Snapping out of his thoughts, Betz grabbed Fredrich. “Which way do we go?”
Fredrich pointed to a large steel door at the far end of the garage which was open only just enough to allow entry. “That leads to the main complex. The tunnel is about 200 meters long,” he said.
Gathering his men, Betz pointed to the tunnel entrance. “Guerilla tactics,” he said. “You three lead the way,” he said pointing to three of the men. The men swung around and made their way to the large door. It was a thick steel door, obviously made to withstand a lot of pressure. Cautiously, the men made their way round the door and into the main tunnel.
The tunnel was fifteen feet wide and twelve feet tall with a curved ceiling. The tunnel curved slightly to the left and had supports every twenty feet with just enough room to hide a person or to take some cover. The lighting was dim compared to the other places they had been. Betz looked at his watch. They were still 50 meters from the far end with only 30 seconds to go.
Dresner felt exposed inside the smaller corridors nears the armory. He turned to Otto. “Is there a room or some place we can wait where we won’t be seen?” he asked.
Otto nodded. “There is a place, but you may not like it,” he said.
“At this point I would even hide in a toilet,” Dresner said.
Otto nodded and quickly led the men to the next passageway where there was a “T” crossing. Passing through and down the dimmer passage, he came upon the doors with the marble framing. “No one will come in here,” he said.
Dresner saw why. He and his men were frozen in their tracks at the sight of Adolf Hitler in his glass sarcophagus. “It can’t be so,” Dresner heard one of his men say. “It must be wax,” said another.
“It’s really him,” said Otto, recounting the story he was told.
The men almost reverently walked to the glass to stare at the body inside. For years they had looked up to the man inside and had lived through the highs and lows of his leadership. The looks on each man’s face told its own story. Some had a look of wonder, others had a mask of hatred, while others a sort of despair. Each had his own feelings upon seeing the man inside.
“All the time we were down here and never knew,” said one of the men. The others nodded, but none took their eyes off the man.
“We missed them the first time, but not the second,” said Dresner breaking the spell.
“I feel dirty. Let’s go clean house,” said another man as he lifted his weapon.
Dresner looked at his watch. It was nearly time. “Okay, let’s fan out. Make our way back to the armory. I have a plan. Let’s see if we can get all of these men,” he said with an evil grin.
The men began to smile again. Dresner opened the door, looked outside to make sure it was clear, and then led the way down the corridor.
The control room was hot from the tubes in the cabinets and the heat of the eleven occupants. Along the front of the room was a set of very thick glass windows looking into the main chamber and the four silos. There were two consoles for each missile with an occupant sitting at each one. Three men stood at the front of the room; General Kammler, Dr. Ingles and another technician. There was a clock on the wall above the windows counting down. Dr. Ingles was smoking a cigarette and checking his watch as the countdown continued.
“Oxidizer tanks filled on four. Starting pumps for main propellant tanks,” said one technician. Within a few seconds all four had finished reporting the same thing. This was one of the last steps before launch.
“Open launch doors,” ordered the doctor.
“Launch door opening,” repeated each technician.
The switches were thrown and slowly the large concrete domes over the missile silos began to open.
On the gazebo outside, the men watched in fascination as what they had originally thought was a large patio began to lift in several places. As the pads tilted higher the patio furniture began sliding down the concrete and into the lake with a loud set of screeches. In the middle of the procedure Corporal Wagner looked at his watch. It was the time the Major had set to begin.
“Get out from behind me,” he warned the others, who stood nearby holding another round of ammunition.
Taking careful aim, Wagner ducked his head slightly and pulled the trigger.
The 88mm high energy anti-tank Panzerschreck round exploded from the tube and quickly transited the hundred yards to the silo wall. Striking just at the waterline, the round pierced the concrete and was entering the silo itself when the main charge went off. The old man had been correct. The poor quality concrete along with the ersatz rebar was no match for such force. The explosion made a huge bang. When the smoke cleared it had made a hole in the concrete silo wall five feet across and nearly as deep under the water. The lake began pouring into the silo directly onto the missile inside.
In the control room, the sound of the explosion was muffled by the large doors and concrete. A quick check of the room indicated no problem, so it was ignored. Within a moment a red light appeared on one of the consoles.
“I have a red light in the guidance package of missile four,” said one of the technicians. “I will try to restart it.”
Dr. Ingles nodded. This was not unexpected. There had been other instances when the guidance package needed to restart. “Proceed,” he said.
There was a second dull bang.
“Launch doors fully open,” said a technician.
The men in front of the group thought that must have been it. No one noticed water seeping around the corners of the fourth set of steel doors and running across the concrete floor.
“I have a red light on the guidance package of missile number three,” said a technician. Kammler looked at Ingles questioningly.
There was a third muffled bang.
It had been easy. Betz and his men had been able to sneak up on two more young men standing with their rifles leaning against the wall. Looking around the corner, he could now see the entire main complex including the four large silo doors and the windows to the control room on the right. His men were deploying around the walls and positioning themselves behind anything with some cover. So far, he hadn’t heard anything else from the others.
Betz turned to Fredrich standing beside him. “Not bad young Stadt. Is there a way into that control room?” he asked.
“I’m not sure about things now. We only saw this part for the first time tonight. The only entrance I saw was from a corridor on the other side,” Fredrich said.
The shot sounded loud and Fredrich spun around in an instant. Several men turned toward the shot and saw Colonel Müller standing in a doorway with a smoking pistol in his hand. The men opened fire on him, but he ducked into the passageway. A warning klaxon began sounding in the complex.
Betz grabbed Fredrich as he started going down. Blood was pouring from a wound in his left shoulder. Betz and two men laid the boy down and grabbed the shirt off one of their prisoners to stem the flow. Fredrich was already turning pale.
“Take care of him and see if you can get him back to the tunnel entrance,” he told two men. Turning to the others he ordered a flanking movement through the chamber toward the door. More shots were fired from another location and one of the men began firing at a figure hiding behind a small support. The man suddenly spun around and fell to the ground.
“Spread out and watch for snipers,” he shouted. The men began rapidly making their way toward the opposite end of the complex.