“A few of those girls are quite pretty, Herr Leutnant, ” Loeb muttered warningly, as they wanted towards the edge of the town. “Better keep an eye on the men.”
“Do so,” Kurt ordered. Loeb was right. Two of the girls were pretty enough to turn heads anywhere, he had to admit, which could cause problems until they were shipped west to a foster family. The remainder might not be so pretty, but soldiers who hadn’t had leave for far too long developed new standards of beauty. “We don’t want any incidents.”
He surveyed the edge of the town, peering into the distance towards Germany East. It was ideal panzer country; rolling fields, very little in the way of natural obstacles and a reasonably well-maintained road heading east. There were a handful of hedges and ditches, but he doubted they would cause any problems to a modern tank. A Panther would crush the hedges beneath its treads and roll over the ditches as if they weren’t there. Hell, they could just charge into the town and keep going. It was unlikely any of the buildings were tough enough to stop a tank.
“We’ll need to be ready to fall back,” he said. A fluid defence was their only hope, according to Field Marshal Voss. He hadn’t bothered to ask Kurt’s opinion, naturally, but Kurt couldn’t disagree with his ultimate superior. “Get off a couple of shots, then fall back before they get the range and start pounding us.”
“I’ll have antitank missiles placed in the nearest houses,” Loeb stated. He paused. “And we’ll mine the fields leading up to the town. It should give them a few nasty moments.”
“One would hope so,” Kurt agreed.
He had his doubts. The insurgents who menaced Germany East couldn’t stand up to the SS in pitched battles, if they were foolish enough to try. Instead, they fought from the shadows; they sniped at isolated Germans, hurled the occasional mortar shell into German settlements and mined roads the Germans needed to move supplies from place to place. None of their attacks were particularly significant, individually, but collectively they represented a major drain on Germany’s manpower. And God help any German soldier unlucky enough to be captured by the insurgents. Kurt had heard enough horror stories to know that he never wanted to go there.
And the SS knows precisely how to deal with minefields, he thought, darkly. The only real question is just how far they’re prepared to go to intimidate good Germans.
It was a bitter thought. He’d been raised to believe that the SS existed to protect Germans – and indeed, many of the SS Stormtroopers he’d met had been good guys. Konrad had certainly been a very good guy, even though – as Gudrun’s boyfriend – Kurt had been obliged to detest him on sight. He certainly hadn’t deserved his fate, let alone being abandoned by his own superiors and left to rot. But his superiors? How far were they prepared to go to keep their power? They’d already slaughtered countless Untermenschen, he knew, but were they prepared to slaughter vast numbers of Germans?
Probably, he thought, as they worked their way through the town. They think that we’re traitors.
“Just gives us reason to fight,” he muttered.
Loeb glanced at him. “Herr Leutnant?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Kurt said. He heard the buses entering the town and allowed himself a moment of relief. “Let’s go.”
He sucked in his breath as he walked back to the square and saw the older woman – the same older woman – arguing with one of the drivers. She had four large bags beside her, the smallest easily five times as large as the knapsack Kurt had been issued when he’d reported for basic training. He found it hard to understand how she’d packed them so quickly, let alone carried them to the square. Her husband didn’t look strong enough to have carried them for her…
“I need all of these clothes,” the woman was saying. “I need…”
“No, you don’t,” Kurt snapped. Gudrun liked clothes, but she was much more practical than this silly cow. “You need only the bare minimum.”
He allowed his temper to show as the woman rounded on him. “I don’t have time to deal with this any longer,” he snarled, feeling his patience snap completely. “Take one bag and leave the rest here!”
“I need them,” the woman repeated. “I can’t just leave them here!”
“Yes, you can,” Kurt said. He made a show of unsnapping his holster and placing his hand on his pistol. Her eyes widened with shock. “Take one bag and get into the bus, now. Or I’ll shut you up permanently.”
The woman glared at him for a long moment, but there was a flicker of uncertainty in her gaze. She’d been told, of course, that the entire region was under martial law. Kurt could shoot her down in front of a dozen witnesses and it was unlikely he’d get in any real trouble for it. Those witnesses would argue that she had impeded the evacuation and defence preparations, if nothing else. He braced himself, unsure what she’d do, then breathed a sigh of relief as she picked up one of her bags and marched onto the bus. Either the bag was lighter than it seemed or she was stronger, he noted. She didn’t seem to need much effort to carry it.
“What an idiot,” someone muttered from behind him.
Kurt ignored the comment and watched as the remaining evacuees were hustled onto the buses. He couldn’t help noticing that some of the girls waved cheerfully at the soldiers, blowing kisses as the bus roared to life. No doubt there had been some flirting going on, even though the soldiers were meant to be helping convert the town into a strongpoint. Who knew? It might even lead to marriage. Soldiers were encouraged to marry young, just to sire the next generation of Germans before they were killed in one of the Reich’s wars.
Or it might lead to nothing, he thought, as he made his way towards the makeshift command post. The radio antenna had been positioned some distance from the CP, just to ensure the SS didn’t take out the CP as well as the radio when they tracked it down. The flirters may never see one another again.
“Message from HQ,” the radio operator said. “Generalmajor Gath is on his way to inspect the defence lines.”
Kurt swore, inwardly. They’d barely started… had the main offensive begun already? He peered through the window, looking eastwards for some signs of trouble, but all seemed safe and tranquil. Maybe Generalmajor Gunter Gath – the CO of the Eastern Defence Line – merely wanted to get a feel for the terrain before the shooting actually began. Or maybe he thought that Kurt – who was handling responsibilities well above his pay grade – should be supervised.
Or maybe he wants to kiss my ass, he thought, darkly. He’d never met Gath in person. I have a sister on the Reich Council, after all.
“Acknowledge the message,” he said. Generalmajor Gath was already on his way. There was no point in trying to deter him, not now. “And then request additional landmines and AT weapons from stores.”
He sucked in his breath as he walked back outside. His men were already hard at work, digging trenches, fortifying a number of houses and emplacing antitank weapons in the most advantageous positions. Kurt had no idea precisely how the SS intended to advance, but the town was right in the middle of the shortest route to Berlin, controlling one road and far too close to the autobahn. They practically had to secure the town to keep their flanks unmolested. But he had no illusions about how long his men could stand off a determined offensive.