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

‘Why not? You’ll be fine,’ reassured Manfred.

Matthias shook his head sadly.

‘Look at me. I couldn’t have done what youand Gerhardt did last night. You know that one of the men here told me thatthis has happened a few times. No one has lasted longer than an hour. You twowere out there for much longer. One guy only lasted ten minutes. That would beme. Even assuming I could carry that damn pack, I would have been crying on theground in no time. Everyone here thinks you’re both supermen.’

‘The pack wasn’t that bad,’lied Manfred, ‘Thirty kilos or so.’

‘Thirty-six, you idiot,’corrected Matthias, with a rueful smile.

‘We’ll look after you,’ saidManfred.

‘I’m not sure that’s a goodidea. This camp isn’t about brotherhood, it’s Darwinian.’

Manfred looked confused for amoment.

‘Survival of the fittest,’clarified Matthias. ‘Before they started burning books, I read a lot.’

‘Probably best to keep that toyourself. I know what you mean. Charles Darwin. I don’t think our leaders liketo think of good-looking Germans like you, Matthias, being descended fromapes.’

‘My arms are long enough,’

This seemed to relax him alittle, but it was clear that he was worried. Manfred felt for his new friend.He had every reason to be concerned. All around him he saw young men likehimself, hunger in their eyes and full of youthful vigour, itching to burn offtheir energy in as violent a way as they were allowed. Very few people lookedlike Matthias. Few sounded like him. Manfred wondered how long it would bebefore the likes of Haag started to pick on the weaker men.

The rest of the morning wasgiven over to drill in the parade ground. Manfred and Gerhardt were excused andallowed to return to the hospital section for their injuries to receive furthertreatment.

Lunch was the main meal of theday. All of the soldiers went to the dining hall to eat at 1230 hours. Thisgave the four companions a chance to catch up properly following the previousevening. Lothar confirmed what Matthias had said about their epic effort.Gerhardt, like Manfred, was too sore all over to care much. A few men came overand congratulated the pair, shaking their heads at the same time in disbelief.

‘My God, that wasextraordinary,’ said one young man. He had also been on the train the previousday but in a different carriage.

‘I’m Dassler. Fred Dassler, Isaw you yesterday on the train.’ Fred was joined by another boy, of seventeen.‘This is Willi. He’s from Heidelberg also.’

‘Hello,’ said Willi, clearly abit nervous of being with the older boys, especially two celebrities likeManfred and Gerhardt. The six chatted through lunch that lasted an hour. Thenall of the recruits reassembled on the parade square. The parade was taken byplatoon sergeants.

‘Not many officers around,’observed Gerhardt in the square.

A voice from behind said, ‘Theydo that. They want to teach you how to survive without officers wiping your arse for you.’

Gerhardt glanced behind and sawa big man with a gap-toothed smile.

‘Thanks, my friend. Good toknow.’ Gerhardt glanced at Manfred. ‘You hear that?’

‘Interesting,’ said Manfred. ‘Theywant us to obey automatically but they also expect us to be independent.’

‘Indeed,’ nodded Gerhardt.

After a fairly easy drill, thenew recruits were taken to the shooting range and given basic instruction onshooting. Most of the young men were familiar with guns, and even Matthiasshowed fluency on loading and reloading that belied how he looked. He grinnedsheepishly at Manfred

‘I’m not completely useless.’

He then proceeded to knock outhalf a dozen bullseyes in as many shots. By the end of the shooting practice,Manfred was matching Matthias bull for bull.

The men trooped home wearilyfrom the rifle range. Gerhardt walked slowly with his new friends.

‘Did you hear the sounds fromfurther down the range?’

‘Yes, machine guns. I can’twait,’ said Lothar. ‘I can’t hit the side of a barn door with the rifles. Themachine gun is what I need. No messing there – rat, tat, tat, tat,’ mimickedtheir friend. The group laughed.

It was early evening now. Thiswas the time forcleaning. First, the uniforms were cleaned followed by the rifles and themachine guns. Finally, the room itself had to be made spotless. They assembled for the eveningmeal at 1830 hours. It was relatively light, but the evening was not over yet.After the evening meal the recruits were expected to polish their boots thenmake sure their area in the barracks was clean and would pass inspection.

After having spent the firstnight in hospital beds, Manfred and Gerhardt found the new beds much less totheir liking and did little to ease their aching muscles.

‘Boys, I mean it,’ saidGerhardt, ‘We have to defeat the British quickly, I’m not sure if my body cantake these beds for long.’

Around him, the group laughedbut the rest of the young men in the barracks, unaware of the joke told them tokeep quiet. Lights were out by eleven on their second day at the camp.

 4

Reinsehlen Camp, Lower Saxony, Germany:March 1941

Just after five the nextmorning the men were woken and told to get ready. Over the next sixteen weeks thepattern stayed the same. The men washed and shaved and made ready for themorning run of around five kilometres. In the first week, Manfred and Gerhardtjoined Matthias among the stragglers. Lothar also found it a strain, but thenagain, as his friends pointed out, he had more to carry with him. This wasusually responded to with a punch on the arm. Even when he did it lightly itcould still be painful. Matthias never made this mistake. He was fighting hisown battle with his body. His inability to progress physically was beingnoticed.

Haag, in particular, seemed todelight in picking on Matthias and often forced him to skip breakfast to run afurther two kilometres. It seemed as if Haag was on a mission to break theyoung student. The other boys smuggled some bread for him to eat from their ownallowance.

Breakfast consisted of coffeeand bread. It followed the run just before seven. As grateful as Matthias wasto his friends, the strain was growing worse for him by the day. His friends feltpowerless to do anything about the bullying from Haag. Even his exemplaryperformance on the rifle range with pistol, rifle