Heimatfront Episode Two - Baptism of Fire

Simone

III

SIMONE

Once the tanks were refueled, the column got once again on the move.

Incidentally, the trip was rather uneventful. From the command hatches of the tanks the designated commanders could see the darkened landscape of their Fatherland, covered by the wide blanket of the night, the forests and the hills barely distinguishable, the few lights lit in the tiny villages in the distance looking almost like stars which had lost their way.

It was a rather depressing sensation that they were forbidden to seeing the green crop fields and forests, and the snow-covered mountains in the distance, because their country was engaged in a war to the last consequences. Under the perils of exposing to the overwhelming enemy forces, they had to travel under the night, hidden in the shadows. And as such there was very little to see, a feeling of hopelessness slowly crawling into their young hearts.

This meant that there was very little to do except slowly driving the vehicles across the road barely illuminated by their headlights. Being so the girls ended up reverting to the only other thing they really knew about apart from their work: singing.

It was Simone who had taken the initiative. She started the trip in the commander’s post of the Panzer IV, but little after they’ve left the police station she decided to move to the radio-operator’s position. It was occupied by Ysabelle at the time, but once she heard Simone’s idea she squeezed through the hatch and sat against the main gun’s mantle, allowing the other girl to slide in.

But a couple hours later, though, Simone was starting to deplete her repertoire of songs. It didn’t stop her from trying to keep the morale high.

“All right, one more!” She chirped through the com. “Wenn wir schreiten Seit' an Seit'!“

One by one the commanders started to repeat the first verse of the song, taken out of the official song booklet of the League. Shortly later voices started to echo across the radio waves and over the growl of the engines as the girls outside sang on top of her lungs and into the night.

“Wenn wir schreiten Seit' an Seit'

Und die alten Lieder singen

Und die Wälder widerklingen

Fühlen wir, es muss gelingen:

Mit uns zieht die neue Zeit!“

The only ones not singing where Anja, who tried to look like a very professional commander, Hanna, because the truck didn’t have a radio of its own, and the boys, who didn’t really knew what was going on around them. It goes without saying that Simone was absolutely happy for managing to keep the girls singing and their spirits high, with the added bonus of getting the boys quite confused.

Maria sang along the other girls. After the stop in the police station she’d moved to the turret, occupying the loader’s position. She kept the access hatch open, feeling the cold air of the night against her soft skin.

“This is incredible!” Ysabelle told her once the singing stopped for a while. “Feels like a field trip!”

Simone came right after peeking though her hatch.

“Yes, you’re right! You did well in coming with us, Maria!”

The sentence made the faint smile on Maria’s face darken slightly. Did they really have no idea about Anja and her companions’ plans? Simone immediately noticed the change in her expression.