War Girls Box Set

Chapter 7

Stavanger, Norway, April 1945

Stavanger, Norway, April 1945Lotte sat in the small radio room, discreetly located in one of the old buildings that lined the rocky cliffs of the seashore. After her first, rather turbulent, deployment to Warsaw, both she and her friend, Gerlinde, had been sent to Stavanger six months before. During the long and dark winter months up here in the north of Europe, she’d become acquainted with the rough climate and the rugged landscape.

But the breathtaking scenic beauty of this region with its mountains and fjords couldn’t fool her. Stavanger had stopped being a peaceful harbor town in 1940. Several grueling weeks of resistance by the Norwegians hadn’t been enough to counter the German invasion.

Since then the ice-free harbors along the Norwegian coastline had been transformed into strategic military bases. Bases from where destroyers, U-boats and Stuka fighters were launched into the North Sea to find and sink the British convoys on the Arctic route, attempting to sever the supply of much-needed material to the Russians who were fighting the German Wehrmacht with all they had in the East.

During her time there, Morse code had become a second language to her. She didn’t have to think about it as her fingers skillfully tapped out the perfectly timed dots and dashes, relaying war-critical information. Sitting at her familiar place in the radio room, she spent her days transmitting encrypted messages to Headquarters.

“Break time,” her superior Oberführerin Littmann called out and she finished tapping the message in front of her, before she stood, smoothing down her uniform skirt.

Gerlinde already waited at the door, in the field gray uniform of a Wehrmachtshelferin, a female auxiliary to the Wehrmacht. Lotte always thought the uniform looked much better on Gerlinde, who filled it to perfection with her voluptuous hourglass figure. The skirt ended a hand’s width beneath the knee – too short for Oberführerin Littmann’s conservative tastes. Gerlinde always explained this with her longer than average legs, but Lotte knew the secrets of her best friend and roommate. Late at night, she would shorten the hem of her skirt just an almost imperceptible inch.

Because, as Gerlinde liked to say, she wouldn’t be caught dead in a skirt reaching beyond mid-calf. And she most certainly wouldn’t live in a garrison full of young and handsome soldiers wearing such an unfashionable garment. Lotte herself couldn’t care less about admiring male gazes, because she was deeply and completely in love with Johann.

The golden Reichsadler on the chest of Gerlinde’s – clandestinely tailored – uniform jacket radiated almost like the sunshine itself. And the cap called a Schiffchen always accurately adorned her head with that slight tip to one side that made it look chic instead of drab.

ReichsadlerSchiffchenLotte almost laughed out loud. Even during the heated battle in the Warsaw Uprising, Gerlinde had looked like the immaculate models on one of the fashion magazines imported from Paris. But apart from her superficiality, Gerlinde was the best friend she could wish for.

“Alex, what are you waiting for? Or do you want to dawdle our break away in this bleak hole?” Gerlinde called out, jerking Lotte from her thoughts.

Even after living under her new identity of Alexandra Wagner for more than a year, it still felt odd to be called by that name.

“I’m coming.” She grabbed her coat and followed Gerlinde into the chilly sea breeze. With longing she looked out at the ocean, yearning for the peace it promised with its deep blue waters.

Squinting her eyes, she tried to imagine England as a dot on the horizon. The island across the North Sea, one of the main players in this horrible war. An island she’d never set foot on, and yet, she betrayed her own country to help them. After what the Nazis had done to her, and her dear friend Rachel, she’d do anything to bring them down.

Even helping the enemy.

Volunteering for the Wehrmacht and becoming a radio operator had been the logical first step to spying for the British. As soon as she’d arrived in Stavanger, she had been tasked with contacting the local Norwegian resistance cell working with the English. Since then, with German punctuality, she had provided them with the new encryption codes every week like clockwork.

“Let’s take a walk along the shore,” Gerlinde said and interlaced arms with her. As soon as they’d left the garrison behind, she asked, “Have you heard?”

“Heard what?”

“They’re expecting a British invasion from the sea.” Gerlinde usually was well informed, beyond what was told to the rank and file. She was a man’s woman and had her subtle ways to get more information than she was supposed to have.

“Don’t they always?”

“But this time it’s in earnest. Haven’t you noticed the increased number of soldiers? The garrison is bursting at the seams and they have requisitioned most every building in town.”

Lotte raised a brow. “This place has been teeming with soldiers since we arrived.”

Gerlinde shook her head. “Not like this. We’re preparing for the ultimate victory.”

“Ultimate victory?” Lotte stopped to look at her friend. “But for the Allies, not us. This war has been lost since Stalingrad and it’s a devilish miracle that it’s still dragging on, like a fatally injured soldier refusing to take his last breath.”

“Don’t say such nonsense. It scares me.” Gerlinde pulled her scarf tighter around her as they rounded a corner and were suddenly exposed to the full force of the sea breeze.

Lotte struggled to keep up with Gerlinde’s longer stride. “Why does it scare you? Don’t you want the bloodletting to end?”

“I do. But what will become of us, when the enemy wins? Have you heard—”

“Yes, I have heard the rumors. But I’ll deal with it when the time comes.”

Gerlinde shook her head. “I have no idea how you can be so fatalistic. Aren’t you afraid what the enemy will do to you? t*****e you? Kill you? Do what they do to women?”

“I don’t expect it to be worse than what the Gestapo did to me. They put me in front of a firing squad, remember?” Lotte shuddered at the memory, her stomach flipping over as a wave of nausea threatened to swallow her whole. Only through the intervention of Johann, who’d pulled rank over the Gestapo agent, had she survived. As a result, she owed the man her very life.

“Of course, I remember.” Gerlinde scrunched up her nose and quickly changed the topic. Haunted by tragic memories of the past, they both just wanted to forget. “But I’m feeling better with all the soldiers around.”

“I’m sure you do.” Lotte giggled, causing her friend to shoot her an indignant look. “Although I don’t think it’ll have much effect. Just look at this coastline; it’s much too long and rugged to properly defend. If the British choose to invade, they surely won’t land in the Stavanger harbor.”

Gerlinde gave her a dark stare and, after a glance at her wristwatch, said, “We have to return to work.”

Lotte buried herself in her work and the nostalgic mood passed. Once the shift ended, she and Gerlinde headed over to the mess. Her contact person with the Norwegian resistance, a young woman called Lina, worked in the garrison kitchen.

Usually, Lotte left the code scribbled on a napkin on her tray for Lina to come and collect. The weekly changing code would allow the British to decipher and understand the messages picked up. But today, Lotte glanced around, not finding the young woman anywhere.

A growing disquiet in her gut, Lotte ate as slowly as she could, already feeling Gerlinde’s exasperation looming over her. Her friend had caught two handsome young soldiers ogling her and it was clear she wanted to strike up a conversation with them. But since the female auxiliaries and the male soldiers never shared a table in the mess, this wasn’t about to happen.

Especially not under the scrutiny of Oberführerin Littmann, who’d made it her personal mission not only to guide the girls during working hours, but also guard their moral integrity during the off hours.

“Are you finally done?” Gerlinde hissed.

“Sorry, but I’m still hungry. Why don’t you get up and leave while I go for seconds?” Lotte said, taking pity on her friend.

Gerlinde’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure? I mean, you can always join us later…”

“Go and have fun. I’ll be with you in no time at all.”

Lotte’s anxiety grew as she covertly glanced around the mess hall for Lina. Dread swirled through her chest, but Lotte tamped it down. Lina’s absence could have any one of a thousand valid, harmless reasons. It was just that Lotte didn’t believe in coincidences or harmless reasons.

Cold sweat formed on her palms at the same time as fear heightened her senses. She couldn’t linger much longer at the table without arousing suspicion. For a moment she considered leaving the napkin with the precious codes on the tray for Lina to collect later but realized that would be downright reckless. Shudders of fright ran down her spine as she considered what might happen to her should the codes fall into the wrong hands – should her superiors find out she’d been giving closely held military secrets to the enemy.

An older woman with a white cap and apron approached her, “Can I have this?”

Mouth agape, Lotte stared at her like she was a three-headed monster.

“Your tray. Are you finished? We’re closing up,” the woman said.

Lotte nodded and in the very moment the woman grabbed the tray she realized her fatal mistake. Stomach churning, she grabbed the traitorous napkin, loudly blew her nose into it and buried the evidence of treason deep down in her pocket to flush it down the toilet at the first possible opportunity.

“I’m sorry.” She peered at the woman, wondering whether it would be prudent to ask about Lina’s whereabouts. Years earlier, she would have done just that, but she’d learned her lesson the hard way. Gone were the days when she had no compunction and said whatever popped into her head. A demure, intelligent young woman aware of the dangers facing her with every breath she took had emerged in place of the tomboy she used to be.

Finally, curiosity emerged the victor in her internal war.

“Excuse me, I haven’t seen you before. There used to be a girl with blond braids attending the mess,” Lotte said in as blasé a fashion as she could muster.

“Lina? She’s not here anymore.” The woman’s face took on a mouse-like grimace of fear.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

Lotte plastered a tight smile on her face and walked out on legs that had turned to jelly.

Where the hell are you, Lina?

Where the hell are you, Lina?