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Praetorium Honoris

Friday, September 15, 2023

The Rain

Bundesarchiv
"Hartmann! Tryb! Get that machine gun to the front! A little rain isn't going to kill you!"

Feldwebel Krausse was enjoying himself. The day had dawned hot and dusty, as hot and dusty as the two weeks leading up to today. Krausse was tired of eating dust, tired of feeling as if his brain was cooking inside his skull. This rain, this blessed rain.

He looked to the sky and let the rain wash his face of the dust and grit which seemed to fill every pore. He shook his head, remembering his dog doing something similar when she would run out of the small lake near his home. Of course, his military haircut precluded water spraying from his head as it sprayed from her long hair.

She had been a great dog. His parents had brought her home as a small puppy when they had moved to the countryside. Father no longer was a policeman in the big city, now he was responsible for a small rural county where the only crime ever committed was someone being late with his taxes.

But his dog, he had named her Schatzi,¹ was his boon companion, she was more of a friend to him than any of his human acquaintances. He grew up with her, from the age of seven she had been with him.

She had lived a long and happy life, the day he had received his draft notice to report to the labor corps, to be followed by two years in the army had been the day after his dear Schatzi had died of old age.

His parents were distraught at his having to report for national service, he didn't care. His beloved dog was gone, what did it matter what he did from this day forth?

Now here it was, nine years later, he and his comrades were marching into the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion of all time. So he liked to think.

"Krausse! Halt the platoon, tell the men to prepare rations, we're going to be here a while!"

"Jawohl, Herr Leutnant!"


As the men moved off the road, Krausse got them organized, had the squad leaders take charge as he went with the lieutenant to see the company commander.

"How about this rain, Feldwebel? Feels good after the heat and the dust, ja?"

"Yes Sir, though the dust in my uniform seems to be turning to mud now, it still feels good."

When they arrived at the company CP, the lieutenant said, "Take a break Hermann, be back here in 30 minutes. Go for a walk, enjoy the scenery."

Having been given the liberty to roam, Krausse, of course, found a spot under a tree and sat down. Pulling his notebook and pencil out, he decided to write a letter home.

As his pencil was poised over the paper, he reconsidered. Putting the notebook and pencil away, he just sat there, watching it rain. He let his memories fill his mind ...

He thought about home for a moment, his mother and father, his sister, and his late brother, killed in action in France. He missed them. Then he thought of his old dog Schatzi, God how he missed her.

As a tear slid down his weather-beaten cheek, he stood abruptly and stepped out from under the tree and into the rain. Looking heavenward once more, he let the rain wash his tears away. A moment of weakness he wouldn't let his men see. But he allowed himself to remember, just for a moment.

Then he heard what sounded like thunder, then he realized, the rain had stopped, that was artillery. He sighed, he'd best collect his officer and get back to the men.

For a moment he looked to the sky and whispered, "I miss you, you lovely old dog you."

"Krausse!"

"I'm right here, Herr Leutnant."

"Let's go, sounds like Ivan is trying to make a stand."

"Right Sir, the Panzers take ground, we kill the guys they bypassed."

"No glory for the infantry, eh Feldwebel?"

"No Sir, no glory."

Just blood, he thought.

Eventually the rain would wash that away as well.




¹ Honey, or darling. A diminutive form of the word Schatz.

Author's Note: I felt the need to exercise my imagination, and to perhaps let some painful memories be washed away in the process. No, it didn't work.

36 comments:

  1. A quick trip back six months their time, to straighten out the plot ducks, and get them marching in line, and a quacking a Jody?

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  2. In my old age, I have dogs that I miss far more than any person.

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    1. Same here, plus a number of cats who will always be with me in my heart.

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  3. Dogs and cats, we love them all. Some memories don't fade with time. FWIW I see Osprey released a book on the Eastern Front...."To Besiege A City Leningrad 1941-42" by Prit Buttar, looks to be 464 pages.

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  4. Crusty Old TV Tech here. Very nice. Any long telling of the sort you are attempting does need a palate-clearing moment such as this. And, appropriate locally, since we FINALLY have rain after months of nothing. Folks were outside doing just what you wrote yesterday.

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    1. A palate-clearing moment, love the description. For that is exactly what these vignettes are, little short stories which I use to exercise my mind and (hopefully) entertain the readers!

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  5. Rain? What's Rain? We ain't got no steenking rain!

    Actually we got about an inch last night. First we've had in close to forever. The lawn is making a loud sucking noise, but has a couple of shades of green this morning. Another front of rain is going through Junction (~60 miles west) and headed our way. Hope it doesn't peter out prior to arrival.
    So....
    Thank you, Lord!
    juvat

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    1. We've got a hurricane out there in the Atlantic, getting some wind now, not sure how close it's coming.

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  6. Schatzi was our wire-hair dachshund, gone now these 14 years but still in our hearts. I've always wondered how the Good Lord managed to fit a lion's heart into such a small package. She was fearless. Dusty in here, dang it.

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    Replies
    1. A lady I knew in my youth had a pup by that name. Good name for a pup.

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  7. Replies
    1. Truly. We had to put our male Airedale down last month after 13 years; his sister is still with us and seems to be doing OK for her age.
      "Dusty in here" aye
      BG

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    2. Please accept my sincere condolences, BG. They are family.

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  8. As a California native the idea that 4 or 5 months without rain , other than an occasional fog-mizzle, isn't strange, it's normal. But, yes, rain is welcome when it finally comes.

    But to the poor bloody Infantry, especially going into the Soviet Union, I can see the relief quickly turning into cursing it as the Rains of Autumn quickly become распу́тица, the Season of Bad Roads, and you sink up to your knees in the mud.

    Well done, sir. A very emotional piece, putting a huge dose of humanity on the face of a grossly inhumane venture. It's a same it's a one off. I would enjoy several more following this unit, just going about the every day life of soldiers on campaign, even if they end up being obliterated in an artillery barrage after a few chapters.

    As an aside, in looking up "rasputitsa" so I could copy the Cyrillic (What? You thought I used a Cyrillic keyboard? Silly people.) I ran across a Ukrainian term for the same seasons, "бездоріжжя." The double Ж is interesting as according to the way it is said in the Wikipedia "Listen" one of the Жs is silent. Or seems to be, might could be that it just draws out the sound a bit.

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    1. Either way, mud in those regions is nothing to scoff at!

      Thanks, Joe!

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    2. And then comes winter, when the rutted bad roads turn to stone.

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    3. And the vehicle engines won't start!

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    4. And their horses froze and died standing.

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  9. I like, a lot.

    All of your segments are enjoyable or thought provoking even as stand alone pieces. Although they may all eventually fit together into a long narrative of the WW2 era, the reader does not have to "enlist for the duration." They may join up for a single watch, or firefight, or the more frequent periods of suffering and boredom absent the terror of combat.

    Yours is not the story of war at the grand strategic level, or one requiring maps of countries or continents. Your stories are those of the participants, willing or otherwise.
    They support the words of General MacArthur:
    "This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."​

    John Blackshoe

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    1. Well said and well quoted.

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    2. JB - War at the antiseptic, rear area command post is not my thing. I want the reader to be there, to get a feel for what war is like at "the sharp end." Not a huge MacArthur fan, but the man was quotable. (My favorite turn of phrase of his is the "mournful mutter of musketry." At a distance, that's what it sounds like.)

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  10. Some folks who visited the Black Rock Desert in Nevada over the Labor Day Weekend (aka Burning Man) had some experience with dust and rain delaying their departure.

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    1. Kinda Murphyesque- as in "No plan survives first contact with the enemy" in this case Mother Nature.

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  11. This one hit home, reminding me of my childhood dog, Susie. She was a mutt, the vet thought a Corgi-Collie mix. During some rough spots of my childhood, she was a true friend. Gone nearly half-a-century and I still miss her more than I can describe.

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    Replies
    1. I know how you feel. They become one with us, and us with them. It hurts for a long time. I know.

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  12. Beautiful, write on!

    Rain here, and it's bliss.

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    1. I heard you folks were getting rain down there. That's a really good thing.

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  13. Sarge, the animals are the ones I seem to miss the most. I can recall of all of them, something I cannot say of all the humans I have known.

    Rain here as well - almost 4.5". I had almost forgotten what it sounded like.

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    1. Cats, dogs, they've all been a part of my life. When they go, it hurts pretty bad, but I remember them always.

      4.5" - now that's what I call rain!

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