Then the young commander then indicated to Hase to come and talk to him and they had walked a short distance down towards the banks of the frozen lake whilst the others discussed their views, the conversation encouraged by Tatu.
As they stood on the bank of the lake in silence, Hausser opened a packet of the American cigarettes and offered them to Hase, smiling as he gingerly took one. As the young commander lit his cigarette, he turned towards him and seemed to survey him for some seconds. The cold breeze from the lake enveloped them as they stood there initially in silence, both men tightening their overcoats against the colder air.
Hausser blew smoke out over the lake, his face becoming serious, ‘I realise you may be troubled, Hase. The last couple of days have been taxing on us all…are you still comfortable to be with us?’
Hase looked at his commander, his eyes moistening as he realised the officer was requesting a reassurance from him of his loyalty. He cleared his throat, ‘Hausser, this is difficult for me. I am wearing my country’s uniform, but underneath it is a German one. Yes, I have doubts, but Stalin has committed immense crimes against us Ukrainians, starving our population and his secret police taking people from their families in the night. My father used to speak of the hatred he had for the communists…I hold his beliefs after what I saw in Kiev and the brutality of the army towards our own people.’ He raised the cigarette to his mouth and drew on it, watching the end of the Lucky Strike glow, realising his gloved hand was shaking, ‘You did a good thing for myself and my men in the Crimea…probably saving our lives. My loyalty therefore lies with you and with your country now…or until my country is at least free of the communists.’
Hausser nodded, seeming to understand his confliction, ‘It is difficult for you and this war is becoming very bitter. I cannot say your country will be free after the war is over as I do not know the answer…but you are now one of my men. Regardless of your country of origin or the insanity that is occurring around us, I am very grateful for your loyalty. If we work together I am confident we will survive this. I thought perhaps the further we were from the Ukraine and the Crimea the more doubts you would have…but now I realise I was wrong. For me, you are a German soldier now, and perhaps a good one.’
Hase grinned, surprised by the officer’s comments, taking another draw on his cigarette. He slowly turned to the young commander, ‘I am not sure I will ever be a German soldier in my heart, but maybe a free Russian? Yes, perhaps…I would also like to add one other comment if possible, sir?’
Hausser’s eyes darkened, concerned for what was to come, ‘Please do...’
He drew breath and looked the officer up and down, ‘You look ridiculous in a Russian uniform.’ His mouth formed a cautious smile.
Hausser’s eyes widened in surprise and he threw his head back and laughed, ‘You are a cheeky dog, Hase. But I am proud to have you with me and call you a friend.’ The young officer placed his gloved right hand on his shoulder, ‘Come, let’s get going before it snows…let us see if we can get through the Russian lines safely.’ With this, the officer patted his shoulder twice, turned and slowly walked back up the slope towards the other men.
Hase stood there for some seconds thinking and looking out over the lake. He knew now what he was, what he had become…he was now, as the commander had stated, a soldier in the German army. His loyalty was now to his commander and the men in his unit, the men behind him.
Dismissing his thoughts as if concluded, he turned, throwing the unfinished American cigarette away, hearing the singe as it hit the iced snow. As his mood lightened, he began to ascend the slope back towards the personnel carriers.
Chapter Eleven: He Who Dares…….
The personnel carrier lurched into a rut in the track, concealed by the snow. The engine whined as Udet applied pressure to the accelerator, the metal tracks momentarily skidding on the concealed root before ripping from the grip of the frozen plant.
On the horizon, across a bleak and frozen landscape, he could just make out the lights of the distant town. Hase realised there was a slight incline rising to the outskirts of the town dwellings as they cautiously approached, the track gradually rising to the left.
The vehicles slowed in the snow as Hausser glanced round from the first personnel carrier to check the readiness of his men, noticing with satisfaction that all the men had removed their overcoats. Hase’s and Hausser’s eyes met and he could just make out a fleeting smile on the young commander’s face as he turned back towards the village, the excitement and adrenalin rising within them.
The small vehicles began to ascend the slope, their engine tones rising as the tracks began to struggle to gain a grip in the snow, the ice beneath challenging their progress. He could smell the exhaust of the leading carrier as the greyish warm smoke rose from the revving engine, the bluish grey cloud then hanging in the air as its temperature dropped, the following carrier then swirling the plumes of exhaust around as it progressed through the still freezing air.
As they got some 100 metres from the first building, he could see the door open, with the light from within the dwelling cascading out into the night, casting shadows across the landscape. Four Russian soldiers walked slowly out into the track, their silhouettes indicating weapons held provocatively, their senses sharpened by the approaching vehicles. The uncertainty of the chosen route of approach initiating some suspicion.
Hase tightened his grip on his rifle as the personnel carriers approached the Russian soldiers who stood in the middle of the track at the entrance to the town. His stomach seemed to twist as Hausser raised his right hand, indicating for the carriers to stop before the sentries, licking his lips beneath the scarf placed across his lips, his mouth dry in nervous anticipation of the forthcoming encounter.
The lead personnel carrier jolted to a halt before the two soldiers blocking the track, with the second carrier skidding slightly as it came to rest behind the first. Hase could feel his heart beating loudly in his chest as the first Russian soldier cautiously approached the side of the lead vehicle next to Hausser. The Russian held a lantern in his left hand and this swayed slightly as he walked, casting a wavering light across the snow.
‘Where have you come from?’ The Russian soldier addressed the young commander as he sat slouched in the vehicle.
Hausser saluted nonchalantly, clearing his throat, ‘From the fishing lodge, we were dropping off supplies.’
The sentry eyed the seated sergeant indifferently, slowly returning the salute, ‘Have you your papers?’ He requested, stretching out his hand.
He watched as Hausser retrieved the documents taken from the Russian captain from his chest pocket and hand them to the soldier, who unfolded them to allow further inspection, raising the lantern with his left arm to enable him to read the papers.
The Russian sentry perused the documents then slowly looked back at the young commander, his eyes narrowing, ‘Where is Captain Medvedev? Your papers say he is in command.’
Hausser straightened himself in the carrier, as if becoming frustrated with the private’s scrutiny, ‘He remained at the lodge for the night. There was an incident there he wished to investigate. We are heading for Chapurniki for more supplies.’
The sentry nodded slowly, seeming satisfied by the explanation, ‘Did you find any enemy stragglers?’
Hausser shook his head, ‘No, they are all dead now I think. No one can survive outside for long in these temperatures.’
The Russian sentry nodded, a large cloud of exhaled air escaping from his mouth, a grin forming on his face, ‘Yes…I think the Romanians and Germans are done here now. They are putting up quite a fight to the west though and we are struggling to the north, they have dug in well.’
Hausser leant forward inquisitively, stretching his hand out to the sentry as an indication to hand back the papers, ‘How far north are the lines?’
The sentry passed the papers back to him and stretched, scratching the right side of his forehead, ‘Near the Volga bend. T
he Germans are putting up quite a fight there I think. Every now and again you can hear the artillery fire, but we are moving up heavy guns now to blast them out.’
He watched as Hausser nodded, seeming to absorb the information, ‘Good, perhaps they will think twice before attacking the namesake of Stalin again, eh…comrade?’
The sentry nodded, lowering the lantern, ‘You must take care on the roads…I think there are still some enemy units ahead. We hear gunfire every now and again to the north. The locals are also mostly Kalmyk’s, some of which may have had more allegiance to the previous occupants than us. We have been hanging most of the collaborators along the main road this evening to show the locals what the Red Army thinks of traitors.’
Hase’s grip on his rifle tightened further as he heard the sentry talk of the executions…these were Russians like him that had chosen a different allegiance. Next to him, Nicu moaned in his sleep, a fever sweeping through him due to the exposure.
The sentry looked back, seeing the heavily wrapped body lying in the back of the personal carrier, ‘What is the matter with him? Is he wounded?’ The Russian called across to the second vehicle.
Hase swallowed hard, noticing Hausser turn round to look at him, ‘Er…just unwell, we think he has exposure. He was outside in the cold for too long.’
The sentry nodded, turning back to Hausser, ‘Perhaps you should stay here tonight captain…one of your men is not too good I think?’
The young commander shook his head slowly, ‘No we must continue, we need to deliver our last supplies to the units ahead.’
An explosion in the village ahead made all the men jump, with all ducking instinctively. The immediate buildings obscuring any view, but Hase could see a plume of flame rise into the air some two hundred metres ahead of them in the town, with smoke billowing around it into the night sky.
Hausser watched as the Russian soldiers tightened their grips on their weapons and turned to face into the town. Their stances alarmed, they moved to aim their weapons at any potential threat, the sentry next to Hausser gritted his teeth, turning to run back towards his men he shouted contemptuously, ‘Fucking Kalmyk dogs!’
An approaching wave of sound engulfed him as Hase sat up in the second personnel carrier, the engine noise screaming as he gulped, the adrenalin surging through his body in response. He could hear heavy machine gun fire now as the landscape filled with the deep scream of the engines, but he could see nothing due to the close proximity of the buildings.
They all instinctively ducked as the twin engine plane swept out above them from the obscurity of the buildings, the engines screaming as the pilot opened up the throttle. Flying directly above them the engine noise engulfed them as the plane passed overhead, seeming to be only metres above the soldiers, the pilot flying dangerously low.
As he watched the plane rose into the air and banked steeply left over the lake. He caught a glimpse of yellow wing tips and black crosses on the wings as the pilot pulled back on the stick of the ME110 and accelerated across the lake, continuing to bank north.
As the men shook themselves from their shock, Hase became aware of another plane to the west, the pilot of this other ME110 mirroring the manoeuvre of his leader, to circle the town. As he glanced back, the plane over the lake passed through a ray of light from the moon through the clouds, a glint from the reflection on the glass canopy catching his eye.
Two of the Russian sentries raised their weapons and fired frustrated shots after the departing aircraft over the lake, the cracks of the rifles as they fired loud in the cold air around them.
Hausser grinned beneath his scarf, leaning forward he patted Meino’s helmet, ‘Go! Go!’ Realising the air raid was a perfect cover for them to pass through the town, the noises of rifle and machine gun fire ahead of them now loud in their ears.
The engines on the personnel carriers roared and the first vehicle jumped forward, startling one of the Russian sentries who turned to face it. Albrecht fired a burst from his submachine gun leant on the vehicle’s front metal plate and the man fell backwards, blood pouring from his face as it imploded, the snow splattered dark beyond him. The other Russians, surprised, turned to face the new threat, but Tatu and Hausser were ready and opened fire with their submachine guns as they turned, with two more of the Russians slumping backwards into the snow. The last, the sentry that had approached the vehicle dropped the lantern, turned and ran for the house the sentries had exited earlier. As he got to the doorway, his body spun around, sinking to his knees, then falling face forward into the snow, the bullet from Petru’s smoking rifle having hit him in the middle of his back, shattering his spine.
The first personnel carrier churned snow as it searched for traction and then jolted forwards, making a cracking sound as the vehicle passed over the legs of one of the fallen sentries. The vehicle then leapt forward once more and entered the town, turning left round the first building as Hausser hastily indicated to Meino. The second personnel carrier lumbered forward, following the preceding vehicle, a further dull cracking sound being heard as the metal tracks ground over the broken bones of the dying sentry.
Chapter Twelve: Attack of the Zerstorer
As the second personnel carrier negotiated the corner, turning left, Hase glanced around him, his rifle now raised and gripped tightly. The adrenalin was pumping through his body as he saw the narrow side street they had entered was littered with supplies and bodies in the snow. As they advanced, the buildings to either side were beginning to burn ferociously having been lit by explosions and tracer bullets.
The heat from the fires on either side drifted across their faces as they drove forward cautiously. To their right, further into the town he could hear frantic shouts in Russian as soldiers attempted to calm frightened horses. He glanced right, looking through a window as it cracked and shattered, the inside of the building an inferno as the wooden structure was consumed by flame.
He heard the chatter from a heavy machine gun further to his right and glanced between the burning buildings, briefly spotting the burst of tracer bullets rising into the sky at an angle from him to the north.
Hase closed his eyes as the vehicle shuddered, then jolted forward again, grinding its tracks across the torso of a body hidden in the snow. The sound of the cracking of a crushed ribcage echoing off the side buildings.
Next to him, Nicu rose from his lying position, confusion and horror on his face as if awoken from a deep dream. Hase swiftly leant across the central section of the carrier and pushed the bewildered soldier back down into the foot well of the carrier, indicating for him to stay low. In response, Nicu lowered himself further and pulled a greatcoat over his head, as if to conceal himself from the horror of the sights around him.
The carriers bounced over bodies and discarded boxes as they negotiated the small lane between the houses, the stench of burning flesh catching in the soldiers’ nostrils. As they reached the end of the lane it exited onto a wider road running to their left and right, ‘North and South’ he noted to himself. He saw Hausser raise his hand and the vehicles stopped just before they reached the main highway.
Bullets spattered across the iced road and they all instinctively ducked slightly as the scream of another engine sped past from right to left, the ME109 escort for the twin engine planes now completing its own strafing run of the town.
He watched as the pilot pulled back on the stick and the plane rose rapidly from its low level attack and soared vertically into the air, peeling right to turn to the west and then bank sharply round to the north, the V12 engine roaring as the sound wave swept over them. Behind the ME109, tracer bullets flew sporadically after the plane from inexperienced Russian machine gunners in the town.
Hase saw Hausser turn to Udet and indicate for the vehicles to continue and they lurched forward once more, the cracking of wood in the burning buildings to their right startling the men further.
As they turned right onto the main road, his eyes widened in awe at the sight of sheer des
truction before them. On either side of the highway buildings were burning out of control, casting flickering light from the flames onto the street. Abandoned vehicles and discarded equipment boxes lay along the sides of the road, dropped by Russian soldiers as the air raid began. Several Russians were hurriedly attempting to offload equipment from a burning lorry to their left, but as he watched the petrol tank exploded. The flames shooting outwards from the vehicle as it rose from the ground, engulfing the soldiers around it. He watched in horror as they fell backwards, their uniforms burning intensely with the petrol fuelled flames.
The personnel carriers accelerated in the wide street, Hausser frantically indicating to the drivers to stay in the middle of the road. The small vehicles began to gain speed on the better road and their engines roared as if to spur the men to safety.
Hase glanced at Udet, a grim determination on the young soldier’s face as he drove, the lines of concentration etched on his temples as he struggled with the vehicle’s steering, the small carrier bouncing and scraping off the many obstacles in the road.
On the telegraph poles on either side of the street hung the bodies of the local inhabitants accused of ‘collaborating with the enemy’. He was aghast that the whole street seemed to be filled with them, with some poles hosting two bodies hung from the neck with signs pinned to their chest. Several bodies were on fire due to their close proximity to the burning buildings and the stench of burning flesh was now becoming overpowering.
The vehicles slowed to negotiate the bodies of dead horses in the road, the narrow gap between the recently deceased animals an indication of the surprise the Luftwaffe had achieved as the Russian livery sergeant had dragged his animals across the road. The Russian sergeant had also been killed attempting to save his animals, his body lying contorted across one of the horses, his lifeless eyes staring blankly at the passing soldiers as their vehicles slowed to negotiate the blood soaked gap between the deceased animals.
Bloody Stalingrad Page 12