“There is also some negative information in the sense that none of the ghetto residents saw the group or heard of them. I believe that they never entered the ghetto and were taken to a different location. We will have to investigate this as soon as we can.”
***
While the investigating team was doing its work in Lithuania, Hirshson called Eichmann. “Herr Eichmann, you were less than truthful with me. I want to know what happened to our agent. We have evidence of only three being on the train. Where is the fourth?”
“Colonel, I truly don’t know. I wasn’t aware that they were separated. Please let me make some inquiries and I will call you back as soon as I can.”
“Herr Eichmann, I reported these events up my chain of command and I have orders to act. You and your superiors will not find my actions pleasant. I may be able to give you some time, but not much.”
Eichmann sounded cool. “What actions are we talking about?”
“I think that you know. Munich is on my short list and there are some lesser alternatives. But don’t let me delay you.”
“Colonel Rakhman, please excuse my question, but how important can these Jews be to you? After all, they are only Jews and destined to disappear soon anyway. Why the fuss?”
Hirshson was furious and let it show in his voice: “Eichmann, what we do with the Jews is our business. The important matter is that your country showed a blatant disregard of our agreement and of the sanctity of both a Caliphate citizen and people under its protection. One of the four is a citizen, the others, whatever their fate may be in the near future, are now under our protection. Your country, or some of its officials, committed a mortal crime against us. The sooner this is resolved the better for you. And I mean you personally.” He hung up without waiting for a response.
***
The small force moved out at dusk. Their commander decided to split his men three ways: five, with him in command, to go to the northernmost encampment; five, commanded by the lieutenant, to the spot near Kasiadorys. Saul, the forensic expert, and three soldiers stayed in the Gestapo building for communications and control. They were also responsible for guarding the building.
The two strike forces piled into commandeered German cars and started towards their respective destinations. They could ride only part of the way, traversing the last ten miles or so on foot. Each soldier carried night vision goggles and donned them as soon as it became dark.
In his group, the lieutenant led the short line of shadows. They walked carefully, making as little noise as possible. It was difficult, considering the density of the undergrowth. Without the night vision equipment, they would have made enough noise to alert animals miles away let alone human sentries they assumed were much closer. As it was, the slight crackling of broken twigs and tree limbs being carefully moved aside blended in with the forest’s night noises.
Progress was slow, complicated by the marshy terrain they encountered from time to time. They could not walk through that too fast – their boots made loud squishing noises, getting louder the faster they moved. The group took almost six hours to cross the distance from their car to the vicinity of the encampment. By the time they got there, dawn was still a couple of hours away; it was still pitch dark.
The group spread out and carefully approached the encampment from three directions. The lieutenant noticed a man standing next to a tree and circled, approaching the figure from behind and rendering him unconscious with a sharp strike to the side of the neck. A blow like that had to be measured carefully – too strong could kill a man or make him a quadriplegic for life. He caught the collapsing sentry, only to discover it was a woman. He signaled to the rest of the force to continue with their search. They found another sentry at the other end of the little camp and disabled him as well, without alerting anyone. A short survey showed entrances to three dugouts. The lieutenant posted sentries at two of them and proceeded to enter the third with another soldier. They found six people sleeping on wooden platforms. He fingered his throat mike and ordered the soldiers that remained outside to enter the other dugouts. They reported ten more people – a mix of men and women. He took off his night vision goggles and turned on a powerful flashlight, waking the people in his dugout. They were startled and frightened, crying out in Yiddish. He calmed them down as best he could and instructed the soldiers to take care of the group. They looked dirty, undernourished and suffered from an array of small but debilitating injuries: small infected cuts, a broken finger, a shallow stab wound. While his soldiers were busy gathering and treating the refugees, the lieutenant radioed the captain to report his findings. He had found another group of Jews; the captain was facing the Lithuanians.
***
The captain’s earpiece came alive about a hundred yards from the target. Now he knew that the encampment in front of them was the real target and informed his troops. He decided to deploy his small force in two groups. He and Sergeant Zohar circled around the camp. The other three waited on the southern edge. When he was in position, the captain signaled the others. It took them about five minutes to disable the four guards. It was easy work made even easier by the fact that two of them were asleep.
There were five dugouts positioned around a rough stone circle that contained the cooking fire. Coals were still smoldering, giving off a rich woody smell but also overwhelming the infrared equipment. They switched to light amplification vision. There was a guard sitting next to the entrance to one of the dugouts, his rifle on the ground, smoking a foul-smelling cigarette. Zohar circled through the outskirts of the camp and carefully crawled towards the guard.
When the captain saw the guard slump with the cigarette still smoldering in his slack hand, he signaled his soldiers to take up positions on top of the four unguarded dugouts. They had stun grenades ready – Saul had requested that the Lithuanians be brought back alive if possible. He needed to interrogate them.
The officer entered the little dugout by himself. The dim light was enough to see by, after it was amplified by the night vision goggles. There were six men in the underground space. The ceiling, which was made of heavy logs and sealed with moss, was about six feet above the floor. On the outside, the structure was covered with dirt. The space was small, about ten feet by ten feet, with wooden bunk beds on one side and several crude cabinets on the other. Two men were sleeping on a bunk. Three others were on the earthen floor. He took off the night goggles and turned on his flashlight. Two of the men were apparently not asleep at all. They were pretending, laying in wait for someone to either enter the dugout or try to escape. Both jumped the Special Forces officer at the same time. He saw a reflection of light and moved aside just as a blade cut through the air next to him. The other attacker also had a knife, and in the small space, with people lying on the ground, the Israeli could not move freely to fight both of them. The second knife imbedded itself in his chest.
The other three men were also awake and tried to get up to help but could not. They were tightly bound. In the meantime the first attacker was pulling a pistol from a holster on his hip.
The shot was thunderous in the pre-dawn quiet of the forest. It was accompanied immediately by four loud explosions and bright flashes of light as the stun grenades went off. Each of the soldiers rushed into his assigned dugout ready to kill anybody opposing him. There was not much opposition. The inhabitants were only half awake and temporarily deaf and blind. It took less than two minutes to pacify them.
Sergeant Zohar rushed into the dugout his captain had entered. He found the commander sitting on a pallet and calmly cutting the ties that held the prisoners.
“Sir, what happened?”
“A stupid mistake,” admitted the captain. “I should have used the stun grenade instead of letting my ego rule. I assumed the guards were asleep since they were breathing regularly and not moving. They were not, and now I will need a new breastplate for my body armor. This piece of dog’s excrement,” he pointed at the SS officer unconscious on the floor, “managed to
shoot me while his friend here stabbed me. No matter, it’s a lesson we will discuss at debriefing back home.”
Three abductees were accounted for. They were not in good shape though. The SS lieutenant had interrogated them and was not gentle. They had not eaten much in a week and were tied up most of the time. Rabbi Zerah Litvin was missing the pinky on his left hand. The wound was infected and the rabbi was feverish and delirious. Hirsh Goldstein was missing two of his front teeth and Jacob had a dislocated shoulder and what seemed like hundreds of small cuts all over his body. He was feverish as well, though not delirious.
After all the Lithuanians and the German were bound with their hands tied behind their backs with plastic straps, the Israelis marched them towards the nearest road. Rabbi Litvin had to be tied to a stretcher. Jacob could barely walk: even with his shoulder back in place, he had several badly infected cuts on his feet and walking was painful. All of the liberated men were given emergency tetanus shots and a hefty dose of antibiotics.
Two trucks were waiting for the group. Saul sent them driven by two of his soldiers, who were replaced a couple of minutes later by the lieutenant and his force who returned from their mission. The hapless group of ghetto refugees was left to walk for a while. The Germans did not have another truck on hand to bring them back and the command car used by the lieutenant could only hold five passengers. It was still going back and forth delivering the dirty and tired Jews when the trucks carrying the captain and his group arrived at the Gestapo headquarters.
***
In the early afternoon the Israelis were trying to decide what to do next. Two of the rescued men were coherent and told the story of their trip to the Ninth Fort, interrogation and release. They also told their rescuers that Menachem supposedly left by himself the day before they were released. Neither they nor the Israelis believed that.
The Lithuanians and Gerhardt, the SS lieutenant, were locked up in the basement cells of the Gestapo building.
Saul started the debate. “I want to interrogate Gerhardt and see if he acted alone, or if, as I believe, he was instructed by Major Hubel.”
“And what if Hubel is involved?” the captain wanted to know.
“Kill him,” contributed his second in command.
“Not so fast,” responded Saul. “We will report to Hirshson and do what we are ordered. My guess is that it will not be simple. The guilty parties, of which there are many, will have to be made an example of, so others will not dare follow in their steps.”
“Okay. Go ahead and see what Gerhardt tells you. In the meantime, I’ll call the colonel and report. We’ll have to go to the Ninth Fort and see what we find there. I have a bad feeling about this business.”
“Lieutenant, please calm down. I am not going to do anything bad to you, yet. I want just to ask you a couple of questions.” Saul poured tea for himself. “Would you like some?”
The young Nazi nodded. Saul poured tea in a glass, added two spoonfuls of sugar and put the glass on the table in front of his subject. He then proceeded to release the Nazi’s left hand from the plastic strap that held it tightly to the arm of the chair he was sitting in: “Please don’t imagine that you can free yourself. Sergeant Ahmad would really like you to try.” Saul smiled and Gerhardt shivered.
It took only three questions to clarify the situation: Gerhardt decided he was going to be a hero and answer no questions. He wasn’t familiar with a polygraph. It required the interrogator to ask questions that were unambiguous and required only a “Yes” or “No” response.
“My dear Lieutenant,” Saul said softly, after his first question about age had been met with silence, “if you don’t answer the next question, the sergeant will cut out your tongue with the nice tool he has. Show him please, Ahmed.”
Zohar pulled out his modified pliers with the two blades welded on the front edge.
“He will pull it out and then clamp down the blades. No big deal really, but you will not be able to speak after this procedure. Ever. And I have no leeway in this. The law is clear, and we have to obey it.”
“What law? You are barbarians! How dare you threaten me with torture? The master race will not tolerate the likes of you!”
Saul was very calm now, with his voice even quieter than before. “It is the law of the Caliph, and master race or not you are now being interrogated by one of His inquisitors.” He paused to sip his tea. “Your superior, Major Hubel, thought nothing about talking to us and giving you away.”
“You are lying to me. The Major would never talk to dogs like you.”
“Would you like to hear his testimony?” Saul asked. He was sickened by the thought that Zohar might have to carry out the threat. If the German did not start speaking they would have no choice – a threat had to be carried out or their reputation and power over the Nazis would be ruined.
“Yes.”
Saul put a small tape recorder on the table and pressed the Play button. Anticipating this problem he had prepared and edited a copy of Hubel’s testimony.
The SS lieutenant listened carefully. The tape started somewhere in the middle of Hubel’s questioning and went through the part where Zohar beat him up, ending after he gave Saul Gerhard’s name. At that point Saul stopped the tape.
“This is a fabrication,” yelled the Nazi and threw his empty tea glass at Saul, who easily evaded it. The SS man tried to get up from his seat and would have overturned the table but Sergeant Zohar was faster. A single blow to the shoulder and another to the nose and the German was gasping for breath. Zohar took out his tongue tool and forced the Nazi’s mouth open. The Nazi, who had no problem torturing Jews, was now shrieking in a surprisingly loud, high-pitched voice. As Zohar pushed his pliers into the Nazi’s mouth a foul smell spread in the room. The sergeant stopped and stepped away from the Nazi. He started laughing. “Our hero has shit and pissed himself.”
After this experience Gerhardt did not object to answering questions and he didn’t lie.
***
A couple of hours later the captain reported to his team the orders they had received from the Brindisi base: “We are to go to the Ninth Fort and get to the bottom of this affair. By now it is certain that this was not a local decision. Whatever Gerhardt or anybody else says, they were acting on orders from above.”
“Colonel Eichmann, my orders come directly from the Caliph’s headquarters, so please listen carefully.
“We will leave for the Ninth Fort now and you will accompany us. We know that the orders to interrogate and abduct our people came from higher up, not from anybody in Kaunas. This is a serious breach of your agreement with the Caliphate and requires a thorough investigation. After we are done I will report to my superiors and they will decide what to do.”
Eichmann sounded surprised. “I don’t have the authority to let you into the Ninth Fort or anywhere else besides the Kaunas ghetto. You will have to wait. I must contact my superiors and get their permission, which I’m not sure will be forthcoming.”
“Colonel, one of my orders is to kill you on the spot if you don’t cooperate. We will do that as soon as my interrogator is done with you. Shall we start now or do we go to the Ninth Fort?”
“But this is unreasonable. I have my orders and I have to follow them. You don’t have the right or authority to do anything to me.” Eichmann was pacing back and forth. He sweated heavily and looked pale.
“You seriously want to test that statement?” The captain smiled cheerfully. “Who do you think will rescue you if we start the interrogation now?
“As to having no authority: this is your second lie to a Caliphate officer. You lied once already to Colonel Rakhman. This may have sealed your fate anyway, but I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. So, shall we go or shall I call the interrogator?”
Eichmann sat down. Now his face was calm. “If you torture and kill me, the consequences will be catastrophic. You won’t be able to go anywhere from here – all cooperation and transportation is on my authority only. And my super
iors will likely rescind our agreement regarding the Jews.”
The captain smiled: “Well, the consequences will certainly be catastrophic for you. You will be dead after having been tortured by the best in the business. I would like to remind you that it was the Fuehrer who ordered you to cooperate with us and everything you do is on his orders. I very much doubt that he will suddenly decide to sacrifice a city to the incompetence of his subordinates.”
Eichmann got up from his seat. “Captain, you passed my test of loyalty. I apologize for the aggravation, but I had strict orders to make sure that you are faithfully executing your agreement with the Fuehrer. We can now go to the Ninth Fort.”
The Israeli could only admire the brazen lie. For the time being he decided to let it go. The inspection of the prison camp was a much more urgent affair than getting even with Eichmann.
***
The captain, Saul, the police investigator, Sergeant Zohar and a soldier drove to the Ninth Fort in Eichmann’s car, with Eichmann squeezed between Zohar and Saul. Their visit was shorter than anticipated. When approaching the fort they heard machine gun fire and then several pistol shots.
When they arrived at the fort ten minutes later they found themselves in hell: a group of SS soldiers was standing on the edge of a large pit dug out next to one of the tall walls surrounding the fort. In the pit a group of prisoners were shoveling lime on top of more than a hundred dead bodies. This was the explanation of the gunfire they heard on approach. This was also what Jacob heard when he was there earlier. A quick calculation suggested that in the last week the Germans had murdered more than four thousand people. They were digging yet another pit next to the one that was half-full.
Eichmann was proud: “As you can see we are quite efficient in dealing with enemies of the Reich.”
“Who were these people?” the captain asked after a little while, when he could trust his voice not to tremble.
“Oh, I don’t know exactly. We can ask the commander when we speak to him. Here he is.” A medium height, non-descript man in a well pressed SS uniform was walking towards them. “This is SS Captain Gratt, the commandant of this facility.”
The Shield: a novel Page 24