Operation: Stalag 13
A/n: I don't own or claim to own any of the Hogan's Heroes Characters
Chapter 4
"According to the map Hilda gave us the other day, the railway line is two and a half miles from camp. Now we will need at least an hour to get there and back. Carter how long would it take to set the charges along the track?"
Hogan and his men were sitting around the desk in His room going through the last details of the upcoming mission. They were going out that night and he wanted everyone to be prepared. That meant going over everything, no matter how many times, until everyone was comfortable with what they had to do.
"Roughly half an hour sir; shouldn't take any longer unless we get interrupted."
"Okay, Have we got everything we're going to need to blow this thing?"
"Sure do boy…Uh I mean sir." Carter said enthusiastically. "We've got more than enough; in fact we have enough to blow at least 3 trains, maybe more."
"Let's just start with this one for now, okay Carter?"
"Right sir, sorry"
"Alright we've done all we can for now, so I want you all to get as much rest as you can, we all have to be alert for this one. We leave after Schultz's nightly bed check."
Lebeau, Carter, Kinch and Newkirk were waiting for Hogan by the ladder leading to the exit of the emergency tunnel. They were putting shoe polish on their faces, to make them slightly less visible in the dark. When they heard Hogan coming down the tunnel, they looked around and LeBeau handed him the polish.
"Everything ready to go?" He asked them. Carter was the first to jump in, enthusiastically.
"Yes sir, all we need to do is lay the charges along the track; connect them to the cable, and when the timers go off KABOOM!!!!! There's not gonna be anything left of the train…"
"Alright Carter, I think we all get the picture." He tried to hide the smile appearing on his face, but he couldn't.
"Colonel, I just have one question about tonight. What happens if Schultz, or Klink for that matter, decides to do a surprise bed check like last week?" Kinch asked from behind Hogan.
"Not gonna happen Kinch, I dropped a couple sleeping pills into his cocoa. He should sleep for hours. If not, I locked the barracks door, just in case." He looked at his men and added, "Well I know we're in the middle of a war here, but come on, we can have some privacy can't we? And if all else fails we have the guys from barrack 3 covering us."
Hogan climbed up the ladder, carefully opening the trap door. He climbed out and quickly shut it again, hiding behind another tree stump just in front of the opening. Seconds later the Searchlights, from the guard towers inside the fence, swept past him. Once it had past he opened the tunnel again and helped Carter and Newkirk out. After another sweep from the lights, Kinch followed with LeBeau.
They headed through the woods keeping as close as possible to the road without being seen. They spotted three patrols on their way but easily avoided any trouble with them. When they were close enough to the tracks they stopped to make sure they didn't have any company.
"Okay Carter, you know what to do. Set the explosives to go off in thirty minutes, that should give us enough time to get far enough away before the krauts come looking for us. LeBeau and Kinch, go with him."
"Right colonel"
"Newkirk, I want you to keep watch by the road; If you see anything or anyone heading our way give the signal and we all get back to camp. I'll keep watch and make sure no-one is coming towards us through the woods."
"Right sir." Newkirk said looking behind him at the road. They all quietly got up and went to do what needed to be done.
"Here Kinch, you take this" Carter said handing over the cable and the bag of explosives they had with them. "I need you to set the timers for thirty minutes while me and LeBeau lay the cable and explosives along the track."
"Why do I have to help set the explosives? Kinch is the one who is good with wiring."
"Come on LeBeau, this is the best part." Carter smiled at the look on their faces.
LeBeau muttered something in French that they couldn't understand. LeBeau handed Kinch the timers and started to help Carter
// Come on mates, hurry it up a little // Newkirk thought to himself from his hiding spot. He could easily see both the road and the tracks where Kinch, Carter and Lebeau were setting the charges. // I hope this works, if not we're all in trouble. Especially colonel Hogan. //
He had been worried about this assignment London had given them from the moment he heard it. He didn't let it show of course, but it didn't stop him from worrying. He glanced over at the tracks again to see LeBeau and Kinch heading back towards Hogan and Carter double checking some of the wiring before he himself followed them.
"All set boy…umm...I mean sir" Carter smiled happily at the job they had just done. "In exactly thirty minutes, boom!! There's not gonna be anything left of that train."
"Alright Carter, let's just get back to camp fast. Before we're missed"
They headed back to camp the way they had come. They stopped twice on the way because Hogan saw two patrols going past up ahead. They were almost back at the camp when they found themselves facing three men pointing guns at them. Hogan reached for his gun but stopped as one of the men took a step closer and aimed his own gun straight towards him.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The one closest to Hogan said told him. He sounded like an American and now Hogan got a better look at the man, he saw that he was also wearing an American air force uniform.
"Why don't you point that thing somewhere else?" Hogan said, deciding to trust his instincts and hoping that he was right in thinking that they were American and it wasn't a trap.
"Your Americans?"
"Three of us are" Hogan pointed to Kinch and Carter behind him, then at Nekirk and LeBeau. "The other two are English and French. If you guys are Americans as well, then we are on the same side."
The three men lowered their guns after a moment, deciding to trust what they were being told.
"We just escaped from Stalag 9 about three hours ago, and we've been on the run ever since. Are you members of the underground?"
"Sort of; we can help you get back to London. If you trust us that is."
"Alright we'll trust you. Lead the way." One of them said after a minute or two.
"What is this? You said you were underground members." One of the men said quietly after seeing that they were heading straight towards Stalag 13.
"Shhh!! Keep it down will you. I'll explain everything as soon as we are inside." Hogan whispered, opening the tunnel entrance as he spoke.
Newkirk headed down into the tunnel first, then the escaped POW's from stalag 9 followed. Hogan shut the opening quickly and the rest took cover as the light from the guard tower swept past them. Then quickly and quietly the others followed. Hogan climbed in last making sure they weren't seen.
"All okay down here Colonel." Newkirk said coming up to Hogan after checking the tunnel had not been found by anyone.
"Thanks Newkirk." Hogan said turning towards the Englishman and throwing a spare towel at him so he could get the polish off his face. He led everyone though to the main area of the tunnel where they had the radio set up. "Carter, how long 'til the track blows?"
"Any minute now, we should be able to hear it from here." Carter checked his watch
"Okay I want all of you upstairs as quick as possible, I don't think there will be a bed check but if there is I want all of us to be seen." Hogan had already begun to head for the ladder. There was a sudden explosion and some loose dirt fell from the roof of the tunnel.
"What the hell was that?" One of the men shouted as he got to his feet again.
"Just the munitions train that was heading towards the Russian front." Hogan said told him casually, like it was no big surprise. "We'll explain everything when we get back, stay here and whatever you do, don't leave this tunnel, we'll be back as soon as we can."
The sound of an explosion nearby had woken Klink and he sat bolt upright in his bed. For a second he didn't realise what had happened, but when he got up and looked out the window, he saw smoke coming from somewhere near the rail line.
"Schultz!!!" Klink called as he threw his uniform on as fast as he could. "Schultz get in here!!"
"Jawhol herr kommandant?" Schultz came rushing in the door to Klink's quarters.
"I want an immediate roll call, wake the prisoners and have them in formation in five minutes."
Hogan glanced out the window just in time to see Schultz heading straight towards them. He unlocked the door, looked around to make sure everyone was in bed pretending to be asleep, then headed straight for his quarters and shut the door just as the door to the barracks opened. // That was way to close. //
He heard Schultz come in through the door and seconds later the men all started complaining about him turning the lights on and waking them up when it wasn't even time for morning roll call. // Here goes nothing. // He opened the door and walked out into the other room.
"Roll call, everybody up, Raus!!" Schultz called as he tried to get everyone up and outside for the roll call.
"Come on Schultz, its not even 5:30 yet, what's goin' on?" Newkirk grumbled climbing off the top bunk where he slept.
"Kommandant Klink ordered a surprise roll call." Schultz replied.
"What for Schultz, we're all here. It's not like any of us escaped during the night." Hogan asked as he walked out of his room pulling on his jacket. Schultz stopped for a moment to think about what Hogan had said.
Newkirk took the opportunity and started to argue with the sergeant. "Yeah come on Schultzie, what's the big idea of waking us up almost two 'ours earlier than usual, eh? Don't you know 'ow cold it is out there of a night time?"
"Don't blame me Newkirk; I did not give the order. I don't like it any more than you do, but it is still an order so please, don't give me any trouble."
Newkirk was about to say something else but Hogan stopped him before he went too far. "Okay, okay, Fellas, let's break it up huh? I don't want to have to separate you two again, it's just not fair on the other guys here" //Oh man are you gonna pay for that comment later. // He thought immediately after he saw the look Newkirk gave him from across the room.
Everyone but Shultz and Newkirk laughed at the comment Hogan made and started heading outside to line up for Klink's roll call.