"Colonel Klink," Hogan said, "You will not be taken into custody. You may continue to stay in your quarters. You will not be denied any privileges, except to call outside the camp. We will be monitoring all calls."

Hogan turned to Sergeant Schultz, "Schultz, the same goes for you. Both of you are too well known, by all of the locals. The condition that goes along with this is that you play your part with the locals as you always have." He looked back and forth between them, "I will also promise to treat the guards of Stalag 13 well. They will be taking over one of the prisoners' barracks, but that is only for show. I will have to have my men be seen as the guards coming in and out of the guards' barracks."

Klink looked at Hogan, "So are my men to be hostages?"

Hogan shook his head, "No, Kommandant, I will not resort to having hostages. The purpose of my doing this is to shorten the war and help save lives in the process. I also hope to stop some of the people that would use this route to get out of Germany, so they can be brought to justice. I want the two of you to help me save as much of Germany as we can, its people and its rich heritage, so moving on can be made easier after the war."

Klink looked down at the floor, "Hogan, or should that be Kommandant Hogan? What you are asking is the same as asking me to be a traitor to the fatherland."

Schultz, who had been very quiet and wide eyed, interjected, "Nein, Nein, Nein, Herr Kommandant. This is the second war for both of us. We cannot let the destruction and devastation that followed the last war happen again. The people that are running this war are not the fatherland, it is the der Taxifahrer, die Kellnerin, der Bäcker. (1) Those are the Fatherland. What I remember of the Fatherland is nothing like we have now, and we will have nothing left if this continues."

"They will shoot us for helping the Allies," Klink gasped.

Schultz shook his head, "Herr Kommandant, our fate was sealed when Colonel Hogan took over the camp."

Klink looked as if was going to faint, "With my record - no, you are probably right Schultz."

Hogan, to his credit, didn't take the opportunity to make a smart comment. He didn't need to, for once, he had the upper hand. The difference that made is that he didn't need to undercut his adversary's position.

After a few moments of silence, Klink looked back up and over to Hogan. "Should I call you Kommandant now? What's next?"

Hogan shook his head, "No, you will remain Kommandant, and the camp, to all outward view, will remain the same. Hopefully, we can improve things a little. Like the additional buildings, and I am hoping to get more supplies for everyone, both locally and from outside. Now, excuse me but we have much to do." With that, Hogan saluted Klink, who, out of habit, returned his salute. Hogan left the office.

Hendershot and Green stayed in the office. Green stepped forward and addressed the two Germans, "Hogan asked us to be your initial security, for obvious reasons with outside the camp, and for your own protection here."

Klink asked, "For our own protection, here?"

"Yes, Kommandant," Green replied. "Hogan wants to make sure no prisoner will attempt to retaliate against you or any of the guards, but you're obviously his main concern. We will be monitoring telephone communication, and the radio will be moved, but other than that, you are both to have free roam of the camp."

###

Hogan found his staff back in Barracks 2. The men were all smiles. "So, any problems?"

Newkirk answered first, "Not a single one, guv, they all took it surprisingly easy."

"They even made sure we had their extra weapons and ammunition," added LeBeau.

"They offered up the keys for all the other buildings," Kinch added.

Hogan smiled, "A clean sweep. How is the work outside coming?"

Kinch answered, "Larkin reported no problems, it seems like we have an overflow of volunteers. We had to reject several because they are on upcoming projects. We are starting to get wood coming in. We have a crew preparing the foundation for Big Hut One, construction should start in another day or so."

"Good, it will ease our overcrowding now, and make space for others later," Hogan said. "We're going to have the army guards coming back to camp. Get them tucked away in Barracks 17, post two guards. Carter, make sure the tunnel entrance is locked from the tunnel side."

"Will do, boy- um, sir," Carter quickly answered.

"We also need to make sure that we don't have anyone else wandering around," Hogan said. "Let's keep a patrol in the tunnel, say six men, to maintain security."

Newkirk smiled, "Kinch already took care of that Colonel, we have rotating shifts all scheduled."

"You guys are good, really. You don't even need me anymore."

All four of the heroes smiled at the compliment.

"Okay," Hogan continued, "how are we in preparations for phase two?"

Newkirk opened it up, "We placed a call into Burkhalter's office this morning, he should be here early this afternoon."

LeBeau continued, "Usually he only has a driver, so that will be pas de problème!" (2) Luckily for the prisoners, they had several years of time to watch the various routines of the Germans. Usually, a driver would open the door for the General, wait till he was out of sight and lounge around the car looking busy, until he returned. Once the General was in the office, he was alone.

Kinch walked over to his bunk and pulled a map from under the mattress. He brought it back over to the single table and laid it out flat. "We have four teams ready to go. First to Stalag 3 in Regensburg, Stalag 5 in Ingolstadt, Stalag 7 in Heidelberg, and the Oflag in Boblingen. They can all leave as early as tomorrow morning."

"Good, I'm sure someone with the bravery that Burkhalter has shown will have no trouble realizing it's his best interest to do as we say," Hogan said. "Guys, sit down for a minute please." Hogan saw the questioning looks the guys were giving him as they sat at the table or on the edge of a bunk. "I covered a lot of material when I was in London. One of the communiques I have gotten since then was a confirmation of a request of mine. You see, taking control of that Oflag could be potential trouble for us. The small percentage of officers that have ended up here have not had a problem we how we do things, but they we able to see the results first. If we get a large number of 'by the book' types, it could throw off how well everyone works."

Hogan took a deep breath before plunging on, "Toward that end, I have gotten approval to give all of you, and several others in the camp, battlefield promotions." The four men of his staff looked at him dumbfounded. "As my core team, you are all now Majors in your respective armed service. Several others, like Wilson, have also be bumped up to a commissioned rank. Everyone that has been a volunteer here has gone up at least one grade in rank."

Wait for it, Hogan thought to himself. 5…4…3-

Newkirk was first, "Me, a bloody officer! Come on guv, you can't do that!"

"Sacrebleu!" added Lebeau.

"Holy Cow," added Carter.

"What do want us to do?" replied Kinch.

"Can't I ever surprise you, Kinch?"

"Colonel," Kinch answered, "I have thought about this ever said you wanted to liberate the Oflag, I'm going to have problems with almost all officers. I appreciate what you thought of as an answer, but we both know it won't work."

"Oh, it will work. I've gotten Marshall, Lord Mountbatten, and Zhukov to sign off on these. I will ram it down anyone's throat. We've worked too long and too hard to have some stupidity get in the way now."

"Colonel," Kinch added, "Hendershot and Green as much as told us you weren't a Colonel anymore."

"Yeah, they made some nonsense about that, but unless I need to pull out big guns, I'm planning on leaving that alone."

"Blimey, mates," Newkirk said, "We're working for a bleeding Brigadier."

"That's the kind of reaction I don't want," said Hogan, "so let's just leave it at Colonel, okay?"

"I will go around and tell the ones that have gotten commissions. Several enlisted are now higher NCO's. Mostly group leaders or project leaders. I'll give you a list to get them together and tell them all at once."

"Right, Colonel, we'll take care of that," replied Kinch.

"Kinch, I was thinking more like 'Sergeant' Anderson could take care of that for you. You guys are going to be busy enough!"

Hogan turned to leave the barracks. "Oh," Hogan continued as he turned to face the men again, "When those army guards return here from Hammelburg, make sure they have an appropriate welcome." He turned again and left the barracks.

"Blimey," Newkirk said, "we're ruddy officers. If only my Da could see me now!"

"Yeah, hey, I outrank my cousin – he was only a lieutenant!" Carter added.

"And I am the first officer of all the LeBeau's."

"What it means guys," Kinch said, "is we have a lot more work to do."

###

Hogan made the rounds to several of his various leaders to tell them about the promotions personally. He spent more time with the now Captain Joe Wilson, who reported the men were responding very well. The only reason to keep some in the infirmary now was lack of space. Hogan assured him that was about to change.

There was a constant stream of wood being carried into the camp now. Hogan was able to freely walk through the gates, though he took a "guard" with him, just for show. The work was progressing at a fast pace, even the Lumberman was impressed by the energy shown by the prisoners. If only he knew, thought the Colonel.

###

Hogan crossed the compound again, this time heading for the Kommandant's office. He found Hilda sitting at her desk, Schultz at his small desk across the room.

Hilda looked upset, "Colonel Hogan, why haven't you been by?"

"I'm really sorry, Hilda honey, but right now we have been very busy. You know I'll make it up to you."

What only the two of them knew is that all the surviving members of Hilda's family were in route to Stalag 13. They didn't know it yet, but they were going to get to stay here as guests, avoiding the worst of the war to come. That effectively bought Hilda's cooperation.

"Is the Kommandant in?" Hogan asked.

"Yes, Colonel Hogan," Hilda purred.

"You might want to come hear this too, Schultzy."

"Yes, Herr Kommandant – I mean, Colonel Hogan."

Hogan knocked on Colonel Klink's door, waited a moment, heard "Yes, come in," from the other side, and led Schultz into the room. One of Hendershot's men was playing a game of chess with Colonel Klink.

"It doesn't look like you're winning, Kommandant," Hogan quipped.

"Yes, Hogan," Klink replied, looking up from the chess board, "It seems being out maneuvered is something I am getting good at."

"Or maybe he is just better than either of us."

"Really, I wonder how long I've been being out-maneuvered? How long have you been pulling strings behind my back?"

"Colonel Klink," Hogan replied, "I would be happy to sit down and talk to you about this, but I really can't talk right now. Imagine this is you, Heinkel, right now I'm busy with take-off, after we get up to altitude, I can put on the auto-pilot and we can talk."

Hogan paced back and forth. "To continue on with the same analogy, I've gotten the big plane up in the air, but there's more to do. I have to retract the wheels, adjust the flaps, set the trim. Well, that's about to happen here. Any minute now, General Burkhalter is going to come through the gate."

At the mention of General Burkhalter, Klink shot up, oversetting the chess board. "General Burkhalter is coming here?"

"We had to have him come here, as long as he is in charge of the Prisoner of War camps, he was going to be vital to our plans. Don't worry, we have it arranged so that there won't be any problem."

"But the General…"

"Has shown us several times that he is out for number one." Hogan saw a look of confusion on Klink's face. "Sorry, American idiom for 'out for himself.'"

Schultz said from behind Hogan, "Prisoners taking prisoners, that is not nice, Colonel Hogan."

"Hey, if you can have prisoners, it's only fair we can too," Hogan replied.

The phone rang on Klink's desk. Klink looked at Hogan, who said, "It's still your office, Kommandant."

Kling walked across the room and picked up the phone. "Colonel Klink speaking. Yes. Yes. Thank you."

Klink placed the phone back on the receiver and sat down behind his desk. "General Burkhalter has come through the gate."

No one said anything more until the overly large General came through the door. "Klink, you fool! I was at a meeting with the general staff! What sort of emergency do you have? Everything looks ordinary now!"

Klink looked over to Hogan, started to say something, then slumped down in his chair.

Hogan spoke for him. "General Burkhalter. As of early this morning, Stalag 13 has been under Allied control. The Guards are Allied, the Germans are now under guard. Thank you for coming so promptly to add yourself to that list." As he had begun speaking, two Americans entered the room, each with a gun drawn on the General.

The General drew himself up to bluster, but instead reached down for the phone. It had no tone, and no operator. He clicked the cradle several times, but it made no difference. "What do you think you're doing? Klink! What is the meaning of this?"

Klink looked like he might slide under his desk.

"It's simple, General," Hogan said for him, "Colonel Klink used to tell all the new arrivals here that their war was over. For you there is a small difference. You are going to be very helpful in our arrangements."

"And if I refuse?"

"General, you are one of the few that really know how the war is going. What is going to happen to you once the war is over, have you thought that through? What was your plan, Sweden or Switzerland? What if you were captured? Well, you were. I'm going to give you a chance to make your sins go away. You think about what happens if they don't."

Burkhalter was quiet for only a second, "All right Colonel Hogan. I see. And it was Switzerland."

"Good choice, you just earned an improvement up from the cooler to a better accommodation. I apologize if they are not up to your usual standard, but we are a little cramped at the moment. One of the gentlemen behind you will see you to your new home."

As Burkhalter was lead out of the office, Hogan turned back to Klink. "Kommandant, we've gotten the wheels up and we are on our way." Before Klink could respond, Hogan was out the door.

(1) The Taxi Driver, the waitress, or the baker.

(2) "no problem", the guys can't help to have not learned some French by now.