That beer worked wonders I hadn’t anticipated. When I arrived at the monastery a little before eight the next morning I found that my two packers, together with Dr. Mutter, had been at work since seven. As yet there was no sign of the Frenchmen, but I thought that they would probably show up before long. At eight my gang of PWs appeared and the sergeant who brought them explained that I wouldn’t be having the crew of GIs who had helped out the day before. When I protested that I needed them more urgently than ever, he informed me that the combination of GI and PW labor simply wouldn’t work out; that I certainly couldn’t expect to have them both doing the same kind of work together. I said that I most certainly could and did expect it. Well, my protest was completely unavailing, and if I had to make a choice I was probably better off with the sixteen PWs. Perhaps my two packers could get enough work out of them to compensate for the loss of the GIs.
I had just finished assigning various jobs to the PWs when Leclancher turned up. “May I have a word with you?” he asked. “It is about Roger.”
“What about Roger? Is he any worse?” I asked.
“No, but he is not any better either,” he said. “Is it possible that we shall be returning to Munich tomorrow morning?”
“Not the ghost of a chance,” I said. “We shan’t be through loading before tomorrow night. We’re too shorthanded.”
“But if we all pitched in and worked, even after supper?” he asked.
“It would make a big difference,” I said. “But it’s entirely up to you. It’s certainly worth a try if the drivers are willing.”
I’ll never forget that day. I never saw Frenchmen move with such rapidity or with such singleness of purpose. When five o’clock came, we had finished loading the fifth truck. Taking into account the two from the preceding day, that left only three more trucks to fill. Leclancher came to me again. The drivers wanted to work until it got dark. That meant until nine o’clock. Knowing that the two packers were equally eager to get back to Munich, I agreed. I hurried off to call the sergeant about the PWs. Special arrangements would have to be made to feed them if we were keeping on the job after supper. Also, I had to make sure that someone at Battalion Headquarters would be able to provide a vehicle to take them back to their camp.
While the drivers went off to chow and the PWs were being fed in the hospital kitchen, I joined Dr. Mutter and the packers to discuss these new developments. I felt sure that I would be returning to Hohenfurth in another few days with additional trucks to complete the evacuation. That being the case, some preliminary planning was necessary. I instructed Dr. Mutter to call in a stonemason to remove the Della Robbia relief and the other pieces which had been set into the walls, so that they would be ready for packing when we came back. I gave him a written order which would enable him to lay in a supply of lumber for packing cases which would have to be built for some of the more fragile pieces. Lastly, the four of us surveyed the storage rooms and made an estimate of the number of trucks we would need for the things still on hand.
To save time I had a couple of chocolate bars for my supper and was ready to resume work when our combined forces reappeared. The next two hours and a half went by like a whirlwind and by eight o’clock we knotted down the tarpaulin on the last truck. Everybody was content. Even the PWs seemed less glum than usual, but that was probably because they had been so well fed in the hospital kitchen.