War Girls Complete Collection Chapter 73

Chapter 18

T

he next morning, Anna and Peter awoke and surveyed the shelter to make sure it had survived the bombings intact. Peter opened the steel door and a cloud of dust entered.

Anna coughed and held on to Peter’s hips when she peeked out at the picture of destruction. Despite being in the basement, she could see into the blue sky. Part of the building had crumbled and the stairs were covered with debris.

“That looks bad. You stay behind me,” he said, and began moving bricks, wood, and pieces of concrete from the entrance until he and Anna could emerge from the small shelter. Sunshine filtered through the hole in the roof as he took her hand. “Quick, we don’t know how long this is going to hold up.”

Anna wrapped her scarf over mouth and nose to avoid breathing in dust and smoke. But the thin veil couldn’t hinder the distinctive smell of burnt human flesh that filled her nostrils. She choked. In contrast to the cremated bodies of Ravensbrück these unfortunate people had probably burnt alive.

A typical air raid consisted of explosive bombs first, mines second. The destructive force of their detonation waves blew through stone walls as if they were nothing more than paper. Phosphor bombs came last. The ensuing fire found more than enough nutrition in wooden furniture exposed by shattered walls to rage through the city long after the bombers had gone.

It was a sequence designed for maximum destruction. In this war everything was permitted. Neither side held back anymore, and civilians were as much targets as soldiers or military bases, unlike in the Great War just twenty years prior.

As they ascended to the open ground, the full extent of the damage caused Anna to gasp. Several buildings had sustained massive damage; the formerly beautiful red brick houses were merely ruins. Hospital beds and medical equipment littered the ground like toy blocks in a nursery. Wounded patients filled the air with their whining and whimpers.

Several nurses and other staff frantically tried to dig up entombed patients with their bare hands. Anna and Peter jumped in to help, moving brick after brick until yet another howling person could be freed, and carried on a stretcher to a safe area where volunteers had set up a makeshift hospital tent.

Anna’s soul wept with each new victim they unearthed. They found two children embracing each other, their angelical faces directed upwards. After Anna closed their eyes and crossed them off the list of missing persons, she staggered and sat on a pile of debris.

“I can’t do this anymore,” she murmured.

“Yes you can,” Peter encouraged her, touching her shoulder.

She gave a bitter laugh. In reality, what choice did she have but to carry on? Everyone in Berlin lived in constant fear, praying to survive another day. If they had known how bad things would become, would they still have willingly followed Hitler into this cataclysmic war?

Much later in the day, Professor Scherer organized an all-hands meeting in the mostly unscathed lecture hall. There had been casualties mostly amongst the nurses on night shift, but also three members of Anna’s research team, including the team leader, had been confirmed dead. The professor tried to instill the power of endurance and motivation into his staff, but everyone left the meeting with long, somber faces.

“Fräulein Klausen, a word,” he called after her as she left with the crowd.

“Yes, Professor Scherer.” Anna turned to watch the man whom she’d admired since her childhood. She still thought his scientific work was outstanding, but she’d also seen the dark side of him. She pushed the thoughts away. Since that day at the quarantine ward, she’d done her best not to think of the suffering children – and her role in it. She’d convinced herself that she couldn’t change a thing. It didn’t matter who was growing the bacterial cultures. If it weren’t her, someone else would take her place.

And perhaps the greater good did justify such a sacrifice?

“How are you holding up?” the professor asked.

“Like everyone else, I’m shaken. But I’ll be fine. There’s no other choice than to carry on.”

He raised his brows at her. “I’m glad you’re taking this torment with such dignity. In dire times we come to value the strength of leaders.”

Anna had no idea where he was going with this, but his next sentences had her hiss in a puff of air.

“As you know, your team leader perished last night and we are in need of a replacement. It is not the promotion I had in mind for you, but the position is yours nonetheless.”

“Me? You want me to head up the research team?” Anna asked, incredulous. She’d be in charge of a team of scientific assistants, all taking their direction and orders from her. It was the culmination of her career aspirations. “I’m honored.”

“You’ll make a fine leader. Your duties will be expanding, but I know you’ll handle your extra responsibility just like you handle everything else. With poise and a sharp mind,” the professor assured her.

“Thank you. Can you give me some guidance about my additional duties?” Anna asked.

“Don’t worry. Doctor Schmid will guide you every step of the way. He’ll be happy to have you as one of the team leaders.” With these words the professor dismissed her. Doctor Schmid was the chief of bacteriology research and also held a position as doctor in the Pediatric Clinic. Anna thought he was a good scientist, driven by ambition, but a much worse superior, because he lacked understanding of interpersonal relationships.

The next day Doctor Schmid explained to her that she would have to continue her work in the laboratory, due to lack of a replacement for her, but in addition she had to work on a more strategic level, proposing new lines of experiments.

Anna beamed at him, barely able to believe her own ears. She was tasked with thinking up, creating, directing, and analyzing an experiment from beginning to end. It was everything she’d hoped for and more.

She would prove worthy of Professor Scherer’s trust and help develop cures for the most devastating diseases of mankind. She already imagined herself in the company of Marie Curie and Irène Joliot-Curie, who’d been the only two women ever to receive a Nobel Prize outside of the categories Literature or Peace.