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15-23-April/1915
A week had passed, and I had killed around a hundred French marksmen. Some days were better than others, but on one of them I killed a French runner, someone carrying a letter, and then I picked off everyone who tried to retrieve it. That alone added a lot of kills by the end of the day.
The prince was delighted with what had happened, since my group had quickly cleared out the French snipers, who lacked better equipment and training. Literally, we, a group of 230 men, had eliminated nearly a thousand French soldiers in less than a week. And the best part was that they were trained troops, which saved many German lives that would have been lost in the constant duels between French and German marksmen along the front.
Something that began to happen was that the French, whenever they lost skirmishes in the Argonne, would bombard the entire section of forest where they had been defeated. They didn't want to risk a repeat of what we had done to them. That was reducing the forests in the area quite a bit, leaving only a few sections intact while the rest was filled with shattered, dead trees.
I finally got permission to go to the rear lines, something I hadn't even been able to do on the eastern front, where I was either sent back to Poznan or straight behind enemy lines.
So we went to the French town of Stenay. The place was far enough from the front to avoid artillery risk, and the French population wasn't as hostile as I would have expected, since much of their livelihood now revolved around serving German soldiers.
''Hey, excuse me, Table for five'' I said, looking at one of the women who was cleaning a table. She simply pointed to one of them.
I sat down with the group of my men who had come with me. The prince had given us a generous reward for our results, about 100 marks each. For me it was little, but for some soldiers it was a small fortune they wanted to spend as soon as possible.
''How are you holding up, Friedrich?'' I said, looking at my unteroffizier, who had recently been wounded by artillery.
''Fine… just a few cuts. The ringing in my ear lasted a while, but after that nothing… you've got a sixth sense for artillery, you know when it's coming'' said Friedrich.
''Bah… it's more that I don't usually fire from the same spot for long. I prefer to move. When you fire too much from one place, they triangulate your position and shells start raining down nonstop. That's why you don't insist… unless you get them to build more of those dirt positions… or better yet, a concrete bunker reinforced with steel. From there you could shoot without worrying as much'' I said, shifting my foot on the chair.
''I'll keep that in mind for next time… the French can be really annoying when you blow the head off anyone who peeks out'' Friedrich replied.
''What are you writing, Hans?'' Ernst said, looking at Hans, who was focused on writing something.
''When I cut my arm on a nail three days ago I met a nurse… very pretty… she had such bright eyes…'' Hans said without stopping writing.
''Careful, she might be a nun and you'll be wasting your time'' Ernst said with a grin.
''She's not… she's from Koln… she volunteered with the German Red Cross… she was an angel taking care of me'' Hans replied.
''Don't get your hopes up… there must be thousands looking for the same thing. More than one tries to save themselves what French prostitutes charge'' said Friedrich as he ran a finger through his ear.
''No messing around with those women, got it…'' I said, pointing at all of them.
''Why?'' Ernst asked, raising an eyebrow.
''Because they're probably full of diseases down there… so if I find out that anyone, or any of your subordinates, is paying prostitutes, I'll have you cleaning latrines for weeks, and I don't care if we're off duty just because we're elite troops'' I said, glancing at one of the women watching the train station with her notebook, probably waiting for a client.
''What can I get you?'' a man said after stepping out of the restaurant with a notebook and pencil.
''Sausages… eggs… do you have meat?'' I asked while watching the number of men getting off the train.
''Sausages yes, duck eggs… no meat… hard to get'' said the worker.
''Bacon and potatoes?'' I asked, thinking for a moment.
''That we have'' said the worker.
''Good… three scrambled eggs for each, two sausages, three pieces of bacon and boiled potatoes, then mash them and throw them in oil… all that for everyone'' I said while taking out my wallet.
''Alright… all that for you'' said the worker.
''And coffee…'' Hans added, pointing.
''Yes, coffee'' said Ferdinand.
''Coffee for everyone and bring sugar'' I said without thinking much.
''Of course… though coffee isn't cheap…'' said the worker.
''I'm paying, don't worry'' I said, looking at him.
''That'll be 50 marks'' said the worker.
''50 marks?'' Friedrich said, eyes wide… ''What, does the food cure diseases?''
''It's to be expected there's food scarcity, and whatever there is they'll sell it expensive'' I said, pulling out the marks to pay him ''here, 50 marks''
''Of course, I'll be back with your food when it's ready'' said the worker, heading inside.
''Expensive… I thought it would be much cheaper… these French are squeezing us instead of the other way around'' Ernst said, eyeing the restaurant cautiously.
After that, and throwing a few comments about the French around, we stayed watching the area until the food arrived, something very different from canned food or the hard bread you got in rations, since hot food didn't last long in the front lines, because the cooks were back in the third rear trench, so everything arrived cold or the bread wasn't exactly fresh.
So now we were spending several marks buying coffee while continuing to talk about what to do next, since watching trains arrive and seeing more soldiers heading to the front was something I didn't like much, considering what it implied.
But something caught my attention, the same prostitute who had already attended three German soldiers… it was the fourth time I saw her near the train station writing things down in her notebook… so unless she was a prostitute who managed her income very well… she was a spy
I kept staring at her until her eyes locked onto mine, we held that gaze for a long moment until she suddenly began to move, hurrying away
''I'll be back'' I said, leaving 20 marks on the table as I started running after the woman
Without slowing down I dodged some German soldiers who had just arrived at the front, with that same innocent look that would soon be shattered once they faced the cruelty of war
I saw the woman sprinting, turning into one of the streets and, without stopping, I was already catching up to her
I kept running and quickly closed the distance, moving at full speed behind her, she managed to turn into the next street just before I grabbed her by the arm and slammed her violently against the wall, pressing my forearm against her neck while applying pressure and searching through her clothes with my other hand
I searched and tore part of her dress until I found the notebook while keeping the pressure, the woman cried and said things to me in French while slowly choking
''I don't understand a damn thing'' I said, looking at the notebook filled with French writing
The woman tried to strike me in the groin without success ''Try that again and I'll break your face with one hit'' I said angrily as I forced her to walk with me, pushing her while she struggled and shouted loudly
People stared at me as I pushed her along
Several German soldiers who had just arrived also stared, but they clearly recognized the officer uniform I was wearing, I kept pushing the prostitute until I reached the restaurant and saw my men staring at me
''Grab her, I'll get the worker'' I said, shoving her so Ernst and Friedrich could restrain her while I entered the restaurant
''What is happening, mein Herr?'' the worker said, noticing the French woman's shouting outside
''What does this say?'' I said, showing him the notebook at what seemed to be the most recent entry
''Of course… uh… 12:00, 800 Germans… 13:30, 420 Germans…'' said the worker, and I closed the notebook in front of his face
''Thanks, that's all I needed'' I said while putting it away inside my clothes
I stepped out of the restaurant and approached my men who were struggling to hold the hysterical spy who kept screaming and fighting to break free
''She's a spy… she has train schedule information, probably to pass it to someone who can get it to the French lines and use it against us'' I said, grabbing the woman by the neck and dragging her toward where the Feldgendarmerie was in the town
With the help of my men we carried the woman, trying to hold back from knocking her unconscious given how violently she resisted
But we reached the police station that the local Feldgendarmerie had taken as their operations center
''What's going on? Why did you bring that prostitute here?'' the military policeman asked
''She's a French spy, I caught her taking notes on train schedules and someone confirmed what was written in her notebook'' I said while handing it over
''Give it here'' said the military policeman as he examined the notebook ''God… it's full of train schedules'' he said, frowning as he read carefully
''Yeah, it seemed strange seeing her at the station while soldiers were arriving, sure she sold her services in the area, that's normal, but always with the notebook when trains arrived… that was suspicious'' I said with a slight smile
''Lock her up… and let her rot until an officer from Abteilung IIIb arrives and interrogates her properly'' said the military policeman to his subordinates, who grabbed her and threw her into a cell
''Thank you for your patriotic duty…'' said the military policeman
''Major Karl'' I replied
''Major Karl… good eyes to notice something happening right in front of us'' the policeman finally said
I nodded and we began heading back to the camp, even though we still had more days off, we had stirred up half the town, since the Feldgendarmerie began a serious operation, searching French homes for more spies and trying to figure out how the information was being transmitted, uncovering collaborators and other prostitutes who were extracting information from German soldiers and passing it to the French, though we didn't know how the messages were reaching the front
So it remained under investigation
Our rest days didn't last long, since I was called several times to give statements about what had happened and why I acted the way I did, since it had drawn a lot of attention in the town while the spy screamed like a madwoman
Eventually they let me go, and since I still had some days, I began working on improving our improvised machine gun, I managed to get my hands on a damaged MG-08 and started extracting parts to modify the design
Taking the barrel and its firing system, with the help of a German engineer who worked repairing machine guns, we began modifying it, giving it a lighter body but keeping the recoil-operated system, creating a machine gun that fired German ammunition and weighed far less than the original
Now it had a body similar to my light machine gun, since the gas system I had been using kept failing for some reason I couldn't identify, so using all my free days we worked on creating a better base from the MG-08
Until we managed a machine gun that weighed a fraction of the original, could be operated by a single man and was no longer static, now it could be moved and used with a bipod
It also used German ammunition, so we finally had a reliable machine gun, since in several tests we could fire without problems, I only needed to adjust the rate of fire to increase rounds per minute and we would have something much closer to a real improvement over the machine gun
While I slept thinking about the improvements I wanted to make to the weapon, I was woken by the sudden sound of artillery in the morning
''French attack… French attack'' someone began shouting across the camp
''Oh for fuck's sake…'' I said as I started putting on my uniform and grabbing my weapon to head to the front
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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