CHAPTER 7 – OPERATION PICK-POCKET
23 :12 (Santiago de Chile Time)
Friday, September 10, 1943
Port refueling services dock
Port of Antofagasta, Chile (Pacific Coast of South America)
As the large fuel barge and its towing boat came to a rest alongside the quay used by the port refueling services, run by the Petrolina Chileno company, the night shift supervisor came out of his control hut, set at one extremity of the quay, and went to greet the pilot and captain of the tug boat as the latter climbed the wooden stairs leading up from the lower wharf to the top of the quay.
‘’Pedro, what took you so long? You had only one ship to refuel. And why didn’t you answer your radio?’’
Pedro Castillo, a grizzled man in his fifties with a short beard and moustache, shrugged his shoulders as he answered his boss and friend.
‘’Sorry, Baltazar, but that idiot in charge of the M.V. MERMAID forgot to switch on his navigation lights and didn’t answer my requests by signal lamp to identify his ship in the dark, so I ended up searching for him at night for a good hour. Then, he compounded that by having a faulty fuel valve that needed repairing before we could transfer our diesel fuel into the tanks of his ship. To top it off, he requested more fuel than he initially asked for by radio, so my diesel fuel barge is now nearly empty. As for my radio, it is broken…again!’’
‘’Did he at least pay for all that fuel, Pedro?’’ Asked the supervisor, concentrating on the most important point for him and his company. Pedro smiled and presented a fat envelope taken from one of the pockets of his rubber raincoat.
‘’Well, the man may not have brains, but he at least had lots of American dollars with him. You have here the full price for 1,136 metric tons of diesel fuel. Feel free to count the money.’’
‘’I certainly will, Pedro!’’ Said the supervisor, now in a better mood, while taking the envelope from the pilot of the tug boat. ‘’Once I have counted and certified the amount of cash you received, we will close shop for the night: no other ship is expected to either arrive or depart until the morning. You can send your crewmen home now.’’
‘’Thanks, Baltazar!’’
Returning on his tugboat, Pedro went to see his four crewmen, who were waiting for him in the small pilot house of the boat. Looking in turn at each man directly in their eyes, Pedro then spoke up in a sober tone of voice.
‘’Compadres, I don’t need to tell you again how important it is to not tell anyone what you saw tonight, even to your wives. You were well paid for the extra you did tonight and I know that you have little sympathy for those greedy Americans. The best you can do now is to forget what happened tonight and go home.’’
‘’You can count on my silence, Pedro.’’ Replied one of the crewmen, echoed at once by two other crewmen. The three men then left the tugboat, climbing the stairs to the top of the quay and disappearing among the poorly lit streets and alleys of the port. That left one man facing Pedro. That man was supposedly a replacement sailor for one of the regular crewmembers who had called sick, but Pedro knew better and spoke to him in a deferential tone.
‘’Well, your refueling problem has been taken care of, señor.’’
‘’Indeed, Pedro!’’ Said the fit, handsome man in his thirties, who then took out a thick envelope out of one pocket and gave it to the tugboat captain. ‘’Promise made, promise kept! Here is the second part of your payment. Be assured that I will keep you in mind if I need again something done in this port. You may now leave: me and the others will discretely leave the boat a bit later, when nobody will be around. Again, thank you for your assistance.’’
‘’It was my pleasure, Señor Santiago. Good luck on your mission.’’
Pedro Castillo then left the pilot house and climbed on the quay, leaving ‘Santiago’ apparently alone on the tugboat. Going to the deck house situated behind the pilot house, the crewman knocked on its door in a prearranged code, getting someone to open the door to him after a few seconds. Walking quickly inside to let the man who answered his knocks close the door behind him, Carlos Stein smiled at the man and woman now looking at him.
‘’Everything went according to plan, my friends. We will wait a bit, time for the docks to be deserted, then I will bring you to a safe house, where you will be able to wait for your target ship and also wash off any remaining diesel fumes smell from your bodies and hair.’’
‘’You did a hell of a job, Carlos, as usual.’’ replied Hugo Margraff, wearing a set of informal civilian clothes, like Hannah Blumenthal. Carlos Stein, a Chilean national of German descent who worked for the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service, nodded his head, acknowledging the compliment.
‘’Thank you, Hauptmann Margraff. If I may, I must say that I was surprised to see a young woman come out of the U-900 with you.’’
That made Hugo smile and he then patted gently Hanna’s left shoulder.
‘’Aaah, but this is not the first field mission for our good Oberhelferin Blumenthal. She proved herself two months ago, inside the United States and Canada. Did you hear news of our raid in Canada, or was the thing censored?’’
‘’Nothing like such a raid appeared in the local press or on the radio, so censorship must have been tight about it. What was that raid about, anyway?’’
Hugo took a few minutes to describe his infiltration up to Camp Bowmanville and back, making Carlos look at him and Hanna with renewed respect.
‘’Wow! That took some big cohones12, Hauptmann. Well, hopefully, your cohones will do their magic again in a few days.’’
16:30 (Santiago de Chile Time)
Monday, September 13, 1943
Abwehr safe house, Antofagasta
‘’Good news, my friends! I just found the schedule for the loading of your tungsten, along with some details about the ship that will carry it.’’
Hugo and Hanna, who were growing seriously bored by now, grinned at the announcement from Carlos, who had just entered the safe house.
‘’Excellent! Come and tell us, Carlos.’’
Walking to the dining table around which Hugo and Hanna were playing chess to pass the time, Carlos took out of a vest pocket a couple of folded documents and a map, spreading the lot on the table before taking a chair. He then handed one of the documents to Hugo.
‘’Sorry if this is in Spanish, but I will translate this as needed for you. Basically, the mining complex in Chojilla, near La Paz in Bolivia, is going to ship by rail to Antofagasta a major shipment of tungsten metal products, to be then sent by sea to the American port of Seattle. The train is due to arrive in Antofagasta in six days, with the tungsten and other metals then stored in a port warehouse until the arrival of the Panamean cargo ship M.V. BUENAVENTURA, which is due in port on September 22. The BUENAVENTURA is due to take two days to load its cargo and will sail for Seattle on the 25th, a Saturday.’’
‘’And how much tungsten are we talking about, Carlos?’’ asked Hugo, making the operative smile.
‘’About 690 metric tons of tungsten metal, or close to a quarter of the annual production of tungsten in Bolivia, which is the sole producer of tungsten for the whole of South America and also the fourth biggest producer of tungsten in the World.’’
‘’Wow! That should make Minister Speer happy.’’
‘’Wait! That’s not all! Since it would be quite uneconomical to ship only that tungsten by itself, the BUENAVENTUA will also load up 5,500 metric tons of Chilean metallic copper products, 430 metric tons of molybdenum, 310 metric tons of Brazilian manganese and 575 metric tons of Brazilian nickel, all going to the same smelting plants around Seattle. In total, the ship will be carrying some 7,505 metric tons of strategic metal products, many of which are essential to the making of specialty steel alloys that are extensively used in war industries.’’
‘’Even better! I will compose a short, encrypted message after this to pass this information by radio to the U-900. This is too vital to be delayed. After that is done, we will discuss the details of our plan of action concerning that cargo ship.’’
‘’Fair enough! In the meantime, I will make myself a good cup of coffee.’’
As Carlos started percolating some espresso coffee, Hanna went to the suitcase radio set she had brought with her and prepared it for transmission, while Hugo wrote quickly a condensed message, using code words and some encryption to make it opaque to anyone intercepting it. That took him less than five minutes, with Hanna, who was a practiced and efficient Morse code and radio operator, then contacting the U-900 with her HF radio set and passing on the message. She was able to shut down her radio and make an announcement by the time that Carlos sat back at the table with a steaming cup of strong coffee.
‘’Message sent and acknowledged by the U-900.’’
‘’Excellent!’’ replied Hugo, quite happy now. ‘’Next, let’s talk about our plan of action concerning the BUENAVENTURA.’’
The group had been discussing for a good ten minutes their plan when the telephone in the house’s living room rang, making the trio look at each other in surprise.
‘’Were you expecting a call, Carlos?’’ asked Hugo, making the agent shake his head.
‘’No! Nobody is supposed to call here, unless an emergency occurs. Stay quiet while I answer.’’
Going quickly to the telephone set, Carlos picked up its receiver just as it was ringing for a third time.
‘’Hola13!’’
He then heard a female voice which he knew very well.
‘’Carlos? This is Juanita! I am afraid that we have an emergency here in Valparaiso.’’
‘’What kind of emergency?’’ asked Carlos, stiffening at once. In his line of business, about anything could happen, including some very nasty things.
‘’I believe that some Americans are watching your house. One of your neighbors who owns a hotl warned me that a bunch of suspicious men have rented two days ago two of the rooms giving a view of your house. They speak with an American accent and, according to your neighbor, look quite intimidating. They also seem to do nothing but stay in their rooms, with one of them going out periodically for food. They came in two cars, which are now parked in front of the hotel, and they have been asking questions about you around. What shall we do?’’
With his mind now in overdrive, Carlos thought furiously for a few second before answering Juanita.
‘’How many of these Americans are there exactly?’’
‘’You neighbor told me that a total of six Americans have been coming in and out of their rooms since they arrived.’’
‘’Alright, here is what you will do until we could speak further: do not approach my house under any pretext and do not go meet my neighbor. Just call him to tell him briefly to avoid those Americans as much as possible and that he is not to call the police about them. As for you, continue to go to your work as usual but be on guard for any sign of surveillance or tailing against you. I am going to return to Valparaiso and will be there by tomorrow. I will contact you once I am back in town. In the meantime, exercise extreme caution. Do you understand me, Juanita?’’
‘’Y…yes! I will feel better once you will be back. Be careful yourself.’’
‘’I will! See you tomorrow.’’
Carlos then hung up, prompting a question in a worried tone from Hugo.
‘’Something is wrong, Carlos?’’
‘’Possibly! One of my agents in Valparaiso called to warn me that a group of six Americans apparently put my house there under observation. It sounds like the American O.S.S14. is on my trail.’’
Hugo frowned on hearing that: if Carlos had somehow been compromised, then the mission of the U-900 could well have been compromised too. On the other hand, things may still be salvaged…if prompt action was taken without delay.
‘’Do you have anything compromising hidden inside your house, Carlos?’’
‘’My radio set, code books and stash of weapons are hidden in my house. They would be pretty hard to find, but a thorough search could still uncover them. My worry now is that, with my house being obviously empty at this time, that those Americans may well decide to take the chance to break into my house at night to search it. I believe that I have no choice left now than to return as quickly as possible to Valparaiso and try to deal with this problem on the spot.’’
‘’Then, I am coming with you.’’ announced Hugo in a resolute tone. ‘’You will need some backup if you are to deal with six American agents.’’
‘’I’d like to come as well.’’ said Hanna, making the two men snap their heads towards her, shock on their faces.
‘’NO WAY!’’ nearly shouted Hugo. ‘’You are not a trained fighter and would actually impede us in any fight with those Americans.’’
‘’Who is talking about me fighting those Americans?’’ protested Hanna. ‘’What I had in mind was to help you by acting as an inconspicuous observer and to watch your back while you check Carlo’s house. We brought a pair of handheld radios with us: let’s use them for something where they could be truly useful. I could stay near the house with one radio, hidden, to make sure that no Americans could surprise you while you are in.’’
Hugo hesitated for long seconds then before nodding his head.
‘’Very well, Hanna. You can play the distant watcher in Valparaiso…but nothing else.’’
‘’Thank you, Hugo.’’
As for Carlos, he eyed Hanna for a moment before breaking into a smile.
‘’Decidedly, you are reminding me of my Juanita, Hanna. Now, I suggest that we pile into my car right away: we have over a thousand kilometers to do by road between here and Valparaiso. Bring whatever weapons you have with you, along with your suitcase radio: we can’t tell for sure what we will encounter at my house. We have twelve days before the BUENAVENTURA sails. Hopefully, that will be more than enough for us to go to Valparaiso, deal with the situation there and then return to Antofagasta before the 24th.’’
Hugo went at once to the suitcases he and Hanna had brought with them and opened one of them, then foraged through the clothes filling it, extracting a Walther P38 pistol equipped with a silencer, plus three spare magazines, each with eight 9mm rounds, and gave the lot to Hanna.
‘’I hope that you won’t need this in Valparaiso, Hanna, but I will feel better with you being able to defend yourself.’’
‘’Thank you, Hugo. Are you going to bring your silenced MP43?’’
‘’With possibly six armed American agents to deal with, I believe that it would indeed be the prudent thing to do, Hanna. We will stuff our suitcases in the trunk of the car. If somehow this safe house becomes compromised, at least we won’t leave behind things that could help trace us.’’
The trio took only a few minutes to gather their things and carry them to Carlos’ Ford sedan, parked alongside the safe house, where the suitcases and bags were stuffed in the trunk. With Carlos at the wheel and Hugo sitting in the front passenger seat, the sedan soon backed out of its parking spot and drove off, heading towards the nearest access junction with the coastal national highway that linked Antofagasta with Valparaiso and Santiago. While Carlos drove at the maximum legal speed on the highway, he refrained from pushing his car’s engine to its maximum, in order not to overtax it: now was not the time to have a car breakdown.
06:49 (Santiago de Chile Time)
Tuesday, September 14, 1943
Port city of Valparaiso
Having reclaimed the driver’s seat before entering Valparaiso, and this after letting Hugo drive for more than half of the way from Antofagasta, Carlos drove towards Juanita’s home once inside the city, hoping to catch her before she left for her work at the port. However, he stopped and parked his car one block away from her residence, turning around in his seat to speak with Hugo and Hanna.
‘’I am going to go on foot, to check if anyone is watching Juanita’s building. I will then enter by the back door as an extra precaution. I will call you by radio to report if the way is clear. Hugo, you better take place at the wheel, just in case.’’
‘’A prudent thing to do, indeed.’’
Stepping out of the car and raising the collar of his trench coat, as if to ward off the fresh September wind, Carlos then started walking at a fair pace, his hat sunk low over his eyes. With all his senses on alert, he soon walked past Juanita’s apartment building. Not seeing anything suspicious, he nonetheless continued on without slowing down, turning at the next street corner and then turning again in a narrow alley on which the rear entrance of Juanita’s building gave. Again, he saw nothing suspicious there, so he entered by the back door and quickly climbed to the second floor level, where Juanita’s apartment was situated. Discretely taking out his silenced pistol and hiding it inside his opened trench coat, Carlos knocked lightly on her door, using a code long arranged with Juanita. A hesitant female voice then answered his knocks.
‘’Who is it?’’
‘’It’s me, Carlos.’’
It took only a few seconds before the door was opened, with Carlos immediately slipping inside. Juanita took the time to close and lock the door behind him before embracing him for a kiss.
‘’My God! I was so scared for you! Did you just arrive from Antofagasta?’’
‘’Yes! I brought two friends with me. Have you noticed any suspicious people or activities around your building lately?’’
‘’No! It seems that, while the Americans are suspecting you, they don’t appear to know about me.’’
‘’Good! That’s the way I want to keep it. Look, I intend to go check out my house today and empty it of any compromising item or document. Then, we will return to Antofagasta together. Plead the need to visit a very sick relative in order to skip work for a few days. If things turn sour here, it will put you far from the danger and, if things really go bad, we will then be in good position to disappear via submarine.’’
Juanita gave him a somber look, fully realizing the seriousness of the situation.
‘’I would hate to have to leave Chile, but it would still be much better than being captured and interrogated by enemy agents.’’
‘’True! First, pack two suitcases and gather your special equipment, then call your boss to say that you must go visit a sick relative for a few days. If he refuses to let you go, then too bad for him: there are other jobs available around. I will now go check my house. Stay here and don’t answer the door until I come back. You still have your revolver handy?’’
‘’Uh, yes!’’
‘’Then keep it near you. If some American agents try to break into your apartment, shoot them and then tell the police that they were robbers.’’
‘’Got it! Please, be careful, Carlos.’’
Carlos smiled tenderly to Juanita before kissing her while glued to her.
‘’I will, I promise. Now, call your boss and start packing.’’
Carlos felt his heart heavy as he walked out of Juanita’s apartment and went back down to street level. She was supposed to be a simple agent in his espionage network, but things between them had become a lot more than that in the last couple of years. Again using the back door and the narrow back alley, he walked back to his parked car and sat in the front passenger seat, giving an order to Hugo, who was in the driver’s seat.
‘’Start the car: we are going to my house to check it and take out the compromising things inside it, then will come back here to pick up Juanita. I will tell you which way to go.’’
‘’Understood.’’
Starting the Ford’s engine, Hugo then rolled out of his parking spot and into the early morning traffic of Valparaiso. With Carlos directing him, he ended up crossing the city center, then entered a sparsely populated suburb, rolling along a road following the coast. At one point, Carlos pointed at a sort of small hotel or inn that they were approaching.
‘’Slow down a bit. This is the inn from where the Americans are supposedly watching my house, which is only a further hundred meters down the road, on the right.’’
Hugo obeyed him and slowed down, as if looking for an address, while eyeing discretely the inn.
‘’Should we pass by your house or park near it?’’
‘’Simply pass in front of it: I want to see if there are any suspicious activities there.’’
‘’Got it! Hanna, avoid looking at the houses along the road for the moment. Let’s not look suspicious ourselves.’’
‘’Understood, Hauptmann.’’
‘’And, please, don’t speak German, even in private.’’
‘’Sorry…Hugo.’’ Said Hanna in English, blushing with embarrassment at the mild rebuke. She thus sat back in silence on the rear bench seat as their car rolled past a small house situated on the side nearest to the sea.
‘’Here is my house… Shit! There is a car parked alongside it and I don’t recognize it.’’
Hugo tightened his jaws on hearing that.
‘’Those American agent probably decided to go search your house when they saw no activity or movement inside it. We should go park somewhere nearby and approach your house on foot to investigate. We can’t let those Americans find your radio set and code books.’’
‘’Then, continue on for about 200 meters and turn right on a dirt trail that leads down to a beach. We can hide the car among the trees there and then approach my house on foot.’’
‘’Sounds like a plan.’’
‘’Uh, what about me?’’ aAsked Hanna from the rear seat, making Carlos twist his head to look at her.
‘’You stay in the car and monitor your radio. We will call you as needed, Hanna.’’
Seconds later, they turned right on a narrow dirt trail and entered a patch of trees, where Hugo turned off the trail and parked between two trees. As soon as the car was stopped, Carlos stepped out and grabbed his Astra 400 pistol, loaded with eight 9mm Largo rounds, then screwed quickly a silencer on its muzzle while Hugo went to the trunk to get his silenced MP43 assault rifle, along with two spare magazines for it. Carlos looked resolutely at Hugo as the latter was chambering a 7.62mm Kurz round in his rifle.
‘’Ready?’’
‘’Ready!’’
‘’Then, follow me!’’
Walking quickly at a crouch, with their weapons at the ready, the two men went deeper among the trees, heading in the general direction of Carlos’ house. They soon started to see it through the trees and slowed down to a cautious pace, still crouched. Stopping briefly near the tree line next to his house and taking a few seconds to examine it, Carlos saw through a window of his main bedroom a fleeting movement inside. Not saying a word, he made a hand signal to Hugo and ran as quietly as he could to the rear of his house. The two men were soon positioned on either side of the rear door, which Carlos cautiously unlocked with his house key. Nodding his head first at Hugo, Carlos then opened slowly the door and slipped inside, followed closely by the German soldier. As soon as they were inside, in the hallway connecting the front and the back of the house, Carlos saw a big man standing in a corner of his lounge, which faced the road. That man was discreetly watching through the window of the lounge and had a pistol in his right hand. The man then caught from the corner of his left eye the next movement by Carlos and snapped his head towards him, looking at him with alarm while starting to raise his pistol and shouting.
‘’WATCH…’’
The man didn’t have a chance to finish his warning, a 9mm Largo bullet striking him directly in his left eye, killing him instantly. However, the man’s shout and the muffled but still audible shot from Carlos’ pistol was enough to attract some attention. A shouted question came from up the stairs to the upper floor as Carlos, swearing quietly at his bad luck, took a few steps forward to give some clear firing space to Hugo.
‘’JACK? JACK? WHAT IS IT?’’
Showing a shocking lack of professionalism for an undercover agent, the man who had shouted from the top of the stairs then rushed down to investigate, giving a second target to Carlos. He fired twice, hitting squarely in his left side the man running down the stairs. Both bullets penetrated the left side ribs area and traveled upward, one of them piercing the left lung and the second one cutting in two the man’s aorta. Fatally wounded, the man crumbled down and rolled down the last steps before ending up spread face down at the bottom of the stairs, his Colt M1911 pistol coming out of his dead hand. As Carlos kept his pistol pointed up, Hugo quickly ran past him and then turned around, pointing his MP43 at the balcony of the upper floor. He was in time to see another man rush out of an upper room, pistol in hand. Before that man could point his weapon, he was hit