Blood-red snow (Dieter)

[∬: Attila Anday]

Country: Belgium, the Ardennes
Current Time: 21.12.1944, 10 a.m.
Weather Conditions: Freezing cold, heavily clouded but dry at the moment

"Herr Obersturmführer, die letzten 25 Mann von unseren Verstärkungen sind gerade angekommen." Anday lit himself a cigarette and slowly nodded his head to the SS- Scharführer standing besides him. While saying the word reinforcements, the young NCO had grimaced his face in disgrace. Without replying to that gesture, Attila turned around and walked over to a big wooden barn with two Opel trucks standing in front. The light snow on the ground crunched under his bulky boots and his mind was wandering.

Attila's company had taken part in the initial attacks of this mysterious something here in the Ardennes, that felt like the big turn of the tide in this war to so many. The giant force of the superior, German tanks had crushed the Allied lines in the first days of this offensive and the enemy had surrendered in complete battalions. Attila had seen endless columns of American prisoners walking east, all of them with empty and absolutely shocked faces. It had been a bit of the feeling of the glorious days in 1940, when the Germans had destroyed whole French divisions within days. But this time, everything had a bitter aftertaste to the SS- officer.

The whole offensive plan was a big secret and the orders of the Führer said, that every officer should only know as much about the situation, as he would need to get his very own job done. And so Attila didn't know a lot more than the average soldier under his command. He only was able to guess about the big objective of his own doings, what of course felt quite uncomfortable to him.

While having his company in rest behind the direct frontline for one day, Anday had gotten the order to lead his company to Senonchamps, a small village in the south- west of Bastogne. From a close friend in the regimental- command, Attila had heard that the city Bastogne was the biggest, American supply base in the Ardennes and that it had gotten encircled completely by the German forces during the last days. But the encirclement was still thin and Anday's company should strengthen the lines at Senonchamps against more than possible, American counter attacks.

Although the initial attacks of the German offensive had been very successful, Attila's unit had suffered quite hard losses during the first days. In some areas, the American resistance was way stiffer than expected and the Jerry's literary had fought to the last man. To reinforce his fighting group for continuing the offensive, the high command had promised Attila to send him two additional platoons of Panzergrenadiers coming from the Wehrmacht.

And these two platoons had just arrived now. The men of the two platoons had just finished to unman the trucks. Slowly walking toward them, Anday observed every single one of them for a second. Now he could understand the disgrace in the face of his NCO some moments ago. Most of the soldiers did look like children, put into an uniform, that was way too big. Their faces showed a mixture of fear and the absolute will to not screw anything up. Some other men looked like already being way too old to be a soldier in a regular army. These grandfathers stared at Attila with empty and expressionless eyes. Only very few of these soldiers appeared like experienced fighters, one Feldwebel even wore the Iron Cross first class and the East-medal. But the overall impression, this group made on the officer, was actually more than poor.

Trying to sound as strong as his own nescience made it possible to him in the moment, Attila loudly spoke to the men: "Männer, die Amerikaner weichen zurück und die Offensive muß schnellstmöglich und mit aller Härte weiter geführt werden. Ihr steht nun an unserer Seite. Ich erwarte vollsten Einsatz von jedem einzelnen von euch, ein Versagen in diesem Kampf kommt nicht in Frage. In einer halben Stunde marschieren wir ab, die Zugführer in zehn Minuten zu mir."

While speaking, Attila realized satisfied, that he probably should have sounded convincing enough, to gain these men's trust for the moment. After he had finished his tiny speech, the tall Hungarian turned around and issued some more orders to his NCOs, regarding the equipment of his soldiers.

Translations:

"Herr Obersturmführer, die letzten 25 Mann von unseren Verstärkungen sind gerade angekommen.
"Herr Obersturmführer, the last 25 men of our reinforcements have just arrived."

"Männer, die Amerikaner weichen zurück und die Offensive muß schnellstmöglich und mit aller Härte weiter geführt werden. Ihr steht nun an unserer Seite. Ich erwarte vollsten Einsatz von jedem einzelnen von euch, ein Versagen in diesem Kampf kommt nicht in Frage. In einer halben Stunde marschieren wir ab, die Zugführer in zehn Minuten zu mir."
"Soldiers, the Americans are loosing ground and we have to continue the offensive with all severity. You'll now fight on our side. I estimate the fullest assignment of every last one of you, a defeat in this fight is not an option at all. We'll leave here in half an hour, the platoon leaders will meet me in ten minutes."

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

The cold air sharply bit any part of Dieter's skin that was exposed to the freezing temperature outside. His clothing was warm enough, but having spent such a long time in Africa had made him less resistant to the cold. While fighting in Africa he had not, of course, actually fawned over the burning heat of the sun and the sand and dust that seemed to get everywhere. After the bitter defeat and very narrow escape from the other continent, he had realized that maybe Africa had after all grown on him. It was something he would have never believed, but the snowy landscape seemed very alien to him now.

The Opel Blitz bounced jerkily over the frozen mud and the German soldiers inside the truck kept bumping into each other's shoulders, but were too tired to care. They were supposed to be the reinforcements, but most of them had enjoyed little rest lately. Dieter's blue eyes scanned over the rows of men inside the truck. It seemed that the Fatherland was running out of proper fighting men as Dieter now found himself in the middle of mere boys and old men who had seen more winters than Dieter's own father had. This did not of course work to lift Dieter's mood much and the blonde man let out a heavy sigh.

At first he had been rather reluctant to become a soldier and had only done so because he had not been given any choice by his parents. He had defied all authority for as long as he remembered and had been one to cause trouble wherever he went. The military school in Dresden had quickly taught him humility and although he was reluctant to admit it, it had actually been good for him. It was only in Africa where he had finally fully committed to fighting for Germany and maybe even more so for the soldiers that he had become to consider his friends.

Being shipped out to fight the Americans with these rather useless men reminded Dieter once again of how he had at first refused to bend to the will of his instructors in the military school. That familiar rebellious feeling seemed to remind him of it's existence now, but Dieter knew better than to give it too much room to grow. Times were different now, he had seen his share of the war and was not ready to give up just because he did not feel like fighting. That would mean that all the battles and all the lives that had been lost would mean nothing at all. Even if the situation seemed unpleasant, Dieter would try to do his best.

Besides, they were going to fight alongside Waffen-SS and under their command, so Dieter knew better than to even consider disobedience. He detested the SS and had so far only experienced unpleasant confrontations with them. To Dieter, the SS was filled with raving fanatics and he had learned to hate such people. His illusions of Hitler and National Socialism had crumbled fast after he had been introduced to the horrors of war. He had not been the only one feeling forgotten and stranded in the deserts of North Africa when supplies had become nonexistent. It was as if the Führer and the high command of the army had not bothered to think about the German soldiers fighting and dying for their country on such a far away continent. Dieter was sure that they had not truly cared and the thought made his insides churn with disgust.

The Opel Blitz jolted sharply as it came to a sudden stop and some of the soldiers grabbed hold of the edge of the seat or tried to use the butts of their rifles to steady themselves. The tailgate was opened and Dieter lumbered out of the truck with the other soldiers, his boots landing heavily on the frozen ground as he jumped out. The more experienced of the men, including Dieter himself, were quick to make the younger and older soldiers to stand in a neat line. These scared young boys and tired old men did not really make for an impressive sight, so Dieter decided that he would stand straighter than anyone else and lift his chin high to show the SS that the normal standard of the Wehrmacht was quite different from this sorry bunch.

They were just in time, as Dieter already spotted the Obersturmführer of the SS advancing towards them. A quick command to stand at attention was called and Dieter snapped the heels of his boots together. His icy-blue eyes stared straight ahead, defiant and proud. Still, the man could not really prevent himself from looking somewhat scornful as his gaze fixed on these men from the SS. How he wished he could have been somewhere else, surrounded with the good soldiers and familiar friends of the 21st Panzer. The tall Obersturmführer resorted to giving them a very short speech, a fact of which Dieter was quite happy. He was not one for listening to ridiculously long monologues and would have rather gone to participate in the fighting as soon as possible. At least then he was doing something instead of standing around in the freezing weather.

As experienced men were scarce in this particular group, the men in charge of the platoons included the more experienced Feldwebel and Dieter himself. Feldwebel was the highest ranking man of this sorry lot and Dieter himself was merely a lance corporal. Dieter and the Feldwebel with about five other men were the most experienced of the soldiers and it was clear that they would be the ones having to steer these children and grandfathers through this whole mess. As the SS officer ended his speech, he turned around to regard other matters. The Feldwebel and the staff sergeant set to organizing the men, telling them to be ready in half an hour and to make sure that all of their gear was in battle condition.

Some of the men groaned as they set to the task of checking their equipment, the morale was not exactly boosting sky-high. Some of the young boys had hardly seen any battle and the presence of the feared SS only made their mood worse. Dieter exchanged knowing glances with the Feldwebel and the men busied themselves with making sure that everything was in order before returning to the Obersturmführer for further briefing as ordered.

Both of the men stood at attention, staying a respectful distance away from the officers of the SS. A clear distinction and strange tension between the men of the Wehrmacht and SS was quite obvious and Dieter's eyes narrowed with barely hidden distaste.

[∬: Attila Anday]

Exactly ten minutes later, Anday stood in the middle of the wooden barn in front of some ammunition boxes. On the boxes, a map of the area was spread, surrounded by three more SS-NCOs. The air inside the barn was filled with the stench of cows and it was freezing cold inside the small building. Attila had his hands wrapped around a cup filled with hot coffee and from time to time he took a small nip from the beverage. The warmth felt pleasing inside the Hungarian's throat and the bitter taste dispersed his leaden tiredness for the moment.

The door of the barn swung open and two men entered, bringing a freezing breeze with them. One of them was the highly decorated Feldwebel, that had caught Attila's attention before. His MP 44 was casually slung around his neck. The other man was a Stabsgefreiter, probably around 30 years old, who obviously tried to stay a bit in the background of the situation by now. Normally, Stabsgefreiter would be a way too low of a rank for someone, to actually be responsible for a whole platoon of men. But experienced officers had gotten some kind of a rarity within the German forces these days. The Feldwebel instantly sprung to attention in front of Attila and zestfully lifted his right arm into the air to perform the Hitler- greeting. There was a nasty scar running all through the face of the NCO and in his eyes, Attila recognized, that the man surely wasn't as old as his first impression made him. Although he even had some first grey hairs, he couldn't be older than 25 maybe.

Attila just tiredly waved aside with his hand, because he wasn't all too keen about these formal requirements any more. These things had been invented for the paper-pushers, who were sitting at their safe desks in the rear, playing soldier from time to time. The NCO looked kind of surprised at Attila for a short moment, but started grinning when he understood. One SS- Sturmmann came from the other room of the barn and handed out cups filled with warm coffee to the Wehrmacht- soldiers.

After he had left a moment to each of the men to drink a mouthful of coffee, Anday slowly spoke up with his slight accent: "Willkommen meine Herren, Ich bin Obersturmführer Anday und das hier sind die Führer meiner 3 Züge, die Scharführer Nagel und Kleinhans, sowie Unterscharführer Fink. Um sofort ehrlich mit Ihnen zu reden, ich weiss nicht viel mehr als Sie. Die Gesamtlage in unserem Sektor ist, militärisch gesagt beschissen. Der Belagerungsring um Bastogne ist immer noch sehr dünn und die Amerikaner leisten weiterhin erbitterten Widerstand." The SS- officer made a short break to take a nip from his coffee and silently observed the other men in the room for a moment. After a second, the Hungarian bent himself over the map, pointing on a certain spot with his right hand.

"Wir sollen Verteidigungspositionen hier, im Südwesten von Bastogne beziehen. Das kleine Dorf heisst Senonchamps und starke, Amerikanischen Ausbruchsversuchen in diesem Sektor sind offensichtlich sehr wahrscheinlich. Das Gebiet ist sehr hügelig und stark bewaldet, weshalb wir auf Panzerunterstützung vorerst verzichten müßen. Unsere Abfahrt ist für genau 10:30 Uhr angesetzt, also bitte etwas Beeilung." After Anday had finished, he signaled the two Wehrmacht- men to stay in the room for a moment. Taking a deep breath, the SS-officer had his eyes fixed on the map for another second, before turning to the two NCOs. "Da Ich eben nicht unbedingt begeistert war, von dem Eindruck, denn Ihre beiden Züge auf mich gemacht haben, habe Ich vorher noch ein paar fragen an Sie. Wie sieht es bei Ihnen mit Munition aus, wie mit panzerbrechenden Waffen? Und fast noch wichtiger, was denken Sie über die Moral unter den Leuten, kann man sich auf Sie verlassen?"

While Anday spoke, he put his right hand into the pocket of his officer's tunic and fished for something. After he had finally succeeded, he pulled out two packs of Juno cigarettes. The officer handed one pack to each of the Wehrmacht- soldiers and said with a serious expression on his face: "Mehr kann Ich Ihnen im Moment leider nicht anbieten. Verteilen Sie die bitte unter den Männern ihrer Züge."

Translations:

"Willkommen meine Herren, Ich bin Obersturmführer Anday und das hier sind die Führer meiner 3 Züge, die Scharführer Nagel und Kleinhans, sowie Unterscharführer Fink. Um sofort ehrlich mit Ihnen zu reden, ich weiss nicht viel mehr als Sie. Die Gesamtlage in unserem Sektor ist, militärisch gesagt beschissen. Der Belagerungsring um Bastogne ist immer noch sehr dünn und die Amerikaner leisten weiterhin erbitterten Widerstand."
"Welcome gentlemen, I am Obersturmführer Anday and this are the leaders of my three platoons, the Scharführers Nagel and Kleinhans as well as Unterscharführer Fink. To talk honest with you from the start, I don't know a lot more about the situation as you do. Military spoken, the circumstances in our sector are all fouled up. Yet, our lines around Bastogne are still very thin and the American resistance remains stiff."

"Wir sollen Verteidigungspositionen hier, im Südwesten von Bastogne beziehen. Das kleine Dorf heisst Senonchamps und starke, Amerikanischen Ausbruchsversuchen in diesem Sektor sind offensichtlich sehr wahrscheinlich. Das Gebiet ist sehr hügelig und stark bewaldet, weshalb wir auf Panzerunterstützung vorerst verzichten müßen. Unsere Abfahrt ist für genau 10:30 Uhr angesetzt, also bitte etwas Beeilung."
"We are supposed to take up defensive positions here, in the south- west of Bastogne. The small village is called Senonchamps and obviously, strong American attempts to break out of the enclosure are quite likely in this sector. The area is very hilly and strongly forested, so we'll have to do without any armored support for the moment. Our departure here is scheduled for exactly 10:30 o'clock, so please hurry up."

"Da Ich eben nicht unbedingt begeistert war, von dem Eindruck, denn Ihre beiden Züge auf mich gemacht haben, habe Ich vorher noch ein paar fragen an Sie. Wie sieht es bei Ihnen mit Munition aus, wie mit panzerbrechenden Waffen? Und fast noch wichtiger, was denken Sie über die Moral unter den Leuten, kann man sich auf Sie verlassen?"
"Because I wasn't very satisfied with the impression both of your platoons just made on me, I would have some additional questions for you. How much ammunition are your men equipped with, what about armor- piercing weaponry? And even more important, what do you think about the morale under the soldiers, can we really put trust into them?"

"Mehr kann Ich Ihnen im Moment leider nicht anbieten. Verteilen Sie die bitte unter den Männern ihrer Züge."
"There's not a lot more I can offer to you at the moment. Please distribute them to the men of your platoons."

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

The experienced Feldwebel seemed much more enthusiastic than Dieter. The fact was quite obvious when he extended his hand into a proud Hitler salute when the Obersturmführer of the SS regarded them. Dieter glanced the other man with slight surprise and disappointment, but wondered if he should, too, show his respect with the same salute. It had been made mandatory even for the Wehrmacht, but Dieter had met many people who still preferred to use the old military salute. The younger man was already ready to raise his hand into a salute, when he noticed the Obersturmführer waving his hand in a rather tired manner.

Dieter felt secure to just raise his hand to his temple as a greeting after that and he could not hide his slight surprise and puzzlement. All the officers of the SS he had met before were almost obsessed in enforcing the rules, as if they would win the war for them. Maybe this particular Obersturmführer realized that there were more important things to leading soldiers than sticking to etiquette with blind enthusiasm.

The surprises did not end there, as a Sturmmann entered the barn that served as a command center for now. He handed out steaming hot cups of coffee both to the Feldwebel and Dieter. The younger corporal wrapped his fingers around the hot cup, his fingers tingling as feeling slowly returned into them. An involuntary shudder ran through his body, as if he had already forgotten what it was like to feel some warmth in the middle of all the freezing cold. Thanking the Sturmmann with a low mutter, Dieter sipped the hot drink, enjoying the taste of fresh coffee. The SS officer gave them just a small while to enjoy their drinks before starting to explain the situation to them.

It was not much of a surprise to hear that the conditions were grim, Dieter had already guessed that when he had been bunched up with the quite unlikely group of soldiers. Both the Feldwebel and Stabsgefreiter listened in silence as the SS officer, one who had just introduced himself as Obersturmführer Anday, explained the circumstances to them. He did not try to make the situation sound any better than it was and Dieter resorted only to nodding every now and then, slightly distracted by the hot cup of coffee in his hands. He was woken up from his thoughts when the Obersturmführer posed them a question regarding the ammunition and the morale of the men. Dieter glanced at the Feldwebel, both of them at slight loss of what to tell the SS officer. The Feldwebel hesitated, his previous enthusiasm broken with sudden hesitation and nervousness.

Dieter was the one to open his mouth first, a fact he immediately regretted, but he could not of course take it back anymore. "Herr Obersturmführer, Stabsgefreiter Rentz. Die Situation mit unserer Munition ist nicht gut. Die Männer haben gerade wenig mehr als Hälfte der Standardzuteilung. Feldwebel Stroh hier hat bereits den Männern gesagt, ihre Munition zu verschonen. Wir haben sechs Panzerfausts, und ich glaube, dass das es für die panzerbrechenden Waffen ist. Wir haben eine bessere Situation mit den Maschinengewehren, dennoch. Wir haben zwei Mg-42, mehr als genug Munition für sie und MG-Bedienungen, die wissen, was sie tun. Wir haben auch einen Pionier mit fünf Panzerabwehrmine," Dieter ended his explanation and blinked, wondering if he had left something important out.

They had been sent to battle with little supplies, most likely all the good stuff went to divisions more important than this one. He did not let it bother him too much, Dieter was far too fixated on just enjoying the blissful feeling of a warm cup of coffee in his hands right now and he decided to worry about the reality later.

Feldwebel Stroh nodded and was the one to speak next. "Die Moral unter den Männern ist nicht besonders gut, Herr Obersturmführer. Weil Sie sehen konnten, haben einige von ihnen jeden Kampf kaum gesehen, und einige sind so alt, sie können für mehr als zwei Kilometer ohne das Umkippen kaum marschieren. Die Männer können all das ganz einfach sich selbst auch sehen, und es lässt nicht sie sich sehr selbstbewusst fühlen." There was an almost apologetic tone to the older man's voice as he spoke, even when it was obvious that the man himself could do little to affect the situation.

"Aber es gibt mindestens sieben von uns mit mehr als genügend Betrag der Erfahrung im Kampf, Herr Obersturmführer. Wir haben bereits Männer gleichmäßig verteilt, so dass sich die erfahreneren Männer um die jüngeren kümmern können. Sie werden sicherstellen, dass alle Männer tun, was sie tun sollen," Dieter added and shut his mouth quickly, wondering if he had maybe spoken out of turn. He was surprised when the SS officer fished out two packets of cigarettes and handed one to Dieter and another one to the Feldwebel, telling them to distribute the cigarettes evenly.

"Jawohl, Herr Obersturmführer," Dieter nodded and managed to even flash a small smile of appreciation at the officer. "Die Männer werden bereit sein, um Punkt 10:30 abzureisen." The corporal set the empty coffee mug on the table and saluted the officer sharply, again using the familiar Wehrmacht salute.


Translations:
"Herr Obersturmführer, Stabsgefreiter Rentz..."
"Herr Obersturmführer, Stabsgefreiter Rentz. The situation with our ammunition is not too good, the men have just little more than half of the standard forward issue allocation. Feldwebel Stroh here has already told the men to spare their ammunition. We have six Panzerfausts and I guess that is it for the armor piercing equipment. We have a better situation with the machine guns, though. We have two MG 42's, more than enough ammo for them and MG crews who know what they are doing. We also have one engineer with five antitank mines."

"Die Moral unter den Männern ist nicht besonders gut, Herr Obersturmführer..."
"The morale among the men is not very good, Herr Obersturmführer. As you could see, some of them have hardly seen any battle and some are so old, they can hardly march for more than two kilometers without keeling over. The men can see all this quite plainly themselves too and it does not make them feel very self-assured."

"Aber es gibt mindestens sieben von uns mit mehr als genügend Betrag der Erfahrung im Kampf, Herr Obersturmführer..."
"But there are at least seven of us with more than sufficient amount of experience in combat, Herr Obersturmführer. We have already distributed men evenly so that the more experienced men can look after the younger ones. They will make sure that all the men do what they are supposed to do."

"Die Männer werden bereit sein, um Punkt 10:30 abzureisen."
"The men will be ready to leave at 10:30 sharp."

[∬: Attila Anday]

After the Hungarian had handed the boxes of cigarettes to the two soldiers, the men were saluting to him again. Attila casually replied to the salute, before saying some last words to his men: " Ich muss zugeben, das Ich mit solchen Antworten gerechnet habe. Trotzdem wünsche Ich Ihnen und Ihren Männern gutes Soldatenglück. Das wird kein Spaziergang." When the officer had finished, all of the men left the barn and Anday enjoyed the quietness in the now empty room for a moment. The answers that Anday had gotten to his questions by the two Wehrmacht- men were quite exactly what he had expected. At least it was relieving to hear, that there were some experienced men below the reinforcements, who wouldn't see the cruelty of combat for the first time. Slowly the SS- officer walked toward the boxes in the middle of the room again, lost in sinister thoughts. He quickly drunk the last rest of his coffee which had already gotten awfully cold and zestfully slammed his cup on one of the ammunition boxes. After placing his officer's cap on his head, he checked his MP 40 for one last time and slung it around his neck, before also leaving the barn through the big entrance door.

A freezing cold wind blew into Anday's face when stepping out of the door. Surprisingly, he found the breeze to be quite enjoyable, because it brought some refreshment after the godawful smell in the barn. Everywhere around the officer, the men of his company busily prepared the departure and loaded the trucks with all kinds of equipment. A bit aside of the snowy road, the only at- gun of Attila's unit got attached to a towing machine. The soldiers heavily sweated under the weight of the 7,5 centimeter gun and some of the men rudely cursed everything around them.

Walking around the corner of the barn, Attila found the radio operators of his company sitting in the snow and waiting for further orders. The compact radio unit stood in front of the men and uttered some atmospheric noises. When the men got aware of the officer's presence, they quickly sprang to attention and saluted. "Funken Sie zum Batallion, daß Unsere Abfahrt kurz bevorsteht. Geschätzte Ankunft in Senonchamps ist 12:30 Uhr.", Anday ordered. The leader of the radio- operators, a Rottenführer, slowly nodded his head and instantly started to transmit the message to the battalion. The breath of the man instantly condensated while he was speaking with the high command.

Looking into the sky for a second, Attila saw that there was a weak sun trying to break through the thick, dark clouds. The weather had cleared off and also the cold wind had decreased a bit, but hopefully the weather would stay bad enough to nail the Allied bombers at the ground for some more days. The Hungarian had already experienced at the eastern front, what massive effects a pressuring air superiority of the enemy could have.

Suddenly Anday witnessed a very bright object at the sky, dragging a long, lightning tail behind and moving fast in a westward direction. A lot more of the soldiers had now realized that object and a loud mumbling started throughout the men, some of them even instinctively ducked their heads between their shoulders. Loudly yelling, Anday tried to explain to the soldiers around him: "Männer, was Ihr da seht sind die neuen V2, unsere Antwort auf den Bombenterror der Amerikaner und Briten gegen unsere Frauen und Kinder. Diese V2 sind Raketen, die bis nach London fliegen, ohne eine Besatzung zu brauchen. Und ohne eine Chance Sie vom Himmel zu hohlen, bevor sie an Ihrem Ziel ankommen. Da werden die Alliierten mal Ihre eigene, bittere Medizin zu kosten bekommen." The nearby soldiers all stared fascinated at the rocket now, which quickly disappeared at the western horizon and some of the men even started to cheer loudly.

When the hand of his watch finally moved to the given time, Anday quickly entered the Kübelwagen, that was waiting for him in front of the convoy. His driver, a young Rottenführer, threw his cigarette out of the window and looked at the officer expectantly. With leaning himself out of the window of the car and lifting his arm three times up in the sky, the Obersturmführer signaled the column behind him to start moving along the road toward the frontline.

Translations:

"Ich muss zugeben, das Ich mit solchen Antworten gerechnet habe. Trotzdem wünsche Ich Ihnen und Ihren Männern gutes Soldatenglück. Das wird kein Spaziergang."
"I've got to admit, that I kind of expected answers like these. Nevertheless I do wish a good soldier's- luck to you and your men. That's not going to be a promenade."

"Funken Sie zum Batallion, daß Unsere Abfahrt kurz bevorsteht. Geschätzte Ankunft in Senonchamps ist 12:30 Uhr."
"Radio to the battalion, that our departure is imminent. Approximated arrival in Senonchamps will be around 12:30 o'clock."

"Männer, was Ihr da seht sind die neuen V2, unsere Antwort auf den Bombenterror der Amerikaner und Briten gegen unsere Frauen und Kinder. Diese V2 sind Raketen, die bis nach London fliegen, ohne eine Besatzung zu brauchen. Und ohne eine Chance Sie vom Himmel zu hohlen, bevor sie an Ihrem Ziel ankommen. Da werden die Alliierten mal Ihre eigene, bittere Medizin zu kosten bekommen."
"Soldiers, what you can see here, are the new V2, our answer to the bombing- terror of the Americans and the British, aimed against our women and children. These V2 are rockets that are able to fly to London, without needing any crew. And without any chance to get them down before they reach their targets. Now the Allies will have to taste their own, bitter medicine."

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

The young corporal felt his skin crawl involuntarily as he stepped out of the barn and was met with the cold winter air again. He grimaced at the weather and made his way back to the men, the older Feldwebel walking next to him with a grim look on his face. Dieter could almost feel the eyes of the Wehrmacht soldiers on him before he could see them. They scanned the faces of the Stabsgefreiter and the Feldwebel, trying to decipher the seriousness of the situation from their expressions. Feldwebel Stroh just grunted, Dieter tried to flash the men a smile. He waved the pack of cigarettes around in his hand. "Sind wir nicht gut dran?"

The Feldwebel scoffed quietly at Dieter's words, but the younger man paid him no heed. If he was to start brooding over the situation in front of the men, the fighting spirit could only sink slower. Feldwebel Stroh handed the pack of cigarettes to Dieter to share between the men. Maybe the older man had seen enough battle to have lost his own faith in survival at this point. Maybe his age had forced him to shed the childish ideals and hopes that kept the younger soldiers going. He seemed to have sunken into his own despair for the moment and Dieter could not quite figure out what exactly was ailing the older man.

Suddenly Stroh seemed to snap out of it and he raised his voice into a strong shout. "Männer! Hör zu!" Feldwebel Stroh called out and waited until he had everyone's attention. "Wir nehmen Verteidigungspositionen in einem Dorf genannt Senonchamps auf. Es wird erwartet, dass wir schwer angegriffen werden. Das Gebiet hat viel Deckung von den Bäumen, und die Hügel sollten uns ermöglichen, starke Verteidigungspositionen aufzubauen. Das wird natürlich auch bedeuten, dass im Augenblick wir keine Panzerunterstützung haben werden."

Dieter glanced at the Feldwebel who seemed to have fallen silent suddenly, as if he could not figure out what else to tell the men. Dieter was quick to cover up for him and he raised his voice next. "Wir werden die Gruppen verteilen lassen, weil wir früher entschieden, werden die erfahreneren Männer zu denjenigen mit weniger Kampferfahrung sehen. Gerade scharfer Aufenthalt, hören Sie Ihren Ordnungen zu, und wir werden das gerade fein durchbringen. Ich werde die Zigaretten verteilen, wir werden sehr bald abreisen. Mach dich bereit. Und alles Gute," the blonde-haired man smiled thinly and some of the men fidgeted around nervously.

Dieter nodded at the men reassuringly and settled into distributing the cigarettes. At the same time he asked the men if they were clear on their duties, if their equipment had checked out fine and if they knew who they were looking after or who they should try tagging along with. The cigarettes did improve the morale just slightly and the men stamped their feet to keep warm as some of them already lit their cigarettes. One of the men, well he was more of a boy than a man, was doing worse than the others. He was slouching, his gloved hands holding tightly to his rifle and Dieter could see the boy shivering.

As Dieter approached the boy, he looked up quickly and for a moment Dieter could see his grey eyes, now red from crying. Stealing a glance over his shoulder, Dieter made sure that the other men had not noticed the boy's sniveling. He stepped in front of the young boy and placed his hand over the boy's shoulder to give him a reassuring pat. "Jetzt komm aber, ganz so übel siehts nun auch wieder nicht aus. Jeder ist ein bisschen erschrocken vor einem Kampf, aber ist es gerade normal. Wie ist Ihr Name? Sie bekamen irgendeine Familie zurück nachhause?"

The boy nodded weakly and seemed embarrassed of the fact that the lance corporal had noticed his breakdown, but the boy just could not shake it off quickly enough. "Grün, Herr Stabsgefreiter. Albrecht Grün," the boy managed to say, his voice wavering. "Ja, Ich- ich habe meine Eltern und... und zwei Schwestern."

Dieter smiled at him. "So, Albrecht. Wir sind hier, weil wir unsere Familien verteidigen müssen. Und Sie würden irgendetwas tun, um sicherzustellen, dass Ihre Eltern und Schwestern Safe bleiben, habe ich Recht?" Dieter waited until the boy nodded quickly again. "Dachte ich mir. Wenn Sie finden, dass Sie Angst haben, an Ihre Familie denken. Sie kämpfen um sie. Und für die Soldaten, die mit Ihnen sind. Wenn wir zusammen bleiben, wird kein verdammter Jerry jemals im Stande sein, uns zu schlagen," the corporal added with a grin and the boy, Albrecht Grün, managed a small smile also.

"Kopf hoch. Aufenthalt in der Nähe von mir. Hier sind einige Zigaretten. Wenn Sie nicht rauchen, sie gerade zu etwas Nützlichem tauschen, ja? Wir müssen uns bewegen -" Dieter's words were interrupted by some exited shouts from the soldiers. Both private Grün and Dieter himself quickly glanced at the sky where some of the men were pointing their fingers at. It was a strange sight, something bright and fast, dragging a long tail along as it advanced along the sky. The sudden distress of some of the men was quickly stopped when Obersturmführer Anday explained to them that it was a new weapon against the Allies. What the Obersturmführer told about the rocket made Dieter look slightly disbelieving. The things the scientist could cook up these days!

"Sehen Sie? Nichts Bedenkliches. Bald werden sie keine Soldaten überhaupt brauchen, sie werden gerade fliegen, dass diese fantastisch kleinen Raketen zu beliebigem Land eine Lehre wie unterrichtet werden müssen?" Dieter grinned at Grün and the men shared a small laugh. Dieter glanced at his watch, it was time to get ready. "Männer! Auf geht's! Bewegt euch!" he shouted and the soldiers clambered into the trucks, some of them still staring at the traces of the new, strange weapon, visible in the bleak sky. Dieter and Feldwebel Stroh had to push some of the men into action, but luckily they were well and ready to leave when Obersturmführer Anday gave the command for the convoy to get moving.

The Blitz creaked and groaned as it lumbered over the frozen tracks on the ground, some of the soldiers now grimly silent and some having a heated and complicated argument concerning the rocket they had seen. Dieter was sitting in the back of the truck and he stared at the landscape that was left behind them. He lit up a cigarette, concentrating on smoking instead of wondering how many of these men would be dead by the end of the day and if Dieter himself would be among the ones to perish today.


Translations:

"Sind wir nicht gut dran?"
"Aren't we lucky?"

"Männer! Hör zu...!"
"Men! Listen up! We are taking up defensive positions in a village called Senonchamps. It is expected that we will be attacked heavily. The area has a lot of cover from the trees and the hills should enable us to build up strong defensive positions. This will of course also mean that for the moment we will not have any armored support."

"Wir werden die Gruppen verteilen lassen, weil wir früher entschieden, werden die erfahreneren Männer zu denjenigen mit weniger Kampferfahrung sehen..."
"We will have the groups distributed out as we decided earlier, the more experienced men will see to the ones with less combat experience. Just stay sharp, listen to your orders and we'll get through this just fine. I'll distribute the cigarettes, we will be leaving very soon. Get ready. And good luck."

"Jetzt komm aber, ganz so übel siehts nun auch wieder nicht aus..."
"Come on now, it's not that bad. Everyone is a bit scared before a fight, but that's just normal. What's your name? You got any family back home?"

"Ja, Ich- ich habe meine Eltern und... und zwei Schwestern."
"Yes, I- I have my parents and.. and two sisters."

"So, Albrecht. Wir sind hier, weil wir unsere Familien verteidigen müssen..."
"Well, Albrecht. We are here because we need to defend our families. And you would do anything to make sure that your parents and sisters stay safe, am I right?"

"Dachte ich mir. Wenn Sie finden, dass Sie Angst haben, an Ihre Familie denken..."
"I thought so. When you feel that you are afraid, think of your family. You are fighting for them. And for the soldiers that are with you. If we keep together, no damn Jerry will ever be able to beat us."

"Kopf hoch. Aufenthalt in der Nähe von mir..."
"Keep your chin up. Stay close to me. Here are some cigarettes. If you don't smoke, just trade them to something useful, ok? We have to move-"

"Sehen Sie? Nichts Bedenkliches..."
"See? Nothing to worry about. Soon they won't need any soldiers at all, they will just fly these neat little rockets to whatever country needs to be taught a lesson, eh?"

"Männer! Auf geht's! Bewegt euch!"
"Men! Let's get rolling! Get a move on!"

[∬: Attila Anday]

Although the trip was a quite short one, Attila was nearly thankful when it had ended. All the time, Anday had dark thoughts bothering him. Thoughts about the bad morale and the equipment of these children and graybeards, he now should be responsible for. When the convoy had finally arrived in Senonchamps after a bit more than an hour, the Hungarian had nearly lost the feeling in his feet completely. The bitter cold wind had whistled through every hole in the car and because of his length, the officer was only able to move his legs for some centimeters in the small Kübelwagen. The heater within the car had been nearly useless, as it actually was blowing even more cold air into the Kübel. But as a German proverb tells, it's always better to roll badly than to marsh well.

When the German column crossed the small, Belgian settlement, everything appeared to be absolutely abandoned. Only German soldiers were busily walking around in the streets of the village. Actually it even was very optimistic, to use the word streets at all, because there only was one cobbled road, crossing the village from the north to the south. The residents of this tiny hamlet couldn't be seen nowhere at all. Anday was quite sure, that all the civilians had left together with the Americans, when they got forced to leave here several days ago. Even the SS- officer had heard of the many old wives' tales, telling about the brutality and cruelty of the German soldiers. Of course, there was a true core in some of these stories, but most of them had been pure, stupid propaganda, as it got used within every single nation that participated in this giant war.

The tracks of the heavy fighting of the last days could get seen quite obviously in the area. There were crates and shell holes all over the surrounding hills. A lot of damaged or destroyed vehicles stood besides the roads, most of them being American ones. Most of the houses of Senonchamps were damaged and some of them hadn't withstood the German shells at all. Only the dead bodies of both sides had gotten covert by the gentle white shroud of the snow.

The breaks of the Kübelwagen squeaked loudly, when the Germans finally had arrived on the village square. The rest of the convoy stopped behind and Attila jumped out of the car as fast as he could, immediately starting to shake his benumbed legs. The driver stayed in the Kübel and lit himself another cigarette. Just a few moments later, a man, who was dressed in a white camouflage smock, walked towards the vehicles and saluted in front of the officer. "Herr Obersturmführer Anday, wie Ich annehme? Ich bin Hauptscharführer Schmidt und Ihr Einweiser hier." The NCO was quite young and had a very pale face. Only his nose was lightning- red because of the frost. Replying to the salute, Anday answered to the man: " Gut, am besten wir verlieren keine Zeit. Bitte zeigen sie mir umgehend den Abschnitt, denn wir übernehmen sollen."

Pointing his arm toward the north- east, the young man returned: "Unsere Stellungen befinden sich Östlich des Dorfes auf den Hügelkämmen. Aber bevor Ich Sie und Ihre Männer dorthin führe, hab Ich noch ne gute Nachricht. Vor ein paar Stunden ist die Feldküche nachgerückt. Wir haben einige gute Sachen aus den Amerikanischen Depots gehohlt. Die Jungs sind ja ganz schön flink nach hinten verduftet. Der Alte hat vorhin befohlen, dass Ihre Kompanie erstmal Verpflegung fasst, bevor es weitergeht." Of course these were good news and Anday couldn't think of a better welcome here, as the warm meal would be a good boost to the courage, especially of the Wehrmacht soldiers.

The rest of the company had now also left the trucks and the NCOs were loudly bringing some order into their platoons. After only a few minutes, the soldiers marched in rows toward the field kitchen. The kitchen was situated directly at a big, wooden house, safely covered from the wind that was still blowing heavily. A strong aroma of hot coffee was in the air, but this time it seemed, as if it was really bean coffee,that was cooking there. Within some moments, most of the soldiers had their canteens filled with hot noodle soup and the pockets of their tunics packed with American chocolate bars.

Anday took his provisions as one of the last men and he spent this small break a bit besides the men of his company together with Hauptscharführer Schmidt, discussing the further continuation of the offensive against Bastogne. The news that the SS- officer got here were far away from positive and just aggravated his doubts in the successful end of this offensive. With a very serious expression on his face, Schmidt told him that the German advance in front of the city had actually come to a halt. And that not only the Americans still put up some strong resistance, but they even started local counter attacks against the German enclosure. About the situation of the other offensive sectors, the Hauptscharführer knew just as much as Anday did himself, quiet nothing that was.

After maybe ten minutes, Anday ordered the leaders of his platoons to ready their men again. Some of them were silently cursing about having to move out into the cold wind again, but every single one obeyed the given orders of course. Although the sun had now nearly completely broken through the clouds, it felt to the soldiers as if it hadn't gotten any warmer at all. Before starting the last, short part of the marsh, Anday resembled all of his platoon leaders around him again and gave them some last instructions. "So, Männer. Wenn wir die Stellungen auf den Höhen im Nordosten von der 3. Kompanie übernehmen, will Ich, daß alles so still und schnell wie möglich vor sich geht. Und achtet vor allem auf die Tarnung eurer Männer." After the officer had finished, the soldiers of his company and the additional two Wehrmacht platoons started to silently move through the snowy lands toward the constant rumbling of guns coming from the horizon in the northeast.

Translations:

"Herr Obersturmführer Anday, wie Ich annehme? Ich bin Hauptscharführer Schmidt und Ihr Einweiser hier."
"Herr Obersturmführer Anday, I guess? I am Hauptscharführer Schmidt and your position adapter here."

" Gut, am besten wir verlieren keine Zeit. Lassen Sie mich schnell die Männer sammeln und die Fahrzeuge verstauen. Danach zeigen Sie mir umgehend den Abschnitt, denn wir übernehmen sollen."
"Good, it would be best to not loose any time at all. Let me quickly gather my men and store the vehicles. After that, immediately show me the sector we're supposed to overtake."

"Unsere Stellungen befinden sich Östlich des Dorfes auf den Hügelkämmen. Aber bevor Ich Sie und Ihre Männer dorthin führe, hab Ich noch ne gute Nachricht. Vor ein paar Stunden ist die Feldküche nachgerückt. Wir haben einige gute Sachen aus den Amerikanischen Depots gehohlt. Die Jungs sind ja ganz schön flink nach hinten verduftet. Der Alte hat vorhin befohlen, dass Ihre Kompanie erstmal Verpflegung fasst, bevor es weitergeht."
"Our positions are in the north- east of the village on top of the crest. But before I'll lead you and your men there, I've got some quite good news. Our field kitchen has arrived here just some hours ago. And we've found some quite nice things in the American storage depots as well. These boys have disappeared into thin air very fast. The boss- man has just ordered, that your company will get some additional provisions, before anything else will happen."

"So, Kameraden. Wenn wir die Stellungen auf den Höhen im Nordosten von der 3. Kompanie übernehmen, will Ich, daß alles so still und schnell wie möglich vor sich geht. Und achtet vor allem auf die Tarnung eurer Männer."
"Well, comrades. When we will overtake the positions from the third company, I want everything to happen as fast and silent as possible. And especially look for the camouflaging of your men."

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

Many of the men were shivering once the trucks finally slowed down and stopped. Dieter could almost hear the chattering of the teeth and looking at the expressions of some of the men, he wasn't sure if it was because of the cold or the feelings of dread that were no doubt gnawing the minds of the fresh recruits. Dieter had kept his eye on Obergrenadier Grün and had witnessed how the previously cheered up young man had once again succumbed to fear and worry. The young man looked almost ill and Dieter felt his mood sinking with him. How would they get through the day with this lot?

Opening the tailgate of the Blitz, Dieter jumped down on the hard, frozen ground and waited for the other soldiers to climb down. As he waited, he looked around the village he knew to be Senenchamps. It didn't look much of a village now when the villagers themselves were gone. Traces of heavy fighting littered the area around the village, the ground marred by craters and many of the houses completely or partly collapsed due to the fighting. His eyes scanned over the snow-covered bodies just momentarily and he averted his eyes almost instinctively. For a brief moment Dieter wondered where the villagers were and how they would cope with this cold weather now that they had no homes to shelter them. Then he already forgot about it, as always. He had seen so many villages and towns destroyed by war, he couldn't just find a place for such thoughts in his weary mind anymore.

The men were stomping their feet and conversing in low voices. Some of the younger soldiers had been left staring at the bodies and the crumbled houses. If they hadn't been scared stiff on the way here, they were scared now. Dieter stepped in quickly to try and make the ragtag band of soldiers at least seem more orderly, trying to distract the younger men from noticing the scene of destruction. They were soon informed that the men would be receiving a hot meal before advancing to relieve the previous soldiers from their duties. It was at least one positive thing to hear today and the men seemed more than eager to have some warm food in their bellies.

Feldwebel Stroh soon joined in to help Dieter with arranging the men and having them move to the field kitchen in an orderly fashion. The sight of warm food and the added luxury of receiving some American chocolate seemed to make the mood of the men somewhat better and for a moment everyone fell silent as they enjoyed their meals. Dieter waited until the platoons had received their food and rations, getting his own meal only after them.

As Dieter enjoyed the hot food, he kept glancing towards Obersturmführer Anday, wondering what was the tall man's story. He wasn't German, you could hear it from his accent and he seemed unlike any other SS officer Dieter had come upon previously. Although he wasn't ready to quite trust the man yet, so far he had seemed like a respectable man with his head firmly upon his shoulders and his feet on the ground. From what Dieter had witnessed, Anday had not resorted to acting in a self-important and arrogant manner either. Dieter could only hope that things would stay that way. They were heading into what seemed like a difficult battle and only a skilled commander could hope to achieve any demanding goals with this bunch of soldiers.

If Dieter had learned anything from his time in the Wehrmacht, he knew that solid leadership and good morale among the soldiers could be decisive when the numbers of the soldiers and the amount of supplies and ammo was running low. He did not consider himself much of a leader, but he knew how to improve the morale among the men and keep up the fighting spirit. If this Obersturmführer knew his stuff, then Dieter would do his part and do everything in his power to boost the morale of the men, no matter how difficult the task seemed to him right now.

Dieter fished up the rest of the food from the bottom of his mess kit and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. The hot food had made him feel warmer, at least for the moment, and no doubt the other soldiers felt slightly more comfortable, too. It was strange how a good meal could lift your spirits even when you knew you might be marching to your own death. The thought made Dieter smirk involuntarily and one of the younger privates regarded the lance corporal curiously, not really understanding how the man could start smiling at a moment such as this.

The Obersturmführer was ordering them to gather the men again and Dieter did as ordered. The men grumbled, but obeyed, feeling a bit more responsive after the warm meal. Making sure that each of the men fell in line quickly, Feldwebel Stroh and Dieter made their way to the Obersturmführer for his last orders before setting off. He told them that he wanted the transition to be smooth and quiet as they would overtake the positions from the third company. With nods and acknowledgements, both the Wehrmacht men assured they would make sure of it. Returning back to their men, the orders were relayed to them along with the advice of making sure that camouflauge would be set properly.

Finally the platoons of Wehrmacht soldiers set off with those of the SS. Dieter found strange comfort from finally marching on, even if it was towards the ominous sounds of fighting. They were finally moving to their positions and each sound seemed sharper to Dieter. He could hear the steady thump of their boots on the frozen ground, the occasional clink of equipment, someone suppressing a cough. Their breaths were visible in the cold air and Dieter flexed the fingers inside his gloves, adjusting the position of his rifle as he did so. The rumble of the guns grew closer with each step, the almost hollow sounds gradually becoming much more sharper and clearer. Dieter could see the hesitant and fearful expressions of some of the men, while others just seemed to steel themselves as they stared ahead blankly. As they got closer to the frontline, the men made an almost unconscious effort to move much more quieter and some of them glanced around themselves, as if expecting for the enemy to appear from behind the trees at any given moment.

[∬: Attila Anday]

The frozen ground was gently crushing under their boots. Slowly and trying to stay as silent as possible, the column of soldiers marched through the woods. Only the clatter of a loosely attached shovel or a silent, oppressed cough could get heard throughout the forest every now and than. Some meters behind the main part of the marching group, the crew of the at- gun was trying hard to tow the big cannon through the snow. The heavy weight of the gun made the men sweat and groan, as the wheels of the cannon got stuck on the icy ground all too often.

Although the clouds had nearly disappeared now, snow started lightly falling from the skies. The treetops easefully whipped in the wind and the whole scenario seemed to be all too peaceful, if it wouldn’t get disturbed by the constant rumbling of war in the background. The Obersturmführer had put on his pair of woolen gloves now, but they weren’t really a lot of a help. The frosty air went through the thin clothes within seconds and made his fingers feel benumbed. Only the thought that the Americans would probably even be less able to deal with these temperatures, brought a small bit of satisfaction to the SS- officer.

While the soldiers were silently marching toward the front, Anday used the time for monitoring the two Wehrmacht- soldiers, who were supposed to command the two additional platoons. The elderly, highly decorated Feldwebel made the impression on Attila of being one of these assured Nazis. All the time he had some kind of an arrogant glance inside his eyes and he used to issue orders to his men in a very strict and hard tone. But although this Feldwebel was both older and higher ranking, the other man seemed to enjoy a lot more authority throughout the soldiers. The younger Stabsgefreiter, who had introduced himself as Rentz, interacted with his men in a quiet untroubled manner. And although he wasn’t wearing any decorations, Anday was sure that this situation wasn’t all too foreign for the young corporal.

"God damnit, there are Krauts. Get cover boys." The Hungarian had just decided to light himself another cigarette, when there were some loud, English yells coming from the head of the column. Within a few moments, all hell broke loose. Anday saw a whole group of his men jumping to the sides, in search for at least a bit of cover in the woods. Single shoots popped through the freezing cold air and a grenade exploded somewhere in front of the Germans, instantly answered by some long bursts from a MP 44. Directly next to Anday, one German SS- private took a round straight through his throat and immediately fell dead to the ground. At the moment nobody seemed to understand what was happening here at all. Everywhere around, there was only pure confusion.

"Alle Mann in Deckung, verteilt euch.", the SS- officer loudly shouted through the chaos. Instinctively, Anday had dived to the ground, finding some worthy cover behind a small ridge. Within only seconds, he had readied his MP and aimed it at the direction, all the noise was coming from. Just a few meters besides him, the SS- officer saw Stabsgefreiter Rentz dropping himself to the snowy ground behind some rocks. Most of the men had dispersed into some kind of a defensive line now, strained waiting for further things to come. But the Americans seemed to be just as surprised about having contact with the enemy, as the German soldiers were.

After the first shock had passed, everything had gotten quiet again for the moment. The Americans had taken up positions only about 100 meters in front of the Germans, not showing a target to them at all. Attila’s thoughts were running. How could it be possible to have enemy forces engaging them outside of the enclosure? Surely the Americans had crossed the frontline by night and by their reaction, they hadn’t been prepared to meet the enemy here either. Slowly, some kind of a plan formed itself in the Hungarian’s mind.

Turning to the men around him, he quickly ordered, yelling as loud as he could: "Wahrscheinlich haben wir es nur mit einer schwachen Patrouille zu tun. Ich will die beiden Schweren MGs hier neben dem Pfad haben. Wenn sich drüben etwas zeigt, sofort draufhalten. Stabsgefreiter Rentz, Sie nehmen Ihren Zug und versuchen über die rechte Flanke vorzugehen. Zeigen wir diesen Jerrys, dass heute ein verdammt schlechter Tag für Sie ist." Immediately after the officer had finished, his men started to carry out the given orders as quickly as possible. The heavy machineguns got carefully deployed both left and right of the small trail, having a good line of fire toward the Americans. When everything was prepared to give suppressive fire, Anday signaled to Rentz with his right hand, to get his platoon moving into the flank of the enemy patrol.

Translations:

"Alle Mann in Deckung. Verteilt euch."
"Everybody get cover. Disperse yourselves."

"Wahrscheinlich haben wir es nur mit einer schwachen Patrouille zu tun. Ich will die beiden Schweren MGs hier neben dem Pfad haben. Wenn sich drüben etwas zeigt, sofort draufhalten. Stabsgefreiter Rentz, Sie nehmen Ihren Zug und versuchen über die rechte Flanke vorzugehen. Zeigen wir diesen Jerrys, dass heute ein verdammt schlechter Tag für Sie ist."
"Most probably that's only a weak patrol we do have here. I want both MGs instantly deployed at the path there. If anything should move on the other side, start shooting instantly. Stabsgefreiter Rentz, take your platoon and try to advance into the right enemy flank. Let's show these Jerrys, that it's going to be an awful day for them today."

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

A single snowflake drifted gently down from the sky and Dieter let his eyes follow it for a small while. He soon noticed that it wasn't the only one and it had, in fact, started snowing. The snowflakes were not very large due to the freezing weather, but they still managed to make for quite a pretty sight. A strange, serene beauty and calmness seemed to almost overcome the sounds of war rumbling in the distance. Dieter realized that it had been a good while since he had noticed any beauty in his surroundings and for a very brief while he felt strangely peaceful.

A more distinct sound of the guns rumbling cut his tranquil moment short and Dieter glanced at the other soldiers. Most of them were too nervous and scared to even notice that it had started snowing and private Grün's lips were pressed into a hard, thin line due to worry. It made Dieter wonder if the first firefight would reduce the kid to tears, but he could do only so much to improve the recruit's spirits. It took Dieter a moment to fully register the sudden shout coming from somewhere nearby, the words coming in English instead of German. He only realized that something about "Krauts" was being said and suddenly the whole world around Dieter seemed to explode into a flurry of motion and sound.

Shots were fired, men dived into whatever meager cover they could find and Dieter could hear Obersturmführer Anday yelling them to get down. Most of the men did not really need to be ordered to do so and Dieter was already prepared to dive for cover, when he spotted private Grün frozen in his place from pure confusion and fear. With a loud curse, Dieter grabbed whatever part of the young man's jacket his fingers first got hold of and he roughly pulled the man down on the frozen ground. The private hit the ground hard and obviously in a somewhat painful way, but it was still much better than getting shot in the face. Fortunately for them, they were near a group of snow-covered rocks, which provided good cover from the incoming fire.

One of the other privates was not quite fast enough to find cover and a bullet bit painfully into his shoulder. Dieter reached for the man and took hold the man's harness, dragging the howling man behind the rocks. "Hier, stellen Sie etwas Druck darauf," Dieter said over the exchange of fire and what seemed like a grenade going off. He slammed the man's other hand over the wound. ""Sie sind nicht dabei, zu sterben, gerade Ihre Hand dort zu halten," Dieter said, already reaching for his rifle.

Glancing over the rocks, he could not really tell how many Americans there were, but if they were trudging around here behind the lines, there could have not been too many of them. Most likely it was a small patrol, otherwise there would have been no chance for them to slip behind the lines. They were probably as surprised as the Germans were right now and there seemed to be little order in the middle of all the confusion and chaos. Dieter tried to see where Obersturmführer Anday was and if he had survived the attack unharmed. The officer was already giving out orders in a loud voice and he told Dieter to move out his platoon. It was a solid plan, taking one platoon out to flank the Americans and effectively pinning them down that way.

"Jawohl!" Dieter acknowledged that officer's orders and took up a crouching position behind the rocks. "Zug, auf mir! Machen Sie sich bereit, um sich zu bewegen!" the man barked out, almost surprised of the strength and steadiness of his own voice. He was not usually giving commands to such a big group of soldiers and he was now finding out that when it was needed, he could actually make a somewhat convincing leader. He couldn't say if he had been as worse or better in the role if the men he was leading had been more experienced. Dieter glanced over his shoulder, waiting for the signal. Once he saw the Obersturmführer signaling for him to move, Dieter sprung into action, telling the men to move as he took the point.

The other platoons were providing suppressive fire as Dieter moved low, making his way to the flank of the Jerries. He used the trees, shrubs and rocks as his shelter, wondering how soon the Americans would realize what kind of maneuver the Germans were pulling on them. Most likely they were still in confusion and the fire from the other platoons was forcing the Americans to keep their heads down. Dieter found that he could move his platoon in to a pretty good position with little difficulties. In letting the Germans do so, the Americans had placed themselves truly between a rock and a hard place; as Dieter told the men to take good positions and get ready to fire at anything that even vaguely resembled a Jerry, the Americans were now hopelessly pinned down by the Germans.

Frantic shouting in English was heard as the men in Dieter's platoon opened fire on the surprised Americans. The Jerries must have realized that it would be very difficult escaping the situation now and that the numbers of the Germans greatly overwhelmed those of their own. To two of their sides were Germans in safe positions and with easy trigger fingers. The MG's the Obersturmführer had deployed forced the Americans to keep their heads down and Dieter really wanted to just take his platoon to finish up the hopeless resistance. Still, he knew better than to start charging towards the Americans, he wasn't sure of their numbers and in the end, it was the Obersturmführer's call anyway.

"Behalten Sie Ihre Positionen, gehen Sie keine Risikos ein! Die Jerrys gehen irgendwo nicht, sie sind in der viel zu tiefen Scheiße jetzt!" Dieter told the men around him. Their flanking position effectively prevented the Americans from getting away and even the previously scared younger men felt the sudden jolt of adrenaline rushing through them. The scales had quickly tipped to the side of the Germans and even private Grün had the courage to level up his rifle and take a shot at the Americans from the cover of an old, moss-covered spruce.


Translations:

"Hier, stellen Sie etwas Druck darauf."
"Here, put some pressure on it."

"Sie sind nicht dabei, zu sterben, gerade Ihre Hand dort zu halten."
"You're not going to die, just hold your hand there."

"Zug, auf mir! Machen Sie sich bereit, um sich zu bewegen!"
"Platoon, on me! Get ready to move!"

"Behalten Sie Ihre Positionen, gehen Sie keine Risikos ein! Die Jerrys gehen irgendwo nicht, sie sind in der viel zu tiefen Scheiße jetzt!"
"Keep your positions, don't take any risks! The Jerries aren't going anywhere, they are in much too deep shit now!"

[∬: Attila Anday]

Carefully the German soldiers from corporal Rentz's platoon advanced into the enemy flank now, trying to use every bush or tree as a little cover. In the mean time the two MG42s at the small path didn't stop to spray rounds toward the Americans. The suppressive- fire worked perfectly and none of the G.I.'s was able to only peek out of his defilate. With strained expressions on their faces, the gunners lay behind their machineguns and fired burst after burst. The sweat glanced wildly on their skin, although the temperature was far below freezing. Suddenly, one of the guns jammed for a second, but within a few moments the assistant gunner had exchanged the burning hot barrel with a new one without even caring for the burns at his hand. The adrenaline had taken over those men completely now and Anday got to knew that sudden rush of bloodthirstiness all too well by the years.

The Wehrmacht- men had now advanced far enough. This corporal had done his job quiet well, as the Americans didn't even seem to have noticed about the flanking- maneuver at all. Quickly they took up positions and in the fresh snow, the Germans nearly emerged with their surroundings because of their white smocks. This had been one of the things, the German high- command had have to learn in horrible bloody lessons in their first, awful winter at the eastern front in 1941.

Still, the Americans used to behave nearly silent. If one of them fired a shot at all, it was aimed at the direction of the German machineguns and went far off his target. The belief in the SS- officer, that the number of Americans facing the strengthened SS- company wasn't that high grew stronger with every moment of quietness at their side. Knowing about the shortage of ammunitions, Anday loudly yelled at his two gunners: "Das Feuer einstellen! Aber haltet die Augen offen, bei der kleinsten Bewegung gebt Ihr denen wieder Saures." Immediately the MGs stopped their fire and a weird silence lay over the woods. The whole moment seemed to have stopped.

Instead of blindly attacking the enemy, Attila had decided to try out a giant bluff first. And as the Germans were holding all the aces in this dirty little game here anyway, there wasn't a lot to loose for them. Silently the Obersturmführer asked the men around him: "Spricht einer von euch Englisch? Ein wenig dürfte schon ausreichen." After all the soldier had silently stared at each other for a short while, a very small Sturmmann shyly raised his hand. "Ich kann ein bißchen Englisch von der Schule, Herr Obersturmführer." This soldier appeared merely like a young boy to the Hungarian, as he couldn't be older than maybe nineteen. But nevertheless he tightly pressed his carbine against his thin breast now and tried to throw a determined view at Anday.

Slowly nodding his head, the SS- officer pointed his hand at some bushes about 50 meters to the front of the Germans. "Gut, Sturmmann. Sehen Sie diese Buschgruppe? Da kriechen Sie jetzt ganz langsam hin. Scharführer Nagel wird Sie dabei begleiten und wir geben natürlich die ganze Zeit über Feuerschutz. Versuchen Sie dabei auf jeden Fall unsichtbar für die Amerikaner zu bleiben. Wenn Sie dort angekommen sind, versuchen Sie doch mal den Amerikaner zu fragen, ob er nicht lieber gleich aufgeben will. Hat ja eh alles keinen Zweck für Ihn hier. Übertreiben Sie dabei ruhig auch ein bischen, benutzen Sie auf jeden Fall das Wort umkreist." Lying behind a big tree besides Anday, Scharführer Nagel of course had concentrated listened to the officer's orders as well and started nodding his head too, signaling that he had understood. Just seconds after Anday had finished giving his orders, the NCO quickly checked up his gear and indicated the young Sturmmann to do so as well.

In the same moment, the two SS- soldiers moved out of their cover, the heavy machineguns started tackling again. Although the Americans still hadn't shown themselves again, the gunners just aimed their fire at the previous positions of the Allied soldiers. Nagel and the young private reached at the bushes without any problems and instantly pressed their bodies flat on the hard, frozen ground. The G.I.'s hadn't answered to the movement with a single shot. Anday signaled to the two gunners to stop shooting again and both MG42s instantly silenced. Carefully peeking out of his own defilate, the officer recognized German Grenadiers all around him, waiting for the further outcome of the situation. Forcing himself to take a deep, calm breath, Attila took a view through his binoculars and strained tried to observe the American side of the forest. But still, it just looked to him as if the enemy had completely disappeared, as no sign of movement could get seen at all.

Immediately Anday turned his head back, when he heard the young Sturmmann loudly shouting toward the enemy: "Americans. You position is not good. In the forest, we everywhere. You in enclosed. We have gooder weapons and artillery. Surrender. Hands up and come out. We will be good with you, we don't shoot you." This poor, blind stab into speaking English forced a short, thin smile on Attila's lips. He surely could have done better than that, but at least the Americans should have gotten the meaning nevertheless. The returning quietness only lasted short, as instantly some American voices could be heard throughout the woods that seemed to be heatedly discussing something.

Just some moments after, a whole group of circa 15 American soldiers slowly appeared out of the forest in front of the Germans. All of them lifted their arms high above their heads and the faces of these men showed a mixture between fear and total apathy. But there was another thing about these soldiers, that instantly had caught Anday's eye for the moment. All of the American soldiers were blacks. One of the men now yelled over to the Germans, his eyes glancing in panic: "Don't shoot, comrades. We surrender."

Translations:

"Das Feuer einstellen! ..."
"Stop firing! But keep your eyes open and when you can see only an elemental movement, you'll let them have it again."

"Spricht einer von euch Englisch? ..."
"Does anyone of you speak English? A little bit of it should already do it."

"Ich kann ein bißchen Englisch von der Schule, Herr Obersturmführer."
"I do know a little English from school, Herr Obersturmführer."

"Gut, Sturmmann. Sehen Sie diese Buschgruppe? ..."
"Ok, Sturmmann. Do you see that row of bushes? There you'll crawl really slow now. Scharführer Nagel will be going with you and of course we'll give fire support for you all the time. Try to stay invisible to the Americans in any case. When you have arrived, try to ask the Americans, if they wouldn't prefer to surrender right now. The point is already lost for them here anyway. You may also exaggerate the whole thing a bit, make sure to use the word enclosure."

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

The steady suppressive fire from the two MG's and the pressure of being flanked from their right side was enough to force the Americans to keep their heads down. It seemed as if the earth itself had swallowed the American soldiers and Dieter couldn't really see anyone from his position. Still, their opposition did fire the occasional shot towards the two machine gunners, so they must have been in there somewhere. Most likely the Americans realized that they were outnumbered and in poor positions when compared to the Germans, so they didn't put up much of a resistance.

Hearing the reassuring sounds of their own machine guns made even the previously quiet young men appear quite eager to get involved in the fight. They didn't realize that this could have hardly been called a proper battle situation at all and it was very easy to act brave with these odds. The soldiers still didn't seem quite ready to jump up and rush at the opposition, but appeared to be quite content in hiding behind whatever shelter they had found. The whole situation made Dieter scoff slightly. They would get their facts set straight soon enough.

Dieter wasn't sure what Obersturmführer Anday's plan could have possibly been, but he quickly found it out. The machine guns stopped firing and for a moment the forest was eerily quiet, save for the strangely muffled sounds of battle echoing in the distance. The sudden voice from a new position almost startled Dieter. Listening to the man that was now addressing the Americans, it wasn't too hard to tell that the words, although in English, were spoken by one of the German soldiers. And damn, this guy was horrible at English!

Dieter himself had never been too successful in school, but if he had learned one thing during his younger years, it had been English. Most of his skills in the language had been acquired outside school, however. In Dresden Dieter had met a pretty young girl who mostly spoke just English and Dieter had tried his best to grasp the language better, just to charm her. He still spoke English with a heavy accent and could hardly write properly in the said language, but he understood and spoke it well enough to get by.

The German, no doubt one from the SS, was telling the Americans that they were surrounded... well, enclosed and that if they surrendered, they would get through the whole ordeal alive. Dieter arched an eyebrow and glanced at the men of his platoon, who also seemed puzzled by this turn of events. The Americans had a very short, although heated discussion on what they should do, but Dieter couldn't make out any words this far away. Very soon the whole squad of American soldiers appeared from their positions, their hands raised. Dieter couldn't really hide his surprise, when he saw that each one of the Americans had dark skin.

Now, Dieter wasn't usually one to discriminate people due to their colour, even after he had been through all the propaganda concerning the lesser races and German master race. He wasn't too accustomed to dealing with other than white people, although North Africa had opened up his eyes somewhat. Interaction with the civilians of the area had been very scarce and Dieter still felt a strange twinge of suspicion and apprehensiveness when he saw these dark-skinned soldiers. He couldn't really stop himself from quipping something about them. "Männern wie das sendend, um hier zu kämpfen? In der Mitte dieses ganzen Schnees? Werden sie ein bisschen zu viel nicht hervortreten?" Dieter asked in a low voice and the young men nearest to him stifled a laugh. The blonde-haired corporal glanced at the German soldiers and gave them a sly grin.

Keeping his weapon leveled at the American soldiers, the whole platoon of Germans slowly emerged from their cover, making sure that the group of enemy soldiers would not suddenly decide on doing something foolish. "Keep your hands up! Move on!" Dieter said in a loud voice, motioning with his rifle towards the awaiting platoons of other soldiers.

Dieter found himself wondering if the soldiers would truly be left alive. It would mean that they would need to be escorted back, meaning less men and firepower on the front. He had heard some stories of how the SS could treat prisoners of war and apparently not quite everyone had made it alive into the POW-camps. It was, of course, sometimes quite impossible to take prisoners, but executing them was also against the rules. Maybe the SS were so important that they just got to make their own rules? It wasn't up for Dieter to decide and he only decided on doing what was asked of him instead of voicing out any opinions regarding the matter. He certainly didn't want to get into any trouble and the only thing that was first and foremost in his mind was the survival of his men and of course, making through the day himself in the process.

Dieter's platoon herded the Americans to the other Germans and the blue-eyed corporal glanced at Obersturmführer Anday, waiting to hear his orders regarding the prisoners. The snow crunched beneath his boots and now after the heat of the action had passed, Dieter remembered how cold it really was. He breathed out deeply, observing the white cloud materializing in the air and the snow that still kept falling gently to the ground. The prisoners appeared unsure and fearful now when they realized that they were prisoners of the SS and frankly, Dieter couldn't really blame them.

Translation:

"Männern wie das sendend, um hier zu kämpfen? In der Mitte dieses ganzen Schnees? Werden sie ein bisschen zu viel nicht hervortreten?"
"Sending men like that to fight in here? In the middle of all this snow? Won't they stand out a bit too much?"

[∬: Attila Anday]

Slowly, the American soldiers moved toward the German positions with their arms highly raised over their heads. The one man who had just answered to the German offer to surrender, started to speak again now. This time his voice had a nearly whining tone. "Please don't shoot. Comrades, we don't have guns anymore." The eyes of the soldier were wildly shaking and Anday could clearly see the sweat glancing in the man's black face, although the air was still freezing cold. One of the blacks seemed to be seriously injured, as the other Americans did carry him with both of his arms over their shoulders. At the side of one of his legs, the olive- green uniform of the injured man was completely covered with dark red blood. His eyes had a febrile glance and he appeared like being half- unconscious to the SS-officer.

Only a few moments after the Americans had unfolded, the soldiers of corporal Rentz's platoon emerged from their cover behind the bushes in the flank of the G.I.'s. Some of the black men fearfully stared at the second group of Germans appearing, but they didn't seem to be too surprised at all. Most likely they had totally bought what the young Sturmmann had told them and were now assumed that they already had gotten completely surrounded by the German soldiers. The flanking maneuver of Rentz's men had just worked out as it was supposed to.

One of the Wehrmacht- men now loudly raised his voice and ordered the Americans to move on. This soldier spoke the English language a lot better, but unfortunately Anday wasn't able to recognize the man because of the distance. With their faces deeply hidden under the hoods of their mantles or camouflage smocks, the soldier's looked way too similar anyway. And weren't they all just the same, tiny wheels in the giant machinery of destruction called war?

Strained, the SS- soldiers observed the just captured Americans helping their wounded comrade to move forward. Anday held his own MP still aimed at the blacks, the iron sight directly spotting into the middle of the group of enemies. The adrenaline of the prompt encounter with the enemy slowly eased up within the officer now, what made him feel the freezing cold again. The frost went all through Anday's uniform and he shivered, when a heavy breeze blew into the officer's face, bringing some warm tears to his eyes. But not really caring about the cold, Anday slowly pressed himself off the hard frozen ground. Several more men around him used to do the same and carefully came out of the shell- holes or emerged from behind the bushes. Most of them looked totally surprised, as they saw black people for the first time in their life at all. Especially the younger ones stared at the Americans with their mouths open, as if there would be small, white fairies flying around them.

Just in the moment, Anday wanted to open his mouth to give orders to the men around him, a loud voice shouted through the woods: "You damned Kraut- bastards will never get me alive." Clearly, Anday saw a single American soldier appearing behind a small ridge. The man zestfully threw something toward a close standing group of the Wehrmacht soldiers and Anday instantly became a very bad feeling in his stomach, when he recognized a small egg grenade flying through the bitter cold air. "Deckung, eine Granate." Like in slow- motion the SS- officer saw the small grenade hitting the ground. Some of the Germans tried to jump aside in a quick reaction, but the egg detonated right in the middle of them. Instantly some of the men yelled out in pain or screamed for help. One of the Grenadiers wasn't moving anymore at all, with his head laying in a puddle of dark blood.

Without any need for orders, one of the German gunners instantly aimed his MG 42 and fired a long, angry burst. The fire lay almost perfect and a whole load of bullets ripped through the body of the American within a few seconds only. Loudly screaming in agony, the black soldier fell backwards, staying on the ground with his body forming an abstract shape. As soon as the threat was eliminated, some of the Germans instantly ran to the wounded, trying to provide them with at least a bit of medical aid.

The group of Americans looked at their dead comrade and the men seemed to be even more shocked about the sudden attack than the Germans. If the faces of the black soldiers had shown fear before, there was now sheer horror in them. Trying to push aside the anger about the second death man under his command today, Attila ordered the soldiers around him with his voice sounding as calm as possible: "Sammelt die Gefangenen hier am Pfad und durschsucht Sie nach Waffen. Aber passt auf Männer, das waren jetzt genug Überraschungen für einen Tag. Die MG's bleiben vorerst in Position und feuerbereit, nicht das sich noch mehr Amerikaner hier im Wald verstecken."

Translations:

"Deckung, eine Granate."
"Get cover, a grenade."

"Sammelt die Gefangenen hier am Pfad und ..."
"Assemble the prisoners here at the path and search them for weapons. But be carefully, there have been enough surprises for one day. The MG's will stay in position and ready to fire for now, not that there are more Americans hiding here in the woods."

[Dieter "Iceman" Rentz]

After the quick burst of excitement was over, Dieter felt the cold biting at him again. An involuntary shiver travelled down his spine, the warmer clothing didn't seem to help much. The youngest soldiers in Dieter's platoon, just mere children, seemed to be feeling quite confident after the easy victory. Maybe they thought that all battle situations in the future would be as effortless as this one had been. Dieter knew that they would soon start feeling very differently when the numbers would be against them. It would be a harsh wake-up call to reality, but also one that each soldier would have to eventually go through. Dieter could see the young men, now confidently pointing their rifles at the black soldiers and looking very self-important. Even private Grün was among the ones with newfound courage and the sight made Dieter snort quietly with amusement.

His attention turned to the black-skinned soldiers again and he wondered what kind of things could be running through their minds right now. Were they expecting to die? Were they even aware of just how these SS-fanatics viewed their race? What did they say... Weren't they supposed to be sub-human, closer to animals than actual men? Dieter did not really have an opinion, he had long ago dropped his blind hatred of other people. It had grown very tiresome and had also begun eating him inside. He only hated people who gave him the reason to do so. The younger soldiers were staring at these strange dark-skinned men as if they were from a totally different planet, though. Maybe the Americans didn't like working with them, either? They had put all of the black people in one platoon, after all.

The Germans herded the enemy soldiers towards the Waffen-SS troops and the platoon lead by Feldwebel Stroh. Dieter's mind was still occupied with thoughts of this strange group of soldiers, when a sudden shout echoed in the forest. "You damned Kraut- bastards will never get me alive!" Dieter could see Obersturmführer Anday's gaze fixed on something nearby, horror filling the man's features. Dieter followed his gaze and could see a lone American soldier standing on a small ridge. The American lobbed something small towards the group of Germans, trailing slightly behind others. Dieter could hear the Obersturmführer yelling, telling the men to get cover, but it wasn't enough to save the Germans from the pending disaster. There was hardly any time to react.

The men threw themselves to the ground and even Dieter and the men near him, relatively safe from the grenade, instinctively took cover. A loud, ear-shattering explosion went off very near them and immediately after they could hear the pained yells of their comrades. As if on cue, the machine guns went off, bullets flying towards the American like deadly avenging angels. The bullets ripped through the lone American mercilessly, leaving the man sprawled in an awkward position, his blood beginning to pool on the frozen ground.

Dieter shook his head to clear up his thoughts and he clambered up. "Stehen Sie auf! Sie, Schützen Sie die Gefangenen, bleiben Sie hier!" Dieter told the men closest to him, the eyes of the young men were still wide with terror. All they could manage was a nod to acknowledge the order, while Dieter already hurried to see how many of the men had been injured or lost. Three of the men had been injured and they were pleading for help, but one Grenadier lay in the middle of the snow, unmoving and lifeless. Dieter frowned and stared at the dead soldier for a moment, before unceremoniously wiping his nose with his arm. Dieter saw two of the older men attending to the injured Germans. They had more experience with attending to the wounded than most soldiers here, including Dieter himself.

The blue eyes of the Stabsgefreiter turned to regard the black Americans and his eyes flared with anger. The war had changed Dieter, it was true, but it did not mean that all traces of his former anger and rebelliousness were entirely gone. Right now he wanted to beat every last one of them with the butt of his rifle, he wanted to make someone pay for yet another life thrown to waste. He understood that they had nothing to do with the single soldier lobbing a grenade at them, yet he didn't really care. The Americans most likely understood that such an attack had only served to instigate further hatred against them and they shivered fearfully in the cold. Dieter's eyes reflected icy bitterness and he sneered at their prisoners, the anger fiercely gripping at him.

Obersturmführer Anday was telling the men to assemble the prisoners together and check them for weapons, so Dieter moved closer to the group of Americans. One dark-skinned American man, slightly smaller than other men in his company, glanced at the German corporal and most likely understood the reasons behind the German's angry stare. He held his hands up and shrugged. "I'm sorry," the man said in English, looking at Dieter. What? He was sorry for a "Kraut" dying? He was only trying to save his own skin, the dirty black bastard!

"You will be," Dieter growled under his breath and rammed the wooden butt of his rifle sharply into the man's back. "Get moving!" the German ordered savagely, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction when he saw the American pitch forward in pain. It served him right, he was most likely rejoicing inside over the death of a simple Kraut, anyway. Dieter glanced towards the Obersturmführer, he was not sure if the CO had seen Dieter venting out his anger on the prisoner. The German corporal did not really care, he felt entitled to give a piece of his mind to the prisoners over the deaths of the two Germans. ""Bringen Sie sie in die Straße, helfen Sie, die verwundeten Männer zur Sicherheit zu eskortieren. Wer weiß, ob sich mehr von diesen blutigen Negern in den Sträuchern verbergen werden," Dieter told the men closest to him, dividing some of the men to help with the wounded and some to escort the prisoners back to the road.

Dieter followed the prisoners, glancing at Obersturmführer Anday as they reached their destination, the men starting to search the prisoners for weapons. One dark glance from Dieter was enough to convey the man's emotions to the SS-officer. "Ein Soldat tot, drei verwundet, Herr Obersturmführer," Dieter reported the casualties, only barely managing to keep the tone of his voice matter-of-fact.


Translations:

"Stehen Sie auf! Sie, Schützen Sie die Gefangenen, bleiben Sie hier!"
"Get up! You, see to the prisoners, stay here!"

"Bringen Sie sie in die Straße, helfen Sie, die verwundeten Männer zur Sicherheit zu eskortieren. Wer weiß, ob sich mehr von diesen blutigen Negern in den Sträuchern verbergen werden."
"Take them to the road, help escort the wounded men to safety. Who knows if more of these bloody Negroes will be hiding in the bushes."

"Ein Soldat tot, drei verwundet, Herr Obersturmführer."
"One soldier dead, three wounded, Herr Obersturmführer."

[∬: Attila Anday]

Obviously the German soldiers moved a lot more careful now after the short explosion of happenings. The black soldiers got slowly driven toward a bigger clearance besides the small path, strained guarded by Anday's men. The snow had slowly stopped falling from the skies and there was a weak sun peeking through the dark, grey cloud cover. The fighting noise coming from the distance had also decreased and the quietness in the forest appeared nearly strange to the men. Especially as everyone in the woods, either German or American did know, that this mysterious peace would only remain temporarily anyway.

One of the Germans yelled some commands at the Americans, before the searching of the newly captured soldiers began. Anday recognized Stabsgefreiter Rentz, who obviously seemed to speak the English language a lot more fluid than the young Sturmmann, who had called on the Americans to surrender. Perhaps this could be quite useful for the Germans in the near future.

"Ein Soldat tot, drei verwundet, Herr Obersturmführer.", while he heard these words, Anday shortly had to reminisce about all these men for a few moments that hadn't survived his command in all the years of fighting. War was a bloody business and sometimes casualties just had to be taken, but nevertheless there always was an uncomfortable feeling left inside the officer. After signaling the radio- man to come over, Anday turned to one of his NCOs: "Nagel, suchen Sie sich fünf Freiwillige und schauen Sie, ob der weitere Weg zu unseren Stellungen feindfrei ist. Aber haltet dabei eure Köpfe unten.". Instantly after Anday had finished giving his orders, the SS- Scharführer saluted and headed toward of bigger group of German soldiers, who stood besides the whole scenario and lively discussed the happenings of the last minutes.

In the meantime, the radio- equipment had been set up and readied to contact the battalion. The operator nodded his head toward the officer, to signal him that the connection was made. Immediately Anday took the earpiece and started speaking: "Hier Obersturmführer Anday, wir hatten Feindkontakt an der Straße, im Waldgebiet direkt nördlich von Senonchamps. Meine Kompanie hat einige Verwundete, am besten Sie schicken uns einen Sanka. Die Männer müßen ohne Verzögerungen nach hinten zum Hauptverbandsplatz gebracht werden. Und sagen Sie Hauptscharführer Meyer, Ich werde Ihm auch einige Gefangene nach hinten schicken. Vielleicht ist aus diesen Männern ja etwas brauchbares für uns rauszuhohlen. Ich lasse einige meiner Männer mit den Gefangenen und den Verwundeten an der Straße zurück. Der Rest meiner Kompanie wird weiter zu den Stellungen im Nordosten marschieren, um die Männer der 3. Kompanie wie befohlen abzulösen." The NCO on the other side of the radio made a very tired impression on Anday. The man spoke with a tediously slow voice and it sounded as if he only hardly could suppress a yawning when he confirmed the officer's orders.

While searching the blacks for weapons or equipment, the German soldiers didn't act gentle at all. "Das wolltest du wohl vor uns verstecken, du schwarze Sau?" When he found a combat knife in the pockets of one of the blacks, a SS- private zestfully slammed the bolt of his carbine against the olive- green metal helmet of the man. The American instantly let himself fell to the snowy ground, without showing any signs of opposition at all. He only held his hands in front of his head in a begging position, trying to at least save his face from the furious German. The hushed whimpering coming from the captured American brought the Germans even more into rage. Before the black was able to get up again, another SS- man who stood besides, hardly kicked him into his belly. Instantly after the kick, the American chokingly poked into a nearby bush.

"Sofort aufhören. Diese Männer haben sich uns ergeben und werden von uns gut behandelt. So etwas will Ich hier nicht noch einmal sehen. Diesen Gegner haben wir bereits besiegt.", Anday shouted while angrily viewing at the young SS- private. The young German stared at Anday with a blushing head for a short moment, before he hastily continued to search another of the Americans.

Although he wasn't very much of a racist, Anday had big doubts in the fighting value of these black soldiers he saw in front of himself here. He found it actually disgusting, how fast these men had chosen to voluntarily stop fighting and surrender to the German company. The fight itself hadn't even started yet and they only had lost one wounded man, what didn't really speak for the morale of these black- skinned soldiers. Their faces appeared more like expressionless masks, not showing any hope at all. Only the fear was clearly visible within their way to move and the nervous, hasty gestures that these captured G.I.'s shared with themselves. But nevertheless, quite contrary to Anday's own soldiers, these Americans here looked very well nurtured. The uniforms of the blacks were mostly in a very good condition and the quality of their equipment was absolutely superior to those of the Germans. Only the lack of some white camouflage gear was surely a big disadvantage for them.

After the SS- soldiers had finished with the blacks, Anday ordered some men to guard the Americans. The wounded had also been brought to the clearance now, waiting for their transport to arrive. Besides the knife, the Germans had only found some tins of meat and some chocolate bars in the pockets of the Americans. They had left their weapons inside the bushes behind them and it didn't took the SS- men long to find out that the blacks had made their rifles absolutely useless before throwing them away. While the soldiers were still busy with hastily dispersing the loot of this short victory, Anday raised his loud voice: "So, nach dem kurzen Schauspiel geht es jetzt weiter. In zwei Marschreihen, der 1. Zug wie immer an der Spitze vom ganzen. Auf gehts Männer."

Translations:

"Nagel, suchen Sie sich fünf Freiwillige und ..."
"Nagel, gather five volunteers and have a look if the rest of the way to the German positions is free of enemies. But make sure to keep your heads down."

"Hier Obersturmführer Anday, wir hatten ..."
"Obersturmführer Anday here. We had enemy contact at the street in the forest directly north of Senonchamps. My company has several wounded, so it would be best if you could send us an ambulance. These men need to get brought back to the field hospital immediately. And tell Hauptscharführer Meyer that I'll send some prisoners back to him too. Maybe there's something useful for us to get out of them. l'll leave some of my men together with the wounded and the prisoners back here at the road. The rest of my company will move to our positions in the north- east to unsolder the men from the 3. company as ordered."

"Das wolltest du wohl vor uns verstecken, du schwarze Sau?"
"Did you want to hide that from us, you black pig?"

"Sofort aufhören. Diese Männer haben ..."
"Stop that immediately. These men have surrendered themselves to us and we'll treat them probably. I don't want to see something like that happen again. We've already succeeded over this enemy."

"So, nach dem kurzen Schauspiel.. ."
"Well, after this short spectacle, we do have to move on now. In two marching rows, the first platoon will be the forefront as always. Let's go soldiers."