We quickly moved on from the machine gun parapet and put up the marker on top, saying that friendlys have taken the area. At this point our makeshift squad had grown. More and more men were pouring over dead man's land and into the trenches. With the increase of fresh men, the ones who had been there the entire time could finally get some rest. I sat down, opposite of some dead O.R soldiers, they were stacked on top of eachother. I leaned my head back and looked up. The sky was clear. The snowy clouds had disappeared, and it had left me alone.
I sat on my helmet with the other guys of my original group. One of the newer soldiers came running past me. I could tell he was new by the fact that he was clean, his uniform in almost perfect condition. He had his rifle in his hands and eyed me as he passed. "Eh bud you alright" he said in a high pitched eastern march accent.
I settled my tired eyes on the man "Never better". "Whatever you say bud" He said as he started to walk away. "Hey" I called out in hopes to stop him. He turned his head around. "What section is this? I'm trying to find my section".
He looked at me a bit puzzled. "What company are you in?". I breathed out. "Fox". The man was taken aback. "Second battalion! What the hell are ya doin down here. Second battalion is about fifty meters down the line, this is supposed to be first battalion's section. " I nodded a thanks and he went off.
I looked over to the man resting next to me, a shorter man who had been with me since charging the trench. He was dressed in the bombers get up, with a leather sack that laid on his stomach as he leaned back, resting his head on the trench wall. "Did you know that" I asked the man as I leaned back against the wall. "Hell no. I'm in Item" I opened my eyes just as quickly as I closed them. "Item! Holy shit how'd you get here, you're more lost than I am my friend" The man laughed. "Preachin to the choir".
After my rest I eventually got up, I needed to go and find my squad, or at least my company. "What's your name?" I asked the man from the Item company, who was walking with me. "Nino, from the western march"
We walked through the captured trench, squeezing our way past hundreds of men frantically digging to make parapets on the opposite side of the trench wall, to prepare for a counter attack. "I'm Luca, from the south. Also don't ya think it was too easy" He turned and looked up at me, the dirt and exhaustion giving way to a look of surprise.
"Too easy, hell I would not call that too easy" "Well not easy easy but I'm surprised we were able to take it relatively quickly" He looked down to step over a dead Empire legionnaire. " I wouldn't get too excited, the battle is far from over." I shrugged "Good point, I'll take what I can get"
We walked for a short time when a machine gun ripped out over our heads, coming from the O.R second line. We were not in much danger but it let us know that it was far from over. Our control over the trench was tenuous at best. There were still large sections of the front line that had held out under the attack, held up in bunkers and dugouts, like rats.
Many bomber parties were formed to go out and clear these holdouts with varying success. I would not see much of this, as I was not a bomber, nor was I even in the right sector, my priority was getting back to my line.
Nino looked back at me again, while we stepped to the side to let a couple men rush past. "Say, you were pretty good out there" He looked at me in his tired and worn out eyes. I shrugged. "I guess… it was kinda a blur out there" He chuckled softly "I know what you mean, ever since we went over the top it has been a blur, doesn't seem real" It was my turn to laugh, well because he was right.
This whole situation didn't feel real. As much danger I was in I was confident that I would not get hurt, felt like I was playing soldier back home, just carrying about how a real soldier would. "Just thankful I made it without any serious injuries" I said as I sighed. "Was going to ask you about that" Nino said as he pointed to his forehead, where my hastily put bandage hung just under the protection of my helmet. "Shrapnel, just before I got into the trench, got pretty damn lucky it was just a scratch" he looked at the ground "Pretty damn lucky indeed"
It may be hubris, or something of the sort, but I never once worried that any of my dear friends were dead. We were different. I held out in my heart and mind that they would be waiting for me. Call it childhood confidence, call it whatever you like, but I thought that we were different. This hope lessened every step I took in Fox's sector.
I saw the other platoons, but with the state of the battle, no one really knew where anyone was, most people were just arriving in their designated sectors. "Anyone seen 2nd platoon?" I asked a group of soldiers that were watching the line. " Think the 2nd is down the line some, it's all a jumbled mess though, goodluck trying to find anyone" I thanked the men and continued down the line. Nino took a turn off to continue farther down the line and we shook hands and I wished him luck.
As I was walking I saw a group of O.R prisoners huddled around a large dugout, with a couple armed guards watching over them. I looked at them. They were ragged. Many were bandaged, all were dirty, caked in mud and snow. They were all sharing a single cigarette, passing it around the circle trying to keep themselves warm.
I looked at one of the soldiers guarding the group, holding his rifle by his side, yet always making sure that it was pointing towards the group. "This is all we caught," I said to him as I walked up next to him. "All the ones we were told to keep alive"
He chuckled and looked back at me. He put a cigarette in his mouth and leaned over, asking for a light. I always kept a box of matches in my pocket, for some unknown reason, even though I did not smoke at the time. I pulled it out and covered it with my shaking hands as he took a puff, making sure it was lit.
"Not many of them" I said to him while counting the little heads that were in the group. "Most either ran to the second trench or we killed, not many men took any prisoners you know" I thought back, I myself did not take any prisoners during the initial attack. "I'm surprised any prisoners even remain, in all the chaos I mean"
I looked down at the prisoners again, a weak and pathetic looking group, they all refused to make eye contact with me and continued their soft and quiet whispers. I couldn't believe those were the men we struggled so hard against the previous hour. "We were hounded by the Lieutenant to at least get some prisoners, so we did, and would have had our asses if we failed to do so." He said as he took a long puff of the cigarette.
A loud shouting rang off in the distance. "ARTILLERY". We all knew that command many times so we all quickly ducked our heads down. Loud cracks rang out next to us. The man I was talking to cursed under his breath "Seems as if their artillery finally woke up" He said in a wince.
I nodded my head. We had been relatively lucky so far with the light counter battery, mostly from mortars, but no longer, their main artillery seemed to have finally got the memo that we captured the trench, and proceeded to shell it to kingdom come.
The trench itself was in a state of disrepair, from our bombardment in the hours prior to our attack, and to this bombardment meaning there was not much cover. We forced the prisoners out of their dugout and we jumped in, leaving them huddled together in the relative danger of the open trench.
Almost instantly afterwards a loud thump rang out and dirt filled my vision. As it cleared it seemed as if all the previous prisoners were on the ground now. Some not moving, most wiggling around in the dirt of the trench. I could not hear their screams of agony, as the loud artillery was the only thing that filled my ears. I sat still. Flinching every time a shell would land close. But I was not crying and screaming as I had done in my first experience. Since that first time, I have been shelled countless times.
I looked down at the squirming prisoners on the floor. I did not pity them, or was glad they were hurt. Simply no emotions, no thoughts in my head as I watch them there. Eventually the barrage subsided. With it we hurriedly scrambled out of our hole and took places on the makeshift parapets lining up towards the enemy. "GET READY, AN ATTACK" A loud and commanding voice rang out some thirty meters down the line, the voice sounded eerily familiar. We all rested our rifles on the ground, just barely peeking our eyes in the sights, not trying to expose our heads.