4th Assignment Gestapo chapter by chapter: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. The Informer Bit of scene setting action. Arrival of new recruits. Story of raid to get sausages. Porta reminisces about France. Tiny tells the story of his eleven brothers and sisters. Schnapps production. Oberfeldwebel Huhn gets on the wrong side of Tiny and The Legionnaire. Section moves out taking cooking pot of schnapps with them. various anecdotes and stories. Heide, Sven, Tiny, Porta and Barcelona check out a farmhouse. Various incidents at the farmhouse. Russian girl warns Tiny and The Legionnaire about NKVD plans. 2. Special Mission Discovery of slaughtered German garrison. Arrival at mountain chalet and meeting with Lt Col von Veigil. Ohlsen is ordered to hang Russian prisoners. Heide gives a long talk about what a wonderful soldier he is. Company dig in at the front line. Porta does some sniping (using infra-red night-sights??) Ohlsen is summoned to see the Lt Col. Story of 49th Infantry Regiment and their (lack of) front line experience. Lt Col berates Ohlsen for his non-regulation appearance. Dilemma of how to avoid hanging the Russian prisoners. Eventually the officers ask Porta for ideas and he comes up with a cunning plan. Heide deals with a panicky recruit. Fake attack (Porta's plan) starts up. General organised chaos. Aftermath. Another mission behind Russian lines. Russian prisoners' fate. The Lt Col still insists on an inspection. Porta starts cursing Tiny for being dirty. Description of inspections and pointless missions. Fate of the Lt Col and his staff. Gruesome hand to hand fighting. Story of the honourable Sanit�tsgefreiter Berg. 3. Hamburg Train journey back to Hamburg. Drinking in a canteen. Porta picks a fight with a Dutch SS man (no luck) and an SD man (more entertaining). Barcelona arrives with news that the section is to do guard duty at the Gestapo. Various banter between Heide, Porta, Tiny etc. Porta plans to take beers on duty. Steiner has a fight with the waitresses in the canteen... and comes off worst! Story of Porta and Tiny's attempts at acrobatics. Porta cracks a seagull's egg into his beer then tells the story of the girl who Porta nearly asked to marry him (includes long section about attempts by Porta at the beginning of the war to stay in hospital and avoid fighting. 4. On Guard At The Gestapo Story of anti-Nazi youths (based on fact). Sven and Porta on guard duty. Porta starts a row with an SD man. General discussion of the war. Tiny and Heide turn up complaining about Feldwebel Brandt. Heide talks about how he is the best turned out soldier in the German army. Plan to bump off Brandt on the firing range. Porta confronts Heide over his gambling debts and starts some sneaky dealing. Discussion of Tiny's feats of strength. Bielert starts purge on his own Gestapo men. Porta decides he can cash in on the situation and volunteers to help Pretty Paul. He starts searching prisoners and helping himself to their belongings - reefers, opium etc. Talk about the Dirlewanger Brigade. General taunting of prisoners by Porta and Tiny. Heide and Porta fight over game of cards. Description of disfigurements among section members (Tiny has lost an ear, Sven has a broken nose, Barcelona has a glass eye, Legionnaire has his scar... only Heide is untouched). Old Man breaks up the fight just in time. Old woman is brought in as a prisoner and starts lecturing the guards. She is convinced she's about to be released. Tiny "reasures" her (very funny). Porta and Heide play dice (this is the episode where Heide predicts that he will throw six aces). Old lady explains her crime of insulting the F�hrer. Rest of old lady's story. 5. Porta And The SS Porta starts some dodgy dealing with an SS driver (this turns out to be Rudolph Kleber). Lt Ohlsen is arrested (having been denounced by his wife). Various incidents with SS and Gestapo as Hinka tries to prevent the arrest. Porta continues his deals with the driver. Tiny pisses against an electric fence. 6. In Preventive Detention General reminiscence about past executions. Ohlsen is interrogated by Bielert. Comments about assassination of Heydrich. Ohlsen eventually signs his 'confession'. He is taken for a drive through Hamburg with Gestapo men to prison. Reception by Stahlschmidt, Stever and Greinert. Ohlsen act completely indifferent and is put through a heavy drilling session till he eventually breaks. More about Stahlschmidt. Description of prison routine. Legionnaire and Old Man come to visit. Legionnaire puts the shits up Stever. Stever tries to bribe Ohlsen to get the Legionnaire off his case. Stahlschmidt decides to check up on their visiting pass which has been signed personally by Paul Bielert. Very entertaining description of Stahlschmidt getting deeper and deeper into the shit. Frantic search of Ohlsen's cell... but they don't find the poison the Legionnaire brought in. Story of Aunt Dora and the source of the 'forged' pass. Excellent exchange with Bielert. 7. Prison Discipline Description of Stever and his way with the ladies. Story of prison governor Major Rotenhausen. He visits the prison and 'interviews' Ohlsen. Various tales of prison discipline. Prison guards discuss 27th Panzer (thrid-party view we don't normally get... quite entertaining.) 8. Execution Description of court procedings. Lt Ohlsen is accused of desertion and cowardice. He is sentenced to death by decapitation. Preparation for execution. Ohlsen's cell is searched again and the poison is found. Death of Ohlsen. 9. A Birthday Party Huge party at 'The Three Hares' in Davidstrasse which is owned by 'Bernhard the Boozer' (it's his 42nd birthday party). Porta and everyone else gets incredibly drunk. General riot before return to barracks. 10. Departure For The Front Story of how the Legionnaire came to join the Legion in the first place. Death of Feldwebel Brandt. Tiny offers to go and visit his widow (so he can jump in bed with her - "That's a very lovely idea," says Porta). Recruits arrive - including Stahlschmidt and Stever from the prison and the SS trumpeter Kleber. Legionnaire is put in charge of their training by Colonel Hinka. Revenge on Stahlschmidt. Porta and Kleber climb the Landungsbr�cke and sit on a bench at the top of the hill. Kleber plays his trumpet (excellent scene). Leaving Hamburg and heading for Monte Cassino
Was the reality as described in this book? I don't know. I suspect it was worse. It's kind of sickeningly funny how afraid I was to read about the execution. And how easily it just slipped away. Do people die so easily? With all their dreams, from their families and friends, from the sunshine and the every day chores? I suspect in those times, yes, they did. And hiding behind words, plenty of meaningless words, vulgar stories and little sneaky thefts - in the end why not? There were, I presume, worse ways to self-defend... Yet, I would have liked the book to be a bit more introspective. It's too sad to reach all those conclusions on myself - it makes me wonder "how would I have reacted to such a regime? Would I have been like 'them'? Would the fear have taken control over everything else?". I don't think I want to know the answer to those questions...
