Bob Carruthers - Tiger Command!

“Indeed, and no doubt we share the same opinion. This is a dark age, and all good men must hold true and hope that providence is not too hard on us.”

“All we can do is hope and pray and bear silent witness. Resistance is not for the likes of us. I am not unsympathetic to that position, but those of us who have studied the classics learn to have too high a regard for the Fates!”

“Do you think the fever will pass?”

“I think that is our main hope. Even if Herr Hitler achieves his objective, and, let’s face it, the obstacle proved insurmountable for another corporal, then the man, for all his devilish pacts, cannot live forever. Kinder forces will surely prevail and temper this ‘fever’, as you refer to it.”

“I pray you are right, dear Johan,” replied Jacob, “but you know what Heine said, ‘Burning the books is only a prelude. Next, they will be burning men.’”

“My dear Jacob, demented though he is, Hitler is not that inhuman. Anyway, Heine, in that passage from Almansor you were referring to, concerned the Inquisition burning the Koran◦– surely we have moved beyond such depravities!”

“I do hope you are right, my old friend.”

“If I am wrong, it may be better for us to leave this vale of tears before our allotted time, my dear Jacob. Anyway, what is it that I can do for you?”

“It is a delicate matter pertaining to an old student of mine, whom I met after many years in the last week. He is a man of good character, who excelled in the field of radio communications. His name is Karl Wendorff. He now serves as a radio operator. He’s one of the heroes of Rostov. You may have seen the Wochenschau? He told me of a strange incident of an intercepted message, of unknown origin, which he picked up outside Rostov. He noted the time and frequency and a few other details, and I was just wondering, with your contacts and experience, if you could help shed any light on this matter for him? Like you, I am no friend of these military adventures, in principle, but when you know one of the soldiers involved and hold him in high esteem…”

“I understand completely, Jacob,” replied Johan. “These are innocents. They are sons, brothers and neighbours, and we may need as many good men as we can find in the future. Leave it with me. Our research work in conjunction with the University of Heidelberg is more orientated to applications of a commercial nature. For the military side, the people who know about these things are based in Abwehr 1-K, the crypto analysis section of department Z. If necessary, I can call in help from on high. Admiral Canaris is the man we would have to speak to. My wife is good friends with the wife of his number two, General Hans Oster. So, let’s take a look shall we?”

The professor looked at the message and gave a chuckle.

“I don’t think we’ll need Canaris. Your old touch must be deserting you! On second thoughts, we may not need the Abwehr to decode this rather ham-fisted attempt at cryptology, but I am of the opinion that the content of this message may be of considerable interest to those at Tirpitzufer.”

“Two hours to start her up. I know,” said Major Rondorf, “that seems unnecessarily long, but it’s like an athlete warming up, go too soon and you are in danger of causing damage to the cold muscle and pulling up. So, patience, and always run through the checks.”

“Fuel! Check!”

“Power! Check!”

“Water! Check!”

“Start up! Check!’”

“6x Oil Check! Check!”

“Oil Pressure! Check!”

“Idling speed…”

Bobby Junge sat in his seat and ran through the position of his levers, slowly and methodically. Bottom plug◦– open. Fuel valves◦– open. Main battery switch◦– on. Blower switch◦– land. Fuel vent◦– land. Throttle No 1◦– down. Throttle No 2◦– land. Throttle No 3◦– open. Vent flap◦– closed. Fuel pump◦– on. Directional lever on “0”. Ignition key◦– in. Choke lever◦– forward. Clutch◦– depress. Starter button◦– push. Starter button◦– release. Choke lever◦– reverse. Throttle◦– touch lightly for first 5 minutes, warning lamp flickers… do not race the engine! Clutch◦– engage slowly until transmission and steering gear start to heat up. Throttle◦– push in, increase engine speed to within 1,000 and 1,500 rpm. Slowly, slowly, think of the spark plugs… fast idle, fast idle… and then, with the cannon tied down to the six o’clock position, she slowly pulled off.

Hauptsturmführer von Schroif wanted to slowly take her up to top speed, so Bobby drove carefully over the open fields before opening her up and going up through the initial seven gears and finally letting her hit 3,000 rpm. She seemed to be handling it, but then he had trouble getting her into the final gear and then◦– Boom!◦– something blew and she came to a standstill. Bobby had learnt his first lesson! If you didn’t take the correct steps before venturing out, she’d turn into a sixty-tonne metal mule◦– and there was nothing to do to get her to budge!

Bobby spent the rest of the day trying to find the problem. The main problem was obviously the Maybach engine, but the transmission and many other things felt wrong too, and that is where the investigation started. In the company of the Paderborn engineers, he checked the oil and cleaned the filter, just in case. He turned the wing nut to the right. He adjusted the limiter on the foot-operated lever. He checked the seating of the connecting lever to the relay box. He adjusted the lever on the accelerator shaft. Next he turned to the linkage on the selector lever. Then he applied lubricant to the linkages to keep them from binding. After that he checked the cables to the steering rods to ensure there was the required amount of play. He even cleaned the steering valve, despite being certain that this wasn’t a problem related to the steering, but better to be safe and methodical.

He was now running out of ideas and had only one option left: checking if the mounting bolts for the sliding gear transmission needed tightening. Eventually, the engine had to be hoisted out and replaced. But now it was too late in the day to continue and so, in effect, they had lost an entire day.

Later that night, von Schroif voiced his concern. “If that had happened in a combat operation, I fear, we◦– all of us◦– would be put at grave risk. What is your assessment, Junge?”

“Just as we were going at 2,500 rpm she felt wonderful. This is an incredible piece of engineering. For her size, she is astonishingly responsive to the lightest of touches. In terms of manoeuvrability, turning especially, she is a joy. However, this all comes at a price: complexity. And here I fear we may come up against her greatest weakness. This complexity is necessary, given her size and weight, but it also makes her highly strung◦– all her demands, everything, absolutely everything, must be met. I’m not sure the Maybach is quite man enough for the job◦– it needs to be upgraded to something which generates more power… 641 hp isn’t enough, she needs 690 hp at least.”

“You make her sound like a spoiled child!” exclaimed Otto Wohl.

“In a way, she is,” replied Junge, “however, if you do meet her demands, I have the feeling that this temperamental young lady◦– if in the right mood◦– will be able to pay us back ten times over.”

“Are you prepared to lavish that much time and attention on her, Junge?” asked von Schroif.

“I don’t think we really have a choice,” replied Junge.

At that point Major Rondorf came bounding into the room and everyone sprang to attention. Rondorf waived them back to their ease. “Gentlemen, I have just spoken to Kurt Arnholdt at Henschel.” Looking at von Schroif, he added: “He passes on his regards, Haupsturmführer.”