Camilo Franco
Chapters 1: Past the mountains and far away ‌ 2: Thirty seven bells. 3: Times have passed, times have changed. 4: Salute and obey. 5: One of us.
Past the mountains and far away… There was a time, long ago, where Aurich was submerged in peace, the first war had ended and everyone needed a rest from the fear, the tragedy, the army and mainly from the deaths. During the first war the German government started a recruitment campaign all across the country and focused on little towns, towns like Aurich where everyone used to know each other and where the sound of the church´s bells indicating a deceased was something unusual, due to that campaign everything changed. At that time 137 men were taken away from their homes and sent to the trenches, where they would fight at the frontline. One of those men was Herman Kuefer, who had to leave his wife and his son Rudolf at their risk; without him they didn’t have enough money to keep up their farm, so Rudolf had to leave school and start to work, he worked at a bullet factory at the outskirts of Aurich, Rudolf didn’t tell his mother that he was working at that factory, because he thought his mother wouldn’t like that place for him. One day Rudolf was coming home after work, but when he reached the door he found his mother waiting for him. “Hello Rudolf,” his mother said mysteriously. “Hi, mom,” said Rudolph cautiously, “How, how, how are you?”
“I´m fine boy,” his mother answered, “How are you?, you should be tired from those 2 extra hours at work.” “Oh yes,” Rudolph hissed, he was shocked, he told his mother that the work finished at 6 p.m and he was two hours late. “ Why are you late?” his mother asked, “You told me that at the store, work ended at 6.” “Yes, but I, I had to stay for cleaning” Rudolf said. “You look weird boy,” his mother acknowledged, “Are you really working at the store or are you in the bullet factory?” “I am not working at the bullet factory,” Rudolph denied. “I hope so,” his mother said, “Now go to bed, tomorrow we have a hard day.” The next day Rudolf´s mother woke him up because she needed some turnips to make a soup, Rudolf dressed up and started to walk from his house at the north towards the town center. Aurich changed completely from north to south and from east to west, at the center in Aurich´s main park was the church dating back from the 13th century ,as a reminder of Germany´s early empire, just 10 meters to the left was the recruitment stand, and in front of them was the town square, the town also had the houses of Aurich´s richest people, the poor ones lived in the outskirts. The town square had seen many people happy and full of joy, seeing, hugging, kissing their loved ones again but also many others with a totally different feeling; full of anger, despair and hate, hatred for Germany, for this war and for the enemy. Everyone who felt that way had something
in common, they received the bad news, their family member sent to fight won´t come back to hug his wife again, nor his children full of pride and joy that their father fought in the war and defended the country, that just won´t happen… they won´t see him again.
Rudolf reached the town square and then went to the store where he was supposedly working and asked the owner for some turnips. The owner always wore the same apron, dirty from the vegetables and the meat´s blood. It also had a stink of fish, it seemed to Rudolf that he never washed it. “Hello Mr.Grolf,” Rudolf said, “Can you give me some turnips?” “I can´t”, Mr.Grolf said full of sorrow, “We don’t have any turnips or anything, the French have started to move closer to Germany and the government asked for all the resources, but it is just a lost cause.” “What do you think is a lost cause?” Rudolf asked. “This war,!”Mr grolf screamed, “This war is lost, Germany is lost!” After hearing that Rudolf ´s heart almost stopped, he left the bag he brought to take the turnips and started running home while crying. When he was halfway there he saw his friend Fritz Thorvald, who also worked at the bullet factory, but Fritz was 18 years old, Rudolf was only 8.Although Fritz had 18 he looked like he was 25 and he did things that made people think he was that
age, he always liked serious jobs and was on time for everything. “Where are you going Rud?”Fritz inquired. “I´m going home,” Rudolf cried. “But, today is Sunday,” Fritz replied, “We must go to the town square.” “Sunday!” Rudolf yelled, “I forgot it was Sunday”. The expectation started to grow within Rudolf, he started to run as fast as he could towards the town square, he had to be early to hear the names…all that mattered were the names.
Thirty seven bells. After running for a while Rudolf stopped to hesitate, to calm down but mainly to listen for the bells…he heard nothing, he was still on time to hear the names, he couldn´t allow himself not to listen to them. All that was on his childish mind were the names and the bells ringing together as a symphony, a somber symphony. He didn´t know (how could he?) but he would experience war´s aftermath. Rudolf saw the first houses of the town, he was anxious to arrive to the town square on time but when he was about to pass by the houses the first ring was heard as a messenger ready to throw the crude news at someone´s heart. Rudolf´s palms started to sweat, his heart pumped faster, his legs were shaking and he started to run insanely fast, he was decided not to lose another ring. When he finally arrived to the crowded square he saw the first family crying, at least he knew that first bell was not for him ,it was normal for him to see people crying at that place and specially on that day. He continued to search for his mother, she was nearby the recruitment post where there was a man with a bullhorn telling the names; Rudolf reached his mom and asked her for the company of the deceased. “It’s the one on which Herman is!” She cried. On Sundays all the people of Aurich went to the town square, it was always a painful day, on Sundays the officer on the recruitment post gave the names of the deceased soldiers of that week, the company that had the deceased changed
weekly and this time was from the 250th Freiwilliger, the one on which Rudolf´s father was. Rudolf started praying when his mother told him that the first name was said, he prayed that his father was alive, he didn’t want to hear his name on that list. “Second deceased,” said the officer, before he could say the name the chruch´s bells rang again. “Kristof Gauten” Rudolf felt relieved for a moment, the square became silent until a woman´s tears and shouts broke the swift mantle upon that moment. That woman was kristof´s wife, she started to cry out loud his name, she fell to the ground until her head reached the floor, and stayed there, crying. Rudolf´s mother hugged him tightly it seemed that she was trying to calm him, but she was also trying to calm herself down. “Mom, do you think dad is going to return?” Rudolf asked. “Let´s hope and pray for that,” His mother suggested. “Attention please,” the officer interrupted, “Those are the only confirmed deaths we have, by tomorrow 10 of September, 1918 we will have the rest and we will be passing house by house to give you the news. For the families of the deceased the Empire of Germany will give you help for 5 months, the empire also wants to thank those men for giving all for the motherland, they are the real heroes of the war!” A tragic scream burst through the air, it was Kristof´s widow.
“Heroes?” she screamed, “You are calling heroes men that were sent forced to the front, without any training. They were sent to die for this empire! You say that you are thankful with them, but those men for you are nothing but a number, you and all of the government´s puppets try to make this war look good and heroic while there is nothing heroic in it. Down to the Kaiser and to…” She was quickly interrupted by a thud, it was a shot. The officer had fired against her, she died before she fell to the ground, in her eyes she carried the image of her husband. Her body was laid on the ground, looking straight up to the sky, showcasing that she was gone. When she was shot the chaos started on the square, everyone was trying to run away, the war had reached Aurich and everyone was trying to avoid it. Rudolf felt a strong pull on his arm, it was his mother, she was trying to escape from the square because the officer had started to shoot at anyone who said “Down to the empire, down to the Kaiser.” Rudolf and his mother managed to get away safely from the crowd and they both started to run away, when they were getting out of Aurich´s town center they heard another 5 shots, shortly after that they heard lots of screams and shouts. Those sound made them run even faster. They reached home at dusk, Rudolf went running to his bed and started crying loud, his mother also wanted to do so but tried hard to contain the tears, she had to be strong, for her son. She then walked up to Rudolf´s room to relief him. “Hi,” she hissed.
“Hello mo…m” he stammered. “Why are you crying?” she inquired, “They haven´t said anything about dad.” “I know,” Rudolf said, “But something tells me that something´s going to be said about dad and…”, Rudolf couldn´t talk anymore, he broke in tears. “Oh Rudolf,” His mother hugged him tightly and started crying, too. After she hugged him, she stopped for a minute and calmed down. “I´m going to see if there is food to make dinner,” she muttered. Meanwhile, Rudolf started to pray again, he was not very religious but doing so calmed him down a little, he needed all the strength he could have for the next day, it could be a very hard day. “We have no food!” his mother exclaimed, “It´s better if we go to sleep right now to feel less hunger, tomorrow I will get something to eat, good night Rudolf.” “Good night mom!” he wished. Rudolf lay down on the bed, trying to get asleep but he couldn´t, his mind was unconsciously full of thought about his father, when he played with him, the gifts he gave him on his birthday but mainly from the last day he saw him, Rudolf felt a piercing cold across his body; the weather didn´t helped him, that night was a lightning storm and he felt that each one that
struck was telling him that something was going to happen, he had no idea of how the events of the next day will affect his entire life. The next day started as usual, with the slightly cold breeze that covered Aurich at the beginning of each day, and with the sound of the birds that could only be heard on their farm, those things relaxed him for a while until he heard a knock at the door. It was the voice of a man and he was asking for his mother, he called her and she went running to the door and told Rudolf to go to his room but he was hiding behind a sofa, he wanted to hear everything. His mother opened the door, it was the officer. “Miss Kuefer,” he said coldly. The officer didn´t had the need to say a word, she understood what was happening. “I´m sorry,” the officer wailed, “Here is his dog tag, and a war merit cross for bravery in battle and behind enemy lines.” “Thank you,” she cried, she cried like never before with the cross and the tag in her hands, she was alone in the world and had to raise a child, she felt all the anger and despair that the widow in the square felt but didn’t say a word, not for fear but for Rudolf. After seeing that Rudolf understood what was happening, he ran out of the house with his eyes covered in tears he was running towards their garden, where he played with his father for the last time. “Rudolf!” his mother cried, “Please don´t go away.”
“I just wish that September ends!” he shouted. When he reached the garden he fell to the floor and cried, cursed and shouted, he didn’t wanted to be alive, his world had collapsed and he was at the center of the disaster. In the background the bells could be heard, reminding him of his father´s death, there were 37 bell rings, 37 deaths. The worst day in Aurich´s history, and the feeling of the entire town could be seen on Rudolf´s eyes, he was unable to forgive the war, the empire and the enemy.
Times have passed, times have changed. It was 1942, the first war had ended, differing to many people´s beliefs, another one had started 3 years ago. Between them a time of “peace” was experienced but only for the rich, the poor had to fight their own war to get food and money; the first war had devastated Germany, the government had to pay for all the war damages as a condition for their surrender, and the majority of the country´s cities were destroyed. Between the chaos a person took the power by storm, Adolf Hitler. Promising to bring back Germany´s former greatness, little he knew was that the vast majority of the population wanted just peace, that peace they´ve been seeking for many years and that now seemed to be further away, as this new war promised to be bloodier that its ancestor. Rudolf´s life was also drastically changed by the wars, but he felt something different this time, he lost his father in the first war and his mother was too old to be taken to a factory or to a hospital as a nurse; he felt that his family would be inherent to this war, Rudolf had no worries for himself being taken to the front, due to his father´s services the army excluded him from being recluted. Rudolf was no longer a kid, he was a man, he was forced to be a man long time ago, with his father´s death. He had an ability to stand still, even in the crudest situations, he had won that from the war´s tragedies that he experienced. Rudolf believed this war would be easy for his family that lived apart
from Berlin, he couldn´t imagine how it will change his life and his way of thinking. Rudolf had the presence of a devote German soldier, his hair with the color of the sun rays and his deep blue eyes forming his Germanic face, he was tall and a strong, sturdy man with a very white, pale skin that seemed to be hiding a child that had to turn into a man, forced by the war and the tragedy. “Rudolf,” his mother called from her bed. “Yes?” he asked “Would you mind getting me some onions at the town, please?” she asked. “Why at the town?” Rudolf inquired, “We have a plantation of onions here, if you want I can collect them now.” “That isn´t the problem,” his mother answered, “Yesterday there was a blizzard and we lost all our onions, here take this money to buy some.” “No, mother,” Rudolf replied, “I will use this money that I have been saving.” “God bless you,” his mother said while Rudolf left the house. Rudolf took a second and stood back to look at his house, January´s regular snowfalls could be well seen, his house was all covered in snow. Although he had never moved from his house, it seemed to him that something was different, he missed to see his father at the garden, now all that he could see was the Nazi flag that every German house needed to have.
Rudolf started to walk towards the town, when he heard a buzzing sound, he heard the dirt of the road being passed. After that he heard someone calling him. It was Fritz Thorvald and his wife Anne, they were both on a car that Fritz bought on a trip to Berlin. “Where are you going?” Fritz asked. “To town,” Rudolf answered, “I´m getting some onions.” “We are going there too, get on, we will take you,” Fritz offered. “Oh thank you Fritz, but I don’t want to take space from your car,” Rudolf replied. “There is no problem,” Fritz said, “Now come on, so we don’t come back so late.” Rudolf finished accepting Fritz´ offering, it was his first time on a car, in just a few minutes he started to see Aurich´s town center, the rich´s houses, the store and the town square, that town square; Rudolf hated to go here, not only for the memories from the day on which he was told about his father´s death, the same day which a woman was shot at the square within a mass of furious people. That wasn´t the only reason why Rudolf hated the square, every time he went there something deep inside told him that more deaths were going to come, and the chaos that once shook the town will come back, but stronger. They reached the center, Rudolf asked Fritz to leave him at the store and Fritz told him that had to be at the major´s house in 5 minutes so he had to leave Rudolf at the square.
Rudolf didn´t like it but agreed, he had no other option, Fritz took him to the town and he couldn´t ask for more. Rudolf went down from the car and stared at the center of the square, it had changed just like his house and all of Aurich. Its rural magic was totally changed, now the town was filled with Nazi flags, propaganda and soldiers. Rudolf entered the store and found Mr. Grolf with some soldiers, and an officer. They seemed to be looking for something. “Talk, you worthless old,” the officer demanded, “Where are they?” “I don’t know what you´re talking about,” Mr. Grolf answered, “I´m not hiding anyone.” “Ok, then I will go to the basement and if I find one you will be dead in 10 minutes.” the officer warned. “Wait!” Mr. Grolf exclaimed. The officer stopped for a second and looked back towards Mr. Grolf, the officer made a devilish smile. He took out a paper and a pen. “So Mr. Grolf, are you hiding enemies of the state?” the officer asked. Mr Grolf nodded. “Jews?” the officer inquired. Mr grolf nodded again, the officer told everyone to go away from the store. Rudolf started running too, meanwhile, the soldier´s steps were heard, after that a brief silence, a brief anticipation and after that , the roaring sound of 6 machine
guns along with the agonizing screams of a man, a woman and 2 children. “What class of war is this one?” Rudolf said to himself, after that he decided to go back to his home, there were no more stores in Aurich. He had to go walking, like he had ever done, until Fritz offered him to go on the car but it had already happened, he had to walk like always. When he was near his house he saw the car of Aurich´s army commander, he felt something was wrong, the commander never went to that zone of the town, he continued to walk. When he reached his house he heard his mother crying out loud, that only increased his feeling that something was wrong. “What happened mom?” he quickly asked. “The, the commander came here,” she mumbled. “And what did he say?” Rudolf asked nervously. “That you have to join the army or otherwise they will take the house from us,” she cried. When Rudolf heard that his heartbeat got faster, and his eyes were wide open, that was the way that his father was taken to the war, it was happening all over again, but did he had another option? He had to fight.
Salute and obey. Rudolf woke up early, he took a small carrying bag he had and started to pack things silently and quickly, he wanted to while his mother was sleeping. He wouldn´t be able to see the expression on her face that she had yesterday (when she received the news from the commander) again. Along with his clothes he packed a picture of when he was a child, he appeared with both of his parents in the picture and he took that to remember why he was there, for whom he was fighting for. When he reached the living room he saw his mother, she was unrecognizable, she was laying on the couch with some dirty white clothes, her hair was totally mattered and she didn’t say a thing, she was just there, crying without a pause. Rudolf walked up slowly to where she was, he touched her shoulder slightly and she turned very fast, looking at him. It was that expression again, that one which Rudolf didn´t wanted to see anymore. “I have to go to Berlin today mom, the training camp is there,” he mumbled, “I also wanted to say you that…” He was interrupted by a big, strong hug from his mom. “Promise me that you will come back,” she cried, “ That´s all I care about!” “I will,” Rudolf said, his mother´s tears had inflicted an effect on him and he was now crying, too; he was going to be away at least for a year, and there were chances of him not coming back.
He hugged his mom again, but tighter, and he kissed his mom in the cheek, after that he stood apart. “I,I love you!” he cried. Both of them broke in tears. Rudolf opened the door and left his home, he felt an immense pain for leaving it, but he had to. He started to walk towards town, he had taken a few steps when he heard a very loud mumbling sound, he recognized it as a motor sound but it was louder than a car one, maybe it was a tank, he thought but it had no sense, if it was a tank it meant that they were being invaded. He continued to walk, ready for everything when he heard the vehicle getting closer and little after he heard his name, he looked backwards and saw a gray truck, it had the Nazi symbols on its sides and it was full of men. “Are you Rudolf Kuefer?” asked a man with an army uniform. “Yes, I am,” Rudolf asked. “Get on, we are taking all of the new recruits to the train station,” the man said. Rudolf managed to get on the back of the truck, amongst him there were 4 men all looking down, filled with the same sadness that he had. Rudolf sat down and took a last glimpse at his house and at his mother, who was at the door. The rocky, bumpy road from his house to Aurich center was well felt on the truck, but anything of that overwhelmed Rudolf´s thoughts; he was worried for his mother.
The truck reached the town square, where 4 more men climbed up to the truck, they were all about the same age and looked similar and Rudolf thought that they were brothers. After picking them up the truck started to go towards the station, which was 10 minutes away from the town square, when the truck was going west Rudolf looked at Aurich town center and prayed that his name was never spoke there as a deceased. They reached the station where along train was waiting for them, they had a long way ´till Berlin. After being for 10 hours on the train, it´s gates finally opened and Rudolf saw an enormous camp surrounded by the tallest, most beautiful mountains he had ever seen and in between them a thick forest, added to that scene was the snow that gently covered all the camp and its surroundings. Everyone wore a white army dress and could be barely seen from the distance. They were formed in a row and a tall, strong man came in front of them, everyone stood still, silent, that man represented the German authority and they had a high fear and respect for it. His name was Friedrich Paulus, he was a general and leader of the 6th army, the one on which Rudolf would fight. “Welcome to Augenstat, recruits,” Paulus said, “In the time you are here you are mine, you won´t do anything unless you are told to; obey and this will only be a nightmare, disobey and this will be a true hell, the Wermacht only has the best soldiers, the weak are left behind so I expect nothing but the best from you, also remember that you can only call a high rank as Herr, not doing so could end up in punishment.”
Everyone stood still, the heartbeats of everyone were very hard, they were all decided to be good soldiers, not because they wanted, because they had to. They were instructed to enter the camp in a line, while doing so Rudolf contemplated its size, he thought it was as big as Aurich´s town center and it certainly was. At the entrance of the camp were the trainees’ rooms, big long community rooms were they slept very close to each other, at the center there was a big, open meeting square and at the end, closer to the forest, were the briefing rooms, and the training camp. They were all ordered to enter a room, where they sat down in rows, they were going to watch a movie, but they couldn´t imagine which was the real intention behind showing that movie. When they arrived to Augenstat many of them hated the regime, the purpose of showing that movie was to change all that through sublime messages that even the most brilliant man wouldn’t see. When they left the room, everyone was different, even Rudolf. After that, their rooms were assigned; their uniforms were there too, they were instructed to put them on in 15 minutes. “A good soldier has to be quickly on everything, on 15 minutes we will meet here again,” Paulus said, “If someone is not here on time he will pass the night at the forest.” Everyone left the square running and headed to their rooms, they had just arrived and they were already running for survival. Rudolf ran very quickly, his room was the 37045 and he couldn’t find it, he asked another soldier where it was and he told him that it was at the corner of the camp, near a
vigilance tower. When Rudolf arrived to his room, 5 minutes had already passed, he hurried in and turned the lights on, he was the first one there; the room had 7 beds arranged on two rows, leaving a pathway in the middle and at the end 3 bathrooms and a dressing room. Rudolf rushed to the dressing room and finally found his uniform, it was totally white, it had an arm bend with the Nazi symbol and his last name, sewed upon the chest; when he put it on he felt warmer, he thought that the uniform was very well designed since it protected from the cold and also helped to have mobility. Rudolf took his helmet and left the room, when he was leaving he saw 4 of his mates entering the room scared from the punishment, there were 10 minutes left, there was nothing he could do to help them so he started to run over the snow covered paths towards the camp center. He saw the majority of the soldiers already dressed up in the square, he looked at his clock, 2 minutes left, and he joined the lines feeling relieved from the punishment. Those 2 minutes felt eternal to Rudolf, he didn’t want his roommates to be punished but he could do nothing but wait. After 1 minute his roommates arrived, Rudolf felt fine; he didn’t want to see dead people, at least on his first day. After they were counted to see if someone was missing they were sent to the training grounds, they would be tested to see which kind of soldier they would be. Rudolf was first sent to the sniper test on which he had to hide in the forest for 20 minutes while avoiding being spotted by the instructor.
Rudolf was told to start, he had 30 seconds to hide and he was totally alone, he ran to a little fox hole on the ground and lay there, as still as he could for the 20 minutes. Every minute that passed he felt how the cold was getting inside his body, like a knife, but he managed to stay still using his willpower. The 20 minutes had passed and 5 recruits were detected, except for Rudolf, who caught the attention of the instructor. “Name, soldier,” the instructor asked. “Rudolf Kuefer, herr” Rudolf answered. “Ok, very impressive Kuefer, you don´t have to make more tests. You are going to be a sniper, congratulations,” the instructor said, “You can now go to your bedroom to rest, tomorrow we start training and the sniper´s training is the hardest one. Dismiss!” Rudolf saluted and started to walk back to his room, under all of the bad things he had a little hope of going back home, at least he wasn´t going to be in the frontlines. But how could he be sure of that? he was just a new, unexperienced recruit. He started to walk back to his room but when he was passing by the square his thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Friedrich Paulus, he was behind a fettered soldier, pointing a gun at the back of his head. There were 5 people surrounding them, they all looked like high ranks. “This war tribunal declares you guilty of the crime of defection and you know well the punishment for that,” Paulus said.
The sound of the shot burst into the air, producing a shiver amongst Rudolf´s spine, he walked faster like if the presence of the death pushed him away from Paulus and the square. When Rudolf reached his room he went directly to his bed, opened his bag and took out the picture of his family, he looked at it, at his father´s pride expression, at his mother´s love one and finally at his face full of joy and happiness, he was fighting to see his mother back and to visit his father´s grave again. He would return home after the end of the war for them. He laid on his bed thinking of all the events that happened, he remembered the way the German army was shown in the movie, a great invincible army. He remembered his time hiding in the forest and lastly the execution, he wouldn’t forget the face of the condemned, fearless and challenging; thinking of all that he remembered what the instructor told him, tomorrow was harsh day, a harsh day. He felt asleep while thinking about it.
One of us. 9 months had passed since Rudolf arrived to Augenstat as a poor and weak peasant and now he was the complete opposite, he was the first officer Rudolf Kuefer, commander of the 14th platoon. Augenstat changed his mind completely and made him a devote soldier, willing to defend the Reich at all costs. The training had been a complete hell to Rudolf, but he managed to get over it, everyone believed him to be the best soldier and he had won the respect from the instructors and from Paulus himself. That day was a special one in Rudolf´s military career; it was his graduation from Augenstat. He would be sent to fight, he didn´t knew where, but he will be told after he completed his exam. A loud siren woke Rudolf up earlier than usual, then Paulus breached into his room and told all of his platoon to be ready in 10 minutes. Rudolf´s platoon consisted of 3 of his best friends, he met them in Augenstat and they had been roommates for a long time. The platoon was made up by Joseph Hegel (The rifleman), Erich Manfred (The heavy gunner) and Walther Amsel (The machine gunner). Everyone called each other by their last names, and amongst those men was Rudolf as the sniper and leader of the team. They left the room and found Paulus waiting for them with some training guns; they were going to do their graduation test. They had to assault a position occupied by their instructors and eliminate them.
Paulus led them to an observation position located far from their objective; Rudolf estimated that it was 1500 meters away, he took a rapid glimpse at what separated them from the objective. It was a big forest filled with pines and covered with snow, he saw a small, rocky mountain to the left of the forest that had a direct view to the objective; and after watching all the snowy scene he focused on the assault location, it was a small house of two stories, surrounded by a low fence and it only had one gate. He started to think on a plan. “You have 20 minutes to plan the assault,” Paulus ordered, “The primary objective is located at the second story on a room that has a window pointing to the mountain. Your mission is to enter silently and take down the primary objective; clear?” “Clear!” They answered while Paulus left them. “Gather together,” Rudolf said, “Anyone´s got a plan?” “No,” the rest answered, “Do you have something Kuefer?” “Kind of,” Rudolf added, “ I saw a few men guarding the gate, we can take them out easy, after that you will have to enter the building; I can´t give you cover there until you reach the room of the objective, on which I have full view from my post. Do you agree?” The 4 men agreed and so they decided their locations, Rudolf would be on the mountain watching them, while Hegel, Amsel and Manfred would be on the forest and then assaulting the house after Rudolf´s signal.
They all took positions, they assault team was hiding in the forest while Rudolf watched carefully each detail of the building , he observed the two men guarding the gate while smoking a cigarette, and he detailed the objective, Rudolf was waiting for him to open the window so he could shoot him if something went wrong, but there was no reason for him to do it because the room had heating, Rudolf had to shut it down someway and so he did by shooting the generator, when the objective opened the window he gave the signal. He told his team to move towards the gate and to eliminate the guards, Rudolf stayed in complete alert waiting for any suspicious activity; the men had eliminated the entrance guards and were now moving on to the house, everything was going according to the plan except for one thing; there were less occupants now than when he looked at the facility 10 minutes before, that was making Rudolf feel worried. “We entered the building,” Said Amsel, “We have found no resistance, do you see someone on the 2nd floor Kuefer?” “Negative, Amsel,” Rudolf answered, “I only see the objective but he appears to be alone, try to make some noise so I can see if he really is alone.” Rudolf stayed looking directly at the target for about 10 seconds, he saw in his face that he had heard the team; after a while he started to move his arms and suddenly 8 men came out from the closets and arranged on 2 firing rows in front of the door, if the team went there they would be exterminated, so he called them as fast as he could. “Assault unit, copy,” Amsel said.
“Stop immediately!” Rudolf ordered, “There are 8 defenders pointing their guns at the door and waiting for you, I´ll take down the target.” “But there are almost 900 m from the mountain to the objective,” Amsel warned, “Are you sure that you can do a shot like that?” “I am, trust me,” Rudolf said. He put his rifle in position and started to look towards his target, it was all that mattered, and suddenly everything appeared to be in slow motion. Rudolf was just focused on looking through the scope, meanwhile he felt the cold breeze passing slowly by his side and hitting him like a cold punch, his own heartbeats that struck the rock beneath him and which reflected how the nerves and the expectative of the moment were playing an important role over him, but he tried to make that aside to focus on the target. He located the target in his crosshairs, took a deep breath and slowly took his finger closer to the trigger, at that time one thought came to his head: It was the last time that he could do a practice shot, the next time it would be another human being that´s trying to kill him, trying to kill him… he got lost in that thought and pulled the trigger, he felt the strike of the rifle hitting him and it all happened so fast; he had shot the objective in the head, but he didn’t care about that, he was lying on the rock looking to the sky, breathing very fast and he got lost again in the thought. He saw Paulus aside him. “Relax, you did it well, now get on the truck we are going to the square,” Paulus said.
When they arrived to the square they saw all of the Augenstat recruits, they were passed to the front and soon after Paulus started to talk. “We are here to honor one of the best teams we´ve ever had, they have shown to be really good soldiers, today is the last day they will be here, but they will start to serve to the reich on a battle. They are to be taken as an example to all of you,” Paulus said. A big round of applause was heard and it made Rudolf think that maybe, after all it was good that he had taken that shot. Soon after the instructors brought Paulus some medals and he started to put them on to every one of the team, Rudolf was the last one in line and when Paulus reached him a smile came out on his face (Which was pretty rare on him). “You did a great shot today,” He said while putting the medal on Rudolf´s suit, “You are now a real member of the army, you are now one of us.” After Paulus had finished putting the medals they all saluted, they crowd became even louder but were interrupted by Paulus, Rudolf felt weird, what more could he say? “Now I’m going to tell on which battlefield will these brave soldiers fight,” Paulus said, “It is… Stalingrad.” As soon as he said it everyone stopped talking and Rudolf felt anxiety, he had heard tales from Stalingrad, a city full of deadly snipers and on which men fight like rats, the bloodiest battle of all time. And he would now be there
Paulus dismissed everyone and talked to the team, he told them that he was going there too, leading the arriving German forces. Rudolf heard a train in the background, his anxiety got way higher, and Paulus told them that the train was heading towards Stalingrad. He was not the only one feeling like that; he could see in his team mates the same expression and everyone that had to board that train had that expression, even Paulus. The train arrived and opened the gates, everyone boarded like if they were cows going into a slaughterhouse, because Stalingrad would be the grave of many of the soldiers on that train and it could even be Rudolf´s one. The doors closed and the train started to move. “Towards the city of the dead,� Rudolf said to himself