‘I am not a specialist in regional dialects, I am the Commander of this company, and I intend to make it clear to you that there is such a thing as military discipline.’
‘Gaddamn it. And I’m supposed’da cut the grass an’ line up lil’ pebbles on’na edge a your path. What the hell were you thinkin’ when you cooked that up?’
‘You talked back to a colonel on his inspection rounds and the complaint came to me, urging me to punish you. Punishment did not seem to me appropriate to the offense, so I selected this task instead, as a means of determining whether or not you meant to comply. Should you fail to comply, then and only then will I press the matter further. I ordered your squad to come along as well because they comport themselves exactly as you do. Your example has borne fruit, congratulations. Your predecessor Corporal Lehto was just the same, and following in the footsteps of the two of you, the whole platoon has become a bastion of insolence and bravado.’
‘You really think I’m gonna obey that order?’
‘I would urge you to, I really would. You are entirely alone – there’s nothing you can do. Your insolence triumphs just so long as the army is willing to tolerate it, and its tolerance stops here.’
‘You think I’m afraid’da you?’
‘Not in the least. I grant bravery its due respect, being a brave man myself. But you have been demanding too high a price for it for a long time now. I’ve yielded to it more than I should have, more than regulations properly allow. I’ve been waiting for you to come to your senses. Given your capabilities, you could be a soldier of the highest class – were you suitable otherwise. If you behaved like a proper soldier, or rather like an officer of superior rank, I could hand you a Mannerheim Cross as if it were a cigarette. It’s been awarded to lesser men than you. I am fully aware of the fact that, amongst other things, you saved this battalion from an extremely dangerous situation last winter, sparing us who knows what destruction. I am willing to grant that in terms of fighting, you are the best man I’ve seen, and I’ve seen some real daredevils, but you cannot continue on with this misguided idea that that fact excuses you from everything else.’
Rokka plucked a berry from his skewer and said, half-seriously, ‘Mannerheim Cross! Those come with a pot a dough.’
‘I already told you it’s a no-go. It would be like making a poster boy out of insubordination. Your insolence is more dangerous to this army than Honkajoki’s mockery of it, which, incidentally, I am also putting a stop to. You have an opportunity to redeem yourself by bringing your squad to carry out the task I’ve assigned.’
‘Nothin’ doin’.’
‘That means the court martial.’
‘Means a whole lot more’n ’nat. Now you lissen’na me, I been thinkin’ all this over too.’ Rokka’s easy joviality had vanished. Slowly his entire body began to shake, and though his face struggled to maintain some sort of smile, his voice was trembling with fury. ‘Now lissen here, friend. Don’t you play games with me. You think you’re gonna break me, but believe you me, you won’t – no more’n any a the others that’s tried. Lissen, you know my wife down in Kannas is pregnant and out there cuttin’na rye all by herself? And you, you bumblin’ bird-brain, you wanna play games with me, make me line up pebbles along your path? Gaddamn it! You really think you can push my patience just as far as you please, don’t you? Here I spent a year makin’ rings whose profits’re sunk in’na walls of a new house I ain’t never gonna see. And now I’m makin’ lamps so I can scrape together enough to build me another one. And you all’re settin’ up your Headquarters, usin’na gaddamn blow torch to weld decorations on’na your furniture so you can take pictures for the newspapers! “See how these fellas fixed up the Headquarters for their esteemed officers!” Sure they done it, when they been damn well ordered to! Well, I ain’t doin’ none a that. You got that? Can’t you see what’s lyin’ in wait for all of us? You think the neighbors gonna come say, “Sure, you just sit back and stay there long as you please”? Won’t be long now before we’re all in for it. Half of us ain’t gonna make it outta here alive and you clowns are raggin’ on us about discipline. You’re gonna be shootin’ your own men soon if this game goes on long enough. But I am tellin’ you now, don’t you go pullin’ me in’na that mess. I do what needs done in a war, but I don’t go in for games. You do whatever you please. You send me ’a the court martial if that’s what you want! You just better remember that fellas like me don’t die like dogs. You all shot those two fellas back there by the sauna wall, but you ain’t gonna shoot me that way. It’s gonna cost you a few of your own buddies first. You just keep that in mind. I’m outta here.’
Rokka snatched his cap, grabbed the strawful of berries that had tumbled to the ground, and left. Lammio said nothing – not that he would have had a chance to get a word in, anyway. He was a bit embarrassed, somehow or other. The sincerity of Rokka’s rage had managed to jar his consciousness at least a bit. He felt helpless for a moment. Squabbling any further felt fairly pointless after such a speech. But then he began to wonder if Rokka hadn’t been putting on an act, threatening him that way. And then he remembered how he had even thought to grab his stick of berries as he left, and Lammio became more and more convinced that he had been duped. The man was a daredevil, to be sure, but now he was just trying to wriggle off the hook by putting on a show. If he had been in earnest, he wouldn’t have remembered his berries in the midst of such an outburst.
Lammio got in touch with Sarastie and stated his case. Sarastie hesitated at first, but when Lammio pressed him, embellishing the story as necessary, the Major finally concurred that Rokka should be brought before the battalion for an official inquiry the following day. Sarastie was aware of Rokka’s reputation – both the good side and the bad. He hesitated for a long time. Lammio’s reasoning was valid. The man was famous for his bravado – the incident with the Colonel was hardly an isolated event – and his insubordination had made him a legend within the ranks, inspiring the men’s admiration. He set a dangerous example. But was opposing that example any less dangerous? The man was also the best soldier in the battalion when it came to personal combat capability. That, too, had become legendary. And then to send the guy out to hoe some swamp for a couple of weeks? Maybe knock him down in rank as well? What kind of reaction was that going to provoke amongst the men?
Sarastie regretted that Lammio had ever been brought into the matter. It was really a little over the top, trying to force the man into submission by slamming him into such a demeaning assignment.
But Sarastie also felt that his own authority had been compromised – so, he concurred. Inspectors couldn’t be going around reporting such things about his battalion.
II
This incident took place during their ‘turn on the Millions’. This time their lot fell to the stronghold on the right, ‘Mini-Million’ – the worst one. In terms of the terrain, the two posts were actually the same position, but the men distinguished them from one another because they were manned by separate infantry units. They were situated on the same rise. ‘Mini-Million’ was on a downward-facing slope on the right side of the ridge, which tapered off into the narrow bay of a neighboring lake. They manned the area up to the head of the lake, and after that they maintained contact with the guys at the next position with the help of a messenger patrol squad. The enemy positions were about a hundred to a hundred and fifty yards off. The terrain rose behind them, and the Millions were under direct fire from that slope, while being simultaneously under fire from the right, as well as from the back, where the lake’s inlet curved around them. It was precisely this crossfire that made the positions so dangerous. The fortifications had been poorly constructed, due to their proximity to the enemy. Amongst other things, there was no barbed-wire fencing at all, and the shallow trenches, lacking any structural reinforcement, were continually collapsing under the constant shelling. On occasion it could be quiet even here, but for the most part things tended to be lively on one side or the other, more so than at any of the other positions.