BRITISH COMICS
THE NAMELESS NAZI
Taken from The
Skipper issue: 494
THE INVISIBLE BARRIER THAT
ZEPPELINS CAN’T PASS
Calling
Calling
From the top of the ice-covered
hillock the group of men watched the mighty airship disappearing in the
distance.
It was a Zeppelin, one of the
biggest ever built in
They could imagine the scenes of
panic in the gondolas which carried the crew. Some mysterious force had stopped
the eight motors which had driven the Zeppelin across the
“How long will they feel the
effects of your magnetic ray?” shouted one of the group, a thick-set man, whose
red tunic under his furs revealed him as a corporal in the North-West Mounted
Police.
“Not much further, Hayes!” bellowed
back a taller, slimmer, member of the party. “So far our apparatus has only a
limited range. It is only an experimental set. Very soon their ignition
troubles will cease, and they’ll be able to manoeuvre once more.” “But not back
in this direction?” queried Corporal Hayes.
“No, not within the radius of our
magnetic ray. They’ll have to make camp much father from us than before. I’m
afraid it is going to upset the plans of the Nameless Nazi quite a lot!”
Everyone chuckled. It was difficult
to credit that here in the far north of
The gaunt, haggard, unshaven figure
on Corporal Hayes’ right was the reason for the Mountie’s presence. Miles
Cooper was the gaunt man’s name, and he had been a ne’er-do-well living at
This had brought Corporal Hayes on
his track. Cooper had bolted northwards, and in time had sought refuge on the
Before they could recover from
their surprise at finding such a thing on Canadian territory they had both been
seized by Eskimos, who were led by German Storm Troopers, and had been dragged
before the Nameless Nazi.
The gigantic Nazi was seven feet
tall, and had decked himself in black armour in order to impress the Eskimos
and get their aid. On his chest he wore a huge swastika, and hidden behind this
was a loudspeaker.
The Mountie had escaped, and had
fled farther up the peninsula, where he had been met by unknown Britons and led
into a well defended camp, where a group of scientists were engaged on
important experiments. They had told him this was the site of the Magnetic
Pole, and that they were trying to tap the magnetic field in order to use it as
a defence against the German bombers over
They had been working there for
some months before the German Zeppelin had come over from
A gas attack on the camp had been
successfully defeated, and now for the first time they had succeeded in giving
their magnetic ray a practical trial. The Zeppelin had come over the camp and
dropped men with parachutes. These had either been killed or wounded by the
accurate fire of the defenders, and the airship had been put out of action.
The howling north wind froze the
faces of the men who watched from the hillock, but they remained in the same
position until John Lancaster, the leader of the scientists, gave a cry. He had
been watching through powerful glasses. “Now they are out of range of our ray!
Their motors are working again.”
A few minutes later they saw the
Zeppelin turn in a wide circle and head back. John Lancaster chuckled in grim
amusement. “The fools! Directly they run into our ray they will be stopped
again. Don’t they understand that? Don’t they know why they’ve been disabled?”
Evidently the Nameless Nazi was of
the pig-headed type that could not take a hint. He ordered the airship to be
taken back on its original route. The consequence was that a few minutes later
it stopped again, and drifted with the wind once more. The men on the hilltop
turned away. It was too cold to watch the further adventures of the runaway
Zeppelin. Sooner or later the Nameless Nazi would realise he had to keep
outside a certain range. He would have to move his camp, but, like all Germans,
he was too stubborn to admit this at first.
The long, low huts which formed the
workshops and quarters of John Lancaster, Dave Godden, Les Ormes, and the rest
were now overcrowded with German prisoners, most of whom were wounded. To feed
and look after them would be a big strain on the resources of the little
garrison. It was Corporal Hayes who suggested taking them into the old German
camp, where they would be looked after by their comrades.
It seemed a crazy idea, until John
Lancaster remembered that the Nazis would be following the airship, and that he
had a number of Eskimos who would help him. In the end he decided to do this,
and the Eskimos were told to lend their sledges for the occasion. They were a
surly crew who had drifted into Magnetic Camp from the north, but when they
heard they would receive a reward if they helped the Britons they agreed to
co-operate.
The wounded were therefore loaded
on to the sledges, and everyone accompanied them across the flat, wind-blown
expanse of ice to the top of the cliff, which formed one of the most imposing
parts of their defences. By means of ropes and a good deal of hard work the
sledges were lowered to the bottom. The huskies remained at the top. It was
decided to haul the sledges through the Ice Maze by hand.
The Ice Maze was an astonishing
creation of John Lancaster’s. It was both baffling and simple. At that low
temperature the ice walls never melted, and no one, not in the secret could
hope to pass through the endless twisting passages. Corporal Hayes had taken
the trouble to memorise the route, and now he was able to take the lead, rifle
in hand. At last he emerged on the frozen swamp which bordered the camp where
Miles Cooper and he had once been prisoners. Bidding the others to keep well
back out of sight, he crept forward to see if the coast was clear.
Too well he remembered the group of
igloos where he had first seen the Nameless Nazi. The great pole with the Nazi
flag at the top was still standing. To those Germans it had become a part of
the Fatherland. A dog rushed out and barked at him furiously, but that was the
only living thing he saw. The Nazis and their Eskimo friends had followed the
Zeppelin south, in readiness to grab the numerous ropes that would be dropped
when the Nameless Nazi admitted defeat and decided to anchor.
Back went the Mountie and announced
that everything was safe. The procession of sledges pushed by Eskimos emerged
from the Ice Maze. The Eskimos were no longer sullen. They were too surprised
and awed for that. The Ice Maze had seemed like a new world to them. Hayes had
the wounded men transferred to some of the bigger igloos. John Lancaster and he
then searched the camp from end to end. The Germans had certainly come well
provided with war-like appliances. Besides stores of rifles, machine-guns, and
ammunition of all sizes, there were bombs and a number of gas-balloons which
had made the previous night at Magnetic Camp a memorable one. There were also
heaps of supplies to help them through the winter, and a magnificent radio set
which made John Lancaster’s eyes sparkle.
“That’s the happiest sight I’ve
seen for a long time,” he cried. “Now we can get in touch with
“It’s from the Nazi headquarters,
warning our friend the Nameless Nazi to waste no time over us, but to get what
he was sent to get and then return home! I’m afraid they’d feel sore if they
saw him now.”
As Les Ormes commenced to tune-in
for
Suddenly he stopped and flattened
himself to the ground. The igloo beside the wireless mast was surrounded by
Nazis in uniform! They must have returned unnoticed by the others, who were too
interested in Les Ormes’ effort to get in touch with
Corporal Hayes saw there were about
twenty Germans in all. The rest were dealing with the Zeppelin at its new
mooring place. His hands clenched when he realised they were far too many for
him. Then he had an idea. Something must be done to take their attention off
the men in the igloo, and he had that something to hand.
Swiftly he took out a match,
shielded it with his hands, and lit the fuse he had previously arranged. Then
he hurriedly crawled to one side and lay face down in the snow, with the rifle
cuddled to his cheek.
Aboard the Zeppelin
The Nameless Nazi was satisfied
with the position of his men. Boldly he approached the door of the igloo, and
his mighty voice boomed out above the roar of the wind. That voice of his was
not a natural one. It always sounded through the loudspeaker hidden on his
chest.
“Swinehounds of Englishmen, put up
your hands and come out!” he bellowed. The splutter of the power-spark ceased.
The Nameless Nazi lifted his huge hand. “Here I have a hand grenade!” he
shouted. “I give you three seconds to come out with your arms above your heads,
otherwise I throw this inside.”
Corporal Hayes breathed hard. The
bomb was for the moment outlined against the white sky. The Mountie had always
been a good shot, but this was a difficult one even for him. He took quick aim
and fired. Crack! Across the width of the Nazi camp there was a flash and a
bang. The grenade had been exploded in the hand of the Nameless Nazi. The man
was armoured with metallic sheathing which protected him from bullets and
shrapnel, but nothing could save his hand from the explosive force of the bomb.
A howl of pain bellowed out through the loudspeaker, and the gigantic figure
reeled to and fro, snorting and gurgling with agony. Men rushed to him to
steady him, and just then the fuse in the ammunition dump burned down.
Boo-oo-ooom! Up went the igloo and everything in it. Pieces of ice and masses
of snow came down on Corporal Hayes and almost buried him.
That completed the discomfiture of
the Nazis. Turning about in dismay, they omitted to watch John Lancaster and
the others in the igloo which they were surrounding. The small party of Britons
and their Eskimo allies took their opportunity to burst out from within, firing
as they came. Germans fell on all sides. The Nameless Nazi must have been hit
by some of the bullets, but they did not harm him. Aided by two of his men, he
fled to the south, towards his main force of troops and Eskimos.
Corporal Hayes shook himself clear
of the snow and reached the others. They were not clear about what had happened
until he told them, and when they saw a good deal of blood on the snow where
the Nameless Nazi had stood, they knew the huge Nazi had lost most of his hand.
“That’ll keep him quiet for a time!” growled the Mountie. “Did you get your
message through, Ormes?” “No, I had only just got a reply. I managed to send
the call sign and to give our name and position, then the interruption came. .
. . Do you think I could go back and finish?” The Mountie glanced to the south.
The Nazis needed every available man to moor the Zeppelin and to deal with
their injured leader. There could be no attack on the handful of Britons yet.
“Go ahead!” he said. Les Ormes
rushed into the igloo, and a few moments later they heard him shout with
dismay. When he came out it was to tell them he could do nothing, as a chance
bullet had bedded itself in one of the condensers. The set was out of action,
and it would take too long to repair. There was nothing they could do except
return to Magnetic Camp, but they had the satisfaction of knowing they had
seriously wounded the Nameless Nazi and done a good deal of damage in the camp.
As John Lancaster said, it would prove to the Eskimos that the Nameless Nazi
was by no means invulnerable. That might have important results in the future.
Hayes lagged behind. A blinding
snowstorm was coming up, and under cover of that he wanted to see how the Nazis
were taking their recent setbacks. Accordingly, he arranged to remain behind,
and to follow the others later on. Leaving the igloos behind him, he crept
through the drifting snow towards the heaving, straining mob which hung on to
the unwieldy airship. In that wind it was no easy business holding the airship
down. There were no mooring pins driven into the ground at this point, and new
ones had to be put in. There were times when the watching Corporal thought the
whole mass of Nazis and Eskimos would be lifted into the air. He could not help
admiring the Nameless Nazi. Although the man’s hand was terribly mangled, and
he was losing a lot of blood in spite of the heavy bandages wrapped around him,
he insisted upon directing the efforts of the landing party.
His mighty bellow sounded above the
general confusion, and it was undoubtedly due to him that the Eskimos did not
give up the struggle and step back from the ropes. Now and again one end of the
Zeppelin would rise, and a number of men would be lifted clear of the ground.
When this happened there was always a panic, and the Eskimos would shout in
terror. It was always the Nameless Nazi who calmed them down, and drove them
back to their task when their feet touched ground again. There was one dangling
rope ladder which particularly fascinated Corporal Hayes. Nobody was hanging on
to it, though he had seen the Nameless Nazi point towards it several times. The
Mountie did not want to see the airship safely moored, but if there was a
chance of blowing up this giant of the air, and so cutting the Nazis off from
Then he raced up the ladder as
swiftly as any sailor could have done. He had never climbed a ladder so quickly
before in all his life. He had tumbled over the top and fallen face down inside
one of the gondolas before he had properly weighed up the consequences of his
rash move. Down below the Nameless Nazi was still bellowing wrathfully for
everyone to make one final effort. Neither he nor the others had noticed the
solitary figure get aboard. Corporal Hayes waited a while, then rose to a
sitting position. He looked about him curiously, for it was the first time he
had ever been inside a Zeppelin. The gondola was about thirty feet long, and
perhaps ten wide. It contained two motors and a good many elaborate controls.
There were seats on either side. It was obviously merely one of the control
cabins. A ladder of some light metal led to an open hatch in the roof, and
beyond this the Mountie could see a long, low corridor or passage. He guessed
this ran the length of the airship and linked up the various gondolas. He had
heard airmen refer to it as the “catwalk,” and he had no doubt that when the
Zeppelin was pitching in a storm it would need a man with climbing abilities of
a cat to pass along it.
A light handrail on one side only
of a single plank enabled him to balance himself as he made his way to the next
gondola. This was more interesting, for it was apparently part of the living
quarters. It was something like the accommodation on a small ship. In these
crowded quarters the Nazis had travelled all the way to the
As they sorted out the bandages
their legs were within four feet of the hidden Mountie. A slight tickle in his
nostrils warned him he was going to sneeze, but he checked the impulse with a
mighty effort, finally stifling it before it had begun. Beads of sweat came out
on his forehead. This was too much of a good thing. The two Germans finished
making their selection and closed the metal cupboard. Then as they turned, one
of them dropped a rolled bandage in cellophane covering. It rolled under the
recess of the desk. It all happened so quickly that Corporal Hayes scarcely
realised it until the head and shoulders of a German protruded under the desk,
and a startled face almost touched his own. “Ach!” exclaimed the Nazi, and
jumped back as though he had been stung, tugging at the revolver in his
holster.
The Mountie had not a moment to
lose. If he had opened fire from under the desk he could have killed them both,
but he would also have given away the fact that he was aboard the Zeppelin. So
he came out from under cover with a crawling scramble which hurled him against
the legs of the nearest man. One sweep of his powerful arms brought the man
down, and a swinging blow from a clubbed automatic put that particular Nazi out
of commission. The second German backed into a corner and tugged at his
revolver. In desperation Corporal Hayes hurled the gun which he had used to
club the other Nazi, and followed it up with a panther-like leap. His ruse
worked. The German had not time to draw his firearm. Instead, he clinched, and
once they were locked in grips the Canadian knew he had a good chance of
winning through. Never yet had he encountered anyone who could master him in a
rough and tumble.
Adrift in the Sky
The Nazi was tough, about
twenty-five years of age, and fully as heavy as the Mountie. For a few moments
they strained at each other whilst still standing, arms locked, legs entwined.
Then came the inevitable crash as both of them went over, still gripping one to
the other. Over and over on the floor they rolled, and again the German made
the mistake of trying to draw his gun. Doubtless he knew that one shot from
that would bring the entire crew of the Zeppelin to his aid. His preoccupation
with the gun prevented him noticing Hayes’ quick change of holds. The Corporal
got him by the throat, knelt on the arm which was reaching for the gun, and
squeezed with all his strength. The German’s eyes rolled wildly, and hoarse,
choking noises came between his parted lips.
The airship began to pitch and roll
alarmingly, and for a few moments the Mountie thought they were causing this by
the violence of their struggle. Then he realised the cause was more serious.
There was a great deal of shouting and bellowing. The Nameless Nazi could be
heard raising his voice angrily. Something had gone wrong. Then the floor
tilted up at an angle of forty-five degrees, and both the Mountie and his
opponent were sent rolling over and over to the farther end of the cabin, where
their hold on each other was broken, and they lay gasping side by side. The
Zeppelin shuddered, then seemed to rise. Startled exclamations came from the
Nazi, who made no further attempt to grapple with Hayes, though he fingered his
sore throat ruefully.
Corporal Hayes gripped the side of
the desk, which was a fixture, and hauled himself to one of the windows. When
he looked out he saw the ground receding rapidly. The great airship had broken
away! The German had realised this, and his agitation was because of it.
Straining his neck, the Mountie saw that half a dozen uniformed figures dangled
from one of the mooring ropes. There had been a calamity. No doubt the Eskimos
were to blame, or an extra strong gust of wind had ripped out the new mooring
pins and caused the Zeppelin to rise suddenly. Everyone had let go except these
half-dozen men, and they released their hold they would be dashed to death on
the frozen ground below. A growl of horror from Hayes’ side told him the German
was also looking out of the window. Their eyes met, and Hayes licked his lips
as he nodded towards the men from the swinging rope. “We ought to help those
guys!” he said. He did not know why he said that. After all, they were his
enemies, and in war time the bigger the number of the enemy who got killed the
better, for the nation. Corporal Hayes would cheerfully have opened fire on a
group of Nazi with a machine-gun, and have mowed them down, but somehow he did
not like seeing those helpless men dangling over space.
The Nazi evidently understood.
“Ja!” he grunted, and pointed to the ladder. Their recent fight was forgotten.
They scrambled up the ladder, leaving the second German unconscious in the
cabin. By this time the Zeppelin was on even keel, and drifting southwards with
the wind at a great rate. Hayes could not help admiring the way the German
negotiated the cat-walk, without once touching the handrail. The Mountie made
good use of the rail to steady himself.
They descended by a ladder into one
of the end gondolas. The German had noticed that the rope with his comrades on
the end was attached to this gondola. The Mountie found him opening a hatch in
the floor. Evidently this was for dropping bombs, but at the moment it was the
only way of reaching the doomed men. When Hayes peered over the German’s
shoulder he saw that only five men now remained on the swaying rope. One had
already dropped to his death. In that temperature their fingers and bodies
would rapidly become numbed through and through. It was only a matter of
moments before they would all fall. The German shouted something, and
despairing glances were flung in their direction. Corporal Hayes saw they were
too weak to climb up unaided. Seeing a coil of rope nearby, he made one end
fast to the base of a bomb-dropping apparatus, and made a noose on the other.
The wind whisked the rope backwards as he lowered it, but as the rope with the
five Nazi was swaying in the same direction, it was not impossible to get it
near the topmost man. He saw the noose dangling near him, made a despairing
grab for it, and got one arm and shoulder inside the noose. That broke his hold
on the other rope, and the next moment he was hanging from the noose, swinging
like a human pendulum.
“Heave!” roared Hayes to his Nazi
companion, and they both heaved so mightily on the rope that they got the
German up through the hatch in almost less time than it takes to tell. No
sooner was the man over the edge than the Mountie dragged off the noosed rope
and angled for the next of the hanging victims. This time he managed to get the
noose under one of the dangling legs of the suspended man. The Nazi in the
gondola shouted for his friend to release his hold, and they hauled him up in
an inverted position, his head swinging wildly in the air. It must have been a
relief to him when finally he was dragged on to the cabin floor. Three men were
still holdi8ng on grimly, but one suddenly gave a despairing shriek and
dropped. His numbed fingers had lost their grip. They watched him turn over and
over until he finally landed on the white expanse far below. He must have been
killed instantly, for he had dropped over a thousand feet. The Nazis from the
camp, together with their Eskimo friends, were running to try and keep up with
the Zeppelin. Once, when the airship dipped in some down current, frantic
efforts were made to grab one of the ropes. But the dirigible rose again before
this could be done. One of the two rescued men seemed fit to give a hand with
the rescue of the remaining pair, and Hayes signed for him to stand by in
readiness to heave when he had dangled the noosed rope close enough for both
the others to get a grip on it. Utterly unable to help themselves, the two
suspended Germans were a dead weight. It was a heavy load for three men to haul
upwards, but somehow they managed it, and in spite of the intense cold the
sweat ran down the faces of the men in the cabin. At last Hayes was able to get
a grip on the collar of one of the luckless men, and heaved him to safety. The
others seized the remaining fellow, and he lay groaning on the cabin floor, one
side of his face badly skinned and bleeding where it had rubbed against the
rope. For a time the newly rescued Germans could do nothing but pant and gasp
for breath, but presently one of them began to talk volubly, and the others
seemed to agree with him. They looked earnestly at Corporal Hayes.
“Shall we tie you up, or will you
help us get the ship under control?” one of them asked Hayes in fair English.
Corporal Hayes jumped back and drew his automatic. “Not so much of the
tying-up! If I wanted to do so I could pitch the lot of you down there again .
. . Cut out that stuff, and I’ll help you. I don’t want to drift into a
mountain any more than you do!” They scowled, then nodded. The English-speaking
man said:- “We must get the motors started in order to turn against the wind.
To another gondola we must go, ja!”
The Mountie tailed along behind them.
This was a position he had never reckoned on occupying. He had come aboard the
Zeppelin with the hope of destroying it, and here he was, aiding a few of the
crew to save the craft from disaster. There was no more than two motors in
either gondola, and this meant dividing the party into two, for the airship
could not make sufficient speed to beat the wind unless four of her power
plants were running. They were heavy oil engines of the Diesel type, and the
Mountie was no mechanic. He could handle a dog team as well as anyone, but not
thousand horse-power motors. He could be of little help except in swinging the
starter. First one motor spluttered into life and then another. Finally all
four were roaring, and someone ran to the control cabin from which the craft
was steered and navigated. Corporal Hayes drifted from one cabin to another.
The Nazis were now too much occupied to worry about him. They knew that if they
drifted too far southwards, into
The man whom the Mountie almost
strangled shouted for the Corporal to take hold of a certain wheel, and pointed
ahead, indicating that the ship was to be held on that course. He wanted to get
aft to one of the other gondolas, so for some minutes it was Hayes who steered
and controlled the mighty dirigible. He could see that they were making very
little headway. The wind was dead against them now they had turned, and blew at
about forty miles an hour. Against that they were making little more than a
walking pace. The Germans would have to get some of the other motors started if
they were ever to navigate back to where the Nameless Nazi awaited them.
Gradually the crowd of dark specks
which Hayes knew to be Nazis and Eskimos came into view once more. Dimly in the
farther distance were the ice ramparts of Magnetic Camp. Corporal Hayes
wondered if his friends were watching the antics of the Zeppelin through their
field-glasses. In any case, they would never guess that he was aboard it!
Somehow the Germans had got a fifth motor to splutter into action. The airship
was now forging ahead somewhat faster, and the Nazi returned to take over the
controls that would take the Zeppelin down several hundred feet. It was going to
be a ticklish business with such a small crew. Even now there was a good chance
that the Zeppelin and everyone aboard it would be completely destroyed.
© D. C. Thomson & Co Ltd
Vic Whittle 2007
