‘An unfortunate incident indeed. But I was referring to the guard on Finnish Public Radio. Has Corporal Määttä not heard his laments? I am overcome by a feeling of unspeakable despair every time I hear his wistful voice, “I stand on guard alone, oooout here in the lonely night.” I do not understand how it is deemed permissible to keep one man continuously on guard. No one ever comes to relieve him. A truly startling state of affairs.’
‘Yeah, it’s uh, just that we don’t have a radio.’
‘Excellent. I will be spared many painful moments. But might the Corporal be aware of any good juniper groves in this vicinity? I believe I need a new reinforcement to ensure the pliancy of my personal weapon.’
‘Some over on that hill.’
‘Thank you. Perhaps I’ll procure a spare as well. The battle for our nation’s survival may well grow heated.’
Määttä watched the man out of the corner of his eye. He was reassured to see that, regardless of his odd babbling, Honkajoki did at least scan the terrain in the mirror with a sharp and vigilant eye.
Rokka took Hauhia along for one more shift that night, and the next afternoon the boy was permitted to do a shift on his own. In the morning he asked Koskela for permission to go and visit his friends from the training center over in the neighboring position.
‘Go ahead. But take the communication trench and keep your head down.’
‘Yes, sir, Lieutenant.’
Hauhia still couldn’t quite manage casual conversation with Koskela. He set off in his excitement to tell his buddies about everything he’d seen and experienced. Koskela, for his part, just kept staring at the ceiling, wondering how anybody could be so excited about war.
Over at the neighboring position, Hauhia hardly let his buddies get a word in edgewise. It did not cross his mind that all of his stories might be old news to them by now. ‘Our position’s in a fucking dangerous spot. You can’t raise your head at all! But the boss is solid. He just lies on his back on his bed, wiggling his big toe in between the others. They think guys like us are all babies, but they did gimme some smokes. If it’d been up to me I’d have gone on guard duty by myself right away, but they wouldn’t let me. They said they were sure I’d be fine, but they’re under orders not to let guys go out alone the first time. Our machine gun is fucking amazing. It even has an accelerator. At least seven hundred rounds a minute, if not more.’
‘We’ve got the same kind.’
‘Yeah, but I heard our machine gun has knocked off the most. We’ve got this corporal. Might even get a Mannerheim Cross soon. Guy from Kannas.’
‘We’ve got some pretty tough guys over here too.’
‘But there’s this one guy at our post who’s a real daredevil. Just yesterday he yelled over at the neighbors, even though it made them pepper the area so damn hard the whole forest was shaking.’
The new arrivals made their coffee substitute and drank it together. The owner of the mess kit admired the new soot that had accumulated on its side. Almost like the combat vets’ tins.
They whispered amongst themselves in a corner of the bunker, conscious of the childishness of their conversation. Hauhia had more to brag about because he was on his own – and so without anyone to rein in his imagination.
‘All right, bums.’ (Hauhia was from the country, but he had made friends with the ‘Helsinki crowd’ while at the training center.) ‘When are we gonna get leave? The older guys’ll rotate out first, of course, but we’re next in line.’
‘Thank goodness machine-gunners don’t have to go out on patrols.’
‘You can volunteer. But it’s not required.’
‘Don’t think I’ll be volunteering.’
‘I don’t know. Might be nice to go see what’s going on. That Rokka guy said something about taking me with him if he went out sometime. That’s the corporal I was just talking about. But hey, I’ve gotta be back on guard duty at two. Come by our bunker round four, when I get off duty. Take the communication trench, but remember, don’t raise your head. Lead poisoning is fucking dangerous. Bring some sugar with you, we can make some coffee. I’ll let Koskela know, the boss I mean. And you don’t have to be all official in front of him. That kind of stuff makes him laugh. I was really casual with him right away.’
‘Oh we don’t do any of that official stuff. This morning I was sitting in front of the bunker when the commander for this whole stronghold arrived. And I just pretended I didn’t even notice him.’
‘Don’t forget to come. You’ll even get to see some Russki-rot. There’s fourteen of them. Almost reached our positions. Must have been in a pretty tight spot at some point.’
‘There’s dead guys here too. The neighbors even took this spot and held it for a couple of hours. The guys said they used hand grenades to get it back. Even the bunker was so covered in bodies that there wasn’t even space to put your foot down.’
‘Our position’s never been taken. The guys load up all the barrels to stop them in their tracks before they get there. But we’re headed up to Million pretty soon. Guys get killed up there all the time. Well, see you later.’
Hauhia hadn’t even noticed that he was already sort of aping Rokka’s gestures and tone of voice. Once he was back at his bunker, he kept glancing restlessly at the time. He was annoyed with himself for having told his friends about what friendly terms he was on with Koskela. And now when they came… He tried to address Koskela casually a couple of times, so he’d be more used to it, but the words evaporated in his mouth every time. Finally, timidly, he began, ‘Have you been the leader of this platoon for a long time, Lieutenant, si—?’
‘Since peacetime,’ Koskela said flatly.
‘You must be a regular commissioned officer, then.’
‘Overtime. Means I’m a reserve officer in a regular officer’s job.’
‘Were you in the army already in the Winter War, si—?’
‘Yup.’
‘As a platoon leader?’
‘Yup, there too. I was a squad leader first, then a platoon leader. But I dropped back to company commander by the end.’
‘What do you mean “dropped back”, si—? Ahem… ahem,’ Hauhia coughed awkwardly.
‘Well, by that time the company didn’t have more than sixteen men left in the ranks. My platoon had at least thirty to start out with.’
‘Did you destr—, ahem, bust up any tanks?’
‘A couple that had been buried underground in Lemetti. But Hietanen over there’s the one that blew up a KV.’
‘Oh yeah? You knock it out with a satchel charge?’ (Hauhia was already as comfortable with Hietanen as he was with his friends.)
‘Mine. Look, don’t believe all that stuff guys tell you about fighting tanks. Most of the folks talking about that stuff never seen a tank in their lives. I was such a panicked wreck when I threw that mine, even I hardly know what happened. And I guess I was shaking a good ten minutes afterwards too – so much I couldn’t even get a cigarette to stay in my mouth. Even now I sometimes have these dreams that I’m watching that tank track moving underneath its fender just about to drive right over me. Then I wake up in this horrible sweat… I just hope I never see another contraption like that as long as I live.’
Koskela looked up from the Karelian News and said, ‘You can head out there by yourself now. But if you’re not feeling too sure yet, you can just say so. You don’t have to go alone. I can come along, or Hietanen here, if you want.’
‘No… no, I can manage.’
‘Don’t doubt that at all. I’m just afraid you don’t quite realize how dangerous it is out there in the quiet. Just don’t raise your head! Only look out through the mirror. And don’t take any unnecessary shots. Do not shoot, even if you see something – unless they’re actually making a run at us. Keep an eye on the nearby surroundings, too, they’re pretty crafty in snatching prisoners. Once they came up on a guy from behind and seized him in broad daylight. But if something happens, don’t panic. Just shoot immediately, don’t hesitate and stay calm. Striking first is half the game. And don’t rely on the fact that the infantry guy on guard is keeping watch. He’s probably thinking the same thing about you. Maybe I’ll go with you.’