Chapter 23

Germany. Spring 1943.

During 1943, almost one hundred thousand British and Allied soldiers were held captive in Italian POW camps.

It is not generally recognised that Jews fought with resistance fighters in the German occupied territories. In France, for instance more than a thousand Jews belonged to the resistance. Nearly all were found and executed.

Albert Speer, Hitler's architect, was responsible for the removal of more than thirty thousand Jews from the slums of Berlin. Speer had a grand plan to modernise Berlin's inner city. While Hitler had ordered Himmler not to liquidate Berlin Jews, the order arrived too late to save them.

Alex and Anna departed early for Goppingen, they parked on the main street after slowly weaving around a number of horse drawn farm carts.

"The farmers have run out of gasoline, I've never seen so many wagons in town before," Alex said.

"Stinking bloody war," Anna said softly, her voice full of venom.

"There's a big queue at the general store. Looks like they had the same idea as we did, I'll bet they all want candles," Anna said.

Alex managed to buy a dozen candles, the storekeeper would not sell more to each customer. Anna was passed a dozen but she spoke quietly to the storekeeper.

"I want to trade my milk or butter coupons for another dozen."

"I can't do that," he said openly as he pulled a paper bag and slid two dozen candles into it. Taking her ration card he took three butter coupons from it, each coupon representing eight ounces of butter. She then asked for coffee but the storekeeper told her that coffee shipments had ceased. He produced a large bottle from under the counter.

"I've been able to get supplies of a substitute, its in liquid form," he squinted at the label, "it's a mixture of coffee and chicory. My wife and I tried it last night. It's not coffee but it's a nice drink. We boiled some milk and put a teaspoon of it in each cup. I like it but my wife is a coffee fanatic; she has to drink it though because I can't get the real thing anymore."

"Give me two bottles, I'll try it," Anna said.

"I'm sorry madam, only one bottle per customer per week."

Anna watched as the storekeeper clipped two coffee coupons from her card after he slipped two bottles into her paper bag.

Anna enjoyed the storekeeper's attraction to her, 'What was it that Gerry said, yes, he wants to get into my pants, ' she thought.

Alex and Anna hurried away to their car and set off to Stuttgart. When they arrived two hours later, they purchased more candles and then went to the library.

The library referenced by a card system with thousands of cards housed in wooden drawers. Each card had a hole in the middle of the bottom edge. Cards were stacked loosely in a drawer a steel rod passed though the front of the drawer, through all of the cards and secured at the back of the drawer with a small padlock. This method prevented library users from taking reference cards or replacing them out of order.

They stood in front of hundreds of wooden drawers and searched using the index label on the front of each drawer. 'EA - EC' 'ED - EG' the index labels read. When they came to 'EI - EL' Anna took a small notepad and pencil from her purse.

Turning to Alex she said, "You find the references and I'll write them down."

Soon they had twenty rack and book numbers, they went searching and found three books close to one another, extracting them from the shelf they went to the reading area where they sat well away from other readers.

They read for two hours, fetching new books when they needed them.

"With all of the maps, it's difficult to take accurate notes," Alex said to Anna.

"This would be easy work for Erika," Anna said.

Leaving the library, they journeyed back to Goppingen. Alex made a detour to the pig farmer Fritz Siedel, Anna opened the farm gate but before she could wave Alex through, a car rounded the corner of his large barn. Driving quickly up to the gate, the driver arrogantly gestured for Alex to get out of the way.

Backing up, Alex let him pass then she proceeded through and Anna closed the gate.

"Bad mannered bastard!" Anna said.

"I wonder what he was doing here." Alex said.

They drove down the farm road; Fritz Siedel was walking up from one of the large piggeries. Both Anna and Alex knew him well, he sold them milk and cheese from his milking cows. He also sold them their piglets last year.

"Who was that Fritz?" Anna asked.

"A nasty character, he's the farm food inspector."

Anna told him of the incident at the front gate.

"That sounds like him with his arrogant attitude. The nasty bastard! He can't fault me because I do everything the government wants. He tried to tell me that I was cheating with the milk cows, I was furious and told him the cows were for my family needs. I told him to produce his evidence otherwise get off my farm."

"I would hate to have him at our farm. As you know we only grow for our own needs, the rest of the farm hasn't been cultivated since my grandparents died forty years ago," Alex said.

"He asked me about your farm and I told him that you only grow for your own needs but I think you might get a visit from him, he's a nosy bastard. You want some cheese and milk?"

They paid him and he placed a two-gallon can of milk in Alex's trunk and gave Anna three pounds of cheese wrapped in a cloth.

The sun was setting as they drove into their farm garage; Anna was agitated by Fritz's news that the farm inspector would be calling on them.

Gerry, Richard, Erika and Manfred were sitting at the dining room table playing cards. Cornelia had just fed young Richard. Pacing up and down in front of the fire, she patted him on the back, urging him to bring up his air bubble. His burp was loud and she wiped his mouth; she talked lovingly to him as she placed him back in his cradle.

As she turned away from the cradle Alex and Anna entered the dining room.

She hugged her mother, "I'm glad that you're back safely, coffee for two?" Cornelia walked to the kitchen. After preparations for coffee, she joined everyone at the dining table.

"What did you find about the electrical system?" Richard asked.

Anna produced their notes from her purse.

"Before we talk about this, I want to tell you about our visit to Fritz's farm."

Anna related their encounter with the farm inspector and Fritz's news that he might appear to inspect their farm.

"Shit!" Richard exclaimed.

They sat and planned a strategy that would allow Richard, Erika, Gerry and Manfred to remain within the house in order that they could hide in the communications room when the inspector appeared. They resolved that Anna and Alex would work the gardens every day. Cornelia, if the weather allowed, would support them with food and drink and would make her presence known preferably with young Richard in her arms.

"Alex and Anna your husband's have died in Russia during the winter, Cornelia's husband is missing in action. You are bravely trying to remain alive by growing a small crop of cereals and vegetables. Play on his sympathies, he may be too hardened but you can try," Richard said.

"Now the electricity supply. Let's hear what you found from the library."

"We found many items, most of them we couldn't understand. We looked for where the main distribution points were located and we drew rough maps but I'm not sure if what we copied will help because of the lack of detail. For example, if the item said that there's a main junction at Stuttgart it didn't say where in Stuttgart," Alex said.

The inspector did not arrive until three days later. Richard heard the car enter the farm drive and quickly shepherded Manfred, Gerry and Erika upstairs into the communications room.

Cornelia met him when he stopped at the end of the drive before the turnoff to the garage.

She had young Richard in her arms as she led the inspector down the path, past the back of the huts, to the gardens.

She called to Alex and Anna who walked to the end of the path.

"How can I help you?" Alex asked wondering if he remembered the incident at Fritz's farm.

"I'm the inspector of farm produce and I'm here to inspect your farm," he said.

"Do you have identification with you," Alex asked with authority.

He appeared to be thrown off course; nobody asked for his identification. He placed his bag on the ground, fished in his coat pocket and found his identification.

Alex took the paper from him, read his name and job title. Handing his paper back to him she said, "So you're Eduard Kappe, what can I do for you Herr Kappe?"

"I need to file a report on your farm and it's produce."

"You're looking at all we have Herr Kappe," Alex said waving her arm in the direction of the gardens.

"We'll see," Kappe said cynically.

"What do you mean Herr Kappe," Alex asked through clenched teeth, her demeanour rapidly changing, her face showing extreme anger. She moved close to him and continued in a loud voice, "What does my country want from us! My husband killed on the Russian front, Anna's husband killed in Russia and my daughter Cornelia's husband missing in action, and here we are with no man to support us. Look at our rough hands, the blisters. What do you want Kappe?"

Alex had screamed her last words loudly; young Richard started bawling with fright as Alex picked up a small hoe and used it to beat repeatedly on the ground close to Kappe.

Kappe was completely unnerved, the child crying loudly, two women now wailing and sobbing, the other obviously mentally deranged. He reached down for his bag and replaced his paperwork inside.

"Get off our farm," Alex screamed insanely.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, I did not wish... my report will state that this farm is desolate, um, not being worked."

With that Kappe beat a hasty retreat to his car, Cornelia was only halfway to his car when she heard a squeal of tyres as he turned his car around and sped away up the drive.

Cornelia heard her mother and Anna scrambling up the path and they ran past her in to the kitchen, their faces distorted with restrained laughter. When Cornelia reached the kitchen, her mother and Anna were laughing hysterically.

Concerned for their safety, Richard, Gerry and Manfred with pistols drawn were followed by Erika as they raced downstairs from the communications room. They found the three women in a huddle laughing out of control and young Richard who was perched on Cornelia's hip was bawling in confusion at their loud laughter.

It was too much for Anna; she sank to the floor her arms wrapped around her middle trying to still her laughter that had now turned to pain.

Erika took young Richard from Cornelia, took him to the dining room. She soothed him, speaking quietly to him until he stopped crying.

"Oh please stop," pleaded Alex, "I've wet myself."

This set off another round of hysterical laughter.

Ten minutes later they sat around the dining table, calm now, they sipped coffee as they listened first to Cornelia and then Anna relating Alex's performance with Inspector Kappe.

Anna was still giggling as she said, "Honestly Richard, Alex could get a job in the theatre in Berlin. When she picked up the hoe, she looked insane; I was hoping that she wouldn't strike him. She started beating on the ground, right next to Kappe. He flinched every time the hoe hit the ground and I nearly started laughing. I'm so glad I didn't."

"He practically ran up the path to his car," Cornelia said.

"He won't be back, I don't think he could stand another visit here," Anna said to Richard.

After dinner, Anna and Cornelia made coffee and decided to see how the coffee substitute would fare. They boiled milk, added a teaspoon of the coffee and chicory substitute, adding sugar they took the coffee to the table. They sat back to see the reactions.

It was Gerry who, descended from a long line of coffee lovers, took a large sip and almost sprayed the contents of his mouth over the table. Instead, with great effort he swallowed and looked cautiously around the table.

"This coffee's a little different," Manfred said as he gulped it down, "where did you get it Alex?"

At once, the rest of the people around the table tasted their serve; most did not like the taste.

"That's the coffee we'll be drinking when our reserves run out," Alex said, "there's also a shortage of sugar, so I'm going to ask Fritz if he will sell us some sugar beet bulbs. He grows them and makes a sugar syrup from them and then feeds the leftover mash to his pigs."

"It's not coffee is it," Gerry said, with general agreement.

"After the inspector's visit, I've been thinking about unexpected visitors to the farm. We should have a watchdog, and from here on we keep the main gate closed." Richard said.

"I remember the first night that I came here there was a dog that seemed very vicious, I was glad that I was with Manfred who calmed him down and stopped him attacking me," Gerry said.

"What happened to our dog Alex?" Richard asked.

"He used to disappear for days on end. He'd come home with fur missing sometimes still bleeding; I think he went out chasing boars. About the time Gerry arrived here, he went missing and never returned. We weren't attached to him he was just a watchdog," Alex said.

Wednesday April 14th 1943.

It was 10:30 P.M. and Anna sat huddled together with Gerry in the communications room. The night was cold; their minds were numbed from boredom, their only relief a message that occasionally occurred on their frequency.

'KRINGLE'. They heard their codename that Richard had given them when the codebooks came into force, Gerry leaned over the desk his pencil poised to copy the encoded message.

The encoded message was short and was signed off with 'BRIAR'.

"If you stay here until eleven I'll go downstairs, make coffee for us, then I'll decode this in the dining room," Anna said.

When Anna entered the dining room she was surprised to see a game of cards in progress, no one had retired for the night.

Alex looked up, "Here Anna, you take my hand and I'll make coffee."

Anna retrieved the codebook from her hiding place. Sitting at the table, she pushed Alex's hand of cards towards the center.

"I have a message from Briar, it's only short. What would you like me to do? Play cards or decode the message?"

Erika scooped up all of the cards and watched as Anna went through the laborious task of decoding.

"Unusual, it says 'Goods ready for delivery see Stuttgart'.

"I know what that means," Erika said smiling. Turning to Richard, "At last we will have our new identities and we can move around. I'll have to go to Stuttgart, you say it's a risk but I'll go with Alex."

"Why can't Alex go..." Richard was about to object.

"She wouldn't get anywhere with Jacob, he would just refuse to deal with her. It's Bernard who insists on face-to-face contact. What I can do is introduce Alex so that she can also act as a go-between in the future." Erika said.

Richard remained quiet knowing how difficult it was to change Erika's mind.

The next morning Alex and Erika dressed in their finest clothes, Alex a little unsteady in her high heel shoes. They intended to enjoy their trip to Stuttgart. Erika passed her expensive French perfume to Alex who used the bottle stopper to dab perfume behind her ears and on her wrists. Proceeding to the kitchen where breakfast was in full swing, Erika walked to Richard and held her hand out.

"Money!" she said tersely.

Richard was embarrassed because he had failed to give access to money in the safe. Putting his spoon down, "Alex, take Erika to the safe, take what you both need. Show Erika the combination so she's not put in this embarrassing position again," Richard said trying but failing to stifle his chagrin. He had intended to give some money to Erika and show her how to get what she wanted from the safe.

Alex misunderstood and thought that he was angry, grabbing Erika by the arm pulled her toward the study where the safe was located, "Cranky bastard," she said thrusting her nose in the air as they left the kitchen.

Richard shrugged, hesitated as if to say more but continued eating.

Soon they returned with purses over their arms; wearing their bulky overcoats, they still looked glamorous.

Erika wagged her finger at Richard, "Cranky bastard. No magician for you tonight." Her smile belied her threat.

The laughter from the others subsided when Richard noisily pushed his chair back.

Richard stood, "Don't I get a kiss?"

"No." Erika said and imitating Alex, she thrust her nose in the air and followed her to the garage.

"Argh women," he said as he refreshed his coffee and sat down again.

"Today is communications testing day. Are the batteries charged up?" Richard asked.

"Yes, ready to go," Gerry said.

Alex drove to the edge of Stuttgart and directed by Erika she pulled up outside a small printing factory.

The reception area for the factory was barely large enough for them to squeeze in and close the door. Erika hit the plunger on the domed bell attached to the small counter. Thirty seconds later a door behind the counter opened, an old woman entered.

"Yes?" she said, her face devoid of expression.

"I wish to see Jacob," Erika said.

"Who are you?" the old women asked her manner abrupt.

"Erika,"

Without another word, the old woman opened the door to the factory and disappeared inside.

"Great reception," Alex said as the door opened again and an old man entered.

"Jacob! Good to see you again," Erika greeted him.

"And who is this person?" he asked pointing at Alex.

"This is my friend Alex."

"Ah yes, come in." he said raising a flap in the counter and swinging the front panel back.

As Alex followed Erika into the factory, she saw the old woman working with other elderly women packing print jobs at a large table.

Jacob led them into a small office where a middle-aged man sat with his back to them, he swivelled his chair around.

"Bernard! What are you doing here?"

"Erika darling," Bernard said rising up and hugging her; he kissed her cheek. "And who is your beautiful friend?"

"This is Alex," Erika said but before she could formally introduce her, Bernard let go of Erika and hugged Alex.

Alex did not mind at all, he was a ruggedly attractive, friendly male.

Bernard motioned to Jacob who opened a filing cabinet and passed him a bulky envelope.

"Here we are; two new people. The identities are impeccable," he said as he passed the envelope to Erika.

Erika handed him a small envelope stuffed with money that she had taken from the safe at the farm.

"Do you have to dash away?" Bernard asked.

"No, what do you have in mind?"

"Let's have lunch, there's a nice restaurant that I know, they've been bombed out once but they're going again in an old shop. The surroundings are terrible but the food is good even with food rationing."

Alex grasped Erika's hand, "We have time, let's do it."

The old shop was crowded, the din of people eating and talking reminded Alex of happier days before the war. After waiting for ten minutes, they were seated. Alex sat facing Bernard who smiled at her.

"The prettiest women are hidden away now. Were do you hide Alex?"

Alex was flattered by Bernard's attention, over the years, any male attention had been scarce, she suddenly felt nervous.

She smiled weakly, "On a remote farm near Goppingen. So where do you hide out?"

"Usually Berlin but I'm trying to do a deal with Jacob, so I can move down here. The bombings in Berlin are never ending nowadays. I thought that Stuttgart would be better but you only have to look at this street to see the damage."

Bernard called the waiter and whispered conspiratorially with him. Minutes later he returned with a bottle of burgundy and together they performed the rites of Bernard accepting the wine. He then served Erika and Alex.

'How could he know that this is my favorite wine?' Alex thought as she sipped enjoying the bouquet of the wine. She did not know that Bernard had no choice in the matter and he had agreed to an exorbitant price for the wine.

Bernard fascinated Erika, the way he had concentrated on Alex throughout their delicious lunch, she wondered what the outcome might be.

After lunch, Bernard drove them back to the small factory where the old woman, who was Jacob's wife Clara, served them the coffee and chicory substitute.

"I haven't seen Clara before. Jacob used to have a young friendly girl attending to visitors," Erika said.

"Yes, very sad. They took her away, her mother was Jewish," Bernard said angrily turning away. He calmed himself before he turned back to the women.

"If you do move from Berlin it will be much easier to contact you here," Erika said trying to lighten the mood.

"But it's not Berlin is it?" Bernard said and Erika quickly agreed.

"If you do move," Alex said wondering if she was being too forward, "we would like you to visit us for dinner."

"I'm honored, I'd love to visit you. When I'm settled I'll contact you and arrange a time."

"Bernard darling, I need a favour," Erika said, almost batting her eyelids at him.

"Yessss?"

I need the location of all power stations and sub-stations in the southern regions," Erika said.

"By when?"

"Next week."