Stalag 13
July 21, 1944, 1310 hours
Hogan called his men to attention in front of the Kommandant. "We're ready to go, sir," he said.
"I don't see why I have to leave a perfectly good Stalag to go to Berlin," Carter complained.
"Yeah, I'd rather take a trip to London," Newkirk said.
"How about Paris?" LeBeau asked. "I can take you all to this nice little café where they make the best crepes in town."
"Colonel Hogan, control your men!" Klink admonished.
"All right fellas, hold it down!" Hogan ordered. The men grew quiet.
"You have been ordered to Berlin by the Gestapo," Klink said. "If you have any complaints, tell them when you get there."
"I do not see why I have to go," Schultz whispered, leaning over so that Hogan can hear.
"Schultz!" Klink bellowed. "If you have any complaints, you can send me a postcard from the Russian Front!"
Schultz saluted his commanding officer. "Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," he said.
"Now Schultz, remember, you must go to Gestapo Headquarters in Berlin," Klink said. "And you must be there by tomorrow."
I understand, Herr Kommandant," Schultz replied. "You prisoners, get into the truck!"
LeBeau, Newkirk and Carter climbed into the back of the truck. Hogan accompanied Schultz to the front. "Should I drive, Schultz?" Hogan asked.
"Nein!" Schultz exclaimed. "I will drive."
"Suit yourself," Hogan replied, climbing into the truck.
- - - - -
They were on the road to Hammelburg just as it doubled back near the camp. "Schultz, stop here for a minute," Hogan said.
"Colonel Hogan, we are making no stops," Schultz said.
"Schultz, we have to stop here," Hogan insisted. "We have to pick up another passenger."
"No, my orders are to drive you and three prisoners to Berlin," Schultz said. "My orders say nothing about passengers."
"All right, Schultz, it's your funeral!" Hogan exclaimed.
Schultz slammed on the brakes. "What do you mean it is my funeral?" he asked.
"Hi Schultz! Kinch said, emerging from the side of the road carrying several black uniforms.
"Sergeant Kinchloe! What are you doing here?" Schultz exclaimed.
"I've got the SS uniforms for the trip to Berlin," Kinch replied.
"And I've got the guns!" Baker said, emerging from the same spot at the side of the road.
"SS uniforms! Guns!" Schultz exclaimed. "Colonel Hogan, what is going on here?"
"Hello, Schultz," Marya said, emerging from the same spot.
"Who is this?" Schultz asked.
"It is me, Marya," Marya replied.
"The Russian woman?" Schultz said, squinting to get a better look. "It is the Russian woman! What happened to your hair?"
"Have you ever seen an SS man with long hair?" she replied.
Schultz laughed. "An SS man with long hair." He suddenly stopped laughing. "No! There will be no SS men on this truck! Colonel Hogan I beg you, please. No SS men on this truck!"
Hogan let out a sigh. "Schultz, I'm going to level with you," he said.
"No, I do not want you to level with me," Schultz said. "In fact, I want to know nothing!"
"I'm afraid that's not going to work this time," Hogan said. "This is too important."
"Colonel Hogan, I do not want to know!" Schultz insisted.
"Schultz, we have an important mission here, and we need you to cooperate," Hogan said, raising his voice to the Sergeant for the first time since he had known him. Softening his tone, he added, "Imagine that your daughter was in trouble."
Schultz stared back at Hogan, shocked at the words he had just heard. "I am listening, Colonel Hogan," he said.
"The first thing I want to tell you is that we arranged this trip to Berlin," Hogan said.
"What if we are caught?" Schultz asked.
"That's not a problem," Hogan said. "Major Freitag did call Colonel Klink - we are supposed to be on this truck. The second thing is that we have real orders, signed by Major Freitag, that identifies us as an SS team from the Hammelburg area, sent to Berlin to help with things there."
"How did you get the orders?" Schultz asked, then immediately held up his hands. "No – I do not want to know."
"We are going to Berlin because a friend of mine is in trouble," Hogan said.
"You have a friend in Berlin?" Schultz asked.
Hogan nodded. "Major Hans Teppel of the Abwehr," he said.
Schultz rolled his eyes and clucked his tongue. "An American prisoner with a friend in German intelligence," he muttered.
"Major Teppel is really an American spy and he's in big trouble," Hogan continued. "His name appeared on the list of people the Gestapo is planning to arrest after the assassination attempt on Hitler."
"He was involved in that?" Schultz asked.
"No, he just happened to know someone who is not very popular at the moment," Hogan continued. "I will not allow him to be arrested. We are going to Berlin to bring him back to Stalag 13. Then we'll …"
Schultz held up a finger. "Colonel Hogan, at this point I will have to stop you," he said. "I do not want to know what goes on at Stalag 13 – that is our deal."
Hogan laughed. "Fair enough," he replied. "But you do see why we have to go to Berlin?"
Schultz nodded. "Ja, I understand," he replied.
"Good," Hogan said. "So now we go to Berlin and everything will be fine." Schultz put the truck in gear and started to move. "Unless they start shooting at us," Hogan added.
"Shooting!" Schultz exclaimed. "Colonel Hoooooogaaaaaaaan!"
- - - - -
Schultz kept the truck moving as Hogan climbed into the back to change into his SS uniform. As he drove, Schultz thought about the risk being taken by the prisoners. Once Colonel Hogan explained the situation, he knew that he could do nothing other than help them. After all, what if this would be happening to my Elena?
Colonel Hogan knew that Schultz's oldest daughter Elena was active in the Underground in Heidelberg. It had been one of Hogan's plans to send radio parts to her inside a potted plant – using Schultz as the courier – that made the Sergeant realize what Colonel Hogan was involved in. Since that time, Schultz had agreed to "see nothing" of Hogan's activities – even though he still went through the charade of being shocked to see some of those things.
And now the Colonel was risking a lot to save someone else from being arrested by the Gestapo. Schultz shuddered when he thought of how people were treated during a Gestapo interrogation. For this reason, I will help Colonel Hogan … I owe it to my daughter.