“Okay, here’s what I want to do.” Hiram used a picture of the railyard taken from the overhead drone to illustrate his primary plan. “We enter the camp through the north gate in Petain’s sedan. I’ll drive. Petain will join me in the front passenger seat, Deborah and Nora in the back seat. Simone, Catherine, and Pauline will follow on one of the railbikes. Everyone will wear civilian men’s clothes, including the women. It’ll be dark, and Petain’s credentials should get us through the gate without much trouble.”
Donath and Trembley nodded.
Hiram continued. “Petain will tell his remaining men they are being relieved and gather them together here.” Hiram pointed to a spot near the locomotive. “We should be able to get the drop on them.”
“And if they put up a fight?” Donath said.
“It won’t be a fair one,” Trembley said. “Hiram’s team has weapons that don’t make a sound and goggles that allow them to see in the dark.”
“Speaking of which…” Hiram signaled Team Charlie to distribute the silenced nine-millimeter pistols, Milkor grenade launchers, and AT-7 anti-tank missiles they’d hauled up the hillside. “Sorry, I don’t have any spare night vision goggles to give you.”
“These’ll do just fine,” Donath said, examining one of the Milkors. “How long to train my men?”
“A half-hour, max,” Hiram said. Trembley seemed disappointed that he wasn’t getting an M22 with night vison scope, but he said nothing. “And I’ve got an HF radio for Captain Trembley so we can stay in contact once we deploy the jammer.”
“Jammer?” Donath and Trembley said at once.
“As soon as the convoy enters the camp, I’ll activate an all-spectrum radio jammer. It can be programmed to allow our signals to go through, but not anyone else’s.” Hiram had found the tech in Jacob’s pod. “Can you have one of your men cut the phone lines leading out of the railyard?”
“No problem,” Donath smiled as he admired the sleek pistol. “I’ll put Sean on it. He likes to climb.”
“Once we’ve subdued Petain’s men, we’ll stick them in a cattle car and wait for the convoy from Camp Joffre.”
“How long before they arrive?” Trembley said.
Hiram looked at his watch. “An hour, maybe a little less. Once we’ve loaded everyone on the trucks, we’ll leave through the south gate, here.” He touched the gate on the map.
“Then we’re free to torch the place?” Donath said.
“Right. Tear the place up as best you can,” Trembley said. “We’ll want as much confusion as possible.”
“Looking forward to it.” Donath showed his teeth as he traded the pistol for the Milkor.
Hiram made the excruciating trek back to Team Charlie’s location with Deborah and Team Delta. He struggled to stand by the time they arrived and sat on the ground disseminating the plan to his soldiers.
“How far out is the convoy now?” he asked Irene.
“About forty-five minutes,” she said.
“Barbara, take Team Charlie and head up to the wood line and assume your positions. Delta, let’s get going.” Hiram limped off toward the Citroën.
Nora continued to operate her drone from the backseat of the car as they drove around the mountain and down into the town of Peyraud. Hiram slowed the sedan and removed his night vision goggles when the railyard’s north gate came into view.
“Nora, better shut it down until we pass the guard post.” Hiram directed a quick glance at Petain. “If you want to keep on breathing, don’t do anything stupid.”
Petain looked at Hiram for a moment while Deborah translated, then nodded.
The sedan stopped at the gate and a guard approached Hiram’s side of the car. Petain called out the window, waving the guard over to his side. They exchanged a few words, Petain flashed his credentials, and the guard waved the car and the trailing railbike through.
Twenty meters into the railyard, Nora powered up her C2ID2. She gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Hiram said.
“You need to see this,” Deborah said.
Hiram stopped the car and Nora handed him the display. She leaned over the seat, reached in, and pointed to a line of red heat signatures moving west on the highway along the Moselle River. Hiram tapped the screen and the view changed from thermal to low-light visual mode. A clear line of thirteen half-tracks, two pulling heavy mortars and led by three tanks, appeared on the screen. He stared at the image. “Well, that changes things.” A reinforced mechanized infantry column headed toward Pont Saint Michael.
47
0415 hours, Monday, August 17, 1942, Pont Saint Vincent, Meurthe-et-Moselle Department, Vichy France
Pauline pulled up beside the stopped Citroën, her NVGs reflecting the glow of Deborah’s C2ID2. “Pauline thinks they are passing through,” Deborah said as she touched Hiram’s arm. Simone and Catherine leaned in the left side windows waiting for more.
“With orders to exterminate the families on the way through,” Simone said. Deborah translated. “Can we take that chance?”
Pauline looked away from the car.
In the backseat, Nora studied her C2ID2 display while the others talked. She blurted something out in French, interrupting them all. “What if we give them another target?” Deborah said.
“Another target?” Hiram said.
Nora spoke and Deborah continued to translate. “Something on the other side of the river. The company is still well north of the bridge here.” Nora pointed to a bridge in Maron, about five kilometers downstream of Pont Stain Vincent. “If we get them across the bridge, we can blow it up behind them. And, be long gone before they could get back across the river.”
Hiram looked at the display with Deborah. The La Madon River joined the Moselle in Pont Saint Vincent in a confusion of tide pools, rapids, and tight turns in the two rivers. As a consequence, the French had built the Canal de l’Est to route vessels around the troubled waters. A long narrow island divided the canal from the north-flowing river, stretching from near Flavigny-sur-Moselle all the way to Maron. The Allies had destroyed any bridges that spanned both the river and canal. A single bridge stood across the canal, about three kilometers north of Pont Saint Michael, which provided access to the island, but didn’t extend across the river.
Allied bombing had destroyed the highway bridge connecting Pont Saint Michael with Neuves-Maisons on the north side of the river. The railway bridge over the Moselle River stood fast, though a portion of the bridge that crossed the canal had collapsed.
“What are these?” Deborah pointed to a man-made structure just south of the railroad bridge. Hiram zoomed in.
“Locks on the canal,” he said after studying the image for a moment.
Hiram looked at Nora and smiled. “I like it, but let’s take care of the guards first.”
Hiram stopped the sedan at the spur where the holocaust train sat idle. His soldier’s families waited inside. Pauline and Catherine pulled up beside them on the railbike.
One of Petain’s guards approached the incoming vehicles. He readied his weapon, took slow, calculated steps toward them. He called out to the policemen on-site. Two of the men nearby turned toward the incoming vehicle with weapons ready. In the darkness, more watched unseen.
Petain climbed out of the car and said, “I’m Captain Petain.”
The man snapped to attention and saluted. “Officer Reynard, sir.” He called out to the policemen and Hiram noticed a change in their stance. A man echoed Reynard’s words to those waiting deeper in the railyard.