The Lieutenant

Bundesarchiv

Oberleutnant Albert Jäger was still getting to know his new platoon. He had been in staff positions since joining the army in early 1940. He hadn't been in the West for the invasions of that year but had been in Berlin serving in the Ersatzheer¹ in various staff jobs.

He had begun seeking transfer to a combat unit shortly after the fall of France, but he had been told that he was "needed" to help plan a new operation to take place in 1941. Which was, of course, the invasion of the Soviet Union.

Shortly after the invasion he had finally received a posting to a combat unit, as a staff officer. He had joined the 1st Battalion of the 344th Infantry Regiment in the 223rd Infantry Division shortly before its transfer to Army Group North in November of 1941.

The battalion commander had promised him a combat command at some point. Well, a vacancy had opened up a platoon leader's spot in the regiment's 2nd Battalion, which he now filled.

His new company commander, Oberleutnant Ferdinand Busch, had been badly wounded in Poland. He was missing the little finger of his left hand and the left side of his face was badly scarred. An athletic man, he appeared to be very smart, and was popular with the men of the company.

He made Jäger a little nervous.

"This can't be good." Schwertfeger muttered as he saw the company commander and their new platoon leader coming down the trench to the position held by their squad.

Sauer looked up, shook his head, then told Ziegler, "Horst, go back into the dugout and grab my spare pack. Bring it here."

Ziegler hesitated, "Just do it boy." Schwertfeger grunted at the young soldier.

Ziegler made a face then darted back into the dugout.

"Little shit kinda grows on ya, doesn't he?" Schwertfeger said to Sauer, with a grin.

Sauer nodded, "The kid tries awfully hard, he also pays attention. I like that."

Ziegler came back into the trench. He looked over at newly promoted Hauptmann Busch and the new lieutenant, and said to Sauer, "Wonder what that's all about."

Sauer could see that the company commander was pointing out things in no-man's-land and beyond, the two officers were also referring to a map as they did so.

"Nothing good, I'm sure."

Sauer rummaged through the pack until he found what he was looking for, an extra drum magazine for the Soviet PPSh-41 he had "liberated" from a dead Russian sergeant. He handed it to Ziegler.

"Stick that in your bread bag, Horst. It's heavy and I'm already carrying enough stuff to cripple an ox."

Ziegler grinned and did as Sauer told him. Some of the men were starting to call Ziegler "Schatten² as he was constantly with Sauer. The kid had already been on two combat patrols, and had done well, but he stuck to Sauer like, well, a shadow.

"Hey kid, wanna carry some of my shit too?" Schwertfeger asked with a grin.

"Sure Oskar, what do you want me to carry, your ego? Not sure if I'm strong enough to lug that around." Ziegler was learning the give and take of a combat unit.

Schwertfeger gave the kid a look, then grinned and said, "Schlauberger³."

Busch looked at Jäger and asked, "So, the mission is clear to you Oberleutnant?"

"Yes Sir, scout this area," his finger covered an area on the map, "which corresponds roughly to that piece of ground to our left. Then we set up an ambush position."

"Roughly?"

"Uh, sorry Sir. That exact piece of ground." Jäger pointed to the area covered by the map. He realized that while combat units had a certain informality to them, that didn't apply to mission orders.

"Yes, take your platoon out tonight. We're going to start shelling the Russians when you move out. We want you and your boys in place before sunrise. It's going to be cold, but the Russians should be preoccupied with our artillery."

Jäger nodded briskly. Busch could see that the man's hands were shaking, he didn't blame him.

"Now your platoon is going to just wait, the Russians have left this area unoccupied, we think because they're thinning the line to provide more troops at the point of attack. We're also expecting them to launch their attack shortly after sunrise tomorrow."

"So we'll be on their flank when they go forward?" Jäger had a thoughtful look on his face. "I like it."

Busch shook his head, "I'll make sure that regiment knows that you approve of their plan, Albert. But yes, I like it too. The Reds will leap out of their trenches, start hollering their 'Oorah' and next thing you know, MG 34s to their rear and to their front. We'll kill a lot of Russians."

Unterfeldwebel Bernd Groß looked at his squad, "So that's it boys. We just sneak across no-man's-land while the cannon cockers blast the shit out of the Russian lines. Set ourselves up in the middle of the Red Army, hoping of course, that no one notices, then shoot the bastards in the back when they start attacking. Questions?"

No one said a word. Then Ziegler spoke up, "It seems a little risky, Herr Unterfeldwebel."

"Why yes, just a little." Groß answered with a wry grin.

"Il nous faut de l'audace, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace." Sauer intoned quietly, but loud enough that the squad heard it clearly.

Groß shook his head and looked at Sauer, "You're quoting Frederick the Great now?"

Before Sauer could speak, Ziegler said, "Actually Georges Danton said that, it's French, 'We must dare, and dare again, and go on daring.' He said that during the French Revolution."

The entire squad looked at Ziegler, Schwertfeger then said, "I told you the kid was smart."

The entire 2nd Battalion would be involved in countering the suspected Soviet attack. No one stopped to think what would happen to Jäger's platoon if the Russian attack didn't materialize. 

¹ Replacement Army, it's role was to (as the name suggests) provide replacements to the combat units of the army.

² Shadow

³ Smart-aleck.