Opening Moves (The Red Gambit Series)

by Gee, Colin

  Other escaped prisoners had also made it northwards to the yard and they too added to the confusion.

  Despite the stormy conditions, they were all swiftly hunted down, with only the wounded Untersturmfuhrer left alive to tell the tale.

  In the morning, the guard commander would display the sixteen corpses and hand over the wounded prisoner to the NKVD officer who led the arriving guard detachment. He was given assurances that no German had escaped and that the only ones who had entered the yard lay before him. In a wish to escape blame and to make themselves look good, the guards immediately took the heat off Rolf and his comrades. In a time when acts of bravery went unrewarded and he knew his comrades would never know of it, the painfully wounded Untersturmfuhrer did not disclose the escape of some ten of his fellows, even when his other knee was rearranged by a heavy Nagant bullet at close range, followed by his elbows and his genitals. Mercifully, he was unconscious when the officer was finally satisfied and the fifth bullet took his life.

  The vodka he once carried had been consumed instantly by his captors.

  It is better to do one’s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins.

  The Bhagavad Gita

  Chapter 32 – THE RAILWAY

  0002 hrs Saturday, 4th August 1945, On eastbound train, Soviet Occupied Lower Austria.

  Even as the escapees were being hunted down all over the yard, the little train and its exhausted cargo slowly chugged its way eastwards and away from the immediate danger of detection. Rolf and Braun exchanged looks and the blowing out of the latter’s cheeks indicated how close he felt it had been for all of them. Rolf took a moment and looked around his exhausted comrades.

  “Is everyone ok here?”

  The hope in his voice very evident. Quickly it was established that no one in the wagon was hurt.

  Rolf took further stock of their possessions and discovered they had lost one of the bread bags as well as the canteen of vodka. A setback for sure.

  “Relax for a while Kameraden. I must think this through. Braun, Moeller, keep watch.”

  The two selected men took one side each and those who wanted a cigarette took advantage of the journey to enjoy a smoke. The truck was soon filled with tobacco smoke and lightly snoring men. The hypnotic sound effects of the rain and rail track produced a general feeling of well-being in all of them and it was almost relaxing, except for the small points that it was the dead of night, stormy and they were being hunted.

  As the minutes ticked by, those in the wagon started to become aware of the presence of particular odours, odours which most identified with death, namely faeces and blood. As they looked around the wagon, the dark was occasionally banished by a lightning bolt or a passing station, not much, but sufficiently for all to be aware that this wagon had been used to transport the dead, and that each bore on his hands and uniform, tokens of the former unfortunate occupants of the wagon.

  Just over forty minutes after leaving Gopfritz, the train slowed down and crawled into a small town, some twenty or so miles down the track eastwards from the drama in the rail yard. Pulling off to the left, the train drew to a halt on a short spur three hundred metres short of the station platform, which platform was dotted with Soviet military personnel. The fact that they were there and not hiding from the wind and rain caused some initial alarm but there appeared to be no interest in their little train.

  As if thrown by a single switch, every light in the vicinity was extinguished, the sole illumination being the occasional but now distant flash of lightning. Every prisoner was wide-awake and the tension in the wagon rapidly approached unbearable. It was impossible to tell if there were soldiers moving towards them but Rolf decided they should stay put. His mind immediately started to wander to the possibilities that lay open to the group if they were discovered.

  Moeller the Austrian suddenly became animated and pulled one of the others over to keep his lookout and then quietly approached Uhlmann with some news.

  “Sturmbannfuhrer, I am familiar with this town, or at least I know a little of the railway here.”

  That obviously got Rolf’s full attention and he was suddenly more focussed.

  “This is Sigmundsherberg. The other side of the Bahnhof there is a junction which splits in three directions.”

  “Don’t tell me Moeller. Berlin, Munich and Hamburg by any chance?” Said loud enough to draw smiles from all in the wagon, his weak attempt cut through some of the tension that was peaking as all waited to hear Moeller’s words.

  “Simply put, Herr Sturmbannfuhrer, left or straight ahead we are in trouble, right we can cope with. From memory, left goes to Wien and all places east. Straight ahead can also get you to Wien amongst other places, but also can take you south through the passes and into Italy. Right…” the voice suddenly almost soft with emotion, “Right can take us to München or on to Salzburg.”

  Rolf rubbed his chin slowly and nodded gently at the man in front of him.

  Placing his hand on his shoulder, he chose his words carefully.

  “Then we must trust in our luck that we go right, for all of us need to go home Alois. Salzburg is home for you yes?”

  “Yes….it has been so very long since…” Moeller’s voice trailed off as his mind wandered to happier times.

  Rolf clapped his hand on his shoulder and grinned.

  “Then we will go to Salzburg and have done with it.”

  Moeller, out of his short reverie, grinned and nodded.

  “Zu befehl Herr Sturmbannfuhrer,” and moved back.

  Moeller resumed his guard and was the first one to warn of an approaching train. The escapees kept their eyes firmly on the surrounding area but saw no one looking remotely interested in their little world. Rolf estimated the time at about 1am and it seemed reasonable to expect about four more hours of darkness before the dawn broke upon them in its full splendour. He calculated that it was still safer to stay put than to move off.

  A whispered warning prevented everyone from jumping as the door was gently slid back and Krantzschen, the man who had made it into the rear wagon, joined the group. He brought Rolf’s attention to the fact that two other trains were pulled over, almost as if waiting for something more important to pass by.

  Which they were of course, and that fact came home to all the watchers as the train Moeller had heard approaching slowly steamed past from the direction they had come and took the right hand track, which they hoped was heading towards Salzburg. Rolf was about to state that this was a good sign as it was likely they had been pulled over to let this one past.

  He never made that comment.

  What was carried on that train gave the watchers a moment’s pause. All of them had sufficient time on the Russian front to recognise the shape of Russian T34’s, even when buried under canvas tarpaulins on a dark night. Moreover, a train with twenty-one aboard was not moving about without reason. Twenty-one tanks represented a full Soviet tank battalion and moving a force like that was not done for the hell of it. It had purpose. Hardly had Rolf started to digest what he had seen than another train followed the same route. The unmistakeable shapes of twenty-one more T34’s slid by, immediately followed by yet another trainload, but this time carrying twenty-one IS-II types, a Soviet heavy tank with a beast of a 122mm main gun.

  Three trains in five minutes apart became six, then eight and finally the incredulous Germans spent nearly an hour witnessing seventeen trainloads of Russian materiel, from tanks through artillery onto troop transport, heading south-west down the track. One Katyusha had been wholly visible, as its protective tarpaulin had been carried away into the night.

  By the time the last train had passed, the waiting group of locomotives started to show more signs of life, and the nearest one to the junction slowly pulled forward with its load. Its progress was watched intently so the Germans could gauge what was likely to happen when it became their
turn. The large number of uniforms around the Bahnhof and surrounding area started to dwindle and none of them seemed remotely interested in the train now moving through the junction.

  The most important factor was now which way their train would turn. Any direction but southwest would bring a completely new set of problems to the escapees, but their luck held.

  As their train moved through and onto the south-west line Rolf risked a better look and was struck by the fact that, had he not witnessed it with his own eyes and known differently, he would now be looking at an apparently unimportant piece of railway network. Certainly not one that merited the attention of at least eighty heavily armed Soviet troops on a wet night such as this. Something was happening here and alarm bells were still ringing in his head.

  He moved back into the truck and found a number of others waiting expectantly.

  “What the hell is this all about menschen? The war is over and yet we see secrecy like this. What we have witnessed here is important enough to pass on, although, in truth, I’m not totally sure who we should try to tell or what we would say.”

  A number of quiet laughs accompanied Rolf’s obvious humour, for they all knew the answer to that. However, Shandruk put it into words.

  “Maybe it is just manouevre, maybe not. Either way, it is something the Russian wishes to conceal, therefore we have a duty to speak of it, and surely it must be the Americans we go to?”

  “And be imprisoned again?” came Braun’s angry words, echoed by one or two others.

  “Quiet Kameraden.”

  Rolf gave a moment for all to settle and focus solely on him.

  “Such decisions we cannot presently make. We must focus on escape, for it may be that we won’t be able to exercise choice over which enemy or friend we next encounter”.

  It was a fair point and making light of the situation obviously eased the immediate tension. Rolf continued after a pause.

  “What we must agree is not to speak of it to the communists if we are taken, for I think if we did we would guarantee a bullet in the head for each of us. So let us now concentrate on getting out of the Russian area and into whatever of Germany is left to us. Agreed?”

  No voices rang out, just nods of agreement, and the group just went back to what they had been doing.

  Krantzschen sidled up to Rolf, his voice low.

  “The other carriage is exactly the same as this one Herr Sturmbannfuhrer. A charnel house.”

  There was a distinctive whistle to Krantzschen’s voice caused by the absence of his two front upper teeth, victims of a vehicle accident in the Ukraine.

  He looked to see if anyone was watching and slipped a piece of cloth into Rolf’s hand.

  “I found this jammed in the door runner. I think it was what was preventing it from moving.”

  Even before Rolf’s eyes took in exactly what it was, he had a fair idea of what Krantzschen had pressed into his hand. He swiftly summoned Braun for his lighter and a quick flick of the wheel was sufficient for them to see a Major’s epaulette with its pink Panzer waffenfarbe trim quite clearly.

  The three of them exchanged looks.

  With that one object, all became clear to them.

  They had not been digging tank ditches.

  The gunfire at night was not part of Russian military manoeuvres.

  The increased numbers of trains were not bringing cargoes but German bodies from far afield.

  Rolf quietly and solemnly slipped the epaulette back into Krantzschen’s hand and squeezed it around the material firmly, both Braun and Krantzschen immediately understanding that the matter would not be discussed further. Krantzschen slid it back into his pocket for later disposal.

  The train progressed slowly through the silent and dark countryside, passing occasionally through sleepy villages, the names of which were softly called out by the watchers.

  Breiteneich.

  Horn.

  Rosenberg.

  The names kept coming.

  Another scare occurred as they ground to a halt in a larger siding area in order to permit another four trains to pass by, these being mainly blacked out passenger coaches. However, there were enough glowing cigarette ends clustered on the ends of each coach to safely assume that each carriage was crammed with combat troops. The Russians followed the previous routine and extinguished all lights in the area but this time had them all back on by the time the fugitive’s train pulled through. The station was Krems-Donau and according to the platform clock, it was 0223.

  The little train rattled slowly on and those looking out of the left-hand doorway absorbed the comforting vision of the dark waters of the Danube slowly flowing eastwards.

  At Groisbach their train slewed into a siding and the whole secretive process was repeated, this time with five trains passing slowly by, their military cargo all too apparent.

  The final time they were forced to concede the track to military trains they were just west of Marbach, and this time only three trains moved past them.

  Sunrise was seemingly delayed by the rain but the gradual arrival of the morning sun seemed to turn off the tap and both wind and rain disappeared in an instant.

  After a longer than normal delay, their little train slowly started chugging its way onwards and, now that there was sufficient natural light, Moeller tried to draw a map in the dirt on the wall of the truck to help them all work out where they were and where they were going. Four men were detailed to keep an eye open, especially as the train had slowed down and was making extremely slow progress now.

  Kloss, the Kradschutzen Leutnant positioned at a hole on the offside front corner swore audibly and called Rolf to him with some urgency. The hole was large enough for two to look out of and so they both had a grandstand view of a heavily camouflaged railway siding within a wood adjacent to the mainline. Both noted that the trains that they had seen slide past them that very morning were concealed under the vast green awnings.

  Of as much interest was the fact that there were at least forty such trains in total, parked in what was rapidly appreciated as a huge area of clear land which was intended to represent woodland. Certainly, any aerial view of the site would see nothing but a vast wooded nature reserve for birds and deer, and no aerial observer would have any idea of the huge amount of tanks, guns, and men underneath the canopy of natural leaves and camouflage netting. Large numbers of Russians were moving about the area, obviously stretching their legs and enjoying an early breakfast. Kloss pointed out a cooking facility that produced no smoke, supplying a line of eager riflemen and tank crew.

  It was also apparent that the Russians even removed the spur of rail track that led into the sidings, as Rolf glimpsed a pile of track under a roof on what was supposed to look like a cottage from above. At the other end of the site, a similar building had been erected, obviously where the track was stored prior to being put in place so the trains could continue their onward journey. The switchgear for the dismantled points clearly lay under some false bushes constructed adjacent to the track.

  In total, the watchers considered that they had just seen the entire tank, anti-tank and artillery strength of a Guards Mechanised Corps, parked up trying hard to look like a harmless Austrian wood. That was being done for a reason. Uhlmann consulted with the Brandenburger and a 12th SS Division staff Hauptsturmfuhrer, both of whom had intelligence credentials.

  It did not take them long to arrive at the conclusion that what they had seen was a clandestine all-arms attack force moving up towards its start position, wherever that may be. The lack of visible facilities to disembark the vehicles made them believe that the final destination was further forward. In addition, no facility such as that secret area would be built just for training purposes. That was something put together for the real deal.

  The inescapable conclusion was that the Soviet Union was definitely about to carry the war forward and assault the other half of Germany, and probably beyond. Bringing in the Austrian, the conversation continued regarding where exac
tly the Russians intended to attack but quickly moved into how this might affect their possible transit into a zone held by more friendly and understanding enemies, and then, by natural progression, came once more to their obligation and duty to pass on this knowledge.

  By common assent, after long years of combat in the name of Fuehrer, Fatherland and Folk, their temporary respite as prisoners was brought to a stunning halt. Without a doubt, they now did have an obligation to carry this news to the Western Allies in order to protect the part of Germany that lay under their control. Any German government that existed would be bound to resist the Russians and certainly would assist the Americans and British in any way they could as the lesser of two evils.

  Rolf called on everyone to listen in, and summed up the situation in a few direct sentences. To the credit of every man present, they all instantly understood the responsibility they held to get through with this intelligence, no matter what.

  The moment of decision was interrupted by the jolt of their train as it came to a halt. The watchers quickly allayed any fears and reported nothing of concern. One even spotted the name of the town on the front of a shop some way off the track.

  It was Persenbeug, a fact reinforced by the lofty presence of the grand Schloss Persenbeug perched atop its rocky outcrop, with its well-known almost eastern style dome sitting atop the grand tower, on which the clock indicated 0520 hrs.

  Schloss Persenbeug was directly to the south of the small siding in which their train had stopped. Unchanged from the pictures most had seen of it, its sheer white walls and red rooves stood guard over the river that ran alongside it.

  The sweetness of seeing such a welcoming structure was swiftly lost as Braun urgently informed the group that the engine was being uncoupled. They had reached the end of the line.