by Ludwig Renn
Schatz about faced and left. Lamm looked at me and I noticed that the discussion had been terrible for him.
“Schatz is a contemptible and lying person! I know him already from the recruit depot. But with you I don’t understand it! Shall I send another platoon leader over here? You will have to really exert yourself to satisfy me. I tell you openly; I will supervise you. Until now I considered it unnecessary!”
He breathed irritably and moved slowly away.
“Halt!” he said suddenly. “The kitchen will come toward morning. The food details will assemble at my bunker. Good day!”
He left. I thought: You should supervise me. I like that! And woe to me if you find me slack!
I was not sorry over the situation. No, his reproofs had done me good; then he was right. I should have estimated ranges also.
I went to the groups and gave my orders concerning the sentries and the food detail. If possible they should bring water for the machine guns and see if there were steam relief hoses lying around somewhere.
In the meantime a barrage had begun falling around our area again.
They were heavy shells that came in very quickly and they threw out large, dagger-shaped splinters. But at least they came at regular intervals. The sentry on the left of the area was slightly wounded in the ear.
By the time I had discussed everything with the groups I had used three hours and even then new thoughts kept occurring to me. Did they know the signal for a barrage in order to call in artillery fire? Were there enough flare pistols on hand and the proper ammunition?
The artillery fire ceased. It became dark. I did not yet have a list by name of my platoon.
The mess detail left. A runner came from Lamm: “Herr Leutnant wants to know if the equipment for the light machine guns is complete and the bunkers should be blacked out so that there is no light to be seen.—In the morning twilight everyone will be on watch in the bunkers with all their equipment strapped on.”
I went again to all the groups and passed on the message. Then I went to all the sentries and questioned them on whether they were familiar with all the important points in the area.
My people had become interested in the operation of the machine guns. They wanted to look into every part and see how everything was connected. I marveled at their zeal.
It was already after midnight. My stomach felt pitifully empty. Today it would just be field zwieback again and with it a vegetable cube cooked in soda water. It was already four hours since the mess detail had gone.
I wandered around outside and inspected the area and how things stood with the sentries.
At 0330 the mess detail finally arrived heavily weighed down. One of them carried a metal backpack with water. Another carried a heavy sack with bread.
“Where have you been for so long?”
“First we got lost,” laughed Israel. “Then the kitchen wasn’t there because the street was being shelled. They don’t come at all before midnight because they aren’t allowed to come over the rise in the rear before it is dark. And then it is one and a half hours from the kitchen meeting point to here. The Herr Feldwebel says to tell you he wants a head count each day from the platoons because they don’t find out in the rear who has been wounded. Until now they had no idea that we had lost so many. Therefore they sent much too much bread.”
On the way the food had become cold. We had to save the fuel tablets so we ate it cold. Also we had only two Hindenburg burners left and one of those was almost burned down to the bottom.
During all this it had become four o’clock. I had everyone strap on their gear and went to the other groups. They had forgotten or had just been too lazy. Should I also go to Schatz? Yes, maybe he didn’t yet know of the order. I found all of them asleep. I woke Schatz and told him about it. He got up unwillingly and sat at the table. However, he didn’t wake his people. That doesn’t affect me, I thought, and went to check the sentries.
Slowly it became light. The mountain appeared with its two peaks. Our artillery roared from behind us. The rounds roared over us and impacted far on the other side. The French artillery was silent.
I became aware of a small rise thirty paces ahead of us. I wondered if it would be a good spot to set up a machine gun. I went over and lay down in a number of shell holes in order to see if there was a good field of fire from there. Suddenly I heard steps behind me.
“Good morning, Renn!” said Lamm with his arms behind his back. “I have just come from the bunkers and from the sentries. Everything was in order. But I chewed out Schatz soundly. The man is too slack to wake his people.”
I was curious: Lamm smiled at me the whole time and held his arms behind his back, which was not his normal habit.
“Du,” he said, “yesterday wasn’t the right opportunity.” He laughed right out, and produced a small package. “Yesterday was your birthday, wasn’t it?”
At first I couldn’t say anything.
“How do you know that?”
He shook his head from side to side, smiling. “Guess—no, you won’t be able to do it because it is so simple. I was recently thumbing through the unit roll, and found it so I wrote it down.—But take a look and see what it is.”
I opened it up. On top was a box of cigarettes and under that a book, Simplicius Simplicissimus.
“Are you familiar with it?”
“No, I have never heard of it.”
“This is something for you. You are just like the guy there.— However, the time for watching has passed. I am tired.”
VII
“Renn!” someone called.
I woke up. There was only a little light from the steps inside the bunker. Someone moved toward me. Outside, explosions could be heard.
“Has something happened?”
“We already have three wounded, and fire is still falling on us.”
I jumped up quickly and went up the steps. To the left, Wham! Wham! Great, white dust clouds rose up in Weickert’s area.
“Where were the three when wounded?”
“The first one as sentry at the bunker, the other two as sentries forward on the light machine gun.”
“How many sentries are there now?”
“There is only one forward.”
“Weickert is to pull him in as long as the barrage lasts there! We will take over the watch for you here.”
The messenger left first hesitantly. Then as he reached the area where the shells were falling he ran so that the birches flew past him.
I sat down at the entrance to the stairs. Was it right to pull in the sentries? Yes, it was, certainly! But I had to report it to Lamm.
I went back down, woke Wolf and sent him off. Then I went back up and sat down. I felt tired and exhausted. Not only that but I was itching on my neck. I pulled off my jacket and inspected the collar. There was nothing to see. However, in the neck band there was a whole brood of young lice. I picked them off and threw them outside. If only that didn’t have to come too! I also took off my shirt. The border was worn out. There were more among the threads.
Outside the sun shone. But on the steps it was cold. I dressed again. It crashed and stamped and threw chalk dust in the air. I looked at the ground.
Wham!
I jumped. I had almost gone completely to sleep. Are they shooting at us here now? There was a humming up in the blue sky. Two small planes were cutting small circles. As they turned they flashed silver. Farther toward the French a large plane was going in wide circles with wide wings and tail fins but no body. That was a flier, who was directing the French fire.
Tack—tack—tack! Machine gun fire in the sky. Two German planes came at an angle one behind the other toward the small silver planes. They defended themselves. One dived and was followed. White shell bursts rose up from the French and hung like clouds of sheep in the air.
Suddenly I saw how one of the silver planes fell, faster and faster. One wing came off and swung in the air like a leaf. The other wing came off. The fuselage fell strai
ght as a candle with the tail up, a trail of smoke above him. He burned and fell somewhere far away in the forest.
Ka-blamm!
I got pieces of chalk on my left sleeve.
Weickert came running and jumped in with me on the steps.
“Our bunker has been collapsed!” he screamed.
“Where are the others?”
“I don’t know. Our machine gun is kaput!”
Someone else came along.
“Is anybody wounded?”
“Yes, Stoll August, but it isn’t bad.”
“Where are the others?”
“They’re wandering around.”
“Bring them here!”
He went out.
The people came. Only two of them had their rifles. They talked excitedly with each other.
“The whole bunker is flat.”
“Nonsense! I was the last one out. There were only a couple of beams hanging down.”
“No, I saw myself how the whole roof came down!”
What do I do with these people? I thought.
Wolf came back from Lamm.
“Herr Leutnant thanks you for the report. He observed from above how the situation is here. From above it actually appears that no one could still be alive here.”
I sent Israel off to report the new situation and the airplane battle.
I couldn’t stay with the excited people because I had to consider what I wanted to do. Therefore I ran over to Sendig. So far only a few shells had landed over there. From his steps one could see across to White Mountain where there was heavy fire falling, but this from German artillery. Around two in the afternoon the fire there calmed down. Also it had become calmer by us.
I went back to my bunker and ate something. Then I lay down to sleep. Weickert’s people had retrieved their equipment from the other bunker and were also asleep.
——————————
“Renn!” said Israel. “The Herr Leutnant sends word that a French attack is expected for tonight. From five o’clock on, all is to be in readiness.”
“Good!” I said and tried to go back to sleep. But don’t I have to rearrange the new roll? And then Weickert will have to get a new machine gun. But he only had six men left.
Because of the unrest I got up and went outside. The White Mountain was wrapped in a dust cloud so that one could not recognize anything for certain. Both artilleries were firing fiercely. German fliers were coming pretty low to the ground from behind us. There was also fire falling by Lamm again.
I went to the collapsed bunker and found seven ammunition cases with machine gun belts. I took two of them and sent to have the others picked up.
Ka—Ramm!
“That is a very heavy type,” said Hartenstein.
Weickert’s people came back breathless with the ammunition cases.
“Now they are shooting at us here!”
Ka— Whamm!
“Curses! That was meant for us!”
We sat and waited. It was already five o’clock. As long as they are firing like this they won’t come.
Sendig sent a report that his forward sentry was dead and he had placed his new sentry at a churned-up spot.
“They are going to shoot us out of here too!” said one of Weickert’s people.
“Shut your mouth!” said Hartenstein. “You’re not going to change anything with that quacking!”
The firing moved away. The bunker shuddered.
For another one and a half hours it was quiet. I went outside. Somewhere in the distance cannons still rumbled.
One of Lamm’s runners came.
“When twilight comes you are to move. The Herr Leutnant will be waiting for you above— there above the black firs!”
“So far forward?”
“He said: the more advanced the less artillery fire.”
VIII
As darkness fell we moved out with the machine guns in a long line behind us. We moved across the churned-up meadow and then upward along the edge of a forest. The way became increasingly steeper. Suddenly we came upon wire that wasn’t visible because of the woods and the darkness. I thought it would only be a couple of strands. However, I walked further and further into wire, which had been stretched tight and partly in loose knots across this area. The obstacle was some seven meters wide. I had the people behind me, those with the machine guns, move forward slowly and I walked out ahead with Israel and Wolf.
“Renn!” came a soft call from the left. It was Lamm. He stood in an abandoned battery position.
“I observed the fire on you today from up here,” he whispered. “I was terribly frightened. I discussed this position with the Herrn Oberst, who was up here today. This spot here, at first glance, appears completely crazy. However, there probably won’t be any fire directed here. The French can’t be allowed to suspect that we are here.”
“The neighboring division has been asked to shove their outposts farther forward. You must determine whether it has been done. In such matters I don’t trust anyone anymore.”
Meanwhile our cannons were firing regularly from the rear and the shells arched over us with a singing sound. The impacts were noticeably soft, even though they weren’t very far from us.
“What kind of shells are those?” I asked.
“Ah so, you don’t know about that yet. Those are green cross shells, very bad gas shells. Every evening now our artillery is firing them into the foremost French trenches.”
We divided up the bunkers. There were four former artillery positions there, cramped and poorly constructed. I took the one on the far right.
“There isn’t enough room for everyone!” I said to Lamm.
“That’s what I thought. The extra people will have to have positions in the open.”
“What do you mean?”
“Come with me! The affected group leader and the leader of one of the light machine guns should also come along!”
I took Weickert and Brand with me.
“Be quiet!” whispered Lamm.
We climbed down to the right. There was also a wire barrier here, about chest high. We went carefully through, one behind the other. There was a ravine below with a flat floor that led toward the right front. It was gloomy there. There were isolated shell holes among very short fir trees.
“This is where the group and the light machine gun will be located.”
“But if we dig a trench the French will immediately know where we are.”
“Yes, you have to prepare things so that it looks like shell holes on the aerial photographs.”
“Herr Leutnant,” said Weickert, “we have absolutely no protection here on the right.”
I looked at the right incline, which rose steeply. One could not see twenty paces.
“But don’t you understand at all?” whispered Lamm. “From above where Renn is one can’t see the ground down here. Therefore you are located here and protect the right flank of Renn. And you then can’t see to the right, but Renn, from above, can see everything to the right all the way to White Mountain. He will position a machine gun above just for your protection. It will fire at an angle over you. And Platoon Langenohl is on the left so that he can sweep the whole meadow ahead of Renn with his machine guns. And Platoon Trepte is with me with two heavy machine guns ready to go to where there is danger. You must also have trust in me!”
I was ashamed that I had not immediately seen that.
A large part of the night passed during the setting up of the sentries and machine guns. Then I went with Israel to our neighbor division. I found the field sentries only twenty meters farther forward than before. We now lay five to six hundred meters ahead of them. As I returned forward the mess detail was there. Israel reported that Platoon Langenohl had two wounded men. Then the time arrived when we all had to be on watch in full gear. It was still dark. I went in the ravine and searched for the occupied shell holes.
“Careful!” said a voice suddenly below me.
I saw a round, steel
helmet moving in a bush. It was Brand’s voice. I bent over and saw that it wasn’t a bush, but a nest of branches over a hole. The machine gun was hidden underneath.
“Where are the others?” I asked.
“Down here.—We dug the hole square underneath and made seats for ourselves with wood from the abandoned battery above.”
I groped farther along. Weickert’s hole had been made larger at the top, but was not camouflaged. Below they had stretched out a shelter half so that during the day the dark shelter half should appear as a shadow of the hole.
In the meantime the sky began to pale. I climbed up to the battery, which from the ravine looked like a fortified mountain.
Our bunker had two exits, one toward White Mountain, in which I sat down with Israel and Hartenstein. Both of them had become dear to me, especially the cheerful Israel. He was eating bread and sliced a piece for me too. White Mountain had a blue hue as if it was lit from within. The wooded areas were still black.
“Doesn’t the mountain look like a camel?” said Israel.
“You must mean a dromedary,” opined Hartenstein. “It does have two humps.”
“Have you ever seen a dromedary?” asked Israel.
“Yes, in Hamburg.”
“You have traveled around a lot?”
Hartenstein made a motion with his hand to be silent.
A finch had begun to sing. He must have been sitting in the birch tree located five paces behind the bunker by black fir trees.
Israel tossed a few bread crumbs under the tree.
The finch sang.
Hartenstein tossed a small piece of canned sausage there. I examined the birch tree. At the tip there was already a little bit of green.—But could the sentries be relieved by daylight without being seen? I went into the bunker. From there a narrow passage led into the next room and from there the second exit led outside at the rear. I went out. Here I was hidden from White Mountain. The rifle positions were narrow and close together. The sentry only showed his head above ground and could see to the right and ahead where a dark forest bordered the ascending meadow. But the round steel helmet stood out plainly. Maybe it would be good to smear it with chalk. But behind us was the dark forest. Against that it would be very noticeable. I took a shot-off birch branch and wound it around his helmet. The sentry laughed. However, the noticeable round form of the helmet was pretty well camouflaged.