STetc ch 37 - Praediger, Otranto Barrage

[Michael Bailey]

"Ach, der Praediger." A chuckle plus two or three puffs of pipe smoke. "Ustashe operative, cocaine enthusiast..."
"That's the kiddie."

By the pipe smoke, we know it's Hauffnitz acknowledging his familiarity with Praediger.

Praediger is German for "preacher."

I remember a scene, one of those quotable/memorable passages, from earlier in the book, with Hicks and Praediger in Praediger's office, Praediger doing mass quantities of the stuff and complaining about Bruno, something about how it infuriates him to spend time pursuing such an idiot, whereupon Hicks (before joining him in a line or two, iirc) gently wonders if Bruno is indeed such an idiot, if he keeps eluding Praediger?



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"That's the kiddie." ??? Kiddie, is like, affectionate & condescending - so maybe we are supposed to think of Praediger as a likeable blunderer - in Hogan's Heroes he'd be more of an almost-likeable "Colonel Klink" than a "Major Hochstetter" (who frankly kind of scared me, although Hogan got round him easily.)



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Hauffnitz more back story
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"Spent my time in the Mediterranean Theater bottled up in the Adriatic behind the Otranto Barrage..."


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Which was the brainchild of that Winston Churchill...

    https://russellphillips.uk/wwi-otranto-barrage/