The conversation had stopped when there was an artillery shell that landed close to Charlotte's town. Dirt fell from the ceiling and spilled all over everything. There was some yelling from German soldiers on the outside.
"Fallback! We are losing too many!" one yelled.
Albert's and Ernst's eyes widened as they rushed towards the two doors of the cellar. Albert opened the cellar's doors while there was a soldier right in front that had just been shot from a Russian, he fell in and tumbled onto Ernst. Ernst fell backwards down the two stairs. Charlotte rushed over to him and pulled the body off of Ernst.
"I'm fine Charlotte!"
Albert looked back at Ernst then looked back at the forest and everything around it. There in the forest was not handfuls of Russians soldiers, but company after company of soldiers. Albert quickly pulled the doors to the cellar shut.
"What is it Albert?" asked Ernst as he watched Albert's eyes turn big.
"About........four companies of Russian soldiers, coming from the forest we were in."
Ernst took a deep breath and leaned against the wall and slid down it. Tears formed in his eyes as he tried to say something, it just could not come out.
"We.....we are......"
"What, Ernst?"
"Dead." Ernst said as tears started strolling down his cheeks.
Albert came next to him and sat there with his hands shaking. Russian soldiers ran over the cellar but ignored opening it. Albert gulped and took a deep breath. He looked back at Albert that was staring at the cellar, waiting for the enemy to open the doors with the butt of their rifles and would shoot both of them, including Charlotte.
It was soon quiet around the cellar until there was a giant bang of something that hit the cellar doors. Charlotte screamed and she covered her face and started crying.
"Ernst! Grab the rifles that are on the table in the other room! Charlotte, go with Ernst. I don't want you to see any of this!" commanded Albert.
Ernst ran to the other room and grabbed the rifles and handed one to Albert. They both hid against the wall on either side of the stairway. Albert peeked around the corner aiming his rifle at the doors, waiting for them to open it.
The roaring screams of the Russian soldiers got louder and louder. Tanks had made the ground shake as they rolled pass and fired their guns. After the tanks were farther away, the town was quiet until there was a bang on the cellar's door. Albert's rifle was still raised, Ernst immediately raised up his. The banging continued and the lock on the door had came off and the doors were about to open. Albert's heart thumped as he saw black boots and a black uniform of a tank commander, a German tank commander.
"Hold your fire Ernst! He's with us."
Both men dropped their rifles and stared at the tank commander. He was wearing an overseas cap with a headset on top that covered parts of his blond hair. He had a Knights Cross around his neck and had a monocle in front of his right eye. He was an older man that had a giant scar that went up his arm.
"What are you doing in there, young man?" he said in a deep voice.
Albert looked back at Ernst, then back at the Panzer commander.
"Um.......We are protecting this girl and uh......we hid in here when the Russians were advancing."
He shook his head and slowly walked down the steps of the cellar and looked around.
"Where's the girl? I would like to talk to her."
"Charlotte, come in here!"
Charlotte walked into the room and starred at the Panzer commander. She looked at him head to toe. Compared to her, he was almost a foot and a half taller than her.
"Um, who are you?" asked Charlotte as she starred at the Knights Cross dangling around his neck.
"Wilhelm, Wilhelm Müller."
"I'm Charlotte Brandt and those two men are Albert Schroeder and Ernst Schwarz."
"Nice to meet all of you. Although, I'm wondering why you two are not retreating with our army? I'm out here searching for any of our soldiers that have been wounded. The tank I was commanding which is a Tiger, was blown by a Russian anti-tank gun. It damaged our radio transmission, engine, and disabled our left track. The rest of my crew was killed." Wilhelm said as he slowly put his head down.
"I'm so sorry for that." said Charlotte as she put her hand on Wilhelm's shoulder.
YOU ARE READING
The Life Of A German Soldier
Historical Fiction(Still correcting for errors!) The German soldier goes through many things during his time at war, love, horror, and fear. But every soldier of any side knows that there's only one way out. He'll have to survive the new technologies of warfare. A so...
