Stalag 13, Barracks 2
June 12, 1944, 1030 hours
Hogan emerged from his office looking impatiently at his watch. "Has Kinch come up yet?" he asked.
"No, Colonel," Carter answered. "He's still in the tunnel waiting for the message from London."
"Great … just great!" Hogan exclaimed. "We're told to expect important orders that need to be carried out as soon as possible, and London takes their sweet old time getting them to us."
"They'll get here, Colonel," Newkirk said from his bunk. "Kinch is probably just verifying them right now."
"It could be that London is taking a tea break," Baker said jokingly. "You know how the English are."
"Tea time is in the afternoon, mate," Newkirk said in mock indignation.
"All right, hold it down!" Hogan ordered. "We don't have time for that now. When Kinch gets the orders, we've got to make our plans quickly. London will want them carried out starting tonight."
"Tonight?" the men echoed.
"Yes, tonight," Hogan said. "In case you have forgotten, there is an invasion being carried out on the French coast. London wants all the Underground units to step up the sabotage and harassment activities to support it. And that means us!"
"Yes, sir," the men said.
The door opened and LeBeau walked into the barracks. "The mail courier just came, Colonel."
"Great," Hogan sighed. "That means Schultz will be around with the mail and will want to hang around for some of LeBeau's strudel."
"But I don't have any strudel today," LeBeau said.
"He'll wait while you bake it," Newkirk commented.
The bunk covering the tunnel entrance clattered as the bed rose. The men watched as Kinch climbed up the ladder. "Got it, Colonel," he said as he stepped off the ladder. "You're going to love this," he said handing Hogan several sheets of paper.
Hogan stared at the papers. "What's this, a novel?" he exclaimed. He began reading. "You've got to be kidding," he said, reading the first page.
"What is it?" Carter asked.
"I don't believe it!" Hogan said, beginning to read the second page.
"Must be good news," Newkirk muttered.
"Are they out of their mind?" Hogan said as he finished reading the third page.
"Kinch, maybe you can tell us what they said," Baker said, hopping down from his bunk and taking a seat at the table.
Hogan rearranged the papers and adjusted his hat. "Carter, watch the door," he ordered.
Carter hopped up from the table and took his post by the door, opening it a crack to peer outside into the compound.
Hogan took a deep breath and started reading. "In order to support the Allied landings at Normandy, we have been ordered to perform the following tasks, which will be accompanied by stepped up activities from Nimrod …" He stopped and looked at his men. "And they want all this to happen within the next three days."
"They want what to happen, mon Colonel?" LeBeau asked.
Hogan smiled. "A troop train will be bringing reinforcements from the south along the Düsseldorf rail line. The train must be stopped."
"That doesn't sound too difficult," Newkirk commented.
"They would prefer that the train be destroyed – along with the reinforcements," Hogan went on, eliciting several whistles of amazement from his men. "In addition, there is an armor division massing just north of here before heading to the coast. They want that delayed or destroyed."
"A whole armor division?" Baker asked.
"And then there are the bridges over the Düsseldorf River," Hogan continued.
"Which one?" Carter asked.
"All of them," Hogan said.
"All of them?" Newkirk exclaimed. "Are they daft? There's got to be at least three that are still standing."
"Four, if you count the rail line," Hogan said. "And they want them all to be put out of commission."
"Colonel, if we are going to be doing all of this, what is Nimrod going to be doing?" Baker asked.
"Probably not as much as we are!" Newkirk exclaimed.
"Wrong, Newkirk," Hogan said. "Nimrod will be doing the same thing to the forces heading north from Paris as well as trying to tie up the forces in the Alps to aid a push up through Italy."
"London is getting pretty ambitious," Newkirk said. "Nimrod is going to be stretched thin."
"I still think Nimrod is …" Carter began.
"We know, Carter," an annoyed Newkirk replied. "Nimrod is not one person. You say that every time."
"Well, I can't help what I think," Carter replied, turning away from the door. "He does too much for one man, or even one group like us, to do."
"Fellas, it doesn't matter who Nimrod is," Hogan said, hoping to avoid a lengthy discussion by his men. At that moment, the door opened, crashing into Carter and sending him stumbling across the room as Schultz entered the barracks. "We have a lot of work to plan for the next few days," Hogan finished.
"What work?" Schultz asked. "Colonel Hogan, are you planning some monkey business?"
"Carter, I thought you were supposed to announce our visitors?" Hogan admonished.
"Sorry sir," Carter replied. "Sergeant Hans Schultz," he said formally. Hogan rolled his eyes.
"Colonel Hogan, you did not answer my question," Schultz said. "Are you planning some monkey business? Because if you are …"
"Schultz, do you have our mail?" Hogan asked, interrupted the sergeant.
"Ja, I have your mail," Schultz replied. "Now are you …"
"Can you pass it out quickly and leave?" Hogan asked.
"Why do you want me to leave?" Schultz asked, suddenly suspicious.
"Do you really want to know?" Hogan asked.
"Should I know?" Schultz asked.
"I think it would be better if you didn't," Hogan said.
"Since you are an officer, I think you know best," Schultz said. "I would prefer to know nothing." He looked at the bundle of letters in his hand. "In fact, I think it would be better if you passed these out," he said, handing the bundle to Hogan and scurrying from the barracks.
"Good old Schultz," Newkirk said laughing. "Always one to stand up in the face of adversity."
"Carter, watch the door," Hogan ordered. "And this time pay attention!" Carter hurried back to his post at the door. "LeBeau, pass these out while we go over what we have to do." He handed the bundle of letters to the Frenchman.
"Sir, how can we possibly tackle all those things ourselves?" Kinch asked.
"We won't," Hogan said. "We will have to have help. Kinch, when we're done here, get in touch with Erich. I want to meet with him here tonight to go over things."
"Right, Colonel," Kinch acknowledged.
"And tell him to have Hans Wagner with him as well, we'll need everyone working on this," Hogan said. Kinch nodded. "If we play our cards right, we'll have Hochstetter chasing his tail all around this part of Germany!"
- - - - -
The meeting had broken up and Hans Wagner had left to go back to his farm. Erich Jonach, the senior local Underground leader had remained behind to continue talking with Hogan.
"Do you think we can pull it off?" Jonach asked.
Hogan shrugged. "If everything goes smoothly, we should be able to," he replied. "Timing is the key. If we destroy the rail bridge over the river when the troop train is on it, we'll be able to take care of both at the same time. The armor division is massing in a clearing area that is accessible only from either end. If we can mine the roads at each end, they will be forced to deal with that. The terrain won't let them go around."
"What about Hans and his team?" Jonach asked. Erich was still suspicious of the man who had defied the Colonel's orders and tried to destroy the massive fuel depot that was being constructed near town.
"He's been better since we had our talk," Hogan replied, referring to the meeting he had called after Wagner's failed attempt on the depot. "Besides, we have no choice. We need all the teams we have to get all this done in the next few days."
"Why is London being so aggressive?" Jonach asked.
"The more was can do here in the middle of Germany, the harder it will be for them to concentrate on the invasion forces," Hogan said.
Jonach nodded. "I understand," he replied. "You can count on me and my men, Colonel Hogan."
Hogan smiled. "That goes without saying, Erich," Hogan replied. "Let's just hope that everything we are doing will help speed up the end of this war."
The men shook hands and Hogan watched as Erich climbed up the ladder to the emergency tunnel exit. After taking a quick look around, the man scrambled all the way up and out of the tree stump.
"I know I can count on you, Erich," Hogan said to the empty ladder where the Underground leader had been. "But can I really depend on Hans and his team?" He shook his head. Whether he could count on Hans or not, he had no choice but to depend on them for this. God help us if he screws up again.