With a total of five prisoner of war camps under his control, Hogan now had a large amount of men and area to control. Getting everyone healthy was the first priority. Regular runs of food and other supplies were brought in from the countryside. Medicines were dropped from London, and then transported to the camps. Hendershot and Green were finally in their element, teaching others basic German and the simple basics of staying alive while impersonating someone else.
As long as they had Burkhalter under their control, the camps were a small risk. They could now force the German General to write almost any order, but only ones that would affect his command area.
The Germans had another command structure in the area, one that the General had always shown complete deference to: The Gestapo. Given enough time, even their routine investigations would possibly compromise Hogan's elaborate plans.
Toward that end, Hogan met with Burkhalter to discuss the Gestapo Major that followed Stalag 13 so closely.
"General," Hogan began, "the biggest risk we have now is the Gestapo poking around."
"I have thought of that myself, Hogan. We are all dead men if they find out," Burkhalter replied. "I will be seen as a collaborator, no matter how much I was threatened. I would not have even had a trial. Major Hochstetter would love very little more than being able to arrest both Klink and myself."
"The best way I can think of avoiding that is to discredit Hochstetter and take over the headquarters."
"And how do you plan to discredit the Major?" the General asked.
"The one thing he has been after is Papa Bear. I know it is one person he would like to arrest even more than you, General. It seems only fair that it is proven that he has been Papa Bear all along."
Burkhalter snorted out a laugh. "Hogan, that is funny. Papa Bear convinces everyone that the one man who is sure he is the notorious saboteur, is actually the spy! No wonder we never caught you! Hochstetter was the only one who thought that a prisoner of war could be a spy. Of course, no one believed him. Only now do I understand how you may single-handedly have won the war for the Allies."
"Not by myself, General. I have lots of great help."
"I have had a lot of time to contemplate the things that have gone on around Stalag 13. Besides the obvious sabotage, there have been more disappearances, defections, and failed plans than anywhere else in Germany. I have watched you perform over the last week, Hogan. I realize how well you had us all under your spell. I cannot even blame that idiot Klink, because I was taken in also."
"Actually, General, Colonel Klink is anything but an idiot. He had to walk a fine line between what he knew would be a death sentence at the Russian Front, and providing a humane environment for his prisoners. If he made too big of a wave, it would all come crashing back in on him. One of the advantages I had was the willingness you all had to blame someone else. You all knew what would happen if you got the blame. The German hierarchy does not allow failure. So, everyone was willing to look the other way as long as someone else got the blame."
"So now you are going to see that Hochstetter gets the blame?"
"I owe him at least that much, for all the fun discussions we have had in dark rooms."
"Why not just have him killed? Wouldn't that be easier?"
"Not really," Hogan replied, "Besides an investigation, there is a replacement, whose first job will be to go through all his files. Better to discredit him, and by extension, the entire Hammelburg unit. Then it is easier to reassign the whole unit during the confusion."
"Impressive, Colonel Hogan. I wonder what would have happened to Germany if you were born a German instead of American?"
"Simple, General, your Hitler would never have come to power. Now, however we have a more immediate concern. I need you to contact Hochstetter, and have him meet you here. Tell him you have a lead on Papa Bear. Tell him to keep it quiet, to just meet with you."
"Ahh, I see," said Burkhalter, "you really should have been a General, Hogan. You have a gift for planning."
"Me, a General," Hogan laughed, "hard to make General when you're stuck behind enemy lines. I will have one of my men help you with the call. Thank you for your assistance, General."
"Like you said Hogan – if I don't help, we are all dead men."
###
Hogan stopped over at the Kommandant's office to see Klink. "Kommandant, we should be having a visit from Major Hochstetter this afternoon."
"The Gestapo! But, Hogan, won't he discover what you've done?"
"No, Colonel. He is only going to discover what we want him to. And it should be the last time we will have to worry about your friendly Gestapo around here." With that, Hogan saluted Klink, and once again headed out to the compound.
###
Hogan saw Schultz in Barracks 2 and gave him the same message. Schultz had found a new home guarding the prisoners of Barracks 2. He had assigned himself to the protection of the men, just to make sure nothing went wrong. Of course, the main reason was that he was always present to sample LeBeau's food. With so many of them barracks men out on missions, LeBeau's cooking for 15 men just about broke even with the ever-present Schultz. It made for some complaints from LeBeau, but the advantage of Schultz being nearby and willing to report on anything the German prisoners were doing offset any problems.
Newkirk followed the Colonel into the barracks. Hogan turned to him, "All set with Burkhalter?" Hogan asked.
"Right as rain," Newkirk replied, "he actually managed to sound devious. Hochstetter sounded like he couldn't wait to get here."
"Good. As soon as he arrives, get his driver set up in one of the coolers. Have some men ready at the office for after our reveal. He can cool off in the cooler for a while too. Tonight, we take him out for the factory job. Newkirk, you and Olsen will have security on him," Hogan turned toward Kinch, "Kinch, you take the pictures. Remember, the only facials are on Hochstetter."
Carter asked, "Colonel, how come we never blew up that factory before?"
"Simple logistics, Carter. This is Zweiten heim, and we hadn't worked all the way down to 'z' yet." (1)
"Besides, Andrew," Kinch added, "they only make prefabricated offices. They were a construction company before the war."
"Such hanky panky," Schultz said, "It's very bad for you to do such things."
Hogan smiled to Schultz, "Don't worry Schultz, if everything goes right, this may be the last thing we blow up."
Carter looked crestfallen.
"Don't worry though Carter," Hogan added, "we'll always have to be ready, just in case!"
Carter beamed.
###
Major Hochstetter arrived early that afternoon. The driver was taken into custody as soon as the Major was out of sight and the Major himself was relieved of his weapon as soon as he entered Klink's office.
"What is this?!" Hochstetter yelled, "I will have you all in front of a firing squad! Klink, explain yourself!"
"I'm very sorry, Major Hochstetter, but Colonel Hogan is in charge of the camp," Klink replied.
"Bah! Prisoners do not take over prison camps! I will have all the prisoners executed for this. General Burkhalter, are you aware of what this idiot Klink is saying?!"
"I'm afraid the Kommandant is right for once, Major; Colonel Hogan and his men have taken over the Stalag," Burkhalter replied.
Hochstetter turned toward Hogan. "I will have you shot for this, Hogan. This is all the proof I need. You aren't playing the innocent prisoner anymore, are you?"
Hogan smiled back at the Major, "That's the kind of attitude that keeps the Gestapo from winning a Nobel Peace prize."
"Bah, I will have this camp surrounded with a ring of steel." Hochstetter moved toward the phone. Looking around quickly, he picked up the received and clicked the cradle twice. "Ja, Ja, get me the Hammelburg Gestapo Headquarters." He turned towards Hogan. "You will see, Hogan, in a few minutes I will have my entire garrison here." He turned back to the phone as a voice came on. "Was? Nein! I don't want a pizza! Who is this? I will have you arrested!" The phone went dead. Major Hochstetter stood staring at the phone like a fool.
"Sorry, Major," Hogan said, "all incoming and outgoing phone calls are going through my switchboard. I'm afraid you're not going to be calling anyone." Hogan walked over to the door, and opened it. Outside were four of his men, all holding automatic weapons. "It seems these men want to take you to our cooler, so you can enjoy some of our hospitality."
"I will refuse – I am a loyal Gestapo officer."
Two of the men raised their weapons to train them on the Major.
"But, under the circumstances, I do have some free time," Hochstetter said. He was quickly escorted out the door.
Hogan turned to the two German officers. "That was one of the last potential local problems, and one of my favorites to clean up. If all goes well tonight, the Gestapo should be gone from Hammelburg by the end of the week."
Klink asked, "Hogan, how do you plan on getting an entire garrison to be moved?"
"We will have proof tonight of Hochstetter's involvement as Papa Bear. When that gets passed on to Berlin, via the General, along with Hochstetter's disappearance, the entire garrison will be thrown into suspicion. It will be easy then to have the garrison receive new orders and be disbanded. They will be far enough apart so they won't talk about it, and the truth will never be known except by the people here."
Hogan continued, "I want you both to know that I am planning this with the least amount of violence. We have had enough loss of life already. Even though our good friend Hochstetter would gladly have us all shot, even he will not be treated badly. I am going to try to covertly run this part of Germany. We will defend it if we must, but we will limit what we damage we do now, if only to limit suspicion." With that, Hogan turned and walked out of the office.
That left Klink and Burkhalter alone for the first time.
Klink stared hopelessly at the General, fully expecting a verbal rebuke. Finally, he said, "General, you know that I am a loyal German officer and would never have given up my command, it's just that I… well, I didn't know." Klink hung his head in shame.
Burkhalter was quiet for quite a while. Finally, he responded, "Klink, you are a fool. But no more than I am. I have had the opportunity to see the plans that Hogan has, if only because he deems me important to them. I have also had the chance to mentally review the past two years and the strange happenings around Stalag 13. We have been outmaneuvered by a genius. At every turn he has an answer, or got us to do his bidding. I sent him to steal a P-51, the biggest spy in Germany! Is it no wonder that our spy network in England collapsed right after that? This area had the most sabotage in all of Germany! We had missiles destroyed, scientists defect, and every secret that could be stolen, delivered to England, and all by Hogan."
Burkhalter stood and went to Klink's supply of Schnapps. Pouring a glass, he sat back down.
"Major Hochstetter is the only one who believed that Hogan was dangerous, and we all laughed at him. How could a POW be a spy? It was ridiculous. No one outside this camp has any idea what is going on. Soon, Hogan will be strong enough to fend off any local military problems. We don't have the forces available to send to southern Germany. Everything is committed to the fronts. Hogan will have effectively taken a third of Germany without hardly a shot fired." The General got up for another shot of schnapps. "As much as I may have said you were a fool, we have all been played the fool."
###
Later that night, a group of eight 'Gestapo' men left Stalag 13 in one of the trucks. They had four people just to keep Hochstetter under control. Newkirk and Olsen had driven the truck to the front of the factory. They had Hochstetter sandwiched between them. Newkirk made sure that the single guard on duty recognized the Major. Being a non-munition producing factory, it was not operating with three shifts a day.
Carter and Anderson were responsible for planting the explosives. Meanwhile, Kinch was taking photographs of Hochstetter around the entrance to the factory. He was able to get the backs of the other men, in Gestapo uniforms, carrying explosives into the factory.
The entire operation took less than ten minutes. They were loaded back up and drove out to where the guard was standing. Once again, Newkirk chatted with the guard and made sure he recognized the Major. Then they were off and headed back to Stalag 13. Twenty-five minutes later, a series of explosions brought an end to another factory. This one produced no casualties.
###
The following afternoon, Hogan entered the cooler and went up to Hochstetter's cell. "Well, Major, you'll be happy to know that you have been identified as a saboteur and you are currently wanted as the spy Papa Bear. Information was planted in your home, as well as a wireless with settings for England. Most of the Hammelburg garrison have been arrested. The others will be receiving orders for areas around Germany shortly. As of this moment, you are the most wanted man in Germany!" Hogan finished with a smile.
"Bah! No one will believe this! I have dedicated superiors in Berlin. You will see, Hogan!"
"The order for your execution came from Himmler himself," replied Hogan.
"I am a dead man," said a suddenly dejected Hochstetter.
"Well, don't worry, I won't keep you in the cooler long. We will move you as soon as we can." With that, Hogan turned and left the cooler. Hopefully, that would be the last time Hogan would ever have to see that man again.
(1) Zweiten heim means Second Home, I am guessing that might have been a good name for a construction company.