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 up the fellow who lay sleeping there. After persistent calls, a few jerks and the intervention of the other soldier as well, they were able to wake him up. As soon as he woke up he gave a confused expression to the men. The situation was intervened by the Captain as he came up and introduced himself, thinking him to be the owner of the warehouse. “Hallo! Mein Name ist Capt. Heinz Schenk. Ich bin ein offizier in der Waffen SS.” The expression on the man’s face clearly proved his acquaintance with any other language but not the one being spoken, at least not the words that were being spoken to him. The officer realizing the fact asked him, “Sprechen sie Englisch?” The man replied, “Ja……Ja Englisch Englisch”. The German occupation of his country had indeed taught him a bit of the German Language but just at that time he got up and started running like a madman and in no time he disappeared in the dark. Capt. Schenk did not ask any of his men to go after him fearing any hostile units in the vicinity and besides, there was a good chance that they would waste time and energy on some tramp.

They entered the warehouse and took comfortable spots and settled down for the night. Knowing that the key to survival in a war of such magnitude was always on how alert they were and could be. They had to take turns and stay on guard for the night always ready and prepared for a probable and perhaps even an imminent assault. It was a cold night but they could not light a fire as it would make them a vulnerable target for enemy air raids. Capt. Schenk was an Iron Cross holder, 2^nd class for the bravery he had shown on the Russian front. As the other two of his men were relatively new, they were very curious to know of how the Russian front was and was the experience there. After the battle of Stalingrad, the soldiers and officers who fought on the front were seen as heroes and effigies of courage back in the fatherland. As they sat there, smoking their respective cigarettes, one of his men asked him: “Kapitän, wie war es, an der russischen Front zu kämpfen?”