Operation: Stalag 13

A/n: I don't own or claim to own any of the Hogan's Heroes Characters.

Chapter 3

LeBeau had been told about the tunnel under the camp and the sabotage and intelligence operation that Hogan had started. He didn't hesitate in accepting the offer to join them and readily agreed to the no-escape rule that Hogan had put in place to help protect the operation.

Newkirk, LeBeau, Forster, Olsen and Kinch had just past the halfway point on the tunnel that would eventually lead to Klink's office (It branched off from the emergency tunnel.) They were heading back towards the ladder leading into the barracks when they heard Hogan calling out.

"Fellas, Get up here quick, I need to talk to you"

"What's the matter colonel?" Olsen asked as he led the way up the ladder.

"Klink's getting suspicious. I was just in his office and he warned me not to try anything foolish like escaping"

"Why would he get suspicious, I mean, it's not like we've been acting out of the ordinary around 'im."

"That's why he's suspicious." Hogan said. "Apparently we've been to careful around him. We might have to fake an escape just so he backs off a little. Now I'm not going to order anyone to do this because there's a good chance that who ever goes out will get at least three weeks in the cooler."

"I'll go guv'nor."

"Oui colonel, so will I."

"…Elf, zwölf, dreiz…" Schultz stopped in the middle of his count when he came across LeBeau's usual spot in formation. "W-W-Where is LeBeau?" He stammered.

"Repooooort!!" came Klink's voice from behind Schultz.

Schultz tried to answer but the words did not come out. He started to panic because at that moment he chose to look over to where Hogan and Newkirk usually stood, hoping that they would have an answer. They weren't there either.

"Schultz, dumkopf, I said 'Report'" Klink said to him impatiently.

"I beg to report herr kommandant, th-that three prisoners are m-missing"

Klink looked towards the formation, realised who was missing and that Schultz didn't miss-count, then started yelling out orders for a search party.

Schultz walked along the edge of the woods outside the camp, hoping that he wouldn't get sent to the Russian Front for allowing prisoners to escape on his watch. He walked past a large bush when three men jumped out from behind it, raising their hands as they stood.

"Okay Schultz we give up."

"Yeah mate don't shoot, it's just us."

"Oui, we will come back to camp with out any problems."

Schultz lowered his gun as he realized who they were. Newkirk stepped towards him and raised the gun and pointed it towards them again.

"Ya know Schultz, I'm beginning to wonder how we got caught by you. Your suppose to aim that at us not the ruddy ground." Newkirk raised his eyes and backed up next to Hogan.

"Why would I aim it at you, I am not going to shoot. Please just go back to camp I don't want any more trouble tonight."

"Schultz" Hogan said lowering his hands for a moment. // Do we have to explain everything? How he got to be a sergeant I'll never know… But I suppose it's good for us he is this stupid, or we'd be in real danger of being shot. // "We're escaped prisoners, and you caught us. You have to keep your gun on us or we might get away from you."

Schultz was about to reply when they started yelling at the top of their voices, to draw attention to themselves since it didn't look as though Schultz was going to.

"That was a very stupid thing to do Hogan." Klink said angrily. "I warned you not to try anything foolish and that if you did anyone involved would be punished. Did you not listen to a word I said?"

"Oh I listened Kommandant, but it's just that I was over ruled by the rest of the escape committee. I warned them but they wouldn't listen to me." Newkirk and LeBeau, who were behind Hogan, nodded in agreement.

"I don't care if London had somehow contacted you and over ruled you, it will not excuse your actions. 30 days in the cooler for each of you, and that is final." He added when he saw Hogan was about to argue.

"Colonel" Kinch called as he climbed out of the tunnel. "Radio transmission from London, by the sound of it, they've given us our first assignment." Kinch had finished putting together the radio two weeks ago and they hadn't heard anything from London since they first contacted them to ay the operation was just about up and running.

"About time" Hogan said looking up from the card game he and Newkirk had been playing. Taking the paper Kinch had written the message on, he read the message Kinch had received.

"Okay fellas, looks like our first assignment is a big one." He said looking at each of the in turn. "We have to blow up a munitions train that is heading towards the Eastern Front, two weeks from now. London will send explosives and detonators in two nights at 21:30 hours."

"Shouldn't we start with something a little smaller sir? I thought we would just be helping escaped prisoners from other camps to start off with. Not blowing up trains."

"Well it would be a good start to the operation if we can pull it off" Kinch tried to sound confident.

"Yeah it would be." Hogan sighed. His mind was already working on different plans and possibilities on every outcome. "LeBeau go get the boys from barracks 3 and 5, we might need them for a deversion if we don't make it back in time."

"Oui colonel."

"Newkirk, how long will it take you to get into the armory? Maybe sneak back a few guns and a couple small explosives?"

"Well sir, it'll be hard trying to get past Schultz, you know how watchful he is" Hogan and the others raised their eyebrows at him. "Your right, it'll probably take about 10-15 minutes to get in and out."

"Okay, Kinch, Forster go with him and distract Schultz." They both nodded smiling.

"Hey Schultz, what's up?" Kinch asked. He was walking over, with Forster, to where Schultz was standing. Newkirk was making his way quietly over to the locked door of the armory.

"I am on guard duty and you are not supposed to be anywhere near here. It is verboten" Schultz said glancing around to see if anyone was watching him.

"Kinch I dunno about you but I'm kinda in the mood for a bit of chocolate." Forster pulled two chocolate bars out of his pocket. "You want one?"

"Thanks man, I lost my last bar the other night in a game of poker. I still think Newkirk cheated." He took the chocolate and unwrapped it. Schultz was looking at it enviously.

"Schultz, did you want a piece?" Forster held half his bar to the sergeant. "Here take it, I still have a couple bars left over from last month's red cross packages anyway." Kinch saw Newkirk close the door and give them the thumbs up. He had got everything they needed.

"Alright Schultz, I guess we'd better leave you to it, we don't want to get you into any trouble."

"Thank you boys, you know for being the enemy, you are very nice friends.

They both laughed. "So are you Schultz, so are you."

"There's the plane colonel." Newkirk whispered from his hiding place in the woods a mile from Stalag 13.

"Okay signal them so they know where to make the drop." Hogan ordered as Newkirk used a flashlight to signal their position. They were surprised to see that someone had jumped out of the plane instead of just the parcel they needed.

"Both of you stay here. I'll go check it out" Hogan told Kinch and Newkirk. "If I'm not back in 10 minutes, get back to camp, stay there until it's safe then get yourselves out and back to London."

"OW! Damn it" The American flyer said out loud when he landed in a tree. His parachute was caught and he couldn't get down. He heard a noise in the bushes below him. "Hello?" He called.

Hogan stood up and walked over to the man hanging from the tree. "Who are you? And why are you here?"

"Sergeant Andrew J. Carter, U.S. Air Force."

"Colonel Robert Hogan, what are you doing here? I thought London was only supposed to send the ammo and explosives we need."

"Well sir, these explosives are really dangerous if they're not handled properly. I volunteered to come. I know a lot about this kinda stuff. It's kind of my hobby." He added smiling slightly. "Umm sir, you couldn't hand me that pocket knife could you, it fell out of my pocket when I got caught up here."

Hogan handed Carter the knife and they headed back towards the others who were waiting. He introduced Carter to LeBeau and Newkirk then they all headed back towards camp. They still had a lot to do and he was getting annoyed with London, they had not expected someone to be coming along and it changed his plans considerably.

"So London sent you because you know a lot about explosives?" Kinch asked Carter.

"Yep that's about it" Carter nodded enthusiastically. "General Williams asked me about the kind of explosives you would need to blow up a train and I…"

"Wait a minute. General Williams gave you this assignment?" Hogan asked.

"Yes sir, he overheard me talking some of the guys back home about how I blew up the chemistry lad in college. When he asked me about it, I told him that I studied chemistry and he said that I would probably be real helpful to you and the operation."

"This just keeps getting better and better"

"What are we gonna do guv'nor?"

"Well I guess the first thing is to get him into camp officially so he doesn't have to hide down here twenty four hours a day…Here's how we're gonna do it"