Uncommon Enemy

by Reynolds, John

  This time their lovemaking was languorous and gentle. Afterwards, having dressed, they nestled side-by-side. Stuart looked up at the window.

  “The sun’s starting to go down, my sweet,” he murmured. “Our pick up will be here soon.”

  “Another step into the unknown,” she replied thoughtfully.

  Suddenly she stiffened.

  “Stuart,” she whispered. “There’s somebody out there.”

  The scratching sound by the door was barely audible.

  “It’s the keyhole,” whispered Carol.

  “Quick,” hissed Stuart pointing across the room. “Over to that side of the door. I’ll stand on this side.”

  They were both about to move when the door abruptly opened and a figure stood silhouetted in the doorway.

  “Stuart, Carol, are you in here?”

  “Gretchen,” gasped Carol. ”Quickly, come in and shut the door.”

  The young German woman stepped into room and closed the door.

  “Good evening,” she said quietly. “I am very pleased to have found you.”

  “How did you escape?” asked Stuart.

  “How did you know we were here?” added Carol.

  “I have my sources. And of course, you will remember that I too am an accredited member of Fightback.”

  The harshness in Gretchen’s tone and a change in her speech pattern caused Stuart to ask carefully, “Were you sent here with a message?”

  “Yes, in a manner of speaking.” She laughed and in a rapid movement reached into her shoulder bag and produced a small Walther PPK pistol. “Both of you stand back against the wall. Now!”

  “You traitor,” hissed Carol. “Susan was right. She never trusted you.”

  “Easy, Carol,” said Stuart quietly. Watching the German woman intently he moved slowly back against the wall. “Just do as she says.”

  “That’s the intelligent thing to do, Stuart.” Gretchen repeated her short, mirthless laugh. “After al, your choices are somewhat limited.”

  “Your English has shown a remarkable improvement,” replied Stuart. “And I’m sure it’s not due to your being a linguistic genius.”

  “Your perception does you credit,” she responded sarcastically.

  “And your being a Jew? Was that also a lie?” asked Carol.

  “Me? Jewish?” She spat on the floor.

  “Was it through you that the soldiers knew we were going to try and rescue the professor?” asked Stuart coldly.

  “Yes,” she replied. Her pistol hand was steady. “But when you escaped and took us to your headquarters I decided that my inside knowledge would be very useful to my people.”

  “And Sophie? Was she in on it?”

  “Sophie?” She gave a short laugh. “No. She never guessed. She was far too idealistic. Obviously it clouded her judgment.”

  “And Brendan? Was he part of your grand strategy?”

  Gretchen shifted slightly.

  “I was fond of him, of course. And I needed an ally in the Fightback group. He was the obvious one.” She gave a thin smile. “He was, as you say in English, ‘a pushover’.”

  “And the attack on the farmhouse. Did you help with that too?”

  Gretchen nodded.

  “You bitch,” whispered Carol. “All those people, our friends, now dead.”

  “There are always casualties in war,” replied Gretchen softly. Her voice rose. “But the sacrifices were necessary for the greater good of the Third Reich’s New Order.”

  Carol locked eyes with the German woman. Her voice was slow and deliberate.

  “Brendan is still alive.” In a barely audible whisper she added, “But as the result of his injuries, he’s gone permanently blind.”

  Gretchen’s left hand covered her mouth and her pistol hand began to tremor.

  “Take it easy, Carol.” Stuart’s voice was low.

  “Be silent!” Abruptly Gretchen gestured sideways with her pistol. “Both of you are to walk towards the door. You will then walk up the path to Princes Street. I’ll be right behind you.” The hoarseness in her voice betrayed her tension. “If you try to run I’ll shoot you-in the back if necessary.” She gestured again. “You first, Stuart.”

  Giving Carol a smile of reassurance that convinced neither of them, Stuart walked slowly to the door and opened it. The sun was reaching its nadir and the trees and buildings that dotted the grounds were casting long shadows.

  “Up the path.”

  Moved by a brisk breeze, the branches of the trees sent shadows flickering and dancing in erratic rhythms across the path and grass verges.

  Stuart, aware that Carol was close behind him, walked slowly, his eyes darting from side to side hoping to find some way of escape.

  “Gretchen!”

  A woman’s voice rang out causing the trio to stop and turn. From behind the gnarled branches of a tall pohutukawa tree a figure emerged and stood in the centre of the path.

  “Gretchen. Where are going with Stuart and Carol?”

  “Sophie,” gasped Gretchen. “We are, we are just going for a walk.”

  Gretchen’s PPK had moved close to her waist, concealing it from Sophie’s view.

  “There is no need for you to come. Stuart, tell her that she doesn’t need to come with us.”

  Sophie began to walk up the path towards them.

  “Gretchen, what’s going on?”

  Turning right around Gretchen thrust her pistol towards the advancing young woman.

  “Halt, Sophie. Nicht weiter!”

  Sophie stopped abruptly and stood staring at the pistol. Slowly she held out both her arms and began to walk forwards.

  “Gretchen. Was ist los? Du kannst nichts----.”

  Just as the pistol shot sounded Carol leapt forward shouldering Gretchen sideways. The German girl stumbled off the path, tripped and landed heavily on her back. Instantly Carol seized her right wrist. Cursing in German Gretchen tried to free her pistol arm, at the same time flailing at Carol with her left fist. Leaping across the path to assist, Stuart found it difficult to distinguish between the two sets of writhing arms in the rapidly fading light.

  Ignoring Gretchen’s flailing fist, Carol began trying to force the pistol into the air.

  Abruptly she was knocked sideways by Sophie who had come stumbling forward and flung herself across Gretchen, pinning the pistol between them.

  The German girls’ bodies muffled the sound of the second shot. Gretchen gave a brief gasping cry, her right leg twitched rapidly and abruptly she lay still. Stepping quickly forward, Stuart took Sophie by the shoulders and began to gently lift her up as Carol also scrambled to her feet. Sophie’s body was limp and heavy and her breath was coming in increasingly rapid gasps as he began to wrap his arms around her waist.

  “God, Stuart. Look at her.”

  A dark stain was spreading across the front of Sophie’s white blouse.

  “It must have been the first shot,” whispered Stuart. “Yet she had enough strength of will to stagger forward and try to assist you by falling onto Gretchen.”

  As gently as possible they laid Sophie down in the shadow of a nearby tree. A pale shaft of moonlight fell across her face. She coughed and then reaching up, gripped Carol’s arm.

  “Is she, is she dead?” she gasped, between ragged breaths.

  “Gretchen? Yes. She’s dead. The shot hit her in the throat.”

  “I’m sorry,” whispered Sophie. “I did not know that she would betray us.”

  Carol placed her hand on Sophie’s forehead.

  “You are not to blame.”

  “The Nazis. They corrupt everybody and everything.”

  “Sophie, there’s no need to talk. We have to get help for you.”

  The sweat that had spread rapidly through Sophie’s dark hair was now forming a film across her face. She gasped, gritted her teeth and shook her head slowly from side to side.

  “No. You’re in too much danger. I am finished. When I joined Die weifß Rose I kne
w it would be dangerous. But I am glad.”

  She coughed again and a small trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

  “No, Sophie, you can’t die,” whispered Carol, the tears beginning to run down her cheeks.

  Sophie’s grip on Stuart’s hand increased and her eyes burning with a final intensity, stared deeply into his.

  “We have started to make a difference, nicht wahr, Stuart?”

  “Yes, Sophie,” he replied gently. “We have started to make a difference.”

  The faintest of smiles appeared momentarily then, with a deep sigh her eyes widened and her head collapsed backwards.

  “She’s gone,” said Stuart quietly, lifting Carol to her feet. “She was a very brave young woman.”

  Carol buried her head in his shoulder. He squeezed her tightly for a moment and, his face close to her ear, whispered, “We’ll have to go, Carol. Every moment we put ourselves in greater danger. Come on.”

  Taking her firmly by the hand he led her away from the bodies of the two young German women, down the path towards the old barracks wall.

  “We’ve still got time to make the rendezvous.”

  Carol stumbled, stopped, and leaned against the wall beneath an overgrown musket hole. The pale moonlight highlighted her reddened eyes and drawn features.

  “There’s no-one around. Yet, somebody must have heard the two shots.”

  “Maybe. But unless they’re part of the New Order, and are armed, the sounds would have sent them hurrying away.”

  “So where was Gretchen taking us?”

  “My guess is down Princes Street to the Northern Club to make a surprise triumphal entry with her two live trophies.”

  Carol shuddered. Reaching up she touched his face.

  “Stuart?”

  He glanced nervously around.

  “Carol, we should be making tracks. The Waitakere Ranges Fightback people will be at the rendezvous any time now.”

  “I know.” She looked at him intently. “I believe that we’ll win in the end, but I’m scared for both of us.”

  He opened his mouth to speak but she gently she placed the tips of her fingers on his lips.

  Her voice was soft. “Just tell me again that we’ve promised to look after each other.”

  Reaching up he took her face between his hands.

  “Yes, Carol, whatever happens I promise I’ll always look after you.”

  The warmth of her smile was spontaneous.

  “Me too.”

  As the chiming of a distant clock sounded a light rain began to fall. Hand in hand, they moved quickly through the university grounds and emerged onto the dark glistening street.

  Author’s Note

  Many of the characters in Uncommon Enemy are fictional. However, a number of historical figures have been woven into the plot. The following is a brief summary of each of them – in the order in which they appear in the story.

  Peter Fraser

  New Zealand Prime Minister 1940 - 1949. Fraser was a self-made man from a poor Scottish family who immigrated to New Zealand in 1911. Opposed to New Zealand’s participation in Word War I, he was arrested and imprisoned for a year due to his opposition to conscription. However, on becoming New Zealand Prime Minister in 1940 he introduced a number of wartime measures including conscription and press censorship.

  Walter Nash

  After serving as Minister of Finance in the governments of Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser, Nash served as New Zealand Prime Minister from 1957 to 1960.

  Joachim von Ribbentrop

  A vain man and a favourite of Hitler, he was instrumental in bringing about the Nazi Germany-Soviet Union Pact in 1940 – broken by Hitler with the invasion of Russia on June 22 1941. At the end of World War II he was among the members of the Nazi hierarchy that were tried by the Allies at Nuremberg. His arrogance gone, he cut a sorry figure and was the first of his comrades to be hanged on 15 October 1946.

  Sir Ernest Davis

  Mayor of Auckland 1935 – 1941. A wealthy Jewish businessman who made his fortune from brewing, he was a key figure in the horse racing industry. He received his knighthood for his extensive charitable donations.

  Klaus von Stauffenberg

  Born into an aristocratic Prussian family, he was a man of considerable charm, an outstanding scholar and successful soldier. Disillusioned with the Nazis - he was never a supporter of their anti-Semitism-he was a key figure in the unsuccessful bomb plot to kill Hitler on 20 July 1944. The German Führer survived, Von Stauffenberg was arrested the following day and executed by firing squad. (His wife Nina Schenk von Stauffenberg died on 5 July 2006, aged 92.)

  Sophie Scholl

  A student of philosophy and biology at Munich University, she and her brother Hans were members of the student resistance organisation Der weiße Rose (The White Rose). Arrested for distributing anti Nazi pamphlets, she and Hans were tried and be-headed on 18 February

  1943. Prison officials and others who witnessed her execution, commented on her courage. Nowadays, in Germany, she is a highly respected historical figure.

  Other notes of historical interest:

  German Anti-Nazi Resistance Groups

  Although The White Rose is probably the most well known, other German groups who opposed the Hitler’s regime included Edelweiss, a Catholic student group founded in Bavaria prior to the outbreak of war, the Werner Steinbrink Movement, the Alfred Schmidt-Sas group, Die Meute (The Pack – as in hounds) in Leipzig, the Kittlebrach Piraten in the Ruhr, and the Verbrand in the foothills of the Alps. Resistance was difficult and reprisals were swift and savage for the courageous members of these and other groups and individuals.

  Non-Germans in the German Army

  During World War II hundreds of thousands of foreign volunteers swelled the ranks of the German army, serving as front line soldiers or in supporting roles such as drivers, sentries or storekeepers. Soldiers from Denmark and Norway fought in the SS Standarte Nordland division, Dutch and Belgians in the Westland division and thousands of Russians and Ukrainians served the German army under Russian general Andrey Vlasov. Of particular note were the Cossacks (forcibly repatriated to the Soviet Union at the end of the war) and the French Charlemagne Division (part of the Legion des Volontaires Francais) who fought with distinction in the 1945 Battle for Berlin.

  Nazi Germany Atomic Research

  Fission, the basic process that makes nuclear weapons possible, was first discovered in Berlin in December 1938 by a team led by German physicist Otto Hahn. Members of the scientific community outside of Germany thought that the Nazis would be the first to build nuclear weapons and in August 1939 émigré Albert Einstein warned President Roosevelt of the threat. The threat increased when Germany overran Western Europe, capturing ample supplies of uranium in Belgium, and the Norsk Hydro Plant in Norway that produced heavy water. In response, Roosevelt launched the Manhattan Project that developed the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although, during the war, Germany was the first nation to develop and use jet fighters (Me-262s) cruise missiles (V1s) and ballistic missiles (V2s) it was overtaken in atomic bomb research by Britain and the USA. The reasons for this are still disputed by scientists and historians – highlighted by the publication in 2005 of a new book Hitler’s Bomb by Berlin historian Rainer Karlsch who claims that the Nazis actually conducted three nuclear weapons tests during the war.

  Die Fahne Hoch (Raise High the Flag)

  The origins of this Nazi anthem are described in Chapter 16. An interesting historical footnote is that Horst Wessel’s song was based on an old folk tune common in Northern Europe. Years later the same folk tune was used as the basis for the Christian anthem How Great Thou Art.

  Acknowledgements

  Some writers work in isolation, keeping their work concealed until it is presented to a publisher. In my case I found the assistance of family, friends and colleagues invaluable. Even though I didn’t always accept their advice, their honest comments were always stimu
lating and thought provoking, and greatly assisted me in the crucial process of maintaining an objective perspective.

  For their frank and useful comments on the content, and the perils of publishing special thanks to Brad Bradley, Clive Brown, Diane Brown, Lyn Brown, Alan Dormer, Cathy Dunsford, Graeme Lay, John McKenzie, John Morton, Christine and Paul Parker, John Paton, Gary and Anne Jenkin, Philip Temple and Frank Wallace. For their assistance with German history and language, thanks to Henrike Hepprich, Alan Kirkness, Jennifer Moeckel, Stefan Resch and Karsten Schwardt. For their perspectives and experiences of the wartime generation, thanks to Mervin Brown and Margaret Dawson. For his creative ideas on the cover design, thanks to James Menzies. For the perspective of the newer generation, thanks to my boys Karney, Christian, Shane and Justin. For advice and guidance on matters military, thanks to Brian Hirst and John Phipps. Thanks also to other family members including Patrick Jackson, Cherry Reynolds and Dean Reynolds for their help and encouragement, and finally to Bess, my wife and best friend, for her on-going support, and for always helping me to keep my feet on the ground.

  And to all my friends, neighbours and colleagues that have been part of my life on the North Shore, thanks for the memories.

  Sources

  Researching background material involved drawing on my own knowledge of New Zealand, and in particular the North Shore where I grew up. Visits to East and West Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Russia in 1966 had sparked my initial interest in the issue of German occupation. During my research, a European trip that my wife Bess and I took in 2004-5 to cities such as Berlin, Dresden, Prague and Warsaw added considerably to my insight.

  As well as numerous documentaries and feature films a number of books proved particularly valuable in the course of researching for Uncommon Enemy.

  They included:

  Laurie Barber, War Memorial: A Chronology of New Zealand and World War II, Auckland, Heinemann Reed, 1989

  Michael Basset, Tomorrow Comes the Song: A Life of Peter Fraser, Auckland, Penguin, 2000

  Anthony Beevor, Paris After the Liberation 1944 – 1949, London, Penguin, 2004