Hammond Innes - The Lonely Skier

Keramikes paused and glanced quickly round. Mayne was playing Danse Macabre now. The Contessa and Valdini were still talking together. And the snow streamed past the windows and piled up in great drifts on the belvedere. Then he took an old leather wallet from his pocket and brought out a folded sheet of foolscap. He smoothed it out on the bar and handed it to Engles. That is the statement made by Korporal Holtz of the Panzer Grenadiers,’ he said. ‘You may read it.’

Engles placed it on the bar so that I could read it over his shoulder. It was typewritten and in German. It was dated 9th October, 1945. I reproduce it here because I happen to have it with me as I write and because it is a good statement. Holtz tells the story with a directness and simplicity of wording often to be found in statements from soldiers. And this, combined with the noise of the wind and Mayne playing, made the scene he described very vivid to me as I read it, there in that bar-room, right over the spot where it had happened. It was, as Keramikos said, not a pretty story and it invested the gold with a peculiarly live quality that must, I think, be possessed by all things which have inspired greed and caused the death of many people.

Statement concerning the events which took place on the night of 15-I6th March, 1945, at the Passo Tre Croci made by Korporal Holtz, H. V. of the 9th Panzer Grenadiers.

(Translation of the German original taken from the body of Keramikos, the Greek.) On 15th March, 1945 I was ordered to report with a guard of three men to Kapitan Heinrich Stelben at the Albergo Daniele, Venice. Kapitan Stelben ordered me to proceed to the Banca Commerciale del Popolo and take charge of forty wooden cases containing gold. As soon as it was dark, we loaded the cases on to a launch and proceeded to the Piazzale Roma. Here we transferred the boxes to a closed truck, which was then sealed by Kapitan Stelben and an official of the bank in my presence. The Kapitan then gave me the route, which was by Mestre-Conegliano-Cortina-Bolzano-Innsbruck to Munich. Besides the sealed truck there were two Volkswagens. One of these, with a driver, was assigned to me and I was instructed to lead. Next came the truck containing the gold with a driver and one of my men as guard. In the rear was Kapitan Stelben in the other Volkswagen with a driver and my other two men. The drivers were all German. I do not know their names. The names of my men were Soldaten Flick, Wrenner and Reinbaum.

At Ponte nelle Alpi we stopped to put on chains. The roads had a thick coating of snow as we climbed into the mountains. It was freezing and the surface was slippery. Shortly after Cortina, Kapitan Stelben ordered us to halt by blowing on his horn. It was just after two o’clock in the morning. We were at the top of a pass. I examined my map and identified it as the Tre Croci Pass and the big square block of buildings we had just passed as the Tre Croci Hotel.

The Kapitan drove up alongside my car and informed me that he had been given sealed instructions to be opened at this spot. He produced an envelope and opened it. He then informed me that he was ordered to place the gold under guard in a concrete building at the top of a cable sleigh nearby. He then took the lead and we branched off the main road on to a track. Within a few hundred metres we reached a concrete building and were challenged by a sentry.

The Kapitan explained his instructions and the sentry called the Korporal of the guard. When the Korporal came out, Kapitan Stelben handed him the instructions. The Korporal appeared puzzled and stated that he must speak with his officer, who was billeted at the hotel. The Kapitan informed him that such a delay was impossible and referred him to the instructions, which apparently stated that the gold must-be transferred with the least possible delay and its storage completed before first light. He said that as soon as the gold had been stored he himself would accompany the Korporal of the guard to interview his officer.

To this the Korporal agreed. We then broke the seals of the truck and proceeded to off-load the cases of gold and transfer them to the sleigh, the whole of the guard, which consisted of only two men and the Korporal, assisting. Whilst this was in progress, the Korporal approached me and expressed concern that he had not been permitted to report to his officer. He was a Bavarian and belonged to an anti-aircraft unit which had taken over from the ski troops who had been training there. They were building heavy flak positions at the top of the slittovia. He pointed out to me that it was strange that he had not been warned to expect the arrival of such an important convoy and, after some discussion, I became uneasy in my mind, especially as my men were openly grumbling because they had been led to believe that they were proceeding to Germany.

The sleigh would only take half the gold. And when this was loaded, I went with the Korporal of the guard to the Kapitan. The Korporal insisted that he be permitted to report to his officer. Kapitan Stelben at first refused permission. He became very angry and threatened the Korporal with punishment for obstructing the work of the Gestapo. I pointed out to the Kapitan that the absence of the Korporal would not interrupt the transfer of the gold, especially as one of the men of the guard was capable of driving the sleigh.

In the end Kapitan Stelben agreed to accompany the Korporal forthwith to see his officer. He instructed me to proceed to the top with the first load. I was to leave one of my men with the remaining guard in charge of the trucks. He then departed with the Korporal.

I posted my man on the truck containing the gold and, with the rest, boarded the sleigh. At the top of the slittovia was a building, like a concrete emplacement, which housed the haulage machinery. Near it was a small refuge hut, and just above this were earth workings where the flak guns were being installed. We had barely completed the unloading when the telephone rang in the machine-room. I went in and answered it. It was the Kapitan. He ordered me to have the boxes moved to the edge of the deepest of the pits dug for the concrete gun platforms. Whilst my men were doing this, I was to send the sleigh back for him. This I did and ordered the men to move the boxes to the gun positions. A path had been worn from the top of the slittovia to these workings. But it was very slippery. The slope was steep and the boxes difficult to manage. My men grumbled a great deal.

We had not completed this work when the Kapitan arrived. He complained that we were slow. And he kept glancing at his watch. He seemed agitated. The men grumbled even in front of him and he blamed me for not having control.

When the work was completed and the boxes stacked round the pit, he said, ‘Parade your men in the machine-room, Korporal. I want a word with them.‘I did this, parading them in a single line on the far side of the room where there was a little space. I was nervous and so were the men. Discipline was not good at this stage of the war, but we were still afraid of the Gestapo. The Kapitan gave an order to the driver of the sleigh and he came in with a sheepish look.

Then the Kapitan entered and shut the door. His face twitched and I noticed that there was blood on his tunic and on his left hand. I thought he had fallen and cut himself. He seemed irritable and plucked nervously at the sling of the automatic gun on his shoulder. ‘One of the cases in the truck has been opened and some gold is missing,’ he said. ‘I am going to search each of you in turn. About turn!’ We turned automatically so that we were facing the blank concrete wall.

For some reason I turned my head. I saw then that he had the gun in his hands. At the same moment that I turned, he began firing. I sprang at the naked electric light bulb which was fixed to a wall socket just above my head. I hit it with my fist. In doing this I tripped over a piece of machinery and fell against the cable drum. The room was completely dark. It was full of smoke and the noise of the gun was very loud in that confined space. I felt half stunned, for I had hit my head.