The following morning found a flow of furious activity in Stalag 13. Literally hundreds of prisoners were headed outside to work with the lumbermill. Meanwhile, preparations were being completed to start the actual construction of Big Hut One, later that day. In another part of camp, 60 prisoners, all dressed up as Germans, were loading the first trucks to go to Stalag 3.
The plan was simple – General Burkhalter had signed an order replacing the guards at Stalag 3 and directed them to Stalag 13. The guards being replaced would now become guests at Stalag 13 while Hogan's men took over the day-to-day activities of Stalag 3. That gave them time to review the records, looking for moles in the camp, that might have reported to the Germans. Also, Doc Easley and his staff would review the prisoners for medical issues. What they needed to desperately avoid was a spread of communicable diseases from camp to camp. Typhoid, dysentery, and even the flu, could cause havoc among the camps.
New commissioned Captain Martin was in charge of the first team to go. His job, like those that followed him, was to bring the leadership at the camp slowly up to speed on what was occurring and obtain their support for further growth. If only want camp decided to go rogue, it could spell doom for all of them.
Meanwhile, Stalag 13 was undergoing drastic changes. Men were rotating between barracks to fill in the spaces left by those departing and make room for the German guards that were arriving. The first Big Hut would be utilized by the Germans when it was completed, but that was some time off.
The biggest issue they had at this point was trucks, or more specifically, the lack of them. They had a total of seven trucks and two staff cars available for the plan. While that was enough for any one move, it limited them to one transfer at a time. With each takeover, they would increase their available resources.
###
Doctor Easley and a medic arrived at Stalag 3 one hour after the transfer had been completed. His medic recognized the new guards, who passed them through the gates. The doctor was driven to the Kommandant's office, where the doctor found Captain Martin engaged in a lively discussion with the senior POW.
"But I protest, Kommandant. The wholesale replacement of the guards is difficult on the routine of the camp."
"It is a directive from General Burkhalter, there is nothing to be done about it," replied Captain Martin, acting as the 'new Kommandant.'
Easley was amazed – the Captain spoke English with a German accent!
"Ah," continued the new Kommandant, "Here is our Doctor. He is here to review our records and determine what medical needs the prisoners might have." Turning to the doctor he said, "Herr Doctor, this is Captain Palmer, the senior prisoner of war here. I'm sure he will answer all your questions."
The doctor turned to the senior prisoner, "Captain, I have a limited amount of captured medical supplies, that we are able to provide to you. I need to know any and all problems that you may be having with the population here, so we can provide treatment."
Captain Palmer looked from the Kommandant to the Doctor. "We have had little in supplies; most of our problems are related to malnourishment. I don't suppose you can do anything about that?"
"Actually, Captain," Martin interrupted, "we are going to do something about that. Even as we speak, I have men buying local supplies to bring into camp. I will ensure your men are taken care of. The doctor is here to review medical records. You see, Captain, our arrival here is very good news for you. You really can't even imagine it yet."
"I'll believe it when I see it," replied the Captain.
Two hours later, the doctor and the medic had reviewed the records and assessed the few men in the infirmary. Besides the malnutrition, there was not any serious conditions. Also, the first local truck bringing a load of supplies, arrived at the stalag. This one had potatoes and turnips. A truck load of bread arrived shortly after that.
Captain Palmer was called again into the Kommandant's office. By that time the doctor had departed to go to the next camp. Captain Martin, the 'Kommandant,' directed him to a chair.
"Captain Palmer, are you aware of the name Papa Bear?" the Kommandant asked.
"Can't say that I am, outside of a fairy tale," came the reply.
"Well, Papa Bear is not a fairy tale. Captain, this is going to be hard to believe." Captain Martin dropped his German accent. "My real name is Captain Martin, US of A. I am officially a prisoner in Stalag 13. With Papa Bear's help, we have taken over that camp and have now taken over this camp."
"We're liberated?" asked Captain Palmer.
"Not entirely," responded Captain Martin. "We're still behind enemy lines with no direct access at this point to allied forces. That will change. What we are is a growing force of Allied men in one of the only areas not under attack by Allied forces. Papa Bear's plans are to hold this area to prevent additional support from going to the fronts and prevent people from using this path to hide in Switzerland."
"Yeah, right," replied Palmer, his tone dripping with skepticism. "That's a bigger fairy tale than Papa Bear!"
"We figured you might say that. So, we have arranged a way that you might believe us. Come with me." With that Captain Martin escorted Captain Palmer to another room, where radio equipment had been set up. The man at the radio nodded as Captain Martin entered the room. Martin turned to Palmer, "Your sister is a Lieutenant with General Thompson's staff in London, correct? Never mind, don't answer." Martin reached for the microphone, "Baby Bear calling Mama Bear, do you read me, Mama Bear?"
"We read you, Baby Bear," came the reply out of the speaker.
"Mama Bear, I have that visitor in my house that needs to know what Mama Bear wishes."
"One moment, Baby Bear." Just a few seconds later, a new voice was heard on the radio. "Baby Bear, this is Little Bo Peep. I was asked to talk to you to confirm that what you're being told is true and to conform to Papa Bear's and Mama Bear's wishes. Little Bo Peep wants to see her lost sheep soon!" The first voice came back on the radio, "Mama Bear out."
Martin had been watching Palmer during the radio call. The color drained out of the Captain's face as he recognized the voice.
"That was Suzie," blurted out Captain Palmer. "How did you do that?"
"Like I've told you," Martin answered, "Papa Bear has plans for this part of Germany. This is all Above Top Secret and you will be very careful with what I am telling you. Some of your men will be a part of a greater operation to secure this part of Germany. Papa Bear is under the belief that it was very nice of the Germans to transport so many Allied soldiers to the area he wants. If you count up all the men in prisoner of war camps in this part of Germany, we greatly outnumber the number of German military. Why not take advantage of that?"
"But we have no weapons, and hardly any of my men are combat ready," Palmer said.
"We understand. We have men coming to evaluate who in your command can be of assistance. As for the weapons, all I can say is, Papa Bear will provide. We are not going to take an active fight, we are going to act through subterfuge and misdirection to confuse and confound the enemy. It's like how we took over this camp – every German out there is an Allied soldier. Your guards are transferred out and ours in. It's that simple. I meant it when I said we were going to take good care of you. We need you and your men for our plans."
"So, are we going to escape?" asked Palmer.
"Quite the opposite," replied Martin, "we have started a fall of domino's all across this part of Germany. Some of your men will continue that, once we get them up to speed. They will be assisting us further spreading our influence. With luck, no one outside of a few select people will ever know that Southern Germany has fallen to the Allies, without a shot."
"That sounds fantastic, impossible and totally unbelievable. If you hadn't managed to have my sister on the other end of that radio, I would never have believed you. But, you did, so I do, sort of. What do you need?"
Martin took a deep breath, "As I said, we have some experts coming in to evaluate you men. We are looking for fluent German speakers, and others we can use to help with our special projects. Papa Bear has been instrumental in stopping the flow of war time material out of southern Germany for quite a while. Now we will be looking to keep that material here while stopping the flow of people into the area."
"Papa Bear's grand goal is to unite all the Allied prisoners in the area into a large force that can be used without the rest of Germany getting wind of it. That's why the guards are in German uniforms. To all outward appearance, the Luftwaffe is still running this camp. That will be the same everywhere we go. Thus, the reason for needing German speakers, the outward face of our takeover."
Palmer sat there with his mouth hanging open, finally he said, "It's a plan worthy of what I have heard of Papa Bear. Although up until this point, I wasn't really sure he exists. Why not just ship us back to England?"
Martin laughed, "We are still a hundred miles behind the lines you know! We can't just dial up the auto club! Besides, as both sides work toward Berlin, this area should be untouched. More and more equipment and personnel are being sent north every day to bolster the German lines. You may not have heard this yet, but the western front has entered into Germany proper. With the Russians attacking from the East and the Americans and Brits attacking from the West, it won't be long now."
Palmer sat there shaking his head, "But's there's no way my men can be of any use. Most are malnourished to some degree, weak – they couldn't walk a mile let alone tote a gun."
"We're not asking them to," Martin replied. "We are going to get your men healthy. That's the first job. Then we will get some of them trained for outside work. But that's down the road. Your men, however, will not be 'liberated.' They will have freed themselves to be an active participant again. They will be heroes!"
Martin continued, "Obviously, this is beyond top secret. We are not yet in a really secure or defensible position. Give us two months. I will be working with you directly to begin with. As you and our team identify other people, we will tell them only what they need to know and definitely not as much as I've told you today. In the meantime, your men will be getting more food, and we will start to get them in better shape. Are we understood?"
Palmer stood and saluted, "Sir, yes Sir!"
"Good," Martin said, "start working on a list of people we can slowly bring into the group, your best German speakers, and people with a covert past. Papa Bear has plans for your people, Captain!"
###
The same routine occurred at the two other stalags. The oflag was more difficult because it was full of officers instead of enlisted. Toward that end, Newkirk and LeBeau had been dispatched to convey the information. It also involved a longer communication over the radio with former commanders and members of the General Staff. One thing the officers didn't like was that Papa Bear was put in charge of everything, and his men were to be obeyed, regardless of rank. The order had come down hard enough, and from high enough, that there was really no possibility of refusal.
The men in the oflag were in better shape, and would be of more help in the short term. By the time Newkirk and LeBeau left the next day, they had a long list of volunteers to add to their program.
Each of the three stalags had almost two thousand men. The oflag had about sixteen hundred officers and enlisted. Some of the officers there were allowed enlisted to operate as staff. So, by the end of the second day of the takeover, Papa Bear was in charge of almost ten thousand men. And outside of Stalag 13, only a total of four men in Germany knew what was going on.
Four sets of German guards were brought into Stalag 13. They, to their great surprise, became prisoners themselves. It only added to the confusion when they saw that General Burkhalter, whom they had all seen during their times as guards, was a prisoner with them.
Potential trouble was averted when the Germans were provided warm clothing and warm food. They were informed that they would be well cared for and that while they were being held, there would be no reprisals of any kind. They were, similar to the Stalag 13 guards, old men and young boys, who would have fared well in combat. Although the accommodations were somewhat less than they were used to, they were better than being shot or transferred to the Russian Front.
One barracks contained General Burkhalter and the officers from the camps, while the enlisted were spread out in other available barracks.
It was three days later when Burkhalter finally had a chance to talk to Colonel Hogan. Hogan had been doing walk-throughs of all the barracks, German and Allied.
"Hogan," the General started, "why are you doing all this?"
Hogan stopped what he was doing and looked at the General. "It was important to me to safeguard the lives of the prisoners, as many as I could." Hogan looked at him directly in the eyes. "General, you know what has gone on in the concentration camps. What is to stop Hitler from ordering the same thing done to the POW's? Would you have argued against it? How many would have died?"
Burkhalter could not maintain the gaze of Hogan's eyes, they seemed to challenge his very existence. He had to look away, "I would like to tell you I would have fought it, but to argue would have been death. And, yes, I could see the day when that order might be given. You know I had nothing to do with the concentration camps, don't you?" There appeared to be shame in the General's voice.
Hogan replied, with disdain, "Yes, and is the only thing keeping you out of the cooler, or worse. Hopefully, some of your other officers will try to use this route and we will be able to find those that are responsible."
"But Hogan, you can't succeed. Having enemy troops in this area will be noticed."
"Hopefully not, General, all our lives depend upon out charade working. What happens to you if we are found out? If I were you, I would wish us success – it may be the only thing keeping you alive." Hogan turned to leave.
"One more question – why isn't Klink in here with us?"
"Oh, he is just as much a prisoner as you, but since he is the face of Stalag 13, we must keep up appearances." Hogan turned back and walked out the door.