Puzzled, Rauch extended his right hand to shake hands with his friend.
“Sure; let’s do that.
Maybe you can meet us at the barracks.
I’ll talk to you then.”
“Sure,” answered Docher as Rauch and Schneider turned away to get their troops together.
Docher watched as his friend gathered the men into a truck and drove off down the road.
April 4, 1945
South of Rostock, Germany;
9:30 a.m.
With Schneider driving, Rauch rode in the passenger side of the truck.
All twenty-four of their troops were in the back.
Following the small map, Schneider drove south of Rostock outside of Papendorf until he saw a group of several non-distinct, low brick buildings about 200 meters off of the left side of the road near a tree line.
It was just like the map specified.
There were six other trucks parked in an area to the right of the closest building.
He noticed a light wisp of smoke rising from the chimneys.
At least there was heat, thought Schneider.
They stopped at a guarded gate at the road’s edge.
“May I see your orders, sir?” asked a young
Kriegsmarine
officer standing there in the cold with a group of six other soldiers.
Three of the men manned a dual machine gun emplacement just off to the right of the gate.
The three other guards stood behind the officer, guns at ready.
Schneider glanced over at the emplacement and back to the officer.
He handed him the small piece of paper he had been given back at the station, looking past the gate at the buildings.
Odd, he thought.
There was not a person stirring around the buildings.
He knew it was cold but for no one to be seen… it just did not look right.
Schneider also noticed that a naval officer was in charge of the gate.
That was very strange…
“Please pull your truck over there,” the officer said as he pointed over to the trucks already parked in front of the first building.
Schneider thanked the officer and drove the truck down the short gravel road toward the building.
The gravel crunched loudly as the heavy truck neared the building.
As the truck had started down the road, a single soldier stepped out of the door of the first building and waited for the truck to park.
They pulled up to the building and the soldier led the truck to a parking space to the left of the six trucks.
Once parked, the soldier approached Schneider and Rauch as they climbed down.
“Sir, please gather your men and follow me,” snapped the young soldier very matter-of-factly.
Rauch noted the SS lapel tabs.
He wondered what the SS were doing out here; first the navy and now the SS.
The rest of the men climbed down from the back of the truck and assembled in front of the truck.
It was still very cold.
“This way,” said the soldier, walking off toward the second building.
The gravel crunched under their feet as they trudged up to the door of the second building.
The earlier snow had stopped and the sun was peeking out from the smattering of clouds above.
The sun’s rays felt warm on the faces of the men.
Finally some semblance of heat!
“Well, at least it looks as though the rest of today will be nicer,” remarked Rauch, noticing the sunshine that they had not seen in several days.
The soldier opened the door and led the group inside the building.
The first thing they all felt was warmth!
That in itself was such a welcome.
It had been days since they had felt warm.
The soldier led them down a short hall and into a small windowless room with tables and chairs.
“Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable.
Someone will be here in a few minutes to brief you on the situation.”
The soldier left the room through a door in the rear.
He locked it on the way out.
Schneider looked at Rauch puzzled as the rest of the men settled around the room.
Rauch sat down, took off his hat and gloves, savoring the warm room.
It was then that Schneider heard a soft clunk as the front door was being sealed.
Seconds later he realized they were in trouble as a faint hissing sound could be heard.
“GAS!” he screamed as he stood up.
Several men rushed the front door.
It was locked and did not budge.
They tried the back door.
No luck there either.
Rauch stood up and exclaimed, “They would not dare...!” as he felt his head begin to spin and staggered over to the table for support.
Surely to God they would not do this to me, an SS major, Rauch thought, looking around the room at everyone else.
Several men scrambled to all sides of the room frantically trying to find a way out.
As hard as they tried, the faster they fell.
“Sir,” screamed Schneider, grabbing Rauch’s arm.
In the haze of his mind he looked Schneider directly in the eyes.
He saw outright horror.
With that his last vision on this earth, Rauch’s vision began to get darker and darker, closing in from all sides.
Rauch fell to the floor.
He never felt the result of the fall.
Soon it was all over as they all lay around the room, dead.
Rauch had been right early on.
This was an important mission…extremely important.
This was so significant that there could be no survivors to report on it.
So all twenty-six witnesses were now silenced along with all of the other teams of soldiers that had completed the same mission, with more to come.
But the boxes had been delivered and were now on their way to safety.
A high price had been paid.
But these boxes contained riches and secrets beyond the dreams of men; riches that lead men to do the most evil things; riches that had made men do evil things since the beginning of time... Gold!
Wednesday, May 9, 1945
A Secluded Small Inlet on the Southern Coast of Brazil;
7:20 p.m.
Darkness was beginning to pull its curtain on the day as the German submarine U-1055 sat submerged about two kilometers offshore.
As part of the
Ubootwaffe
, the U-1055 was a Type VIIC submarine, one of 568 boats commissioned.
She was built at the F. Krupp Germaniawerft AG in Kiel, Germany and launched in early 1944.
In this deep dark hiding place the submarine was well hidden from anyone in the area.
The air in the submarine was dank and musty; what one would expect after a several week journey from Germany with few opportunities to surface.
To surface at sea was dangerous with all of the Allied shipping in the Atlantic.
Along with the shipping came the deadly Allied destroyers and escorts, any one of them a mighty threat to the U-boat.
The men only knew they were off the coast of somewhere.
They longed for a bit of fresh air but realized that staying submerged was their best and safest way to wait for their next move.
The crew had not been told anything about the boat’s mission.
Most assumed it was another search and destroy mission against enemy ships in the immediate area.
But this seemed a bit strange to be sitting still under the water waiting.
Waiting for what?
The crew’s morale had taken a hit during the long voyage with very little news.
There was little news from home; no mail from family in three months.
The last several times they refueled or restocked food, crew mail was not there.
The crew had hoped this small respite was to meet another U-boat or transport ship to replenish their supplies with fresh fruits, vegetables and maybe even mail.
But that was not the case.
The crew and officers knew the war was not going well.
The bits of news gleaned from a few vague radio messages confirmed that the war in Germany was lost.
Most of the sailors just wanted to get to the inevitable result so they could go home.
That was a rarity for many in the U-boat service of Germany.
Four out of five German U-boat sailors perished during the war.
Those that served the U-boat fleet were aware of this nasty fact but never talked about it among themselves.
To live was to beat the overwhelming odds of death.
But they worried about their families back in Germany.
They worried about what the Allies and the Russians might do once the war ended.
Would they take out their frustrations on the civilians?
Punish those they thought aided the cause?
Wild thoughts careened through the minds of the crew.
These thoughts along with the sheer exhaustion of a long war took a huge toll on the men.
The officers recognized this and tried to keep morale up.
They cruised underwater most of the time, surfacing only to clear the air when able.
This meant their cruising speed averaged less than 7 knots (about 8 miles per hour).
Surface supply ships transferred food and water to the U-boat so they would not waste time stopping in a port to replenish supplies.
For that matter, what port would be open to a German U-boat in 1945?
With Germany losing the war on all sides, only their Axis ally, Japan, welcomed them.
But Japan was on the other side of the world and in a world of hurt as well.
Kapitän zur See
Ernst Adler also did not want to give anyone a clue as to their destination.
His orders were to simply sail to a point on a map and ensure only those necessary knew their course.
The captain and crew knew nothing of their cargo, wrapped securely in heavy canvas and stacked throughout the close confines of the boat.
Adler was like his crew; he just wanted to get this over with and go home.
Much had changed since they sailed several weeks ago from Rostock.
Germany surrendered.
Hitler was dead.
Admiral Donitz took over as the
Reichsprasident
of Nazi Germany.
After twenty days, he surrendered to Field Marshal Montgomery.
Everything was in chaos.
But the U-boat captain had his orders.
The orders were very specific.
He was to deliver a load of cargo to a destination.
He was to speak to no one.
Only the first officer and navigator knew the course or terminus.
Once at the destination, he would unload and await orders from the German commander on site.
The crew knew nothing.
Ernst Adler knew the war was lost but told no one aboard.
The coded message he received a few days before confirmed it.
He had no idea about his next orders.
He hoped there would be no orders.
Then he could confer with his officers and crew to decide where to surrender.
But those thoughts were for after the mission.
“Raise periscope,” Captain Adler ordered, glancing around the control room looking for his second in command.
“Where is Hientz?” he asked.
“Here, sir,” answered First Officer Willie Hientz, popping up through the watertight hatch from below.
“I was just checking our position with navigation.”
“All in order?” asked the captain, calm but clearly concerned.