So then, it was just carry on?
Or were they walking into a trap?
Your mind could begin to wander in cases like these. You had to make sure that your nerves didn’t get the better of you. You must obtain volitional control over the mind, letting willpower steer your thought. You have to have power over yourself and your wandering thoughts. Thus Arno interpreted Nietzsche’s “will to power”: it was about the will to power over yourself. And this was the basis for all human, personal existence. Take charge of your being, take charge of your unit. Same same.
They reached a field. The road ran across the field and further away towards another forest edge, a forest of firs. Arno halted just inside the edge of the forest and spread out the men in a firing line. According to the map there would be nothing hostile here, no outpost. There should be one a bit further off.
Arno stood behind a tree, ten feet from the edge of the forest, looking out across the field. No signs of life could be spotted. At that moment the radio crackled to life. He grabbed the handset and acknowledged:
“Ace of Spades, Roger.”
“From King of Spades.” It was the Company headquarters, represented by the Captain himself, Captain Wistinghausen.
The Captain asked where Arno was. Arno gave the coordinates. The Captain then announced that Arno had enemy forces in front of him. There was a fork in the road in the woods on the other side of the field. Along the connecting road – the fork looking like a “Y” – a hostile unit had fled. The Company’s 2nd Platoon under Lieutenant Dion was about to pursue it but had been prevented on the way, having been exposed to a flank attack. Now Arno’s Platoon was ordered by the Captain to put in maximum speed to catch up and knock out the fleeing Russians. If 2nd Platoon caught up they would get some assistance from them. Arno said “affirmative” and broke the connection. Next he called Bauer to him and explained the situation. Then they took off, each still with a half-platoon, advancing on either side of the road. The field nearby was crossed without caution. Then they broke into the edge of the wood.
They rushed through the forest with the goal of overtaking the retreating Russians. The road fork was passed. Bauer’s column could be discerned on the other side of the road, between the trees. Arno’s column must pass the connecting road. Then it was just to continue in the woods, onward, ever onward.
Suddenly, Arno saw something ahead, a moving shape. He ordered Deschner to deploy. The soldiers of the MG Team dropped onto the snow-covered ground; gunner and loader got the piece going and opened up. The muzzle flames flashed in the dark forest.
Then the rifle squad Arno currently led arrived. They were sent out on the left wing, protected by the MG fire.
Thus the advance continued for a while, leaping by bounds, the one unit protecting the other, one covering the other’s advance. However, the Russians were elusive, they didn’t allow themselves to be caught. They even fought back.
In the midst of a leap Arno noticed how the sky lit up in a blazing path. It was a mortar illumination round, fired by the retreating Russians from a 40 mm piece, easy to carry. The projectile whistled, it exploded at 100 metres’ height and spread a magnesium white light. The whole forest for a moment seemed to bathe in light. The soldiers hit the dirt; had anyone stood up he would have been a fine target.
The illumination round contained a small parachute with the flare carried under it in a metal canister, a cup of burning magnesium. The contraption now floated to the ground, slowly gliding away over the forest. Soon it disappeared. It was dark once again. The Russians fired some suppressive small-arms fire. After half a minute the German soldiers rose from cover and continued the advance.
The firing of this round at least proved that they had the enemy in front of them, the retreating enemy unit the Captain had reported. Maybe the Reds would stop fleeing, make a stand and fight it out. Or maybe they sent up flares just for the sake of it, as a symbolic marker that they hadn’t given up.
Forward again. In the process Arno thought about this and that, holding an internal monologue with questions like: do we have them now? What more is required of us today? What happened to the rest of the half-platoon? How does it look on the flanks? What is the square root of zero? Why is the sky blue? What is heavier, a kilogram of cotton or a kilogram of lead?
Then he stopped pondering, took volitional control over his thought and said to himself: I AM.
9
The Main Line
Arno was walking in the woods in search of enemies. Beside a tree he found the soldier Schmidt with an MG. This could be good to have. He took him along and continued the advance.
Arno went ahead in the woods with Schmidt in tow.
The rest of their own strength seemed to have disappeared.
Bursts of automatic fire came from in front of them.
Battle contact, exchange of fire, firefight. Arno and Schmidt continued forward. Here and there shapes could be seen, moving shapes, probably German soldiers.
It brightened between the trees. They reached yet another glade. In an opening a whole bunch of soldiers were seen: Lenoir, Hackel, Salazar and Gans. Among a few scattered cans and ammo boxes Langon, Venlo and Venskes were sitting talking.
Arno soon saw his whole platoon in the glade, minus the four posted on Point X. Bauer appeared out of the group. Arno went up to him and ordered him to position the men for defence in the glade, in a half circle pointing forward. Bauer said:
“Jawolh, Herr Feldwebel!” In English that would be, “Yes, Sergeant!”
Bauer turned and began to shout at the men. Soon they were lying in their positions, somewhere inside the surrounding forest.
Two men remained among the ammo boxes. It was Pindar and Henko. Pindar had his arm in a sling. Henko lay the ground and held his bleeding stomach. Arno took out a bandage and gave it to Geglo, who was also nearby. “Dress the wound,” was the order; Pindar helped as best as he could. Arno got down and said some comforting words to Henko. He knew that the man was in intense pain and he could only admire him for not screaming aloud. He had been hit by hostile small-arms fire.
Next Arno called the Captain and asked for the location of the Medical Platoon.
Another soldier, Gipp, was also found at the site. He and Geglo were ordered to arrange a stretcher of poles and rainwear ponchos and carry Henko to the Medical Station, which all platoon commanders had been told by radio was 1 km back along the forking road. .
The orders were carried out; soon Henko was carried off by Gelo and Gipp. Pindar joined them.
Bauer returned from the forest. He said that he had grouped the platoon for defence with machine guns on the flanks. “Good,” Arno said about this. He then asked Bauer about the advance through the woods. Bauer told him that although they hadn’t actually seen the enemy, they had been exposed to hostile fire. That was how Pindar and Henko had been wounded.
“The Reds escaped. Maybe they’ve joined the outpost that’s supposed to be near here, the last one before the main line.”
“Most likely.”
Arno wondered if they should have continued to pursue them. But over the radio the Captain had just said that it was okay to stay where they were for the moment. As it happened, Second Lieutenant Dion was on his way with a mortar. The bulk of his platoon was engaged elsewhere but now he himself was heading for Arno with heavy support: a grenade launcher. With the help of this they would storm the enemy position that the Lieutenant knew more about. It was the last outpost, the one that even Arno knew a bit about.
Arno broke the connection, sat down on a log and caught his breath for a few seconds. It was still quite dark. The searchlights in the sky were still illuminating the clouds and creating that odd atmosphere.