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in front of him and saluted.
    Schwerig returned his salute and asked, “Are
you the officer that General Von Sterbenbach has assigned to the
train detail?”
    The leutnant reported, “Well sir, yes and no.
Yes, I am tasked with the responsibility of this train. No, it was
not General Von Sterbenbach from whom my orders have come, but from
General Von Kluger, the head of railway operations.
    Schwerig very matter of factly stated, “Well
I am about to override General Von Kluger’s orders and add an
additional task for you to carry out.”
    The leutnant looked surprised and
respectfully asked, “Not doubting the major’s authority, but, it
would only be responsible to inquire whose authority the major is
working under to be able to override General Von Kluger’s
orders?”
    Schwerig said nothing at first. He just
reached into his attaché and pulled out the cover letter from his
orders packet and handed it to the leutnant.
    He skimmed through the page until he got to
the bottom and saw Himmler’s signature.
    He turned as white as the paper he was
reading as he handed it back to Schwerig and snapped to attention,
“What is it that I can do for you Herr Major?”
    Schwerig smiled, he loved it so when soldiers
acted so professionally. He then said, “I am tasked with completely
dispatching any loose ends that may be left behind before the
Allies occupy this industrial park. No one can be left behind to
let the Allies know what we have done here today or what we were
doing here before today. I am afraid that I am going to have to ask
you to do something that you may not like, once your train reaches
its destination.”
    The leutnant didn’t yet know whether it was
going to be something trivial or something big, so he asked, “What
would that be Herr Major?”
    Schwerig looked out the window and pointed to
the train’s crew and said, “I am going to have to ask you to
exterminate your entire non military crew that you have here today
once you reach your destination, and before they are allowed to
talk to anyone once you get there.”
    The leutnant was blown away at such a tall
order, and said, “Herr Major, I am sorry, but for such an act, I
would require a written order to present to any authority that
could possibly question me while carrying out such an action.”
    “Yes of course,” said Schwerig as he handed
the cover letter back to the leutnant and opened his attaché as he
began looking through it, “I regret that I do not carry around a
complete set of forms, but this will do.”
    He pulled out some personal letter head
paper, and handed it to the leutnant and asked him, “Can you type?
We seem to be fresh out of secretaries today.”
    The leutnant answered, “Yes sir, I assume
that I can find a typewriter up here in the office.”
    Schwerig answered, “Yes, I believe that you
may be able to find one that is not presently in use, but you may
have to make room for your feet.”
    The leutnant looked slightly baffled at his
remark, but started walking towards the office.
    Schwerig said to him as he was walking away,
“Just type up what you believe that your superiors will need to
see, referencing my orders, of course. Then bring it back to me for
signature. I am going to be following up with my men to be sure
everything is being taken care of.
    The leutnant, walking backwards, said, “Yes
sir, I will work with great haste.”
    Schwerig turned back around and walked into
the room where Sgt. Stark was working, and inquired, “Have you
found everything that was on the list Feldwebel?”
    Sgt. Stark was standing over a barrel of
burning papers as he looked up from what he was reading and
answered, “Yes sir, I believe so. I have also found some more
information about Herr Volmer if that is of any more interest to
you.”
    Schwerig shrugged his shoulders like he
didn’t care and said, “Go ahead… Tell me.”
    Sgt. Stark spoke as he opened Volmer’s file,
“It appears that Herr Volmer is.”
    “Or