Good News, Bad News

(Screen Capture from Film)

The last of the German wounded  had been evacuated to the rear. 1Lt Paddock was looking over the scene and wondered what to do about the dead. There were so many. He kept glancing over at the dead German lieutenant, his body still sitting against the tree on the spot where he had ended his own life. What makes a man want to kill himself? Paddock wondered. Was it that he felt he had failed his men, most of whom were still lying where they had fallen, killed by American artillery, in the woods to the southeast of the German city of Aachen. They had not seen a single American soldier before they had died. Just the crash and bang of artillery rounds, reaching down, so it seemed, from the heavens to strike them all dead. Perhaps the man feared the cost of failure? Seeking a soldier's death like in old Roman times.

Other than the two men that had surrendered on the edge of the forest, and the distraught radioman who had watched his commanding officer blow his own brains out, only four other men had survived the short barrage. Eleven men had not been killed outright by the shelling but had been wounded, three lived only a short time after being hit, Doc Milbury had managed to patch four of the wounded up so that they could be moved back to the battalion aid station. Despite his best efforts, four had died of their wounds, the detritus of Doc Milbury's medical efforts still lay strewn about their torn bodies.

Some of the men had built small fires and were heating water to make coffee. The platoon had advanced past the gully with its dead men in order to put some separation between the living and the deceased. Some of the younger men kept looking in that direction, and up into the shattered trees, as if the same unseen menace would strike them down as well. Their sergeants managed to distract them by getting them to focus on the task at hand.

"Time is short fellas, brew your coffee, smoke 'em if you got 'em. We'll be moving out soon."

A messenger from Captain Josephson had caught up to the platoon before they had moved on to their next objective, a small stream winding through a shallow valley some 500 yards deeper into the forest.

"Sir, Captain says to hold up," the runner was panting, acting as if he'd run the whole way to deliver the message, "Your objective remains the same, but the whole company is moving up to join you. Something's going on, I don't know what." Pvt Winston Hillsbury bent over with his hands on his knees. He had run the entire way.

"The captain doesn't know what's going on? Or is that your personal observation Private?" SSgt Graves looked at the panting messenger, he wasn't sure if he liked privates chiming in with their own thoughts.

"Nah , Sarge, not the Cap'n. There's a lot of hubbub back at the CP, the battalion CO was there earlier and when he left, the Cap'n was hopping mad. Just thought you'd like to know before the Cap'n got here, he's in a mood, if ya know what I mean."

"It's okay Private, you can head back to the Cap'n, we'll hold here." Paddock interceded before Graves barked at the messenger again. Everyone was still a little rattled at what they had seen in the gully. Doc Milbury had come by and laid the German lieutenant out and covered him with a German shelter half. Paddock appreciated that, the dead German's face would haunt him for a long time, that much he knew.

"Geez, Herb, ya didn't have to tear the kid's head off."

"Sorry L.T., it's just..."

"I know Herb, I know. At least we're not going to be out here on our own tonight."

As the two men stood, drinking coffee, they didn't speak. They were simply content to await their new orders. After about 15 minutes...

"L.T. there's the Cap'n now."

Sure enough, a grim looking Captain Alphonse Josephson, his radioman, and the First Sergeant were paused on the edge of the gully on 2nd Platoon's side, Paddock could see the captain shake his head as he surveyed the scene, saw him say something to 1Sgt Morton Saeger, then continue on to where Paddock and Graves were waiting for them. As they passed through the men, someone offered them coffee, which they all accepted. Miracle of miracles, Captain Josephson actually laughed and slapped his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Pretty nasty scene Nate." Captain Josephson said, then sipped his coffee. "Damn, that's good! SSgt Graves," nodding at that man, "you put the fear of God into young Hillsbury."

"Sorry sir, it's just that..."

"I know, the lad tends to speak his mind. But you should listen when he does, he notices things, it's why I chose him as one of my runners."

"Good to know sir." SSgt Graves nodded at that, then said, "I need to check on the men lieutenant." He knew when to make himself scarce.

"Okay Herb, get them ready, I'm betting we're moving soon." As Paddock spoke, he looked at his commanding officer.

"That's right Nate, we're all moving up to where I was sending you. Plans have changed. Seems that the rest of the division is bogged down in Aachen. The Kraut general surrendered the city, but basically that just means he and his staff threw in the towel. The city center is still holding and division is sending in our regiment to take the last of the city."

"So why are we moving to this stream in the middle of nowhere Sir?"

"Ah, we're not going, 2nd and 3rd Battalions got that job, we need to hold the fort out here in the woods. It's a good news, bad news kind of thing."

"I gather that the good news is that we're not going to be fighting house to house in a bombed out city?" 1Lt Paddock tossed the dregs of his coffee and stowed his canteen cup. "So what's the bad news?"

"We've still not received any winter clothing other than what's on our backs, no shoepacs, no long underwear, scarves, wool caps, that sort of thing. Ammo resupply isn't expected for another couple of days, there won't be any hot chow for a while and..."

"What, there's more?" 1Lt Paddock asked incredulously.

"We won't have any artillery support for a while except for the company's mortars which, as you can see," the captain gestured to the thick canopy of trees overhead, "won't do us a whole lot of good in here. On the bright side..."

"We're not fighting in Aachen." Paddock finished for him.

"Exactly. Now let's get things on the move. Nightfall is in two hours in these woods and I don't want to be stumbling around in the dark at our new position. Your platoon is my reserve, I'll be bivouacking with you guys tonight. Especially if you have any more of that coffee."

"Yessir, coffee we got."

With that the men gathered up their gear and headed deeper into the forest. They weren't very happy with that, but many of them breathed a sigh of relief at avoiding Aachen. Why would the Krauts fight for this forest when they were losing a city? It felt like they'd caught a break for once.

Most of them gave no thought to what came after the city fell. For now they were out here, in the middle of nowhere, doing what soldiers had done since the beginning of time. Following orders.

As they moved off, it started raining.

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