The sudden appearance of the Czech border patrol lieutenant and his two soldiers at the door of the German customs office didn't surprise the German customs sergeant. The German sergeant glanced up at the clock on the wall. Noting that it was just before midnight, he shrugged his shoulders and prepared to greet the Czechs. It was not unheard of for the men who patrolled the borders of their nations to pay social calls on each other while making their rounds, especially on nights like this. Looking up from his desk when the door flew open, allowing a flurry of snow and a blast of cold air to sweep into the building, the customs sergeant smiled and nodded at the Czech officer before shouting for the senior German Army sergeant on duty. The senior German Army sergeant, who had been enjoying the warmth of the back room with his squad where they had been watching television, threw his legs over the side of his cot onto the floor, pulled his uniform shirt on, and sauntered on out into the outer office.
The Czech officer, after shaking loose snowflakes from his uniform and stomping his boots just inside the door on a thin mat, came forward toward the long counter where the German customs sergeant sat. The sergeant, with a sweep of his right hand, invited the Czech officer to take a seat near the heater behind the counter. There they were joined by the senior German Army sergeant. Neither German paid any attention to the Czech border patrolmen who remained just inside the door where they unslung their rifles and checked the actions of their rifles to ensure they were not frozen. The sound of sliding rifle bolts caused no concern, for men coming in from the cold and snow were expected to check their weapons for operation. The Czech officer, taking a seat before them, held his hat in his lap over his hands, as if to warm them up faster. This didn't cause the Germans any concern who were more interested in warming themselves than watching their guests. Since the American operations in the Czech Republic had become a matter of international concern, both nations had reinforced their mutual borders. To ensure that things did not get out of hand, officials of both nations encouraged their people patrolling the border to maintain close and cordial contact during the period of crisis.
After allowing several seconds for the Czech lieutenant to open the conversation, the German Army sergeant finally spoke. "We were just getting ready to go out ourselves and follow the border trace for a while when you came in, Herr Lieutenant." The Czech lieutenant glanced into the back room where the soldiers of the sergeant's squad sat, stripped down to their T-shirts and lying about on cots or lounging on chairs watching the television. If they had been preparing for a patrol, they had the strangest pre-combat drill he, Major Nikolai Ilvanich, had ever seen. Still he said nothing about that, only grunting and nodding as the German sergeant continued. "I suppose that you have been out and around walking the trace itself. Perhaps, Lieutenant, you could show me where you were and we could coordinate our patrolling efforts?"
Ilvanich smiled, for he knew what the German Army sergeant really was after. If by chance the German sergeant found that the area he was responsible for had already been patrolled by the Czechs, he and his men wouldn't need to go out into the cold. The German sergeant could, in all good conscience, report to his lieutenant that the area was secured. It wasn't that the sergeant was being lazy or lax about his duties. It was just that he was being efficient. Ilvanich knew, as a soldier does, that it would be foolish to duplicate efforts. Although his German was impeccable, Ilvanich allowed some of his Russian accent to muffle his words, trusting that it would disarm the Germans further and that they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between German spoken with a Slovakian accent and German spoken with a Russian accent. "Let me see, please, your operations map, and I will show you where it was that we have just come from."
Happy that the Czech officer was more than willing to go along with his suggestion, the German Army sergeant got up and went into the back room to retrieve his map from his cot while the customs sergeant went to get Ilvanich a cup of coffee. Looking over toward the door, where his two companions still waited, Ilvanich gave Sergeant Allen Rasper and Specialist Kevin Pape a slight nod and smile. Both men, sweating as much from nervous anticipation as from the heat of the Czech Army overcoats that covered their own uniforms, returned Ilvanich's nod and waited for him to make his move.
"We have been," the German Army sergeant said, beaming as he returned with his map, "most anxious about how thin we are along the border." Plopping the map down on Ilvanich's lap, the German began to point out the location of the outposts his company had established along the German-Czech border. "The panzer and panzergrenadier units were gone before we even got here. They're all up north around Chemnitz or Dresden. Our division is stuck here in a paper-thin outpost line trying to cover almost two hundred kilometers of frontier with lightly armed mountain troops. So, Herr Lieutenant, it is important that we cooperate whenever possible, in order to make best use of our men."
Looking back at the soldiers lounging about in the back room, weapons lined up against the wall without any magazines in them, Ilvanich felt both satisfaction and disgust. While he was pleased that the Germans were so unprepared and were at that moment giving him the disposition of their forces in the local area, he was upset that this sergeant was, through his lack of vigilance, endangering his men. While he and his fellow Russian officers knew that German soldiers were in all probability no better and no worse, man for man, than their own, the German military system had always held a mystique, an aura of evil efficiency that caused them great concern. To see it now close up and personal for the first time, in this light, made Ilvanich begin to wonder if through all these years his superiors had not been guilty of overstating the prowess of the enemy. While it was probably true, Ilvanich pushed that strange thought from his mind and began to listen intently while the German Army sergeant pointed out the clearly marked military symbols that represented the fighting positions as well as the outposts and patrol routes of the German Army company responsible for the Cheb Gap roadblock. The German sergeant, with a note of concern in his voice, ended by stating that except for his company covering the entire Gap and beyond, there wasn't an organized combat unit between where they sat and Nuremberg.
Taking the map and sticking it under his left arm, Ilvanich began to stand up. As he did so, his wool cap fell to the floor, exposing the 9mm pistol in his right hand. Noticing that the hammer of the pistol pointed at them was cocked back, the two German sergeants rose. First one, then the other, glanced at the two Czech soldiers who had been left standing at the door.
Both had, while the Army sergeant was briefing Ilvanich, moved up to the counter. They now stood there, rifles raised and ready, staring at the German sergeants. Switching to his best High German, Ilvanich calmly began to issue his orders. "Now, if neither one of you gets excited, you and all your men will live to see the dawn. First, Sergeant, you need to assemble your squad out here without their weapons, where my sergeant can watch them. Then we need to call your platoon leader and company commander and convince them to join us here. Please, when you do so, be discreet, for although I really do not want to see you or any of your men dead, my American ranger friends here are quite upset about what your Chancellor has been saying and doing lately. Neither of them cares about your personal well-being like I do. They would, as the Americans are so fond of saying, just as soon shoot you where you stand as look at you."
When he was satisfied that the German Army sergeant understood, Ilvanich turned to the customs sergeant. "And as soon as my trusted American deputy arrives, a young lieutenant eager to practice his soldierly skills and not particularly concerned whom he practices them on, you and I will go to the station control room and begin to make some changes in the routing of rail traffic. This is going to be, I'm afraid, a much longer night than either of you expected."