Chapter Two: Operation Barbarossa.

Chapter Two: Operation Barbarossa

 

           

            With that, we began our march into Russia. As soon as I crossed the border I felt a wave of excitement flow through me. We are now doing the “impossible” we are conquering Russia. We will pick up where Napoleon left off, and finish the job, once and for all. The whole division was ecstatic, we were all marching, but it was not the march we used when we were in cities, or on duty. We were marching long distances, and needed to keep our energy. So we just marched at a quick pace, and we stayed in loose formation.

            “Ahh, this, this is what I was born for. Nothing better that to be fighting for my country, how about you Hans, and what would you like to do, if you weren't in the military of course.” Bruno asked me, with an excited look, waiting to hear what I had to say.

            “Me, I would want to be a doctor, always something about it that I liked” I said

            “Well, then why didn’t you become a medic?” He said, looking a bit confused.

            “I wanted to be around the big stuff, tanks and such. I wouldn't feel safe being a medic.”

            With that, we returned to marching. The scenery was amazing, it was like back home. There were beautiful trees, the mountains flowed together with the farm land and the grassland so well, it was a sight to behold, I can tell you that. There was also the advancing German army, and let me tell you, that was an even better sight. All around me all I could see were tanks, half-tracks, infantry in their shining uniforms, there were some recon planes flying ahead to let us know what we would be meeting up with, and how much of it, there were thousands of every type of war marching we have built, and it’s all right inside Russia own borders.

            We just received word from our commander come to a halt. I looked back, at all our tanks as they stopped after the infantry stopped marching. The tanks looked threatening even when just sitting still. When they stopped, their barrels swayed up and down, and the tank kept rocking back and forth. Looking at these tanks, I just can’t imagine being on the bad end of his gun, it can’t be good.

             Our commander popped out of his tank, and with a loudspeaker said to the infantry “Men, there are reports of enemy infantry, along with Russian amour coming our way to try and stop us, they clearly have no idea what they are getting into! We have orders to stop here and wait for them, when they are dead, we move on.”

            After we all got the message he got on the radio and told all the tanks the same thing, after that he popped back and in, and we were all ordered to dig in, there would be heavy fighting.

            “Hey, Bruno, if the Russians are so weak, why are we taking such caution to stop them?” I asked while we were digging a slight trench for protection from gunfire.

            “Well, while they should be easy pickings, were trying to reduce causalities as much as we can, or at least that’s what I’m guessing”

            I thought it made sense, so I just returned to digging. It was cold out, about sixty degrees, and I still had sweat pouring down my face from all the digging. It was insane. Being out here makes me with I was back at home, sitting in the living room, reading a book, while mom knitted, or read a book herself. Dad was never home much, he was a high ranking commander in the Nazi party, and to be frank, he’s the one who demanded me join the army. I was not thrilled, but he told me how important it was for Germany’s future, and how the Fuhrer needed able bodied men like me to help him fight, and irradiate the entire pest from the world. So, he enlisted me, and I signed up to be in an infantry unit, but we were attached to a panzer division. So here I am.

            We got the “trench” build finally. To be honest, it was more of a ditch, to protect us from enemy fire, but it’s should work.

            Or was walking up and down the trenches, watching us prepare for battle, making sure we did all the right precautions, followed the book like we were taught. He eyed us all carefully, and it made everyone nervous. All we were doing was getting our weapons our, making sure they were clean, checking our gear, ammo, making sure our defenses were doing fine, stuff like that

            Finally, when we were finished the tanks moved into attack formation, they were pretty far back from out infantry, because we walked about two hundred yards in front of them when we started to build our defenses. I find it odd, how the unprotected infantry has to fight way up here, when the tanks get to be way back there, so I decided to ask Bruno.

            “Bruno, who do they get to be all the way back there and were up here staring into the face of death? I mean, they have amour, we have guns and a helmet”

            “You don’t think very hard do you? They are back there, because they have long range guns that could take their tanks down, effectively and accurately. But up here, they would be vulnerable, and less accurate to the Russians small fast moving tanks, you see? Did you not listen in training?” He looked at me like I was stupid, and to be honest I felt stupid. What he was saying is true, I didn't listen very well in training, and it was showing, it was really starting to show.

            With that, I returned to my gear, but to be honest, there was nothing to do, I was just trying to not look like such a dunce, and pretended to be concentrating on my weapon, but I was just killing time.

            “Soldiers, prepare yourself, the Russians are almost here, they will be coming over that hill, tanks first, and infantry second. Now, don’t worry about those tanks, our Panzers with take care of them, you get the small guys, the troops. Leave no survivors, we can’t afford to mess around with them right now, me must push further into Russia, this cannot delay us.” With that, he got his Volkswagen and headed back to the tanks, while we sat here like ducks.

            Click, clack, click, clack That’s all we heard for about an hour, men readying their gear for battle, and just trying to calm their nerves. We had many people here who have never fought before, and I was hoping they would pull their weight here. They had to.

            “Shhhh, listen” One of the soldiers shouted. We could hear the tanks in the distance approaching, they would soon be over the hill, about two hundred yards in front of us, ready to fight for their Motherland. But we would fight for the Fatherland, harder, faster, and swifter. The sound was quite terrifying. It was not as bad as when our tanks were on the move, but our tanks moving never bother me, because i know they will not be blowing me to smithereens.

            One small tank, almost the size of a small car, the size for one man to fit into, flew over the hill going so fast the whole company unloaded on him, including the tanks. Now, while we all knew it was unnecessary, really, a shell would of done the trick, but we were all so startled we just emptied into him.

            It’s like when someone makes a quick move towards your face, you have one reaction, close your eyes and cover your head. But this time it was to fire, and fire we did.

            “Mein gott, that was a little overboard.” Bruno said, with a little chuckle.

            “Yeah, his fault I guess, coming over the hill flying at us, what was he trying to prove? Better yet, what was that thing, it wasn’t even a tank, more like a small car with treads, no barrel, and a peep hole. On second thought, could it be empty, with no one in it, and they sent it over to see if we were even here? Could just be an empty scout.” I said this with complete confusion, waiting for Bruno to confirm or deny my suspicions. Finally, he replied after a few moments of deep thought himself.

            “My thought exactly, Hans. My thought exactly.” Hey, at least I was right about something, or at least Bruno thought I was right about something. It means something I guess, he’s a smart guy right?

            We just sat there for what seemed like forever, hearing the moving Russian infront of us.

            BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. As soon as I heard that I jumped, I made some sort of whimper because of the shock and intensity of the noise. I was holding my helmet, and in balled up position, whimpering. I didn't even know what the booming was coming from; I just was scared out of my mind. I am used to marching into already occupied countries, encountering little to no resistance. But here, no, that is not the case, all I had to keep me safe, was my first instinct. To protect myself, hell, I didn’t even know what the booming was coming from.

            All I heard was Bruno laughing, hysterically, along with the rest of the soldiers around me. I looked to see at what and they were all staring at me. They were laughing at me. I was the center of attention. While I didn't mind being the center of attention, I didn’t exactly like it when I was being mocked, or laughed at. But I deserved it, I’m a coward.

            “Hans, Hans, Hans, that is the sound of our tanks trying to hit their position over the hill, stop being a child, now, get up!” After Bruno said this, shaking his head and still chuckling at me, I was ashamed of myself. I came all the way out here to fight the Russians, and I almost cried, at the sound of our own guns firing. I was no soldier, I was a boy, not meant for this, but  now, there was no turning back, I had to do this, I had to fight.

            After all the laughter at me died down, and they returned to looking at the hill, waiting for the advancing Russians, while our tanks hammered down on the position we could only assume we were hitting them, we really had no idea. Our men are no longer messing with their equipment, they are staring down their sights, right at that hill, waiting, watching, listening.

            Finally, our tanks stopped firing; we waited for something to happen, and Nothing. No sound from either side. The battlefield went quiet, like a church mouse.

            Fwwwwth then a loud BOOM All of a sudden the impossible happened. The Russians were firing back at us, with everything they had. They were shooting with what few Anti-tank they had, their tanks were firing, and they had some planes in the air.

            Now, the Planes didn't last long, before they were shot down from our aircraft, and our Anti-Aircraft. The AT and the tanks they were firing, we couldn't do much about. Now I guess we know how they felt, not but a few minutes ago.

            Screech Screech Screech and so on the horrifying sound went. The Russians were firing their famous “Katusha.” It was the most feared Russian weapon of artillery. It was a set of rockets, on the back of a truck bed. It shot hundreds of missiles each. It was deadly, not because of the missiles punch they weren’t that deadly, but from the range it had, along with the sheer amount of missiles it shot out, and how fast. It hit all around our tanks, destroying a few, but not many. While they were still deadly to the infantry, the missiles bounced right off the amour most of the time. They must have thought they were doing way more damage when they were. They were I imagine, hoping to have disabled most of our tanks with their missiles. Silly them, they have done no such thing. The next think I knew, they were moving their troops to the top of the hill, and they were unloading on us.

            We had the advantage of cover, and more accurate weapons, but they had the high ground. Out tanks were still trying to recover from the shock of the Katusha missiles they just pounded them left and right and  on top.

            I popped my head up, out of cover to see what was going on, up on the hill. What I got, was a face full of dust and dirt. I got lucky, bullets just sprayed inches from my face, hitting the dirt and almost killing me.

            Bruno pulled me down and looked me straight in the eye and said “Be careful! You’re going to get yourself killed”

            “Alright, alright, I’ll just let you do the shooting, and I’ll sit here and play with my thumbs. What do you want me to do Bruno, how can I shoot at them without poking my head out of cover?”

            “You’re right, just, do be careful, I wouldn't want your brains all over my nice new uniform” He looked at me, and then he decided it was time to take the fight to them.

            All of our infantry started returning fire; every now and then we lost a man, and when we did, it was not pretty. There was blood, brains and death from every man hit. You didn't get wounded in this battle, you just died. You couldn't get wounded, your head was the only thing poking out.

            Finally, after about two minutes of this, the tanks started firing on the hill.

            BOOM, BOOM, BOOM and so on went the booms from out tanks. With every shot I flinched, and my chest boomed, and thumped. I just tried to imagine how the people in the tanks felt, I’m surprised their organs don’t fall out of their body.

            Then when the Russians had enough, and saw they were fighting a hopeless battle, they pulled the infantry back and brought in their tanks.

            Their tank they used was the T-35. It was a long looking tank, no sloped amour, and it was put out of service, and useless in one hit from a Panzer. It was an amusing game of cat and mouse, and the mice couldn't even retreat before being killed. Our tanks were just shooting them for sport. When they did hit one of our tanks, it just bounced off the amour, like water off a ducks back.

            When they realized they were outmatched, they retreated, no order in the retreat, just quick chaotic retreat, it was pathetic. If this was the best they could do, Russia would fall in months, maybe less.

            Some, not all of our tanks chased them. Granted, our tanks were slower than their quicker tanks, that was not a problem with our 88 cannon. Our guys finally got to the top of the hill, took aim and fired. You could hear the sound of explosions all the way back here. It was horrible, and gratifying at the same time, knowing we could win a battle so easily.

            Our tanks were ordered to pull back, and we were ordered to move up to give the order for the tanks to push up after we decided it was clear, and we would resume our death march into Russia.

            Then the commander radioed us.

            “Men, check every Russian body you see, make sure they are dead, and that there are still no forces remaining, when that’s all done, we move forward.

            We all slowly, cautiously walked up to the top of the hill. When we reached the top, we crouched, guns aiming forward, slowly, ever so cautiously.....

            Rat tat tat tat tat tat tat All of a sudden, I looked over to my right where Bruno was, and seen his chest light up red, his uniform torn, his body fly to the ground, and I couldn't help but scream “NOOOO”

            He was my only friend out here, taken away in seconds. The man who fired on him, hit 5 more people, killing two, and wounding three. All I can say is that the role was reversed; he now had a whole infinity division firing on him. He was dead within milliseconds.

            I grabbed my only friend’s lifeless body, looking at his eyes. They were once full of excitement and life, now they were empty shells of a man that once was. There was blood everywhere, all over me. But I didn't care, my friend was dead, and there was nothing I could do.

            “Soldier, get moving, we have to move forward!” I was shouted at so loud by a soldier a couple feet from my left, I was stunned. I don’t think he meant for it to be so loud, but I knew he was right. I Looked at Bruno, one last time saying “Good bye friend, I wish I knew you longer than these few hours”

            With that, I laid his body down, a tear rolling down my eye, and started to move up with the rest of my advancing soldiers. 

Author's Note

I am wanting the review to focus on how interesting the story is, and how well it's written. I'm not too worried about punctuation, as i can fix that later.

Reviews

[dw817]

⊰ℙℝ⊱ (personal review)
You PMed me so I'm letting you know. As mentioned, I am not so fond of war stories, fictional or otherwise. If you really wanna turn my head, the story needs to be silly, crazy, zany, magical, kinna like some of the Anime you can see on TV. Stories that are epic, beautiful, with tons of good guys and bad guys. Characters you can completely relate to in one way or another.

Like Project A-Ko for instance,
http://bit.ly/1gfGGZl

While you have a history and heritage steeped in ancestry and armaments, mine is more for the fanciful and frivolous. The careless and kind. :)
http://bit.ly/1ctc6KY