Withdrawal

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It took Krafft a few moments to figure out where he was. His ears were ringing and his head was throbbing. Then it all came back to him, the Ivans had saturated the area with Katyusha rockets.

"I guess they really want this village," he muttered as he tried to get up.

Lang put a hand on him, "Slow down, Dieter. You are probably concussed."

Krafft could see the man's lips moving, but he couldn't hear him. He pointed to his own ears and shook his head, which was a mistake. His head really hurt.

"Rudi, help me get the Stabsfeldwebel on his feet. We need to get him out of here."

"Lang, Müller! Is Krafft okay?" Leutnant von Zitzewitz came into the ruined barn and looked around. "We need to get moving before Ivan shows up."

Krafft managed to stand, he swayed a bit but managed to stay upright. He felt something wet on the left side of his face, he reached up. His hand came away bloody, the hearing in his right ear seemed to be coming back, but the left? Nothing.

He felt a hand on his sleeve, he looked up, it was his lieutenant.

"Can you hear anything, Dieter?"

Krafft held his hand out palm towards his officer and said, "A little, in my right ear. I think the left is gone."

The lieutenant leaned in and took a quick look, "Probably a punctured ear drum, can you walk?"

Krafft looked around, where was his weapon? Another hand on his shoulder this time, he looked over, it was the kid, Müller. He was handing him a StG 44.

"Danke, Rudi. Yes Sir, I can walk, the dizziness is passing."

"We need to move and we need to move now." The lieutenant was insistent.

"Right. Where to?" Krafft thought the woods to the north might be a good idea. The lieutenant did not.

"We'll head to the river, the Warthe leads to the Oder and we need to get across. Ivan will stick to the roads. I thought about the forest to the north, but it'll take too long. I think the Warthe is our only chance."

Krafft knew better than to move his head too quickly, so he just said, "Führen Sie den Weg, Herr Leutnant.¹"

The village had been in rough shape before the Soviet rocket attack, now it was nearly completely shattered. What was left of the buildings was burning, rubble was strewn everywhere. Krafft turned to Lang.

"What did I miss? How long was I out?"

"Just a few hours, Dieter. Von Zitzewitz brought our men back from the flank, we lost two guys over there, just in time to have the rockets start landing. They're not real accurate, but they fired a lot of them. Both Panzers were damaged, mostly the running gear, and von Tetz was killed."

"How many men do we have left?"

"Seventy-five, give or take. We haven't really had the chance to call the roll."

"Seventy-five? We had a hundred and five men just three days ago! Losing two doesn't ..." Krafft stopped talking, they must have lost some men in the rocket barrage.

"We did lose a few killed thanks to Katyusha, a few more probably ran off."

They walked quietly once they had crossed the road and entered the fields where von Zitzewitz had laid his trap for the Russian column. Overgrown, a number of woodlots, it made Krafft a little more comfortable, at least it wasn't wide open steppes as he remembered in Russia.

"Dieter." Lang hissed at his sergeant.

"What?"

"Von Zitzewitz knows about Schultz."

"Knows what?"

"Lang stopped and put his mouth close to Krafft's good ear, "He knows you killed him."

"How?"

"No idea, all I know is he came to me and said, 'Keep Krafft out of trouble, we can't kill everyone who stands in our way. As much as we'd like to.'"

Krafft was dumbstruck, the lieutenant was a lot smarter than he gave him credit for.

The Warthe River, near Vietz.
Source

Leutnant von Zitzewitz held up his fist, "We camp here for the night. The Ivans will look further up the river for any stragglers. Provided they come back this way at all." As the men prepared hasty fighting positions, the lieutenant walked down the column, getting the men moved up to the riverbank and also looking for his sergeant.

He saw Krafft, Lang, and Müller bringing up the rear. He told Lang and Müller to move up to the riverbank, he also informed Lang that he was now an acting sergeant.

"But Sir ..." Lang protested.

"The war is nearly over, I need help getting these men home, you've shown leadership ability which I suspected you had. I've seen your records, distinguished record in Poland and France, started out well in Russia then court-martialed for assaulting an officer, an SS officer no less. Then the penal battalions, I'm surprised you survived that. I'm promoting you to help me get the men home, I'm not making you stay in the Army or anything. Soon we won't have an Army at any rate."

Lang started to speak, but von Zitzewitz shook his head and said, "Go do your job, Unteroffizier Lang."

As the two men moved off, von Zitzewitz turned to Krafft, who braced for what was to come.

"So Dieter, administering your own form of justice again, I hear."

"Sir, I can explain ..."

"No. No, you can't. We all fired on the Feldgendarmerie, you and you alone murdered a German officer. Certainly it was a heat of the moment thing, but it was murder nevertheless. Schultz wasn't that bad a man, bossy yes, thought he knew it all, yes. An Arschloch, most certainly yes. But a bad man? No. However, you did it for the benefit of your own men. As I told Lang, the war is nearly over. All I care about is surviving and helping my men to survive."

"Jawohl, Herr Leutnant, I understand."

"No more summary justice, Stabsfeldwebel Krafft. If you do, make sure you kill me as well, for I will certainly kill you. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good, now let's figure out how we're going to go down the Warthe undetected, then get across the Oder. We need to link up with our own forces soon."

"Why Sir, why not just keep going west?"

"I'm still thinking about that, Krafft. I'm still thinking. Now go, rejoin the men."

As he set off, Krafft felt oddly okay with himself. No one had chewed his arse in a long time. Thinking about things objectively, he certainly had needed it. The lieutenant had surprised him.

When did von Zitzewitz get so smart?

¹ Lead the way, lieutenant.