To The Last Man [1 SS man. Good writer.]

[William Luther]

Berlin,
25th April, 1945

The cold stone of a Lichtenberg house dug in to the back of Sturmscharfuhrer William Luther. He, along with the rest of his platoon, had been told to come off of the line for a few hours, sort there stuff out. The small suburb of Berlin, Lichtenberg was a hive of activity, as the bloody Battle of Berlin raged on; the group of men gathered around the camp could hear the crumps and explosions of artillery, the chatter of Machine Gun fire, and the ever present drone of Soviet armour pushing forward.

Luther’s platoon was in shambles now. Without a commanding officer, the senior NCO had been put in charge, but that didn’t really matter. There were scarcely two squads left, no mortars, one machine gun, no way of dealing with armour… Things were grim. One thing they did have, however, was 7.62, and lots of it. The miracle round that powered 98ks, G43s, MG42s and 34s. and of course the StG44. They had less 9mm, though, Luther having two and a half magazines for his Browning Hi-Power.

He picked up a black rag, and carried on working on his StG44, cleaning the moving parts systematically before giving them a blast of lubricant. In the last few hours he’d noticed the action getting a bit “chunky”, and one too many jams for his liking. Whenever you were taken off the line, three things needed sorting in a certain order; weapons, equipment, self.

Every time he was off, he’d clean either his StG, pistol, or sharpen his knife. He’d then find cloth of some sorts to turn in to bandages, and get any other gear needed before seeing to himself, getting food and rest. With a final grunt, he slipped a new magazine in and slapped the cocking handle forward, making the weapon ready to fire.

[∬: Attila Anday]

[OOC: SS-man, good writer, hope I'm OK for the job ]

Slowly the Opel Blitz rolled through the destroyed suburbs of the once glorious Reichshauptstadt. The truck was followed by more vehicles, a towing machine with a 8.8 gun attached and some armored half tracks. As spearhead of the convoy, there drove a worn out StuG III, with one side-skirt already missing and some deep traces of fighting showing on the hull.

Lost in sinister thoughts, Obersturmführer Anday observed the area passing by through a big hole in the curtain of the Opel truck. Dark, heavy clouds hung over the buildings and it looked as if it could start raining every second. Everywhere, there were once beautiful houses laying in ruins, burning vehicles and grey, hopelessly staring civilians. Around the next corner, there came a former subway station now used as a bunker against air raids, where people ran in and out in haste all the time. Atilla just didn't recognize this city again and he asked himself more than once, if he maybe was just having a bad dream.

Yesterday, Anday's company, or better the rest of it, was still defending their positions at the Oder river. But after 48 hours of not having contact to the battalion, the division or anybody at all, the SS-officer had decided to retreat his forces until there was contact to other German troops again. He didn't wanted to admit to himself of course, but actually the whole situation grew kind of hopeless. His soldiers were extremely short of ammunitions, the 8.8 was completely out of shells and more than half of the vehicles were actually filled up with wounded soldiers. But the worst thing was, that no food supplies had arrived them in the last week at all. Some of the, mostly younger soldiers had already gotten sick, because of eating anything they could find on their way, dead horses or worse. Of course Anday had ordered them not to do so, but now the Obersturmführer had to learn, that starving could be stronger than orders sometimes.

Surprisingly to the Germans, they hadn't encountered any Russians on their retreat by now and shortly before reaching the outskirts of Berlin, they finally managed to get radio contact with another German Kampfgruppe, that was defending something like a defensive line in Lichtenberg. Instantly the Obersturmführer had decided to lead his own group of soldiers there, in the hope of ammounitions and maybe even some medical treatment for the wounded. In the current situation, it was only possible to plan for the next few moments anyways.

Besides the tall Hungarian, there was sitting Untersturmführer Walzer, one of the best and longest comrades of Anday. Together they had crossed the boarder of Soviet-Russia in this faithful June of '41. And now they were together still, defending the ruins of an already collapsed country. The face of Attila's friend was shrunken and pale. He tiredly stared into space and took a nip from his canteen from time to time. But honestly, Atilla wasn't interested in seeing what he might look like himself. He hadn't had the possibility to look into a mirror since several weeks.

Nobody in the truck was saying a word, because everybody had to handle his own thoughts while this inglorious retreat. Suddenly the brakes of the Opel squeaked loudly and the car came to a sudden halt. Leaning out of the hole in the curtain, Anday recognized some men standing on the street and talking to the commander of the Sturmgeschütz, that also had stopped some meters in front. The soldiers wore fighting smocks in the camouflage colors of the Waffen SS and obviously were quite happy to see their comrades. Slowly the SS-Obersturmführer climbed from the back of the Opel, followed by Walzer and walked over toward the soldiers standing on the street.

[William Luther]

Sitting on the grass, Luther was joined shortly by Corporal Frankfurter, one of the original "Poland Boys." He walked out with a mug of coffee in each hand, although "coffee" was used roughly. It was dire, made from acorns. "Tastes like shit," Luther commented as he took a mouthful.
"I'm sure it's fond of you too, Will." Was the response. It was a terrible joke, but both men laughed.

A call came from inside. "We have friendlie approaching, Sturmscharfuhrer!" The radio was still working, amazingly, and they'd been trying to rally more soldiers to the area. "A few trucks by the sounds of it, and an 88." There was a quick murmur of excitement around the soldiers scattered, an 88 could give them a strong advantage.
"How far away?" Luther demanded, before taking another mouthful of the lukewarm liquid. No need to get over the top, yet.
"About two minutes. So look busy!"

There was another blast of laughter as men stood up, clicking joints and reloading weapons. Luther swung his StG44 on it's sling around to his back and let it hung. It wasn't too tight as to inhibit draw, but it was tight enough to keep it out of his way. He placed the metal mug on the window sill and walked over towards the garden fence and cautiously swung it open. It wasn't unheard of for Russian snipers to get this far in to town.

After checking it was clear, he flagged down the first truck, before shouting out instructions. This was his CP after all. "Walking wounded upstairs. Seriously wounded, back of the downstairs. Everyone else in the garden. Get that 88 set up in a fire position, we're expecting Soviet tanks in the next few hours." He saw an Officer jump from the back of an Opel, and moved over to him, assuming he was in command. He didn't salute, come to attention, any of that jazz it was too late in the war for that.

"Sturmscharfuhrer Luther, I'm in command of this place. Officers are dead, we have about two squads of ready men. Lots of 7.92, not much of anything else. What's the deal with you guys, any goodies?" He was feeling horribly self concious, with several days growth on his face congealing the cam cream he'd worn to do a close up recon on the Russian advance a few days ago.

[∬: Attila Anday]

When Anday came closer to the small group of men, who were standing besides the first of the Opel trucks, he recognized them all having very worn out and shrunken faces. The uniforms of the soldiers were dirty, with big holes in their torn camouflage smocks. One of them wore the insignias of a Sturmscharführer and instantly started yelling some loud orders. Some more SS- soldiers appeared in the garden of a small, two storied building besides the street, bringing some barns from the house and instantly starting to evacuate the seriously wounded from the Opel trucks.

When the NCO realized about Anday's presence, he turned around and moved over quickly. Without showing any sense for military correctness, he introduced himself and his situation in some short words. In another situation, Anday would most probably had been exploded out of rage because of that disrespectfulness against the stand of the German officer. But now he simply looked at Walzer, who stood besides the Hungarian and slowly waved his hand as a sign to ignore this odd behavior for that moment. The last weeks just had changed a lot inside these men.

Piercingly glancing at the yonber NCO, Attila said in a hard tone: "Ich bin Obersturmführer Anday und hier neben mir, Untersturmführer Walzer. Zuerst nehmen Sie bitte Abstand davon, Befehle an meine Truppen zu erteilen, so lange Ich es Ihnen nicht so sage." After a short break to let his words sink, the tall officer continued: "Ihre Nachrichten hören sich nicht besonders gut an, aber Ich denke meine sind sogar noch etwas schlechter. Meine Kampfgruppe kommt direkt von der Verteidigungslinie an der Oder. Nach über zwei Tagen ohne Kontakt zur Division habe Ich mich entschloßen, meine Truppen in Richtung Berlin zurückzuziehen. Die Russen hatten uns bereits auf beiden Seiten umgangen und wir wären sonst abgeschnitten worden. Von der Frontlinie am Fluss ist bei dem Großangriff der Bolschewisten nichts übrig geblieben."

The cold wind blew stronger now and it gently started to rain out of the deep, dark clouds. Attila took his officers cap from his head and brushed his hand through his long, black hair. He enjoyed the feel of the refreshing water in his face, removing at least a bit of the dirt and dust of the last days. Around the SS-officer, the rest of his soldiers had dismounted the trucks and all the wounded had been brought into the nearby house's cellar. Some of the men where even too exhausted to stay on their feet and just fell down somewhere on the grass in the garden, thankful for getting at least some moments of rest here.

Walzer took the word now and said grimly smiling: "Für die 8.8er haben wir komlett keine Munition mehr, sollten Sie nicht zufällig 8.8cm Granaten haben, bringt es vorerst rein gar nichts, das Geschütz in Stellung gehen zu lassen. Gewehrmunition ist bei den Männern ebenfalls eng, aber wie Sie sagten, ist das hier kein Problem. Das Sturmgeschütz hat noch circa 10 Panzerprechende Granaten, auch verdammt wenig, aber besser als nichts."

Obersturmführer Anday slowly nodded his head. Looking over to the Sturmgeschütz, that was still standing some meters in front of the German convoy, Attila yelled at the very young commander to get into position behind the cover of a low row of thick bushes in the garden of the house. Within seconds, the StuG's engine roared to live again and it slowly rolled into the garden, crushing the small, wooden fence under it's tracks. When the driver had reached a good position, he turned the StuG around on one track, until the turret faced the street and the commander had a good view over it.

Satisfied with the position of the armored vehicle, Attila pushed aside the MP 40 that was hanging around his neck, to pull a crumpled pack of Juno cigarettes out of his fieldgrey tunic. After giving one to Walzer, he offered the pack to the younger Sturmscharführer before finally lighting one for himself. He turned to the NCO again and signaled him to follow up into the building besides the street. The Hungarian hadn't eaten for days and was quite sure to be able to find something inside the house.

Translations:

"Ich bin Obersturmführer Anday und hier neben mir, Untersturmführer Walzer. Zuerst nehmen Sie bitte Abstand davon, Befehle an meine Truppen zu erteilen, so lange Ich es Ihnen nicht so sage."
"I'm Obersturmführer Anday and this here besides me is Untersturmführer Walzer. First, please abdicate giving orders to my troops, as long as I don't say so."

"Ihre Nachrichten hören sich nicht besonders gut an, aber Ich denke meine sind sogar noch etwas schlechter. Meine Kampfgruppe kommt direkt von der Verteidigungslinie an der Oder. Nach über zwei Tagen ohne Kontakt zur Division habe Ich mich entschloßen, meine Truppen in Richtung Berlin zurückzuziehen. Die Russen hatten uns bereits auf beiden Seiten umgangen und wir wären sonst abgeschnitten worden. Von der Frontlinie am Fluss ist bei dem Großangriff der Bolschewisten nichts übrig geblieben."
"Your news do sound quite bad, but I'm sure mine are even a bit worse. My group is coming directly from the defensive line at the Oder river. After two days without having any contact with the division, I decided to retreat my troops toward Berlin. The Russians had already outflanked us on both sides and we would have gotten cut off completely otherwise. There's nothing left from the frontline at the river after the big offensive of the Bolsheviks."

"Für die 8.8er haben wir komlett keine Munition mehr, sollten Sie nicht zufällig 8.8cm Granaten haben, bringt es vorerst rein gar nichts, das Geschütz in Stellung gehen zu lassen. Gewehrmunition ist bei den Männern ebenfalls eng, aber wie Sie sagten, ist das hier kein Problem. Das Sturmgeschütz hat noch circa 10 Panzerprechende Granaten, auch verdammt wenig, aber besser als nichts."
"The 8.8 gun did completely run out of shells and if you shouldn't have some 8.8 shells in stock, it's pretty useless to bring the gun into position for the moment. The men are also very short on rifle ammunitions but as you said, that's not a problem here. The StuG still has left ten anti-tank shells, a damned little, but nevertheless better than nothing at all."

[William Luther]

Who the hell did this Obersturmfuhrer think he was? He just turns up at one of the few strong points in the city left and expect everyone to fawn over him? Luther had stopped people standing around and doing nothing and he was getting shouted at. Luther's arm dropped by his side, and his thumb brushed the side of his Browning. If he wanted to, he could draw now, and drop the man before he even blinked. He could make something up about a command coming through that the man was a traitor, enough had been issued recently.

He decided against it, morale was bad enough as it was. It wasn't the man's fault, Luthe rcould pick up on the Hungarian accent. It was a travesty, really, that foreigners were being allowed in to the SS. Luther could live with Austrians at a stretch, they were practically Aryan, but Hungarians on the other hand were practically Slavic!

He listend to the quick briefing, nodding thoughtfully before leading the way to the house as the StuG positioned itself. "We can call Headquarters, they may be able to send some shells out. Are there any other supplies your men need?" He shook his head at the cigarette, he didn't smoke. He knew it affected your performance, and they definately needed to be fighting 110% if they were to hold the city.

He called up to the radioman. "Get HQ on the line. Tell them to send... two dozen 88 shells. That's twenty-four 88mm shells. And try and get some 9mm thrown in too." He turned towards Aaday and looked the Officer up and down. He seemed to be more interested in sorting himself out than sorting his men out, an Officer's last priority. This went down like a bucket of cold puke.

"Are you an idiot or something Obersturmfuhrer? Your men are out there unprepared in the rain, with no plan of defense and here you are smoking and looking for food? If you don't want me ordering them, get them in to defensive positions, get ammunition spread around them and then rally up some porridge or whatever to warm them and get morale up! If all of our Officers were as incompetent as you are, Slav, then we would have lost this war a long time ago."

To make his point clear, as he was saying this he brought his StG44 from off his back and rested it in both hands. He'd be damned if he was going to lost this section of the city on the actions of one disposable Hungarian.

[∬: Attila Anday]

After Anday had made some steps toward the building, he turned his head and realized that the Sturmscharführer wasn't following him into the house. Instead he stood still and gainsaid the Hungarian in a way too arrogant tone. When the two SS- officers heard the word idiot, Anday and Walzer stared at each other in pure disbelief. This man must have completely lost his mind in the fierce situation of the last days. Some by standing soldiers from Anday's company, who hadn't finished to unload the trucks yet, also turned their heads in surprise. They never had heard someone speaking like that to their commander at all. Especially as Anday was well known to sometimes prefer the rather brutal and ancient methods of the Romanian forces to those used in the Wehrmacht.

As bad as the word idiot had made the situation for the younger man, the word Slav made things even worse. Attila bailed his hands to fists, angrily staring at the NCO, who had used words, his rank just didn't allow him to. Although Attila spoke with a light accent, he was as German as everyone else here and this man just stepped over a line, he would better not have crossed. In the moment, the NCO tried to get his weapon from his back, he got instantly surrounded by several of Attila's men, who were aiming their carbines and MP's at the tall Sturmscharführer, resting their fingers on the triggers. After the happenings of the last, hard days, all of these men felt a strong loyalty to the Hungarian CO, who had saved all their lives with retreating from the river just in time.

Untersturmführer Walzer instantly pulled his Luger out of the halter and pointed it at the head of the NCO, loudly yelling: "Lass die Waffe besser sofort fallen oder Ich erschieß dich gleich hier und jetzt!"

Only Attila didn't show any reaction at all. His face showing a cold, transfixed impression, Anday started to speak: "Sturmscharführer, für die Wahl Ihrer Worte müßte Ich Sie eigentlich sofort an der nächsten Laterne als Verräter aufhängen. Ich habe in meinen 8 Jahren in der Deutschen Armee, noch nie ein solch respektloses Verhalten gegenüber einem Offizier erlebt. Ich wollte die taktische Positionierung meiner Männer drinnen mit Ihnen besprechen, da Ich vorher einige Details über die Umgebung und vor allem Kontakt mit dem Hauptquartier brauche. Aber offensichtlich sind Sie im Moment nicht mehr der Herr Ihrer Sinne."

After taking a deep puff from his cigarette and blowing out the smoke up into the wet, cold Berlin air, Anday continued: "Allerdings habe Ich das eiserne Kreuz an Ihrer Uniform gesehen, welches mir sagt, daß sie wahrscheinlich in der Vergangenheit Ihren Teil für das Reich geleistet haben. Schätzen Sie sich glücklich, dieser Umstand rettet Ihnen gerade das Leben. Aber seien Sie sicher, ich werde so ein Verhalten nicht noch einmal tolerieren. Und jetzt habe ich noch eine sehr verantwortungsvolle Aufgabe für Sie, Sturmscharführer. Sie persönlich gehen jetzt sofort zur Feldküche und verteilen dann warmen Haferbrei an jeden einzelnen Mann meiner Kompanie. DAS IST EIN BEFEHL!"

Some of the by standing soldiers lowered their rifles now, grinning over their whole faces. Some of the men even started to laugh cheerfully over the NCO, who just had gotten made a mock of. But all the time while Anday spoke, Untersturmführer Walzer stiffly aimed his pistol at the NCO, making sure that any wrong movement or word of this man would be his last for a long time. It just wouldn't be possible to shoot off target from this close.

Translations:

"Lass die Waffe besser sofort fallen oder Ich erschieß dich gleich hier und jetzt!"
"You better immediately drop that weapon or I'll shoot you right here and now."

"Sturmscharführer, für die Wahl Ihrer Worte müßte Ich Sie eigentlich sofort an der nächsten Laterne als Verräter aufhängen. Ich habe in meinen 8 Jahren in der Deutschen Armee, noch nie ein solch respektloses Verhalten gegenüber einem Offizier erlebt. Ich wollte die taktische Positionierung meiner Männer drinnen mit Ihnen besprechen, da Ich vorher einige Details über die Umgebung und vor allem Kontakt mit dem Hauptquartier brauche. Aber offensichtlich sind Sie im Moment nicht mehr der Herr Ihrer Sinne."
"Sturmscharführer, alone for the choice of your words, I would have to hang you on the next lantern as a traitor immediately. In my eight years of service in the German forces, I've never experienced a behavior face to face with an officer, that was that disrespectful. I wanted to discuss the tactical positioning of my company with you inside, because I would need to get some more informations about the area and personal contact with the head quarters first. But obviously you're not longer controlling yourself at the moment."

"Allerdings habe Ich das eiserne Kreuz an Ihrer Uniform gesehen, welches mir sagt, daß sie wahrscheinlich in der Vergangenheit Ihren Teil für das Reich geleistet haben. Schätzen Sie sich glücklich, dieser Umstand rettet Ihnen gerade das Leben. Aber seien Sie sicher, ich werde so ein Verhalten nicht noch einmal tolerieren. Und jetzt habe ich noch eine sehr verantwortungsvolle Aufgabe für Sie, Sturmscharführer. Sie persönlich gehen jetzt sofort zur Feldküche und verteilen dann warmen Haferbrei an jeden einzelnen Mann meiner Kompanie. DAS IST EIN BEFEHL!"
"Nevertheless, I've seen the Iron Cross at your uniform, that tells me that you've most probably done your part for the Reich in the past. Consider yourself lucky that this fact is saving your live right now. But be sure, I won't be tolerating such behavior again. And now I do have a very responsible task for you, Sturmscharführer. You'll instantly walk over to the field kitchen now and carry out warm porridge to every last man of my company yourself. THIS IS AN ORDER!"

[William Luther]

Luther's reaction to the Luger being drawn and being surrounded was very much an anti-climax. He simply raised an eyebrow. Luther could just start shooting and take as many down, it would save the men the trouble of serving under this buffoon, or he could just calm the whole thing down.

"Obersturmfuhrer, Sie müssen getäuscht -" His cool speech was interrupted suddenly by the incoming swoop of artillery, the high explosive round impacting the building next door and detonating, sending a spray of wood and tiles flying through the air. Luther, along with the rest of the men threw himself to the ground.

He turned to the two Officer's, Luther being the first man to pick himself up from the dirt. "Wenn Sie mich, Herrn entschuldigen werden, gibt es einen Krieg, der das Gewinnen braucht. Ich bin sicher, dass Sie Ihre Männer bringen können, aber meinig sind unter dem Das Reich, nicht, welch auch immer Abteilung Sie davon sind. Ich weiß dieses Gebiet, fühlen Sie sich frei, mir Verteidigung zu folgen. Der erste Zug, auf mir!" He turned away and shouted the last sentance on the top of his lungs. They may want to control their men, but this was his sector, these were his men in the line, and as he shouted, they came moving from the house grabbing weapons and their equipment assembling loosely as they began moving along the garden towards the road. "Rottenfuhrer, nehmen Sie Ihren Trupp, lassen Sie sich auf dieser Seite der Straße nieder. Arrangieren Sie unten drei Häuser um und bereiten Sie sich vor, Infanterie zu überfallen. Gebrauch-Handgranaten, oder was für sonst müssen Sie versuchen und diese Rüstung verlangsamen. Der erste Trupp, kommen Sie mit mir."

With a few overly-macho affirmations, the two squads split. The radioman was half a step behind Luther, and the Machine Gun went with the other squad. He heard shouting from behind him as the two Officers started rallying men. If they had any sense between them, they would follow the lead of Luthers guys, as they knew where the best places to defend the approaches were.

A snipers round impacted the stone wall in front of Luther, who swore and began sprinting towards a building in front of them. The door was locked, and as he ran he dropped one shoulder and charged in to it, knocking it wide open. The squad followed in gratefully, as the large wooden portal swung backwards, dangling from one hinge, and the Sturmscharfuhrer rubbed his shoulder. With practise, they moved up the stairs, and began setting up by windows, ready to fight the Red war machine.

Translations

Wenn Sie mich, Herrn entschuldigen werden, gibt es einen Krieg, der das Gewinnen braucht. Ich bin sicher, dass Sie Ihre Männer bringen können, aber meinig sind unter dem Das Reich, nicht, welch auch immer Abteilung Sie davon sind. Ich weiß dieses Gebiet, fühlen Sie sich frei, mir Verteidigung zu folgen. Der erste Zug, auf mir! - If you'll excuse me, sir, there's a war that needs winning. I'm sure you can lead your men, but mine are under Das Reich, not whichever division you're from. I know this area, feel free to follow me defense. First Platoon, on me!

Rottenfuhrer, nehmen Sie Ihren Trupp, lassen Sie sich auf dieser Seite der Straße nieder. Arrangieren Sie unten drei Häuser um und bereiten Sie sich vor, Infanterie zu überfallen. Gebrauch-Handgranaten, oder was für sonst müssen Sie versuchen und diese Rüstung verlangsamen. Der erste Trupp, kommen Sie mit mir. - Rottenfuhrer, take your squad, set up on this side of the road. Move down about three houses and prepare to ambush infantry. Use grenades, or whatever else you have to try and slow down that armour. First squad, get with me.

[∬: Attila Anday]

Just when the NCO wanted to reply something again, Anday witnessed the ping of a single, incoming artillery shell. Most of the soldiers at the trucks spread out immediately and searched for cover in the garden or around the street. Brightly grinning, Anday realized, that the former arrogant NCO had been one of the first, who panicky dove to the ground, giving a more than lousy example for his soldiers. The two officers still stood at their feet and only ducked their heads a bit when the shell knocked into a house several meters away, making a loud bang. A whole part of the already heavily damaged building collapsed completely and came down on the road, causing a big cloud of dust.

Instantly, the Sturmscharführer lifted himself up again. Without really apologizing for his behavior, he started to yell out orders to his men and quickly turned away from the two officers. And what he now had to hear, made Anday stare at Walzer for a short moment in sheer disbelieve. Had this man really just ordered a whole platoon to ambush tanks with nothing more than grenades? Without equipping the men with any armor- breaking weaponry, that would be completely suicidal. Anday felt the urgent need to shoot this incompetent NCO right here and now. But on the other hand, some of the men here really seemed to trust that Sturmscharführer and just disposing him in front of all could have a giant effect on the morale of these soldiers.

Instantly deciding what to do, Attila raised his loud, deep voice. " Keiner meiner Männer folgt diesen idiotischen Befehlen. Der erste Zug sichert hier rechts der Hauptstraße, im Garten. Verteilt euch um das Sturmgeschütz. Der zweite Zug geht etwas nach hinten versetzt auf der linken Seite in Position. So schnell wie möglich tief eingraben. Ihr lasst euch von den Panzern überrollen und bekämpft nur die nachfolgende Infanterie. Und Ich will zwei MG in diesem Gebäude hier und den Rest der Männer auf die umliegenden Keller verteilt, sofort." Immediately, the four men that were left from the former MG- platoon, grabbed their weapons and disappeared in the small building at the street. Satisfied, Anday realized that all of his men had stayed with him and even some soldiers of the NCO's two platoons had joined Anday's group.

After the NCO had left with most of his men, Anday turned to one very young Scharführer from his platoon without hesitating. "Wir brauchen sofort Anschluß zu den Kompanien links und rechts von uns, oder zumindest das Wissen daß da nichts mehr ist. Stellen Sie sofort zwei kleine Spähtrupps zusammen. Sollten Sie irgendwo auf andere Deutsche Soldaten treffen, dann organisieren Sie uns eine PAK, ein paar 8.8 Granaten oder mindestens ein paar Panzerfäuste. Und wenn Sie die klauen müßen. Worauf warten sie noch?" Instantly the soldier left and started to carry out the given orders.

Quickly, the SS- officer walked over to the Stug III G, that now stood well hidden behind a flat row of bushes besides the street. The barrel of the armored vehicle aimed threatening into the sky. Around the Sturmgeschütz, German soldiers were hastily digging deep foxholes everywhere. All of the men knew exactly, what they had to await here and that a deep hole was the best insurance at the front. Luckily for the Germans the ground was quite soft and so most of the holes got finished within minutes only.

Anday knocked two times at the outside hull of the StuG and within some seconds, the head of the tank's commander lurked out of the hold. "Wie siehts mit Funkkontakt zum Rest aus?", the Hungarian SS-officer asked. "Seit ner halben Stunde gar nix mehr, Herr Obersturmführer. Alles tot auf sämtlichen Frequenzen. Die Russen haben bestimmt überall Ihre Funkstörtrupps im Gelände. Anders kann Ich mir das nicht erklären." The StuG's commander got interrupted by the noise of tank tracks, that constantly grew louder. "Na gut, versuchen Sie es später nochmal, jetzt gibts gleich wichtigeres zu tun.", the officer quickly replied and then moved himself into the cover of a big, very deep shell hole in the garden. From this point Anday had an excellent view over the street and the German defensive positions here.

The noise of the tanks could now only be some road blocks away, but Anday still wasn't able to recognize anything suspicious in front of the quickly built up positions. Strained, the officer observed the street through his binoculars, carefully peeking over the edge of his crate. How often had he pressed himself into the earth now, trying to stop the Russian juggernaut for a little longer? Was there any hope left at all, to stop this madness here in front of the Reichshauptstadt?

Translations:

" Keiner meiner Männer folgt diesen idiotischen Befehlen. Der erste Zug sichert hier rechts der Hauptstraße, im Garten. Verteilt euch um das Sturmgeschütz. Der zweite Zug geht etwas nach hinten versetzt auf der linken Seite in Position. So schnell wie möglich tief eingraben. Ihr lasst euch von den Panzern überrollen und bekämpft nur die nachfolgende Infanterie. Und Ich will zwei MG in diesem Gebäude hier und den Rest der Männer auf die umliegenden Keller verteilt, sofort."
"Nobody of my men follows these idiotic orders. The first platoon sets up here, right of the main road in the garden. Spread around the Sturmgeschütz. Second platoon takes up positions a bit in front of us to the left of the street. Dig yourselves in as fast as possible. You'll let the enemy armor roll over your holes and then fight the following, enemy infantry. And I want two MG's inside this house here and the rest of the men spread over the cellars of the surrounding buildings, instantly."

"Wir brauchen sofort Anschluß zu den Kompanien links und rechts von uns, oder zumindest das Wissen daß da nichts mehr ist. Stellen Sie sofort zwei kleine Spähtrupps zusammen. Sollten Sie irgendwo auf andere Deutsche Soldaten treffen, dann organisieren Sie uns eine PAK, ein paar 8.8 Granaten oder mindestens ein paar Panzerfäuste. Und wenn Sie die klauen müßen. Worauf warten sie noch?"
"We do need immediate connection to the companies left and right of us, or at least the sure information that there aren't any. Instantly gather together two small patrols. If you should meet other German soldiers anywhere, then try to organize an at- gun for us, some 8.8 shells or at least some Panzerfausts. And if you'll have to steal them. What are you still waiting for?"

"Wie siehts mit Funkkontakt zum Rest aus?"
"How about radio contact with the rest?"

"Seit ner halben Stunde gar nix mehr, Herr Obersturmführer. Alles tot auf sämtlichen Frequenzen. Die Russen haben bestimmt überall Ihre Funkstörtrupps im Gelände. Anders kann Ich mir das nicht erklären."
"No contact at all since half an hour, Herr Obersturmführer. All frequencies are dead. I believe the Russians must have some of their radio- interference teams around. I don't have any other explanation for that."

"Na gut, versuchen Sie es später nochmal, jetzt gibts gleich wichtigeres zu tun."
"Well, try again later, there will be more important things to do shortly."

[William Luther]

Luther quickly prepared himself for the battle, getting low behind a window and placing a pair of grenades on the ground next to him. The rest of his squad had taken up similar positions, and he heard the radio sparking up, Anday trying to reach other companies nearby. All of Luther’s men were deployed, they had gladly followed the Sturmscharfuhrer’s orders.

Across the road, Frankfurter’s men stayed away from the windows, getting low and pulling out grenades, pulling off the handles and sticking the heads together. It was all they had, but it could take out a tank’s tracks, and that would block the road, stopping the entire advance. Of course, the tricky bit was getting up to the vehicle and getting it in place, but that was to be worried about later.

The Machine Gun was carried up to the roof, and set up with the gunner stood on a window cover coming out parallel to the ground, the weapon on the apex of the roof in a position which meant tanks couldn’t get the angle to shoot it.

A deathly silence fell upon the street, the whole world seemingly taking a deep breath. Finally, shattering this, a single tank spearheading the assault came over the brow of a hill, showing itself to the Germans, followed by another pair of tanks taking up almost the whole width of the width of the road, with infantry sheepishly moving either side of them, peeking in to every garden and window the passed. The Germans remained perfectly still waiting for the tank to notice the defenders at the end of the road around the Sturmgeschütz.

The tank noticed it, and sent a round down towards it, tearing a massive crater from the earth. Luther raised his fist, showing the men to carry on holding their fire. It was imperative that the lead tank got past them before they opened fire, as the tanks behind it were close enough to prevent them from twisting their barrels to face the building. From across the road, he saw an arm reach out from an open doorway, with the bundle of grenade heads in it, and place it just in front of the lead tank. Luther tightened his grip slightly on his weapon, waiting for the explosion.

It detonated, sending a flurry of panic over the Soviet forces, as they realised they were in the middle of an ambush. The MG34 sparked in to life, sending down heavy rounds in to the chests of several enemy soldiers, and from the windows various rifles opened fire.

[∬: Attila Anday]

The noise of heavy tank engines grew louder and louder with every moment now. But still, Anday wasn't able to recognize anything. All around him, German Grenadiers lay in their holes or waited behind the windows and in the cellars of the destroyed houses nearby. All of the men had managed to survive these last, awful days at the Oder river. They had experienced the unstoppable force of the Russian advance before, they had seen most of their comrades getting wounded or worse and still these soldiers desperately dug their claws into the earth of their homeland, trying to defend every meter of it.

In the moment, he saw the first enemy tank approaching, the Obersturmführer instinctively held his breathe for a second. Through his binoculars, the officer clearly recognized the shape of a Russian T 34 tank that was carefully rolling over the top of a small hill in front of the German lines. Only showing his heavier armored front to the defenders, the tanks turret slowly rotated in search for a victim. Directly behind, two more of the metal giants came in sight now.

The German soldiers had gotten all quiet now and everybody pressed himself a bit deeper into cover. In the meanwhile, the Russians hadn't realized about the presence of the SS- men at all, as they slowly continued their way deeper into the city of Berlin. Following the tanks, there was a whole load of infantrymen in their ugly, earth brown uniforms. The Bolsheviks were moving without any sense for the danger that was waiting for them along the street. Most of them were chatting with their neighbors and some of them even smoking cigarettes. A raising feel of anger came over the Hungarian, when he realized that the Russians actually felt safe, because they knew that the war would be over soon and that they would probably be the winning party at the end. But instantly the SS-officer pushed away these dark thoughts, completely focusing his mind on the advancing Russians again and grabbing his MP 40 even tighter.

"Keiner schießt ohne Befehl, wir lassen Sie erstmal nahe genug rankommen.", Anday loudly ordered to his men, knowing that the noise of the tanks would make it impossible for the Russians to hear him. Suddenly the leading tank stopped on the small hill and turned his turret around, aiming directly at the German positions. A single shell left the tank's barrel with a hard bang and exploded around 50 meters in front of Anday's hole. A big cloud of dirt rose into the air and several metal splitters knocked at the armored hull of the StuG.

But apparently the Russians hadn't discovered their enemies by now and it had just been a random shot they had fired, because a few moments later the tanks carefully continued their movement on the small, cobbled road. In the very next second, all hell broke loose in the narrow street. A destructive German defensive fire engulfed the Russians from behind. A large explosion shook the leading one of the Russian tanks and clearly Anday could recognize that the left track had completely gotten removed from the wheels. Immediately the T 34 stopped, turning his turret around in search of the attacker.

From nearly every window shots popped now and from the roof of one of the houses, a German machinegun spread bullets towards the advancing enemy. The effect on the Russians was devastating. Obviously this Sturmscharführer Luther had brought his men into a good position for an ambush and completely had surprised the advancing Bolsheviks. Adrenaline started pumping through the body of the Hungarian. As loud as he could, Anday started yelling through the cold spring air: "Alle Mann, Feuer frei. Gebt Ihnen was Ihr habt." In the corner of his eyes, Anday saw the commander of the StuG disappearing in the hold of the vehicle. Immediately after, the Sturmgeschütz fired it's first shell at the Russian tank to the far right. The shell hit the ground just some meters off, but the second one followed only a few moments later. With a loud bang, it hit the T 34 directly and the tank's turret got tossed through the air in a loud explosion, hardly landing on the ground several meters besides. Obviously, no member of the Russian tank crew had a chance to survive here.

In the same moment, the two MG 42's in the building behind started shooting in long, stagnant bursts. Everywhere German soldiers came out of their holes now, to empty the magazines of their MP's and rifles toward the Russians. When the first attack from behind had caught the Russians with their pants down, the heavy fire from the front completely was too much to take for the attackers now. Who hadn't got hit by now, turned around in pure panic and tried to get out of this ambush with nothing more than his pure life.

Translations:

"Keiner schießt ohne Befehl, wir lassen Sie erstmal nahe genug rankommen."
"Nobody shoots without being ordered to. We'll let them come close enough first."

"Alle Mann, Feuer frei. Gebt Ihnen was Ihr habt."
"Fire, everybody. Give them everything you've got."

[William Luther]

The ambush was a success, a German tank disabled and the street as littered with Soviet bodies in a matter of seconds. The turret of the T-34 began twisting round to face the windows the Germans were in, but thankfully, Anday’s men put a round in to it destroying it. As quickly as it began, the two other tanks began backing up and the infantry followed them along the street. Luther made a cut-throat signal across the road to the Corporal who quickly ordered his ambush to a halt, and began moving his men to the street.

The tank was in a brilliant position, in the middle of the street with a channel either side of it. It was a heavy thing, and while another tank would be able to shunt it, it would take time and infantry would form two firing lines as they passed. There was a small fire starting to burn, struggling to find fuel at the top of the tank where the shell had hit it. ” Jemand hat jenes Feuer draußen gestellt, nicht wollen wir die Straße, niederzubrennen!” One Private came running with a sandbag, and slit it above the flame, killing it in a matter of seconds. Luckily, the fuel and the ammunition hadn’t been hit in the process; otherwise it could have been a lot messier.

” Jemand schickt einen Läufer hinunter zu Anday ich annehme, erzählt ihn, dass wir einen arbeitsunfähigen Tank haben. Wir werden zurück ein Bit bewegen, damit wir Enten nicht sitzen, und wir werden die schwereren russischen Waffen sammeln.” Another Private responded, turned, and ran down the street, holding his rifle in one arm above his head to indicate he was friendly, and to find the Officer. Luther begrudgingly sent the message because the fact was, Anday had a lot of men at his disposal, and while Luther's men would happily stand by the Sturmscharfuhrer, they wouldn’t be able to win a fight against them. And they could still take out a lot of Russians. The rest of the men began moving in to the street, raiding bleeding Russian bodies, taking away there Machine Guns and anti-tank weapons. There were only a few of each, but it meant extra firepower for the Germans. If they could take out another tank, another squad, it would make a massive difference for the defence of the city, every true German needed to make an effort to keep the city strong until reinforcements arrived.

Translations
Jemand hat jenes Feuer draußen gestellt, nicht wollen wir die Straße, niederzubrennen! - Somebody put that fire out, we don't want the street burning down!

Jemand schickt einen Läufer hinunter zu Anday ich annehme, erzählt ihn, dass wir einen arbeitsunfähigen Tank haben. Wir werden zurück ein Bit bewegen, damit wir Enten nicht sitzen, und wir werden die schwereren russischen Waffen sammeln. - Somebody send a runner down to Anday I suppose, tell him we have a disabled tank. We'll move back a bit so we're not sitting ducks, and we'll gather the heavier Russian weapons.

[∬: Attila Anday]

The whole action was over in less than a few minutes. After the devastating ambush, the Bolshevik soldiers who had managed to survive, betook themselves to flight. The narrow street was covered with dead and wounded Russians. Only some meters in front of Anday’s cover, a very young Russian lay in a big puddle of blood. His right leg was cut off and lay some meters besides the man. His screams of agony were nearly unbearable. Although Anday didn’t understand the Russian language very well, he clearly could sound the word matka (Russian for mother) out several times. But even his mother wouldn’t be able to help her son here. Anday was actually nearly thankful, when one of the soldiers besides him plucked up his courage and ended the pain of the Russian with a single, well aimed shot from his carbine.

Quickly after the last shots cracked through the wet air, there was a frightening silence spreading in the alley again, only disturbed by the sounds of firing machineguns and detonating shells coming from some distance, what was an obvious sign that the intensity of the fighting in the Reichshauptstadt was increasing from hour to hour.

"Sehr gut gemacht, Männer. Die Russen werden sich wahrscheinlich erst einmal zurückziehen um Ihre Wunden zu lecken. Wir bleiben vorerst hier in Stellung, also bleibt weiter wachsam, ich will keine bösen Überraschungen erleben.", Anday spoke up to the men of his company. The faces of the soldiers around the officer wore grim and determined expressions. Some of the men slowly nodded their heads, to show to Anday that they had understood, whilst most of them used the short fighting break to gather themselves a bit. Some soldiers took small nips from their canteens and the few, who never lost their hunger, used to hastily pitch into the very rest of their cold provisions.

While his soldiers used the given time to refresh, Anday didn’t grant himself any of that luxury. Strained, the Hungarian kept observing the narrow street with his binoculars. There wasn’t any Bolshevik showing at all, but after some moments, Anday clearly recognized a single German soldier advancing toward the defensive positions. The man held his rifle highly rose over his head and quickly sprinted through the empty Berlin street, disappearing behind some cover every now and then.

Only some seconds later, the soldier had reached his destination and instantly dropped himself down in the small shell hole next to the Hungarian. The young private was completely winded and it took him some moments, to find his breath again. After he had regained his strengths a bit, the man turned to Anday and started speaking: "Herr Obersturmführer, Ich komme direkt von Sturmscharführer Luther. Ich soll melden, dass einer der Russischen Panzer nur leicht beschädigt wurde und jetzt unter Unserer Kontrolle ist." Of course, those were some quiet good news to hear for the Hungarian. Without hesitating, he shortly nodded his head as a respond and pressed himself off the ground, quickly walking over to the Sturmgeschütz.

Oberscharführer Falke, the commander of the StuG, peeked out of the tank’s small hold, also observing the surroundings with his spyglass. When he realized Anday coming towards him, he raised his hand to his head as a salute and a small grin hushed over the NCO's face. "Das sah ja ganz gut aus, jetzt ist der Endsiedg nur noch eine Frage der Zeit." Not responding to that irony at all, Anday looked at Falke with a serious expression on his face.

"Mir ist grad nicht nach Ihren Späßen zumute, Oberscharführer. Sturmscharführer Luthers Männer haben einen beschädigten T- 34 gekapert und wir können das gute Stück hier auch ganz gut gebrauchen. Ihr Fahrer versteht doch was von Technik? Schicken Sie den doch mal rüber zu Luther. Er soll mal schauen ob er den Panzer nicht wieder zum Laufen bekommt.", the officer raised his voice. Only seconds later, the driver of the tank backed out of the armored vehicle through the retral hold, shortly saluted to Anday and immediately started his way toward the positions of Luther's men.

In the moment, the driver disappeared behind the corner of one of the heavily damaged buildings, another sound mixed with the noise of the war in the background. In the very first moment, it was nearly inaudible at all, but from minute to minute the sound grew louder now. Instantly, Anday became a very uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, when he finally identified the sound as the hum of plane engines that were quickly coming closer. And he knew all too well, that the plausibility of hearing the engines of German planes was next to zero at all.

Translations:

"Sehr gut gemacht ..."
"That was very well done soldiers. The Russians will most probably retreat for now to lick their wounds. We’ll stay in position here for the time being, so stay alerted. I don’t want to witness any bad surprises at all."

"Herr Obersturmführer, Ich komme ..."
"Herr Obersturmführer, I’m coming directly from Sturmscharführer Luther. I got sent to immediately report to you that we’ve one of the Russian tanks only got slightly damaged and is under our control now."

"Das sah ja ganz gut aus, jetzt ist der Endsiedg nur noch eine Frage der Zeit."
"That did look pretty good, the ultimate victory should only be a matter of time now."

"Mir ist grad nicht nach Ihren Späßen zumute ..."
"I'm not in the mood for your jokes right now, Oberscharführer. Sturmscharführer Luther's men have captured a damaged T- 34 and we could put this one into use pretty good here. Your driver does know a bit about Technics, doesn't he? Just send him over to Luther. He shall have a look, if he can manage to bring that tank back to live."

[William Luther]

Luther finished trawling through the bodies. He smiled as he came across a SG-43 Goryunov, a Soviet medium machine gun with a tripod, as well as about 200 rounds for it. He slung his StG44 and slung the ammunition belt over his shoulder before grabbing the heavy weapon, all 13.8kg of it and dragged it back over to the tank shell, finding a stranger amongst his group.

He approached the stranger, recognising him as an SS-Mann. Luther nodded at him, indicating for him to speak as he placed the Machine Gun down by a pile of weaponry, including another machine gun and a pair of lend-lease Bazookas, with about five shells between them. It wasn’t much, but it was more than they had by a long shot. The stranger piped up, ” Unterfuhrer, ich bin gesandt worden, um zu versuchen und diesen Zisterne-Mechanismus zu bekommen.” Luther nodded and turned once again to the vehicle. The main gun had been blasted completely off, and now lay about two meters down the street. However, he assumed the engine would be working, and he gave the engineer a lift so he could climb in to the vehicle. ” Seien Sie vorsichtig, es gibt noch einige Russen in dort,’ he half-joked, before suddenly becoming serious, ” Wenn Sie es der Mechanismus bekommen können, versuchen Sie und manouevre es ergreift darauf Partei, so dass es so etwa die komplette Straße blockiert.’

He turned his back to the vehicle and signalled for his men to gather around. ” Wir haben jetzt drei Maschinengewehre, so will ich Paare, die die Nester, und weitere zwei Mann-Mannschaft aufstellen einen der bazooks und drei Schalen nimmt. Wir sind dabei, dieses große Gebäude über die Straße mit dem vereinigten Dach zwischen den zwei Häusern, und einem Haus auf dieser Seite ein bisschen weiter zurück zu verwenden. Dieselben Regeln der Verpflichtung wie letztes Mal, lassen Sie sie zuerst schießen, oder auf meinen Befehl warten.” They nodded quickly, and began splitting up and gathering weapons. He heard grunts and swearing from the tank hull as the engineer tried to get it working, and Luther bent down gathering up the second Bazooka and the other two shells, he’d take them down to Anday himself.

He began walking through the street, hugging one side and began picking up speed, before darting across to Anday’s side and coming behind the Officer before placing the gear on the ground. ” Herr, wir lassen uns für einen anderen Hinterhalt nieder, aber ich fürchte, dass das das letzte Mal sein wird, wenn wir im Stande sein werden, es vor dem bis dazu klugen Feind zu tun. Ich möchte, dass einige Ihrer Männer kamen und halfen, anzufangen, einen Panzerabwehrabzugsgraben zu graben.”

He heard a droning sound and looked up to the sky, scanning quickly, noticing a few others were doing it. A sudden shout had everyone turn their heads as a Russian Il-2 banked and began aiming itself towards the German units. Luther swore under his breath, and prepared to run for cover if it decided that they were going to be opportune targets. These Russians had pulled out all the stops.

Translations

Unterfuhrer, ich bin gesandt worden, um zu versuchen und diesen Zisterne-Mechanismus zu bekommen. - Unterfuhrer, I've been sent to try and get this tank working.

Seien Sie vorsichtig, es gibt noch einige Russen in dort, - Be careful, there are still some Russians in there,

Wenn Sie es der Mechanismus bekommen können, versuchen Sie und manouevre es ergreift darauf Partei, so dass es so etwa die komplette Straße blockiert. - If you can get it working, try and manouevre it side on so that it blocks just about the entire street.

Wir haben jetzt drei Maschinengewehre, so will ich Paare, die die Nester, und weitere zwei Mann-Mannschaft aufstellen einen der bazooks und drei Schalen nimmt. Wir sind dabei, dieses große Gebäude über die Straße mit dem vereinigten Dach zwischen den zwei Häusern, und einem Haus auf dieser Seite ein bisschen weiter zurück zu verwenden. Dieselben Regeln der Verpflichtung wie letztes Mal, lassen Sie sie zuerst schießen, oder auf meinen Befehl warten. - We now have three machine guns, so I want pairs setting up nests, and another two man team taking one of the bazooks and three shells. We're going to use that large building across the road with the conjoined roof between the two houses, and a house on this side slightly further back. Same rules of engagement as last time, let them fire first, or wait for my command.

Herr, wir lassen uns für einen anderen Hinterhalt nieder, aber ich fürchte, dass das das letzte Mal sein wird, wenn wir im Stande sein werden, es vor dem bis dazu klugen Feind zu tun. Ich möchte, dass einige Ihrer Männer kamen und halfen, anzufangen, einen Panzerabwehrabzugsgraben zu graben. - Sir, we're setting up for another ambush, but I fear this will be the last time we'll be able to do it before the enemy wise up to it. I would like some of your men to come and help start digging an anti-tank ditch.

[∬: Attila Anday]

Hearing some heavy steps from behind, Anday turned around and recognized Sturmscharführer Luther coming, who brought some swag- equipment with him. Surprised the officer realized that the NCO carried an American engineered Bazooka and some additional rockets in his arms. Anday had heard about the land- lease program earlier and he also had seen a lot of American tanks, jeeps and especially planes at the eastern front before. He often had wondered, if the Americans would really know, who they were selling all these weapons to? But obviously this whole world appeared to have lost track in these insane days.

Rattling Luther placed the gear in one of the foxholes and started speaking with his rough sounding voice. But because of the growl in the skies, that grew louder and louder with every moment now, Anday didn't understand a lot of what the NCO wanted to tell him. And before Anday was able to ask for the man to repeat his last words, a sudden yell came over from the direction of the Sturmgeschütz. "Die Russen kommen mit Bombern, alle Mann in Deckung!" Only seconds later, Anday was able to discover the enemy. There was a whole bunch of silvery glancing shapes at the sky, quickly coming closer toward the group of Germans. The trained eyes of the Obersturmführer recognized the planes to be one- engined Ilyushin Il- 2 bombers, one of the most dangerous, enemy types of all. The belly of it was strongly armored, what made the plane somewhat invincible against normal infantry- weapons. And unfortunately, an aa- gun with a proper amount of ammunition was something the SS- officer could only dream of at the moment.

Only a short moment later, the Russian bombers were directly above the German positions and started circling like eagles that searched for their prey. Clearly, Anday now recognized the lightning red star under the wings of the machines. Probably these planes were the direct answer to the German ambush just about half an hour ago, because the pilots seemed to know all too well, where they could be able to find some enemies. "Alle Mann die Köpfe runter und bleibt verdammt noch mal unten, auch wenns gleich etwas laut wird.", Anday loudly shouted at the surrounding men.

All of the Germans ducked their heads deeply down behind their cover now. Hiding in their foxholes, in the cellars of the nearby buildings or in the ruins of the already destroyed ones, the SS- men strained watched the skies with held breath. A awful feeling of helplessness rose within Anday, who lay in his dirty, deep burrow and only could angrily clench his fists until his wristlets were blooming white, while the Russian pilots probably felt like being on a training mission. Quickly the Bolsheviks seemed to have found something interesting enough, as the first of the Il- 2s started to nosedive toward the narrow Berlin street, directly followed by the other bombers. Making a horrible noise, the first bombs fell throughout the positions of the defenders with a twisting sound and sent splinters of all kinds of material through the air.

The next scenes happened all too fast. Everywhere the Bolshevik bombs exploded and it felt to Anday as if hell had just opened up. The whole ground was shacking under the force of the explosives. Just seconds later, one of the heavy bombs hit the ground only several meters away from the edge of his foxhole. A big fountain of dirt rose into the sky and covered Anday, who snorting snapped for breath. Loudly the bang echoed in the officer's ears. Everywhere around the Hungarian was wet earth now and a pressuring weight lay on his head. Luckily he had decided to change his officers cap for his steel helmet, when the enemy planes had appeared. That helmet most probably had saved the man's live for the moment but he was nearly buried in his earth hole and unable to move now. Surprisingly for himself, Anday didn't feel any fear in that moment. Spitting brown dirt out of his mouth, the officer closed his eyes for a second. In his mind he saw weird pictures of a beautiful women. She wore an amazingly long robe and danced lonely in the middle of a giant, wonderful ballroom. The whole room was lighted in red and beige lights and the women's blonde hair waved salaciously through the air while she moved in a irresistibly manner. After a while it appeared, as if the woman would put forth her hand toward Anday and the officer felt like he was losing himself in this wonderful imagination. Slowly outreaching his arm, he tried to grab her hand.

Translations:

"Die Russen kommen mit Bombern, alle Mann in Deckung!"
"The Russians are coming with bombers. Get down, everyone!"

"Alle Mann die Köpfe runter und ... ."
"Heads down everyone and damned stay there, even if it's going to get a bit loud soon."

[William Luther]

As the Russian bombers came swooping low overhead, Luther leapt over the ground and skidded in to a foxhole besides the Officer who had pulled a gun at him earlier. Luther ignored that for the moment, as the earth cracked around him while the tail-gunner of one of the aircraft sent a blast of lead around them. Luther followed his training his he heard the whine of the diving planes and the whistle of the bombs, by covering his ears to try and protect his hearing, and having his mouth gape open to counter the pressure change the high explosives would cause.

Explosions wracked the earth, and once Luther was quite sure they were gone, he carefully stuck his head out of cover. The Officer next to him pushed him to the side, and as Luther’s shoulder hit the ground, he felt his hand tighten around his knife without thinking. He almost drew it before deciding against the action, as the Officer began shouting to see if everyone was Okay. Luther’s hearing was a bit dulled, and there was a definite high-pitched whine, but that was usual.

He noticed a large mound of earth, almost like a funeral pyre, and sticking out of it was a single thrashing boot. Luther threw his StG44 to the ground, and grabbed an entrenching tool from some gear that had been abandoned. Two men were trying to pull the man out by his legs, but the sheer amount of earth made this impossible. Luther began shovelling the earth, trying to lighten it enough for the solider whoever he was to be pulled out, and he was quickly joined by another three excavators. Once, Luther stuck the shovel in, and hit something hard, and he quickly threw it away, going in with his hands and blindly grabbing the shirt of the soldier, and lifted.

Much to his surprise, it was a coughing and spluttering Anday who he had liberated from the dirt grave, and as a medic came sprinting over, Luther pulled the man over and placed him on the flat grass next to the pyre. He looked up, smiling as the Russian aircraft peeled away towards the East, most likely going to get more bombs.