The Gaoler at Oflag IV-B

By David E Lawrence

It's 1943 and the POWs at Oflag IV-B plan an escape despite the presence of the Waffen-SS and the vigilance of their singular camp Kommandant. The eventual breakout is both unprecedented and redefines conventional loyalties.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David E Lawrence
• Release date: Mar 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215533840

David E Lawrence

Born in Rugby I live in Oxford where I worked in book publishing taking early retirement as Production Director. I now write for pleasure and for local outlets and sites such as this one. My favourite authors are CS Lewis, Haruki Murakami and Frederick Forsyth. I also compile cryptic crosswords and listen to a whole lot of music especially rock and jazz.

Book preview

The Gaoler at Oflag IV-B

by

David E Lawrence

Copyright 2023 David Lawrence

Smashwords Edition

The Gaoler at Oflag IV-B

         There is a deep silence before the explosion. The stars hold their breath behind an opaque sky. The eruption tears the night apart. Substance and certainty replaced by volatility and chaos. The thump and thunder shake the earth beneath Oflag IV-B, an officers only POW camp in south east Germany. It is 1943 and the tensile relationship between gaoler and prisoner is shattered.

         Kommandant Schultz' office and living quarter at the south-western corner of the camp is engulfed in orange and black fire, consuming everything and everyone inside. The fuel tank against the back wall catches and explodes like a dying star knocking men to the ground. Tendrils of acrid black smoke snake between the huts, riding rivers of cool autumnal air, like the Lind Worm's flickering tongue seeking out the fresh flesh of running men. The air is now toxic. A grotesque masque ball of goggle eyed creatures in gas masks emerge moving in and out of the smoke, calling out in muffled voices.

         To the immediate north of the Kommandant's residence are the officer's barracks, already vacated as the roof starts to smoulder. The fire has not yet leapt to the next building, the visitor block where the SS inspectorate are currently resident, although sparks are raining down on the officers making their way coughing and retching into the night. There are four of them in long black leather coats. One clutches his face where a makeshift bandage obscures his eye and forehead..

         Two army lorries, a couple of VWs and a large Mercedes-Benz W31 staff car sit apart next to a concrete detention block, their tanks gorged on fuel. Two of the SS officers run to the staff car.

         'An attack?' someone shouts in German.

         'Where are the searchlights?' another voice.

         The camp is lit only by the fire. The wounded SS officer alert to the infidelity of night, leaves the staff car to his colleagues and looks east. A fox catching something on the wind.

         'An escape…'

         'With me!' he calls and leads Captain Rudiger who is suddenly there with six men through the huts toward the Eastern fence. Engines start up as vehicles prepare to move away from the conflagration. The fourth SS officer, a Sergeant opens the gates to the officers compound to let rescuers in and the vehicles out. He has like everyone else donned a gas mask.

         'Lights,' screams Rudiger, but nothing happens. Did the explosion knock them out or were they already out? Rudiger is a six foot something career officer with striking Teutonic features and the gleam of certainty in bright blue eyes. His thick lips bark orders. He is choking. He has neglected his gas mask. There is no hope for his Kommandant but there is time to intercept his killers.

         The air is confusing, angry and violent. Distorted, elongating shadows of running men between the ten huts in the centre of the compound. They are crossing the sandy parade ground. Behind them the staff car accelerates out of the compound and away from the creaking cracking inferno of collapsing wood.

         The SS Major and Captain Rudiger find exactly what they expected. A tear in the Eastern wire fence yawns in a toothless, mirthless mocking laugh. A slash that has enabled the wire to be peeled back to a height of four feet, giving access to the beech wood on the banks of the lake beyond.

         Captain Rudiger passes through and stares at the black water. The Dutzendteich