ArmyDude
02-27-2009, 10:23 PM
War Ain't Pretty
By: Wargod95
I turned to my right to find Hans putting on his silverish-gray helmet on his black, sleek hair. He was loading his Kar98K since we recieved a fresh clip of ammunition yesterday. Everyone else was doing the same. I was the only one ready. We were in our small camp in the ruins of Stalingrad. Crates were everywhere, being unloaded so the equipment inside could be taken out. I knew my brown, messy hair was sticking out of my helmet, but it seemed Hans's helmet was a perfect fit for his head. He stood up and looked like one of those men on our war posters telling us to join up for the army.
"Hey Hans, do you think we might see some action today?" I said. He turned around and looked at me with his deep, blue eyes and young face.
"Well if we do, I'm going to take down at least 3 Hiwis down with me" Hans answered back in an assuring voice, whiling grinning.
Hiwi was a nickname we gave to them barbaric, merciless Russians. But now they were in full retreat now since our army had crushed them in the early days of Operation Barbarbossa. But the Russians were causing us troubles at Stalingrad since the 17th of July. My company was sent in to help the German Sixth Army wipe up the scum still giving us resitance.
"Alright troops, everyone ready?" Sergeant Karl asked.
"Yes sir!" Everyone replied.
"Alright then, onwards!" Sgt. Karl ordered. He lead us deeper into the ruins of Stalingrad.
Sergeant Karl already had battle experiance in the earlier days of the war. He was one of the troops that took part in the invasion of Poland.
We headed deeper into the rotten city. It seemed like every building was not spared from the bombing of our air force. Every building looked deserted. But most of us knew that the Russians were starting to use snipers against us in a weak effort to fight back.
We were walking up a ruined road with slabs of buildings sticking up from the sides of the road. All of a sudden, we heard tank tracks coming from around the corner. We hid behind the brick slabs, while observing the tank and at least 8 Russians guarding it. Sergeant Karl ordered the 6 of us to stay hidden until the order was given. The Russians were inching closer, unaware of what laid ahead. When they were about 20 ft. away, we opened up.
"Feuer!" yelled Sergeant Karl.
I turned around the corner and quickly fired off 3 rounds from my Kar98K. I remember seeing the bullet hit a Russian right in the eye. Tissue, and pieces of the eye flew into the air, along with some blood. The tank was firing at us, but couldn't aim correctly. Hans knew a grenade and took out 2 more Russians. He looked at me in satisfaction, holding a fist and shaking it as if he was saying "yea!"
The tank and the Russians were retreating. We still fired and got one more Russian. The rest ran off cowardly into the distance. The tank was already behind a building, retreating. We waited a few seconds until Hans and the other members got up to move out.
CRACK! THUMP!
I looked to my right and saw Hans on the ground on his back. He had a bullet wound in his left chest. He was putting his hand on it, only to find that he was bleeding. He yelled and moaned.
"AGH! Help! Somebody help!" he pleaded.
I was just about to get out of my cover until my teammate, a soldier named Private Kans, tugged me back.
"Are you crazy?!" he asked.
"Hans is in trouble! We can't just leave him there to die!" I loudly whispered back.
"He'll die in vain if we don't take that sniper out!" he said.
Hans continued to moan and ach. He tried to crawl back to cover, but that only made it worst.
"Hans, stay still!" one of our troops said.
Sergeant Karl was already working on finding and taking out the sniper.
"Hedrick! Help me!" he pleaded.
Part of me was telling me to go, but the other half said stay.
"Hedrick! AGH-!" he said.
I knew he was going to die any second without help. Without thinking, I quickly hoped out of cover but I tripped right away. The sniper fired but missed by only a few inches. I saw the dirt fly, and Sergeant Karl quickly took out the sniper. My face was on the floor for a few seconds, with my heart still beating repeatedly. The silence was the only thing that got me up.
I got up to check on Hans. He was staring straight up at the blue sky. His eyes wide open, as if he knew he was going. In his right hand was a picture of his wife. The picture was covered in blood; his blood. I put the picture in my coat, and kneeled next to his dead body. I did the proper thing, and closed his eyes for him.
"Hedrick..." Sergeant Karl said.
"I know... it was either him, or the whole squad." I said faintly.
I slowly stood up. I still remember the look on his face. Pale white, like a ghost. His wound was worst than we thought. There was already a huge pool of blood around him. One of our troops put a blanket over him, and we continued.
We walked past the dead Russians. I inspected him while still keeping up with the squad. The Russian I shot had his mouth wide open. Wordless and breathless apon death. His eye was gone. The bullet went all the way through, with part of his brain showing inside the hole, sticky and gooey. I turned away to inspect the other bodies. The grenade Hans threw killed 2 Russians that died crawling towards safety. Their face flat on the ground, with their arm outward trying to grab a hold on anything that would keep them alive.
From that point on, I told my children, and their grandchildren one thing that they should always remember. War is a serious place to be. It make look patriotic, and may seem like the right thing to do for your country, but the right thing is usually the thing that is harder to get. Indeed, it was harder to get. Lives were used in order to reach our generals' goals. Hans was one of them. Many would say,"He died for his country. He should be proud!" But I say,"What is the point of dying for your country, when the enemy is still living?"
No one dared answer that.
Now whenever I sleep at night, I can't get the picture of Hans's face in my head. War had been only a game to us. All we knew was that we were a group of men, fighting because of orders from some old general. No one told us what war was going to be like...
By: Wargod95
I turned to my right to find Hans putting on his silverish-gray helmet on his black, sleek hair. He was loading his Kar98K since we recieved a fresh clip of ammunition yesterday. Everyone else was doing the same. I was the only one ready. We were in our small camp in the ruins of Stalingrad. Crates were everywhere, being unloaded so the equipment inside could be taken out. I knew my brown, messy hair was sticking out of my helmet, but it seemed Hans's helmet was a perfect fit for his head. He stood up and looked like one of those men on our war posters telling us to join up for the army.
"Hey Hans, do you think we might see some action today?" I said. He turned around and looked at me with his deep, blue eyes and young face.
"Well if we do, I'm going to take down at least 3 Hiwis down with me" Hans answered back in an assuring voice, whiling grinning.
Hiwi was a nickname we gave to them barbaric, merciless Russians. But now they were in full retreat now since our army had crushed them in the early days of Operation Barbarbossa. But the Russians were causing us troubles at Stalingrad since the 17th of July. My company was sent in to help the German Sixth Army wipe up the scum still giving us resitance.
"Alright troops, everyone ready?" Sergeant Karl asked.
"Yes sir!" Everyone replied.
"Alright then, onwards!" Sgt. Karl ordered. He lead us deeper into the ruins of Stalingrad.
Sergeant Karl already had battle experiance in the earlier days of the war. He was one of the troops that took part in the invasion of Poland.
We headed deeper into the rotten city. It seemed like every building was not spared from the bombing of our air force. Every building looked deserted. But most of us knew that the Russians were starting to use snipers against us in a weak effort to fight back.
We were walking up a ruined road with slabs of buildings sticking up from the sides of the road. All of a sudden, we heard tank tracks coming from around the corner. We hid behind the brick slabs, while observing the tank and at least 8 Russians guarding it. Sergeant Karl ordered the 6 of us to stay hidden until the order was given. The Russians were inching closer, unaware of what laid ahead. When they were about 20 ft. away, we opened up.
"Feuer!" yelled Sergeant Karl.
I turned around the corner and quickly fired off 3 rounds from my Kar98K. I remember seeing the bullet hit a Russian right in the eye. Tissue, and pieces of the eye flew into the air, along with some blood. The tank was firing at us, but couldn't aim correctly. Hans knew a grenade and took out 2 more Russians. He looked at me in satisfaction, holding a fist and shaking it as if he was saying "yea!"
The tank and the Russians were retreating. We still fired and got one more Russian. The rest ran off cowardly into the distance. The tank was already behind a building, retreating. We waited a few seconds until Hans and the other members got up to move out.
CRACK! THUMP!
I looked to my right and saw Hans on the ground on his back. He had a bullet wound in his left chest. He was putting his hand on it, only to find that he was bleeding. He yelled and moaned.
"AGH! Help! Somebody help!" he pleaded.
I was just about to get out of my cover until my teammate, a soldier named Private Kans, tugged me back.
"Are you crazy?!" he asked.
"Hans is in trouble! We can't just leave him there to die!" I loudly whispered back.
"He'll die in vain if we don't take that sniper out!" he said.
Hans continued to moan and ach. He tried to crawl back to cover, but that only made it worst.
"Hans, stay still!" one of our troops said.
Sergeant Karl was already working on finding and taking out the sniper.
"Hedrick! Help me!" he pleaded.
Part of me was telling me to go, but the other half said stay.
"Hedrick! AGH-!" he said.
I knew he was going to die any second without help. Without thinking, I quickly hoped out of cover but I tripped right away. The sniper fired but missed by only a few inches. I saw the dirt fly, and Sergeant Karl quickly took out the sniper. My face was on the floor for a few seconds, with my heart still beating repeatedly. The silence was the only thing that got me up.
I got up to check on Hans. He was staring straight up at the blue sky. His eyes wide open, as if he knew he was going. In his right hand was a picture of his wife. The picture was covered in blood; his blood. I put the picture in my coat, and kneeled next to his dead body. I did the proper thing, and closed his eyes for him.
"Hedrick..." Sergeant Karl said.
"I know... it was either him, or the whole squad." I said faintly.
I slowly stood up. I still remember the look on his face. Pale white, like a ghost. His wound was worst than we thought. There was already a huge pool of blood around him. One of our troops put a blanket over him, and we continued.
We walked past the dead Russians. I inspected him while still keeping up with the squad. The Russian I shot had his mouth wide open. Wordless and breathless apon death. His eye was gone. The bullet went all the way through, with part of his brain showing inside the hole, sticky and gooey. I turned away to inspect the other bodies. The grenade Hans threw killed 2 Russians that died crawling towards safety. Their face flat on the ground, with their arm outward trying to grab a hold on anything that would keep them alive.
From that point on, I told my children, and their grandchildren one thing that they should always remember. War is a serious place to be. It make look patriotic, and may seem like the right thing to do for your country, but the right thing is usually the thing that is harder to get. Indeed, it was harder to get. Lives were used in order to reach our generals' goals. Hans was one of them. Many would say,"He died for his country. He should be proud!" But I say,"What is the point of dying for your country, when the enemy is still living?"
No one dared answer that.
Now whenever I sleep at night, I can't get the picture of Hans's face in my head. War had been only a game to us. All we knew was that we were a group of men, fighting because of orders from some old general. No one told us what war was going to be like...