Preparing for the End

(Source)

"They can't be serious, Herr Major. Boys, they're just boys!" Leutnant Manfred Sauer couldn't believe his eyes. What was left of Kampfgruppe (mot) von Lüttwitz was now being reformed as the 5th Company, II Battalion, 294th Grenadier Regiment of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division.

Although that division was still mostly at the front, it was short of troops. So Jürgen von Lüttwitz found himself as a company commander once more, though a high ranking one as a Major. He and his old comrade Sauer were watching as their replacements detrained. Mostly 16 and 17 year olds, there were a few men in their 20s, the NCOs mostly. Some of the older men moved slowly, as if still recovering from wounds.

"Look on the bright side Manfred, we're being re-equipped as a grenadier company, lots of automatic weapons. And, as they're shipping the replacements here, we're not bound for the East. At least I don't think so."

Sauer shook his head, "Well, that's something I guess. I've had my fill of Russia."

Sauer thought to himself that if by some miracle he survived this war, he would go and live someplace warm, Italy maybe, or Spain. Truth be told, he'd had his fill of ice and snow. As he watched the sergeants form their men up, he felt another chill as the wind whipped more of the freshly fallen snow across the rail platform. None of the buildings were more than shells, but at least you could stand close to a wall and be somewhat shielded from the wind.

He nodded to Gefreiter Beppo Sommerfeld, the man acting as his company clerk, who had accompanied him and the Major to the station.

Sommerfeld bellowed out, mostly to impress the new kids, "Horst, show the new boys to our bivouac! I'm sure the Major will be briefing the new officers and the new lads look hungry. At least we have a field kitchen again, the rations may be crap, but there's enough to fill your bellies!" Gefreiter Horst Klugmann, company messenger, grinned as he jogged over to the men lined up by the platform.

"All right ladies! Listen up! We're marching down to our bivouac by the river. It's uncomfortable, it's ugly, and there aren't any amenities, but on the other hand, it's so uninteresting as to not attract Jabos! Let's march!" With a long blast of his whistle, Klugmann led the new men as they stepped off in formation.

"The new lads look rather keen, Herr Leutnant." Sommerfeld observed.

"Of course they are, Beppo. They're too young to know any better. At least they know how to march. We'll have to wait to see if they can fight." Sauer shook his head as he said that.

"I doubt the Amis will make us wait long, Herr Leutnant."

(Source)

The company First Sergeant, 1st Sgt. Morton Saeger, had come up to the line in the Captain's jeep when he had heard that 2nd Platoon had once again taken losses.

"Jeez Sir, it seems like the 2nd always manages to sniff out the Krauts."

"Yeah Mort, it kinda sucks. We're losing men at a steady dribble. Thanks for coming up to take Jennings and Dixon back, we need to move on as soon as that tank driver gets patched up enough to get going. Doc says he's lucky to be alive." 2nd Lt. Stephen Hernandez still felt funny being called 'Sir' by a senior man like Saeger, he'd only been an officer for maybe a week now and Saeger had outranked him before his field commission.

"So L.T., you've got what, thirty-six guys now? That enough?" Saeger would try to get replacements up, Hernandez knew that, but the other platoons had taken losses as well. Replacements were hard to come by at the moment.

"We'll be okay as long as we don't lose any more. Having the tanks helps, I'd hate to be pushing forward on foot at the moment."

Both men looked at the sky, the snow was coming down steadily, the roads would soon be impassable to anything with wheels. All indications pointed to the Germans being finished here in the Ardennes. By tomorrow Charlie Company would be pushing into Germany again.

That is, if the snow ever let up.

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