Upfall

But what bothered Opificius most was that Wirth was a pantywaist. Opificius had all five of his companies at Belzec. Such a force, he argued, should be used to actively patrol, and destroy any partisans before they could attack the camp. But Wirth would have none of it. The camp commander was terrified of the phantom British commandos who had supposedly ravaged Sobibor and Treblinka. Wirth insisted that Opificius build a fortified battalion camp just outside the Belzec fence, always manned by a full company. Another company had to be stationed within the camp itself—even though the camp already had Ukranian and regular SS guards—while yet a third manned trenches around the perimeter of the camp. Since his companies had to rest occasionally, that left Opificius with few troops for active patrolling in the countryside.

His meager patrols had managed one contact the day before, and Opificius had to admit it was a disturbing one. An SS squad had come upon a group of partisans about several kilometers from Belzec and lost two men killed and one wounded in a sharp firefight. The patrol leader, Russian front veteran, reported that the bandits were better armed than his own men, entirely with automatic weapons, including a couple of MG 34s. He‘d charged the partisans, assuming that they would flee, but instead they poured bullets into his men. The SS patrol was forced to withdraw under fire, leaving behind their dead.

Wirth was entirely unnerved by the news, and insisted that the encounter proved that the menacing British were nearby. But rather than permitting Opificius to seek them out, Wirth insisted on further limiting the patrols and reinforcing the perimeter. Opificius had not choice but to comply.

Chapter 42

On June 28, while the rest of the sayeret was fighting for its life near Biali, Shapira and Chaim did their own reconnaissance of Belzec. There were no German patrols to dodge, which was contrary to Sandler's grim warnings, although hardly unwelcome Otherwise Sandler's assessment of the situation was quite accurate.

The best access into the camp was through the unfenced north perimeter. The approach was protected by a line of SS entrenchments and thin coils of barbed wire, but little else, not even lights or watchtowers. Behind the SS positions lay the newly constructed gas chamber complex. This was Shapira‘s only target. Shapira knew that the SS troopers guarding the approach would not be pushovers, and that he would probably face a rapid counter-attack once his men penetrated the camp They would have to be fast and lucky.

The gas chamber complex itself was more elaborate than at Sobibor or Treblinka. Ten thick wooden chambers were aligned in a neat row on a broad concrete platform. Behind the chambers were five huge diesel tank engines. These were linked up to the chambers, one engine for every two buildings. The gas chambers faced south into the camp so that once through the SS entrenchments Shapira's men would have direct access to the engines, where they could place their main charges. Shapira intended to use most of Roskovsky‘s powerful bombs on the engines. For the chambers themselves he hoped the remaining bombs, grenade bundles and Molotov cocktails would be sufficient to set the buildings alight, or at least severely damage them.

Back at their camp in the forest Shapira devised a straightforward plan to attack Belzec early the next morning, two hours before dawn. Sandler's platoon would use their heavy firepower—six MG 34s and a couple dozen MP put down a base of fire against the SS entrenchments, and also cover the flanks. Chaim would stay back and use his four remaining 40mm grenades and night-sighted Tavor to help with the suppression effort. Shapira would snipe for a bit too, then lead his demolition teams into the camp and go straight for the gassing complex. Any survivors would withdraw into the forest with Sandler‘s men. In no case was Chaim to enter the camp, and after much disputation, Shapira won from Chaim a promise to leave him behind if necessary.

The planning done the two commandos sat under a tree and chewed on their last Powerbars. Shapira grimly thought what a tasteless and prosaic final meal it was, for a warrior likely to meet his end. "This isn't at all like it was in ancient times" said Shapira, choking down a dry piece of vaguely peanut-butter flavored gloop. Chaim looked at him dully—he was devoted to his lieutenant, but not always interested in Shapira's intellectual musings—Chaim liked to chat about soccer or basketball. "Then a warrior would have a fine feast, and drink himself into a stupor—by the time the battle started he probably hardly cared anymore if he lived or died."

"If you say so" said Chaim, who was a teetotaler anyway.

"Did you ever read the Iliad in school?" pressed Shapira.

"The what..."

"A story about the ancient Greeks—written by Homer."