Upfall

"Their names!" Mueller blurted out excitedly. "I know some of their names!"

"What names?" asked Eichman.

Mueller went on to list the names he remembered—Shapira, Yatom, Perchensky—while Eichman noted them in a small book. Warming up, he described their other weapons as best he could, and their odd uniforms and equipment.

"What exactly did the other weapons look like?" asked Heydrich.

Mueller thought about this. "A little like that one" he said, pointing at the Uzi "but larger, and with telescopes on them."

"Are you getting this, Reder" said Globocnik to a middle aged intelligence officer standing in a comer.

"Jawohl, Herr General" said Hauptman Reder, who was also writing in a little notebook.

Mueller, continued, offering opinions now. He thought they argued a lot for soldiers, but truth be told—they seemed very tough and competent, making his escape all the more remarkable. Of course, he didn't bother to tell them that Perchensky was a woman, or that he had cooperated with his captors until his got away.

Finally, Heydrich smiled at him pleasantly and told him tn return to his unit and clean up. Mueller snapped a Nazi salute, clicked his heels and turned about, then practically ran out of the room. Heydrich ordered everyone else to out of the office as well, but for Eichman, Globocnik and Wirth. As Reder departed Globocnik said to him "You know what to do now, don't you?"

"Yes sir" said the intelligence captain, closing the door. "What was that about?" asked Heydrich. "Just policeman stuff, Herr General” answered Globo easily. Heydrich let it go and turned toward Eichman.

"Well Eichman what are you thinking?"

"That these bandits are Jews. Probably in British employ from Palestine. It's the only thing that makes sense."

"Why are they here though" asked Globocnik "raiding our camps? What do the British care about Jews?"

"Churchill" said Heydrich confidently, as if he'd found a clue in a crossword. "lt's just the sort of project he likes—wasteful, useless, but intrepid. He's probably behind it, without the support of anyone else on the whole damned island."

Just then there was a knock on the door and Heydrich's aide introduced a chubby regular army ordnance officer who looked like he'd been dragged away from an early lunch. "Major Kessel reporting sir!" said the officer, delivering an ordinary army salute and then self-consciously wiping his mouth as he put his hand down. Kessel had never reported to a General before, much less two, and had no idea what this was about. He was anxious, but he was a competent officer with no black marks on his record—except his weight.

"You are an ordnance officer?" asked Globocnik. "Yes Herr General, I run the shop here in Lubin" said Kessel without pomp.

"What do you think of this" said Eichman handing him the Uzi.

Kessel took the unusual weapon appreciatively and quickly identified and worked the action. He examined the pistol grip and magazine housing, and noted the safety which had so baffled Mueller. He extended and locked the stock and sighted down the barrel, careful not to point the weapon at any of the other officers.

"Interesting Herr Obersturmbannfuhrer" said Kessel, recognizing that Eichman slightly outranked him, and seemed to be attached to someone who looked remarkably like Reinhardt Heydrich.

Mueller doubted such an eminence would call for him in Lubin but it paid to be careful. "Do you have a magazine for it, sir?" he asked Eichman.

Eichman had the magazine in his pocket. Heydrich nodded his head slightly and Eichman handed it to Kessel. The ordnance officer inserted the clip and worked the action again, cycling a round through and ejecting it. He caught the round nibbly in his pudgy hand, examined it, then removed the clip and replaced the round. He handed the chp back to Eichman.

"Well?" said Heydrich.

"It seems to be a fine weapon. I don't recognize it. Is it an enemy weapon? Or is it a prototype?"

"Don't worry about that" said Heydrich. "Tell me, is there anything unusual about it, that would give an enemy, or our own men, a significant advantage?"

Kessel caught Heydrich's eye. He was comfortable with this sort of thing, it was his business. He'd thought it most likely that the submachinegun was a foreign weapon but hadn't been sure. Now he was. "Ach nein Herr General" said Kessel with a shrug. "It is interesting - putting the magazine housing in the grip is clever. The safety device, here "he said, manipulating it with his thumb "is a good idea too." Kessel looked around the room confidently. "The gun is well made, fires from an open bolt like the MP 40, seems to be quite handy and is probably reliable. It is made from high quality stampings, not machined, so it is not very expensive. It is better, much better l'd say than the British Sten, and probably the Russian PPsh-41. But it is not better, so far as I can see in any significant way, to the MP 40. Of course, I would have to test fire the weapon to be sure."