Hilgendorf worked his way north over the coming weeks. First through the region of Lazio and its city, Rome. Up through Liguria, then the Piedmont region, finally into Switzerland and from there to Germany.
The men in the detachment had long since gone their own ways. He knew that was the way of things, and he also knew that moving along a route separately was the safest way for each of them to escape the advancing Allied forces.
In mid-October, he reached Berlin. He discreetly asked for information about Colonel Anselm Bernhard"s wife – his widow. Hilgendorf knew that the German army was desperate for soldiers and he would get redeployed easily if his identity became known, or if the forces gathered around Berlin realized that he was retreating from the campaign in southern Italy.
So t
