ERLIN, 1989. AFTER FORTY-FOUR YEARS OF COMMUNIST RULE, B HERE WAS A SCENE FEW GERMANS DREAMED THEY WOULD SEE IN THEIR LIFETIME. THE HATED WALL THAT HAD DIVIDED THEIR COUNTRY WAS BEING TORN DOWN. AS FOR THE BORDER GUARDS OF THE FORMER GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, THEY COULD ONLY STAND AND WATCH AS THEIR EMPIRE CRUMBLED ALONG WITH THE CONCRETE RAMPART THAT PROTECTED IT.
IT LOOKS LIKE WE’LL NEED A NEW JOB.
IN THAT CASE WE’D BETTER HURRY BEFORE OUR COMRADES TAKE THEM ALL.
STORY MIKE KNOWLES ART KEITH PAGE COVER KEITH PAGE
4 AS THE WALL COLLAPSED SO TOO DID THE VEIL OF SECRECY WHICH HAD DESCENDED WITH THE IRON CURTAIN. MANY WAR STORIES WERE FINALLY TOLD AFTER NEARLY HALF-ACENTURY. SO IT WAS THAT, THE FOLLOWING YEAR, A FREELANCE JOURNALIST CALLED MIKE STEEL PITCHED A STORY FROM EAST GERMANY TO THE EDITOR OF A NEWSPAPER IN LONDON. ONE OF MY CONTACTS IN BERLIN PUT ME ON TO A GREAT STORY FOR YOUR SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT. THIS GUY’S WAR RECORD IS SOMETHING ELSE.
I’M NOT SURE, MIKE. WE’VE HAD A LOT OF OLD SOLDIERS’ STORIES SINCE THE WALL CAME DOWN…
IT TOOK A LOT OF PERSUASION BUT FINALLY MIKE GOT PERMISSION TO GO AND INTERVIEW KARL LUBECK, A RETIRED CIVIL SERVANT WHO LIVED IN A SMALL TOWN IN EAST GERMANY. WHEN THE JOURNALIST CALLED HE RECEIVED A WARY RECEPTION.
I’M HIS HOUSEKEEPER. WHO ARE YOU?
I’M THE ENGLISH JOURNALIST WHO PHONED HIM LAST WEEK. HERR LUBECK IS EXPECTING ME.
5 MIKE WAS TAKEN TO MEET A MAN IN HIS SEVENTIES WHO WAS IN HIS GREENHOUSE TENDING THE PLANTS.
I’M NOT SURE WHY YOU WOULD WANT TO SPEAK TO ME, I WAS JUST A MINOR COG IN THE OLD DEFENCE MINISTRY.
IT’S ACTUALLY ABOUT YOUR WARTIME EXPERIENCES. I’M TOLD YOU MAY HAVE AN INTERESTING STORY TO TELL.
KARL LUBECK SMILED AS HE PUT HIS PENKNIFE AWAY. AH! WELL, IN THAT CASE, YOU’D BETTER COME IN AND SIT DOWN. THIS COULD TAKE SOME TIME.
AS THEY ENTERED THE LIVING ROOM, KARL POINTED TO A PAINTING HANGING OVER THE FIREPLACE. THAT’S MY FATHER. HE WAS COMMANDING OFFICER OF THE FOUR HUNDRED-AND-FIRST REGIMENT — A BIT LIKE ONE OF YOUR GUARDS REGIMENTS. HE’S PART OF THE REASON I SURVIVED.
6
IN THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE WARS, GERMANY WAS A VERY DANGEROUS PLACE. PRIVATE ARMIES ABOUNDED AND BATTLES BETWEEN GROUPS OF ARMED COMMUNIST SYMPATHISERS AND THEIR FREIKORPS ADVERSARIES WERE COMMONPLACE. THESE WERE OFTEN TOO MUCH FOR THE POLICE TO COPE WITH AND THE ARMY WOULD BE CALLED IN TO HELP.
URRGH!
HIMMEL! A SNIPER. TAKE COVER!
IT HAD BEEN DURING ONE SUCH BATTLE THAT KARL’S FATHER — A FIRST WORLD WAR VETERAN — HAD BEEN KILLED.
7 THE LOSS OF HIS FATHER WAS A GRIEVOUS BLOW TO THE FAMILY BUT, LUCKILY FOR KARL, THE COLONEL’S WAR RECORD WAS ENOUGH TO GET HIS SON INTO THE RELATIVELY SAFE ENVIRONMENT OF A MILITARY ACADEMY. IT WAS NOT THE QUIET LIFE HE WANTED BUT HE WAS FED AND HAD A PLACE TO SLEEP. I KNEW YOUR FATHER WELL. WE’LL BE EXPECTING GOOD THINGS FROM YOU.
YES, SIR!
IT SOON BECAME CLEAR, HOWEVER, THAT HE WAS NO CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK. KARL WAS MOST CHARITABLY DESCRIBED AS A RELUCTANT SOLDIER. YOUR BOOTS ARE A DISGRACE, HERR LUBECK. WHAT ARE THEY?
A DISGRACE, HERR SERGEANT MAJOR.
YET SOMEHOW HE AVOIDED BEING EXPELLED.
8 BY THIS TIME HITLER WAS MANOEUVRING HIS WAY TO POWER IN GERMANY. AS HIS INFLUENCE GREW, SOME OF KARL’S FELLOW CADETS JOINED THE NAZI PARTY. HE, THOUGH, PREFERRED TO STAY CLEAR OF SUCH THINGS.
FATHER ALWAYS TAUGHT ME THAT OFFICERS DON’T GET INVOLVED IN POLITICS.
THE DECISION UNDOUBTEDLY SAVED HIM FROM GETTING BEATEN UP AS NAZIS AND COMMUNISTS STILL FOUGHT IN THE SIDESTREETS UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS.
EVENTUALLY IT BECAME TIME FOR HIS CLASS TO GRADUATE AND BY SOME MIRACLE HE HAD MADE THE GRADE. THAT WOULD KEEP A ROOF OVER HIS HEAD FOR A WHILE LONGER, AT LEAST. PHEW! IT LOOKS LIKE I’VE JUST SCRAPED THROUGH. I’VE SURVIVED.
THAT GRADING MEANS YOU CAN FORGET THE FOUR-HUNDRED AND-FIRST, VON LUBECK. THEY’LL BE POSTING YOU TO SOME THIRDRATE REGIMENT.
9 HIS CLASS-MATES WERE RIGHT, HE WAS ASSIGNED TO AN INFANTRY REGIMENT STATIONED IN A BACKWATER. HERE HE MET THE MAN WHOSE INFLUENCE WOULD BE SECOND ONLY TO HIS FATHER’S IN KEEPING HIM ALIVE — THOUGH HE DIDN’T KNOW THAT AT THE TIME. THIS IS WEBER, YOUR PLATOON SERGEANT. HE’S ONE OF OUR BEST NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICERS.
WELCOME TO THE EIGHTYFOURTH WESTPHALIA REGIMENT, HERR LEUTNANT.
DANKE, FELDWEBEL.
AS THE VETERAN SERGEANT WALKED AWAY, HIS MAJOR HAD A QUIET WORD WITH THE REGIMENT’S NEWEST JUNIOR OFFICER. HEINRICH WEBER FOUGHT IN THE FREIKORPS IN MUNICH AND THEN AS A MERCENARY IN SPAIN. KEEP YOUR EYES AND EARS OPEN AND YOU’LL LEARN A LOT FROM HIM.
YES, HERR MAJOR. THANK YOU FOR THE ADVICE.
10 IF WEBER’S RECORD PRECEDED HIM, SO TOO DID KARL’S. OTHER N.C.O.s WERE QUICK TO WRITE HIM AND HIS SQUAD OFF. THE RIBBING IN THE SERGEANTS’ MESS WAS RELENTLESS. POOR OTTO’S NURSING HIS SORROWS. SO HE SHOULD, WITH A USELESS OFFICER AND A BUNCH OF GREEN CONSCRIPTS TO CONTEND WITH.
IF THE OTHER SERGEANTS THOUGHT THEY WOULD GET SOME CHEAP LAUGHS THEY WERE MISTAKEN. THE DOUGHTY WEBER SAW THE SITUATION AS A CHALLENGE...ONE THAT HE COULD EASILY RISE TOO. SO HE MADE A CHALLENGE OF HIS OWN. PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTHS ARE. FIFTY REICHMARKS SAY I’LL HAVE THE TOP PLATOON IN A YEAR’S TIME.
YOU’RE ON.
EASY MONEY, MY FRIEND.