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What's In a Name
Chapter 26
It's Not as Easy as it Looks
Wow, sorry for the extra long chapter. I have to move things along. And the delay. Between the SSSW challenge, personal stuff, power outages, etc., and writer's block, this took a long time to put together.
The escape plan was precise; the routes memorized, the men ready and focused, and the opportunity was there. The prisoners reported to the trucks that would take them away from the camp and towards town. It went off without a hitch.
Then Stalag 13 lived up to its name and the bottom dropped out, leading all the prisoners and their sympathizers to wonder if the superstitious scientist was actually on to something.
Before he began working on Burkhalter's orders to follow up on the naming fiasco, Klink came out to the compound to check on the work party. He nodded in satisfaction as the men stood for inspection. Fortunately, he did not notice that their outfits seemed rather bulky that morning. He looked around and realized someone was missing. "Where is Sergeant Maddock?" he asked Schultz.
"Here he comes now, Kommandant." Schultz pointed towards Barracks 2. The MOC was slowly making his way towards the truck. Every so often, Maddock would pause, let out a loud sneeze, and then continue forward.
He finally came to a stop a few paces in front of the Kommandant. Saluting, he said, "Reporting for duty, sir." A long coughing fit followed.
"You are ill, Sergeant."
"Not myself, sir."
Schultz strode over to Maddock and placed his hand on the sergeant's forehead. "He feels warm, Kommandant."
"I'm okay, sir. I need to supervise the work party. Your orders." Maddock sneezed again. "Excuse me, sir."
"Gesundeidt," Schultz said sympathetically.
"Maddock, go back to your hut and get some rest," Klink said. "Schultz, inform your guards that Sergeant Maddock will not be supervising the work party after all."
Maddock's acting worked as expected. He went back to his hut as ordered, and then after a long enough interlude, headed into the tunnels to supervise some work.
Schultz returned to his office to handle some paperwork, and Klink did the same. Helga had been tidying up his office when he left; she was now staring out the window at the prisoners as they climbed into the truck. As she turned, Klink noticed a look of concern on his secretary's face.
"Something wrong, Fraulein?" Klink asked.
"No, Kommandant. There was a phone call for you while you were outside. It's from the station master." Helga bit her lip and glanced at the window. "It appears it is one of those issues. He wants you to call him back right away."
"Oh, not again. Please get them on the phone." Klink sat behind his desk and removed his bottle of antacid from the drawer. "Of course, there is an issue. I was supposed to work on this today, anyway." The phone rang.
"This is Kommandant Klink of Luft Stalag 13.
"You have what?
"How many?
"That is quite a lot. Well, you cannot send them here. They are not ours. They have to go back.
"Of course I would love extra help, but I don't have the facilities…
"Well, I don't care if they are milling around. That is what people do at train stations, while they are waiting for a train. Do they not?
"Well, I know we do not encourage loitering. When is the next train heading in that direction?
"Yes, I have a schedule. But, why don't you inform me.
"That long? Get me the person in charge.
"Hello. This is Kommandant Klink. I know you and your men have been traveling in circles, but you see-funny thing- there are two Stalag 13's and two Hammelburgs.
"Yes, they are spelled differently." Give that man a sticker.
"You need to go to your original posting. They would not be happy if you all came here. Have the station master call the other prison camp and let them know you will all be delayed."
After concluding the conversation, Klink turned to Helga and sighed. "A large company of prison guards was sent here by mistake; too large to incorporate into our system." He shook his head. "They'll be angry; the other camp will be angry. What a mess."
"How long do they have to wait for another train, Kommandant?" Helga asked.
"Oh, the rest of the day. There was a bombing last night on one of the tracks and the train they need will be delayed. Now where were we? The map department."
Helga left Klink to his work. Although they were both positive nothing would change, the Kommandant had to make another effort to fix the error, or he would be guilty of disobeying Burkhalter's orders. She sat down at her desk and wrung her hands. Helga was certain she had seen the telltale signs of the planned mass escape. At least half the prisoners were wearing overly bulky clothing on a warm autumn day, the civilian clothing most likely hidden under their uniforms. She did not have any proof, of course, but she now had knowledge that could jeopardize the plans. Unfortunately, she had no way of letting any of the prisoners know. To make matters worse, she had snuck a peek at some recent dispatches, which told of possible troop buildups along the border. She again wished there was better real-time communication between the Underground and the prisoners.
Helga decided she had to act.
After the work party left camp, Maddock and a large group of prisoners began the process of creating their own diversion. They and the Underground considered the tunnels sacrosanct. Once the Germans discovered that a large group of POW's had escaped, Maddock expected a camp wide search for contraband. Clothing materials made from blankets were strategically hidden throughout the barracks. Rudimentary forging supplies and maps, the type hidden on fliers before bombing runs, were placed where they could be easily discovered. The deception continued. All the real supplies were safely hidden in the tunnel system; but Maddock's plan was to set up a red herring, and divert the search party away from their ace in the hole, as he put it.
Once the diversion was in place, everyone waited. Maddock paced around his office. He continued checking his watch, while other men in the barracks kept an eye out for activity from the guards.
"Looks like Helga is leaving early," someone commented.
Maddock glanced out the window. To his surprise, the secretary looked a bit pale and distracted. She walked quickly and with a purpose. "Something has happened," he said to men in camp.
"Maybe she realized what's up," noted one of his hut mates. "And she's going to notify the Underground."
The local Underground did not have prior knowledge of the timing of the escape. The prisoners decided to take advantage of the opportunity as it came; however, the Underground was not yet capable of handling this many men. Only one or two could be funneled through the system at this point. The friendly German civilians and their French handlers would find out soon enough as the Kommandant notified the town leaders and the Gestapo.
It did not take long.
Several hours after Helga left camp, but long before the men ditched the work party and headed out into the woods, the secretary returned. Her arrival was duly noted by several prisoners, and reported to Maddock. He was supposed to be ill, and so he stewed in the hut, as he could not legitimately think of a reason to head over the office. However, his anxiety over Helga's behavior-he now recalled her look of shock that morning-resurfaced. There was no way to communicate with either her or the Underground at this time, as the telegraph wires were in the process of being installed.
"How about I go over to the office, and let them know you are really ill, and need a doctor?" suggested Corporal Grant.
"You can ask a guard to do that," Maddock reminded him.
"I can sneak out through the tunnels, and go to that flower shop," offered Bellows, who was visiting.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Maddock resumed his pacing. He stopped. "Did you hear that?" He held up his hand. There was a slight knock coming from the floor. "I thought everyone left the tunnel."
The tapping resumed. The men quickly pulled open the footlocker and removed the false bottom. They peered in and spied Otto standing on the ladder.
"You nearly gave us all a heart attack!" Maddock held out his hand and helped the farmer up into the hut. "Watch the door," he ordered. "We need something to let us know someone is down there." He vowed to ask the engineers to design a warning system. "What are you doing here?" he asked the farmer.
"I'll make this quick. Your men are planning their escape today?"
"Yes, they are out on a work party," Maddock answered. He began to get nervous. "Why? You knew we weren't planning on asking for your help."
"Helga suspected so. She gave the Kommandant an excuse and left camp to let us know. They aren't heading into the tunnels to wait, or are they?" he asked hopefully.
"No, sir. One man, or even two, would be okay, but that's too many for now. Then we would have to get them out bit by bit; but by then the area would be crawling with patrols. It's not workable right now."
"I think we should head back down," Otto said. "We have much to discuss."
Once Otto, Maddock and several of Maddock's hut mates were safely down below and seated, Otto began to explain his unexpected appearance.
"Are these men heading towards Switzerland or France?" Otto asked.
"France, as we discussed. No one wanted to try for Switzerland. Besides, they would be prisoners there. Nicer accommodations, sure, but they want to be free to fight."
"As we suspected." Otto leaned forward. "We now believe that the Nazis want to catch French laborers trying to head back, and they have reinforced the French border area exactly where your men will be heading. It will be very difficult to get across."
Maddock's heart leapt into his throat. "How long have you had this information?"
"Not long. Helga recently came across it. That is one reason why she left camp. To let us know and to see if we could make contact."
"We have to try and stop the escape attempt." Maddock looked at the group. "Any ideas? We don't have much time. Hold on, Otto. You said one reason."
"Yes, there's more, and it's worse," Otto said. "A large group of guards was accidentally sent here. They are stuck at the station waiting for the right train. All day, I heard."
"That's bad," Bellows said. "Really bad. Klink could call on them once the escape is discovered."
Otto offered to help. "My truck is hidden by the road. I will try to locate the work party. All I need is to get a message to one of the prisoners, and that should be the end of it."
"That's a good plan." Maddock jotted down some information and handed the paper to Otto. "I'm not sure where the work party is, but the escapees are supposed to be hiding until nightfall. You know the cave. It's the one the French contact set up. After that, I don't know their plans. For security reasons, each team came up with their own route."
"That's understandable," Otto replied. He handed the paper back to Maddock.
After Otto's departure, the men headed back up to the huts. Their nerves on edge, they continued to wait, the fate of the escapees now out of their hands.
As soon as they realized men were missing, the guards notified the camp. They had other prisoners to look after, so only two of the four started searching. The two remaining guards watched the rest of the prisoners while waiting for reinforcements.
By the time Otto tracked down the work party, it was too late. What was worse, Otto could not get close to the area. Reinforcements had already arrived, and the road was blocked. His next stop was the small cave where the escapees were hiding.
The sight of the Kommandant storming out of the Kommandantur, plus the cacophony of barking dogs and bells and sirens was proof enough that the escape had been reported. As Bellows later told the remaining work party, it was like a scene out of the Keystone cops. Someone else compared it to a Marx Brother's romp, with the Kommandant playing the part of the female foil, Margaret Dumont, as he waved his riding crop, issuing orders, and just missed being upended by the loose canines accidentally released from the dog pen.
"Schuuultz!" He yelled. "The escape is not from here! It is from the work party!"
"I'm sorry, Kommandant." The sergeant yelled at his guards, ordering them to round up the dogs. Eventually, the search party left the camp.
It would have been an amusing scenario, Maddock thought, convinced yet again that the Kommandant and his staff were not the best Germany had to offer, except for the fact that Otto did not pass the word down that the escape was off. His only hope now was that the Underground leader would be able to track down the eight men holed up in the small cave not far from camp.
Klink returned to his office and immediately notified the guards waiting at the train station that they were to join the search for eight escaped prisoners.
It did not take long for Klink to head over to Barracks 2. By then, Maddock had hopped into bed. He heard the men outside his office politely greet the Kommandant as if this day were no different from any other. His door loudly swung open with a crash, and an angry Klink, followed by a befuddled Schultz, stomped in. Maddock pushed aside the blanket and swung his legs over the side. He offered a sloppy salute, and in the best nasal voice he could muster, said, "Afternoon, sir. Obviously, something has happened. I couldn't help but hear the noise." He sniffed.
Klink, oblivious to the supposed danger of catching Maddock's virus, got to within a few inches of the sergeant's face. "Get down." The Kommandant stepped back.
Maddock hopped down.
"I don't care if you are sick, you are going to help me catch these men," Klink said in a tone Maddock had not heard since he had arrived in the prison camp. He pointed his finger to the door, and Maddock walked out into the common room.
The four men remaining in the hut scrambled to their feet and stared down at the floor. This, in turn, gave the Kommandant more reason to be angry; Maddock could see the frustration building in Klink's body language, as his men all had the look of guilt in their faces and their body position.
Maddock inwardly sighed. The prisoners were normally expert at covering their tracks and appearing innocent. On the other hand, he grasped that these were not normal times. He feigned a sneeze for good measure. Schultz, ever the kind father figure, handed him a handkerchief.
"Thank you, Schultz."
Klink stepped back. "Never mind that Schultz. And your guards are at fault as well." Momentarily forgetting the prisoners, he wagged his finger at the hapless Sergeant of the Guard. "They are all going on report, and they better find the missing men, or there will be consequences."
"I think if Schultz was there, the escape would have been stopped before it started," mumbled the man standing next to Maddock. The MOC heard this, and shushed the man.
"What did you say?" Klink stepped away from Maddock and went over to the other prisoner. The prisoner glanced at Maddock, who gave an almost unnoticeable grin and a slight nod.
"I said, sir, that if Schultz was supervising the work party, it's a good bet that the escape would have been foiled." He turned to Maddock. "Sorry, John, but it slipped out, and he ordered me to spill the beans."
Klink rubbed his chin. "Schultz, you'll supervise work parties from now on," he said quickly. "Now back to the matter at hand. Where are they?"
Maddock stepped forward. "I don't know, sir."
Klink strutted around the hut. "Eight men don't decide at the spur of the moment to disappear. This had to be planned." He pointed to the man standing closest to the window. "You. Where are they?"
"I don't know, sir."
"I don't know, sir," Klink repeated. "Schultz, have everyone sent to the cooler, except for Maddock. Perhaps when you all have time to think for a while, you will start talking. Confine everyone else to barracks, then take a car out to the work area, and start supervising the search. Oh, and a large contingent of guards waiting at the train station will be joining in."
Schultz gave Maddock a look that reminded him of his mother after he had lied to her about eating the pie cooling on the shelf; the cherry juice all over his face was all the evidence she needed. He almost felt sorry for Schultz as the sergeant left the hut.
Maddock then followed Klink to his office. He was relieved Klink had not ordered a sweep of the barracks. While they had hidden contraband around the camp in case of that scenario, he realized Klink might not be savvy enough to conduct an additional search. That was one good thing. Moreover, the muttering about Schultz, leading Klink to assign the sergeant to work parties, was an unexpected bonus. The prisoners all knew that Schultz was a pushover, but Klink, at this point, did not.
There was a learning curve to being a POW, and despite their lengthy stay-now over a year-they were continually discovering Klink's strengths and weaknesses.
Maddock was sure Klink would not mistreat the residents locked up in the cooler. They were uncomfortable, but they could handle the pressure. Meanwhile, back at the office, he stood before an irate and worried Kommandant.
"I was in the middle of dealing with camp numbering problems…on General Burkhalter's orders. Now that job will have to wait." Klink took the large stack of files on his desk and plopped them in the bottom drawer. "He will not be happy about that, and he certainly will not be happy to hear that a large group of men escaped from a work detail. And if he is not happy, I am not happy."
Maddock had no words. He realized being cheeky and mentioning that Klink should be relieved to drop the numbering issue for the time being would probably not be wise.
Klink prattled on. "Do you realize the amount of paperwork this means? Not to mention what could happen to me if these men are not caught; or the consequences if they are caught elsewhere by others. I have to report this. This is not like the other times. This is what we in the Kommandant business call a mass escape."
Maddock almost felt sorry for the Kommandant. The man was clearly distraught, but he still had hope that Otto would find the prisoners hiding out in the small cave. They would either find their way back to camp and turn themselves in, or find one of Klink's patrols.
The phone began ringing with reports, and Maddock stood for quite some time as Klink directed the search from the office. He began to worry, as there was no word on the missing prisoners, and they had not shown up at the gate. A tap on the door interrupted the two. It was Helga, a welcome sight, carrying a tray.
"Kommandant, I thought you could use a nice break. Some tea and pastries perhaps to take your mind off this crisis?" she asked.
Klink put down the phone. "That's very kind of you my dear. And I am glad your emergency at home has been resolved." He noticed the two plates and two cups on the tray. He narrowed his eyes at Maddock. "None for the sergeant, Fraulein. Unless he has something to say…"
"No, sir. Except I take full responsibility, sir."
The phone rang again. "Yes? They are probably heading for either the Swiss border or the western border. I know that is a lot of area to cover. But they could not have gone far. No wait, there are four Frenchmen missing. Concentrate on that direction. Hold on." Klink put his hand over the receiver. "Maddock, go back to your hut. I'll deal with you later."
"I do hope everyone is found safe, no matter where they may be. It is dangerous out there, and it is foolish for these men to try and leave," Helga stated, as she gave Maddock a look.
Maddock held open the door for Helga. Once they were in the outer office, she whispered. "I'm sorry I couldn't warn you sooner. They were not in the cave."
"Now we have a whole other group of guards looking," Maddock whispered back. "What a mess."
True to Klink's word, after a short while with no sign of the missing men, he notified authorities of the mass escape. All of Germany was on the lookout for them. Klink's reputation was at stake, for if he failed, he was in danger of being demoted, ridiculed, or worse, transferred.
Maddock sat alone in his office, waiting on tenterhooks for any word. He periodically looked out the window, hoping to see the trucks carrying the seven remaining prisoners back to camp. As one truck pulled in, he quickly ran and opened the door. The prisoners jumped off the back and marched over to the Kommandantur. Maddock stepped out of the hut and made it halfway across the compound before being stopped.
"All prisoners are restricted to barracks," growled the guard.
Maddock held up his hands in a sign of surrender. "I know that, Corporal. But I have a right to be present when prisoners are questioned."
'If the Kommandant wants you, he will send for you." The guard lowered his rifle. "He is not in a good mood, and I do not want to interrupt him. Please, Sergeant."
As another guard approached, Maddock realized he would lose this argument, and he turned around and went back to the barracks. Several minutes later, the work party returned to their huts. Newkirk and LeBeau entered, and were immediately ushered over to the table.
"Cor blimey, was Klink mad." Newkirk said. "But you should have seen it. It worked like a charm. Just a little diversion for a call of nature, someone getting hurt by a rake, and off they flew."
"Like a bird," LeBeau added.
"Never mind that," Maddock said. "We have a serious problem."
One pair was caught a day later trying to board a train at the next stop. Ironically, they were noticed by a few of the guards meant for the other camp. Although the prisoners were heading one way, and the guards were heading the other, they were alert to any suspicious activity and raised the alarm.
The increased patrols at the French/German border caught two more pairs, and two of the guards from Stalag 13 caught the final pair by accident, when a tired Langenscheidt and Schultz stopped for a drink at a Hofbrau quite a distance away and bumped into the two prisoners, who up until that point had evaded everyone.
Maddock sat with his knees drawn up to his chest, hoping that he could keep in some body heat. Although it was autumn, the cooler lived up to its name. It was quite cold and damp inside his enclosed cell, and he shivered as he thought about the poor prisoners who had spent time inside the cooler during the winter months. He had a lot of time on his hands; four hours to kill before the guard would bring him his next meal, and another three weeks to go before he completed his sentence. Nothing to do until then but get lost in his own thoughts.
"How could everything go so horribly wrong?" Sitting on the cot was not helping his chill. Maddock got up and began pacing around the cell. Every so often, he would wrap his arms around himself and jump up and down a few times. He would then resume his pacing. "How could I be such an idiot?" Although he knew many factors, such as the lack of real-time communication with the Underground, (now remedied, he heard) hurt the escape party, he blamed himself. Winter was setting in, and escapes were now off the table.
A scraping noise brought Maddock out of his self-pity. He stood up and walked over to the sink by the wall. The noise started again. Maddock then smiled. He pushed aside the sink and stood back. Several seconds later, the concrete moved, and Louis LeBeau's face looked up at the MOC.
"You broke through!" Maddock exclaimed.
"Oui! And I brought you some dinner."
A/N There is a Star Trek reference in this chapter. Can anyone find it?
I have been attempting to research the actual number of successful and attempted escapes, (for Western Allied POWs) and the statistics seem to be all over the place. One source I found had numbers in the tens of thousands, but no breakdown on time period, and if the escapes were from work parties, transports or from the camps. I did find that in most cases, recaptured prisoners were not sent back to the original camp. Some POW's escaped purposely from camps with severe conditions in order to get reassigned (if they were confident they wouldn't be sent to a concentration camp). A lot of sources were in German (found in footnotes).
From the Time-Life POW volume. Out of 169,000 POW's from the UK and Commonwealth, there were 6039 successful escapes. Out of 91,000 POW's from the United States (after 1942) there were 737 successful escapes. From the book "The Great Escape," 15,000 airmen from UK—730 reached home or neutral territory. Less than 2 percent of all POW's attempted escape. The time-life book (which is great, BTW) doesn't have footnotes, just an alphabetical bibliography.