Steiner, watching Triebig from the side, noticed the fine beads of perspiration on his forehead. But he felt no sympathy at all. Now that he had wind of what was going on here, he could feel nothing but contempt. Iron Cross hyenas, he thought, and recalled that neither Schnurrbart nor Krüger wore any special decorations, although they had earned them a hundred times over.
Triebig seemed to have recovered somewhat from his funk. He attempted to lend firmness to his voice as he said: ‘I acted out of my deepest convictions, sir.’
‘Whether you acted out of deepest conviction is not in question.’ Brandt replied coldly. ‘You can only corroborate what you yourself saw, not what was allegedly told to you. To my mind there is nothing more contemptible than snatching the laurels that properly belong to a man who fell on the field of battle. I shall abide by Sergeant Steiner’s testimony. He was in the immediate vicinity of Meyer. If he stands by his statement that Captain Stransky was not with the company during the time in question, I shall be compelled to institute disciplinary proceedings against the captain.’
He turned to Steiner. ‘Do you stand by your statement?’
There was a deep silence in the room. Steiner hesitated, torn between his knowledge of the truth and the feeling that it would be unfair to dispose of his enemy in this cheap and easy manner. He disliked the idea of others intervening in the contest between himself and Stransky. It was his business.
‘Would it be possible for me to think that over for a few days? he asked Brandt.
Brandt was taken aback. ‘Think it over?’ he said, anger and disappointment in his voice. ‘What is there to think over? Did you see Stransky? Yes or no!’
Steiner bit his lips. But at this juncture he unexpectedly received aid.
Kiesel had stood up and came swiftly over to them. ‘I think Sergeant Steiner is right,’ he said to Brandt, who sat glowering behind his desk ‘A question as important as this one ought to be considered very carefully.’
Brandt jumped to his feet. ‘Are you starting the same nonsense. Common sense ought to tell you that...’ He broke off abruptly. Kiesel had been furiously winking at him. He turned to Triebig and Steiner and ordered them to wait outside.
As soon as they were gone, Brandt asked sharply: ‘What’s this nonsense all about?’
‘Of course it’s nonsense,’ Kiesel said. ‘Steiner knows perfectly well where Stransky was during the counter-attack.’ He took a few strides about the room, then turned swiftly. ‘You have two alternatives,’ he said quietly. ‘Either you can pursue the matter and perhaps bring Stransky up before a court-martial. But then Steiner would have to appear as a witness. That is a role he is not going to love. Perhaps that’s why he wants to stall.’
Brandt rubbed his chin. ‘We could leave him out of it,’ he said reluctantly, after a long pause.
Kiesel shook his head dubiously. ‘Stransky would wonder,’ he retorted. ‘If we don’t bring up the principal witness against him, he’ll think about it and probably draw false conclusions. It wouldn’t be a good idea for us to leave ourselves open that way. Moreover, we can’t load forty-two men of the second company on a truck and transport them God knows where as witnesses.’ Observing the gathering frown on the commander’s face, he stepped closer to him and argued pleadingly: ‘If I were you, I would avoid doing anything that might bring Steiner into a tussle before a court-martial for the second time. Stransky would certainly refer to Steiner’s past, and we’d be in for ticklish complications. And the question still remains: would we succeed in convincing the judges?’
‘That’s ridiculous!’ Brandt thundered, pounding on the table ‘He can’t pull a trick like this on me and get away with it!’
‘Not at all,’ Kiesel replied. ‘I spoke of two alternatives. You can administer a much more thorough slap to Stransky if you accept my proposal.’
‘Well, what is it?’ Brandt asked.
Kiesel dropped into a chair and crossed his legs. ‘I have been watching Steiner this evening, and I think I know something about men’s reactions. I can well imagine that he not only wants to avoid testifying before a court-martial, but that the idea of being the principal witness against Stransky is also distasteful to him.’
Brandt shook his head. ‘Why, in Heaven’s name? To judge by what März has said, he must have every reason to want revenge.’ He laughed irritably. ‘That’s sheer fantasy, Kiesel. Steiner must wish him in hell. Incidentally, I’d be curious to learn what happened this evening.’ He rubbed his chin again. His voice sounded reproachful now. ‘I told you right off there would be trouble between those two.’
Kiesel shrugged ruefully. ‘It’s been hard to know what was going on every minute. In the future I’ll be able to keep tabs on the two of them much more easily because my brother-in-law will keep me better informed than Meyer did. But you must remember that I can’t be present unobserved at every run-in between Stransky and Steiner. To see the whole clearly, we must understand the motives.’
‘I’ll find them out from Steiner,’ Brandt retorted forcefully.
Kiesel smiled. ‘I hardly think so. My impression is that he regards his differences with Stransky as a private matter. And as for Stransky, he would talk about the effects but not the causes. What will you do if he sends in his recommendation that Steiner be disciplined?’
‘Let me worry about that,’ Brandt replied. ‘If he dares to make good his threat and contact Division behind my back, he’ll find he’s bitten off more than he can chew.’
‘He seems to have good connections,’ Kiesel reminded him.
‘Connections!’ Brandt waved his hand contemptuously. ‘If I convict him of presenting a falsified report, the best connections in the world won’t do him any good. But we’re digressing. You had a plan, you said.’
‘Right,’ Kiesel said. He had finished smoking his cigarette and now stood up in order to walk over to the desk and crush out the stub in a crystal bowl. Then he began explaining his plan. When he finished, there was a prolonged silence.
‘Only you could hit on that idea,’ Brandt declared at last. He sat for several minutes with drawn face, thinking it over. Then he raised his head and said: ‘Bring the two of them in.’
He turned first to Steiner. ‘I’ve thought it over. I agree. You may think the matter over for a few days. You know what it is about?’
‘I can guess,’ Steiner replied.
Brandt nodded. ‘So that there will be no misunderstandings about it, it is this: Captain Stransky claims that he led 2nd Company’s counter-attack. For that he would receive the Iron Cross, First Class. But I want the action confirmed by two signatures, as is proper. The first was supplied by Lieutenant Triebig; the second should come from the company commander. Since Lieutenant Meyer was killed, you, who were his representative at the time, are the only possible person to give his signature. Any questions?’
Steiner shook his head. Brandt turned to Triebig. ‘I want you to inform Captain Stransky about this conversation. As for his promised report on the insubordinate conduct of one of his platoon leaders, you may tell him that I leave it to his imagination whether such an action might not refresh the memory of the person in question in a manner disadvantageous to Captain Stransky.’
Kiesel barely repressed a smile at the carefulness of Brandt’s wording. Triebig held his head bowed. But his relief was obvious. ‘I shall inform the captain,’ he murmured.
Brandt glared coldly at him. ‘That is an order,’ he informed him. ‘You are no longer needed here.’
He waited until Triebig had left the room. Then he sat down behind his desk again and looked at Steiner, who had remained standing in the middle of the room. From the back of the room, where Kiesel sat, came a repressed cough, and Brandt suddenly felt his presence as disturbing. But since he could not very well send him away, he forced himself to take a distant tone as he asked: ‘Why were you set to digging Stransky’s bunker tonight?’
Steiner compressed his lips.
‘I asked you somethi
ng,’ Brandt said loudly.
Tempted though he was to retort sharply, Steiner only murmured: ‘I would rather not talk about it.’
‘And suppose I order you to?’
Steiner raised his head. Their eyes met, and Steiner felt a dull rage mounting within him. ‘Do you want to hear lies?’ he asked rebelliously.
Brandt placed the tips of his fingers together and leaned forward somewhat. ‘I want to tell you something, Steiner. In the vicinity of this house there is room for several hundred bunkers, and it might occur to me to keep you busy for two or three weeks, just to keep you where you don’t make any more trouble for me. Do you know that Stransky intends to recommend disciplining you?’
‘If I were he I wouldn’t lose a minute about it,’ Steiner growled. Brandt turned to Kiesel, who had been listening attentively. ‘What do you say to that? I really think it would be better for me to place a guard over him and have him dig holes until he’s blue in the face.’
‘A poor cure for obstinacy,’ Kiesel joked. ‘Besides, why try to revise the decisions of Providence?’ Since he did not want to say anything more in front of Steiner, he shrugged and fell silent. Brandt peered questioningly at his face. Then he turned to Steiner, and his voice took on the timbre of sternness. ‘Listen to me. You know quite well that I have always shown a great deal of understanding for you. But I am gradually beginning to get tired of battling with your superiors over you.’
‘I didn’t ask you to,’ Steiner replied with a defiant stare. It was the greatest liberty he had ever permitted himself with Brandt, and as soon as he had said it he was frightened at his own foolhardiness. But he met the commander’s eyes firmly and observed with an almost voluptuous excitement the way Brandt’s expression changed. Brandt drew himself up sharply and propped his arms on the desk top. ‘Didn’t ask me to!’ he repeated, hoarse with rage. ‘You didn’t ask me to? Have you gone clean out of your mind? Do you have any idea what you’re saying?’
For a second Steiner closed his eyes. The anger surged up in him so suddenly that afterwards he could not explain it. The bitterness locked up inside him for months spilled out with such violence that his whole body felt emptied, discharged. ‘I do know,’ he snarled. ‘Ever since I’ve been wearing this damned uniform I’ve known that there are two kinds of human being. One kind are the Stranskys and Triebigs and other commissioned officers, and they’re all the same, as much alike as one arse is like the next, and I’m glad I’ve said it to you at last.’
He fell silent, shaking. His face was twitching like the restless surface of a lake, and there was so much contempt in his eyes that Brandt was stunned. The commander uttered a low groan. Then there was a dead silence in the room. A clock could be heard ticking. The commander was breathing heavily. His unsteady hands groped across the top of the desk. Several times he started to speak. When at last he brought out a whisper, his voice sounded broken. ‘Get out. Get out of here at once!’
Steiner abruptly came to his senses. Staring at the commander’s grief-stricken face, he suddenly felt such remorse that his eyes filled with tears and all the objects in the room swam. Staggering, he moved toward the door, turned around once more and looked back helplessly. Then he went out.
When the door closed behind him, Brandt dropped into his chair and looked down at his big hands until he heard a shuffling sound at his side. He raised his head and saw Kiesel standing stiffly, watching him with a strange expression.
‘Why didn’t you spare yourself that?’ the adjutant said slowly.
Brandt looked blankly at him.
‘You should either have ignored his first impertinence or punished the last,’ Kiesel went on quietly. ‘You were inconsistent. You can raise up a wildcat, but don’t count on it for gratitude. The species is unpredictable. To tell the truth, I’m worried.’
‘About Steiner?’
‘No, not about Steiner. I’m worried about Stransky. For the past five minutes I’ve felt convinced that I would not like to be in his shoes.’
He watched as the blood flowed back under the commander’s skin, washing away the dumbfounded expression. Brandt nodded. ‘You’re right,’ he said.
‘In that case it would be better for you to transfer Steiner to another battalion at once, or bring him up here to Regiment.’
Brandt stared down at his hands again. When he raised his head there was an inscrutable expression on his face. ‘I wouldn’t think of it,’ he said slowly. ‘A few minutes ago you yourself advised me not to revise the decisions of Providence. It seems to me that was for once a wise remark on your part.’
‘The case is somewhat different now,’ Kiesel retorted uncomfortably.
By now Brandt had recovered completely. He smiled somewhat mockingly. ‘I disagree. If you tried to mend a hole in a spider’s web, you’d tear the whole web, no matter how skilful your fingers were. I am going to keep my hands off matters as delicate as this.’
He stood up and began striding about the room. ‘Perhaps I’ve treated Steiner wrongly.’ he said reflectively. ‘The relationship between superior and subordinate presupposes a distinct barrier. I thought that in this case I could dispense with it.’
‘Why so?’ Kiesel interjected.
Brandt ignored the question. ‘It’s hard to find the proper tone.’ he went on. ‘I don’t want my men to lose touch with me, and at the same time I can’t have them taking the liberties Steiner does,’
‘It’s a matter of sensitivity,’ Kiesel said.
Brandt laughed harshly. ‘Don’t give me any of that. If I started being sensitive, I should have to apologize for every order I gave my men, saying it wasn’t from me but from Division. No...’ He shook his head passionately. ‘It’s something else, and it’s the thing I worry about most of the time.’ He halted in front of Kiesel, his face flushed. ‘I’ll tell you what it is,’ he declared in an unnaturally loud voice. ‘It’s the damned fear we carry around all the time, the fear of exposing any of our weaknesses, of losing our nimbus. That’s it, Kiesel. That’s why we don’t dare tolerate any personal contact with the men. If we discuss our love affairs, say, with a subordinate, we’ve shown ourselves in our underwear and can no longer ask him to run blindly head-on into a tank cannon while we hang medals on our chests.’
‘Not always.’ Kiesel smiled. ‘You’re right, though. In reality it is nothing but the attempt to maintain an illusion—the illusion that the officer occupies a special position. If you permit closer relations, you are letting the other fellow understand that you respect him as a human being. In doing that you bolster his self-assurance, and that way you run the risk of his feeling himself your equal. Letting down the barrier can be the equivalent of surrender.’ His smile broadened. ‘We are like actors who don’t dare appear without our grease-paint.’
‘I didn’t put it quite that drastically.’
‘But that is what you meant,’ Kiesel answered.
They stood silent for a few moments, until Brandt went over to the desk and sat down with a groan. Face twisted in pain, he clapped his hand to his hip. ‘This damned rheumatism. I can’t seem to get rid of it any more.’
‘We’re getting old,’ Kiesel said equably.
Brandt looked at him suspiciously. ‘Is that directed at me?’
‘At your rheumatism,’ Kiesel said.
The conversation between them had bogged down once more. Somehow, Kiesel could not understand Brandt. There were too many contradictions in his personality which at the moment he could find no explanation for. He recalled how a few months ago the commander had emphasized that his regiment did not consist of figures, but of human beings. And now came this strict repudiation of any such feelings. He decided to explore along this track.
‘Stransky must have made the same mistake you did,’ he said. ‘He was too sure of himself when he started discussions with Steiner.’
‘Don’t overlook the difference in our motives,’ Brandt growled.
‘I’ve thought of that,’ Kiesel replied. ‘Str
ansky’s I know. He received a setback to his morbid arrogance that he will have to chew on for a long time. Incidentally, that sort of arrogance seems to be a specifically German trait.’
Brandt waved his hand impatiently. ‘That’s sheer prejudice,’ he said irritably. ‘We are no worse than others.’
‘But perhaps more peculiar,’ Kiesel countered. ‘There’s no denying that our country swarms with frustrated despots. For their own self-esteem they need someone’s back to step on, just as a short woman needs high heels to feel self-respecting. They’re frustrated, of course, only so long as they’re not in uniform.’
‘You’re an anarchist,’ Brandt said.
Kiesel shrugged. ‘I lack the courage to be an anarchist. I am just one of the many who know very well they’re in the wrong pew and do nothing about it.’
‘It’s not worth the doing.’
‘Not for the sake of others,’ Kiesel agreed. ‘But perhaps for our own sakes. What are you going to do with Steiner?’
Brandt looked up into his face. ‘You certainly are prying,’ he said rudely. ‘Why are you concerned?’
‘For your sake,’ Kiesel said earnestly.
Brandt seemed on the point of replying in the same gruff tone. Then he suddenly compressed his lips, reached into his breast pocket and took out a worn leather letter-case. From it he removed a picture and sat for some moments staring at it. At last, still without a word, he handed it to the captain. In astonishment Kiesel studied the snapshot of a man in officer’s uniform who unmistakably looked like Steiner. Only on closer examination could he detect where the face varied. And something else now struck him. For the first time he became aware of a resemblance between Steiner and the commander. It was particularly recognizable around the eyes. His hand holding the snapshot dropped and he looked questioningly into the commander’s composed face.
Cross of Iron Page 44