Secret in the Clouds

by Christopher Cummings

  “Shouldn’t they? I mean they were at war weren’t they?” Judy asked.

  “No. According to international law at the time they had to raise their own flag before opening fire,” Graham replied.

  “What happened?” Willy asked.

  “The Sydney and the Kormoran, a ship like this Kondor, fought a battle and both sank. It was in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. From memory a few hundred Germans survived but none from the Sydney. That was about six hundred men killed.”

  “Six hundred!” Marjorie gasped. “That is horrible!”

  “How many men were on these things?” Judy asked.

  Andrew quickly scanned the papers, then read, “On the Kondor? About four hundred.”

  “That’s a lot,” Judy said.

  “They have four or five thousand on one of the new American aircraft carriers,” Stephen replied.

  “What about the planes?” Graham asked. “How many did it carry?”

  Andrew again consulted the notes. “Two, both Arado 196s. But they weren’t launched by catapult. It says here they had to be hoisted out of the hold by a crane and lowered onto the water. They then took off normally, providing the sea was calm enough. When they returned they landed on the water and were hoisted back aboard.”

  “I wonder where their other plane is,” Roger said.

  Willy shook his head. “Oh Roger! Fair go! It probably just got carried back to Germany,” he said.

  For a moment the horrible thought that the second plane might also be crashed on the mountain side crossed Stephen’s mind. ‘No, not likely,’ he told himself.

  “Does it say how the plane came to crash in North Queensland?” Peter asked.

  Andrew leafed through the pages and then shook his head. “It might. I’ll have to read all this first. It is a summary of the Kondor’s voyage.”

  “What happened to it?” Judy asked.

  Andrew flicked to the last page of the summary and quickly read, then said, “It says here she made it safely back to Germany in October Nineteen Forty One but struck a mine while transiting from Keil to Gotenhafen. She was so badly damaged she never sailed again and was sunk in harbour by British aircraft in Nineteen Forty Five.”

  Graham now sat and began to read his own copy of the summary. Andrew read on and Stephen sat listening, becoming more and more aware of Judy’s proximity and his own arousal. He suspected that Willy might also be aroused as Marjorie was still snuggling over his shoulder.

  The conversation drifted to comments about how little any of them knew about this chapter of Australia’s history until Andrew finished reading the summary. He then began reading aloud. “The Kondor was commanded by Korvetten Kapitan Dieter Albrecht. She sailed from Gotenhafen in October Nineteen Forty and went first to Bergen in Norway, then west across the Atlantic through the Iceland- Faeroes Gap, avoiding British patrols in bad weather. She then sailed south down the middle of the Atlantic till she had crossed the Equator before starting operations.”

  “That’s a long way,” Willy commented. “What did they do for fuel?”

  “She carried enough fuel for about a year,” Andrew replied. “She had diesel engines and could do about seventeen knots.”

  “What’s a knot?” Marjorie asked.

  “A nautical mile per hour,” Andrew replied, “About two kilometres per hour.”

  “Stop interrupting Marjorie. Go on Andrew,” Stephen asked.

  Andrew resumed reading. “The Kondor intercepted her first ship, the British freighter Port Dudley in December. The Port Dudley was sunk and the crew taken aboard as prisoners. Next they sank the Greek freighter Stella Mykonos off the Cape Verde Islands.”

  “Greek! Why were they sinking Greek ships?” Judy asked.

  “The Greeks were on our side I think,” Peter replied.

  Andrew went on. “They were. The Kondor next crossed the South Atlantic to near Argentina and sank the British refrigerated ship Thames Valley. After that they went right down to near the Antarctic Icecap and met up with a supply ship, the Ostmark. After refuelling and carrying out engine repairs Kondor sailed east into the Indian Ocean and went north till she found the Australian ship Albany Star, which she sank.”

  “Why are ships called she?” Marjorie interjected.

  “Because they had nice rounded curves in the old days?” Willy suggested.

  That drew everyone’s eyes to Marjorie’s cleavage and she giggled and said, “Oh it was not! You are just making that up.”

  “I am not,” Willy replied. “Would I fib to you?”

  Marjorie started to say yes but Peter interjected. “Save the domestic till later you two. Go on Andrew.”

  Andrew went on reading. “The Kondor then went south of Australia and sank the iron ore carrier Iron Range off South Australia. She then went south around Tasmania and up past New Zealand. From there she went West and passed into the Coral Sea in June Nineteen Forty One. Then she went back around New Zealand and west back to the Indian Ocean. She only sank one more ship, the Norwegian whaling ship Cetacean. She met up with the supply ship Nordmark south of the Cape of Good Hope and then went north and back to Germany.”

  “No reference to her using her aircraft in all that,” Peter noted.

  “No. I guess we have to get a more detailed account of her voyage,” Andrew agreed.

  “Where could we get that?” Roger asked.

  “One of those ‘Official Histories’ might have it, or there might be a book on German Raiders that covers it,” Graham suggested.

  “Let’s see if the Library has anything,” Peter said.

  “What’s the hurry?” Willy asked as both Andrew and Peter began to stand up.

  Peter answered, “I’m curious. What was the plane doing?”

  Stephen felt the same way but he now had a full erection and was afraid it would be obvious if he stood up so he remained seated, hoping it would go down.

  “Coming Steve?” Graham asked, as he stood up to follow Peter and Andrew.

  “In a minute,” Stephen replied, aware that he was blushing. When Graham’s eyes flicked to Judy and then back to him, and a grin crossed his face, Stephen blushed even more.

  Stephen now battled with his aroused body but without success. He tried to edge away from Judy and was able to finally move enough to avoid actual physical contact. He then steered the conversation back onto the German Raider and the aircraft until the bell for classes went. By then his arousal had thankfully subsided and he was able to stand up and make his way to class.

  There he met up with Graham and was told that the school library had nothing of any value and that a search of the Internet had revealed nothing much either.

  “We will have to try the University Library then,” Stephen suggested. “I will get my oldies to look for me.”

  After that the lesson began and the subject was dropped.

  That evening Stephen asked his parents to try to get books on German Raiders. He then settled to doing his homework, being disturbed only twice by phone calls. One was from someone his father described as a ‘Nazi nutter’ and the other from an aviation buff. Stephen also showed the photos to his parents and was relieved that they did not comment on the apparent likeness of the Leutnant to himself.

  That likeness really bothered Stephen, but also comforted him. It made him very glad he had saved the remains from being interfered with. The TV news had a short mention of the fact that the bodies had been recovered and were being flown back to Germany. ‘That’s good,’ he told himself. ‘Now maybe I won’t have horrible dreams.’

  He didn’t. For the first time in days he had a sound night’s sleep. In the morning he woke feeling fresh and happy. He went to school cheerfully and was glad to be with his friends. When the friends had gathered at their usual spot Willy showed him a book that had German WW2 badges in it. From that he was able to identify the lapel badges worn by Leutnant Schmidel. “He was an air navigator,” he commented.

  “You’d expect that on a seaplane,�
� Andrew said.

  Graham grunted. “Can’t have been very good if he flew into the only bloody mountain in the area,” he added.

  That comment really hurt and worried Stephen. “Don’t say that!” he cried. “The poor bugger is dead so don’t pick on him.”

  Graham looked surprised at his reaction. “OK, sorry! Keep your hair on Steve.”

  “Well, it’s not fair,” Stephen explained. “We don’t know what went wrong.” ‘Don’t speak ill of the dead,’ he thought but didn’t say it.

  “They would have been flying at night I reckon,” Peter said.

  “Why do you say that?” Andrew asked.

  “Because they were up to no good. They must have been on a clandestine mission over enemy territory,” Peter replied.

  “Yes, I wonder what?” Graham agreed.

  “We’ll never know,” Roger said. “Now, who’s coming to the bivouac this weekend?”

  The next weekend was the first of the cadet unit’s monthly weekend camps- bivouacs as they called them. This particular one was specifically to ensure the newly promoted corporals could navigate. As it was very important for the platoon commanders to know which of their section commanders was a good navigator Stephen had this firmly on his calendar. Thinking about it helped the day go faster. Stephen also used his spare time to finish the draft of his journal article and he gave this to Graham to read.

  “That is really good Steve,” Graham said, handing it back to him.

  After school Stephen went home and packed for the bivouac, then typed the article and printed it. His parents both read it and made a few suggestions and corrected a couple of English errors.

  “Thanks,” Stephen said. “Did you manage to get a book on the German Raiders?”

  “No,” his mother replied. “We have asked for a couple on Inter-library loan from Townsville and Canberra.”

  That night on the news there was another mention of the plane crash. It showed the remains of the two dead aircrew arriving at an airbase in Germany to be met by a guard of honour. Stephen found that quite moving to watch and he was even more glad to have found the wreck. The brief glimpse of the elderly relatives grouped at the coffins also helped him. ‘They are home now and can rest in peace,’ he told himself.

  That night he slept soundly and woke fit and ready for the bivouac. After breakfast his mother drove him to school to join the other cadets. Stephen happily joined the other CUOs and went to talk to the officers while the CSM and CQMS paraded the troops and organized them to get on the bus.

  The weather was overcast but the hope was that it wouldn’t rain. By 0930 they were all on the bus and headed out of town. The bivouac was to be in the Lamb Range State Forest beside the Kennedy Highway west of Kuranda. Stephen had been there several times before so did not pay any particular attention to the scenery. Instead he chatted, and told jokes and generally enjoyed himself.

  On arrival the platoons were each given their own area and set to work to put up shelters. Even though there were only five of six in each platoon the platoons were treated as being full strength as this built up their identity and cohesiveness. Stephen was happy with this as he was very proud to have his own platoon and to be ‘a big frog in a little puddle’.

  Lessons then began: revision on the Magnetic Compass, on taking bearings and on the mathematics of converting them from Magnetic to Grid and to Back Bearings. During the lesson on using the protractor Stephen became aware that Sgt Dan Russell was a bit slap-happy in his methods and that Cpl Tarah Hall was very unsure about how to use the protractor to measure a bearing.

  After lunch Capt Conkey briefed them for a short compass march and sent them off to walk up the nearby hill. By then it was drizzling rain but this did not bother Stephen. He just pulled on a raincoat and walked through the damp bush. Being summer it was very hot and he sweated heavily all the way. Stephen, Fiona and the HQ sergeant, Sgt Allison Broadfoot, were sent to set up a checkpoint half way up the ridge and that kept them busy for two hours. While they waited for patrols to come through Stephen became aware that the girls were muttering on about a couple of the teachers who were apparently misbehaving.

  As such activities were illegal Stephen said, “If they bother you why don’t you just complain?”

  Fiona looked pained and shifted uneasily. “Because..... because it isn’t that clear cut. Besides, it is always so messy and distressing when they investigate that sort of thing.”

  “That’s right,” Fiona agreed. “They make out like it was your fault, that you were teasing them and leading them on.”

  “Some girls do,” Stephen suggested.

  “I know, but this is more than that,” Fiona replied.

  “So complain,” Stephen said.

  “But so many people then get hurt,” Allison added, “Particularly if they are married and have families.”

  “Who is having problems?” Stephen asked.

  Fiona didn’t want to answer that but finally said, “All of us, but Barbara and Wendy in particular.”

  “Is it at cadets?” Stephen asked, knowing it was his duty as a CUO to deal with such things if they came to his notice.

  “Oh no! It is some of the teachers at school,” Fiona replied.

  “Which ones?” Stephen asked.

  Fiona shook her head and wouldn’t say, so Stephen changed the subject. They were saved from further embarrassment by the arrival of a patrol which came in from the wrong direction. In the subsequent enquiry as to how they had managed this navigational feat the topic was forgotten.

  The cadets then assembled on top of the ridge and each platoon commander took his own corporals one at a time to do a ‘Resection’ to find their exact position. One of the features they were given to take a bearing on was the Clohesy River Brickworks, the buildings of which were visible among the bush a few kilometres away to the East. Seeing them caused Stephen a flood of memories about the terrible night at a nearby gravel pit a few years earlier (see ‘Focus on Trouble’ by C. R. Cummings).

  “Too many dead people!” Stephen muttered to himself. For a moment he had the superstitious thought that he was somehow fated to cause or be involved in death. That sent his thoughts back to the plane crashes and the memories made him shiver.

  CHAPTER 10

  STEPHEN GETS ANNOYED

  It was raining heavily when they returned to the bivouac area. To provide more cover the QM issue more plastic shelters. Stephen rigged two as head-high horizontal sheets tied between six trees. This gave room to seat a dozen people under cover. With that much space Stephen invited his friends to join him. Fiona made more room by going over to sit with Barbara under her shelter.

  While the friends cooked their evening meal on their hexamine stoves they discussed the day and the rain. Roger then commented that it was even heavier than ‘when we found the plane last weekend.’

  That nettled Stephen a little. “What’s this ‘we’ Paleface?” he asked.

  “We helped,” Roger replied, although a little defensively.

  Stephen was about to snap sarcastically that Roger would have been flat out getting up the mountain but managed to hold his tongue. ‘He is getting fitter and losing some of his chubbiness,’ he conceded.

  Peter weighed in by adding that it was a team effort after all.

  Graham agreed. “It is certainly wetter this weekend,” he said.

  “Was it only last weekend? It seems a lot longer,” Stephen said. He marvelled that so much could happen in a short time.

  “What about going to Black Mountain next weekend?” Roger suggested. “I’d like to see the German plane.”

  “If there’s any of it left by then,” Stephen replied.

  “Oh there should be,” Roger replied.

  Peter looked up from stirring his food. “All the more reason to go soon, before souvenir hunters carry the lot away,” he added. “So, do we plan an expedition?”

  Stephen was hesitant about it and tried to think up an excuse. “I’ve got a lot of sc
hool work to catch up. There’s an assignment due in two weeks.”

  “Do it during the week,” Peter replied.

  “Easy for you to say,” Stephen said. He was mildly annoyed at that because Peter never seemed to do any schoolwork and never had trouble in class yet always got top marks.

  Graham then said, “My mum might not be too happy about me going camping three weekends in a row.”

  At that Roger made a face and nodded. “Yeah, I suppose you are right. But I’d still like to go there.”

  “You can go,” Stephen said. “We’ve been there. We can give you the Grid Reference.”

  “Why? Aren’t you up to climbing a mountain again?” Roger asked.

  Stephen snorted and pretended to be amused but secretly knew he was being a coward. ‘I’m scared of all those memories and ghosts,’ he thought unhappily.

  The conversation was then steered on to how some of the corporals had got themselves onto the wrong hill and then about the training program for that night. By the time the friends had eaten and cleaned their mess gear it was dark. The rain did not let up so Capt Conkey called them all over to where four plastic sheets had been rigged at HQ. Here they stood and were briefed for the night’s exercise.

  This was a simple triangular compass march in the dark, each leg being 200m long. Each platoon commander took their sergeant and corporals and went off into the night. The march was done without torches as part of their fieldcraft training. As Stephen had done a dozen similar exercises over the years it was no particular problem. He even found that the heavy rain and low branches effectively took his mind off the possibility of their being poisonous snakes in the bush.

  Each corporal navigated for one leg. When they arrived back at their start point they reversed the process and went back around the course on the back-bearings. During all this trampling through the bush in the dark there was a good deal of laughter and swearing. They also tossed good-natured jibes at the crew from 1 Platoon when they met in the dark, asking them if they were lost.