War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 161

Chapter 16

L

otte and her three escorts arrived at the airport and carefully retrieved the radio equipment they needed.

“Aren’t we going back?” Lotte asked, when Johann and the other two soldiers headed for the mess.

“Not yet. We need to wait for the commander. I want to personally inform him about the partisans’ roadblock.” Johann spat out the word partisan like a foul grape.

Heinz and Martin trotted off to greet some soldiers they knew, leaving Johann and Lotte on their own. She picked at her food, the events she’d witnessed still having her stomach tied up and unable to process food.

He noticed and asked, “Aren’t you hungry?”

She shrugged and put the fork away, looking into his warm brown eyes, full of concern for her. It was very different from the cold and steely look she’d seen in them earlier today. “How can they do this?”

“Do what?” He looked confused, but then made the connection to the massacre they’d witnessed. “You mean…? They are under orders to make an example of the people...”

In hopes the resistance forces will capitulate.

Lotte silently finished his sentence, knowing full well how the leaders of the Third Reich loved to use terror tactics to control and subdue their opponents. “You could have told them to stop! These people aren’t soldiers. They’re wives, mothers and children.”

“I couldn’t have prevented any of this from happening,” Johann said, keeping any emotion out of his voice. Suddenly his eyes turned cold and lifeless again, and she hated him for it.

How can he be so indifferent? I thought he was better than the rest.

“You have rank over these marauding troopers, and yet you refused to rein them in! What kind of man are you? You’re as much a monster as they are!” She jumped up, pummeling her fists into his chest, her voice screaming louder with every word.

“Please, calm down,” he begged her, but it was too late. They’d already caught the attention of the military police, who came rushing to their table.

“Is there a problem, Fräulein?” one of the policemen said and she stared with disbelief into the muzzle of a gun. Being held at gunpoint seemed to become an annoying habit lately.

“I’ll tell you my problem with…” Lotte stopped herself just in time before she told the MP exactly what she thought about the massacre, the Nazis and the Führer. She’d vowed to herself never to act rashly again. Judging by the look on his face she was already deep in trouble. She began to sob. “We…we…were attacked by the partisans earlier and they…oh God…nobody told me I would be held at gunpoint when I became a Wehrmachthelferin…”

A guilty expression crossed the MP’s face and he pointed his gun to the ground, nodding to his colleague to do the same. “Is this true?” he asked Johann.

“Yes, Leutnant,” Johann answered. “We barely escaped and had to divert through the Wola district.” The MP’s brow shot up when he heard the name of the district. Johann continued, “Fräulein Wagner witnessed some of the shooting and I believe she didn’t take it well.”

“That’s why women shouldn’t interfere with men’s work. They should stay home and raise children,” the MP said.

Lotte itched to kick him in the shin, but instead she used the moment to theatrically raise a hand to her forehead and slump against the MP. He had no choice but to drop his gun and catch her in his arms. When she saw his face over hers, she rolled her eyes and then gave him a faint smile. “Thank you. Could I have some water please?”

He helped her sit at the table and ordered the other policeman to bring her a glass of water. Once this was done, he quickly disappeared from the scene, leaving her alone with Johann again.

Johann gave her a once-over and then murmured, “I don’t believe for one second you really fainted, but thanks. The military police don’t take quarrels lightly.”

“I shouldn’t have screamed and punched at you. I’m sorry,” she said.

“Nothing happened.” The warm expression in his eyes returned, confusing Lotte how he could change so much from one moment to the next. She wanted to see the good, caring man in him, and not the battle-hardened soldier he also was.

“Why didn’t you do anything? Why didn’t you stop the senseless murdering? Do you condone these atrocities?” she murmured.

His eyebrows shot up, but he kept his voice down. “There was nothing I could have done. Unfortunately. Those soldiers you saw, they belong to the Dirlewanger brigade. They’re horrible cutthroat criminals and sadists, who enjoy what real humans despise. When their commanding officers tells them to rape, torture and murder, they do it with joy.”

“But how…?” Lotte asked, slightly mollified.

“Look, the SS does what they want and Dirlewanger is under the personal protection of Reichsführer Himmler, so he basically has a free hand to do as he pleases. I don’t like it, but there’s nothing I can do about it.” Johann leaned back in his chair, a pained expression crossing his face, before he continued, “I remember one incident that happened in Lodz. We were on patrol, when the SS started retaliation, similar to today. A good friend, Soldat Klausen, gave a wounded Pole something to drink, when Dirlewanger appeared and ordered him to shoot the injured man.”

Soldat Klausen

. Lotte’s eyes became wide, not only because of the atrocious command given, but also because of the familiar name. Could it be a coincidence? “What did your friend do?” she whispered, her hands grabbing the edge of the table with all her might.

“He refused. But one of the Dirlewanger men shot the Pole himself…” Johann broke off, caught up in his memories.

“This soldier…Klausen? Why didn’t he shoot?”

“Richard. Because he hated the atrocities he saw, just like you. He could never come to terms with violence against civilians and more than once the others called him a coward,” Johann explained.

Lotte’s heart raced. Richard Klausen. Rank, Soldat. In Lodz. It

was

him. Her beloved brother. She wanted to jump up and kiss Johann for bringing her news about Richard, but she took a calming breath and plastered a carefully measured smile on her face. Nobody could find out her real identity, not even Johann.

“I realize now that he was in fact more courageous than the rest of us put together,” Johann continued. “I wish I had the same determination to stay true to myself, but I fear I’ve been in this war for much too long. I’ve become bitter and jaded by what my eyes have witnessed.”

Pride rose in her breast at the compliment to her brother, although it was hard to believe they were talking about the same person. Richard had always been an introvert. A bookworm. Not a hero and most definitely not someone she would have called courageous. In fact, as kids, she had been the one to get them both in trouble. She always followed her impulses, no matter how dumb, risky or dangerous, while he remained the voice of reason warning her about the consequences. Not that he’d had much success keeping her from causing trouble all round.

Coward

. She’d called Richard a coward more times than she cared to remember, all those times when he’d refused to engage in some outrageously stupid activity with her. Now she felt nothing but pride in knowing that her brother was willing to stand up for what was right.

I love you, Richard. Stay safe

, she said in her mind.

She smiled at Johann. He probably was as torn as she was herself about everything that was happening. Just because he didn’t actively get involved, didn’t mean he condoned the atrocities. She’d experienced first hand what happened to people who wanted to help those ostracized by the regime. Arrested. Sent to a concentration camp to never criticize Hitler again. She raised her voice to address Johann, “You’re a good man. We all have to do things we’re not very proud of.”

His miserable grin indicated he thought otherwise and she quickly asked the question that burnt on her tongue. “What happened to your friend?”

He gave a snort. “Richard was lucky to get away with his life. Dirlewanger had a reputation for hanging friend or foe for smaller offenses than this. Every Thursday without fail he’d put someone to the rope and take joy in personally kicking the stool from under those doomed to die.”

Lotte gagged, and her hand flew to her mouth. She’d thought she’d seen the abyss of human cruelty in Ravensbrück.

“Richard asked his superior to be transferred to a fighting unit. He was a courageous man.”

“Was?” Lotte couldn’t suppress the tremor in her voice.

“I guess he’s still alive. We thought he died in a partisan attack, but then I saw him again in one of the camps…I should have turned him in, but I couldn’t. What he did…Why so interested?” Johann shook his head and glanced at Lotte, who had difficulty keeping a straight face, when all she wanted was to squeeze every tidbit of information about her brother from Johann’s lips.

“Because he’s your friend. I hope he’s safe,” Lotte hedged. Ever since coming to Warsaw, she’d felt such a strong connection to her brother.

Richard is alive. I just know it

.

“I hope so, too.” Johann tilted his head, squinting his eyes at her. “You and him, you’d get along very well. Now that I think of it, you remind me of him an awful lot. You sure you aren’t related?” He chuckled at his own observations.

Lotte gave a high-pitched giggle of evasion and quickly changed the subject. “Do you think our drive back will be safe? To tell the truth, I’m a bit afraid.”

“Don’t be afraid. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He pressed his hand on hers for a short moment, before another soldier approached to let him know that the commander was now ready to talk to him.

Johann left, leaving Lotte to her thoughts. Would Johann still have the same opinion if he knew her true identity? Or would he feed her to the brutal SS special forces?

She’d rather not find out.