When war broke out between the countries, the government launched an emergency military mobilization, drafting people from the people into the army and sending men of all ages to the front after a short period of rapid training. One of these men was me, my name was Werner, working with my father in a tailor shop, living an ordinary life with my family like everyone else.
But now, at the age of 21, I was forcibly sent to fight as a soldier on the Eastern Front, separated from my wife Julia and my family, I swore to my old father to fight like a fearless man, so I never backed down, even when the enemy rained gunpowder and metal on our unit from the air and land for days. I stayed alert day and night
so as not to die I did not stop resisting.
My stomach was always hungry I never felt full, I can hardly remember my stomach being half full, damn it. I miss the days when Julia and I passionately made love in my beautiful bed and then we both got tired and hugged each other and fell asleep. Instead of leaning on the headboard of my bed, the only thing I leaned on helplessly was the backs of my friends who were dying one by one, what could I do? If it weren't for the beautiful memories I held on to under these conditions, I would have lost my mind long ago, unable to stand. Although it became harder to resist as time went by, for this reason I always pushed my will until the end and did not let the enemy pass.
Even when the commander stopped giving orders after a while, I kept my eyes forward, resisting the bullets piercing the wind. Until my ammunition ran out and I shouted ammunition and no one answered. When I suddenly turned around and leaned over the trench, I did not lose my focus. It took me a while to realize that something was different, I realized that the lifeless bodies of the soldiers I had resisted against the enemy for the last 2 hours were now lying motionless on the ground. Quickly looking around with my eyes, I saw the sergeant of the unit sitting on the ground a little ahead of me and leaning back, his face was turned towards me, he was looking at me, I called out to him but he did not answer me, I slowly crawled up to him and asked, what is your order, commander, I grabbed his shoulders and tried to shake him slightly so that he would answer, his head fell to the back of his neck, I noticed that his face was pale, the spirit in his eyes had long gone, unfortunately the sergeant was also dead, I reached out my hand and covered his still open eyes with my palm.
The last time I heard the sergeant's voice, I think he was shouting something like - do not leave your positions, never, never give way to the attacking enemy, do you hear me, even if you die, do you understand me, even if you die, I think that's what he said. What ridiculous orders. How can they defend this place after the other soldiers are dead ha ha ha, this sergeant is a very funny man.
Now that I think about it, why were we doing this? Why are we here? Ha-ha-ha.. I think the main thing was to kill or die, was that really the only option? This is completely pathetic, this war is complete nonsense, these soulless bodies that fell to the ground, what did they give their lives for? Why were we fighting each other? What was it for? For the independence of my country or the independence of my people? ... No, all I wanted from the very beginning was to protect my family, this war can go to hell, I don't care. My beautiful Julia, my sweet pregnant wife, what did she write in her last letter? I remember, I'm a father now, right? I have to get out of here right now, I have to go back to my wife and my family, in her letter she wrote that the baby was born and I had to give him a name and that's why he was waiting for me, I couldn't even write back to her, damn it, I don't want to die here, yes, yes, I definitely have to go back to them.
Werner's face was filled with a mixture of fear and regret, tears streaming down his cheeks as he climbed the trenches among the dead soldiers. He began to stumble, the intense thoughts in his mind growing stronger with his steps. His pupils had blurred and the dust on the battlefield made it difficult for him to see, Werner was only thinking about how quickly he could get out of here and hold his baby in his arms; he had lost all sense of direction now. Unconsciously, instead of going behind the defensive line, he went in front of it. He started walking towards the enemy trench. As he had promised his wife, he was muttering the name he would give his newborn baby. The fear and anxiety on his face disappeared when he saw this beautiful dream. He smiled involuntarily.
At that moment, some soldiers from the enemy lines unfortunately noticed him, raised their weapons and aimed at his body. Seeing this man walking with a smile that contrasted with his surroundings, the soldiers looked at the man coming towards them as if he were not an enemy soldier. As he carelessly walked down the street to pick up the shopping list his wife had given him in the town square, he muttered to himself, "Veronika. My beautiful girl, your name will be Veronika!" Werner's words were suddenly silenced forever by the sound of rifle fire