Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Two
18th September, 1937
Putlos, Germany
Shortly after the filming of the movie had wrapped Kurt and Olli had gotten reassigned to a work crew. Kurt suspected that this had more to do with them being at the bottom of the food chain than anything else. They were currently in the process of helping evaluate the same T-26 that they had driven in the movie. That had included shooting it with 37mm guns and cutting it apart afterwards. Representatives from the various manufactures were on hand to record the data.
There was a buzz in the air over an improved version of the Panzer III that was supposed to arrive at any time. The Heer had decided to adopt the Panzer that was originally intended for export as a stop gap measure. There was rumored to be a couple of new Panzers, one was a new medium and the other a heavy breakthrough model. Those designs had been delayed again because the Powers That Be wanted the lessons of Spain factored in, so they were still just paper projects. A new Schützenpanzer had arrived from Skoda, this one with a two-man turret, a 20mm automatic cannon with an 8mm coaxial. If they could ever get back into the vehicles they would get a chance to check these out. In the meantime, they were admiring the questionable workmanship of the Soviet Union and the enduring mystery of how they had worked at all.
Berlin, Germany
Maria had been hiding in her apartment since she had watched the advanced screening of the film based on the Battle of Arganda Bridge. She knew full well what dramatic license was but she had found the thinly disguised depiction of her to be perfectly appalling. They must have had trouble finding an actress who looked like her, the tall, blond, willowy sort of woman that the studios preferred was everything that Maria wasn’t. They had also done their best to depict what they thought was a career woman in a manner that said more about the studio heads and screen writer than they had intended.
She was starting to understand why Emil Holz hated how he was depicted, no one ever got it right. He was portrayed as some sort of perfect example of what a soldier should be. A chivalrous knight in a fallen age. She was depicted as driven, somewhat ruthless and as having little regard as to her appearance. The worst part of it had been when the lights had come back on after the screening Goebbels, the slime ball reporter from the equally slimy right-wing rag across town, had been standing right there with a smirk on his face. He was clearly waiting for her to leave so he could make a series of snide remarks about women in men’s roles and her in particular.
She had come straight home, locked her door and unplugged her phone. Next Friday, just six days from now that movie was going to have its general premiere and odds were everyone she knew was going to see it. Many of them were in the same field as her so they were perfectly capable of reading between the lines. Her as the love interest of General Holz, why would anyone believe that tripe?
Wunsdorf-Zossen
Esther sat there typing from the notes that had been compiled from the meeting that had occurred regarding the Spanish Operation that had been called a day after General von Bock had returned ahead of the 2nd Corps. Esther had on good faith that nearly identical meets were happening in the other Army Corps that had gone to Spain.
The program of employing local populations had payed dividends as had maintaining good relations with civic leaders, providing basic services and infrastructure development. While this had not gone without hiccups it had limited the partisan activity. This program had been based on an equally successful program that had been carried out in Poland and it was recommended that a special civic affairs department be formed by the OKW to carry out similar operations in the future.
It was acknowledged that the 1st Fallschirmjäger Division had prevented reinforcements from reaching the defense of Madrid at great cost to themselves. The proposal to expand the Luftwaffe Airborne Division into a Corps was endorsed.
The Panzer Divisions of the 2nd and 5th Corps had performed beyond expectations. The more traditionally structured 3rd Corps had gotten bogged down in Barcelona. It was recommended that in the future, Divisions be trained in urban warfare if such battles could not be avoided.
For individual Soldiers, dozens of changes to their kit was recommended. While the helmet that was standard issue for the Heer had done an adequate job preventing head injuries most of the injuries and deaths were inflicted by shrapnel. A means needed to be found to protect soldiers from those injuries.
Esther paused, she saw the numbers of dead and injured in just the 2nd Corps alone. How many of the young men she had seen from day to day in Wunsdorf in the past had never left Spain alive? Hundreds apparently.
It had been discovered that the winter uniforms were entirely inadequate in the Pyrenees Mountains. There were frequent requests for a means to combat enemy armor at the platoon level. And the list kept going on and on.
Franco-German Frontier in transit
Hans was the only one awake as the train rolled through the dead of night. He got tired of looking out the window at the moon lit country side as it rolled past and got up to stretch his legs. This involved pushing past Soren and Jost who he was sharing the bench seat with. They cussed at him without ever quite waking up.
Walking to the end of the car he opened the door and saw the outline of someone already out there in the darkness. There was no wind or racket because the train was moving along at a walking pace. Horst turned around and looked at him.
“Sorry, Sir” Hans said “I didn’t mean to bother you.”
“You’re no bother” Horst said “It looks like we’re almost home.”
“Are you sure about that?” Hans asked.
“As sure as I can be” Horst said “I just wish this war, police action or whatever they’re calling it had ended differently.”
“What?” Hans asked.
“When the Great War ended, we knew it” Horst said “It didn’t just sort of fade out like Poland or now Spain. It would have been good for you lot to feel that sense that we had when the guns fell silent and we knew we had won.”
“You thought you won?”
“We won by surviving to the end” Horst said “While I hope I never see another meat grinder like the East Road it was a simple matter. We pushed towards Paris and they pushed towards Reims. Living to fight another day was a victory in itself.”
“We won in Spain” Hans said “Didn’t we?”
“I won” Horst said “If you’re being honest with yourself, you’re still trying to make sense of it.”
Hans looked at Horst quizzically.
“I won, Hans, because your Squad, the men I personally trained survived to the end” Horst said “That is what I consider winning.”
They sat there in silence for a while as the train slowly rolled up to the border. It occurred to Hans that he had never understood Horst in spite of being under his command in one form or another for the last year.
