Otto acquiesced and waited for his chief to finish reading through the file. Gleicher devoted a great deal of attention and care to this task, turning each detail over in his mind, jotting down notes and occasionally asking his assistant for further explanations. Since there was one point that was still unclear, Otto, at his request, had a long conversation with one of the technicians in the section that manufactured information designed, in secret-service jargon, to “deceive” the enemy. Gleicher was a sensitive man and was eager to prove that he did not fulfill his functions like an amateur, as Otto sometimes seemed to think. Entering into the character of the Herr Doktor, he had forced himself to study the technicalities of reinforced concrete construction, with special reference to fortifications, which he was supposed to inspect. He wanted to be sure that no question on this subject would find him without an answer.
When everything was clear to him, he placed the papers methodically in his brief case.
“I’ll run through them again in the train,” he muttered. “Now then, Otto, let’s hear your story about our friend Herr Arvers.”
17
“I’ll have to go back quite a bit, Herr Doktor. You remember that business about the Cousin network and the Lachaume farm?”
“As though I could ever forget it!” Gleicher broke in with feeling. It was one of the first affairs for which he had been made responsible after transferring to the Abwehr. He had only just had time to look into the case and draw up his plans when the Gestapo intervened with their usual brutality.
“Those Gestapo swine sabotaged my work completely. If we'd waited another fortnight we should have had the whole lot in the bag, whereas all they got was the small fry.”
“They’re always in too much of a hurry,” Otto agreed.
Otto unreservedly shared his chief’s feelings on this point. The spirit of hostile rivalry between the Abwehr and the Gestapo was apparent to every member of both organizations and sometimes resulted in their jeopardizing the efficacy of the common struggle against Allied spies.
“And yet," he went on, pursing his lips, “they got some results on that occasion.”
“What results?” Gleicher protested. “A few subordinates arrested; some poor bloody fools wiped out who wanted to destroy three old locomotives and that’s all.”
“Not very important people, it’s true,” Otto conceded. “Nevertheless, about fifty of the enemy liquidated. . .”
“And the means employed to attain this brilliant success?” Gleicher demanded. To him the men of the Gestapo were odious for a number of reasons. He had espoused the cause of the rival organization; he hated the secret police instinctively; and he had been reprimanded at a high level for letting them steal a march on him. “The means? Torture. That’s all they know. Take away their blackjacks, their electric-shock machines, and the rest of their repulsive contraptions, and they’re incapable of obtaining the slightest information. I, on the other hand, as I’ve said before, Otto, would have nabbed the whole lot, and without grilling the soles of anyone’s feet, as they did, apparently.”
“I’m sure you would have, Herr Doktor. Please don’t think I’m trying to stand up for them; although, in certain circumstances, brutality. . . .”
His reticence showed that even though he hated the Gestapo at least as much as his chief, he was not absolutely opposed on principle to some of its methods. Colonel von Gleicher, who felt deeply on this subject, declared in a biting tone:
“I tell you, Otto, those practices are not only dishonorable but stupid. When you think in those terms, you’re incapable of proper planning and find yourself hoodwinked by the first fool you come across who invents some cock-and-bull story for fear of being maltreated. No one is going to use torture in this service as long as I have the honor of directing it. Der Nachtrichtendienst ist ein Herrendienst, and don’t forget it.”
Otto acquiesced, as he always did when his chief quoted this particular phrase attributed to Admiral Canaris—which he was apt to do at least once a week. Gleicher continued:
“Just look at their stupidity. In the case of the Lachaume farm, they were clumsy enough to let the principal character and his radio operator escape before getting all they knew out of them, simply because they were impatient to make some spectacular arrests and have a good laugh at our expense.”
&nb
sp; “That’s not altogether accurate, Herr Doktor. One of the two men, Cousin, it is true, did get away. The other,
the radio operator, died.”
“Does that make it any better? So he died, did he? That’s even more stupid. The result of their treatment, I suppose?”
“They deny it, Herr Doktor, but it’s more than likely.”
Gleicher raised his eyes to the ceiling and heaved a sigh.
“Oh, well . . . Go on with your story.”
“To get back to that business . . . did you know, Herr Doktor, that the Gestapo officer and his second-in-command were killed that night during the ambush they had set for the raiding party? In spite of being surprised, the saboteurs put up a stiff fight before being wiped out.”
“I didn’t know, but I can’t say I’m terribly sorry.”
“Since the two henchmen who stayed behind at the farm to guard the prisoners were also killed, there seems to be no living witness to the revelations made by one of the men.”
“Imbeciles,” Gleicher muttered.
“Not entirely, at least not in this case, Herr Doktor, for the man’s confession was taken down on a tape recorder, and the tape has been found intact. Cousin failed to destroy it when he made his getaway; perhaps he didn’t know the machine was there.”