On All Fronts | Teen Ink

On All Fronts

May 13, 2021
By JustinPiland1 BRONZE, Wentzville, Missouri
JustinPiland1 BRONZE, Wentzville, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Wow it is cold.The fierce winds pierced my skin as we marched towards Berlin. All of us were freezing, and it was only the beginning of winter. How does the soviet army do this? We had just taken over another small town and were inching closer and closer towards Berlin everyday. The dull orange sun was setting in the west as we seeked shelter in the destroyed town. I'm sick of the Soviets, everytime we come upon a new town it's always empty, destroyed and burning. This  SS army has never encountered such hunger and coldness before. Since the towns were always destroyed and empty, there was never any food for us to eat. 

“Alright! We will seek shelter here for the night and we will move out tomorrow morning at sunrise.” said the general aggressively “ It was very nice of the Soviets to leave us a little fire to keep us warm”, said the general, pointing to the burning fields and grass surrounding the town. 

I decided to go into the nearest building in town. It was made of cobblestone and looked worn down. The inside wasn't any warmer unfortunately, which meant another cold and hungry night for me. I took off my backpack in the living room of this once house and pulled out my blanket and pillow. A few other SS soldiers walked in and made themselves at home. I usually had a hard time sleeping at night. I'm scared the Soviets are gonna attack in the middle of the night, I'm worried about the future, I'm starving and cold, the problems are endless. I just remember what we're fighting for  and think about all the success we have had so far to calm me down. I mean we are right on the edge of Berlin, and once we take it, it's pretty much over. I closed my eyes and tried to convince myself I was warm.

I was woken up to the sound of a loud general yelling at everyone to wake up.

“ Jesus Christ, does this guy ever let up?” Said Ben angrily. 

I gathered my things and walked outside, where I was greeted with the bitter cold and an angry general. 

“Today is the day we take Berlin”, exclaimed the general happily. 

We geared up and started to head out again. I was ready for this to be over, the anguish the other soldiers and I have been through is undescribable. As we marched and inched closer to the city, the sharp sound of gunshots got louder and louder. I just hoped that once we arrived, we weren't met with too much gunfire. I mean there surrounded, so why not just wave the white flag. I guess it's a pride thing, or maybe they know something we don't. We outnumber them in terms of troops as a total, we have SS armies coming in from all angles, from the north, south, and us coming from the middle. They do have an advantage in the fact that we are all hungry, cold and tired, but I have confidence that we can take them over. 

“Stop! “Screamed the general. “We are about 1,500 feet away from Berlin now soldiers. Hunker down and be prepared for battle. Shots could come our way any second so be prepared.”

 We all started moving forward slowly while hunched over. Zip. A single shot whizzed past us. 

“Everyone get down!” yelled the general. 

There wasn't anywhere to take cover, it was just a snowy empty field surrounding Berlin. I layed down immediately in the snow and looked around for any enemies. More bullets flew by, still not hitting anyone, but it was automatic fire coming from the gun this time. I started to get more and more worried as the seconds passed and as more and more shots were fired, but I still couldn't see anyone. Then all of a sudden tanks with the sickle hammer  symbol came over the hill and were moving our way, along with lots of USSR troops in heavy green uniforms with ushankas on their heads. We returned gunfire towards the USSR army with our luftwaffes and Berettas. We were losing troops fast as the soviet army pushed closer. 

“Fall back!” Screamed the general. 

I continued to lay down gunfire as we retreaded back west. I don't think we were expecting a rebuttal against our army of this nature. We were losing men fast, how is this happening? I pulled out my binoculars and took a look up north to see if the same thing was happening to the other platoon of soldiers. I could barely make anything out from where I stood but it looked like they were being pushed back too. This can't be happening. I  didn't want to even look at the southside platoon, in fear of the same thing happening to them too. 

“ We need to make it back to the town where we were just at, and hold down the fort there, keep moving your lazy bodies back and hurry” said the general worridley.

We were close to the town where we had previously spent the night, soldiers were moving faster than I had ever seen them move before and the soviets were still moving in rapidly. 

Once we got into the old torn down town I immediately collapsed. I'm so hungry and cold I thought to myself. 

“What are you boys doing?” shouted the general loudley “ We have no time to sit around, take a post in one of the buildings and fight like your lives depend on it”

I went back into the building I had previously slept in last night. I walked up the decrepit stairs to the second story of the building.  About 5 other soldiers also took post with me in this building. When I reached the second floor I went to the nearest room andI looked out the window to see if the soveit army was close. I saw over the horizon what looked like a thousand troops and tanks moving our way. I was scared, and I could tell that the other soldiers were too. We were significantly outnumbered now  and I guarantee there soldiers were well fed with energy in their bodies ready to tackle the cold. As they got closer and closer the reality of it all was starting to settle in our minds. The only hope we had now, was that planes came through and dropped bombs on the entire soveit army. The room I was in was dead silent, no one would even look at each other. We all knew what was about to happen and the only thing we could do was fight till we dropped dead. When I looked out the window of the old wooden room again  I saw that they were just outside of the town. Their tanks started firing towards the buildings, the loud shot sound from the tank matched with the sound of the explosion on impact of a building was enough to make your ears ring for days. Not much later gunshots started going off. I peaked up into the window again and started firing my gun. I quickly realized that I along with my fellow soldiers were not even making  a dent in their army. Then I heard another loud shot from a tank go off, and It hit our building with the loudest explosion I had ever heard. I could hear the soviet army right outside the house we were in. One of them kicked down the door and they came into the house. All 6 of us were in this room, guns pointed at the door ready for them to enter. We heard them talking to each other downstairs  but we couldn't understand it. Then the sound of footsteps going up the wooden stairs were echoed throughout the house. My heart was racing and my hands were sweaty and I was  losing the grip on my gun. I had my face pressed against the side of my cold silver gun aiming down the sights at the door ready to fire. They kicked down the door to the only other room on the second floor and barraged in. Ours was next. At that moment all the emotions I had ever felt poured over my body and I thought of just jumping out the window and running away as fast as I could. The creaking off the wood floor was now heard right outside our door, and they were getting ready to knock it down. BANG! The sound of the pewny little wooden door breaking and falling open. Lord protect me.


The author's comments:

This is based off of when the Nazis attacked the Soviet union, and the Soviet union used scortched earht tactics to defeat them.


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