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German Chaplain on the right, note the cross he's wearing. Source |
"Father, when the sun goes down, can we bury these bodies?" Hans Möller nodded at the two dead Americans and the body of their acting company commander.
Oster stared at the Sanitäter for a moment, knowing that the man had tried to save the lives of two of those three dead men, and had failed. He wondered what that must feel like. Then it struck him, he thought of all the souls he'd tried to save in Russia. He had failed many times, so badly that he'd broken down. His award of the Bavarian Military Merit Cross in the Great War saved him. The Army had shipped him back to Germany for home leave rather than placing him in a disciplinary battalion.
"I think not, Hans. I'm sure the Amis will try a push once it gets dark. Unless the machine gun position in the field over there draws most of their attention," he nodded towards the hedgerow-surrounded field to their right, "I heard grenades and Ami rifle fire. But that all stopped after our MG-42 spoke up."
Schimmelpfennig spoke up, "You seem to know a lot abut war Father. How is this possible?"
Oster looked at the Obergefreiter and said, "I wasn't always a priest. I was drafted into the Bavarian Army in 1916, at the age of 16. I spent two years in the trenches and saw my share of fighting. After the war, I decided to go to seminary. I had seen enough hate and killing. Then of course, this war came along."
"Surely you weren't drafted this time?" Möller asked.
"No, my son. I volunteered."
McCoy looked in the direction Johansen had gone, he saw him, he had a good position behind some piece of abandoned farm equipment. Johansen looked over and nodded.
McCoy checked his watch, it would be dark in an hour or so. The Germans to their front had been awfully quiet, they hadn't returned fire and he swore that he'd hit one of them. So, do we wait until nightfall and rejoin the squad? Or do we close on those Germans and maybe toss a couple of grenades their way?
He looked over at Johansen, who was again looking in McCoy's direction. McCoy tapped his watch, meaning "we wait." At least he hoped Johansen got the message.
Sergeant MacIlroy considered his options, he had three men with him - Miller, Jackson, and Ginn. Ferguson was with the BAR team, McCoy and Johansen were outside his control. The patrol was turning into a mess, he had one dead, probably three for he assumed that Smitty and Hudson had been killed, at best they were missing.
Miller low crawled to him, "Mac, Biscayne is dead, Ginn is pretty rattled, and we've got a f**king MG-42 out there. They can't move but neither can we, at least not forward."
MacIlroy nodded, "We wait for night then, pull back and see what we've got. This prisoner snatch is starting to turn into a complete fiasco. I'm not losing any more guys to satisfy battalion's curiosity."
"You could lose your stripes for this Mac."
"Right now, I've got one, maybe three letters to write. They can have my f**king stripes."
"You were a Landser¹ in the Great War?" Möller sounded surprised.
"Yes. I actually won the Military Merit Cross as well. It's the equivalent of the Iron Cross 2nd Class."
"How'd you get that, Father?" Schimmelpfennig asked from his position watching for the Americans who had killed Mannheim.
"I captured a French machine gun position."
"By yourself?"
"Well, we started out with five men, we were supposed to bring back a prisoner. We happened upon these five Frenchmen in a machine gun position. They killed four of us, we killed all of them. I suppose I got the medal to encourage the other men. The war was going badly, there was a lot of talk of revolution in the ranks."
Schimmelpfennig made a rude noise, "Huh, a medal for surviving, I've got one of those as well. The Frozen Meat Medal² for surviving the winter of '41-'42 in Russia."
"I have that as well." Oster said quietly.
"You were there?" Schimmelpfennig asked, his voice taking on a tone of respect.
"Yes, my son. With Army Group North, almost made it to Leningrad before my morale broke. I held out until spring, then the Army sent me home. My 'survivor medal,' as you call it, saved me from going to a penal battalion, or worse."
"Damn. Uh, beg your pardon, Father." Möller was impressed. He had a childhood friend break in combat in 1943, he'd gone to a penal battalion in the East, where he'd been promptly killed in action.
"Hey, I think the Amis are moving." Schimmelpfennig said.
Moments later a grenade exploded just outside their position.
"Horst, we need to move, and fast. The next grenade ..."
"Right, let's go, keep your heads down and sprint for all your worth to the tree line to our rear."
Johansen opened fire, McCoy wondered why, then he saw three Germans break from cover. They were running like mad for the trees to the east.
"Nick, hold your fire. You're just wasting ammo. Where the hell did you learn to shoot anyway? You stink as a marksmen."
Johansen's face went red, "Yeah, I barely qualified. The drill sergeant said it didn't matter, I'd get killed anyway regardless of how well I could shoot."
"Nice guy."
"Nah Will, he was a prick."
McCoy shook his head, Johansen couldn't shoot and he didn't recognize sarcasm.
MacIlroy and the men with him rejoined with the BAR team and Ferguson. They all heard the shooting.
"That's a Garand." Ferguson offered.
"No return fire. Maybe McCoy got his Krauts to run."
"What are we going to do about our Krauts?" Ferguson asked.
"I don't know, you got any ideas which don't involve someone getting killed?"
"Nope, sorry Mac, this is your call, you wear the stripes."
¹ German term for an infantryman, similar to "grunt" in English.
² The Medaille Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/42 (Medal for the winter battles in the East 1941/42), also known as the Ostmedaille (East Medal), awarded to any soldier who served on the Eastern Front from 15 November 1941 to 15 April 1942.
Nick appears not to have been in the ASTP, don't think I'd want to be in the same foxhole with him Sarge.
ReplyDeleteCan't shoot to save his life.
DeleteMan! You’re on a roll, Sarge! Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteJust think…15, 20 more chapters and you got a Best Seller!
Will you autograph a first edition for me? I’ll be able to show my Grandkids “I knew him when!”
Seriously, excellent story well told!
juvat
Thanks, juvat. Guess the Muse had a nice break.
DeleteGood to hear from Juvat- that suggests he is not rafting without a paddle, like some of his less fortunate neighbors.
DeleteJB
Some of the scenes I've seen from that are almost beyond belief. Prayers for those affected!
DeleteHerr Oster has a very interesting (and unexpected) background - although not that surprising. There are other warriors who became priests after too much war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumagai_Naozane
ReplyDeleteNow that is a fine tale. Which led me down a rathole to the tale of the Heike, then to the samurai crab. Japan is replete with such epic tales.
DeleteThank you for that link, TB!
Amongst the Lexicans, we have a Marine Artillery Major born again as an Army Chaplain LT.
DeleteSaw a meme recently about a chaplain showing up for small arms qualification and the instructor assuming he knew nothing, but aced the shooting, noting that he had an earlier career in a different capacity, arranging meetings with the Lord.
Most chaplains in my experience have been good people, and helpful.
JB
He too is a good man. One of the Lexicans I've met in person.
DeleteSarge, I cannot recommend The Tale of The Heike by Helen McCullough highly enough. For being written almost 700 years ago, it is a surprisingly engaging tale and one of the most accessible of the Japanese literature that I have read from that era. McCullough's translation is, I believe, considered the definitive version.
DeleteI shall track that down.
DeleteAnother great piece, Sarge! You really illustrate the challenge of small unit leadership. Making decisions ( between "bad and worse" as VDH so cogently put it) on partial and sometimes inaccurate information.
ReplyDeleteThe BEST guy I ever worked for.( MACV-SOG veteran) instructed us to make sure that the information passed to exercising units was at the least incomplete and at times "plain wrong" because "that's how it is for real". That kind of training and those kind of exercises save lives in the long run
Boat Guy
Thanks, BG. I try hard to "keep it real."
Delete