The Soggy Night (Chapter 1 of the book I never completed)
The night was dark, the forest floor soggy but as is the mountain so firm, so is the will of a soldier to move on. After having lost three men in an ambush, Capt. Heinz Schenk was left with only two of his men excluding him. The soldiers were in desperate need of some shelter for the night. Having lost their patrol vehicle in the ambush they could not return to their command post. They were not even sure if they were in friendly or hostile territory. Far in the dark, they noticed a devastated warehouse which was badly damaged probably because of the air raids and artillery shelling that it had to face. It struck the men that this could serve as a very good hide-out for the night. As they went closer to the warehouse…, “Achtung!” whispered one of the soldiers. He had noticed a man, probably a vagabond by his looks, his face covered with a cap and it was very evident from the way he lay down on the steps that he was fast asleep. Capt. Heinz Schenk ordered one of his men to go and wake