Both Rauch and Schneider were puzzled, both glancing at each other.
The mood had changed.
Both politely took a cigarette and breathed a sigh of relief, thus relaxing the situation with their host.
The room, although small, was neatly appointed with leather chairs and nice end tables.
A dark, rich burgundy rug was spread across the floor covering all but a few inches on all sides.
Matching lamps sat on each of the four end tables.
A large meeting table sat in the center of the room.
Without the center table, the room looked like a doctor’s waiting room.
Rauch noticed it even smelled like a doctor’s office.
There was a slight antiseptic odor and everything was clean.
“Please allow me to introduce myself, gentlemen.
I am
Hauptsturmführer
Reiniger.
I am a captain in the SS serving the Fatherland here in this bunker.
As you have seen, the security here is extreme.
You have been ordered here to do an important job.
You have the trucks and men that were outlined?”
“Yes, sir,” squawked Schneider without hesitation and before Rauch could even think about answering.
Suck up… thought Rauch.
“Very good then, we will get started at once,” said Reiniger.
“Please take off your coats and get comfortable.”
They took off their coats, each lighting their cigarettes, and sat down around the very nice mahogany table. Reiniger began to speak.
“Gentlemen, we have been tasked with transporting valuable cargo, cargo that is extremely important to the success of the Third Reich.
Arrangements have been made for you to take this cargo to a location to be transferred to the mode of transportation for the next leg of this trip.
You will stay with this cargo from this day forward.
You will never be away from it until it reaches the final destination.
Do you understand exactly what I am saying?”
Rauch was puzzled.
“Exactly where are we taking this, this cargo?”
“That is not for me to say.
You will be given detailed orders as to where to take the cargo and what specifically to do with it.
The cargo is classified.
That is all you need to know,” Reiniger stated curtly.
“If there are no more questions…”
Reiniger paused for just an instant, “then we can move on.”
Reiniger stood up.
“You may leave your coats here.
We will come back for our final orders once the trucks have been loaded.”
The two men stood, placed their cigarettes in the ashtray on the table and followed Reiniger.
“I had no idea this complex was here,” started Rauch.
“Yes,” answered Reiniger.
“This location is secret.
Officially it does not exist; therefore you are not to speak to anyone about what you have seen here.”
Reiniger’s easy-going attitude had changed to a stern warning.
“Do you fully understand?”
“Yes, of course,” answered Rauch also speaking for Schneider.
Reiniger glanced at the two and quietly said, “Excellent.
Please follow me.
I have something to show you.”
March 30, 1945
Outside the Bunker Entrance 300 Kilometers Southwest of Berlin, Germany;
3:10 a.m.
Outside the soldiers in the trucks were freezing.
Snow was still falling along with the temperature.
The trucks did afford some protection from the wind but not much from the cold.
They were also unaware of another potential hazard…the SS troops that had completely surrounded them.
“What the hell is going on?
Why are we just sitting here on our asses?” Mauer asked impatiently.
Just then the heavy door of the bunker opened again and an officer emerged motioning to the armed guards surrounding the trucks.
Two troopers stepped up on the running boards of the cab of each truck, one on each side.
Once a pair of troopers was on each truck, the order to move was issued.
Kruger, one of the soldiers, moved to the rear of the truck and peeked out of the canvas.
“Get back in the truck,” a terse order came from one of the SS troopers.
Kruger jumped back, surprised at the voice and frankly at the loudness of the command.
Whoever said that meant business.
Several guards moved a gate that looked like a brush pile at the edge of the clearing exposing a narrow road.
The trucks moved down the road about a half a kilometer from the clearing at the bunker entrance.
They came to a stop in another small open area with a massive tree trunk lying on its side.
One of the troopers on the lead truck jumped off and walked over to a hidden switch and the huge log slowly began to rise, revealing another hidden road that the truck caravan quickly drove down.
As soon as the last truck cleared, the trunk slowly returned to its normal position obscuring the hidden road.
After another half kilometer, the trucks stopped in front of a hill at the end of the road.
Again the guard stepped off, walked over to what looked like a large tree and pulled a hidden lever.
The hillside began to open like a giant clamshell revealing another huge steel door, a garage door large enough for the trucks to enter.
The guard ran over to a small speaker box and within a minute the steel door opened.
The trucks slowly entered a massive underground garage completely hidden within the hill.
The guys in the back of the truck decided to take another peek just as the trucks cleared the steel door and entered the garage.
They moved from the darkness of the night into a brightly lit cavernous garage.
Vogel pulled the canvas back so everyone could see.
The guards riding on the rear of the truck had stepped off.
“Holy shit, look at this place.
Can you believe this?” asked Mauer as he and the other two men peered out of the back of the truck, their eyes squinting at the brightness.
“Where the hell are we?” asked Vogel.
“I don’t know, but at least it’s nice and warm,” said Mauer.
A loud voice came over a loudspeaker.
“Park in Section A, Bay 2.”
The trooper on the lead truck motioned to the driver to move the truck over to the far end of the underground garage under the Section A sign painted on the far wall.
The six trucks pulled over and parked in line.
The soldiers and drivers jumped out and began milling around near the front of the first truck.
Quickly twenty-five armed SS troopers surrounded them all.
“You are to stay here with the vehicles until further orders,” a young SS leutnant barked looking directly at Mauer and Kruger.
The two along with the other men and drivers stood there amazed at their surroundings.
The garage was enormous.
Easily three stories high, there were several catwalks surrounding and crisscrossing the upper levels.
Every few feet there were heavily armed SS storm troopers watching everything going on in the garage.
There were several other balconies overlooking the floor area with several other doors leading into other areas of the complex.
The entire area was heated.
Mauer looked around.
This was one huge place!
He had never seen anything like this anywhere.
There were twenty-eight bays in seven sections denoted on the walls.
Looking around, there were at least a hundred workers scurrying around and that did not count the troopers above.
“Do you believe this place?” asked Vogel with his head cocked up looking at the catwalks above.
“No, I do not,” answered Mauer sheepishly.
“Are we underground?”
“We have to be,” whispered Vogel.
“This place is too big to be above ground.
The Allies would have bombed it for sure.” The noise of activity throughout the huge garage nearly drowned out their conversation.
After walking what seemed like nearly a kilometer through the complex, Reiniger, Rauch and Schneider stepped into another elevator and rode up several levels.
When the door opened they stepped into the massive underground garage.
Even with other work going on Rauch immediately spotted his truck caravan on the opposite side, far away from the other activity in the area.
“Gentlemen, this way, please,” directed Reiniger as they all walked together across the garage.
Schneider noticed a yellow double door opening near the parked trucks.
Several heavy carts loaded with crates were being pushed by soldiers toward the trucks.
The carts were steel with solid steel wheels.
They were built to carry very heavy loads.
As Rauch and the others walked up, they heard an SS leutnant barking out orders to the group of soldiers by the trucks.
“Each truck is to be loaded with eighteen crates each.
Hurry up and get this loaded.
There is no time to screw around.
You have twenty minutes to get the loads ready for travel.”
Kruger, Mauer, Vogel and the last soldier each began grabbing at the wooden crates.
“Damn, these are heavy as hell!” cried Vogel as the little guy tried to single-handedly lift a crate.
He barely moved it.
None of the others could move one alone either.
The officers and the guards stood silently watching the men.
Both Rauch and Schneider, seeing the garage for the first time, were in awe of the facility, not only the areas they had been in but this huge underground hangar/garage.
They quickly found that it took two men at each end of the crates to move them and heft them into the back of the trucks.
The wooden crates were painted
feldgrau
with black SS stamps and the Nazi eagle standing atop a swastika inside a wreath of oak leaves, the “Iron Eagle”.
All were nailed securely shut.
“What the hell is in these things?” moaned Mauer.
“Silence!” the SS officer cried.
“Load the trucks and keep quiet!”
Silently the men continued loading their truck.
The same was happening with each of the other five trucks.
Once loaded, the trucks were checked and double-checked by the officers.
Their tally sheets were brought over to Reiniger.
“Everyone back into your trucks!” the order came from one of the SS officers.
A large package of food was also loaded into each truck.
“Hey, now we are talking,” said Kruger.
“It’s about time we got something to eat.”
The men began tearing into the food.
Reiniger turned to Rauch and Schneider.
“Gentlemen, I will get your official orders while the trucks are readied to pick you up,” said Reiniger, leading Rauch and Schneider back toward the elevator that they used before.
“In the meantime, you can also get something to eat.
Our officer’s dining room is on the way.”
Officer’s dining room?
Rauch looked at Schneider, trying not to show his surprise, but it had to show through.
Schneider smiled for the first time.
Rauch joined him.
Maybe this was not going to be so bad after all.
Reiniger took the men up two floors, down a long hall where they entered a large grand dining room.
The two officers were amazed.
This section of the underground complex with its full dining room looked like a royal chateau in France.
Beautifully appointed, several officers had already seated themselves at two of the eight tables in the large room.
Reiniger clearly took pleasure in leading Rauch and Schneider to the far table, seating them and hosting a very fine meal fit for a king.