The Hell War

Hell War

  Have you ever thought 'Why me?... what did I do to deserve this?' I have but all of this could've been avoided, but thanks to that cursed day I am here. It all started on June 21st of 1941. Another normal day at my log cabin in Tikeevo, Russia. I was doing my daily routine before I left to work at Ove Arup & Partners. I took my shower, drank my coffee, ate my cereal, and checked my mail. It all seemed normal till I got to the middle of the stack, that dreadful letter. The letter simply said Dmitry Sokolov... war draft letter. At this moment I felt my heart drop, like a great fear took over me. I instantly thought what about my sweet old mother, who will provide for her? I am the only child, or at least turned into the only child and my father had died a long time ago. I was not ready to leave my mother, but I was not able to escape the war draft.

I had to go and inform my mother right away, even before I informed myself to the war building. My mother was not happy, she was scared for me, for the things that could happen to me in the war but my mind was only on the fact of how am I going to keep my mother going. So after I report to the war building since there was no point in appearing at my job. As soon as I got there they took no time to find uses for me. I spent some time helping here and there but mostly getting to know my equipment, the in's and out's of pistolet-pulemyot Shpagina or PPSH, the grenades, gases, communication devices, after a long day at the building we were taken to a army base where we were put on a plane to go to Brody, Poland and be part of a large fleet of tanks owned by the mother land.

It took us about a day to get to the tank storage. When we got to the tank wonderland, we had a few minutes to settle in, and after we did we instantly started to train. We trained for a day and a half when I was able to tell that some were use to it unlike a selected few of us. I had asked around and they said that the ones that seemed used to the training were part of the war since the beginning of the war which was around the later half of the year 1939. We had spent the whole afternoon and some time of the night training when we received intel that a huge fleet of Nazi takes had been seen just over the horizon and that we had a limited number of time to get ready. What we did was take as many tanks out as possible since we did not have the materials or time to set up barricades. I asked a more experienced soldier for orders since our commanding officer, Egor had more important matters at hand. The soldier named Kirill gave me quick instructions on how to man the movement of the tank and cannon, if for some reason I needed to use the tank.

It took the Nazi forces from 10 pm to 7 am of June 23 for them to get to us. It might seem like a substantial amount of time, but it went by in an instant for me. I was not really sure what to expect till the first shot was used. It felt like thunder decided it was time to threaten us. Like if god was telling us to stop this at once but that was not the case and it kept going for hours. I thought that it would be over soon but I was very wrong. The battle took six days but by the fifth day, lots of us could tell that we were being overpowered. Lots started to flee very early in the battle but the thought of my mother helped me live on and keep fighting. By the sixth day my commanding officer told my squad that we were leaving, that there was no point in beating a dead horse so we left, and I thanked God like never before. Little did I know that this was not going to be the only hell I would go through for the few years of me in the war.

The squad got to a post a few miles away from Brody and we had to settle there. We stayed there for a few weeks. People started to receive letters from their relatives back home, but I noticed that I had not received not one letter. It was extremely peculiar because my mother was very fond of writing and would never miss an opportunity to write a letter. I asked Egor if I had received a letter and he said

"No, but I have some news from your home."

"May I know what it is sir?" I asked.

Egor said "Sure private, just follow me."

I followed him, but to this day regret that I did, I regret that I did not just murder him on the spot and run away for ever, but sadly you can't run away from your nightmares. He told me that my sweet mother had been brutally murdered by a heartless lowlife criminal in the search of his daily fix for drugs and decided that an old granny was the best target for money. I went to my tent where I cried myself to sleep. The last part of my family, gone. I had been part of the war for about a month and had already taken more blows that my previous experiences of the war.

It has been around a year since my mother had passed away and it still does not feel any better. It sure does not help that I have seen many people die, close colleagues and friends that I have recognized from my childhood. None, however, it did hit me as hard as the death of my mother. Maybe one gets used to death, or war might just take a lot out from a man. At this point I had no plans of regaining feelings for nothing but things can sure change quickly. On July 2nd of 1942 we had been assigned suicide bomber dogs. Dogs ment to run at the enemy and kill them and themselves in the process. At first I thought nothing of the dog, no more than just it being another weapon. However, in the week that I had him I got attached really quick. I had named him Benji and promised myself to never let him go.

On the 20th of August we learned that there would be Nazi forces approaching on Stalingrad, the closest place I will be to home during this devil war, and there would be a large need for troops so our whole post was moved to Stalingrad. We landed the next day, and as soon as we got to the city started to help setting up barricades and defenses. During this whole time Benji was next to me but I was not gonna let him leave my sight.

When the defenses were finished we waited till the Nazi troops would appear so that we could attack. The attack started the second of February. I had been in plenty of battles by now and knew ways to survive but know I had to babysit a dog that was trained to run at the enemy, not away, but I still managed to keep him safe for most of the battle.

A total of three months had passed with the constant fire of explosions, and bullets when the battle was getting to us. We were getting desperate to try and keep us on top of the Germans, and my commanding officer was the most desperate of all. He was the most desperate because he was known as a coward for retracting in the battle of Brody. He was ready to do anything to win this battle, even if it was his last battle ever. In an act of desperation he told me to use Benji for what he was meant to do and let him run wild. In an act of disobedience I said,

"No! Never!"

"You will do it because it's an order Lieutenant!"

In a desperate act, I took the specially made bomb suit for Benji and threw it at Egor and ran. Ran for dear life and never looked back. Ran till I was not able to run anymore, at which point I kept running. It might of been 4 miles till I finally stopped and to my pleasure Benji was still with me. It was November and the winters in Russia were harsh. I was able to refuge myself and Benji in a barn.

We survived off the land for about a month till we thought it was safe for us to reunite to civilization in a new country. Where I know I could not be drafted again. I have seen the war and would rather die at my own hands than return to hell on earth.