Authors: James Holland
'What about the soldiers in the church?'
'That might have been them. But I couldn't say for
certain.'
Chevannes nodded. 'We'll wait here a while longer.'
At nearly half past four, Tanner spotted Sulheim
emerge from the farmhouse. Constantly glancing around him, he hurried out of
the yard, across the river and pastures towards the trees.
When he reached the
seter,
he was short of breath, but his eyes were wide with
excitement. 'They have gone,' he told them, then grinned. 'You have been
spotted back over on the other side of the mountain. They think you crossed
into the Gudbrandsdal valley again.'
'What about the men in the church?' asked Tanner. 'Was
that them leaving earlier?'
Sulheim nodded. 'Yes. I did not let them know that I
speak German, but the officer was becoming increasingly agitated. He was
convinced you would appear when it was dark. I think he was on the point of
leaving anyway when he had the signal.'
'How could we have been spotted?' Chevannes asked.
'A Norwegian reported seeing you.' He grinned again.
'You see? We are mostly patriotic countrymen around here.'
They loaded their packs hastily and headed back down
the mountain to the valley. Unease dogged Tanner's every step, as though they
were heading inexorably into a trap. Yet no shots were fired, neither did enemy
troops appear. At the farm, anxious minutes ticked by as Sulheim replaced the
alternator in the truck. His wife gave them bread and cold meat, but Tanner's
appetite had left him.
At last they were ready to go. It was some time after six
o'clock on the morning of Saturday, 27 April.
'What will you say if the Germans return and see the
truck gone?' Tanner asked Sulheim.
'That you came back and forced us to hand it over.'
'Perhaps we should tie you up. Otherwise you'd be
obliged to contact them the moment we left.'
'All right.'
Shortly after, with the family bound and left in the
house, they loaded themselves into the truck. 'I'll drive,' Tanner told
Chevannes. 'I know these vehicles. The British Army's got hundreds of them.' It
was true, although the military versions were larger, heavier, and of a more
basic construction. Nonetheless as Tanner stepped into the cab with Anna and
Lieutenant Chevannes beside him, the driving mechanism felt familiar. Turn the
ignition key, pull out the choke and press down the starter in the footwell.
The engine turned over a couple of times then fired into life, the speedometer
and oil pressure gauge flickering. Tanner put his foot down on the deep clutch,
pushed the shaking lever into gear, released the handbrake, then eased
them out of the yard and on to the road.
*********
In Lillehammer, Reichsamtsleiter Scheidt had spent another wretched
night sleeping little, drinking too much brandy, smoking too many cigarettes
and railing against their continued inability to find and capture Odin. With
the arrival of morning and his return to the SD offices, his mood had worsened
when a signal arrived from Zellner informing him that the night's search had
been fruitless and that misinformation from a Norwegian farmer had sent them on
a wild-goose chase back to the western side of the Gudbrandsdalen.
'Please stop fretting, Herr Reichsamtsleiter,' Kurz
had told him. 'Go out and get some fresh air. Take a walk. But, for God's sake,
stop glowering in here.'
Scheidt was contemplating doing as Kurz suggested when
a clerk knocked at the door. Kurz looked up.
'A signal, sir. It's just come through.'
Scheidt strode over and snatched the thin transcript
paper. As he read it, a smile broke across his face. 'At last,' he said.
'Perhaps your brand of optimism is justified after all, Sturmbannfuhrer.'
'Atmospheric conditions have changed, then?' grinned
Kurz.
Scheidt nodded. 'It would seem so, Sturmbannfuhrer.'
A different message was tapped out to Zellner, now back at Tretten
after another exhausting night in which he had felt the fear of failure clawing
at him. As the clerk brought it to him, he snatched the piece of paper from his
hand and read it with mounting excitement.
'Odin located in J0ra valley. They have M/T and are
heading north. Stop them. Do not fail. Kurz.'
Tanner glanced in the mirror. Through the window at the back of the
cab, he could see Erwood and Hepworth manning the Bren, its barrel resting on
the tailgate. Next to them Larsen was scanning the valley with his binoculars
to the south. It was meandering and close, narrowing to no more than a few
hundred yards wide, the steep, wooded slopes rising above them. It gave Tanner
a claustrophobic feeling, as though the world was closing in on them.
They drove in silence at first, which suited him. He
wanted to concentrate and keep a watchful guard on the road ahead without
distraction, but at length Chevannes spoke. 'Tell me, Anna,' he said, 'have you
always lived here in the Gudbrandsdalen?'
'My family have, yes,' she said, 'but I have been
studying in Oslo for the past three years.'
'Studying what?'
'Medicine - at the university.'
'A doctor in the making. You must be very clever.'
Anna looked down, embarrassed. 'Perhaps I will not be
able to finish now. I still have another year. Everything has stopped with the
war.'
'I am sure it will not go on for ever. In any case,
people will still need doctors.'
'I will not become a doctor under the Nazis,' Anna
replied, anger in her voice.
'No, no, of course not. Anyway, I am sure we will send
them packing. Most of the French forces are in the north. With the British and
our joint naval forces we will turn the tide. Lack of proper planning has been
the
problem here, but
that won't be the case on the coast.'
'I hope you're right.' Anna sounded doubtful.
'I am, and let me tell you why. France has the largest
army in the world. I know we have all seen pictures of Germans goose-stepping
at Nazi rallies, but that is for show. They might have swept aside Poland, but
the Polish cavalry was still on horseback. There is nothing so very remarkable
about beating Poland. France, on the other hand, has an army of more than two
million men, and more tanks and guns than Britain and Germany put together. In
any case, we have sent some of our best troops to Norway - the Chasseurs
Alpins, of course, but also the Legion Etrangere. So all will be well, you'll
see.' He patted her knee.
Tanner felt her flinch.
Shut the hell up, you
French bastard
,
he thought. This was no time to sweet-talk Anna Rostad.
'Of course,' said Chevannes, after a short pause, 'I
never went to university myself, but I did study at St Cyr. That's our national
military academy.'
Anna nodded.
'Yes,' he continued, 'it is a fine place. It was established
by the emperor himself, Napoleon Bonaparte. Near Versailles. Ah, it was a
wonderful time in my life, training to be a soldier - training hard, I should
add. It was something I had always wanted to do. And with Paris on our
doorstep. I have never been to Oslo, but Paris is a beautiful city. A wonderful
city. You must visit one day, Anna. Come to Paris and I will show you around
myself.'
'All clear at the back?' yelled Tanner, leaning out of
the open window.
'All clear, Sarge,' came Sykes's muffled reply
'And Versailles is magnificent, of course,' continued
Chevannes. 'A stunning palace but also the gardens—'
'Where are we now, sir?' said Tanner.
Chevannes stopped speaking and opened the map on his
lap.
'We're leaving the river behind,' added Tanner.
Anna peered over Chevannes' shoulder. 'Yes,' she said.
'We are here.' She pointed a finger. 'We are climbing to the Espedalen where
there is a mountain lake.'
Tanner dropped down a gear as they drove out of the
valley. The road was now rough and potholed, and the truck laboured as the
track steepened. 'Come on,' muttered Tanner, 'you can do it.' The Morris kept
going, but more slowly with every yard. 'Are you scanning the skies, Dan, Hep?'
he shouted.
'Yes, Sarge,' came the reply.
'Don't worry, Sergeant,' said Anna, 'the road soon
levels off again.'
'Good. I don't like going so slowly. Too bloody easy
for any passing Jerry aircraft.' He leant forward and tried to look up. A few
bulbous white clouds but otherwise the sky was a deep and bright blue. Not good
for spotting enemy aircraft.
They inched round a hairpin bend and hit a pothole,
which jolted them sideways. Amid groans from the back, Anna was knocked against
Chevannes. 'Sorry,' she said.
'Why would I mind having you thrown against me?'
Chevannes smiled, and Anna, flustered, brushed her hair off her face. 'I must
say,' he continued, 'I do admire you. It was a very brave decision you made, to
come with us.'
'I wanted to help my country,' said Anna, quietly.
'Yes, but for us - well, we are soldiers, and we
expect—'
'What's that noise?' snapped Tanner.
'I didn't hear anything,' said Chevannes.
Of course not,
thought Tanner.
You're bloody yapping too
much.
He
strained his ears. Yes, there it was again, unmistakable - an aircraft, maybe
two. His body tensed and he bounced up and down in his seat, willing the truck
to go faster. 'I can hear an aircraft!' he yelled. 'Can anyone see it?' He
turned to Chevannes. 'Sir, can you see anything?'
Chevannes leant from the cab,
but as he did so, Hepworth shouted, 'Got them, sir! Two aircraft at five
o'clock. Coming up the valley.'
'Get some bloody binoculars on
them!' Tanner shouted.
Chevannes turned in his seat and
leant out of the window, glasses to his eyes. The truck was gaining momentum
once more. Beneath them was a steep, almost sheer, wooded valley. On their
right, the mountain continued to climb. An old farmhouse now, perched on a cliff-top;
more grass-roofed shacks. Tanner searched ahead for a place to shelter at the
side of the road, but there was nothing. Rather, as the road straightened he
could see the deep ravine to their left rising towards the long, narrow lake
Anna had spoken of.
Christ.
They were even more exposed up here.
'Single engine, Sergeant!' Larsen called out. 'Two.'
'Stukas!' said Chevannes.
'Mon Dieu.'
Tanner
tried to think.
Drive straight on. Keep going. If
they know about Sandvold, they're not going to hit us.
He
could
hear them clearly now, the thrum of their engines. The road was rough, but
clear and straight - almost dead straight. He put his foot on the accelerator
and watched the needle flicker on the speedometer. Sixty, sixty-five, edging
seventy kilometres per hour. What was that? Forty miles an hour?
Come on
,
he thought
.
Keep going for me.
'They're right on top of us, Sarge!' said Hepworth.
'Bloody look at them bastards!'
'What are you doing?' said Chevannes, swinging back
down into the cab. His face was tense, his eyes wide.
'I'm going to bloody well keep driving. The faster we
move the harder it'll be for them to hit us. If I need to swerve off the road,
I will.' His hands tightened around the steering-wheel.
The two Stukas flew on, until Tanner could see them,
small but distinct. It was hard to know how high they were, but he guessed at
least six thousand feet.
'They're flying past us,' said Anna.
'It's not possible,' muttered Chevannes. 'Surely not.'
'They're getting a lead before they dive.'
Sure enough, the aircraft turned 180 degrees on to
their backs and dived at about a ninety-degree angle. Sirens wailing, they
screamed towards them, the valley resounding to their deafening drone.