War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 157

Chapter 12

August 1, 1944

L

otte awoke the next morning tired and wishing she could hide beneath the covers. Throughout the day, most of her colleagues would board the trains back home. While she didn’t want to join them, she felt nostalgic for her newfound friends now that they wouldn’t be around anymore.

At least Gerlinde and Heidi would stay until someone higher up the chain of command figured out where to send them.

“Aren’t you going to breakfast?” Gerlinde asked moments later.

“I don’t feel much like eating this morning. I’m already missing the others.” Lotte put her head between her hands.

“Come on, there’s no reason to mope. And we still have to go to work today,” Heidi said.

“You’re right. At least the two of you are staying here.” It was entirely selfish to think that way, but Lotte couldn’t help it.

“Are you ready? I’m hungry,” Gerlinde complained impatiently.

“One minute,” Lotte said and slipped on her uniform, making sure the garrison cap sat fashionably crooked on her braided hair. While all the other girls adored the uniform, Lotte had a more difficult relationship with it. She loved how it made her look mature and earned her the respect of her male colleagues, but she also hated what it represented. Every day she reminded herself that she was in Warsaw to bring down the Nazis and not to join in their jolly celebrations.

The problem was that everybody was so nice, even Oberführerin Kaiser. In Ravensbrück it had been easy to hate the cruel

Aufseherinnnen

with their batons and lashes, but here? How could she hate someone like Gerlinde and Heidi? Helmut? Johann? She couldn’t even hate her superior, Oberst Braun. He’d never been anything but friendly and fair to her and the other female employees. He was simply doing his job, obeying orders like everyone else.

Lotte gave a deep sigh, her head throbbing as she tried to resolve the issues of hate, guilt and responsibility. It wasn’t that easy. Nothing was. She couldn’t risk hurting other people again with her rash decisions. The guilt of being responsible for the death of two dear friends, whose only crime had been to help her, still weighed heavily on her shoulders.

“You coming, or what?” Gerlinde’s voice dragged her from her philosophical thoughts.

“Yes.” Together they walked the ten minutes to the mess, the room perceptibly emptier than usual. But much to her surprise, she spotted Johann at his usual table and walked over.

“Good morning. I thought you’d be gone by now,” Lotte said.

He answered her with a broad smile. “Change of plans. OKW has given the order to defend

Fortress Warsaw

at all costs. We’ll stay in the city and counterattack the Red Army as soon as they reach the eastern shore of the Vistula. The river and the bridgeheads will give us a natural advantage. What about you?”

“No news yet. Most of the other girls are boarding the different trains as we speak. I expect the rest of us will receive orders tonight.”

“I know this is selfish, but I’m glad you’re still here. You brightened my day.” Lotte blushed at his compliment and murmured something about having to go sit with Gerlinde and Heidi, before she dashed off. Her feelings for Johann were confusing at best. On the one hand she longed to show him how much she liked being with him, while on the other hand she wanted to keep him at arm’s length.

Throughout the day, Lotte felt torn between wanting to stay in Warsaw to do her bit and wanting to flee. The sound of heavy mortar fire and gunshots seemed to come nearer by the hour and trails of smoke rose in the sky just beyond the city. No doubt the Russians were near. Almost close enough to see them across the Vistula. Chills rolled down her spine and froze the blood in her veins at the prospect of what might await her should the Russians capture her – in uniform no less.

Shortly before five o’clock that evening, she finished her work and met with Gerlinde to walk to the dormitory and see whether they’d been assigned an evacuation train yet. They’d walked about one block, when suddenly the world seemed to explode around her. Lotte felt as if someone had thrust her into the heart of a battle scene in a movie.

But this wasn’t a movie.

The street suddenly filled with Polish insurgents, mostly in civilian clothes, wearing red and white armbands. Some fired their weapons, others lobbed grenades, but all of them moved toward the town’s key strategic buildings.

With great presence of mind Lotte grabbed Gerlinde’s hand and dragged her bedazzled friend back towards their office building. Alarms sounded, adding to the deafening noise. She honestly had no idea how they made it the one block into the safety of the

Oberfeldkommandantur

without being injured. From what she could see, the entire Old Town and City Center districts were one huge fireball.

The inside of the military building resembled a beehive. Hundreds of surprised Wehrmacht soldiers milled about, waiting for their orders. More than once Lotte and Gerlinde had to press against the wall to evade being trampled down by a group of soldiers rushing to fight the insurgents.

Something hit the building and the smell of burned human flesh attacked Lotte’s nostrils, making her gag as it brought memories of her time in Ravensbrück. She’d never forget this smell for the rest of her life.

“Let’s go and see what we can do,” Lotte said, dragging a whimpering Gerlinde behind her to the radio operations room upstairs. Since most of the radio operator girls had left Warsaw throughout the day, only one of the desks was occupied. A girl called Sandra tried to decipher the cacophony of transmissions.

Oberst Braun entered the room, his expression a mask of shock and disbelief at the events outside. “Thank God, you’re here. I need you to work through the phone calls and radio transmissions to get a picture of the situation. Give me a status report in fifteen minutes.” As quickly as he’d entered the room, he disappeared again, leaving the three girls on their own.

“Let’s get to work then.” Lotte sat down at her usual desk, ignoring the constant ringing of the dozens of phones in the room. She put on her headset and concentrated on deciphering the messages coming in from stations across the entire city at a feverish pace.

When Oberst Braun returned, the three radio operators had a much clearer picture and he confirmed their suspicions. This wasn’t an isolated attack on some of the German military buildings, but a carefully planned concerted action. An uprising. Lotte’s heart beat faster. The Poles actually had the nerve to take fate in their own hands and fight against their oppressor. And it looked like they held all the aces.

Every minute more bad news arrived. Significant areas of Warsaw’s left bank districts had been captured by the insurgents, including the prestigious Prudential high-rise building, the main post office, and the state mint. Several officers poured in and out of the radio room, wanting updates on the situation. Lotte, Gerlinde and Sandra did their best to keep up with the influx of messages, jotting down the crucial information.

The next message came in:

East-west railroads severed

Lotte had to lean back and remind herself to breathe. She could only hope that her evacuated colleagues had made it out safely before the tracks had been blown up. Her entire body shivered violently when she became aware that she and Gerlinde were trapped inside the most violent revolt since the beginning of the war.

“What’s wrong, Alexandra?” Gerlinde asked, worry lines etched on her face.

“No…no…nothing.”

“Lean back for a moment, I’ll get you some water,” Gerlinde said and dashed off. Usually food and drink were strictly forbidden in the radio room because they could damage the expensive equipment, but today nobody cared. Lotte glanced at the clock on the wall. It was way past midnight. There was no way they could get back to the dormitory even if they wanted to.

Minutes later Gerlinde returned with a glass of water and some bread. “Here. This will help. Are you sure you’re feeling well?”

Lotte nodded.

No, I’m not. Any moment the insurgents can burst through the door and kill us all

. Given the way the Germans had treated the Poles for so many years, Lotte didn’t have much hope of being treated with decency should she fall into their hands.

“Thanks,” Lotte whispered after eating the piece of bread. “I guess I can get back to work now.” She ignored her exhaustion and continued to sit hunched over her desk, deciphering message after message.

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, Johann staggered into the radio operations room for a brief moment. He looked exhausted, smears of dirt, grease and dust on his uniform, and he sported a bloody wound above his right eye.

“You’re injured, let me—"

“It’s nothing. Merely a scratch,” he answered. “How’s everything in here?”

“Stressful but safe for now.”

He wiped his sleeve across the wound on his forehead and flinched for a moment. “You should have been evacuated by now. The Wehrmacht doesn’t allow female helpers in battle zones.”

Lotte gave a dry laugh. “All east-west arteries have been severed. There’s no way out of this city at the moment.”

“I should have insisted they send you out on one of the trains this morning.” Suddenly, he looked very tired.

“Oberst Braun says it’s a matter of days until we regain the upper hand,” Lotte said.

“That’s what everyone’s saying. But those

Banditen

are fighting like maniacs. They have self-made grenades, flamethrowers in bottles and apparently had an underground factory producing firearms, directly under our noses.” Johann shook his head. “Who would believe they could pull off an organized uprising like this one?”

Lotte smiled at him and quarreling emotions created a lump in her throat. She wanted Johann to be safe, but at the same time she wanted the Poles to win this revolt and send the Nazis to hell. Since when had life become so complicated? Even last year everything was black and white for her. Good and evil, neatly separated from each other. But life as an adult didn’t seem to work that way. It was a hellish muddled mess painted shades of grey.

“Tired?” Johann asked and traced a finger down her cheek. She nodded automatically and flushed furiously when he cupped her jawline and kissed her with unprecedented passion, not caring that one of the superiors could burst into the room any moment. “Promise me you’ll stay in here? This building is our number one priority to defend against the insurgents.”

“I will. Promise me you’ll be careful out there?”

“I don’t have any intentions of dying this young. Besides, I have you to come back to,” Johann said, kissing her again before standing up and disappearing into the midst of the battle-strewn city.

Lotte refused to let her tears fall and returned to work until around six in the morning. Oberführerin Kaiser arrived with the remaining dozen

Helferinnen

. Apparently, they’d escaped minutes before the Home Army had stormed the dormitory. The Oberführerin was happy to find the missing three girls safe and sound and ordered them to go to the basement and get some sleep in a makeshift dormitory.

When Lotte emerged from the basement many hours later, she glanced out of the window into the blazing sun. The amount of destruction visible sent a queasy feeling to her stomach. Most of the buildings in the Old Town stood in flames, clouds of smoke hanging low in the sky. She later learned that most of the Old Town and the City Center were in the hands of the insurgents, except for the headquarters of the German garrison, and the bridges over the Vistula.

They were basically trapped inside the building, unable to venture out into enemy territory. Even chatterbox Gerlinde grasped the ugly reality and kept her mouth shut for the first time since Lotte had met her months ago. Soldiers moved in and out of the building, mostly to bring in wounded comrades or replenish ammunition reserves. Lotte hoped to see Johann again, but no such luck.