Devil's Guard- The Complete Series Box Set

by Eric Meyer

I nodded. “There could be trouble, yes, it depends how the men take the arrest of their CO.”

  “So what do you think will happen when you try to take him away?”

  “Either we’ll leave with him or without him,” I said airily. But it was nonsense, of course. If his men freed Stettner from arrest, he would not want us to leave the camp just to call up a squad of troops, possibly one of the Einsatzgruppen that fought the partisans, to storm in with the Gestapo and SD to re- arrest him. I was troubled about Heide’s safety, but I had few options. Leaving her out on the Russian steppe with a couple of men to guard her was not a good plan. When we drove back into the camp, my worst fears were realised, a crowd of soldiers was gathered around the barn, Wiedel was talking to them from the open doorway, Vinckmann was next to him.

  Voss pulled up the half-track behind them and we listened to Wiedel while I tried to decide on the best course of action. First things first.

  “Heide, climb down from the vehicle and go back over to the medical tent, no one will notice you and you’ll be safe there.”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m staying here with you.”

  “Heide, there could be some shooting!”

  “In that case you’ll need me more than ever, won’t you?”

  The typical female logic, they always seemed to get the last word.

  “Men, stay here and cover us, Mundt, I want you to come with me. Voss, you’re in command. For God’s sake look after Heide!”

  “I will, Sir.”

  We climbed down from the half-track and I pushed my way to the door of the barn with Mundt. There were no officers present, only troopers and NCOs, Wiedel nodded to me. Vinckmann looked very nervous and was sweating, even in the bitter arctic temperatures. I stared at the Der Fuhrer soldiers, “All right you men, what’s going on here?”

  A burly looking Scharfuhrer spoke arrogantly to me. “It’s damn all to do with you, Obersturmfuhrer, they’re trying to take our CO away and they’re not getting away with it.”

  “So you want to be an accessory to murder, do you?”

  He shifted nervously. “There’s no proof that the CO had anything to do with any murder, this is a war zone, we’re trying to kill Russians, not our own people.”

  I explained what had happened, that Merkel had confirmed all of it, but of course, Merkel was dead, his bloody body lying back along the track. Vinckmann shouted at them and told them to stand down but they ignored him.

  Wiedel stepped half out of the door, he had his Walther in his hand, his face was furious.

  “I’m telling you men to get back, how dare you interfere, this is a Gestapo matter. I could have you all arrested as accessories, now get back. We are taking Stettner away for trial and that’s final!”

  “No way,” the NCO shouted, “get them, men!”

  They surged forward, there must have been forty of them, far too many for us to deal with. Behind me I heard the loud ‘click’ of weapons being cocked, then a single shot rang out, I whirled around expecting to see more Der Fuhrer troopers threatening us with guns, but it was Hauptsturmfuhrer Max Mosel clutching a smoking Walther PPK pistol, he was at the head of a platoon of men, all armed with MP38s.

  “What the hell’s going on here?” he asked.

  “It’s this Gestapo shit and his friends, they’re trying to take the CO,” the NCO replied angrily.

  “Scharfuhrer, get back to your duties!” Mosel shouted angrily. “Standartenfuhrer Stettner has got a serious case to answer, are you men really trying to defend a murderer?”

  The NCO looked aghast. “You mean he might have done it?”

  “I certainly do, I have seen the evidence and he looks guilty as hell to me. Do you want to let someone who shoots his own men in the back go free?”

  They looked around at each other, there was a loud murmuring and shuffling of feet but the fire had gone out of them, Mosel’s passionate argument had won the day. The Gestapo had probably leaned on him, of course, but in this case it was justified, the arrogant bastard knew about the thefts and was as guilty as hell. The troopers drifted away with sheepish looks on their faces. Wiedel went back inside the barn, soon the door opened wide and they led Stettner out, still manacled. He was red faced with anger, shouting at his men, his voice hoarse.

  “You men, they’re trying to arrest me, your Commanding Officer, I need your help. Stop them!”

  When they turned away and ignored him it was a joy to see the bewildered expression on his face. We led him across to the half-track. I helped Heide down from the vehicle before he got in.

  “Sir, I’ll escort Nurse Thalberg back to the medical tent, I’ll be five minutes.”

  “No more than that, Hoffman,” von Betternich replied.

  I walked her across the camp. “What happens next, Jurgen?”

  “Oh, we’ll take him back to Division, I imagine that he’ll be sent to Berlin for trial as it’s such a complicated affair.”

  “I meant between us?”

  “Us?” Her question left me totally confused.

  “Well, I intend to get away as often as I can and come and visit. Will you be based permanently at Kharkov Hospital?”

  “Yes I will, at least for now. If the war changes things I could be moved elsewhere, who knows?”

  “I think this front may be static for some time, the Russians have taken a hammering and they’re in no position to mount any major offensives. Division needs to bring up spare vehicles and ammunition, as well as more men to cover the losses.”

  “Won’t the Russians be doing exactly the same thing?”

  I thought about that. “Yes, probably they will.”

  “So it looks as if you will have to do it all again.”

  “I’m sure we’ll beat the Russians, it’s just a matter of time.”

  She was thoughtful. “Jurgen, lots of people at the hospital say that we can’t win this war, that no matter how many Russians we kill, no matter how many tanks we destroy, they’ll just keep bringing up more and more until we’re smashed into the ground.”

  I didn’t know how to answer her, I tried to think of something clever to say, something that would defeat that argument, but I couldn’t.

  After a few moments, she said, “So it could be true, we could lose this war?”

  “Schh, don’t say that, my darling, it’s not the done thing to sound defeatist.”

  “Well perhaps if they are true we should say these things so that we can leave this miserable country.”

  “Heide, I have to go, I’ll be back in a few days and I’ll look you up in the hospital.”

  I kissed her passionately and we hugged each other. Then I broke away and went back to the half-track. The men carefully avoided my eyes, but they must have seen our embrace. Von Betternich was not so tactful.

  “Very touching, Hoffman, and such a pretty young woman, a credit to the Reich.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  I noticed that he was holding the gold crucifix. Would that find its way to some high-ranking Nazi, to be held in trust for the German people, I wondered.

  Voss started the engine and we drove away. Stettner sat in the back glowering all the way to Division, where we handed him over to the SD unit that based there. The two security men disappeared for half an hour to speak with General Hausser, afterwards they came back with us to our HQ to collect their things. When we arrived, Muller came straight out to greet us.

  “Gentlemen, how did it all go?”

  “Very satisfactory, thank you,” von Betternich said. “You heard about Merkel? No? Well, he was involved in the conspiracy, he won’t be returning to your unit, he was killed during the operation to arrest Stettner. They were in it together, they knew each other in Germany.”

  “So it’s all over?”

  “Yes, it is, Sturmbannfuhrer, all the loose ends are tied up.”

  “And what about my Schutzhaft?”

  “Rescinded, of course,” Wiedel said. “No need for any of that, you are free and clear.�
��

  “Thank goodness,” Muller said.

  “Just a little tip, Muller, General Hausser may well be paying you a visit sometime soon.”

  “Hausser? My God, I’ll need to make sure everything is in order.”

  He bustled off to start shouting orders to his clerk to make sure his paperwork was up to date. Von Betternich held out his hand. “Thank you for your invaluable help, Hoffman.”

  “You’re welcome, Sir.”

  “We’re always looking for good young officers for the SD, you could make yourself a valuable career with us.”

  It was a tempting offer. I had no wish to be a policeman, but I thought about what it could mean to Heide. I would have much more freedom to see her and with her rather radical political views, could protect her from the worst of the damage she caused herself. But would she want that? No, of course not, it was an organisation that people like her would fear and detest.

  The RSHA was the organisation that administered both the SD and the Gestapo, when Reinhardt Heydrich combined the police units they had various sections, including Amt IV, the Gestapo under Heinrich Muller. Walter Schellenberg became Chief of Amt VI, the Sicherheitsdienst-Ausland. Ernst Kaltenbrunner was named Chief of the RSHA by Reichsfuhrer Himmler after terrorists assassinated Heydrich. Their functions would include the investigation and imprisonment of anyone expressing views that were in any way critical of the Nazi Party, which would include defeatist talk about the war.

  I had little doubt that if I joined the SD she would tell me to go to hell. Besides, I wasn’t cut out to be a policeman, I was a fighting soldier, an officer in the elite of Europe’s armies, perhaps the world's. Except that I had serious misgivings about the war I had been sent to fight. I had no way of knowing the truth, back home in the Reich it had all seemed so clear. I served in the Hitler Youth rising to the rank of Oberscharfuhrer, I also did duty as a Flakhelfer, manning an 88mm Flak gun to defend our cities from the British and American gunners. Because of my early military experience, I’d been able to enter the SS as a junior officer and the day that we marched past Reichsfuhrer Himmler on our passing our parade, when I’d been awarded my SS commission was the happiest day of my life. I was a soldier, a warrior, about to be sent to defend the Fatherland from its many enemies.

  After only a short time, I already had strong doubts. When I had been defending the Reich it seemed so simple, they were bombing our towns and civilians, and we did our best to stop them. But now I was on foreign soil, fighting against an enemy that seemed unstoppable and after all, they were only defending their soil against us, a foreign invader. Even discounting the morals of our invasion of the Soviet Union, and there were surely many good arguments, we had clearly been misled. Just before leaving Germany, we’d heard so much about the heroic Sixth Army that was sweeping all before it at Stalingrad. Now it seemed that a quarter of a million of our soldiers were either dead, wounded or captives of the Russians, after all of the promises we’d heard, some from the Fuhrer himself, that Stalingrad had been captured. Then there were the stories of the sub-human Russians, cowardly soldiers who would run at the first sight of the German Army and SS. Yet I had seen them advancing in heroic human wave attacks, attacks doomed to fail with fearful casualties and still they came on. In short, I had been lied to. I felt like a mercenary, perhaps like one of the Hessians, German soldiers who’d sold their services to the highest bidder to fight in foreign wars, strangely many for the British. Was that my lot, to roam foreign battlefields bringing death and mayhem?

  “Hoffman, one moment, would you accompany me to the monks’ camp?”

  He was still holding the crucifix, I could hardly believe my eyes when he gave it to Bishop Demchak.

  “For you, Bishop. With the apologies of the Fuhrer that it was stolen from you. Our Leader understands it is important to you and your church, we will do our best to protect it in future from looting by our soldiers.”

  The Bishop looked totally stunned, too astonished to speak. The look on the faces of the monks was amazing, as if Christ had just descended to earth. Von Betternich just nodded and smiled and we walked away.

  “What the hell was that all about, Sir?”

  “Politics, my young friend. The Fuhrer has had protests from the Russian Orthodox Church about the theft of that cross, it means a lot to them. The SS is in the process of building an army of Russians who can be loyal to the Reich, the issue of the cross was threatening everything, Reichsfuhrer Himmler was very angry about the whole business. It was vital that we returned it and punished those responsible.”

  He explained further. “Look, Hoffman, our General Staff persuaded a certain Russian General, Andrey Vlasov, to become involved in aiding the German advance against the rule of Stalin and Bolshevism. Vlasov agreed , he even wrote a memo to our military leaders suggesting cooperation between anti-Stalinist Russians and the German Army. He was taken to Berlin under the protection of our propaganda department. Together with other captured Soviet officers, he has been drafting plans for the creation of a Russian provisional government and the recruitment of a Russian army of liberation under Russian command. He has even begun the foundation of the Russian Liberation Army. Together with some other captured Soviet generals, officers and soldiers, this army's goal will be to overthrow the Soviet state. A lot of our Russian prisoners, as well as soldiers who received Vlasov’s propaganda leaflets, are interested in becoming a part of his new army. It was all threatened by the theft of that damned crucifix. Bloody fools, all of them, but you see how important it was to get it back and stop all of this nonsense.”

  “Perhaps you should have told me, Sir, it would have made things easier to understand.”

  “You were told everything you needed to know to do the job required of you, Hoffman.”

  “And if the Reichsfuhrer hadn’t needed those Russians to join the SS?”

  He shrugged. “Priorities, Hoffman, that’s what war is all about.”

  “What about those officers who were murdered?”

  He spread his hands. “But they were criminals, my friend, just a band of thieves, hardly a task for the SD to concern itself with. I am sure the Gestapo would have dealt with them in due course.”

  I thought of all of the deaths, murders and misery that had occurred so that these people could play their games, games of politics and deception. A Russian army fighting for us, it sounded like a fairy tale. It all seemed such a waste, especially for me when all I wanted to do was to fight.

  “Hoffman, are you certain you won’t consider joining the SD? You really should consider it. You could make a fine career for yourself and of course, protect your friends. The SD always looks after its own.”

  “No, thank you, Sir.”

  “Very well,” he smiled, “just remember that I did make the offer, Hoffman.”

  What the hell did he mean by that, why wouldn’t this man just come right out and say what he meant? I felt confused about everything, who was my friend and who was my enemy? Did the SD and the Gestapo have that effect on everyone they associated with?

  My misery didn’t last long, I looked around the camp and saw my platoon grouped around our half-track. Damnit, I was an SS officer so whoever came up against us was going to have a fight on their hands. I was a member of the finest fighting elite in the world. If that wasn’t enough I had a girl who was one of the prettiest girls for five hundred kilometres, or maybe a thousand.

  “Right, men, what’s the deal with the half-track, are we fuelled up and ready to go for the next action?”

  “We’re attending to it now, Sir,” Mundt said.

  “Thank you, Scharfuhrer. And Willy, thank you for taking out Merkel, you saved my life.”

  “No problem, Sir, the little shit deserved to die.”

  “That he did, Scharfuhrer.”

  There was a sudden flurry at the entrance to the camp and a black limousine roared in, followed by a Horch armoured car. My God, I’d forgotten, General, or rather Obergruppenfuhrer und Gene
ral der Waffen-SS Hausser, commander of the SS Panzer Corps.

  “Men, get your kit, look smart, General Hausser is about to inspect us!”

  They jumped to it and threw on their kit, webbing, steel helmets, rifles and machine pistols made ready. Voss was hastily running a rag over the half-track to try and wipe off the worst of the mud and snow, I told him to give it up, he was only making it worse. We were called to attention in the middle of the parade ground.

  “Soldiers of the Deutschland Regiment, you have fought well for Kharkov and I’m sorry to say that the fight isn’t yet won. The Reds are regrouping to make a final push to take the city in its entirety and there’s going to be some hard fighting. The Fuhrer has made it clear that we have to hold the city at all costs. That may be so, but I won’t lose this Division the way they lost the Sixth Army at Stalingrad. Believe me, if the situation demands it, I will pull you out of the fight until I believe we have a chance of winning. So make sure that you are completely ready to fight and remember, however it goes, if we do have to pull back at all, it will only be to pull the Russians in so that we can counterattack and wipe them out completely. We are going to wipe the Bolsheviks off the face of the earth!” he shouted.

  The men cheered lustily. Then his adjutant gave him a box of medals and one by one, he pulled them out to award to officers and men for bravery on the field. I was half-asleep, I must have been, for Mundt nudged me.

  “They’re calling you forward, Sir.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  I marched forward and saluted smartly, “Heil Hitler”.

  “Obersturmfuhrer Hoffman, for bravery on the field in single-handedly destroying an enemy tank with a Panzerfaust, an extraordinary feat of arms, you are awarded the Tank Destroyer Badge and the Iron Cross, Second Class.”

  He pinned the medal on my chest and handed me the badge, my head was dizzy with exhilaration.

  “Congratulations, Hoffman.” He shook my hand.

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  “You’ve got a fine career ahead of you, Hoffman. Try and stay alive to enjoy it.”

  “Yes, Sir.”