Short Story
Contributed by
01_zanzebar
on
Monday, 26th April 2004 @ 04:32:20 AM in AEST
Topic:
war
|
Clutching his gun firmly in both hands, the Corporal was in no mood for the battle, German trench defences were too well built, and he had seen before, how gloriously the BEF had won previous battles over no-mans land, he didn't rate his chances all that greater. Amidst the smoke and deathening sound, he heard a crying, this wasn't like shell shock, it was pain. Looking around for a sign of where it was, it was morning, and it was just below freezing, if he was there any longer, he'd die of exposure, and by his screams, he was very much alive. The dust from all the coaxite gunpowder discharge hanging thickly in the air, was thicker than fog, and was harsh to breathe, blocked all vision apart from behind him, where he could see about 5 meters. Looking around, there was no one there, he was stationed in the forward pulpit observation turret, he got up onto the step and cautiously, he peered over the sandbags.
There was just barbed wire and twisted metal as far as the eyes did see, which wasn’t that much, "Hey" coughing and spluttering blood from the mouth "(cough), here!" The corporal worked in the police force previous, and he had known a woman’s cries for help, this wasn’t that dissimilar.
He crouched back down, to avoid been sniped and moved down his little trench, past the ammo box and bottles of wine, which weren’t meant to be drank. He got to the end of the line, where, there was a gap he made previously with his bayonet, he peered though that, sure enough, there was a member of the BEF there, on the floor, crying and shaking, he whispered "Hey, you, are you alright" the soldier sharply looked up, his suspicions where confirmed, it was indeed a woman, and very young too. Quickly, he grabbed his rifle from his shoulder, he heard words been spoken, they sounded German. He got down, and hid, breathing short gasps of air, finger on the trigger, and being as still as possible, they seemed to get close, but faded away. "There looking for me" she muttered.
He got back up, back to the wall of the muddy trench, "Why?, what did you do?" he whispered. It was getting colder, and this meant that the dust will start to settle, he took his chances, held his rifle in one hand, and leapt over the trench, grabbing her by the straps of her utility belt and dragged her back into the trench.
He pulled her in, and they both slid into the muddy bottom, he got back up, and turned her around "where are you hurt?" he asked quickly. In pain she said "my left side, it hurts so much" he inspected her left side, it was indeed soaked with blood, he took off the belt and detached his bayonet from his lee Enfield rifle, and promptly tore through her jacket, he inspected the wound "hah, your quite a lucky girl, its a scratch, the bullet just scraped your skin" he looked at her sternly "now what the ***** is a lass doing in the trenches?!" assured by the diagnosis, she looked back and said "I only, I only wanted to help my brother". "and why miss, surly he could look after himself, a ladies place is at home, cooking the dinner for her soldiering husbands safe return from combat" she looked away, to say that, I couldn't care for that ideal in less words. "and how old are you, my daughter is 17, and she is much more mature than you" at this, she tried to get up, but fell back down, she was completely exhausted. "Im 15 and a half" "WHAT!" said the corporal "Fifteen! why and, how did you get here?" she started to cry, "shhh, there there, your safe now"
Knowing that he was in imminent danger as the artillery started to slow down the rate of fire, he dashed over to the field radio, clambering over all the wooden boxes and metal poles. He picked up the speaker and wound it on to charge it, "Hello, Hello, Corporal Black of the 107th reconnaissance, I have a wounded gir... boy here, he's only 17" She looked over to corporal black when he lied in her defence "I need 2 stretcher bearers now! im in pulpit no. 73 on the western wing in King sector, when will they arrive over" he waited for a few seconds and gave it some more charge "You will not receive stretcher bearers until after the attack, we are receiving reports of vast movements in your area, if you want to retreat, you do so at your own risk of friendly fire, all BEF have been told to fire at will at on coming persons, that is all" the phone went dead, but he knew that they had deserted him, he thought quickly on the spot, 'do I go and try to get her back safely, or stay and hide, and hope we dont get found' he knew the risks of been shot by friendly fire, he lost his oldest friend to it in front of him about a year ago, and it would happen easily, but he had an equal chance of dying from artillery or Germans when they come over and hide in the dug-out. He got up, grabbed the girl, and hauled her to a crater a dozen or so meters away, they both slumped in, he needed something white, he might be able to make a white flag, he also had a English fireman’s step whistle, and might be able to show that it was an English man coming over, especially if he shouted. but he had no white on him, looking at the girl "do you wear a bra". "i beg your p..(splutter) pardon?" I need to make a white flag, well do you? "yes" she said hesitantly, corporal black tore her jacket open and ripped her bra out, bare chested, he covered her over with a blanket he had in his haversack. he picked put an iron pole used to suspend barbed wire from the mud, and tied the bra to that, the quickly got up, grabbed the girl, and threw her over his shoulder , holding her legs in one hand, the flag in the other, he paced as fast as he could in the mud, observant to avoid mine or unexploded shells.
Almost too late, the cannons opened up again, at full power this time, attack was imminent, he started to run, the freezing cold air around him cramping all his arms "hold the flag" he said gasping for air, it was a good 30 meters from his pulpit to the trench, she held her flag up high. he knew he was close, so with his last few breathes he could muster, "HEY, Wounded coming through, don’t shoot, Im British, I have a wounded soldier, HELP" he ran into a crater, this one however wasn’t as empty as the last, the Germans had started using gas attacks, and the gas settles at the bottom, a tap for any who go in without a gas-mask, as he didn’t wear, neither the girl.
he slipped on a pole or some wire, and fell down, the crater was in effect 2-stage, and had a smaller crater inside it, this was filled to the brim of green death. As he fell, he let go of the girl, and she slip helplessly into the gas, her blanket coming off, semi-naked, slid into the puddle, and was consumed, desperately, he got the deepest breath he could, and reached in, but the stuff scolded his eyes and fell back, gasping for air. The disturbance, shifted the gas from one side to the other of the crater, revealing the girl, dying quickly, he went over and grabbed her, by no means chance, it also rained profusely the day previous and she must of survived by been submerged in the cloudy rain water.
He grabbed her out, soaked, cold, shaking and gasses, not to mention been shot, she was close to death, he looked over around him, explosion coming down around him, he realised he was in the German half. He had wonded into the German zone by chance, and now, Germans streamed past him, pitter-patters of machine gun bullets strayed past the deep crater. he kept down, next beside the still half-naked girl, covered in blood, gore and mud. he knew there was no going back, not in an attack, he had to stay there.
The day went on, and the girl, almost blue now there is no garment, and black didn’t want to give her his, because he needed to be in the best shape as possible to get her back. she looked up at him and asked "am I going to die sir?" his eyes flooded with tears, why should such a young girl, have to be here, and suffer so much "don't worry, were almost home, its just around the corner, is the field surgeon, he'll have you right as rain". It was terrible lie and he knew it, she was almost gone. he took of his overcoat and put it around bear naked body and sheltered her in some degree of warmth. the shelling slowed down, but this was the most dangerous time, its either, the Germans are retreating, or the British are going to start gassing. He looked at the little girl fighting for survival in his arm, he noticed her eyes, completely reddened an he knew, she'll go bland soon if something is not done about it.
He got up, once again got her over is shoulder and ran into the German territory, he noticed a pulpit, he went around it, he was a learned man, and spoke some German, "Hallo, Ich Bin Englander, helfen Sie mir bitte!" a German promptuosly got up with his gin in his hands, he was a newby, he didn’t even latch the breach, thus it wouldn’t fire, to show even less skill, he had a cigarette in his mouth. "helfen Sie mir bitte" black said "Ich habe ein junges Mädchen, sie benötige einen Doktor JETZT!"
The German put down his gun, as the sight of a big brawdy Yorkshire man in a vest and carrying an injured young girl in his arms was obviously a sight that is different, grabbed blacks arm and walked him to the nearest trench, then, as things couldn't get worse, British cannons opened up again, this time, black and the German both knew the sound "gas attack" "Gasangriff!" they both shouted, they ran as fast as they could, the fog around them even thicker than that of the English side, a bullet cut across and hit the German soldier in the lag, he fell down, "gehen der Unterhalt weiter, der vorwärts geht" (go on forward) he said, looking back, the german was in desperation, luckily, he was a small and weedy person, black went over, took off his back-pack dropped his gun, and put him on his back, "Hold on!" he shouted back and raced as fast as he could to the German lines, the fog parted to show the lines of Germans in masks all clutching their guns, ant the very sight of this, three of them jumped put of the trench and carried them all back in. Exhausted, black fell down in the German trench and rested, the Germans however weren’t interested that a BEF brought over an injured German from no-mans land, but a girl aswell! one of them how spoke English was dragged over by the oberfeildgeweble, and pointed at the corporal "er, why are you here, you are went wrong trench, you got lost no?" with a smile on his face, black was in no mood for German humour "Im nackered I can't be arsed to talk to you, bugger off" black said between gasps. "your girlfriend is very cute, she is so young as well, you like this " the german translator said "dont try to ***** me off" black came back with now is breath had returned, the girl was now breathing well, and opening her eyes.
When she saw where she was, she cowered back and scrambled to a corner of the german trench "i thought were going to the english trench, not a bosh one" she said. one of the soldiers got his gun and pointed it in the face of the girl, the injured german got up, and grabbed the gun of the man, and started a big argument at why he was intimidating her, they went on until they both stopped and looked at her. one of them grabbed he by the hair "hello little girl" he said "do like me you?" his english wasn't as good as that of the translator. the oberfeildgeweble came back with a surgeon, the surgeon quizzed her quietly, he stood up in a heavy German accent "she is very bad, but she will live, her eyes are blood shot from gas exposure, but no real damage" he looked at the German "he'll be ok, but you sir are in trouble, we think your a spy" black looked angrily at the surgeon "Im a bloody policeman, Aim not a spy of any sort!" a gunshot, one of the Germans who was a lieutenant pulled a pistol and shot the injured German "traitor, he should of killed you when he had the chance" at this, a massive fight with the Germans broke out, not caring that gas shells where landing all around them by now, another German came over and offered 2 gasmasks for black and the girl, black put his on, and fitted the other to the girl "wo ist das Krankenhaus?" black asked him "er, ich nicht english spechen, t'schuldigung" replied the german, translator said back "we'll take her from here" grabbed a gun and pointed it into the direction of black, then a buttress came down on blacks neck and knocked him out cold.
He woke up on a train carriage, full of wounded English POW's. "why are you here" one of them asked, black at there, motionless, he'd never see that girl again, nor know of what happened to her, an for him, the war was over, he couldn't decide whether this was a good occasion or not.
1919
The Telegraph.
"A girl, aged only 15, who managed to fool the conscription had managed to survive German brutality during the war, the girl, who would now be almost 18, her name is Anne Matthew’s has been awarded a medal for bravery and dedication beyond the call of duty after being sexually assaulted by an evil German officer had killed him and shot herself to the head with the same pistol. As of yet, there have been no whiteness to this atrocity of war, but how such a young girl, had to face so much, is stuff of story."
Copyright ©
01_zanzebar
... [
2004-04-26 04:32:20]
(Date/Time posted on
site)
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