The Secret Letter

by Debbie Rix

  He sat with his head in his hands as Magda recounted the horror of that night.

  ‘Two of them escaped, at least I thought they had at first. Then I found one of them down an alley – he’d been beaten to death. But one is still missing. When I first saw you in the barn, I thought you might be him. If he’s still alive, God knows what state he’ll be in.’

  ‘I must look for this man. He must be around somewhere. Have you heard that he’s been caught?’

  ‘No. I’ve heard nothing. But to be honest, I’ve not been back to the village since that night. I did my best to protect them but I failed. Now I’m a little scared. The villagers are angry about all the bombing and destruction round here. If you go there, I worry they might kill you too.’

  ‘That’s just a risk I’ll have to take,’ said Freddie. ‘I’m very grateful to you, but I can’t stay here any longer, dodging my responsibilities. Apart from anything else, I’m putting you all in danger. I ought to go and see if I can find this missing chap, as well as my own crew.’

  ‘But you don’t know where to look,’ protested Magda. ‘Let me come with you.’

  ‘Magda,’ Käthe said. ‘No.’

  ‘Your mother’s right,’ said Freddie. ‘I’m really grateful, but you can’t come with me. You’re a civilian and you have a baby.’

  ‘Oh, the baby will be all right with my mother,’ said Magda, defiantly. ‘And I’m practically a soldier myself. I was in the resistance, remember.’

  She could tell he was wavering.

  ‘Besides,’ she went on, ‘I know all the places where they might hide. There are lots of woods round here. If your crew, or the missing airman, have any sense they’ll be there.’

  Half an hour later, dressed in his full uniform, his hair combed, his face washed, Freddie came down into the kitchen, followed by Magda wearing her old trousers and hiking boots.

  ‘You look very smart,’ Magda said.

  ‘Well – I’m on duty,’ said Freddie.

  ‘I’m coming with you,’ she said.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘All right then. And thank you.’ He turned to Käthe and shook her hand. She smiled faintly. ‘Thank you so much,’ he said. ‘Vielen Dank. You’ve been so kind. I won’t forget it.’

  Magda translated for her mother.

  ‘And I’ll send Magda back before nightfall,’ Freddie went on. ‘If she can just show me a few places where they might be hiding, I promise I won’t let anything happen to her.’

  Pieter came into the kitchen carrying his shotgun.

  ‘Here,’ he said to Freddie. ‘Take this.’

  ‘No – I couldn’t take that,’ said Freddie. ‘It’s yours.’

  ‘I’ll take it,’ said Magda, opening the gun expertly and peering down its sights.

  ‘There are spare bullets in this box,’ Pieter said to her. ‘Put them in your pocket.’

  ‘Come on,’ Magda said to Freddie. ‘Mutti, look after the baby. Give her some milk if she’s starving. I’m sure she’ll take a bottle if she’s hungry enough.’

  ‘Take this with you,’ said Käthe, handing Magda a small package, wrapped in a cloth.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Magda.

  ‘Food!’ said Käthe. ‘For the airmen.’

  ‘Thank you, Mutti.’ Magda kissed her mother and stuffed the package into her jacket pocket.

  ‘We’ll check the woodland opposite the farm, first,’ said Magda, leading Freddie down the farm track. ‘I had a camp there when I was a child. It’s hidden from the road and no one goes there.’

  As they approached the road, a German tank rumbled past, heading for the village. Magda waved cheerfully at the tank driver, while Freddie ducked down behind the low stone wall. Magda crossed the road, and when she was sure the tank had gone, gave him the all-clear. Together they slithered down the muddy bank towards Magda’s old camp.

  ‘There’s a river running at the bottom,’ she told Freddie. ‘That’s what makes it a good place to hide – there’s water, fresh fish, some protection from the weather. It’s where I’d go if I had to disappear.’

  At the bottom of the hill, in the clearing where she had made camp so often, there was evidence of a recent fire.

  ‘Look,’ she said, ‘someone has been here. It could just be a vagrant. Spread out – let’s see what we can find.’ About ten minutes later, Freddie called out. ‘Over here. I think I’ve found him.’

  A young man in RAF uniform, his feet bare and bloodied, was huddled beneath the roots of a vast oak tree. He looked frightened and exhausted.

  ‘It’s all right,’ said Freddie softly. ‘I’m here now. I’ve just escaped from a camp nearby. What’s your name?’

  ‘Tom,’ the airman said, recoiling as Magda walked towards him, the gun over her arm.

  ‘All right Tom. Now, don’t worry about this girl – she’s on our side. Look here… we’ve got some food.’

  Magda handed Tom the food parcel. He opened it nervously, then ate ravenously. He looked at both of them from time to time, with terror in his eyes.

  ‘We should take him back to my house,’ said Magda.

  ‘I’m worried about your family,’ said Freddie. ‘There are Germans crawling about everywhere. What if someone came and searched your place and found him? You’d be in terrible trouble.’

  ‘We’ve managed before,’ said Magda. ‘And as you say, the Allies are close now. Come, we’re wasting time. Let’s get him back to the barn. He can’t go on much further, anyway – not without boots.’

  Back at the farmhouse, Magda came running into the kitchen. ‘Mutti, Mutti… We need more food. We found the man who escaped from the mob the other night. It’s a miracle he’s alive.’

  ‘Oh God,’ said Käthe, ‘where is he?’

  ‘In the barn – we’ll keep him in there for now,’ Magda said, as she ran upstairs.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Käthe called after her. ‘The baby needs feeding.’

  ‘All right,’ Magda yelled down the stairs. ‘I’ll come down in a minute.’ She returned to the kitchen carrying a pair of Karl’s old boots.

  ‘What are you doing with those?’ Käthe asked, handing her the baby.

  ‘Well, Karl doesn’t need them, and Tom has no shoes. I hope they fit.’

  Back in the barn, Magda bathed Tom’s feet, and offered him a bowl of warm milk and some bread and cheese. Soon, he lay down on a bed of hay and closed his eyes.

  ‘You try and rest, all right?’ Freddie said to Tom. ‘Magda and I are leaving now. I’ve got to look for my own crew. But her parents will look after you, and we’ll be back.’

  Tom nodded, sleepily.

  ‘I’ll take you to the woods on the other side of the village,’ said Magda, as they hurried down the farm track together. ‘You might find your people there.’

  As they crossed the fields heading for the woods, they heard the distant sound of shelling.

  ‘Is that German gunfire?’ Magda asked nervously.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Freddie. ‘Could be the Americans – or both, more likely. Not much we can do about it now.’

  They combed the dense woods for more than an hour, but found nothing.

  ‘It’ll soon be too dark to find anyone,’ Magda said as dusk began to fall. A herd of deer gathered nearby, nervously keeping their distance, nibbling at the low branches of trees.

  ‘I know, and I promised to have you home before dark,’ said Freddie.

  ‘Oh don’t worry about that. I’m fine. Let’s just keep looking.’

  Nightfall, when it came, was like a dark blanket enveloping the wood. Only the pale light of a narrow new moon, filtering through the trees, made it possible to see where they were going. Magda heard an unfamiliar crackling sound – something heavier than a deer crunching across the forest floor. Turning towards it, she saw the outline of a tall man holding a machine gun.

  ‘Don’t shoot,’ she said, her fingers fumbling for the shotgun. Freddie s
wung round.

  ‘Alec!’ he said, rushing towards the man. ‘Magda – it’s all right! This is my navigator, Alec.’

  ‘Freddie, me old mate! Am I glad to see you! We’ve been hiding out here for days.’

  ‘Are you all here?’ asked Freddie.

  ‘Pretty much. Bob, Mike, Bill, Roger – we’re all here. Come and join us, we’ve got a little camp together.’

  Freddie went round the group, shaking hands, slapping the men on the back. ‘I’m so relieved to see you all. This is Magda, by the way; she found me in her barn. Her brother is fighting for the British.’

  The young men gathered around Magda, and shook her hand. ‘Good to meet you,’ they said.

  ‘We’ve just left another one of our chaps with her mother,’ Freddie continued. ‘Another crew were murdered here the other day, but this guy somehow got away. He’s in a bit of a state.’

  ‘My God,’ said Alex, ‘that’s terrible.’

  ‘Come back home with me,’ Magda said. ‘You can all stay in the barn tonight. Have some proper food. Then tomorrow you must do whatever you think is best.’

  ‘We have to take the village,’ Freddie said to his crew.

  ‘We’ve got no guns,’ said Alec.

  ‘What’s that then?’ asked Freddie, pointing at the German Bren gun.

  ‘Oh this. I nicked this, but it’s empty. Still, it looks quite threatening, doesn’t it?’

  ‘It does Alec, it certainly does. You fooled me, anyway. Come on then. Let’s go back and regroup. Then tomorrow – well, tomorrow will take care of itself.’

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Färsehof Farm

  April 1945

  The following morning the seven airmen sat around the kitchen table eating breakfast and planning their approach.

  ‘There was a lynching in the village a couple of weeks ago,’ Freddie explained to his friends. ‘The locals are angry, so we need to be careful. So far we have one gun with no ammo, but on the plus side, the Allies are just over the hill to the west. If I can reason with the mayor, or whoever’s in charge, and make them see that there is no purpose in fighting on – we might stand a chance.’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ said Magda, sitting down at the table with her cup of coffee.

  The men looked at one another.

  ‘We can’t let you do that, Magda,’ Freddie said. ‘It’s not safe. You’ve been very kind, but your duty surely is here… with the baby?’

  ‘I can help you. I can explain things to them,’ she argued. ‘Tell them that fighting now is useless.’

  Käthe pulled her daughter away from the table.

  ‘You are not to go. The villagers will never forgive you for colluding. They are angry, Magda. They might lynch you too.’

  ‘These men need me, Mutti. Freddie is sure the war is nearly over. The Allies are so close. I won’t put myself in any more danger than I need to, I promise.’

  Her mother picked the baby up from her cot.

  ‘And Michaela?’ she said holding the child out to Magda. The baby wriggled her legs excitedly, and held her arms out to her mother. ‘What happens to her if you’re killed?’

  ‘That’s not going to happen,’ said Magda bravely. ‘But if it does – she has you and Papa.’

  The airmen shuffled out of the kitchen and gathered in the yard. They watched as Magda hugged her mother in the doorway, stroking Michaela’s cheek, kissing the top of the baby’s head. Then, slinging her shotgun over her arm, she joined the men.

  ‘Are you sure about this?’ asked Freddie. ‘The last thing we want is to put you in unnecessary danger.’

  ‘You won’t. It’s fine,’ said Magda. ‘Let’s go.’

  Crossing the fields on their way to the village they clung to the boundary hedges to avoid being spotted. Explosions and the sound of shelling ripped through the air from time to time.

  ‘Is that our boys, or the other side?’ asked Bob.

  ‘Well we know the Americans are over that hill,’ said Freddie. ‘But I’ve spotted SS in the area, so we’d better watch out.’

  As they approached the outskirts of the village, it felt strangely deserted. Walking through the bombed-out village square, Magda noticed a few net curtains twitching as the airmen walked past.

  ‘Where is everyone?’ asked Roger.

  ‘Hiding inside,’ said Magda. ‘The mayor’s house is down here.’

  Tom hung back, anxiously, as the group walked down the lane towards the school – the scene of the lynching. Magda took his arm; he was shaking, she realised. ‘It’s all right, Tom – we’ll look after you.’

  As the group of men waited in the lane, Freddie marched up to the mayor’s door and banged loudly on it. There was a deafening silence.

  ‘Knock again,’ said Magda. ‘I know he’s in there. He’s scared, or drunk.’

  After a few minutes a bolt was slid back on the heavy oak door.

  ‘Who is it?’ The mayor’s voice was tentative, frightened.

  ‘It’s the RAF, sir,’ said Freddie, politely.

  ‘Open the door, Herr Weber,’ said Magda. ‘They’re not going to hurt you.’

  The mayor opened the door. He had a glass of schnapps in his hand and his red face was beaded with sweat.

  ‘I’ve come to tell you that I’m taking your village for the Allies,’ said Freddie. ‘If you fly a white flag, I guarantee your safety. This will become a neutral village.’

  The mayor frowned, his hands shaking.

  ‘The Allies are just over that hill,’ Freddie said gently, pointing towards the west. ‘It’s all over, sir.’

  Herr Weber nodded.

  ‘Do you have a sheet, or something you can use for a white flag?’ Freddie asked.

  ‘Wait a moment,’ Müller said, leaving his glass on the hall table, and stomping upstairs. A few minutes later a window opened above and he hung a white sheet out and over the windowsill, where it flapped in the breeze.

  ‘Excellent, thank you sir,’ Freddie called up to him.

  At that moment, a group of German soldiers came round the corner. Seeing the RAF officers, their hands moved swiftly to the pistols in their holsters, but Alec hoisted his empty Bren gun and pointed it at them.

  ‘Hände hoch,’ he ordered firmly. They dropped their hands to their sides, and Freddie walked calmly towards them.

  ‘Fighting is pointless,’ Freddie said, as Magda translated. ‘The war is over – you know that. The Americans are just over that hill. You can’t win now. The mayor has seen sense and is flying the white flag. Lay down your arms, and I guarantee your safety. I am taking control of this village for the Allies.’

  The soldiers, exhausted from years of fighting and lack of food, studied the young man. One by one they lay their guns down on the road, as Bob and Roger leapt forward and picked them up.

  As the men checked the guns, a German tank rolled down the narrow street, coming to a halt outside the mayor’s office. Once again, Freddie approached the tank commander.

  ‘I’m the senior officer in charge,’ he called out. ‘My name is Flight Lieutenant McMasters. Please lay down your arms – I’ve taken this village for the Allies.’

  The German tank crew looked at one another. They glanced up at the white flag and at the mayor, who stood in his upstairs window, surveying the scene. He nodded at the tank crew and they threw their handguns out of the gun turret, where they landed on the ground with a clatter; once again, Freddie’s men picked them up.

  At that moment an American tank rolled down the hill from the church and came to a juddering halt, facing the German tank. Freddie, sensing what might be about to happen, pushed his crew and Magda down into a basement, shouting ‘Take cover,’ just as the American tank opened fire. From their place of safety, the sound of the ensuing explosion overhead was deafening.

  ‘Is everyone all right?’ Freddie asked as he stood up, brushing off the brick dust and metal fragments from his uniform. He leapt out of the basement and ran across to the German
tank. The tank commander lay prostrate over the side of his gun turret. Freddie swung round and strode angrily towards the Americans. The tank hatch opened and the commander emerged, his pistol at the ready.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Freddie asked furiously. ‘I’m an officer with the British Royal Air Force and have already captured this town and accepted its surrender. Can’t you see?’ he said, pointing at the flag of surrender hanging from the window on the mayor’s house. ‘What’s that?’ Freddie asked, ‘the bloody washing?’ The American smiled, and shrugged.

  ‘It’s a bloody flag! That’s what it is,’ Freddie continued. ‘They had abandoned their arms. What the blazes have you done?’

  The American soldier stared, uncomprehendingly, at Freddie, who called up to the mayor, hiding in his upstairs bedroom.

  ‘Herr Weber, sir.’ The mayor peered over the windowsill of the upstairs window, the white sheet flapping in the wind, his eyes filled with terror.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Freddie told him. ‘That should not have happened. We will bury them – all of them – and give them a full military funeral, you have my word.’ Turning to Magda, he asked. ‘Can you do one more thing for me?’

  ‘Of course!’ she replied.

  ‘Go upstairs, and ask the mayor for another sheet and perhaps an old broom handle or something… I need to make a flag for us to take to the Allies over that hill. Can you do that for me?’

  She returned a few minutes later, with a second sheet tied to the handle of a broom.

  ‘Marvellous,’ said Freddie. ‘Now, Magda… you really should go home. Our duty is to remain here – I’m sure you understand that. We’re a small unit, but we have some weapons. And shortly, we’ll get the Allies’ agreement that no further harm should come to the village.’

  ‘If you’re sure?’

  ‘I am.’ He took her hands in his. ‘Magda, I’m so grateful to you. If I don’t get a chance to see you again, I promise to try and find Michael. I’ll tell him what you and your family did for us. And how beautiful his daughter is.’