Chapter Eight: Tall Order

"We want him killed but we don't want any holes in the uniform!" It was a strange order, but an important one. Churchill himself had requested that the Resistance find out exactly where the aircraft assembly plants were stationed in Berlin, and Jerry was the only one who qualified for the task of finding out that information. The Allies wanted detailed maps for their bombers, and he was familiar with Berlin as he had often traveled there on business while in Waldenberg. He spoke the language, and most important, they could trust him to get the job done. All that was needed was a uniform to fit a man who was six feet one inch tall and the ID to go with it.

In accordance with the tall order, two members of the Resistance followed a lanky SS officer as he walked out of a club late one night and down a lonely street towards one of the many brothels of Paris. It was unusual to see a Nazi officer in that part of the town by himself, but he was obviously drunk and therefore not too concerned about what could happen to him. The man was so inebriated, one of the Frenchmen merely had to whisper,

"Hey Fritz," and when the soldier turned towards him, the other quickly put a piece of wire around his neck and pulled tight. It was quick, quiet and clean . . . the uniform was delivered in perfect condition.

Jerry was straining at the bit to do something big to frustrate the Nazi cause before he left for Britain. The plan was to drop him by parachute in a field about three miles east of Berlin. He would have to bury his parachute, make his own way to the city, and locate as many assembly plants as he could within one week. Then he would have to get back to the airfield and be picked up at 1900 hours, seven nights later. The only way they could possibly carry out such a dangerous assignment was for the plane to land and take off in thick fog, something that was a certainty in that area at that time of the year. The risks both of air and ground travel would be great, but if he could deliver the information to the Allies, the hazards were well worth it.

He would carry false papers giving him direct orders from Hitler's personal secretary, Martin Bormann. They were a mandate giving Jerry free course in Berlin to carry out specific details of Bormann's brainchild to purify the German race, producing what was referred to as the Aryan elite. The "Fountain of Life," predicted Bormann, would produce 10,000 purified children by the end of the war, who would live in 22 homes administered by the society. The Nazis had already torn 200,000 children with Aryan characteristics from their parents in Norway, Poland and Czechoslovakia to be raised as Germans.

To be continued...