The Spirit of the Corps » Band of Brothers

48: Medic Up Front

It was strange to be part of a military promenade. Up ahead, all of the tanks were loaded up with soldiers, their guns tucked under their arms and their eyes on the fields around them. The road was mainly dirt and often bumpy, so that Charlie had to hold onto the tank on occasion to ensure she didn't fall off. She spent the journey mainly in watching the men on the tanks in front, smiling at how they jostled and joked with one another, at how even the replacements seemed to be completely at ease. 

Up ahead, one by one the men turned from their conversations and looked at something on the side of the road. Charlie couldn't see it just yet and didn't dare lean over far enough to peer around the tanks in front, lest she fall off of her own. Instead, she waited patiently, watching as the men looked to each other in what appeared to be a mixture of sympathy and indifference, depending on the man, and tried to guess what they might be looking at.

Her small smile dropped when she realised what it was. Or, rather, who it was.

On the side of the road stood a woman, her hair clearly recently sheared low and not very gently, by the looks of things, with a very young baby in her arms. She had a blanket wrapped around herself and seemingly nothing else on underneath it, and another blanket for her baby. She stood barefoot, despondent, as she watched the procession of tanks go by. In her hand she held what looked like an army ration, likely given to her by one of the men up front, and Charlie's heart cracked as she watched the woman press a gentle kiss to her baby's head, as though in reassurance that because of this one ration they'd be okay for a while. 

Charlie wanted to help, wanted to give her something that would make her life easier, but had no idea what; unlike the soldiers, the nurses didn't carry their own food with them, and all she had to her name were personal belongings. 

So, in the end, Charlie could only give her a smile as they rolled past, though she knew it was nothing at all. She wished she could help more, wished it desperately, but there was nothing for her to do.

"What happened to her?" Boo asked quietly once they were out of earshot. 

Henry shrugged, avoiding eye contact and instead digging invisible dirt out from under her nails. "She was a collaborator, probably. Liberated citizens are doing things like that to women who collaborated with the Nazis all over Europe."

Charlie's jaw fell open. Stuttering for a moment as she searched for words, eventually she said, "But what if she didn't do it out of choice? What if..?"

Henry shook her head and said nothing. 

The tanks slowed as the second in line broke formation, driving up beside the one at the front. Already they'd been driving slow, slow enough for various soldiers to walk alongside each tank, flanking, but now they were going at a snail's pace. A moment later, they came to a stop altogether.

Unable to see what was causing the disruption, Charlie tilted her head back and soaked up the sunlight. The sky was grey, the clouds tightly packed, but the sunlight peeking through was warm on her skin. There was only a light breeze, now that they'd stopped, and it was blowing loose strands of hair back from her face and tickling her cheeks. Charlie closed her eyes against the feeling, letting herself revel in the temporary warmth of being stationary. 

From somewhere near the front of the line came the shout, "Lieutenant!"

Charlie's eyes snapped open to the sound of a gunshot.

All at once, soldiers were scrambling down from tanks and into the ditches on either side of the road. 

"Get down!" Henry was shouting, already sliding down the side of the tank. "Lancaster, Edison, get down!"