The Stink of Defeat

(Source)

"Hey Duck, you seeing this?" Corporal Melvin "Cat" Katz nudged PFC Woodrow "Duck" Simpson, he thought he saw someone on the Kraut side of the clearing waving something pale in color. Maybe a white flag?

"See what Corp? I didn't see anything."

"Do you see that small stand of birch? Just to the right of that, there! There it is again."

"Okay yeah, I saw it that time. Someone waving a white flag? What, the Krauts wanna quit now?"

For the past few days the Germans had been patrolling very aggressively. Battalion figured they were giving their new guys some front line experience and they were interested in what the Americans were up to. Aachen seemed to be ripe for the picking yet the American lines were thinly held. There was a lot of training going on behind the lines for the assault on the German city, a lot of new recruits were being assimilated while the veterans held the front line. The Germans were, needless to say, curious.

Yesterday a German patrol in platoon strength had advanced out of the tree line at first light, probing the American line. They had blundered into a very alert machine gun position. There were at least seventeen dead Germans in the field to Katz and Simpson's right. One guy had still been alive when his buddies had fallen back. He had screamed for his mother all night.

He had fallen quiet just before daybreak.

The white rag was waved again, so Cpl Katz, born and raised in Austria, shouted out, "Wollen sie sich kapitulieren?"

"What did you ask them?" Duck didn't know much in the way of German, other than "hands up" and "drop your weapon."

"I asked 'em if they wanted to surrender. Maybe I confused them by asking in German. Let's try English. Hey, you guys wanna surrender?"

From across the field they heard, "Ja, ja, surrender, don't shoot, we come out!"

Moments later three wretched looking Germans came out of the trees, one was holding the white rag on the end of the stick, all were unarmed, no other gear apparent, no helmets, and hands raised in the air. All three men looked exhausted.

"Alright, come over, move it! Schnell!¹"

The three men stumbled across the field and into the position which Katz and Simpson were manning, not much more than a deep hole scraped into the ground. While Simpson covered the men with his Garand, Katz had them sit at one end of the position. At that moment Sgt Jack Wilson came up.

"What the Hell ya got here Cat? Prisoners?"

"Yup, they came over all by themselves, voluntarily."

"Search 'em. Duck, if any of 'em twitches, shoot the bastards."

One of the Germans looked in horror at Wilson and spoke, "No sergeant, we want no trouble, we want to surrender. We are losing the war, why die for Hitler?"

"Chatty sumbitch isn't he?" Duck chuckled, keeping his rifle trained on the men.

Sgt Wilson looked the Germans over, they looked defeated. "Take 'em back to the platoon CP. They'll probably go all the way back to battalion, but that's the L.T.'s call."

1Lt Paddock had Katz and Simpson take the Germans back to the company CP, he didn't want his guys away from the platoon any longer than necessary but he'd let the captain decide what to do with the Krauts. On the way back, the English speaking German engaged Katz in conversation.

"Your German is very good, you almost sound Austrian."

"I am Austrian, knock off the chit-chat, I have no use for you Kraut bastards." Cpl Katz spat on the ground as he said that.

"We're not all Nazis you know." The German continued.

"Shut the f**k up, I'm a Jew, you bastards made us flee from our home. F**k Germany and f**k you."

Simpson had never seen Cat so worked up. But at the mention of being Jewish he noted that the German wasn't as chatty as before. In fact one of the other Germans had perked up at the word "Jew." Simpson thought it best to let that go, Cat had probably noticed it as well, he didn't miss much.

"So, you boys don't like Jews do you? Ja, ich bin Jude und stolz darauf.²"

"We are not Nazis, we don't all hate the Jews." The German protested.

"Shut up Kraut, one more word and you get shot, ya know, while escaping. Auf der Flucht erschossen, keine schlechte Idee.³"

The German, understandably, stayed silent for the rest of the trip back to the company CP.

Back at the platoon, Simpson asked Katz, "What was up with that Corporal? I've never seen you so mad before."

"I'm just sick of all this shit Duck. Those Krauts have been fighting for Hitler for years now, the going gets tough and they just up and quit. They'll wind up in some POW camp while we have to keep fighting the ones who won't quit."

"Did you see that one guy when I told 'em I was Jewish. You could almost smell the hate and the fear on him. I'll bet they claim they know nothing about the camps, but they know, the bastards know."

Simpson looked puzzled for a minute before asking, "What camps? What are you talking about?"

Katz looked at his squad mate for a long minute, then he explained about the concentration camps and the murder of his people. It wasn't something that every GI knew, but every Jew in the U.S. Army knew, and wouldn't forget.

"Jesus Cat, I mean Corporal, I really didn't know. Man, I hate those Kraut bastards even more now."

PFC Simpson had the opportunity to see another facet of Nazi Germany the very next day. Once again he was on the line, with Pvt Chris McWhorter this time. He was carrying his Browning Automatic Rifle again instead of the Garand. His B.A.R. had been with the company armorer the day before, it felt good to have the big weapon in hand once more.

"Hey Duck, Krauts!" McWhorter called as he aimed his weapon, "Are they surrendering?" McWhorter seemed surprised.

"Looks that way, more Krauts who want the war to be over." There were five men this time, two of them waving pale colored rags on sticks. "Cover 'em."

The five Germans waited, hearing nothing from the American outpost line, they walked on, waving the rags and shouting, "No shoot! Comrade! No shoot!"

When they were roughly halfway across the field, the distinctive sound of an MG 42 ripped through the stillness.

"Holy shit!" McWhorter exclaimed, "The Krauts are killing their own guys!"

Indeed, the Germans who were crossing the field had been shot down by their own side.

"Man, ain't that something?" Simpson said to McWhorter, "I guess the Krauts have decided that no one else is going to surrender, eh?"

"Wow, I guess not..." McWhorter muttered to himself.

And the war raged on...

¹ Fast!

² Yes, I'm Jewish and proud of it.

³ Shot while escaping, not a bad idea.