A Promise To Fulfill

A Promise Fulfilled

As soon as I saw the soldiers running towards me, I tried pulling out my Luger from my side. But before I could, a familiar person ran up towards me and held the wound on my waist. "Don't shoot! We're friendlies!" He shouted to me. He was not a German soldier, but a French one. It was him, The French tank commander. "Mein Gott,... I thought I told you to get out of here..." I told him with a faint voice. "And leave you here to die? Non!" He shouted back at me.

"Louis! Are you sure we could trust her?  She is a kraut for fuck sake!" An American soldier shouted at him. "Louis..." I thought to myself. I never would have thought to ask his name all those years before. "Oui! She can be trusted, sir!" He replied to the American. "And what about her crew?" The American asked. "Spare them too. They would be of good help to ending the damn war," He replied. 

Soon, I was put on a stretcher and was being brought onto an American truck. On-board was my crew with Louis. I was surprised to see them almost unscratched. "You guys... came back for me..." I told my crew (In German). "You think we would be crazy enough to leave you behind?" Magnus jokingly said. "Probably," I replied jokingly. "Yeah, well... look who's the one with a bullet in the waist," Nicolaus replied. We were all laughing in the truck as it started driving away. I looked at Louis with a grateful face. "Louis was your name, right?" I asked him. "Oui. It is," He replied happily. "Thank you, Louis... for sparing our lives. I owe you," I told him sincerely. "Well, you don't owe me anything. I guess we're even now," He replied as he extended his hand to shake mine. I happily shook his hand as I fell asleep along the way.

Later that same day...
Aachen, Germany

Soon, we arrived at a station somewhere in Aachen. The allies used this place as a base to refuel or to rearm as they continued pushing towards the base of Germany. I was in a POW Medical Tent while my crew sat beside me. The medics have finished treating my wounds and I was just resting. We had almost enough food and water to survive. "How are you feeling?" Gabriel asked me. "How do you think I'm feeling?" I replied to him. "You're just fine. Quit complaining," Nicolaus told me. "Was I fucking complaining to you?" I asked him angrily. "Well, now you are," He jokingly said. "Shut up," I reply feistily. 

Just as we were joking around, a few Allied soldiers walked up to our tent, talking about something. I could only understand a few words from them, "But she's part of the SS," one soldier said, "Should we even spare them?" another said. I just kept these thoughts to myself as they walked up to me. "Are you.. the one... who spared... some of... my men..?" He tried asking me in German miserably. I couldn't understand him well so I asked him "I'm sorry. Can you please repeat that?" in English. They were surprised to see me speak English fluently. "Uhm, yes. You are Captain Emily from the 1st SS Heavy Tank Batallion, correct?" He asked me. I looked at him with a bit of guilt, but I firmly replied, "No. It's the 502nd of the Wehrmacht, actually." They looked at me, then at the papers, they were holding. 

"You were with an SS Panzer Division from where we saw you. Care to explain?" He asked me with a deep tone. "We were a combined group. Most of the group were from SS Divisions. Only a few were from the Wehrmacht," I replied to him confidently. They look at the papers again, then back at me. "And you were the one who spared so many soldiers in your career?" He asked me. "I spared as many soldiers as I could," I replied to him. "Well, says here on your record that you have a total of 87 confirmed tanks destroyed but only 145 confirmed tankers killed. That's only 1/3 of the tanks you destroyed." He said in astonishment. My crew was just looking at us confused, not knowing what we're discussing. I told them that they were dismissed and they left the tent. The soldiers interrogating me sat down and continued asking me questions.

After all the questions, they then wondered what they should do with me and my crew. I could hear them saying that they should execute for my war crimes. And almost agreed upon executing me and my crew. "Please. If an execution must be done. Do it only to me. Spare my crew. They were just following the orders I gave them," I said in sorrow. They then looked at each other, discussing again before coming to a final agreement. "A trial will be set for you and your crew tomorrow." They said before thanking me for my cooperation and leaving. My crew went back to the tent asked me what was going on. I told them about the trials and they were a bit nervous. "Don't worry. With everything we have done, I'm sure you will be alright," I said reassuringly to them,"