M Drake - Die Glocke

The wonderful works of Michael Crichton have inspired me; Especially Jurassic Park and Congo. If you have not read any of his work then I highly recommend that you do.

Along with Stalingrad by Antony Beevor which is a great non-fiction account of one of the most horrific battles of World War Two.

The Second World War had been raging for five years. Germany’s Blitzkrieg warfare had overrun Europe at the beginning of the decade, but now the World’s great superpowers were beginning to converge on Germany herself. The Allied powers from the west, along with the great and seemingly endless Red Army from the east.

The Nazi party grew progressively desperate to stem the tide; increasingly they turned to the mysterious ‘Wunderwaffes’ – super weapons that they believed would swing the balance of the war in their favor.

The United States, along with their British allies, fearing the potential of the war changing ‘Wunderwaffe’, had destroyed the Vengeance rocket V2 testing facility at Peenemunde, nearly killing the brilliant scientist Wernher von Braun in the process. This had set back the weapons program critically but the allies knew it had not stopped the threat. Allied commanders became obsessed with intercepting the Nazi’s coded messages and finding any other secret weapons programs.

The Nazi’s, fearing the complete destruction of all of their technological and material assists began work on ‘Project Riese’ – ‘The giant’, which consisted of multiple underground structures and bases. Hundreds of thousands of tons of earth and rock were dug from beneath the Owl Mountains, Bielawa, Poland. Hans Kammler -German engineer and SS commander, personally oversaw the construction with brutal efficiency. Thousands of Jews and prisoners of war lost their lives in appalling conditions as the facility was constructed. Many died from malnutrition and pure exhaustion.

October 1944 – The Third Reich was in full retreat from the red army across a war-torn Poland. The Polish home army ‘Armia Krajowa’ had just been defeated by the German Army after the Warsaw Uprising. In retaliation, the Wehrmacht razed the Polish capital to the ground.

Allied codebreakers had intercepted top-secret communications between Hans Kammler and Hitler himself. The messages alluded to a weapons testing facility at Wenceslaus mine, buried deep under the Owl Mountains, near the Czech border. The Führer was adamant that testing must continue unabated to unlock the key to the weapons potential.

United States commanders quickly assembled together a large force in top secret that was to become the 7 thRangers Battalion. The forces gathered under a shroud of darkness and misinformation, secretly helped by the Polish forces who were all too happy to deceive the Russians in retribution for their lack of support during the Warsaw uprising.

The Red Army was in battle at least three days away from the facility. This gave the Americans the window of opportunity they needed. The following declassified military files tell the story of what happened on those fateful two days in late October 1944 and in the intervening years.

It was before dawn on a cold October morning. A chill hung in the air and a thick ground frost caked the makeshift airfield. Staff sergeant Brooklyn ‘Brookie’ Johnson stifled a yawn as he wrote a letter by the fading moonlight for his wife back home. He cursed as cloud cover kept shutting off his only source of light.

Dear Alana,

I hope you are well and the constant worry about my safety isn’t getting you down. Smile; show the world that beautiful smile of yours as it will all be over soon. Germany is on her knees waiting for the final knockout blow. Remember, I survived the hell of Midway because I made you a promise, a promise I will keep.

I have been given a new toy from our commanding officers, I can’t tell you where I am or what it is yet but I look forward to retelling you the story when I get home. I can’t wait to tell Brooklyn Jr when he is old enough. The picture of you two back home in Hawaii keeps me going through the tough times as well as that rum that you sent over, I shared it with the boys, they send their love too.

Keep safe both of you and I will write soon,

Brooklyn let out a deep breath. ‘This will do’, he thought as he shoved the letter into an envelope. He roused himself to get dressed, as the mission briefing was scheduled for ten minutes time.

“Hey Brookie, you up yet you lazy bastard?” A man in his late twenties said as he began to shake the thin material of the tent.

“Yeah, Jim you little idiot I’m up. Race you to a cup of Joe,” Brooklyn raced from the entrance of his tent and the two men traded positions all the way over to the cookhouse.

They were met at the entrance by another young man, who just shook his head while handing them a steaming cup of foul tasting coffee.

“Stop pissing about Sir.”

Brooklyn laughed “no problem private Doolittle”, and he gave him a slap on his back. “If you are going to be in my Squadron we are really going to have to slap that humorless head off ya.”

The three men laughed before heading over with the other aviators that the 7 thRangers Battalion had stolen from other army and navy groups.

The briefing tent was small and hidden by camouflage netting between the trees in a small wooded area. Groups of men were leaving slowly from their briefing. Brooklyn pulled one of them aside.

“What’s a matter? Looks like you had the stuffin knocked out of ya?”

The soldier was clearly an infantryman in his early thirties perhaps. A wry smile crossed the man’s face.

“Sorry flyboy, your turn is next but your mission might be just half as exciting as ours!” The smile left his face. “Good luck mate, we are all going to need it.” The man left with the rest of his group.

“What’s his problem?” Jimmy Doolittle asked.

“We will find out in a minute, but we all know the brass wouldn’t have assembled us all here together if they didn’t have a big op on. Looks like we are in for a tough time.” Brooklyn shook his head slightly.

Inside the spacious tent rows of chairs sat facing a makeshift stage, an array of maps and other documents were housed in a pull-down display. The words ‘Operation Eclipse’ were headed over the documents in a foreboding black font. In front of the display stood two extremely powerful men. Brooklyn Johnson let out a low inaudible whistle as he recognized them. There for the first time in front of his very eyes stood ‘Henry Arnold – General of the Air Force’ and at his side, ‘Dwight D Eisenhower – General of the Army’.

He raised his hand in salute.

“At ease Staff Sergeant, take a seat please.”

The tent filled to an almost silent crowd as military royalty stood in front of these highly trained and highly experienced groups of air force pilots. Bomber and fighter pilots sat side by side as they eagerly awaited their new mission.

General Arnold spoke first. “Good Morning gentleman. I know you are wondering why we have taken you from your units to form this new group. Trust me gentleman it is for a good reason. We have had some of you training in the new P-51 Mustang over the skies of Britain for the most important mission you will embark on in this war.”

General Eisenhower took over. “That is right.” He pulled down the first map and pointed to a mountain chain down by the Czech border. “This is our target. We believe a Nazi super weapon is being tested in an underground facility.”