War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 266

Chapter 13

A

fter what seemed an eternity, Lotte heard the boisterous, loud voices of drunken men.

“Probably still celebrating their victory,” Gerlinde said. All over Europe spontaneous celebrations had broken out in the days after the capitulation.

Although the Germans didn’t have a reason to celebrate, except showing secret relief that the dragged-out war was finally over, they’d witnessed many such occasions during their captivity.

“I hope our drivers won’t be too wasted and forget about us,” Lotte said. As strange as it sounded, she longed to arrive at the POW camp, hoping they’d be given food, a blanket, and a place to lie down.

Moments later the hut door was unlocked and a soldier, unsteadily swaying on his feet looked inside. He took out his package, getting ready to pee. Only then did he notice the gasping Ada and scratched his head. He turned around and peed outside the hut, mumbling something unintelligible to his comrades.

“What was that?” one of the women whispered.

“A drunken soldier,” Hertha replied.

“Is he gone?”

Three more men poked their heads inside.

“I’m afraid not,” Lotte said, fear creeping into her bones.

“What are you pretties doing here?” one of them said, and after recognizing their uniforms, he repeated the question in heavily accented German.

“Waiting to be taken to the camp,” Hertha answered.

“Eh…” He seemed to think for a few moments. “Why don’t we shorten your waiting time?”

“That would be nice,” Ada said with a smile on her face. Lotte had a bad feeling about the situation, although she couldn’t say exactly why.

“One moment. Be right back.” His face lit up with a leering smile and he staggered outside, calling for his comrades, “Come here, there’s a bunch of warm and nice girls waiting for us!”

Hoping she had misheard the words, Lotte felt the blood draining from her face. Surely, her English was too bad and she’d misunderstood. Surely…

About ten soldiers in different states of drunkenness stumbled inside and the one who’d first talked with the women stepped toward Ada.

“Come here, my lovely,” he said, crooking her finger at her.

She dutifully obeyed, a shy smile on her face, and the next moment Lotte wanted to scream. The soldier swiftly squeezed her against his body, pressing a sloppy kiss on the young girl’s mouth.

Ada was too stupefied to put up any kind of resistance, but Maria, who stood nearest to her, had fast reflexes and punched him in the shoulder.

“Ouch!” He let go of Ada and turned around to look at Maria, apparently unsure about what was going on. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong? She’s not even eighteen and you’re falling over her like a wild animal.” Maria glared daggers at the foreign solder.

“That’s because he is,” one of his compatriots said. “Johnny’s a real tiger in the sack.”

“Ughh… you’re drunk. Leave us alone,” Maria demanded.

“Nah… That peachy little blonde wanted me to shorten her waiting time, so just because you’re jealous…”

“There’s enough of us to do all of you, no need to be jealous,” another man said.

Lotte swallowed hard. She had enough experience with Wehrmacht soldiers to know there was no way to rationalize with a drunken group of men. For this very reason, the girls always stayed in groups and the men’s superiors usually kept a tight regimen. But right now, she couldn’t hope for the help of an officer, as there seemed to be none around.

And who would come to the rescue of a bunch of enemy POWs anyways? She pressed against the wall, attempting to make herself invisible as she watched the horrible show unfolding.

“Come on, sweetie. It won’t be to your disadvantage,” Johnny said. “We’ll bring you chocolate.”

Meanwhile Ada had wised up to the men’s plans and was hiding behind Maria’s back, which didn’t faze Johnny in the slightest. He mumbled something and then shrugged, grabbing the next best woman standing around, Hertha.

His mates cheered him on. “A kiss. Give her a kiss!”

Hertha struggled against the strong man who pressed a kiss on her lips. When he came up for breath, she slapped him and yelled, “Get your hands off me! Tommy bastard!”

Oh, no

. Lotte could see a switch flip in his face as he stepped back growling at her, “What’d you call me, Nazi bitch?”

“Tommy bastard. And… coward,” Hertha repeated, emphasizing her words with a kick to his shins.

“Ouch,” he yelled and a hard expression entered his eyes. “I’ll show you who’s the boss around here. We fought your kind for years all through Europe; you think we can’t handle a bunch of Nazi whores?”

Then he thrashed her to the ground and followed suit, ripping open her blouse. Hertha screamed at the top of her lungs, but not for long. Some helpful comrade of his quieted her with his big hand over her mouth.

“Leave her alone, you filthy beast!” Maria sprang forward, only to be captured by another of the Tommies.

“No need to be impatient, love, there’s enough for all of you.” His bloodshot eyes fixated on her skirt and he pushed it up, feeling her up.

Lotte thought she’d faint. Such horrible things she’d had to listen to but never watch. Not even in Ravensbrück when the vile Doktor Tretter had… her entire body froze over, making it impossible to react when one of the soldiers came over and began groping her under her clothes.

“You’ll like it, ducky.” His slurred words were meant to assure her.

She wanted to punch him, scream, kick, or do anything at all to fight. But the fact was, she couldn’t even close her eyes during the assault, because deep-seated shame disabled the slightest movement of her body. The only part of her that still functioned was her heart, pumping frozen blood into her limbs, each thump more violent than the one before.

When the thumping stopped with a groan, a heart-wrenching whimper startled her out of her deathly rigidity. And together with the melting of the frozen cells in her body, her sorrows dissolved, leaving her disorientated.

Her wide opened eyes softly closed and pure, sweet darkness engulfed her. It became quiet and she floated high in the air, looking down at the sorry bunch of violated women and the drunken jollity of the retreating soldiers who’d sated their greedy appetites.

Those she’d helped to rid the world of the Nazi evil had been the ones to inflict this cruel treatment on her. Hadn’t she believed the British were better than her own? A nation with morals and high ethical standards? She crouched in the corner, her body aching and her soul weeping.

The revelation came as a shock.

Good and evil didn’t belong to nations, races, religions, or even ideologies. A man could fight for the right cause and for freedom, but still think he had the right to take from a woman what he wanted.

She balled her hands into fists, swearing to God that she’d never let this happen to her again. She vowed that she would never forget, would never allow herself to be so vulnerable again.

It was in this dark moment that her youthful impulsive stubbornness returned and she made a promise to herself. Once she returned home she’d become a lawyer and fight for justice. She’d fight for all those who wouldn’t be heard otherwise and would bring justice back into the world.

Yes, she would.