The Shadow of War by Jack Murray (read this if TXT) 📕

Twenty minutes later, both menlevered themselves off the beds and stepped gingerly onto the floor. On thetable beside them were their uniforms, now laundered after the night before.

‘Nice service here,’ remarkedManfred.

‘The food could be better,’pointed out Gerhardt.

‘True, and I didn’t think muchof the waitress,’ said Manfred indicating the returning orderly. Both menlaughed and then grimaced as they tried to put their uniforms on. This wasproving a difficult task with bodies that ached like buggery.

‘I know,’ said Manfred, ‘I’llhelp you.’

‘You’ve been a great helpalready,’ replied Gerhardt.

Manfred stifled a laugh as Haagarrived.

‘Hurry up you two. Thecommander wants to see you immediately.’

Haag stood and waited as thetwo boys tried to move their devastated bodies towards the exit.

‘Not so smart now, are you?’commented Haag, laughing mirthlessly.

Manfred glanced a warning atGerhardt. A blink of the eye was his acknowledgement. A few minutes later theymade their way slowly to the office of the section commander. Drexler satbehind his desk. Haag joined him to one side. The two men looked at the boys.Haag’s face had a half smile, but Drexler looked angry, as usual.

Like the everything else theyhad seen in the training camp, furnishings and décor were minimal. Drexler’soffice contained two photographs. One was a standard portrait of the Fuhrer. It wasvery large and behind his desk. It was almost as if Drexler didn’t want to haveto look at him. Another photograph was on the wall to the side. An armybattalion was lined up in three rows. It was the first thing Manfred saw whenhe entered. A small inscription underneath read, August 1914. Manfred glancedback at Drexler.

Drexler was about fifty yearsof age. He might have been older, probably not younger. It was hard to tell. Hishair was closely cropped. Lines marked his face like trenches. They rose verticallyon his cheeks, looped around his eyes and continued horizontally on hisforehead. There were no laugh lines. A life lived without joy etched on theface of a man without pity.

The two men stood in front of Drexlerwho eyed both of them. They were dying to sit down. It was clear Drexlerunderstood this and seemed intent on dishing out yet more torture.

‘Sore?’ he asked piteously.

‘Wiser, sir.’ replied Manfred.It was risk butManfred was too sore to care.

Drexler looked at himsuspiciously but said nothing. Finally, he stood up and walked up to each man.He looked at them, deep into their eyes. It was as if he wanted to reach into their souls. There was a ruthlessness inhis eyes or was it something else? Manfred was still too young to understandlies, truth and everything in between.

Now, standing before this man,he thought he saw something else now. It was no longer just anger. The eyes nolonger had that mad intensity, the hatred. If pushed, Manfred would have describedthe look on Drexler’s face as one of curiosity.

‘Your uniforms are very clean,’said Drexler. This much was obvious. They were spotless. Neither Manfred norGerhardt had given any thought to this. Instead, they glanced at one another inconfusion. ‘Yes, the magic laundry fairies cleaned them for you while you slept,’continued Drexler.

Gerhardt was the first torealise. He said, ‘Who should we thank, sir?’

‘Your friends were up untilmidnight cleaning and drying them. Perhaps you should thank them’ answeredDrexler. There was a faint shake of his head as if in disbelief.

The two men looked at oneanother guiltily. They owed Mattias and Lothar one.

‘Yes, sir,’ chorused both men.

Drexler walked behind them andthen back round to his desk. He sat down and picked up some sheets of paper.Without looking at them he said, ‘Dismissed.’

Manfred and Gerhardt hauledtheir carcasses out of the room. Haag followed them out of the office. Theywalked towards the barracks.

‘You were lucky there,’ saidHaag as they arrived at the barracks. ‘But I will be watching you. Trust me.You so much as take half a step out of line and I’ll have you back on thatparade ground faster than you can say “heil”.’

-

‘What happened?’ asked Lotharas he and the three others walked towards the main hall.

Manfred told them about what hadprompted the punishment. Neither Matthias nor Lothar would listen to any thanksfrom their grateful companions. When they arrived at the hall, Manfred’s heart sankwhen he realised there were no seats. They would have to stand. He was alreadyon the point of collapsing again. The beads of sweat on Gerhardt’s foreheadsuggested he, too, would not last much longer.

The colonel of the camp stoodbefore them on a small stage. Draped behind him were large red flags withswastikas. He looked out across the several hundred men that comprised theentire camp. The opening of the talk was a welcome to the new recruits, ifwelcome it was. There was little in the manner of the black uniformed man thatsuggested hospitality would be the order of the day. He opened with a shortobservation about the German army and its role in German society.

The speech lasted half an hour.The colonel spoke without notes but with great passion. Manfred would have beenbored by the end had he not been in such agony. His legs had locked into position. He feared movinga muscle, lest he be singled out again.

At the end of the speech, muchto his amazement, a reference was made to him and Gerhardt, although theirnames and the relative recency of their arrival were not mentioned. The colonelreminded all about the importance of discipline and how infractions would be punished.

Afterwards, as they left thehall, Manfred could feel the glances of other men on him as he limped besideLothar. Matthias, meanwhile, was surreptitiously helping Gerhardt. The rest ofthe morning was given over to lectures on how the next sixteen weeks wouldprogress. Each of the discipline heads explained the scope of the training andthe expectations.

Much to Manfred’s surprise, thelecture by Drexler was oddly moving. It was less about a specific disciplineand more a philosophical reflection on the nature and brutality of war. He leftno one under any illusion about what they were being trained to do. They wouldbecome killers.

With each lecture, it was clearthat Matthias was becoming increasingly glum. After one break, Matthias spoketo Manfred about his worries.

‘This is a mistake.