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What's in a Name

Chapter 18

Ups and Downs

March, 1941

Oskar unexpectedly drove into the compound on a windy March morning and headed right for the dog pen. His signal was noticed by a group of prisoners attempting to hang laundry. Unfortunately, an unusually eagle-eyed Schultz also witnessed the unscheduled stop, and he walked over to the van.

"You're not supposed to be here, Schnitzer. Ground's still a bit frozen; doubt there are any tunnels to sniff out." Schultz attempted to see around the veterinarian and peek into the seats in front.

Schnitzer grumbled. "Not here to look for tunnels. One of the dogs is sick." He noticed Maddock coming out of his barracks and walking towards the van.

"I didn't know that. I didn't call you."

Why is this big oaf suspicious all of a sudden? "You didn't, no. But someone else did. Now if you don't mind, I have to go in and check. You may want to step back." Schnitzer looked around, and whispered. "You certainly don't want to be anywhere in this area. Sick dogs can be vicious. Even to friends like you. I hope it's not rabies," he whispered just loud enough for Schultz to hear.

Schultz barely had time to mention that he was definitely not a friend of any of the dogs, but a wary partner. The vet opened the gate, and headed towards the dog house. Schultz quickly backed away.

As Maddock slowly approached, he could hear Schultz warning the other guards to stay away from the pen while the vet worked. But, too many eyes were watching, and Maddock needed a diversion, which fortunately was provided by the men in the compound.

"Hey, you knocked down my shirt!" shouted one of the prisoners. The knocking down of the shirt was an afterthought.

"I didn't touch your clothes." The man next to the first continued fighting with his clothing as it flapped in the wind.

"Yes, you did. I saw you," said another.

"Take that back."

"Make me."

Within seconds, guards were rushing over to break up the fight. Maddock saw his chance and hurried into the back of the van. Schnitzer left the dog pen and hopped into the back as well.

"We should be safe for a bit." Maddock stated. "What's so urgent?"

"We're going to lose the tunnel entrance," Schnitzer told him. "We have to seal it off. I just got word that part of that area is going to be cleared to put up a new checkpoint. The guards are going to be too close. We have to collapse that part and hide the entrance so the authorities don't get nosy."

"Well that just about ruins my day." Maddock sighed. "We'll be able to get in, but we can't get out."

"And we're also basically locked out." Schnitzer sighed as well.

"Well, I best be going. I have part of a tunnel to collapse." Maddock paused. "We'll need to find a better way to get out of camp if necessary. And there's been some progress on the tunnel to my barracks, now that the weather is a bit better."

"We're already scouting around for another exit." Schnitzer patted Maddock on the shoulder. "Just a temporary setback. We'll get through this. I have to run. I have a group of men ready to work on camouflaging the outside entrance as soon as it's dark. Good luck."

"You too." Maddock opened the door a notch, and seeing it was all clear, hopped out. He ran over to the melee in the compound and began helping the guards and other prisoners sort out the mess. At the same time, Schnitzer grabbed a medical bag and went back into the pen, where he checked on a few of the dogs for several minutes.

"I don't know what came over them, Schultz." Maddock was walking Schultz and the other guards away from the area. "Cabin fever?"

"Cabin fever?" asked the guard.

"Tired of the weather. Makes you need to let off steam. You know how that is."

"Ah yes. I have children." Schultz nodded. "I'll think about letting this go."

"I think LeBeau may be cooking up something special tonight." Maddock waited.

"I'll let this go," Schultz said. "I should check on Schnitzer. It's my duty," he said without enthusiasm.

"You do that." Maddock patted the sergeant on the shoulder and headed into the hut.

Schultz headed towards the dog pen, cautiously slowing down as he neared the area. Schnitzer spied the guard's approach, and finished his examination of Heidi, a female he had picked at random. He closed the gate to the pen behind him, just as Schultz arrived at the van. "It's all right," Schnitzer told Schultz. "False alarm. Probably something she ate off the ground gave her an upset stomach."

"No rabies?" Schultz asked as he peeked into the pen. One of the dogs growled, and Schultz stepped back.

Schnitzer couldn't help but smile. "No. No rabies. I'll be back in a few days as usual." Lowering his voice, Schnitzer then told Schultz, "Now that the ground is softening, I may start my inspections, if you get my drift."

Schultz nodded. "My lips are sealed."

It was a morose group of prisoners that gathered around the table in the common room of Barracks two later that morning. Present were all of the barrack residents, plus those who had been working on tunnel safety, design, and digging since relations between the prisoners and Oskar's Underground cell had begun months ago.

"Did Oskar give you any idea of how we are supposed to collapse that area?" asked Scott Bellows, the miner from Newcastle. "Just digging and shoving dirt over there, not only will take a long time, but it would look fake. I suggest an explosion. I'm sure we can make something simple out of the supplies and weapons we have down there."

"A small explosion would do the trick," said Demitri Foss, the Norwegian engineering student who, with Bellows, comprised the committee of tunnel experts that supervised the other prisoners who did the grunt work. He circled a few spots on the drawing. "Perhaps, here and here. It has to be small, so it's not heard or felt, but big enough to work."

"And so none of us get killed in the process." Maddock added.

Bellows laughed. "Don't worry about that. I like the skin I'm in. That should be enough to get started. If we're lucky, it will shove up against the main entrance in the woods, and look like it was never touched. Hopefully, they won't be curious enough to start digging."

"If they do, we're in big trouble," Newkirk pointed out. "You said Oskar's friends will try and hide the entrance?"

"Yes. They've been great so far. I trust they will do a good job. And since no one knows about the plans anyway, they shouldn't be looking for it. As long as they don't decide to dig into the hill to build a shelter or something. Oh, and he also said they will search for an alternative entrance. We'll have to dig into it, of course. "Right." Maddock, who had been leaning against the wall next to his door, walked towards the center of the room. "We've got work to do. Bellows, Foss. You'll sneak into the tunnel as soon as the coast is clear, and set the charges, then come back up. We'll have to head down there after the last roll call to set off the explosion and do the work."

That night, a larger than normal crew hid behind barriers on the far side of the tunnel, while Foss lit the wire that would set off the rudimentary explosives he had jury-rigged from supplies the Underground had stored in the tunnel.

"Not sure what they were planning on doing with this stuff," Bellows told Maddock.

"Sabotage?" the MOC answered. "Bet they were hoping to throw a spanner in the works. Being a nuisance would at least give them the feeling they were doing something."

"It's bonkers, if you ask me," Newkirk commented. He couldn't help but cringe and attempt to sink into the ground as the flame got closer to the explosives. His friend LeBeau was already curled up in a ball. Newkirk wondered where this could lead. The goal was to have everything set up for a mass escape. Now, he felt that with setting off an explosion, the prisoners and Underground were heading into new and dangerous territory, and it made him uncomfortable. "They could get themselves killed. Maybe have reprisals."

"Get down," Bellows, who was peering over the table, said calmly.

There was a small rumble and an almost imperceptible tremor. The guards assumed there was an air raid. Klink and his staff were fast asleep and didn't notice. Only the small group of men busy camouflaging the old mine entrance in the woods knew what had occurred on the other side of the wall.

Later that night, Oskar and a new member of the cell, the owner of a small florist located in Hamelburg, drove into the woods. "Well?" Oskar asked.

The florist walked around with his lantern for several minutes. He eventually shook his head. "Can't find it."

"Good." Oskar was satisfied with the work. Unless you knew exactly where to look, the mine entrance had disappeared. He was confident that the prisoners work on their end would be completed in the same manner. "Let's go home and get to bed."

Oskar was roused early the next morning by his wife, when two unexpected visitors, a man and his cat, showed up at the door. Greta, Oskar's wife, was reluctant to awaken her husband, as he had come home past midnight, exhausted. But, he always made time for emergencies, and the stranger was persistent and obviously upset that his cat was ill.

"What seems to be the problem?" Oskar stifled a yawn as he gazed at his visitor. The man, who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, was as Greta would say, nondescript. He was dressed in casual clothes, and looked healthy. For that matter, so did the cat.

The cat's owner placed the crate on the floor and removed the bored feline. He held it snugly across his chest, and adjusted the weight as the cat licked its paws.

"He's not himself, doctor. Name's Reuter. Frank Reuter." He removed one arm from beneath the cat's torso, and held out his hand.

Oskar ignored the overture. "Bring him in to my examining room."

Reuter dutifully followed the vet into the small room off to the side of the waiting area, and placed the cat on the large table in the center of the room. The cat blinked and stretched.

"What's the cat's name, Mr. Reuter?" asked Oskar as he picked up a stethoscope.

"Marceau. Named after a close friend of mine. He recommended you and your organization."

Oskar almost dropped the stethoscope. "I don't have an organization. I'm just a sole practitioner."

Reuter reached into his pocket and handed a folded slip of paper to the vet. "You are right to be suspicious, doctor. We anticipated that. The recognition code?"

Oskar opened up the paper and read the contents. It was a simple shopping list he and Marceau had set up before Marceau was sent along the escape route. What if Marceau was recaptured and talked? No, that was unlikely as Klink would have been notified. He had to take a chance and trust this man.

"Yes, that is correct. Who are you?"

"I am with an organization that is helping local resistance movements. Captain Marceau was able to make it back to England and managed to get it across to the right authorities that your people could use some assistance. We're working with the French resistance, and an experienced group will be setting up close to this area. They will help you out with communications equipment and training."

The cat meowed and Oskar stroked the animal. "I'm shocked," he said. "And the prisoners? Keeping in regular contact with them has been complicated."

"They can continue with their escape plans. We should be able to get some emergency communication equipment set up, but only use it if absolutely necessary. We don't have an infinite supply of parts." Reuter pulled out his wallet. "Speaking of the prisoners. What is going on with the numbering system? Certain people in England are confused. Two thirteens. Two Hamelburgs. District 6."

Oskar shook his head. "I honestly don't know how or why it happened. But, without that mix-up, we wouldn't have found that tunnel, which by the way, is out of commission on our side at the moment." He explained the problem, which he told Reuter, was only temporary.

"Thank you, doctor, for helping on such short notice. If you would be so kind as to write up a bill, I will be happy to pay you. You've been most kind."

"I...Of course, Mr. Reuter. And please bring Marceau back if he has not improved in one week." Oskar continued with the charade, writing up an invoice complete with a diagnosis.

Hidden in between the marks Reuter handed to Oskar was a small piece of paper showing a meeting time and place, and a recognition code. Shortly after this eventful day, the Hamelburg Underground became more than just a small group of patriotic civilians who hated the Nazi regime and all that it stood for. They were now equipped with means of communication, weapons, and the training they needed to continue their fight. And the prisoners would also benefit as well.

A/N: I had to remove the large tunnel entrance. Obviously, that was not in the show. The SOE, (the organization Reuter was referring to) was formed on July 22, 1940,. and I moved up the date of contact to March, 1941 instead of May, 1941, which is when the first SOE agents were dropped in. As I said in a previous chapter, the British were sending agents into occupied territories in order to help resistance movements. I think it was clear (to me, at least) with the use of Tiger, Dubois, etc. on numerous occasions, that a nearby French resistance group may have been helping or advising the local resistance cells located near camp.

Thanks for all of your advice on the forum regarding explosives. I decided to forget the technical details, and deal with the plot. I would assume both Bellows and Foss would have the knowledge to work up a simple but effective means of collapsing that part of the tunnel.