Chapter 55: Situation Normal

[Paul S.]

.... is now online:

https://www.ttbrown.com/defying_gravity/55_SitNorm.html

--PS

[grinder]

Thats really the first thing that came into my mind. OH SHIT

I think I can see how things could have gone so bad so fast, but you know, thats just the way things happen in situations like that. I love the expression "pear-shaped" . Had heard it from an Australian once. Scarey. Again edge of your seat stuff.

Obviously the Caroline tank officer (Panzer?) had noticed that Dr. Brown didn't have that finger. Maybe he knew that all along. And thats a pretty good ruse for him to fall back on. I wonder what he was thinking after, I assume, escorting HIS important man so far to have it all go to shit and for him to see his man killed. I wonder who he was? I wonder who the SS officer was?

Another question. What would have happened if the American Commander Campaigne had known already that Brown was missing a finger? Wouldn't it be sort of a signal that something screwy was going on? Or maybe I am looking for Zebras when the horse of it would say that he would never have known and just would have assumed it was Townsend Browns finger. ( Did he even know it was Townsend Brown or was another name used? Stephensons group was well known for supplying false passports! I just read that his " cover" in New York City was as the Passport Office. Now thats funny.)

Great chapter Paul. alot to chew on here. But I liked the company! and now Dr. Brown is wounded and removed! What happens with our man Mr. ORiley? And what happened to the other German commander who was also a Caroline operative?Did he get back to his men? There are alot of un asked questions here which I am sure are going to be asked of you. Many extra mysteries here!

With the man he jumped out of the airplane to speak to now dead and Townsend Brown injured and sent to England. You can't get much worse of an out come than that? Well, he could have been killed too. I guess Mr. ORiley might have been forced to shoot him. THAT would have been worse.

So, damn! what happens NOW? grinder

[kevin.b]

Paul,
I felt as though I was there.
This wont be just a great book, it really gripped Me,
I wanted to accidently break the commanders leg.
Kevin

[ladygrady]

Paul,

Have I got this straight? Lets see.

This side of the story has come to you from a combination of what Morgan has told you over the past couple of years and apparently what Mr.ORiley ( who we all know on this forum as Mr. Twigsnapper with a great sense of admiration.) Has divulged rather recently? Am I right?

So I am sure that you are blending what Mr. Twigsnapper has told you with what Morgan has told you about this time in Townsend Browns life and this information has come to you over the past couple of years in this staggered and guarded way? I sensed some strangeness in your understanding of what Morgan told you at first and now what Mr. Twigsnapper has suddenly told you. As if Morgan at that time couldn’t tell you the whole story just then? Almost as if he waited for Mr. ORiley to step forward but wasn’t going to step into the story ahead of time?. Have you figured out why he couldn’t or maybe didn’t want to tell you the whole story all at once?. Would it have been too fantastic maybe for you to believe if he laid it all out there? Or I wonder if there were other reasons?

This thing about “Carolineâ€

[Victoria Steele]

DAMN missed being the first to comment AGAIN. Asleep at the switch here.

All I have to say is ...... Hell .....Why did you stop? I just want to go on Paul! This is not fair! You know that I appreciate these weekly (???) chapters and if they were half hearted and mediocre I would say " OK, whenever with the next chapter" but you do this to us! You lay this beautiful set of circumstances out there and then YOU STOP!

Someday your book will get the praise " I couldn't put it down!" and those people will never know what it was like for us on this early viewing team! Now we are left! BUT ITS GOING TO BE WORTH IT I tell myself!

So just how seriously was the man hurt ?and how long did it take for him to get better? And when did he get to get home with Jospehine? and ...... was he able to tell her ANYTHING?about where he had been and how he had been hurt. WANNA bet he couldn't say anything!!!! I'll just bet! And what about his son Joseph? What does he tell him? And the neighbors and maybe Josephines chatty friends ( if she ever had normal girlfriends like that) How does she explain that her husband just disappears for, how long? and then comes home injured?

And I get the outside impression that this German tank commander actually might have been instrumental in helping Townsend Brown survive the second attack when the head of the Army ( Campaigne?) didn't seem to care one way or the other. So did the man escape? Did he get back to his men? Why in the world did the man insist on going back to his men with the Soviets so near? Instant death I imagine if he was SS. So, what happened to him and how could he actually be a Caroline member? I am losing the ability to connect the dots there but I have a feeling that the information that LindaB came up with about the men who worked against the Nazis in their very own government probably have alot to do with it?

Boy, Oh Boy! Good writing! And Mr. Twigsnapper, You know you are my hero! Victoria

[Radomir]

"For reasons that are still unclear, and whether by accident or design, Brown's team was included in the detachment that was sent to investigate the second unit..." Want to bet that a contributing factor was that Dr. Brown exerted his powerful and well-reasoned persuasion here, without giving away the purpose of his mission?

The Caroline operative who was the German tank commander: another example that they recruited people of impeccable character as well as innate smarts. Imagine coming up with that plan about the dead man's finger in such a short time, under pressure, when everything had just been shots fired and chaos. The previous plan a complete shambles. And he still didn't seem at all concerned at that point with ditching his men and surrendering, just with ensuring Dr. Brown's safety. What a guy.

Was he the only reason that Townsend Brown was out there jumping out of that Halifax or was he just the first on that list.

I agree, LadyG, that it seems not worth Dr. Brown jumping out into the cold and dark just for this one scientist, esp. if O'Riley/Mr. twigsnapper says "His actual identity doesn't really matter..." The fact he is described as a "high voltage expert" makes sense given Dr. Brown's work. The two would have a great deal to discuss. [How was Dr. Brown's German at the time, or did they count on being able to have a translator or speak in English?] But there had to be even more to his overall mission, I have to suspect, than just this one scientist.

Having just watched that amazing DVD on the "Red Orchestra" I wouldn't have been concerned that the German scientist was going to be some Nazi spy. Likely he was one of those Germans who fundamentally didn't agree with the war, and was seeking a way to pursue his work that didn't involve warmaking, even if that meant having to leave his home country.

"Immediate transfer" of the wounded Dr. Brown can't have been too immediate from their location. Imagine the pain of being transported with a shot through the lung. My hat was already off to Dr. Brown so many times before this...but what grit. We're talking muddy bumpy truck or jeep rides on a stretcher, until you might get to somewhere with an airfield. Days, possibly more than a week of ground transport before reaching a full hospital?

I imagine the kid from Arkansas had no idea how close he was to getting killed -- again -- by O'Riley -- when he came back to the camp without Dr. Brown and with what appeared to be Dr. Brown's finger. Was O'Riley at that point familiar enough with Dr. Brown to realize it couln't actually have been his finger?

At the end of the Chapter, we're left with a series of questions.

For instance, how did O'Riley know the details of how the first firefight went down, if he wasn't there? Did he hear them from the trigger happy kid from Arkansas? Or much later from Dr. Brown?

What was the German behind the desk reaching for to give to Dr. Brown, and for instance if it was a set of documents, was that recovered?

Did O'Riley accompany the wounded Dr. Brown back to England, or did he stay in the field? If he stayed in the field, what did he get up to next?

How much was Josephine told once Dr. Brown arrived in England for what had to have been a long recovery? Was she at least told he was wounded and was healing up? Was she able to communicate with him? Or was she waiting for weeks or months with no word, just having to trust that things were going to be ok?

Which lung was it that was hit--was it the same one that was later removed? This may be the root cause of what we've been debating might have been due to ozone or even cadmium exposure. Could have been a combination of both traumas.

Sounds like both of the men who had been riding with O'Riley and Dr. Brown died in the first firefight. A moment of appreciation for their sacrifice is due. I'm thinking specifically of the "Caroline radioman" who was closer to the core "team" but who never made it back from that mission.

Odds & ends:
Why was it more dangerous for South African crew to be in Germany scouting for technology? Assuming they were White South Africans, anyway?

Paul, those who are unfamiliar with the expression SNAFU may need a bigger clue from you about that military acronym before they get to the end of this chapter, or the last line loses some of its ironic power.

One other minor note, in a paragraph when they first meet Lt. Commander C's party, it's referenced that they were four Americans in the jeep. Did you mean they were perceived as four Americans, even though it eventually came out that O'Riley was a Royal Marine?

Thanks for another great chapter, Paul.

Radomir

[Mark Culpepper]

I think myself that the tank commander was some sort of man too from what little I have learned about him............ You are right Radomir, to be so quick with his wits....... to devise an entirely second salvage plan within what had to be just seconds. I think he absolutely knew about Dr. Brown not having that finger.! I'll bet he managed to get that finger detached from his man without anyone noticine, then made sort of a show of ripping Dr. Browns glove off .... taking out his knife.... what would you think was happening if you were'nt right on top of the action? I'd buy it ! Then he turned back to the Arkansas kid and handed him this finger? Not even a chance of thinking of something else happening. After all, the kid SAW it happen!

And I wonder if it too was a signal to Mr. O'Riley that things couldn't have gone right .... that something was quirky. That is, if he was even allowed to know about the situation.

Or think about this for a fast moment. Perhaps .... Mr. ORiley being new to the operation was INTENTIONALLY stood down so that he WOULDN'T be tempted to follow through with his initial orders ... which were.... if it looks like you are going to get captured..... shoot him. The only way to prevent that was to remove him from that jeep. So did Dr. Brown manage to reach Campaigne mentally through some sort of " inspiration" ( which I am beginning to think he was entirely capable of)

OR WAS CAMPAIGNE PART OF THE CAROLINE GROUP FROM THE START? Something to think about. If so ... I wonder how he could possibly put Dr. Brown so far down on his list of priorities? Unless, is it possible to have any kind of cross agendas in place? Or as someone said once, you can work on behalf of the Caroline Group and never actually realize it? Happened to more than one person in history I truly believe.

And I agree with you Radomir. A person has to understand what SNAFU really means to get a grip on the title. , so many questions. So little time.
Another silly A Paul. Just throw it on top of all of the others. Mark C.

[Trickfox]

Everything has all but been said, and I'm exhausted but want to stay in the loop on this one.

This work is sure to make it on a best seller list Paul.

Trickfox

[grinder]

Paul .... you wrote

"The tank commander who was orchestrating all this planned to return to his own unit. “He was of sufficient rank within the SS,â€

[Gewis]

Was the alternative title, "Beyond All Recognition"?

Gripping stuff. I'm really glad you're writing this, Paul. Before this, all I knew about Dr. Brown was that he'd made some claims and patents, had worked as a researcher for the Navy, and then looked for ways to continue his research. He was an interesting and clever man who'd found a possible key to anti-gravity. Now, well, now he's MUCH more, and much more powerful and credible.

[Elizabeth Helen Drake]

In an earlier chapter Paul wrote ( an account Morgan had told him)

"Folded into the second squad was a scientist who was familiar with such a machine. They took him so that he could identify what they were looking for. However, "cipher machines" were not the only things on this scientist’s "laundry list." Most of these "embedded scientists" were rocketry specialists; others had their background in radar. The push was on to find "things that the Germans had that we didn't…"

This small "raiding party" headed off, with the scientist in tow. He was not a warrior but he was fit and quick. The rest of the team worried as much about getting him hurt as they did about anything else.

The nasty problem was that the second German unit had been warned by the first. So they were actually waiting for this "American cipher expert" and of course the small team ran right into an ambush. The scientist was taken hostage. Three of the soldiers were killed. The fourth man was sent back to his unit, carrying with him a finger severed from the hand of the scientist — with a warning that the scientists would be taken apart “piece by pieceâ€

[flowperson]

Paul..Really good chapter and an excellent synthesis of your information threads. Onward !

Of course the question obviously is... what is it that's so important that forces cooperation across Allies/Nazi boundaries...even in the midst of fierce conflict ?

flow....

[Trickfox]

the question obviously is... what is it that's so important that forces cooperation across Allies/Nazi boundaries...even in the midst of fierce conflict ?

Ahhhh.... now that is an excellent question.

Now I believe we are getting closer to the metaphysical flavor of this whole issue!!!!

Trickfox

[Paul S.]

Some of the questions that have been raised here are really good.

I hope I can come up with half the answers.

Which lung was shot? I'm pretty sure it was the left one.

Which one was removed years later... I think it was the same one.

Note the use of the weasel words, "I think."

--PS

[Paul S.]

the question obviously is... what is it that's so important that forces cooperation across Allies/Nazi boundaries...even in the midst of fierce conflict ?

Ahhhh.... now that is an excellent question.

Now I believe we are getting closer to the metaphysical flavor of this whole issue!!!!

Trickfox

Yeah.

What he said.

--PS