Ziff under fire

Part 30 - Back To The Guns

After a relatively quiet night another FOO arrived to take over from Mel and he was ordered back to the guns. I went with him. We walked back to Easy Company Head Quarters and then hitched a ride in a truck back to the guns where Mel was greeted, like a long lost member of the family, with calls of, 'Hey! Mel's back.' and 'Hi, Mel, how's it going.' 'We just made a fresh pot of tea. Would you like a cup?'

There were 12 of the 25 pounders dotted around a field in circular pits about a metre deep and 10 metres diameter. The gunners were unloading heavy steel boxes, each containing three shells, from a row of trucks, and stacking them in pits dug near each gun pit. Empty cartridge cases were neatly stacked ready to be recycled.

I remarked on the guns all neatly pointing in the same direction and at the same angle. Mel told me they were already aimed at the most probable target. While we were chatting the Tannoy loud speakers in the gun pits announced, 'Mike target - Mike target - Mike target.' This was followed by line, range and angle of sight as all the gunners raced to their guns. The gun layer slid onto his seat, pressed an eye to the sight and made a small adjustment to the angle of the gun barrel. The rest of the crew slammed a shell into the chamber with a cartridge right behind it and snapped the breech-block closed.

We watched as the gun crew fired, ejected the used cartridge, reloaded a shell and a new cartridge and fired again. They repeated the cycle every six or seven seconds until they had fired off three shells and then waited for the next order.

'Repeat - Repeat - Repeat. Scale 3,' the Tannoy announced and the gun roared again three times.

Then Mel reported our arrival at Able Troop Command Post and we were redirected to Regimental Head Quarters. We hitched a ride on one of the ammunition trucks heading back to the depot with a load of empty cartridges. The RHQ was in a large house, which still had most of a roof, about three kilometres down the road.

'Hi Mel, good to see you back.' The commanding officer eyed me dubiously. 'So you are the mysterious civilian looking for his uncle, eh? What's your name?'

'Ziff Dion,' I told him. 'I'm from Ottawa.'

'A POW (prisoner of war) called Kissak is insisting that you be taken to meet him.'

'Kozak. He's my uncle.' I was so happy I was literally bouncing up and down.

Mel took me to a room with a large table and comfortable chairs where a Canadian officer was sitting opposite Kozak. Kozak jumped to his feet and gave me a big hug. I was so surprised I didn't hug him back, instead I said, 'Hey.'

'Ziff, I am over ze moon to see you. What 'appened? We 'ad to leave in a 'urry after ze shelling. Ze feldwebel (sergeant) said you 'ad gone on ahead but when we couldn't find you I figured you 'ad been captured.'

The officer introduced himself. 'Hi, I'm Lieutenant Charles LeFebvre, Intelligence Officer. I'm told you are Ziff Dion. This character refused to talk unless you joined us.' We shook hands.

'How did you find me?' I asked Kozak.

'Beryl spotted you wandering around and guessed you had been captured by Canadian troops. So I surrendered.'

I started to ask about Beryl and Gustav but he gave me a warning look and turned away.

We all sat down at the table and Charles opened his note book and resumed his interrogation.

'Okay, let's start again . . . When we first met, you blurted out that you were a spy.'

'No!' Kozak snapped. 'I do not blurt. Maybe I was curt . . . but I did not blurt.'

'Okay. Let us start again. What is your name?'

'Kozak.'

'And what is your first name, Herr Kozak?'

'Kozak.'

'You are Kozak Kozak?'

'No, no. I have only one name. I already said zat.'

Charles wrote in his book and suddenly said something in German.

'Nein, nein. Please do not speak German. Ziff does not understand and you 'av a very bad accent.'

'Now, you must warn ze Americans,' Kozak said. 'Zhey are driving into a German trap.'

'Now, how would you know that?' Charles asked.

'Because I 'av' come from the town of Wesel. Ze Boche, er, Germans, flooded the land to stop ze Americans coming from ze south, zo zhey could concentrated all their forces against ze British and Canadians attacking from ze north. Now ze floods have gone down, ze Americans are advancing again and zhey zink the Boche are retreating. But no. Zhey 'av' set a trap for ze Americans.'

Charles looked sceptical. 'Why should I believe you?'

'Because, I was behind ze Boche lines! Zhey 'av' defences in depth wiz many anti tank guns and minefields. Ze Americans zhink ze Boche are kaput, er, finished. Zhey are over confident.

Charles made a note. 'Okay, Herr Sturmbannführer Kozak. What is your rank and number.'

'Sturmbannführer, Geheime Staatspolizei,' Kozak said impatiently, 'but zat is a fake identity. I do not know if zhere is a number.'

Charles sat up straight. 'You are a senior officer with the Gestapo . . . the Secret State Police?  But you are not. What does that mean?'

'Zat means I am not a Sturmbannführer wiz ze Gestapo.'

'Then what are you?'

'I already said zat I am Kozak.'

'You have a strange accent. Are you French?'

'No. I am Canadian.'

Charles leaned back in his chair in surprise as he said something in French.

'Je préfère parler anglais,' Kozak said. 'Ziff does not understand French very well.'

'Where do you live?'

'We are from Ottawa.'

I interrupted. 'I am from Toronto but I move to Ottawa a few months ago.'

'But enough of zis talk,' Kozak said slowly. I am an American agent of ze top secret Alsos mission and I work for Lieutenant (he said loo-tenant) Colonel Boris Pash. You can call U.S. General Omar Bradley. He will confirm zat you must give me full co-operation in my mission. For security you must not mention my name, only say I am Alsos agent.'

'This is hard to believe,' Charles said. 'You are dressed in the uniform of a Gestapo officer! Do you have any proof of identity?'

'You are intelligent officer!' Kozak snapped. 'If I carried American ID in Germany, you don't zink ze Gestapo would be suspicious?'

I work for Intelligence,' Charles said mildly. 'That doesn't mean I am smart. Tell me about Ottawa. Where do you live?'

'I live on rue Bank street near Landsdowne park.'

'How to you get around Ottawa?'

'I take ze Ottawa Electric Railway street car or I walk.'

'Where does the electrical power come from for the street cars?'

'Zat is very interesting. Ottawa Hydro 'as a little power station near ze top of Bronson avenue. Water from ze Ottawa river is used to generate electricity zat drives ze street cars. Zat is why it is called hydro.'

'Fascinating,' Charles said. 'You seem to know Ottawa well but that could just be good spy craft.'

'In your pockets we found this odd device,' Charles placed Kozak's nexus link on the table. 'What is it?'