Part 88, Chapter 1372
Chapter One Thousand Three Hundred Seventy-Two
22nd April 1960
Rural Chagang Province, Korea
Supposedly, the monsoon rains were not supposed arrive for at least another month. No one told the weather however, because it wasn’t cooperating.
There had to better uses of their time. Digging a hole in pouring down rain wasn’t Karl’s idea of using it wisely. The real rub was that he couldn’t think of what he would rather be doing and there was simply nowhere else to go. The hilltop fortification was surrounded by concertina wire and there were liberal amounts of landmines planted in the approaches. The Heer had a great deal of experience in the sort of battle that they might be expected to fight if the diplomats screwed up and had passed that information along to the Marine infantry. Barbed wire, machine guns and mortars were dug into the hilltop in sandbag emplacements. Far below them, they could see the Yalu river flowing by.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would say that this hole is sinking” Karl said as he looked at the rainwater that was gathering in the bottom of the foxhole.
“What would Opa say to do?” Erik asked.
“He would say that we are being lazy and that his generation dug a trench all the way to the North Sea” Karl replied, “Then he’d chuck a beer can at your head for asking a stupid question.”
It was a shared experience that Karl and Erik had. All the children who had grown up in the household of Opa and Oma Schultz tended to learn to duck at a very early age.
“He couldn’t get out of the trenches fast enough himself” Erik said with a knowing smirk. It was a family legend that Opa Schultz had gotten himself transferred to the Air Service after memorizing a few technical manuals and convincing the Commanding Officer of a nearby Aerodrome that he had been a mechanic before the war. He had then spent a few stressful weeks faking it until he had mastered engine maintenance. When the alternative was to die in one of the thousands of ways that existed in the trenches. It tended to focus the mind.
Karl had however learned the truth. The story that Opa told them was good, but it was just that, a story. At the time that Opa Schultz had joined the Air Service, what was now considered the proto Luftwaffe, he had the only real requirement that an Airman needed. A pulse. Over that same time period the survival time for the typical Aircrew was measured in hours. It was from there though that Opa had made various connections, like with Graf von Richthofen and had learned a great deal about how things really worked in the world.
“At least you don’t have to lug that ghost carbine around anymore” Erik said.
That was true, but Karl didn’t necessarily think that was a good thing. The Hauptman had taken back the carbine and Karl was given a regular G44 in its place because there was concern that the humid air would damage the Vampire system. It was here at the firebase where the Sgk-46K could do the most good if anyone tried to infiltrate during the night because the problems with the power source would be reduced. Locked away in the Command Bunker, it was worthless.
Langeoog Island
“That she feels so safe with us is a good thing” Doug had said when Kat had discussed Jo with him the day after they had gotten here from Denmark. This was because Jo had used playing with Tatiana, Malcolm and Marie here on the island to escape having to deal with the pressures of her life. Kat was worried that she had regressed to the easy answers and comforts of childhood. Douglas had a different perspective, he thought that it was a good thing that Jo knew that her adopted family would be a place of safety while she processed things.
Presently Kat was sitting in the common room of her house with a glass of wine listening to the children just upstairs. The twins had memorized the book of fairy tales that Doug and Kat had read to them from infancy from front to back years earlier. Jo knew them as well and Kat could hear them embellishing the themes as Doug tried to read to Marie. After a while, Doug gave up trying to read the story straight and joined the older children in riffing on the story. It was all to Marie’s delight as they were laughing at the funny voices that they were using for the characters in the story. Though Kat wondered how Robin Hood, Siegfried, Louis Cyr and the villainous Bonhomme Sept-Heures found their way into the story of Princess and the Pea. It was nice to hear them laughing. Hopefully this wouldn’t result in Marie asking Kiki if she could really feel a pea through twenty mattresses, Tatiana had already done that once a few years earlier.
Kat’s thoughts were interrupted by Fleur, the little dog who was the constant companion of her children jumping onto her lap. “I’m surprised that you aren’t up there with them” Kat said to Fleur who didn’t respond, resting her head on Kat’s knee instead.
That woman in Poland a few days earlier who had called Kat the Emperor’s terrier had meant it as an insult, clearly implying that she was some sort of lapdog. Clearly, she didn’t understand the likes of Rat Terrier mix such as Fleur. There were certain qualities such as courage and loyalty that Fleur had in abundance. More to the point however, Kat had seen what Fleur would do if she got the jump on a rat or mouse.
22nd April 1960
Rural Chagang Province, Korea
Supposedly, the monsoon rains were not supposed arrive for at least another month. No one told the weather however, because it wasn’t cooperating.
There had to better uses of their time. Digging a hole in pouring down rain wasn’t Karl’s idea of using it wisely. The real rub was that he couldn’t think of what he would rather be doing and there was simply nowhere else to go. The hilltop fortification was surrounded by concertina wire and there were liberal amounts of landmines planted in the approaches. The Heer had a great deal of experience in the sort of battle that they might be expected to fight if the diplomats screwed up and had passed that information along to the Marine infantry. Barbed wire, machine guns and mortars were dug into the hilltop in sandbag emplacements. Far below them, they could see the Yalu river flowing by.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would say that this hole is sinking” Karl said as he looked at the rainwater that was gathering in the bottom of the foxhole.
“What would Opa say to do?” Erik asked.
“He would say that we are being lazy and that his generation dug a trench all the way to the North Sea” Karl replied, “Then he’d chuck a beer can at your head for asking a stupid question.”
It was a shared experience that Karl and Erik had. All the children who had grown up in the household of Opa and Oma Schultz tended to learn to duck at a very early age.
“He couldn’t get out of the trenches fast enough himself” Erik said with a knowing smirk. It was a family legend that Opa Schultz had gotten himself transferred to the Air Service after memorizing a few technical manuals and convincing the Commanding Officer of a nearby Aerodrome that he had been a mechanic before the war. He had then spent a few stressful weeks faking it until he had mastered engine maintenance. When the alternative was to die in one of the thousands of ways that existed in the trenches. It tended to focus the mind.
Karl had however learned the truth. The story that Opa told them was good, but it was just that, a story. At the time that Opa Schultz had joined the Air Service, what was now considered the proto Luftwaffe, he had the only real requirement that an Airman needed. A pulse. Over that same time period the survival time for the typical Aircrew was measured in hours. It was from there though that Opa had made various connections, like with Graf von Richthofen and had learned a great deal about how things really worked in the world.
“At least you don’t have to lug that ghost carbine around anymore” Erik said.
That was true, but Karl didn’t necessarily think that was a good thing. The Hauptman had taken back the carbine and Karl was given a regular G44 in its place because there was concern that the humid air would damage the Vampire system. It was here at the firebase where the Sgk-46K could do the most good if anyone tried to infiltrate during the night because the problems with the power source would be reduced. Locked away in the Command Bunker, it was worthless.
Langeoog Island
“That she feels so safe with us is a good thing” Doug had said when Kat had discussed Jo with him the day after they had gotten here from Denmark. This was because Jo had used playing with Tatiana, Malcolm and Marie here on the island to escape having to deal with the pressures of her life. Kat was worried that she had regressed to the easy answers and comforts of childhood. Douglas had a different perspective, he thought that it was a good thing that Jo knew that her adopted family would be a place of safety while she processed things.
Presently Kat was sitting in the common room of her house with a glass of wine listening to the children just upstairs. The twins had memorized the book of fairy tales that Doug and Kat had read to them from infancy from front to back years earlier. Jo knew them as well and Kat could hear them embellishing the themes as Doug tried to read to Marie. After a while, Doug gave up trying to read the story straight and joined the older children in riffing on the story. It was all to Marie’s delight as they were laughing at the funny voices that they were using for the characters in the story. Though Kat wondered how Robin Hood, Siegfried, Louis Cyr and the villainous Bonhomme Sept-Heures found their way into the story of Princess and the Pea. It was nice to hear them laughing. Hopefully this wouldn’t result in Marie asking Kiki if she could really feel a pea through twenty mattresses, Tatiana had already done that once a few years earlier.
Kat’s thoughts were interrupted by Fleur, the little dog who was the constant companion of her children jumping onto her lap. “I’m surprised that you aren’t up there with them” Kat said to Fleur who didn’t respond, resting her head on Kat’s knee instead.
That woman in Poland a few days earlier who had called Kat the Emperor’s terrier had meant it as an insult, clearly implying that she was some sort of lapdog. Clearly, she didn’t understand the likes of Rat Terrier mix such as Fleur. There were certain qualities such as courage and loyalty that Fleur had in abundance. More to the point however, Kat had seen what Fleur would do if she got the jump on a rat or mouse.
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