What's in a Name
chapter 21
With Friends Like These, Who Needs Enemies?
Late June, 1941
The plan to use Luft Stalag 13 as a host site for generals, gizmos, and gadgets was put on the back burner as spring headed into summer. Something massive was brewing, and Berlin bigwigs were hard to reach. On the rare times Klink's phone calls were returned, the Kommandant found the men on the other end of the receiver testy, touchy and closemouthed. He had forgotten when he had last heard from General Burkhalter.
"Well, how do you like that?" Klink slammed the receiver down. "I know there is a war on, but that is no reason to be rude." A lull in prisoner arrivals, plus a note sent by a confused lower-level clerk at the map department, prompted Klink to make another attempt at rectifying the numbering mistake; although, he was beginning to think that no one cared. He briefly thought back to his attempt at ordering new signs and stationery, a project that now appeared ridiculous. For, unless the change became permanent in Berlin, ordering signs, stationery, and forms would be like putting the cart before the horse. Klink tapped his pencil on the desk and contemplated his next move.
Maddock's attempted to get Newkirk and LeBeau's time in the cooler shortened. But his pleas to Klink failed, and they were forced to serve their entire sentence. During their incarceration, work continued on escape plans. The tunnels were continuing to expand, and the Underground delivered more supplies, including several cameras, film, fake dog tags and fake prisoner discs. (1)
A cheer greeted the two jailbirds as they entered the hut.
"Blimey, I'd never thought I'd be happy to see this lumpy mattress again!" Newkirk hopped up onto his bunk.
"How bad was it?" asked Erskine as he stared at LeBeau. "You don't look any different. Just a bit pale."
"I've been through a lot worse," LeBeau replied. "And thanks for sending in that extra food."
"Ah, Schultz was a pushover," Maddock said. "He felt bad. We made you some tea, Newkirk. Coffee for you, LeBeau. And boy, are we glad you're back. The mess hall food hasn't cut it."
"Ta." Newkirk hopped down and headed for the table. He took a sip of the hot liquid, and made a face. "It's hot." He smiled.
"I'm glad I'm appreciated," LeBeau drank part of his coffee, and then put down the mug. "Peter and I were talking. What do you think of digging a tunnel into the cooler?"
The men in the hut laughed.
"No. Seriously." Newkirk grabbed the pad of paper that was on the table. He removed a pencil from his pocket and drew a sketch. "We know where the cooler is in relation to the main room underneath. The engineers can do the final survey. But the room we were in had a sink that can be detached. We had running water, well, actually it was a trickle. But if you loosen the pipes a bit, the sink can be shoved aside. That could hide the entrance. The Jerries wouldn't think to check there. Just a thought. Of course, you'd have to dig up through the cement." (2)
"That's wacky enough that it might just work," Maddock commented. He grabbed a mug of coffee for himself and took a seat at the table.
"Well, we didn't have much to do." LeBeau took another swig of the coffee. "What's going on with the Boche? Seems like they're awfully skittish."
"Well," Maddock said as he began playing with Newkirk's pencil. "Klink's staff officers have been transferred. He was mad that they didn't come running the night you got caught, and then Helga told me the money from their salaries went someplace else, but she doesn't know where."
"We knew that," LeBeau replied. "Schultz told us that first thing the next morning. He was gloating."
"He looked like one of those puffer fishes. All blown up with his own importance," Newkirk added.
"Well, it's good for us. Especially getting rid of Sunderman. Don't need a German licensed engineer poking about and finding our moving fence. Let's see, where was I?" Maddock flipped the pencil and caught it. "Oh, right. They are skittish. Burkhalter has been gone for a while, and hasn't returned Klink's calls. There have been a lot of troop movements, so I've stopped practice runs outside the wire. And Klink started to deal with the naming issue again. Doubt he'll get anywhere. But, yeah. Even he confided in me the other day that his superiors are being rude and antsy. No one knows what's going on."
Hemsworth hopped off his bunk and joined the conversation. "It's the Americans, I bet. Maybe they're going to enter the war finally, and the Germans got word?"
"That'll be the day," Deschamps stated. "They were late for the last one, and they won't get into this one. No stomach for it."
"They are helping us as best as they can. Only so much the president can do," Levinson said.
"With old scows, and broadcasting from the Blitz. Lot of good that is," Hemsworth replied.
The men spent the next few hours arguing about American politics and what little they knew. (3)
Klink set his alarm for 0400 the next morning. Goebbels was making an important speech, and the Kommandant wanted to be fully awake and ready before turning on the radio. He ordered the off-duty guards to be up as well, and told Schultz to delay that morning's roll call until after the speech. This order did not remain secret for long, and soon the prisoners prepared to send Newkirk and a few other German speakers down into the tunnels to listen to the clandestine radio they had hidden down there. Maddock, who for the life of him couldn't get much further than basic German commands, remained up above.
Goebbels' speech consisted of a proclamation written by the Fuehrer. It took the prisoners several minutes to figure out what he was trying to get across to the German people. But once the gist of the speech became known, Corporal Spiegel hustled up the ladder and into the dog pen, Unnoticed by the few guards standing around, he hugged the walls of the surrounding barracks, and finally made it over to Barracks two. He slowly opened the door, stepped through the threshold and stopped as he tried to catch his breath.
"Oh, my God," were his first words. "Oh, my God," he repeated.
"Settle down." Maddock walked over to the door. "What happened?"
"The Jerries attacked Russia!" (4)
The mug of cocoa Klink was drinking shattered on the floor, the tendrils of hot liquid snaking underneath the rug. He looked up at Schultz, who had joined the Kommandant for the radio broadcast. The sergeant's mouth was hanging open in shock. Finally, Schultz found his voice.
"I thought we were allies, Kommandant!"
"I did so, as well, Schultz. But the Fuehrer explained his reasoning, so no questions." Klink looked at the sergeant. Their expressions both told each other what they were thinking, but were afraid to say.
For the prisoners in the huts, the news was greeted with both joy and confusion, for they could not understand why Hitler would even consider such a thing. Attacking the huge state did not end well for the last aggressors, and while they thought it would take some time to stem the massive tide of Germans, the Russians had land, men, and the cold on their side. The joy the prisoners felt was obvious, for now the German allies would be fighting on another front, turning their attention away from Britain.
"The enemy of our enemy is now our friend," Maddock said solemnly as he and his men wondered how this new chapter in the war would affect their fate, the fate of their captors and their plans of escape.
(1) Some POW camps took the captured men's dog tags and replaced them with identity discs that were stamped with the man's prisoner number.
(2) See the episode, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to London."
(3) Politics did play an important part in the "neutrality"of the United States. Roosevelt had to wait for the right time, and move slowly. Unfortunately, there was also a lot of antisemitism in the State Dept, and isolationism was very popular. But there were things that the administration did do. The Destroyer and Bases deal in September, 1940 transferred 50 old destroyers to Great Britain in exchange for the use of 8 bases owned by Britain in the Atlantic. The draft bill was enacted in September, 1940. This required the registration of all men between 21 and 35. The Lend-Lease plan started in November of 1940. This plan allowed the "lending" of military equipment to Great Britain for payment later. Britain was extremely low on cash at this point. The news organizations and Hollywood also played their part in trying to change public opinion.
In August 1941, FDR and Churchill agreed to war aims, self-determination, and condemnation of Nazism. (Atlantic Charter)
(4) Goebbels' first words. "At this moment a march is taking place that, for its extent, compares with the greatest the world has ever seen. I have decided today to place the fate and future of the Reich and our people in the hands of our soldiers. May God aid us, especially in this fight." The British had word of the attack (massive amounts of troops were on the border, plus they had Enigma), but Stalin, who expected an attack eventually, ignored the warnings. In addition, the Germans did set up fake operations in an attempt to deceive the Russians and the Allies. They tried to make it seem like Britain was the target in Operations Haifisch and Harpune. They simulated preparations in Norway and the Channel, and deliberately leaked invasion plans. (sound familiar?) Obviously, attacking the Soviet Union was a huge military blunder, although it didn't seem so at first. Plenty of articles, books, etc (check the forum topic) out there for more information on Operation Barbarossa and The United States preparations for war, and the relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill.