A Nasty Business

Source

The day had turned overcast. low clouds and intermittent rain showers meant that enemy aircraft would be less likely to be flying that day. Even on clear days they were seeing less air activity in their vicinity. Lang guessed that most of the Allied fliers would be over Berlin.

"It's the last big battle of the war." Lang offered.

"Here in Europe at any rate." Krafft pointed out.

"Ah yes, our honorary Aryan allies the Japanese, still fighting hard according to Herr Goebbels. Once they're done with us, I'm sure the Amis, Tommies, and Ivans will make short work of the Japanese Empire." Lang scoffed.

"Like it's of any use to us at this point ..." Krafft was interrupted by one of the corporals the captain used as a messenger.

"Hauptmann Oster wants to see you, Herr Stabsfeldwebel. Right now, if you will."

Krafft groaned and got to his feet, "I'm getting too old for this."

"Beats the alternative." Lang pointed out.

Krafft arrived at the command post to see the captain in a heated discussion with the battalion's sergeant major, Hauptfeldwebel Jasinski.

"My boys don't want to surrender to the Amis or anyone else for that matter. They want to fight for the Führer and their Vaterland." Jasinki's tone was disrespectful in the extreme.

Oster listened placidly until the man had had his say. Then he sat up and looked at Krafft before speaking.

"So they're 'your boys' are they? Men assigned to my battalion are now 'your boys.' Am I hearing you correctly Jasinski?"

Krafft and Jasinski both noticed that the captain did not address Jasinski by his rank, only his last name. Jasinski went a little pale at that.

"You know what I mean, Herr Hauptmann, the men I've been leading for the past few weeks ..."

"You've been leading?" Krafft heard the deadly tone in Oster's voice.

"Well, practically, Sir, I mean, when ..."

"Enough, I think Oster has heard enough. Have 'your boys' fall in here in twenty minutes. Klar?"

"Jawohl, Herr Hauptmann." And without another word, Jasinski left to gather the soldiers he had taken ownership of, apparently.

Before Krafft could speak, Oster explained, "Apparently Herr Jasinski and some of the men want to move towards Berlin and help defend the capital."

Krafft raised an eyebrow, "Is he insane?"

"No, simply misguided, he still believes the war can be won."

"In my book, that makes him insane."

"We can't force them to stay ..." Oster began.

"Actually we can. Most of the men Jasinski is talking about will go along with whatever their mates do. If no one leads them, they'll stay. Reluctant or not they'll stay. You just need to make them understand that they will die, if they go to Berlin. Not maybe, but for sure. If they stay with us, they have a chance at survival."

"Jasinski can be very persuasive."

Krafft thought for a moment, then said, "Let me take care of Jasinski."

At the appointed time, a group of maybe twenty of the younger soldiers were in front of Oster. Jasinski was conspicuous by his absence.

"Meine Herren, I'm given to understand by Hauptfeldwebel Jasinski that you wish to join in the defense of Berlin."

One of the men, a corporal, looked around and stepped forward, "Yes Sir, the Spieß¹ said that by running away to the west, we are traitors to the Reich and to the Führer."

"And when was Jasinski appointed to command this unit?" Oster asked quietly.

"Uh, Sir, that's not the point ..."

"What is the point, Gefreiter? Someone can simply step up and proclaim someone a traitor then take command? Does that sound about right?"

"Well, no Sir, but ..."

"You have my permission to go seek your deaths in the ruins of Berlin. But before you leave I will have your paybooks annotated to indicate that you left your unit without orders. I'm sure the Feldgendarmerie will find that interesting. Of course, you could simply throw away your paybooks, then again, the Feldgendarmerie will find that interesting as well. There are still plenty of light poles and trees between here and Berlin to hang the lot of you. As will be the case if you leave this command."

The twenty all looked sheepishly at each other, as the Gefreiter looked to be ready to argue the point, Oster asked one question.

"And where is Hauptfeldwebel Jasinski?"

"We don't know, Sir."

"Probably halfway to Pomerania by now, where he's from. You people were his smokescreen, his excuse to delay our discovery of his desertion. You have been duped Männer², the Spieß has played you for fools. Gefreiter, you stay here, the rest of you prepare to move out once it's dark."

"Bloody business this day, Dieter." Lang said as he pushed the dead Gefreiter's corpse into the shallow trench they had scraped out to hide Jasinski's body.

"I am sickened by all of it, Dieter. Where does it end? We're killing our own people now. I don't see the point anymore."

Krafft thought for a moment, then spoke quietly, "The needs of the many ..."

"So some must die so that we might live?"

"Some, Kurt, some. The ones who would leave the rest of us in the lurch, the ones who would see to their own interests first, we must not let their needs, their desires, overcome the needs of the group. Survival is our goal now, not throw our lives away in the ruins of a defeated nation. Germany, as we know it, is dead. It's dying now, in the ruins of Berlin. It died in the Ardennes, it died in North Africa, it died at Stalingrad. Hitler's Germany is a walking corpse, it just needs someone to push it over."

"Sounds a lot like Communism, Dieter." Lang spat into the night as he said that.

"Perhaps. But do you want to die now? Or live a few more days on the off chance that you might survive this war?"

"I think I'll stay alive. I've made it this far with you, so I'm in until the end. Whatever end that might be. Does Liesl know?"

"It was her idea."

"Seriously?"

"Like me, she wants to live. We have found something worth living for, at least we think so."

Lang shook his head, "Dieter Krafft, a romantic. Now I've seen everything."

Oster stepped into the moonlight from the brush nearby, "Are we ready?"

"Yes Sir."

"Very well, let's move out."

¹ Traditional title for a German First Sergeant/Sergeant Major.

² Men.