Night Above the Town

Source

Krafft made his way back to the lieutenant's position and slipped into cover beside his officer. "We're set, Herr Leutnant."

From the sounds coming up from the village, perhaps 850 meters away, the Ivans were having a good time. They were all yelling and singing, someone even had an accordion from the sound of it. At one point they heard a scream.

Leutnant von Zitzewitz slid up to the lip of the trench and glassed the village.

"That was a woman."

"Yes Sir, apparently not all of the villagers decided to head west."

"I'm betting they wished they had.'

Moments later, they heard the faint pop of a pistol shot, they could hear a man bellowing in Russian.

"I wish I knew what he was saying." Von Zitzewitz muttered.

"Sshh." Krafft was listening intently.

"That's an officer, from what I could make out, he will shoot anyone else who touches another civilian."

"You speak Russian?"

"Some, I was at university when the war broke out. I was studying Russian, among other things."

'That man was very loud, his voice was clear even at this distance."

"It's the cold, Herr Leutnant, and what little breeze there is, is coming in our direction. Sound carries better in cold air."

"What now, Dieter?"

"We sit tight, Sir. I have two men from each platoon keeping an eye on the people to our front, but also keeping their eyes open to the flanks and even behind us. The situation is very fluid, Ivan might already be behind us. This isn't the only road in Silesia."

The night passed quietly for the most part. There had been a brief scare when a heavy machine gun had opened fire from near the village. Tracer rounds had punctured the night air over the German positions, but the men remained in place, heads down, eyes and ears open.

"What in the hell was that all about?" Von Zitzewitz asked.

"I get the feeling that the Ivans found drink in the village. Those fellows can really put it away. My guess is that a drunk got up on one of the halftracks and decided a light show would be just the thing."

"They think the war is over, don't they?" Von Zitzewitz sounded angry.

"They know the end is near, they also know that they could be killed at any time. Either by us or by one of their own. Many of them are young, first time away from their village out in the middle of nowhere. I visited Russia once, some place in Byelorussia. Many of the peasants have no electricity or running water. Their lives aren't much different from a hundred years ago."

"Do you think they will be careless?" The lieutenant seemed interested in understanding the enemy.

"Sure, the younger ones, but the old hands know better. They will be somewhat cautious until they get to a place they must have. Then they will throw men and tanks at us regardless of the cost."

"Someplace like Berlin, you mean?"

"Yes, the capital, but first they must seize crossings over the Oder River. They'll bleed for those as well. We're maybe twenty kilometers from Küstrin and the river. That village down there is Vietz, unless I've forgotten how to read a map."

"Hhmm. Interesting. Better get some sleep Dieter, I'll wake you in an hour."

Krafft grinned, "Zu befehl, Herr Leutnant.¹"

Krafft was awakened some two hours later by the sound of engines. He looked for the lieutenant and saw that he was glassing the village.

Krafft moved to the lip of the trench, "An attack?"

"No, they are pulling out. Heading back down the road into the forest, from whence they came. Why do that?"

"I'm not sure, perhaps they are not planning on an advance through here but to either side of us. I don't know what's behind us, perhaps the rest of the Army?"

By the time the sun came up, which they couldn't see due to the heavy fog enveloping the area, the Russian reconnaissance unit was gone.

"I want you to take a patrol down to the town, see what's what." Von Zitzewitz told Krafft.

"Excellent idea, Sir. I'll take a squad from 1st Platoon, I'm sure Max won't mind."

"As long as Gefreiter Goerner doesn't have to go himself, I'm sure he won't care."

As Krafft went to get the squad, he shook his head. What was the Army coming to when mere corporals commanded platoons? Of course, the platoon only had 27 men, the "company" which Von Zitzewitz commanded numbered no more than a hundred. Times were hard, fresh bodies were scarce. If the Ivans had their way, the Army would be gradually worn down to a nub, or like Army Group Center last summer, eradicated nearly completely.

They found the building the Russians had had their party in, the post office, which was next door to the local Gasthof.² Lying in the road just outside the entrance way was a dead Russian soldier, next to him was a dead female civilian. The woman had to be in her eighties!

"Hope it was fun, Ivan." Schütze³ Klaus Wegmann kicked the dead body as they passed it.

"Knock it off, Wegmann."

"But Herr Stabsfeldwebel, he raped and murdered someone's grandmother!"

"You don't know that for sure. Probably but we don't have time for that. The Ivans killed him for you, happy?"

"I guess ..."

Kurt Lang, one of the older men in the unit, got Krafft's attention, "Shouldn't we get back to our position, Staber? Who knows when Ivan might come back."

"Good point, Kurt, there is nothing here of any value."

As they departed the village, they could hear engine noises in the distance. The wind was swirling so it was nearly impossible to discern from which direction the sound was coming from. Krafft expected the worst.

"Double time lads, we need to get back up on our perch. Might be Ivan's coming back and he's bringing his friends."

From the way the ground was shaking, ever so slightly, it made the hairs on the back of Krafft's neck stand straight up.

Lang threw him a worried look and mouthed one word, "Panzers⁴."

Krafft nodded and he began to sprint up the rise to the top of the ridge, as did Lang. The rest followed suit.

¹ At your command, Lieutenant.

² Pub

³ Private

⁴ Tanks