The Shadow of War by Jack Murray (latest ebook reader txt) 📗

men. They were all of a similar age. The trainbumped forward to the sound of silence in the carriage. Manfred smiled at theawkwardness. He knew about this. But he felt so excited that it could not becontained any longer.

‘Where are you heading to,anywhere nice?’ he asked the rest of the carriage. He had a grin on his facebecause the answer was obvious. Everyone smiled and soon they were talkingabout themselves and the future.

Matthias Klug was the oldest attwenty-one. He’d left the university two terms before graduation. Manfredlooked at him and wondered why. He was tall. Very tall, in fact. The growth offlesh had easily been outstripped by the lengthening of his bones. He was skinnyand bespectacled, with mousey hair. This was a long way from being the Aryanideal. But his warm smile and unusually self-deprecating manner soon won overthe carriage.

Lothar Lenz was the youngest atseventeen. He was also the biggest. His stocky build, powerful arms and youthproclaimed vitality and strength. He had left school the previous year toapprentice with his father as a mechanic. Lothar was quiet and clearly felt alittle overawed by the boys around him. But it was clear there was a goodhumour with the youngster and a quiet confidence based on his unquestionablephysicality. No one had messed him around in a very long time.

The other passenger in thecarriage was the same age as Manfred, Gerhardt Kroos. The two boys recognisedone another. Each had played football in local teams and had played against oneanother throughout the years.

Gerhardt was the most confidentof the three but when he spoke, he also proved to be the most interesting. Afterhalf an hour of travel he mentioned casually, ‘I have a friend at this camp we’regoing to. Well, I gather he’s just left. Anyway, I’ve heard from his familywhat it will be like.’

‘Go on’ shouted the other boysin unison.

‘Well it’s a bit like HitlerYouth,’ he laughed as did the others. He didn’t need to add how much tougher itwould be. ‘We drill, we read maps, they teach us field craft, and weaponstraining; a lot of weapons training, in fact. In this respect we’ve been preparingfor this for years, if you. Think about it.’ This made the boys cheer as it waswhat they were most looking forward to.

‘On arrival we’ll be put into aroom where we meet the rest of our gruppe and our Gruppenfuhrer. They’reformidable people. Our sergeant and commander also come. The commander gives usa lecture on the German army and its role in our society.’

‘Boring,’ commented Lothar,which raised moresmiles.

 ‘Then comes the training. Theinstructors are usually people who fought in the last war. This is good becausethey’ll know what it’s like, but I gather they push you really hard over thesixteen weeks’

Manfred chipped in at thispoint, ‘I read other armies only train for ten or twelve weeks. We have thebest training in the world. The boys smiled and felt better on hearing this.

Gerhardt continued, ‘My friendsays training is planned down to the hour. At first, we drill on how to wearthe uniforms, then we do lots of running. We run in all weathers, I might add.We’re taught proper map reading, and reporting, how to do range estimation,target description. Each of us is treated like a leader in our own right.’ Theothers nodded, completely absorbed in Gerhardt’s explanation.

‘We’re expected to stay neatand tidy always. The rooms are inspected regularly for cleanliness. Not justour room, either. They expect us to have spotless rifles and clean uniforms. Ouruniforms are white by the way.’ This brought groans.

‘Probably because we arevirgins,’ said Manfred laughing.

‘Speak for yourself,’ chippedin Lothar which made everyone smile.

‘They won’t stay that way, Ihear. They’ll be grey by the end of training even with all the cleaning,’finished Gerhardt.

The three-hour journey passedeasily as all four shared information their background and where they wanted tobe posted. Lothar, due to his background as a mechanic, had already beenearmarked to join the Panzergrenadierdivision.

‘I’ve asked to join them, too,’said Manfred.

‘Fantastic,’ said Lothar, ‘maybewe will train together. And what about you?’ asked Lothar turning to the othertwo boys.

Gerhardt and Matthias bothshrugged. Neither had given much thought to what happened after basic training.The conversation turned towards the merits of the different arms of the military;the Luftwaffe, the Kreigsmarine and the Deuthche Heer withits various subdivisions. The idea of being with the Panzers began to grow in Gerhart’smind.

‘Why do you want to be in atank?’ asked Gerhardt, smiling. ‘Do you like the idea of all that armour aroundyou?’

‘Damn right,’ replied Manfredwhich caused the whole carriage to burst out laughing.

‘Good plan, actually,’ saidMatthias, thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps I might do the same. Better than being in theinfantry and walking into machine gun fire.’

Gerhardt looked at Matthias.The reality of where they were going and what it would mean suddenly becamevery real. The four boys became quiet. Just at that moment they went through atunnel. The boys laughed. Nervously.

 2

ReinsehlenCamp, Lower Saxony, Germany: January 1941

The room was filled with aroundtwenty other young men. All were around the same age as Manfred and his traincompanions. Aside from the recruits, the room was mostly empty of furnituresave for one large photograph of the Fuhrer and an enormous Nazi flag draped fromthe high ceiling. Everyone looked happy to be there which meant they were probably as frightened asManfred. They stood rigid to attention. All eyes stared straight ahead like soldiersin a toy army. They were alone, waiting for the arrival of their sectioncommander. They didn’t have to wait long.

The door opened and in walkedone of the shortest men Manfred had ever seen. He was hardly the Aryan idealwith his dark, close cropped hair, bow-legs and bull neck. He had a look in hiseyes that Manfred associated with Nazi authority. Anger.

In fact, his eyes werevirtually popping in rage as if he’d just received a carpeting from hiscommanding officer and was about to dish out some revenge on the people beforehim.

Manfred’s assessment wasdirectionally correct but did not come close to the intensity of the next hour. On the basis of thetalk, or rant, it seemed that Drexler, for he was