Free Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response by Aaron J. Klein Page A

deadline’s elasticity had been stretched to the fullest.
    A wave of uncertainty was rising over the hundreds of radio and television crews broadcasting from the Olympic Village. The German press officials were slow to release new information, and when they did, it was often one bit at a time. Rumors circulated in the press pool. Around the world viewers hunkered in front of their TVs, watching and waiting for the outcome.
             
    Genscher, Merck, Schreiber, and Troeger arrived at the blue door at 2050 hours . They told Issa they had organized a four-man volunteer aircrew to fly the helicopters to Fürstenfeldbruck airfield, where a Cairo-bound plane was waiting on the runway. The German team asked Issa for his word that the flight crew would not be taken hostage or harmed in any way. Issa promised to respect their neutrality. The officials then explained that the terrorists and their hostages would have to walk two hundred yards to the helicopter landing pad. Issa agreed, but first insisted on inspecting the route. He told his men to kill the Israelis if he did not return within six minutes. His accomplices nodded, all too aware that the Germans might be on the verge of springing a trap.
    Issa left Apartment 1 with Schreiber, Troeger, and several police commanders. They walked down the stairs to the underground parking lot at 31 Connollystrasse, on their way to the improvised landing pad behind administration building G -1. A second Palestinian gunman walked behind the group, his weapon aimed at their backs.
    As soon as he entered the parking lot, Issa saw shadows darting between the concrete pillars. He vetoed the two-hundred-yard walk. They would be too exposed on the way to the landing pad. The group returned to Apartment 1. The shadows in the darkness, police gunmen, had missed their opportunity. Issa now demanded that a bus take them to the waiting helicopters.
    The Germans searched for an appropriate bus. They found a willing driver and a minibus with sixteen seats. Issa took one look and refused to board. He wanted a full-sized bus. Schreiber’s men searched the Olympic Village till they found a driver willing to take the captors and hostages to the landing pad. Slightly after 2200 hours the bus’s engine was humming in the underground parking lot of 31 Connollystrasse. At 2205, the first terrorist went down the stairs and opened the door leading to the garage, AK -47 in hand. He combed the area with his eyes, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Satisfied, he signaled to the others. The terrorists pushed the hostages out of the building in groups of three. The Israelis were blindfolded and bound to each other at the waist, their hands tied in front of them, as they were shoved onto the bus. The tension was escalating. The terrorists, suspicious of even the slightest movement, waved their weapons in the air, stabbing at the threatening darkness that surrounded them.
    The bus rolled slowly toward the landing pad, taking several minutes to make the two-hundred-yard journey. Two Bell helicopters were waiting, their flight crews in place. Inspecting them with a high-powered flashlight, Issa was first off the bus. He checked the two aircraft for anything out of the ordinary and then signaled the other terrorists. Four hostages were taken off the bus: Berger, Friedman, Halfin, and Springer. They were loaded onto the back bench of the first helicopter. Tony, the second in command, rode with this group, along with three of his men. Issa, in charge of the second helicopter, boarded with the three remaining terrorists and the five other hostages.
    Shmuel Lalkin, head of the Israeli delegation, stood on the balcony of the administration building, watching as the hostages were herded into the helicopters. “The helplessness left us with a grave feeling,” he later said in anguish. The Israelis were completely vulnerable, like lambs to the slaughter.
    Zamir and Cohen stood next to Lalkin. “There was a