Opposite Sides (70 page)

“
Been keeping
this for the end,” said the Commander. “Won’t you join with me now
it’s all over?”

“
Thank you,
Commander.”

It was a strange feeling
to be sitting in this office opposite the man, who, until now had
been his adversary. The Commander popped the cork and filled their
mugs.

“
Cheers!”

“
Cheers!” It
was the first time Hans had used it.

“
Thank God
it’s all over,” sighed the Commander as he first took a fairly
large mouthful of sherry, and then leaning well back in his chair,
ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. “Now we can talk as
friends.” He offered Hans a cigarette out of a small silver box.
Hans politely held up his hand and the box was left lying on the
table. “Mind if I do?” asked the Commander. Hans shook his head and
waited for the other to light up. “I was called up early in the
forties,” said the Commander drawing lightly on the cigarette. “I’d
been on the reserve list for ten years. I’d done some military
service back in the twenties. You must’ve been in England about
then. Were you here when we had the Great Strike?”

“
Yes,”
answered Hans. He took a sip of wine and then continued, “I was. I
couldn’t get back to London that day.”

“
I was one of
those called up to drive a train. London to Oxford. Many of the
military were, you know. Gosh, Major, that seems a life-time ago.
Quite a different world, back then.”

“
Exactly.”

“
Then I was
out in Africa for a couple of years. Trouble with some of the
locals so the Ministry asked for volunteers. After that stint I
wasn’t too keen continuing in active service, so I went on the
reserves. Wanted to get married again, see. Army life’s rather hell
for a family being dragged around everywhere, nowhere to really
call home. Have you been a military man all your working
life?”

“
No. I had a
father who made the army his career so I do know what you’re
talking about. I know what it’s like to be dragged around from one
place to the next or not seeing your father for months and months.
My mother found things very difficult.”

“
I’m sure she
did. You have any children back in Germany?”

“
A son.
Somewhere. But exactly where, I have no idea. I must get back and
try to find him.”

“
And your
wife?”

“
She was
killed. In an air raid.”

“
Sorry. One
of ours?”

“
I expect so.
That’s war.”

The Commander nodded and
emptied his drink. All the while the two had been chatting, the
Commander continually sipped at his drink. It was only now that he
noticed the Major’s mug was still half full.

“
Come on,
Major. Drink up. Can’t leave it all to me to empty this.” He held
up the bottle at a slight tilt and waited. “You know, after the
last go, I never thought we’d be at each others throats so soon.
Terrible, how it all ended up.”

“
I can’t
believe how misguided we all were.” Hans contemplated the liquid in
the mug as he tried to think of what to say without causing
offence. “I agreed that things needed to be done. I don’t deny
that. But to stop the slide into chaos, there needed to be quick
action by a strong central government. Germany was in a bad way in
the thirties and madness took centre place.”

The Commander poured out
the rest of the sherry into his own mug and continued to
sip.

“
I can
understand that. After the twenty-nine crash, things weren’t too
rosy here, either. Fortunes were lost overnight. Ruined the family.
Unemployment was rife and families sunk into poverty. You should
have seen all those ill-fed children.”

“
I felt we’d
been offered some sort of solution. All I wanted was a better
country where people could live a better life. I never considered
that such evil was shaping our future. Once we were at war, we were
trapped into fighting for a tyrant no-one knew how to stop. We’d
climbed into bed with a tiger and found out, too late, that we were
its dinner.”

The Commander gave a
short grunt. He sat bolt upright, banging his mug hard on to the
table so that several splashes shot out.

“
Come, come,
man, don’t give me those excuses! Your top brass could have
rebelled and put a stop to it. Your soldiers could have surrendered
earlier, instead of slogging it out for months, weeks, even right
down to days and hours in every building or ruin we came across.
They just wouldn’t give up!”

“
Sorry, I
disagree. Once a government gets us into uniform, we become their
pawns. Ordinary decent people are changed into something else. They
become like soldier ants, consigned to do battle and die without
question. But there were some who did try to stop it. There were
attempts to stop the Nazis but those attempts failed. Had we
received outside help, there was a good chance one could have
succeeded. Churchill could have helped.”

“
What, with a
war raging? He wouldn’t have known who to trust.”

“
I admit it
wouldn’t have been easy.”

The Commander gave an
ironic laugh and emptied his mug.

“
You had too
many fanatics. It would have been an impossible ask.”

“
Oh, I make
no apologies for them. Nobody can deal with those sorts. Most of us
were just soldiers. We did our duty and hoped to survive. This
uniform . . . I would have been proud to wear it for my country but
now I find out what the fanatics really did, I feel humiliated,
unworthy and cheated.”

“
Any soldier,
who does his duty and abides by international law, should never
feel unworthy. Bravery should always be admired, no matter what the
cloth.”

“
Even so. We
will all be judged and convicted together.”

“
Not this
time, Major. We recognise that there were good men as well as bad.
It’s those fanatics, the ones responsible for the genocide we’re
after. Nazis! Not the ordinary soldier. And remember when you
return, things will be very unsettled in Germany. You’ll need to be
very aware of what is happening around you.”

“
I must go
back as soon as I can, no matter what the situation. I must find
out if my son’s survived. And when that’s sorted, I’ve another
promise to keep. There’s someone very special here,
too.”

The Commander gave a
Cheshire-cat grin and inclined his head towards the main
gate.

“
That Nurse
who’s made several visits, eh? For a while I’ve had the thought
that there’s been something going on between you. Am I correct? ”
Hans nodded. The Commander laughed. “I’m not surprised. Pops up
quite a bit around here. Half the time I can’t fathom what her
reason is for doing another health check. She was always asking
about you. Very good at her job, though, so I’ve heard.”

“We’ve known each other
for a long time,’ added Hans in a mater-of-fact way.

‘
Yes, someone
did mention you’d met out in Africa. I know she was in the
Territorial Services and did a stint of duty out there. She was
head nurse in one of the camps, I believe.’

“
Correct. But
we knew each other before then, even before the war
began.”

“
Aha, that
explains a lot,” the Commander decided, nodding his head as he was
beginning to understand the connection. He considered it opportune
now to clear up the other matter which had puzzled him. “I believe
you’ve got a daughter here in England,” he remarked quite
suddenly.

Hans was taken aback. No
mention of Andrea had been made on either his military or POW
record. As far as he was concerned, only he and Jan knew of his
connection with the girl.

“
Andrea?
Yes.” Hans could see no reason to keep the fact secret any longer.
“But how do you know? No-one knew; not even my last wife,
Elisabeth.”

“
That helps
explain the visits you’ve been having. That nurse you said you’d
previously met. Then I did some checking. Discovered there was a
child living with the nurse’s elderly aunt. Had the same address as
your nurse. And when I dug deeper, I found out from an acquaintance
that the child’s father was a soldier fighting on the opposite
side. So, when Nurse Turner let it slip that you had a daughter, I
put two and two together. You see, it all makes sense now. You, in
England before the war and your friendship with the nurse now. A
love child?”

Hans nodded. After all,
he wasn’t exactly telling a lie, for Andrea had been a child of
love; but not between himself and Jan.

“
Yes, I admit
I do have an English daughter.”

It made him think about
that terrible day when Caroline had died. He was a young,
inexperienced office lad, the father of a tiny, fragile baby. He
remembered. The memory of that loss had become softer over the
passing years and no longer suffocated him with sorrow.

The Commander smiled in
satisfaction.

“
So, you’ve
both decided to get together again now that the war’s
over?”

“
Well, yes
but there is still my son. I must find him first.”

“
Of course.”
It was a gesture, nothing more. The Commander leaned forward. “This
son of yours . . . he’s somewhere in Germany?” Hans nodded and the
Commander asked, “Do you know where?”

“
No. Not
exactly. Not until I get to Germany will I be able to trace him.
That’s why I need to go now. To find him, if he’s still
alive.”

“
There is a
family who would have looked after him?”

Hans shrugged his
shoulders and finished his drink.

“
Who knows?
My wife’s family would not be the sort one would be happy to be
associated with right now.”

“
Nazi
sympathisers?” Hans nodded. He was unwilling to elaborate further.
The Commander’s face was grim and serious as he looked directly at
the man who had been his prisoner for over twelve months. “That
makes things difficult. You must also realise that your country’s
in an awful mess.”

“
I’m
expecting it so. I know it won’t be easy. I’ve got to try. If I
find the child, I’ll look at our options. Jan and I want to make a
fresh start and put the war behind us. Hopefully, we can become a
family.”

“
I do know
what it’s been like . . . families split up, relatives missing.
Awful messy business, war.”

“
Exactly.”

Jan pulled every known
string to get back to see Hans. She requested to be assigned to the
medical unit responsible for prisoners’ health. It was a busy
schedule for the unit travelled many miles from one camp to another
but every few weeks, the unit returned to the one where Major
Resmel had been taken to. These official visits, with the doctor
and two other nurses gave her the opportunity to meet with him, if
only for brief moments. Hans’ mood had lightened considerably since
peace had been declared and the repatriation of military personnel
had begun. Now they could begin to plan their new life
together.

Prisoner 81G-8624, Major
Erwin Hans Resmel was finally given permission to leave the camp.
He had waited almost six months for the paper work to be sent
through and attributed his early release to the intervention of Jan
as he had told her that before they could finalise their own life
together, he wished to return to Germany to find his son. He had no
idea whether the child was still alive or whether he had been taken
into care by one of Elisabeth’s relatives. As soon as he found
Siegmund, he would bring the child to England.

Hans had another meeting
with the Commander. As Hans sat down, the Commander leaned down to
his left and pulled a form out from his drawer. It had already been
filled in and Hans was close enough to see that it had his number
on the top: prisoner 81G-2624. The Commander picked up an official
stamp and, after rolling it around on the ink pad, pressed it hard
down onto a paper page from the file and handed the completed
document over to Hans.

“
Well, there
we are, Major. Lucky you. You’ve been give an internal pass for
four days. That’s to give you time to see your sweetheart. Here’s a
small amount of money to help you on your way, together with a
ration book. Courtesy of the Occupation Forces.” He handed these
across the table and then produced a large parcel which was wrapped
in the official British army wrapping. “Call these your de-mob
clothes, if you like. Back to civvy-street now.” He took note of
the look of puzzlement that had come over Hans’ face and realised
the man did not understand. “Courtesy of the Red Cross. Plain
clothes for you. Can’t have you wandering the country dressed like
that.” The Commander indicated the well-worn Wehrmacht uniform Hans
was still wearing. “Here’s all the information you need. Date of
departure, where the port is and where you need to report for your
journey out of the country. We’re shipping you out on one of the
earlier boats. Make sure you report on time. Don’t want to come
hunting for you.” He gave a wide, friendly smile, handed over the
documents, and stood. “Good luck for your search. Also, good luck
with that lady friend of yours.”

The Commander offered his
hand and it was taken in a firm friendship clasp.