Hammelburg, Gestapo Headquarters, Office of Major Wolfgang Hochstetter
July 25, 1944, 0950 hours
The phone on Hochstetter's desk rang and the Major picked it up. "Hallo, Hochstetter here," he said.
"Major Hochstetter, this is General Schlesinger," the voice on the other end said.
"Ah, General, I am glad you returned my call," Hochstetter said pleasantly. "I am looking into a matter involving the local prison camp and had a question for you."
"You are harassing the Luftwaffe camp again, Hochstetter?" Schlesinger asked.
"Nein, Herr General," Hochstetter replied. "I am simply trying to investigate some information that I was given by the Gestapo in Berlin. It seems that a Luftwaffe truck was seen driving around Berlin with SS personnel. These men were seen to kidnap a known conspirator and speed away. The truck was registered to Stalag 13."
"Go on," Schlesinger prompted dubiously.
"When I questioned the men at Stalag 13, they gave me a story about being summoned to Berlin by your Major Freitag for interrogation," Hochstetter said.
"Have you spoken to Freitag?" Schlesinger asked.
"Not yet, sir," Hochstetter said. "I wanted to check with you first. Frankly, I doubt the whole story."
"Hochstetter, you must like to waste my time," Schlesinger said testily. "Because if you would have bothered to check with Freitag, you would have found out that my office does periodically question prisoners of war, and that Freitag is the man who directs those interrogations."
"I was not aware of that," Hochstetter said.
"And I was not aware that my office had to clear its activities with you," Schlesinger said.
"Sir, I …" Hochstetter began.
"Is there anything else, Hochstetter?" Schlesinger asked.
"Sir, all of this does not explain the report I received about the truck from Stalag 13 and the SS men," Hochstetter said.
"Speak to Freitag," Schlesinger ordered. "I am sure he has a perfectly logical explanation."
"I am sure he does," Hochstetter said sarcastically.
"Major, are you implying something by that remark?" Schlesinger asked.
"Now that you mention it, I do have my doubts about him," Hochstetter said.
"Hochstetter, Major Freitag is my personal aide and I have no doubts about him," Schlesinger said menacingly. "I suppose you have doubts about me?"
"Absolutely not, sir!" Hochstetter insisted.
"Then maybe you should forget about this incident," Schlesinger said. "Freitag handles these interrogations with my full support. And …" The General paused, "I have already spoken to General Burkhalter about this and he has no issues with my office interrogating his prisoners."
"Jawohl, General," Hochstetter said through clenched teeth. "I understand."
"Good," Schlesinger said. "Oh, and while I have you on the phone, there is a bit of information that I thought you should know about … and it is about something that you should be looking into rather than harassing the Luft Stalags."
"What is it, sir?" Hochstetter asked.
"We had an agent infiltrate the Underground in your area," Schlesinger said. "We have since lost contact with him, but in his last report a couple months ago, he reported that there seems to be some dissention between the Underground groups."
"Oh?" Hochstetter said.
"Yes, it seems that at least one of the groups has been trying to usurp the authority of Papa Bear," Schlesinger explained. "You should stay alert. This kind of dissention among the saboteurs could lead to mistakes. You might yet capture the infamous Papa Bear."
"I shall do my best, General," Hochstetter said.
"And I shall hope for success anyway," Schlesinger replied, hanging up the phone abruptly.
Hochstetter hung up the phone. "So Papa Bear is having a little trouble controlling his cubs," Hochstetter said, smiling. "Maybe that is why Hogan was a little angry yesterday." He rubbed his hands together eagerly. "I know you are the great Papa Bear, Hogan … and hopefully soon I will have the evidence to prove it!"