Opening Moves

Evidence of the presence of military personnel from France and Poland was to be found in the unusual graffiti in some of the separate blocks. Overall, the forty plus buildings had occupied a site of about a quarter of a hectare in the Austrian Waldviertel. Barbed wire and guard towers surrounded the whole camp with solely the one way in and out. Dated it may be after its facilities were already abused in four years of service but it was still very effective at keeping people just where the watchers wanted them. Each remaining hut sat on a concrete plinth above which it was raised three feet so inspections could be done to ensure no tunnels were being dug. German efficiency was turned against them and had caused many a wry smile in discussions. A single central wood-burner provided heating for the whole hut. That was not a problem as the European summer visited them but would undoubtedly lead to deaths as 1945 drew to a close. Beds were straw paliasses and blankets and it seemed there was never enough of either to go round.

Meals were two a day. Early morning was a small ration of bread with a thin vegetable soup and evenings brought the delights of more thin soup and the hope of some meat floating in it. The question had been raised a number of times as to what the meat was, so Rolf had enquired but hadn’t translated it literally, preferring to keep his comrades in the dark about what they were enjoying so heartily.

Of course, there was constant talk of escaping the camp and going home, but only recently had the talk of escape been harnessed to a genuine fear of safety at the hands of the guards. Treatment had been strangely reasonable initially, when their guards were from a combat infantry division.

Now it was a very different kettle of fish with the new Bulgarian bunch that had not fired a shot in anger,and had much to prove. Of course, Ostap Shandruk, the ever-cheerful Ukrainian, had more reason to fear than anyone else did. If his identity were to become known he would be summarily shot. His papers said he was German and that had not yet been investigated. His Ukrainian SS insignia had long ago been discarded and the mastery of the German language, which had guaranteed his promotion in the Galician Division, now helped to keep his identity secret.

Rolf had an advantage over his fellow prisoners in that he could speak excellent Russian. That made him invaluable to his captors and often he was the only person privy to both sides of interrogations and discussions between the “management” and his own boys. It didn’t stop him getting his share of physical attention from the Bulgarians but his duties often took him within range of food, drink and other objects that somehow found their way into his possession. More than one young man in field-grey had profited from Rolf’s activities in receiving life-sustaining food when at deaths door.

His latest acquisitions of Red Star cigarettes and matches were in the possession of Hauptsturmfuhrer Braun, ready for allocation. Braun was the senior NCO in camp and Rolf’s former top dog in the panzer battalion of which he was once commander. More to the point, he was also Uhlmann’s close comrade and would soon, fate willing, be his brother in law. Both he and Braun had been captured when their battalion, II Abteilung, 5th SS Pnz Regt, had been virtually annihilated outside Vienna on 26th March 1945.

They had managed to destroy everything of use to the advancing Russians as their surviving men tried to make good their escape towards the west. A few days of evasion and they were both finally taken prisoner without a shot being fired just northeast of Traismauer. Both men marvelled that they had been taken prisoner at all, given their arm of service and insignia, but neither ever spoke of it to the other. It had been a nervous few hours most certainly, and more nerve-wracking than combat so Rolf thought.

After some time they had been moved off with a few other stragglers, none of whom was from Uhlmann’s unit, he was glad to see. A few pioneers and artillerymen from Wiking for sure but the division obviously had made good its escape.

After being marched around a few different holding areas he and Braun had come to rest in Edelbach and it had become their home, such as it was. What the future held for all of those incarcerated there was unknown but given that the Germany that had laid waste to half of Europe was defeated and that those who had suffered were bound to bay for blood, Rolf felt that it would be long and unpleasant.

He was partially wrong and, unfortunately for many who shared his present fate, he was also partially right.

Chapter 16 – THE UNDERSTANDING

A promise made is a debt unpaid.

Robert Service

1620 hrs Sunday, 15th July 1945, The Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

The work was still being done in the office of the Soviet General Secretary.