Yeah I love that contrast. You really get a sense of how much closer they grow post Hatchet. I LOVE.
Also! Biggles goal, from Hatchet:
‘If I can make von Stalhein see that we bear no grudge against him for what has happened in the past I shall be satisfied.
Not only is he not thinking about all the hardships EvS has caused them. No, he actually wants Erich to know that there's no grudge on Biggles' end. It ties in with the idea he expresses several times throughout the books which is that his (Biggles') actions really hurt von Stalhein and even though he doesn't actually regret his actions because they were necessary he wishes it didn't come down to wounding Erich.
Takes Charge: the fault may not be entirely his. An old wound may irritate him.
Follows On: He’s never got over the fact that through us Germany lost the first war. ... The shock of that knocked him off the rails, and he’s never got on them again.
‘He hates the sight of you, and you know it.’ ‘He has no reason to regard me with affection.’
etc.
Biggles is just so aware that he has "so often been the cause of" Erich's failure. As Fritz puts it: your efficiency, which he admired and which has now been the cause of his downfall
no subject
Also! Biggles goal, from Hatchet:
‘If I can make von Stalhein see that we bear no grudge against him for what has happened in the past I shall be satisfied.
Not only is he not thinking about all the hardships EvS has caused them. No, he actually wants Erich to know that there's no grudge on Biggles' end. It ties in with the idea he expresses several times throughout the books which is that his (Biggles') actions really hurt von Stalhein and even though he doesn't actually regret his actions because they were necessary he wishes it didn't come down to wounding Erich.
Takes Charge:
the fault may not be entirely his. An old wound may irritate him.
Follows On:
He’s never got over the fact that through us Germany lost the first war. ... The shock of that knocked him off the rails, and he’s never got on them again.
‘He hates the sight of you, and you know it.’
‘He has no reason to regard me with affection.’
etc.
Biggles is just so aware that he has "so often been the cause of" Erich's failure.
As Fritz puts it:
your efficiency, which he admired and which has now been the cause of his downfall
♥♥♥