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

support it was, in fact, suicidal. Thetwo tanks were, as you know, supporting the attack on the western perimeter. Ifelt that a better option for us was to seek a way around their flank and catchthem by surprise with a rear attack. I ordered my men to march two kilometreseast and make our way through the neighbouring field…’

‘Through shit, I believe,’pointed out Drexler. Manfred looked at Drexler. Was there the ghost of a smile?

‘Through manure. We almostmanaged to reach the defenders base but were intercepted,’ finished Manfred.

Both senior officers turned toGerhardt.

Gerhardt cleared his throatnervously. Then he glanced at Manfred and said, ‘I have known Brehme for manyyears. We played football against one another in Heidelberg.’

‘Is this relevant?’ askedDrexler irritably.

‘Yes, sir. Brehme was captainof a team we played often. I observed back then that he was a leader on thefield and a smart tactician. He was able to change things around when they werenot working. Which was usually the case. We were a much better team.’

‘Get on with it,’ orderedDrexler irritably.

‘I suspected that Brehme wouldquickly see the folly of a frontal attack. This seems like a relic from thelast war. We’re not stupid Tommies,’ added Gerhardt.

‘For the last time,’ orderedDrexler in exasperation.

‘I knew Brehme would throw awaythe rule book. I took some men to survey our rear, believing it to be apotential weakness in our defence. By that I mean our rear was unguarded due tothe assumption, a false one, that no one would be stupid enough to crawlthrough a neighbouring field, a couple of kilometres away from the battlefield,scale an escarpment and attack the rear position. I ordered my men to take aposition in the trees that would give any attacker cover. However, the treesalso gave us cover and a good view of any potential action from this angle.’

‘You’ve explained your actions;how can you possibly justify disobeying orders?’ asked Drexler.

‘I believe it was von Moltke,sir,’ said Manfred,  ‘who observed that no plan survives contact with theenemy. We had to adapt to the situation on the battlefield. To do anything elsewould have been suicide. My duty was to achieve the objective, not obey ordersthat were ill-conceived and impossible to execute.’

Manfred looked the two seniorofficers. He spoke with passion and almost a trace of anger. He knew what he’ddone was right and if the military were too stupid to see this then Germany wasin trouble.

‘Yet, you still failed.’

‘Yes sir,’ agreed Manfred, butto his surprise, no lessthan to that of the two men addressing him, he continued, ‘I failed because theperson who stopped me also adapted his strategy to the battlefield situationrather than follow orders that were no longer relevant.’

Gerhardt glanced at Manfred.His first thought was that Manfred had gone too far but then he realised thatperhaps their best strategy was now attack. He picked up the theme anddeveloped it further.

‘Brehme is correct, sir. In abattlefield situation, the army which has the flexibility to adapt to thesituation will win. Far from having dull-witted order-takers marching likesheep to the slaughter…’

‘Kroos,’ shouted Drexler. ‘Thatis enough. Remember, you are addressing superior officers. Moderate your toneand language immediately.’

‘Sorry, sir.’ Gerhardt realisedhis mistake immediately. Before him were two men who had fought in the lastwar, who had followed such orders, probably without questioning them. Worse,they had probably given such orders themselves. He felt his face burning inshame.

‘Enough,’ said the colonel.‘I’ve heard quite enough of this. Both of you get out of the office. Thesection commander and I will discuss your fate,’

Manfred and Gerhardt saluted,spun around and left the office. They made sure that they were around thecorner before they began to speak.

‘Did we go too far?’ asked Gerhardt.

‘Not far enough, my friend,’replied Manfred. As they walked across the parade ground towards the dininghall, Gerhardt stopped. He looked at the building they were walking towards.Manfred stopped too and looked at him.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing,’ said Gerhardt,looking around. They both stood and looked at the large buildings of thetraining centre and the parade ground. Then he added, ‘I’ll miss this.’

‘Me, too,’ replied Manfred witha smile. “We did the right thing, though. Whatever they may say.’

‘Yes. We did.’

-

‘What do you think, Rolf?’asked the colonel. ‘Boys like that are dangerous. We both know this.’

‘True, Klaus, but,’ saidDrexler looking around the office, ‘before all of this, before you became apolitician, I can remember a captain who didn’t always do as he was told. Iremember one time at Cambrai....’

‘My goodness,’ replied the Colonel,‘Those tanks. We’d never seen the like before.’

‘No, nor had our officers.There were no orders to defend against them. What orders could there be? We onlyhad our wits, our initiative. We wouldn’t be here if we’d obeyed those orders,Klaus, and you know it.’

The colonel looked up atDrexler and smiled. He lit a cigarette and inhaled slowly. ‘I know, Rolf. Butit’s the same story isn’t it? If we punish them, then morale will plummet, ifwe promote them and they turn out to be wilful, disobedient and dangerouslystupid it will come back to haunt us. If we do nothing, then everyone will takeit as carte blanche to disobey orders. And don’t forget they’ve already been introuble.’

‘True. But my God, Klaus, theywere nearly two hours running around that parade ground.’

‘Extraordinary, I agree.’ The colonellaughed bitterly and shook his head, ‘Whatever we do my old friend, it’swrong.’

‘Forget what you think youshould do. What do you want to do, sir?’

 6

Reinsehlen Camp, Lower Saxony, Germany:April 1941

Silence.

It was almost palpable,certainly pure and enough to put all the young recruits on edge. A barked orderfelt like a rock hurled into a calm pool. Several hundred recruits moved asone. The sound of their steps echoed like a clap of thunder in an Alpine valley. For thenext few minutes the recruits went through their drill. When it had finished,they stood to attention. All eyes stared straight ahead yet everyone was burningto look at the man inspecting them.

Sixteen weeks had passed sincetheir arrival. This was their passing out parade. Pride glowed through the eyesof the men in the square like a flame in the night sky. The colonel, followedby Drexler walked along the ranks,