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7-8-April/1915
POV of a French soldier
"I hate that we got stuck with this patrol… it's basically asking for trouble…" I said while scanning all around, alert to any movement from a German patrol.
"Until this area is secured, we have to keep moving through it. Who knows when the Germans might use it to launch an offensive against the trenches or slip in their artillery spotters," the sergeant said as he moved over the tree roots.
"Let's just hope we're not the ones who run into a group of Germans… those bastards are damn good shots" one of my comrades said as we moved through the forest, stepping over branches and roots, trying to stay alert to the slightest sign of German movement.
We had the bad luck that our group had to move along the front, part of the constant slaughter in the forest… every day there were clashes between German patrols and ours, and the dead kept piling up on both sides.
Worse still, we were on the offensive… who knows what the hell the Russians were doing, but all they seemed to do was fall back… they'd been crushed by the Germans, and now we'd spent days launching constant attacks against them. It was only a matter of time before we were ordered to charge their trenches, packed with machine guns, and who knew if we'd be next in that damn meat grinder.
To make things worse, being stuck in this mud-filled hell meant the food arrived late or spoiled… the bread came hard or tasted off, and fresh meat was incredibly rare,only canned stuff most of the time.
"Sergeant… when are the new trousers coming in…? I don't like wearing these red pants that make us stand out to the Germans," another one of us said, looking down at his trousers.
"They should arrive soon, I hope… because I don't like wearing these either. They practically turn us into target practice for the Germans" the sergeant replied.
We kept moving through the forest, watching, but we didn't find any German patrols, which was strange… I didn't want to run into one, but it was odd not seeing any. The Germans always had patrols in these woods.
"See anything?" I asked, looking toward the part of the forest controlled by the Germans, but I couldn't spot anything either.
"Nothing… strange… maybe the Germans are celebrating something?" the sergeant said, watching through his binoculars from a small rise, using a few trees as cover.
"We should report this… it could be an opportunity for an offensive, right?" one of us said.
"Yes…" the sergeant answered, though he looked uneasy. "We need to report it… the Germans might be up to something and it could be important… for now, so—" he began, still looking through the binoculars, when we heard a sound.
"What was that?" I said, looking around.
I heard something hit the ground, and we all looked at the sergeant. There was a hole punched straight through his binoculars and his head, blood pooling among the tree roots.
"GERMANS!" I shouted, pointing toward where the sound had come from.
"I don't see anything, I think—" one of us shouted, but that same sound came again, and I saw his head snap back with a hole through it.
"Sacrebleu…" someone muttered, dropping to the ground.
"Where are they…?" I said, trying to aim.
"I think—" another one started before his head burst apart.
We all threw ourselves to the ground, staring at our dead.
"What the hell is happening… I can barely hear their shots…" I said, crawling behind a tree to take cover.
"I didn't even see them… I saw nothing," one of the others said as he crawled behind a tree as well.
"These damn trousers… all because of this crap," another cursed, blaming his gear.
I was breathing fast, my heart pounding in my ears… I counted—we had lost three out of the fifteen who had set out on the patrol.
"What do we do?" I said, looking at the others, all pressed flat against the ground.
"We don't know where they are… we have to fall back," one said.
"Did anyone hear where the shot came from?" another asked without leaving cover.
"No… it was faint… I heard the crack but couldn't tell where from… just from the German side, that's all," a third said.
"Alright… on three we get up and run… there's nothing else to do here," someone said.
"One… two… three… RUN!" he shouted.
"Shit," I muttered as my boots slipped and I tried to keep up.
I heard cracks and saw bullets striking the trees as I ran, jumping over roots… then a scream.
"Ah—ah—!" one of my comrades yelled, clutching his leg.
"Run or we join him!" another shouted, pushing us forward.
"I'm hit!" someone behind me screamed. "Don't leave me… don't leave me…" he kept yelling as we kept running.
More shots rang out behind us, more of ours went down, screaming for help… I felt pressure on my back as I ran, gasping, but I didn't stop… when we finally got out of that cursed forest, only five of us were left.
Even then, we kept running toward the trench ahead, jumping inside, landing in a huge puddle of water and mud as I leaned my head against the dirt wall, breathing hard.
"What the hell happened… why are you running?" one of the corporals in the trench asked.
"The Germans… they ambushed us… we didn't even know where they were shooting from…" I said, sweat running down my forehead, cold settling into my back.
"What do you mean you didn't see them…? And your sergeant?" the corporal asked.
"He was the first to die… shot straight through the eye… dropped instantly… two more after that… the rest are back there, wounded… the Germans kept firing, but no matter how hard we looked, we couldn't see them" one of my comrades said.
"Useless lot" the corporal growled. "I'll speak to the captain… are you sure the others are still alive?"
"Yes… they were calling for help" I said, the words bitter in my mouth.
"But how do you leave behind—" he stopped. "Forget it… I'll talk to the captain," the corporal said as he moved down the trench toward the rear.
We stayed silent as it sank in that we had left several behind just to save our own skins. I tried to calm myself, but my body was still incredibly tense from what had happened, while everything moved around me.
The captain sent small reconnaissance patrols to check the forest, see what had happened, and find the wounded.
Two patrols came back with four wounded, but the third never returned, and that put all of us on edge… we waited and waited, and the five men who had gone out to search for the injured were never found.
Hours passed like that, with some patrols not returning, and instead of decreasing, the number of wounded spotted in the forest kept increasing. The last group that barely escaped, like us, said there were already around twenty wounded scattered all over the area.
In the end, they waited until nightfall to attempt a recovery, but as soon as the first man in the group was dropped by a shot, they decided to leave them until the next day.
The captain, along with the sergeants and lieutenants, was clearly furious about what was happening. They couldn't see the Germans, and because of the wounded, they couldn't call in an artillery strike to wipe that section of the forest clean. We had to get them out as soon as possible, but no one wanted to go back into a forest where unseen Germans were hunting us.
In the morning, after barely sleeping and eating some hard bread with a bit of hot soup, the captain came up to us while we were eating early in the trench.
"Alright, we're going in as a large group… the Germans shouldn't be there anymore… we go in, secure our flanks, pull out all the dead and wounded, and then we erase that place with artillery. I've already requested permission for that part of the forest to be bombarded because of the threat it represents to us and the upcoming offensive" the captain said, gesturing at all of us.
No one said anything. We just pressed our lips together… all we could do was hope the Germans were gone.
As soon as we finished eating, we formed groups and split up to enter the forest, hoping the Germans were no longer there.
We went in… for the moment, everything was quiet, until we started hearing groans of pain and cries for help from wounded soldiers.
Following the sounds, we found the first wounded, while squads spread out across the area, watching every direction. For a moment, it all seemed calm as we began lifting men and carrying them back toward our lines.
As we pushed deeper into the forest, reaching the area where we had been ambushed before, everything still seemed quiet… thick bushes, dense trees, roots everywhere. We finally found the wounded from our group. They had lost a lot of blood and had done what they could to bandage themselves.
While we were picking up the last of them, I heard a machine gun and before I could react, I saw a large group of ours drop to the ground as bullets slammed into the trunks.
I dropped my head again and stayed low, watching, now hearing German fire from all around, seeing men fall without being able to do anything.
From where I was, our men kept going down… the machine gun echoed in my head. More fell, and some started firing blindly, shooting in every direction until they were hit in the chest.
I crawled out of that area again, watching more and more of ours fall in the forest as they tried to pull back.
I found the captain crouched, watching what was happening.
Again, the machine gun swept over our heads, its rounds smashing into the trees.
Then more rifle shots… and out of the corner of my eye, I finally saw movement… something like bushes moving, closing in around us.
I tried to grab my rifle, but my hands were shaking so badly I couldn't even aim.
More of ours tried to run, but as soon as they stood, they became easy targets and dropped almost immediately.
I stayed crouched, covering my head with my hands, watching as they surrounded us more and more, as everyone around me was cut down, until they finally killed the captain,shot in the back, then finished with a round to the head.
I peeked out to see what was happening, and a bullet nearly hit me, tearing apart part of the tree I was hiding behind.
With my heart pounding like a drum in my chest, I started running back toward the trench, leaving the others behind, wounded and bleeding out, until a sharp pain in my leg made me fall.
The pain turned piercing… unbearable.
Instinctively, I grabbed at the wound and saw blood pouring out.
I'd been shot in the leg.
I tried to crawl away from the Germans who were getting closer, but I couldn't… I was surrounded by the blood of my comrades.
It didn't take long before the Germans were in front of me, finishing off the wounded with pistols or rifles, kicking them to see if they moved.
I tried to stand, but I couldn't.
"Look, Karl, this one's still alive" someone said in German, though I didn't understand a word.
"Are the others dead?" asked a figure covered in branches and leaves.
"Yes… all of them… we had them surrounded the moment they came in" the other replied, crouching in front of me.
"Well… we're done here…" the German said, pulling out his pistol and pointing it at me.
"No… please…" I shouted.
I only heard two shots… and everything went black.
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I'm almost done saving the three chapters of this story, so we'll probably be ready for the $5 tier tomorrow, and likely the $10 tier on Sunday. And if I really push myself, I might even get the $15 tier out so there are 9 chapters ahead. Once that's ready, in addition to the new chapters of Basil's story, we'll go back to posting two chapters a day.
Although, for those who are interested, I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave your comments so I can get feedback, since for me that's the most important thing of all...if you like the story or not
For those who asked if this goes well, would I become a full-time writer? I'd seriously consider it. If I can make a minimum wage doing this, I'd treat it as a full-time job, trying to offer as many chapters as possible without compromising quality.