A thousand suns

‘At ease, we’re both captains,’ said Lundstrom. Koch softened his stance and looked relieved.

‘Recent promotion I’m guessing, Hauptmann?’

Koch nodded. ‘Three weeks, sir.’

‘You’ll get used to not saluting other captains soon enough.’ He looked down at the envelope in his hand; it bore the stamp of the Reich Chancellor’s office.

‘This has come directly from Berlin to me?’

‘Via Kriegsmarine HQ, Bergen, yes.’ Koch produced a similar envelope. ‘I have one also. These orders came with the instruction that we’re to open them together.’

Lundstrom closed his eyes and breathed deeply. With a heavy heart he realised the envelopes could only mean one thing… another trip out.

He looked at his crewmen finishing off the task of securing the submarine and readying themselves for a week of shore leave, perhaps even an indefinite sojourn ashore. It was going to be hard breaking the news to them. Very hard. They had travelled back to Bergen in the firm belief that they wouldn’t be setting sail again.

‘Well, then… I suppose you and I had better find somewhere quiet to open these and see what lunacy has been lined up for us.’

Chapter 23

Schroder’s Men

6 a.m., 25 April 1945, an airfield south of Stuttgart

By the gathering light of dawn Major Rall watched the B-17 as it banked around and made its final approach towards the runway, just a silhouette against the pale grey skyline. The bomber’s immense wings wobbled slightly as her wheels came down. The plane steadied as she dropped the last few dozen feet and the tyres made a heavy first contact with the ground. She bounced high before making contact again. This time, the wheels stayed on the ground and gradually the weight of the bomber settled onto them and the plane was down.

‘Kleinmann won’t win any awards for that landing, sir,’ said Leutnant Hostner.

Rall was irritated by his jibe. ‘He won’t have to land her, just flying her will do.’

The B-17 rumbled down the concrete strip, wheels passing smoothly over craters that had recently been filled in. Rall smiled smugly at a conceit of theirs. The strip had been repaired under the cover of dark, but large crescents of dark grey had been painted on the ground where the craters had been to fool the reconnaissance planes that flew over periodically.

The plane rumbled past Rall and Hostner and finally came to a stop at the end of the runway. It turned in a slow arc and began to taxi towards the hangar.

‘Good lad… let’s get her inside quickly.’ Rall scanned the sky around the airfield. There were no planes to be seen.

The bomber taxied towards the hangar, and Max nodded out of the cockpit window at the Major as they trundled by.

‘Do you think they’ll be ready in time, sir?’

‘I think they already are,’ Rall answered, dismissing the SS officer’s question impatiently.

Max steered the bomber carefully towards the open door of the hangar, and a member of the ground crew guided them into the dimly lit interior. He brought the plane to a halt.

Pieter craned his neck to look out his side window. ‘I see we have three more 109s in the family.’

Max shut off the engines and pulled himself up from his seat to look out. Lined up nose to tail and packed tightly within the limited floor space of the hangar were a number of Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter planes. Over the last few days several of them had flown in under the cover of darkness and two more had been brought in by trucks and assembled inside the hangar.

‘That gives us a grand total of seven escort planes so far, not exactly an intimidating number,’ he said to Pieter.

‘Better than four,’ Pieter replied.

‘Well, yes, I can’t fault your logic there, my friend.’

They both climbed down the ladder into the bombardier’s compartment and out through the belly hatch. Hans and Stefan followed them out.

‘I can’t believe how much room there is inside her,’ said Stefan.

‘Don’t forget that they pack ten American airmen inside a plane that size, whereas there’s only four of us,’ said Max.

Major Rall approached Max and his crew.

‘Good landing, Max.’

‘Uh… not really, sir. I think it’s going to take a few more attempts before I can put her down, no bounce.’

‘How are you finding her?’

‘She’s a lot less manoeuvrable than I’m used to.’

‘That’s understandable, there’s a lot more there to fly than a Heinkel or a Junkers.’

Max nodded. ‘I notice we have three more 109s.’

Rall turned round to admire the tightly packed cluster of planes. ‘Yes. They arrived only half an hour ago, flown in by the pilot who is going to lead the escort squadron, and two wingmen. Perhaps now would be a good time to affect some introductions?’

Rall turned to Hostner. ‘Go and get our new arrivals, I want Max and his boys to meet them.’ Hostner turned and headed towards the cluster of fighter planes in the corner of the hangar.

‘The flight was unchallenged?’

Max nodded. ‘We did a fifty-mile circular trip, attracted a little flak from our boys north of here, but there were no other unwanted encounters.’