Opening Moves

However, all four were dedicated to the single purpose; that of educating the Western Armies in the fine art of fighting their erstwhile allies, the Red Army.

Chapter 10 – THE KAMERADEN

I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.

Gerry Spence

0720 hrs Saturday, 7th July 1945, The Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg, French Alsace.

The previous day the lorry had taken them straight to the Château where all seven were subjected to an intense medical examination, conducted sympathetically for a change. All were given vitamin supplements and, in one case, some penicillin tablets had been prescribed to address a throat infection. Each was then afforded the opportunity of a hot bath or shower, an opportunity which was universally accepted.

The rest of the day had seen the group casually escorted around their impressive new home and given the full guided tour by Patrice Dubois, a young officer of the French Naval commandos. During the tour, he also pointed out the strengths of the security arrangements put in place for the symposium. None of the group failed to notice the very obvious fact that a considerable amount of the security faced inwards and was for an entirely different but not unexpected reason. None of them had any doubt that was part of the purpose of this “impromptu” tour.

In the northeast corner of the lower courtyard, silent kennels caught everyone’s eye, for German soldiers loved their dogs and this group were no exception. The four large and obviously recently built pens held three German Shepherd Dogs of considerable size. One hound was obviously out being exercised or doing its duty. Resisting the urge to approach closer, the group moved on to the Little Bastion.

^{Fig#2 – Main plan of the Château}

The Château was impressive as a structure in any case, many different levels built into the solid rock on the site of the old fortress which had overseen the area in one form or another since the 12th Century. Standing on the eastern edge of the summit at a height of over seven hundred and fifty metres, it was the dominating feature for many miles around. The narrow approach twisted and turned, by both military design and constructional engineering requirements. Indeed the previous evening they were twice aware that their transport grated along rock or wood on sharp turns and narrow squeezes.

It sat on a stark promontory, open to the elements but that was a godsend on hot summer’s days like today, when breezes ventilated the Château and created a very pleasant environment. From positions around the battlements, and especially from the imposing high tower, there were all-round expansive views across the Alsace plain.

The Château was strategically positioned, so had seen its fair share of bloodshed, and had fallen to assault on more than one occasion. Not that any assault was a possibility any more with peace in Europe, but one hundred and twenty aggressive looking and well-armed French commandos would certainly call a halt to any belligerent incursion in any case. During the Thirty Years War, a Swedish army had laid siege to, taken and razed the castle to the ground, since when it had fallen into unoccupied decay for over two hundred years until efforts were made to rebuild it in 1882, which failed for lack of funds.

The city of Selestat, which owned the Château, offered it to the German monarchy and so it was that the impressive reconstruction of the present Château was started at the turn of the century at the behest of the Kaiser Wilhelm II. That was probably one reason why the French nation did not take it to their hearts so readily, and which national reticence made it an ideal secret location for ‘Biarritz’?

Their hosts had provided a veritable mountain of American “Chesterfield”, “Camel” and “Lucky Strike” cigarettes, as well as ‘Gauloise’ and ‘Gitanes’, which were seized upon by everyone. A nice touch was the quality Colibri lighters, each man’s name perfectly engraved in the solid silver cartouche. A splendid evening meal of venison and light conversation followed by an early night was about all they could manage.

^{Fig#3 – Château first floor plan}

Comfortable and content with his small medieval style bedroom, complete with four-poster bed and embroidered wall hangings, it took little time for Knocke to undress, clean his uniform and swiftly descend into his dreams. Woken gently from the best sleep he had experienced for months, if not years, Ernst-August washed and shaved at an old wooden wash stand that looked like it might have accompanied one of the previous occupants on the early crusades. Then, as the new French orderly had requested, he made his way to the dining room for breakfast.