Here it is CFers, my latest. Enjoy!
As always with my stories … comments, banter, and even limericks are welcome.
And credit here should go to both Windar and Fossy for edits and plotting suggestions, and to Fossy for producing the accompanying art.
It Happened in Hamburg
1
Canteen B, Detention and Interrogation Section, Hamburg Stadthaus, 02:53 Sunday, 18 December, 1938
He looked up, obvious annoyance written into his facial expression. His eyes were bloodshot. A half empty cup of coffee lay on the gray metal table on which he’d been resting his head. A completely empty bottle of cognac lay on the floor. His tie was loosened, shirt collar opened, and black SS officer’s jacket carelessly draped over the back of the chair on which he sat.
“What is it, Reimer? It’s late, and it’s been an extraordinarily long day already. I’m tired and am about to leave for the night. Surely whatever or whomever it is can wait until morning.”
“I’m very sorry to disturb you, SS-Sturmbannführer Reinhardt, but they’ve just brought in someone whose interrogation you might want to oversee,” responded the night Unterscharführer, his considerable sausage-like bulk all but filling the doorway to the canteen.
The lout had not bothered to snap to attention before a ranking officer, an act of careless insolence that Reinhardt could hardly have missed, and another reason why he so very much hated his current duty assignment. He silently cursed the fact that his most recent request to be transferred from this thankless and dead-end supervisory SD post with the Gestapo in Hamburg to one of the newly formed Waffen-SS fighting units had been denied, just as the several submitted previously had been.”
“Are you coming, or not?” grunted the man in the canteen doorway.
“Hold your horses, Reimer. How about you telling me first who or what they’ve brought in?”
“Suspected member of the local opposition, Herr SS-Sturmbannführer … reported by an alert citizen to be seen distributing propaganda circulars in mailboxes and under doors … and subsequently apprehended and brought in by a Gestapo unit.”
“Damn Reds. One would think the sniveling bastards would give up and quit. No need for me to bother with this, Reimer. Strictly a police matter. Beat the shit out of the creep and toss whatever is left of him in the harbor.”
“Sorry, Herr SS-Sturmbannführer. But I believe this should rightly be a matter of interest to the SD.”
“And exactly how might that be?”
“Well, first of all the prisoner is a young woman, not a man; and a stunningly attractive one too.
And secondly, she’s Barbara Mohr, daughter of the big Hamburg financier, industrialist and shipping magnate, Joachim Mohr … he’s someone, I understand, the SD is keeping an eye on these days, not only because of his significant role in the rearmament of the Reich but also because of his close connections and associations with the English.”
“You’re remarkably well-informed, Reimer, for a low level flunky.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, Herr SS-Sturmbannführer.”
“It wasn’t meant as one. Go back to your post, Reimer. I’ll be down in twenty to thirty minutes after I finish up with a few matters up here. But before you go, please tell me exactly where it is that Fräulein Mohr is being held at the moment so my time isn’t wasted wandering around down there trying to find out where she is. I want to attend to this as efficiently as possible as I’m going on leave for the Christmas holidays day after tomorrow.
“In the old cellar section … Verhörraum E … Herr SS-Sturmbannführer.”
“Alright, see that she’s properly prepared and be sure to have her file on hand for me to peruse … her father’s too. We’ll see what develops but ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ may be required. Be sure that everything needed is available and ready.”
“Jawohl, Herr SS-Sturmbannführer!”
TBC
As always with my stories … comments, banter, and even limericks are welcome.
And credit here should go to both Windar and Fossy for edits and plotting suggestions, and to Fossy for producing the accompanying art.
It Happened in Hamburg
1
Canteen B, Detention and Interrogation Section, Hamburg Stadthaus, 02:53 Sunday, 18 December, 1938
He looked up, obvious annoyance written into his facial expression. His eyes were bloodshot. A half empty cup of coffee lay on the gray metal table on which he’d been resting his head. A completely empty bottle of cognac lay on the floor. His tie was loosened, shirt collar opened, and black SS officer’s jacket carelessly draped over the back of the chair on which he sat.
“What is it, Reimer? It’s late, and it’s been an extraordinarily long day already. I’m tired and am about to leave for the night. Surely whatever or whomever it is can wait until morning.”
“I’m very sorry to disturb you, SS-Sturmbannführer Reinhardt, but they’ve just brought in someone whose interrogation you might want to oversee,” responded the night Unterscharführer, his considerable sausage-like bulk all but filling the doorway to the canteen.
The lout had not bothered to snap to attention before a ranking officer, an act of careless insolence that Reinhardt could hardly have missed, and another reason why he so very much hated his current duty assignment. He silently cursed the fact that his most recent request to be transferred from this thankless and dead-end supervisory SD post with the Gestapo in Hamburg to one of the newly formed Waffen-SS fighting units had been denied, just as the several submitted previously had been.”
“Are you coming, or not?” grunted the man in the canteen doorway.
“Hold your horses, Reimer. How about you telling me first who or what they’ve brought in?”
“Suspected member of the local opposition, Herr SS-Sturmbannführer … reported by an alert citizen to be seen distributing propaganda circulars in mailboxes and under doors … and subsequently apprehended and brought in by a Gestapo unit.”
“Damn Reds. One would think the sniveling bastards would give up and quit. No need for me to bother with this, Reimer. Strictly a police matter. Beat the shit out of the creep and toss whatever is left of him in the harbor.”
“Sorry, Herr SS-Sturmbannführer. But I believe this should rightly be a matter of interest to the SD.”
“And exactly how might that be?”
“Well, first of all the prisoner is a young woman, not a man; and a stunningly attractive one too.
And secondly, she’s Barbara Mohr, daughter of the big Hamburg financier, industrialist and shipping magnate, Joachim Mohr … he’s someone, I understand, the SD is keeping an eye on these days, not only because of his significant role in the rearmament of the Reich but also because of his close connections and associations with the English.”
“You’re remarkably well-informed, Reimer, for a low level flunky.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, Herr SS-Sturmbannführer.”
“It wasn’t meant as one. Go back to your post, Reimer. I’ll be down in twenty to thirty minutes after I finish up with a few matters up here. But before you go, please tell me exactly where it is that Fräulein Mohr is being held at the moment so my time isn’t wasted wandering around down there trying to find out where she is. I want to attend to this as efficiently as possible as I’m going on leave for the Christmas holidays day after tomorrow.
“In the old cellar section … Verhörraum E … Herr SS-Sturmbannführer.”
“Alright, see that she’s properly prepared and be sure to have her file on hand for me to peruse … her father’s too. We’ll see what develops but ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ may be required. Be sure that everything needed is available and ready.”
“Jawohl, Herr SS-Sturmbannführer!”
TBC
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