John Gower had been summoned to an urgent meeting, his mind already racing with thoughts of Driver Cooper’s mysterious absence. As he entered the room, he scanned the faces of the attendees and his suspicions were confirmed – this was no ordinary gathering.
The meeting was attended by the officers and senior ranks of 1ADFA, along with a diverse array of officers from various units of the main garrison. Gower’s gaze swept across the room, taking in the cap badges of the Royal Engineers, 9th/12th Royal Lancers, 14th/20th King’s Hussars, Intelligence Corps, Royal Corps of Signals, Royal Artillery, Royal Military Police, and the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department. Two German civilian police officers were also in attendance, signalling the gravity of Driver Cooper’s disappearance – which seemed to be more severe than initially anticipated.
The meeting began with a sense of foreboding, as the commanding officer of the unit, Lt Col Henry Willingham RAMC, took the floor. The room was thick with tension, the kind that clings to the skin like cobwebs.
Willingham’s voice was gruff, the timbre of a man who has seen things that no one should ever have to endure.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” he began, his voice steeped in gravity. “I’ll dispense with formalities and delve straight into the heart of the issue. Driver Cooper, alongside three German civilian contractors who were working in this camp, have met their demise under very suspicious circumstances.”
As he spoke, a tangible feeling of shock and disbelief filled the room. While the news about Cooper was anticipated, the revelation of the deaths of three civilians came as a complete surprise and had evidently been kept under wraps until this moment.
Willingham pressed on, his countenance darkening with each word. “While I must emphasise that these findings are subject to ongoing investigation, what we’ve unearthed is nothing short of astonishing. Beneath the accommodation block, a hidden sub-level of the camp has emerged – a secret, hitherto . . . unknown layer.” His words hung in the air, punctuated by the genuine astonishment etched across his face.
“Furthermore, we’ve unearthed a passageway connecting this lower level to the Bergen-Belsen camp. It’s there that we came upon the remains of the three civilians, found in proximity to a section of the tunnel that had recently succumbed to collapse.”
The room remained silent, the revelation sinking in like a deep chill. The kind that crawls up the spine, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake. This was bad. Very bad. And they all knew it.
“I’ll let Major Johnson from the Royal Military Police fill you in on the details,” Willingham announced, gesturing to the nervous-looking officer.
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