The Life Of A German Soldier

Panzer #105

Albert woke up, laying against the Tiger 1's dirty wheels and track with Ernst next to him and Wilhelm on top of the tank. He was awoken by the sound of tanks starting their engines for the continuous journey ahead. Albert looked over at Ernst, his cap was falling off his head. His hands laid nicely on his lap while he breathed softly, not making a sound or moving.

"Ernst, Ernst?" said Albert as he tapped Ernst's shoulders.

"What?" he moaned.

"Get up. We have to continue to Belgorod."

"Why do we have to go along? We are not part of a Panzer Division."

"This will help us get back to Germany, if that's possible. Wilhelm told me that he would be in Panzer #104 since they are missing their driver. Wilhelm is figuring out where to put us since he does not want us sitting on top of the tank."

"Albert, Ernst!" called Wilhelm. "Follow me. Ernst, you will go to Panzer #105 and Albert, you will go to Panzer #104."

Wilhelm first led Ernst to a Panzer IV. The commander came out of the hatch, jumped on the ground in front of Ernst. The Panzer commander towered over Ernst and he stuck his hand out.

"Alfred Fischer, and you are?"

"Ernst Schwarz."

"Nice to meet you, little man. Your job on my Panzer will be the front machine gunner. I will show it to you now and teach you how to use it. Follow me, soldier."

Ernst walked over to the tank and hopped on it. Alfred opened the hatch and Ernst jumped in first. He climbed down the small latter and looked at the rest of the crew that was in the tank. They stared at him and Ernst's face turned red. He ignored them as best as possible and looked around the tank. It smelled like a pile of old gym socks. He otherwise noticed pictures of wives or girlfriends spread about the tank. There were Russian medals that were hung on levers and hooks. Multiple headsets hung on the tank's walls. Ernst looked at the control panel, filled with gauges, levers, and colored buttons. He looked at the driver that had goggles on, with dirt and dust covering his face. He turned his head and looked at me. He took off his goggles, there were clean rings around his eyes that made him look like a raccoon.

"Who are you, kid?" he asked.

"I'm Ernst Schwarz and I guess I'm your crew's new front machine gunner."

"Hello, young man. It's nice to have you with us. I'm Gerhard and as you can see, I'm the driver."

Gerhard stuck out his dirty hands and shook Ernst's. Gerhard's hands were about three times bigger than Ernst's ten year old hands. Ernst heard the boots of Alfred and saw him climb down the latter.

"This is Little Man everyone or you can call him Ernst!" shouted Alfred.

The rest of the crew laughed and patted Ernst on the shoulder.

"Now Ernst, I will talk to you about the MG. It's pretty easy to handle, just aim and pull the trigger. You can try it out if you would like. Just make sure no one is in your view."

Ernst nodded and he walked over to the machine gun and put his hands on it and gripped the gun. He aimed and pulled the trigger. He shot a couple bullets and stopped. He smiled and looked back at Alfred. The rest of the crew laughed.

"I knew you would like it. Now, all you have to do is get used to being in here."

"I will, I maybe already like it."

"You won't when you get into fighting."