Der Führer ist tot!¹

Source

The bridge over the canal was, amazingly, still intact. As it was a ways from any towns or villages, 2 kilometers east of Ihleburg and nearly 3 kilometers southwest of Güsen neither of which was a very sizeable town, it had attracted no attention from enemy aircraft. As the Amis closed up along the Elbe, that might change.

"Do you think Ivan will push any units this way, link up with the Amis?" Lang asked.

Krafft shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Lang, "I don't know, once they have Berlin, perhaps. But then again, you know how the Russians are about territory, they might send units this way to keep the Amis on their side of the river."

As he turned back to the front, he had noticed that it was starting to get lighter to the east. It wasn't long until sunup. Though there was a small patch of forest ahead, just south of Ihleburg, there was no way they'd make it before sunrise. It was then that he noticed a building just ahead. A farm?

He signaled the men to deploy in skirmish order and motioned Lang to come up.

"Looks deserted." Lang remarked.

"Look closer."

Lang pulled out his field glasses, the farm wasn't far, maybe 150 meters, but the glasses would help. He was often amazed at how good Krafft's vision was. One of his nicknames was die Eule².

"Looks like a Kübelwagen, so there can't be more than four men around, probably German, what do you want to do?" Lang looked at Krafft as he tucked his glasses away.

Heffenbach took three men around to cover the far side of the farm buildings, Krafft and three men advanced to the front, keeping their eyes open for anything suspicious. As they got closer, Krafft noticed a light coming from a crack in the shutters over a window, probably the kitchen he guessed, Where else would people be this early in the morning?

He had his men hold, he crept up to the shuttered kitchen window and listened, at first he heard what sounded like crying. Peeking through the crack he saw two men, in German uniforms, sitting in front of a radio. One man was looking at the floor, dejectedly Krafft thought. The other was hugging himself, rocking back and forth. Krafft could see the gleam of tears on the man's cheeks.

What fresh hell was this?

He gestured for his men to move up and then indicated that he was going through the door. One man raised an eyebrow, Krafft realized that the man's face was clear as day, because the sun was up. Behind the clouds, but up.

Krafft tried the door, it wasn't locked, probably had no lock this far out in the country. When he stepped into the room, it was the kitchen, he had his StG 44 at the ready. While he hadn't seen any nearby weapons, he didn't want to take any chances.

Both men jumped when he stepped in, they both held their hands before them, one gasped, "Bitte, nicht schießen.³"

"Wolf, Dietrich, come in, first signal Lang that it's clear."

Though the men looked and sounded German, it seemed odd for them to be here, by themselves, with an operating radio. He kept his weapon on them, one tried to speak and Krafft directed them to be quiet.

"You're absolutely sure?" Krafft asked, looking at the senior of the two radiomen.

"Jawohl, Herr Unteroffizier. It came out on the Deutschlandsender⁴ earlier this morning. Our unit radioed us, ordering us to fall back to their position."

"So Hitler is dead, according to you fellows." Lang didn't really believe it.

"Nein, Herr Unteroffizier, according to Herr Goebbels."

Only Krafft, Lang, and Liesl were in the room. The remainder of the platoon were in defensive positions around the farmhouse and its two outbuildings. He'd had some of the men push the Kübelwagen into the barn.

"Not a smart move leaving your car outside," Krafft pointed out. "Why are you even here?"

"We're part of a patrol monitoring the river, higher headquarters wanted to know if the Americans were across yet."

"And why is that?"

"We'd prefer to surrender to the Amis and not the Russians."

Lang laughed, "Understandable."

Krafft continued, "You said part of a patrol, where is the rest of it? And why leave you two here?"

"The farmhouse seemed a good place to leave the radio, there are twelve others, all infantry, probing towards the Elbe."

"And when did they leave?"

"Last night, after sunset."

"Hhmm," was all Krafft could offer. He had a thoughtful look on his face.

Krafft and Lang were looking at the map, "We're about four kilometers from the Elbe, schnurgerade⁵. But we're still nearly 12 kilometers from the ferry at Rogätz. We can be there by tomorrow morning. With any luck at all," Krafft said, tracing the route on the map.

"An easy night's hike, but what about these other fellows, will they be cooperative?" Lang wondered.

"Well, don't they have the same objective? Surrender to the Amis?" Liesl pointed out.

"If we can believe the two radiomen. Bring them in, Kurt."

Lang fetched the radiomen.

"Alright, which one of you was crying his eyes out over the death of our 'beloved' Führer?" Krafft asked pointedly.

The junior man raised his hand, Krafft nodded, he'd seen him crying through the cracked shutter. "It was me, Herr Stabsfeldwebel. But I was crying because the war is lost, Germany is lost, everything is lost." The boy's eyes were filling again.

"How long have you been in the Army, Junge? And how old are you?"

"Seven months, I'm almost 17."

"Almost. Do you know if Berlin is still holding out?"

"Yes, the city hasn't fallen to the Russians yet. When the wind is right, you can hear the artillery."

"Yes, but not last night, was it the wind, or has Berlin capitulated? We can't know. When do you expect the rest of your patrol to return?"

"Maybe not for two days, the Unteroffizier said they had to be very cautious about moving when it was light out. Even moving at night in the open is dangerous, he said."

Lang and Krafft gave each other a significant look.

"What do you want to do?" Lang asked Krafft.

"The plan stays the same, we move out an hour after sunset. If those other people come back, that might change things."

"If they come back?" Liesl said as she sat up, in some alarm.

"There is a good chance they won't. If Berlin has fallen, Ivan will be pushing units to the Elbe, that group might get swept up. Just like we might get swept up."

"What about the radio lads?"

"They can come with us, or they can stay here. Their choice."

Lang raised his MP-40, "Or ..."

"No, we're not going to kill them. I don't want that on my conscience."

"Wouldn't be on yours, Dieter."

"Yes, it would. It doesn't matter who pulls the trigger, if I consent, it's the same as if I'd shot them myself. No, and that's final. Klar?"

Lang sighed, "Jawohl, Herr Stabsfeldwebel, I don't want to kill them either, but ..."

"No, Kurt, that's an order."

Lang left to brief the rest of the platoon and get them bedded down for the night. After he left Liesl looked at Krafft.

"Would he have shot them? They're just boys."

"Yes, I rather think he would, if he saw them as a threat. So would I, if it meant protecting you, and the others, of course."

She walked to him and put her arms out, he gathered her into his arms and squeezed. It scared him, but he would kill to protect this woman. But he didn't think it was necessary at this point in time.

Tomorrow?

That might be a different story.

¹ The Führer is dead. The Führer being Adolf Hitler. For those who didn't know.

² The owl

³ Please, don't shoot.

⁴ One of the major radio broadcasting stations in Germany.

⁵ Straight as a string, German idiom for "as the crow flies." A German might also refer to Luftlinie, or "air line" for the same thing.