“Thanks for the info,” Arno said, remembering the episode in Kharkov when he had slipped from the jaws of death, now adding:
“This is strange, this knowledge, I mean. I’d rather die in battle, to be honest.”
The Badger nodded and said:
“Think of it like this: you are sentenced to life. You have to live with it.”
“I guess I must,” Arno said.
The next phase in the dream saw Arno walking over a flowery meadow. Spring clouds were drifting by and an enigmatic city hovered in the sky, an enchanted castle of shimmering crystal.
The sun was illuminating everything into golden splendour. The meadow was surrounded by deciduous trees. What beautiful hardwoods Arno thought; he appreciated the gentle, casual appearance of deciduous trees, he was a little tired of conifers. Although in his Karlstad childhood most of the trees were coniferous, Swedish woodland was generally quite varied: it was normal in Sweden to see a mixed forest of spruce and birch trees, of trembling aspen and pines. But in this Dreamland there were only maples, oaks and beeches, and the meadow of flowers was painted in many colours: violet, blue-grey, emerald green and bright red.
Over the meadow a crowd of people came walking, peasant types in grey clothes. Arno cheered them and walked over to them. But he never reached them, the people disappeared and then the dream shifted scene once again. And in this third stage Arno once again had the Badger at his side. Now they were in a darker forest, a Nordic fairy forest with dense spruce trunks, moss-grown stones and a dark lake with a still surface.
“We meet again,” the mystic man said. “Here and there in the Dreamland, that’s where our roads will cross.”
“Fine,” Arno said. “Interesting.”
“Indeed. Be prepared for anything. Stay calm. Tough challenges await you.”
“I’ll remember that.”
After this exchange everything disappeared – the woods, the lake, the Badger – and Arno woke up. Sitting in the corner in Grand Hall he deliberated on what he had just dreamt. How interesting to meet your soul guide, he thought. He seemed like a good companion. At the same time, it’s a bit scary to meet such a figure in your dreams, this takes my dreaming to a higher level. But I’ll manage this like I manage everything else, I hope. I settle for the old mantra, “I Am,” and so I’ll be prepared for anything.
10
Kamenets-Podolsky
Battalion Wolf was in reserve. So they had to wait. All the armoured units of the southern spearhead passed along the routes they had cleared and then on to Zbruch. As already noted the Germans had managed to take the bridges needed to cross the river.
As for Battalion Wolf, the men waited impatiently to get to head northwest, breaking out to freedom. But of this, at first, came nothing. For in the southwestern part of the Kessel lay the city of Kamenets-Podolsky and the Russians now launched a counterattack against this city. It happened in the evening of March 29, the evening of the day that for Arno had begun by storming and clearing outposts. The enemy got going when he realised that something big was happening here in the west. So Hube decided to send Battalion Wolf back there to protect his southern flank. The order was to retake the city.
So they moved to do it. Arno and his platoon, indeed the whole of 8th Company and the entire Battalion, was transported overnight by lorries to the south, entering the suburbs of Kamenets-Podolsky in the morning of March 30. Then they were given various tasks. They had the support of Stukas in the sky; there was support from a company of combat engineers. It was about breaking into houses and clearing them room by room, about demolition and broken rock, about barbed wire and empty brass cases in the rubble. The contest was fierce but the Germans were determined and the Russians had to give in.
The Company fulfilled its task as did the whole of Battalion Wolf. The enemy’s grip on Kamenets-Podolsky was broken. The Russians were unable to threaten them in the city region anymore. But the Russian counterstrike in question had more prongs. There was also an armoured thrust up and running, somewhat to the north. This we soon shall see.
The Battalion had entered Kamenets-Podolsky in the morning of March 30. In the evening, when the Russians had been beaten off, the Germans grabbed some food and rest. Accommodation was arranged in the city.
They had to wait for their turn to be moved out of the motti, direction northwest. The plan was that next day they would head out that way, cross the Zbruch and Seret and continue to Tarnopol.
11
The Village
From his command seat, standing at the prow of his SdKfz 251, Arno looked through the trees down towards the village, some unpainted, one-storey wooden houses along a road. The place was deserted. Everything was quiet, except for the murmur of a brook and the idle rumbling of the halftracks’ six cylinder Maybach engines. Arno glanced at the soldiers in the passenger compartment: Rendulic, Geglo, Tauber, Gipp, Ebersen and Ilo.
The sun was shining from a clear blue sky. It was mild, around 3 degrees Celsius. There was a thaw in the land, winter seemingly giving way for spring. The platoon’s three SPWs had just arrived at the copse. The men stayed mounted in their vehicles, except for the two men on sentry duty, posted at the edge of the trees.
The scene was quiet. But appearances were deceptive. Both sides had the village booked as a salvo point for their artillery. Both German and Russian armoured units were waiting in the wings. And the opposing infantry also lay waiting. Arno’s force, and many more.
The date of was March 31, the day after the Kamenets-Podolsky battle. At 0500 hours, deploying in the city proper, Battalion Wolf was finally ordered to move to the northwest, towards freedom. It would, as before, go with the location-wise southernmost of the two spearheads, the spearheads themselves, as already seen, heading northwest. At dawn the Battalion was transported off on trucks, eventually crossing the Zbruch. During the morning they travelled over grey-brown, muddy fields. Destination – another hotspot.
For this wasn’t some leisurely transport, the specific goal was yet another operational mission. Another dance with Death. But the rank and file of Battalion Wolf didn’t complain. It’s better that something happens, it’s better to fight freely than sitting waiting to die trapped in a motti; this was the general mood. And Arno personally retained his equanimity with the mantra “I Am”.
This day, the last day of March 1944, they would take part in repelling a Russian armoured shock, a Panzerstoss, initiated the day before. The 4th Russian Armoured Army had attacked to the north, trying to insert a wedge of grinding steel between Seret and Zbruch. So Hube’s southern spearhead had to react. It halted, redeployed and started to repel the riposte. And Battalion Wolf, being in reserve, fitted well into the scheme of blocking the latest Russian threat.
In the process there were several minor battles. One of these was the impending one, fought on March 31 by 8th Company at a road somewhere. The Germans would lure the enemy to take a certain village. Arno and his platoon had feinted defence in this village. It can be added that Arno & Co had now also received their SdKfz 251s. Now they were Panzer Grenadiers and not Foot Infantry.
The battle had begun at 1200 hours, with Arno’s Platoon being deployed in the southern outskirts of the village. Arno opened the game by laying down suppressive small-arms fire towards a forest edge, 800 m farther to the south, where it was assumed that the enemy was gathering. In fact, the firing was a way to draw fire on themselves and lure the Russians into a trap. Then the platoon had speedily regrouped, loaded their SPWs and raced north through the village. Leaving the village, the platoon had crossed a bridge over a brook swollen by meltwater, driven up a slope and, finally, darted off into a wood of bare deciduous trees. In it, the Hanomags deployed with 50-metre gaps between the vehicles. The snow cover was thin and the vehicles had torn up the wet ground where they had passed.