right; we can't save the Colonel until we save ourselves."

Newkirk grabbed his friend's arm. "Come on, LeBeau, the sooner we finish, the sooner we can rescue the Colonel."

As the two corporals scurried away, the tunnel shook and Kinch grabbed a table to keep upright. One task done. Too many left to go.

"Kinchloe."

Kinch looked up and spotted Sergeant Major Anderson standing before him. Anderson had been the ranking prisoner in charge when Kinch had arrived at Stalag Thirteen, and while their relationship had started out on rocky ground, the two men had come to respect each other as the operation grew. Anderson even continued to handle a lot of the day-to-day work of managing a camp full of POWs in order to give Hogan more time to focus on their clandestine activities. And now that Hogan was under arrest, Anderson had his old job back. But from the look on Anderson's face, there was no doubt that the British man was looking to Kinch to lead.

"Rumors are spreading fast among the men," Anderson whispered. "They know that our exit is blocked. If we don't do something soon, we'll have a mutiny on our hands."

Curses. Kinch knew this would happen but he had hoped for more time. "Assure them that Hogan prepared us for this very situation. If they can just be patient and hunker down until the search dies down, I promise you that we will all see London again."

"Right." Then laying a comforting hand on Kinch's arm, he added, "Keep the faith. Hogan trusted you and so do I."

"Thank you."

The knowledge that he had Anderson's trust both comforted and terrified him. Two hundred and ninety-eight lives. Two hundred and ninety-seven men in the tunnels below and one, who was the best of them, trapped above. And he now held all of their lives in his hands. Because now everyone would be looking at him in the same way that he had always looked at Hogan. If he was going to save them, he would have to become the man who made the impossible sound possible. For the only way that they could escape and rescue Hogan would be if he believed and he convinced the others that they could.

So Kinch decided to believe. They would escape. They would rescue Hogan. And he would come up with the plan that showed them the way.

Chaos was a beautiful thing. If Hogan had known the effects that a mass escape would have on the Germans, he would have done it years ago just for the entertainment value alone. Klink could barely function except to repeat the one line that was no longer true. Hochstetter was raging - his joy at finally capturing Papa Bear had disappeared with the rest of Stalag Thirteen's prisoners. Schultz was unusually quiet, which made Hogan suspect that the guard had seen something that he would say was nothing when he was in Barracks Two.

"Herr Major," Klink was pleading. Hogan half expected him to get down on his knees. "I don't understand how this could have happened. No one has ever-"

Hochstetter slammed his hand down on the desk, hard. "Klink! Think! Three hundred prisoners don't simply get up and walk out of camp."

"Two hundred and ninety-eight prisoners, Herr Major," Schultz said.

"Actually," Hogan corrected. "Only two hundred and ninety-seven escaped. But I can fix that, Kommandant, if you wish." He wouldn't need much time to slip away from the Germans and disappear into the tunnels and then out into the woods.

Hochstetter growled, "If you think that I am going to let the most dangerous man in Germany out of my sight, you are mistaken."

Hogan shrugged. "You can't blame a guy for trying."

"Klink! I have surrounded this camp with a ring of steel. And while your guards are either blind or traitors, my men are not. The prisoners must have escaped another way."

Klink gasped. "A tunnel!"

"Yes, Klink, a tunnel. Have your men search the barracks."

Hogan was starting to get annoyed. Klink and Hochstetter were mostly ignoring him. It seemed they both were taking his arrest as a sign that he was out of the game and that he had nothing left to contribute. That assumption was going to be their biggest mistake yet.

For all of Hochstetter's ravings, he spoke the truth. Hogan was Papa Bear. He still was the most dangerous man in Germany. And if his enemies believed that he was defeated, they were going to be very surprised. Because Hogan was not going to be quiet while his men were risking their lives to escape. For the knowledge that Hochstetter had finally implemented his long promised ring of steel meant there was a chance that his men were trapped in the tunnels down below. And even the Stalag Thirteen guards would eventually find one of the tunnel entrances if they looked long and hard enough.

It was time for him to reenter the game. Hochstetter may have won the battle, but he was going to lose the war.

"Schultz," Klink ordered. "Organize a search of the barracks."

Walking up to Klink's desk, Hogan opened the humidor and picked up a cigar with his cuffed hands. "I'd rescind that order if I were you, Kommandant."

Schultz froze and Klink managed to muster up the small ounce of courage he had left. "Hogan, you are not the kommandant of this camp!"

Hogan shrugged. "If you want to waste precious hours searching the barracks for a tunnel that doesn't exist, be my guest. It gives my men a running start."

Hochstetter's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You are lying to protect your men."

"I might be," Hogan admitted. "But consider your theory. There are twenty barracks in camp. If my men escaped from their barracks, that means twenty tunnels. Possible, but why dig twenty when one is all that you need?"

"And I suspect you are going to just tell us where this one tunnel is."

"I'm willing to make a deal, are you?"

"Yes!" Klink shouted.

If looks could kill, Klink would have been dead ten times over, based on the glare that Hochstetter sent his way. "Colonel Hogan, you are finished. There is nothing you can offer that I don't already have within my grasp."

Hogan slid off the desk. "Sorry, Kommandant, if the Major isn't interested in my confession then I guess there's no deal." Five, four, three, two...

Hochstetter grinned like a man whose dreams had just come true. "You will confess to being Papa Bear?"

"Yes."

"You will give me the names of your Underground contacts?"

"Yes."

"You will show us your tunnel?" Klink added.

"Yes."

"And in return?" Hochstetter asked.

"You spare my men. All of them. They remain prisoners of war and receive no punishment for any actions in which they may or may not have engaged in." He didn't trust the Gestapo officer to keep his word, which was why he didn't even bother to ask for his own life. He just needed Hochstetter to be convinced that he believed this deal would be honored.

Hochstetter nodded. "Very well, we have a deal, Papa Bear."

Hogan smiled but he didn't say a word. Instead, he just looked at Klink and wiggled his cigar. The Kommandant grabbed his lighter and lit the cigar, his hands shaking the whole time. Hogan discovered that it was harder to smoke a cigar while handcuffed then he would have thought, but he didn't allow that to distract from the pleasure of this moment. After taking a few puffs, he extinguished it and then led the three Germans out the door and into the center of the compound.

With every step, Hogan gave silent thanks that the ground beneath his feet was dry. The absence of snow meant that his plan had a chance of working. However, if he was honest with himself, this plan had no business working. But he had never let that stop him before. "Now, Gentlemen, we can all agree that all my men were present for morning roll call."

"Yes," Schultz said. "All present and accounted for."

"Well, if you were confined to a barracks all night, where would you go as soon as you were free?"

Klink and Hochstetter gave him blank stares, but Schultz's eyes lit up when he figured it out. "The latrines."

"Exactly." Hogan began walking in that direction. "Now while the latrines are a central and accessible location, it isn't the ideal spot to dig - too out in the open. So we choose Plan B. Hogan stopped in front of the delousing shed and opened the door.

"The delousing shed," Klink said, impressed.

"Bah. Quit wasting time. Where is the tunnel?"

Hogan held up his cuffed hands as an explanation and then said, "Schultz, if you could tilt that sink in the back left to the side."

Schultz did so without delay and in a few moments, all of the Germans gathered around the open hole. "A tunnel, Herr Kommandant!"

"Follow it!" Klink ordered. "Find out where it leads!"

"I can't fit, Herr Kommandant. I'm too fat."

With the Germans' attention fixated on the decoy tunnel, Hogan took a few steps backwards. He considered the closest "real" tunnel entrance and decided to make a break for it when Hochstetter turned around and saw his prisoner inches away from the exit.

Hochstetter growled then stormed over to Hogan's side and grabbed his arm. After a few more choice words lamenting the incompetence of Klink and his guards, the Major dragged his prisoner outside to a waiting car and shoved him into the backseat.

As Hogan passed through Stalag Thirteen's gates for the final time, he felt oddly calm. This wasn't how he had imagined or even wanted to leave the POW camp, but he left knowing that he had done everything he could to give his men their best chance. He just had to trust that Kinch and the others would follow their orders and get everyone out. He knew the odds that most or even some of his men would make it to England were low. Not with all the forces in the area looking for them. But if they could stay hidden, if they could tie up resources needed at the front then they could still carry out the final and most important part of the orders they had received at the onset of this operation: to use every means to harass and injure the enemy.

It would take a miracle to save his own life. But in that moment, Hogan swore that before he died he was going to do his best to ensure that Hochstetter would come to regret ever hearing the name 'Papa Bear.'