“We are on our way to a camp called Treblinka. Partisans may have attacked last night. We are to drive them off.”
“Not to worry, Lieutenant. My men finished the partisans this morning” Wiith lied. “It was a hard fight. We are the garrison’s only survivors—other than a few deserters.”
Jevers, uncomfortable though he was, assessed the SS officer with a policeman’s natural skepticism. “Excuse the question Herr Obersturmfuhrer, but why are you on foot. Surely the camp had some transport.”
“All destroyed or disabled, I’m afraid” said Wirth calmly. “You’ll see for yourself soon enough. But you are going to have to get there in a different vehicle, as I am commandeering this car.” Jevers blanched “No sir” he stammered. “I am signed for this vehicle. I’ll be court martialed if I lose it.”
Wirth pulled out a fine leather notepad, the pages embossed with SS runes. “I’ll write up the requisition order myself” he said, scribbling busily with a pencil. “This should satisfy whatever rear area clerk signed you out. We are in the field Jevers—there are contingencies. I’ll keep your driver too.”
Wirth tore out the page and handed it to Jevers. Then he turned to the SS corporal from Treblinka. “Write down your name and identification number and those of these fine men as well” said Wirth, gesturing to the sullen Ukranians. “I intend to recommend you all for awards in light of your heroism in today’s ferocious battle.” He turned over his notepad and pencil to the stunned corporal, who started taking down the information. Once the corporal was finished, and satisfied that he’d sufficiently co—opted his fellow deserters into the deception, Wirth took back the pad and pencil. He turned back to Jevers.
“These heroes from the Treblinka garrison are now in your charge Lieutenant” said Wirth, expansively waving his hand at the little band of fellow runaways. “They need food and drink. I am off to Lubin.” Wirth climbed into the car and ordered the driver to turn around. They sped off into the setting sun, leaving Jevers and his new charges standing in the road.
Wirth and his exhausted driver reached Lubin early on the morning of May 29. It was well after daybreak by they time the found their way to Globocnik’s headquarters on the western edge of the city.
Once there Wirth dismissed his driver and ordered the woozy man to head back to his unit at Treblinka. The driver saluted and drove the car out of the headquarters complex onto a deserted side street. There, out of Wirth’s sight, he went to sleep.
Wirth had hoped for a few hours of rest himself, but knew that Globocnik would be at his desk and demand an immediate report. He would not be able to bamboozle Globo as he had the hapless Jevers, but he still had a card or two to play, not least Globocnik’s slip about Heydrich. Not only that, but Wirth, so far as he knew, was the only German officer to survive an encounter with the rampaging enemy commandos—that alone would make him quite valuable. His own death at Treblinka would have gained the Reich nothing, though it would have undoubtedly suited Globo.
Wirth was ushered into Globocnik’s office a few minutes later. “I expected you to successfully defend Treblinka…or die there, Obersturmfuhrer. That was your duty as German soldier and an officer of the SS” Globo grunted, his face showing genuine disappointment that Wirth still lived.
“Herr Gruppenfuhrer, Dr. Erbel would not relinquish command. The enemy cut all communication. Over my protests he ordered me to leave and report to you.”
“That doesn’t sound much like Dr. Erbel” said Globo snidely.
“He rose to the crisis” said Wirth, barely suppressing a smirk of his own.
“Well then, we’ll have to see he gets a medal” said Globo.
“Posthumously Mein Herr?” said Wirth hopefully.
“Yes Wirth. Or so it seems. The place was burned to the ground, and it appears Dr. Erbel with it.”
“Terrible.”
“Yes it is, not only for the Reich, but possibly for us as well. General Heydrich is on his way here as we speak. You must tell me all you can about these enemy commandos before he arrives, so I can present him with an effective course of action before they strike again. This is of the utmost importance. Do you understand?”
Wirth did.
Mueller arrived in Lubin the following day. Somehow, through the barely functioning Polish phone system, he’d managed to contact his unit. Mueller’s commander was surprised he was alive, but apparently satisfied with his story. And with the SS in an uproar over the attacks on Sobibor and Treblinka, Mueller’s commander realized that the prodigal sergeant might be too valuable to leave in Malkinia Gorna and sent a car for him.
Several hours later, to his astonishment, Mueller found himself outside General Globocnik’s office, surrounded by SS staff officers and bodyguards. Over Mueller’s protests, the bodyguards insisted on taking the enemy submachinegun. One of them handed the weapon to an immaculately dressed SS officer, who disappeared into the Globocnik’s office. Five minutes later, the officer ordered Mueller to enter the office and report. Mueller stepped forward in his tattered uniform full of apprehension. He walked into a rather large office crammed with yet more officers. Sergeant Mueller cast his eyes about nervously, before coming to attention before the man sitting behind a great oak desk. The man was not Globocnik. Sitting in Globocnik’s chair was Reinhardt Heydrich.
Chapter 28
The sayeret drove hard and fast to the southeast for two hours after leaving Treblinka. Several times they noticed German aircraft, but only once did a plane react as if the pilot had any interest in them. That plane was a Storch. Whether it was looking for them or on some other mission they could not know.
Yatom wanted to put distance between the sayeret and Treblinka, but not at the risk of a German air attack. Afier seeing the Storch the column changed direction to the southwest, and at the first opportunity drove off into a mixed forest of oak and pine. One of the new trucks contained a single camouflage net which was big enough to cover both Kubelwagons. To hide other vehicles from fiirther aerial observation everybody cut and gathered branches until Yatom was satisfied that the column was sufficiently disguised. Then everyone stopped to eat or sleep, with the exception of the unfortunate few who had to pull the first guard shift.
Yatom could not wait for nightfall to get going again, even at the risk of observation. late in the afternoon, after seven hours of rest and refitting, the column was hack on the road, heading southeast again, driving as fast as the roads allowed. Yatom kept one Kubelwagon well ahead of the main column to scout the route and warn of any roadblocks. The first shift in the scout car fell to Mofaz and Itzak.
Sixty kilometers from Treblinka the high road swung back to the southwest. Driving nearly a kilometer in front of the main column Mofaz and Itzak spotted a roadblock on a small hillock no more than 500 meters away. The Germans were silhouetted against the setting sun, busily stuffing sandbags and digging in, throwing up a zig-zag of slit trenches as fast as their picks and spades allowed. Mofaz stopped the car and radioed Yatom. Yatom ordered Mofaz to proceed cautiously and allow the column to catch up. Itzak stayed behind the wheel while Mofaz scanned the scene through his thermal binoculars.
Mofaz’s Kubelwagon was 200 meters away from the roadblock when he saw the flash of a machinegun. An instant later he heard the rattle of the weapon and the snap of bullets passing overhead. The Germans were shooting high. Itzak drove forward swung the Kubelwagon off the road. He and Mofaz leapt out. Bullets sticlied the nearby roadside as the German gunner adjusted his aim. From his forward position Mofaz sighted in on the sparking German machinegun and chanced a couple of shots with his Tavor. He missed, but got the machinegunner’s attention. Mofaz and Itzak pressed themselves into the earth as the German bullets carved the ground in front of them.