COTTISH CLANSMEN FIGHTING THE ENGLISH CROWN TWO CENTURIES BEFORE AND ROYAL AIR FORCE BOMBERS HELPING DEFEAT NAZI GERMANY IN THE LAST MONTHS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. THERE SEEMS NO CONNECTION, YET THESE TWO EVENTS WERE BOUND TOGETHER BY ONE OF THE STRANGEST LINKS IMAGINABLE.
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STORY MAC MACDONALD ART KEITH PAGE COVER KEITH PAGE
4 BY 1945 HITLER’S THIRD REICH WAS ROCKING AND MAJOR HANS KLEIDER, A WEHRMACHT HERO, WAS FINDING THAT, LIKE MANY OF HIS COUNTRYMEN, HE WOULD HAVE TO BE VERY LUCKY TO SURVIVE THE WAR. WELL-AIMED BULLETS JUST MISSED HIS HEAD, ONE SNATCHING AT HIS PEAKED CAP.
THE SCHWEIN ARE GETTING CLOSER!
IT WAS NOT AMERICANS OR BRITISH WHO HUNTED HANS, BUT GERMANS. NAZI FANATICS TO BE MORE PRECISE. THE S.S. FIELD POLICE SQUAD WANTED THEIR QUARRY PREFERABLY ALIVE, BUT DEAD WOULD DO JUST AS WELL. SPREAD OUT… THE TRAITOR CAN’T BE FAR AHEAD. HIS DAYS ARE NUMBERED, THAT’S FOR SURE.
MORE LIKE HIS MINUTES, SIR.
5 ALLIED BOMBERS DRONED OVERHEAD TO DROP EVEN MORE BOMBS THAN THE ONES WHICH HAD ALREADY FALLEN. WHILE THE BATTERED CITY OF BERLIN BURNED, HANS HALTED ONLY TO RELOAD HIS LUGER AND CURSE THE FATE THAT HAD BROUGHT ALL THIS ABOUT.
I NEVER BELIEVED IN THE NAZI NONSENSE BUT I WAS READY TO FIGHT FOR MY COUNTRY. IT SEEMED LIKE A GREAT ADVENTURE BACK IN NINETEENFORTY...
THE LIGHTNING WAR THAT HAD SWEPT ACROSS EUROPE AND DRIVEN THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE FROM FRANCE WAS A HEADY EXPERIENCE FOR HANS, THEN A LIEUTENANT. THERE HAD STILL BEEN HONOUR IN THOSE DAYS AND CAPTIVES HAD BEEN TREATED FAIRLY IN MOST CASES. I JUST ASK THAT YOU SEE MY MEN ARE FED AS SOON AS IS POSSIBLE, LEUTNANT.
OF COURSE, HERR HAUPTMANN. I THINK YOU ARE MORE IN NEED OF MEDICAL TREATMENT YOURSELF, HOWEVER.
6 THE INVASION OF RUSSIA IN 1941 HAD SEEMED LIKE FOLLY TO HANS BUT HE HAD HIS DUTY TO DO. ALL HAD SEEMED TO GO WELL AT FIRST AS THE POORLY-PREPARED SOVIET FORCES FELL BACK. DON’T HOLD BACK, MEN…KEEP ADVANCING!
MOSCOW BY THE END OF THE MONTH IS MY WAGER! I’LL TAKE ANY BETS NOW.
BUT LIKE NAPOLEON AND HIS ARMY MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE, THE GERMAN ADVANCE WAS BLUNTED BY THE SAVAGE RUSSIAN WINTER. MEN FROZE TO THE GROUND AND COULD BARELY HOLD THEIR RIFLES AS THE NAZI CAMPAIGN BEGAN TO UNRAVEL.
THE RUSSKIES ARE OUT THERE SOMEWHERE, SO KEEP ALERT. WE’LL ONLY SURVIVE IF WE LOOK AFTER EACH OTHER.
THE IVANS COULD BE BEHIND US FOR ALL WE KNOW.
7 HANS HAD JUST BEEN MADE CAPTAIN, BUT THERE HAD BEEN LITTLE CHEER IN THAT AND EVEN LESS IN THE ATTACK THAT A BETTER-EQUIPPED ENEMY SPRUNG THEN.
AAGH!
HOLD THEM BACK! WIPE OUT THE FASCIST HORDES!
AN ENEMY SUB-MACHINE GUN BURST CAUGHT HANS IN THE SHOULDER AND HE COLLAPSED IN AGONY. AAGH! THEY GOT THE HAUPTMANN... MAKE THEM PAY!
8 IRONICALLY THE SOVIET BULLETS IN HIS SHOULDER SAVED HANS. HE KNEW LITTLE ABOUT IT, BUT HE WAS FERRIED BACK FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT AND WAS ONE OF THE FORTUNATE FEW PILED ON TO A GERMANY-BOUND JUNKERS 52 “IRON ANNIE” EVEN AS THE ENEMY TIGHTENED THEIR GRIP. I DON’T THINK WE’LL BE OPERATING FOR MUCH LONGER ON RUSSIAN SOIL.
SOME MIGHT SAY THAT YOU TALK TREASON, THEO, BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE GOOD SENSE TO ME.
ONCE HANS WAS FIT, HE WAS GIVEN PROMOTION TO MAJOR AND A STAFF JOB IN FRANCE. THERE HE AND HIS WEHRMACHT COLLEAGUES BECAME INCREASINGLY ALARMED AT THE BULLYING BEHAVIOUR OF SOME S.S. UNITS. ANOTHER ROUND-UP. THEY BELIEVE THE RESISTANCE ARE HIDING A BRITISH AGENT IN THE AREA.
THEY PROBABLY ARE, BUT TERRORISING PEOPLE IS NOT THE BEST WAY TO FIND THAT OUT.
9 THE CRASH OF BULLETS CUTTING DOWN THE PRISONERS MADE HANS AND HIS COMPANION FLINCH. THEY WERE WELL USED TO THE SOUND OF GUNFIRE BUT NOT WHEN UNARMED CIVILIANS WERE THE TARGET.
THIS IS MURDER, NOT WAR.
THAT AND OTHER INCIDENTS BOTHERED HIM GREATLY. POSTED BACK TO BERLIN, HE FOUND HE WAS NOT ALONE IN HIS CONCERNS.
DO YOU THINK IF WE PLOT AGAINST THE FUHRER WE CAN KILL HIM?
HANS THREW IN HIS LOT WITH THOSE TRYING TO FINISH THE FUHRER AND BRING THE WAR TO AN END. UNFORTUNATELY THEY FAILED, AND HE FELL UNDER SUSPICION.
WHAT A DISASTER! I’LL HAVE TO WATCH MY EVERY STEP AND BE READY TO GET AWAY AT A MOMENT’S NOTICE...
JA, BUT KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN! THE NAZIS STILL HAVE MANY SUPPORTERS.
10 SO THAT WAS HOW A BRAVE AND DECORATED WEHRMACHT OFFICER FOUND HIMSELF ON THE RUN IN THE REICH’S CAPITAL FROM MURDEROUS S.S. FELDPOLIZEI.
THE ODDS ON HIS ESCAPE LESSENED GREATLY WHEN HE SPRINTED ON BUT FOUND HIS ROUTE CAME TO AN ABRUPT AND SUDDEN DEAD END.
MEIN GOTT, I’M TRAPPED UNLESS I CAN GET OUT OF THIS SQUARE BEFORE THE KETTENHUNDE CATCH ME.
THE ODDS AREN’T TOO GOOD BUT WHERE THERE’S LIFE...
“CHAIN DOGS” WAS WHAT THE GERMAN SOLDIERS CALLED THE FIELD POLICE BECAUSE OF THE METAL BRASSARDS THEY WORN AROUND THEIR NECKS. ONE WOULD NEVER BARK AGAIN WHEN HANS, HOPELESSLY TRAPPED, DECIDED TO GO DOWN FIGHTING. HE HAD NEVER BEEN ONE TO GIVE UP. AAGH!
THE SCHWEIN GOT MULLER…TRY TO TAKE HIM ALIVE SO THAT HE WILL SUFFER!