Short Story - Heros of Berlin

True Hero’s of Berlin


Trevor Landonth lay nervously on his large oak desk in his room wondering about his brother, Anthony who, was fighting on the Western Front against Germany and her allies. He felt so far away from his brother, and couldn’t imagine what it was like over there. There he was living on a country farm house away from death and fear, at one with the world where peace surrounded all. In his letter from his brother 4 weeks ago, Anthony wrote how cold it was living in the trenches for weeks, and the freezing nights. Over in the Queensland town of Roma hill he had never experienced such temperatures. With summer in Australia coming up, he was wondering how his brother is coping with the winter in France. He had heard many stories of soldiers dying from the cold. This made him even more worried. He had not received a letter from his brother in a few weeks. He feared the worst as Anthony always wrote every couple of days.
“He’s fine, maybe the cargo carrier got bombed while passing by Japan, and he’ll write soon… he has to.”Trevor whispered to himself over and over again. He lifted his head off the desk when he heard the uncommon sound of a car coming towards the large white house. A few seconds later, he saw two men in uniform inside the car, his heart sank, and skipped a beat.
The car stopped in front of the large farm house, and the two smartly uniformed men walked up and knocked on the front door, took off their fur felt hats and lowered their heads in respect as Mrs. Landonth opened the door. She dropped to her knees, in despair with her head on the floor she broke out in tears and started screaming. The two military chiefs tried to comfort her but nothing could heal the pain of losing a child.
Trevor was up all night listening to his mother crying and praying in bed for hours, he could not hold it in any longer, and burst out into tears. His brother, his own brother had been killed in an air raid during a night mission on the front lines. He lay there in bed, for two days crying wishing that he had died instead of his brother.
***Four Months later***
Once again he lay there on his work desk, wondering about the past and the future. The last few months had been some of the hardest of his life. He began to question what if the Germans did win the war, his brother’s efforts and all the other soldiers efforts would have been an utter waste. Thousands would have died for nothing, blood shed for nothing. He decided he had to do something, but what he would do he asked himself for days.
The next day he was walking along the road through the small town, when he passed by the general store on the home from school. He saw an enlistment poster with the words
‘What are you doing to fend off the Germans?’ This caused him to feel as uneasy about it. He got home, and walked into his room, and dived onto his dirty pile of clothes which had almost covered the entire floor. He started day dreaming thinking about how great of an adventure it would be to go fight against the evil Germans, and see the world.
He heard a knock on the door.
“Hello anyone there?” said the familiar voice.
“Coming!” he yelled.”
He opened the door and outside stood his friend Jared.
“Hey, are you coming down to the spring or what? Said Jared
“Whatever, lets go.” He mumbled.
Jared gave him a strange look and then they both rushed outside and raced to the small spring only a few meters away through the bush.
“Jared, I’ve got something to talk to you about.”
“What is it? Have stolen booze or something again?” Jared replied.
“No, I saw the poster about joining the great fight out in the store window on the way from school, and I think it’s my duty to go and help them out, but I really don’t know what to do, I’m only a 16 year old boy.”
“You must be crazy, but honestly it’s your choice, and they would never let a 16 year old in. You would have to have to fake your age or something.” He said out of disbelief.
Finally the weekend came, and he’d been thinking about joining the fight all week, he had sleepless nights out of excitement, and fear lying in bed covered in a cold sweat.
Early Saturday morning he woke up, put on his brother’s old black suit which was still hanging from his door for when his brother planned to return in two months time. He made a desperate attempt to make his sixteen year old appearance turn into that of a young man’s. When he had put his suit and shoes and combed his dark brown hair, he walked over to the mirror and looked fit for going out to the recruiting office.
This is the start of the greatest adventure of my life! He thought to himself.
Out the back door he snuck, he jumped on his bike and rode off down the bumpy gravel driveway towards town. A few minutes later, he came into the small town, and casually made his way over to the small recruiting office across the street from the general store. It had a white sign with the words “Recruitment Office” written in large black letters. Inside was only a desk with two Military men sitting at one end, and another chair facing. On the desk lay a large pile of papers with a pen resting on top.
“This isn’t the newsagent son.” One of the men laughed.
“I’m here to join the armed forces Sir.” he said in a deep voice.
“Well alright then, let’s see your papers son.” said the other.
He pulled out his forged parent approval form for joining, and with his age and date of birth changed to 19 years old.
“All looks good, just sign here, here and here.” said the man as he handed over a document.
The deal was sealed with an exchange of handshakes. He was allowed, and congratulated, and handed a bunch of papers containing information on when he was shipping out. Trevor felt like he accomplished his mission and was glad. He didn’t bother reading the papers till he got home. Upon reading the pile of papers to his surprise he was leaving Monday morning.
Sunday passed by and felt to him like the slowest day there had ever been, he had secretly packed his clothes while his mother was asleep in her room early Monday morning before the sun had touched the horizon. Once again he snuck through the back door, caught the small bus which drove on the country road the port of Brisbane. It arrived there just after noon amongst dozens of other busses with other recruits. In the water stood a enormous white passenger ship. There were young men, dressed in fancy suits everywhere saying goodbye to their families and loved ones. He stood there watching in awe of the size of the ship and the surroundings. His adventure had truly begun!
He reached for his papers in his pocket and began to look for the boarding instructions. In the top left corner there was 52nd Battalion, 3rd Division 2nd Squad. He peered around looking at small signs men were holding at different boarding gates. One old looking fellow was holding a sign that said, ‘52nd Battalion, 3rd Division 2nd Squad boarding gate and sign in.’
Slowly making his way through the crowd with his large bag of personal belongings slung over his back he came and stood in line at the check in table.
“You look lost mate.” Said a stranger
“No, I’m in the right place I believe, why are you lost?” Trevor replied enthusiastically.
“So you’re here to join the great fight aye?” he smirked.
“Certainly am, got to do my bit for the faithful motherland just, so are you in this division?” he said out of curiosity.
“The name is Craig.” He said as he introduced himself more thoroughly. “I guess we’re stuck together then aye mate 2nd battalion is for most of the recruits from Queensland.”
“Oh dear!” He laughed.
They both signed the book, and boarded the ship together.
Four weeks in the smelly and damp ship turned into a nightmare quickly, the smell of rotten food, human waste and puke was atrocious.

***Three weeks later***
The ship pulled into the quite port at Cairo and hundreds of troops began to flood off the large vessel. Busses were waiting to take each group to the training facility 20 miles down the dirt and sand path.
Trevor got on the bus along with his new found mate Craig, they both grabbed their bags and were rushed onto the busses. The road was bumpy and dust from the bus in front covered the large yellow bus. The view was blocked and they were left to sit on the hot and stinky and smelly bus for 30 minutes.
They arrived at the large training camp. It was a barren landscape with dust from the deserts being blown around by the desert winds. The next few months they were going to be stuck here, in the desert of Cairo for their training. Living in the small housing blocks was harsh, with limited food, strict and harsh training conditions made life hard. But they soldiers made the best of the situation.

****Three Months Later****
During his training in Cairo, Trevor thought his mum would have been worried sick about him. He wrote a short but brief letter to her of what was going on.
Dear mother,
I’m dearly sorry for putting you through this, but its something I must do. For Anthony, I can’t just let him have died for nothing. I have to do my bit. Amidst all this, I’m currently being trained in Cairo, the conditions are harsh but I’m fine. I will be home within a few months.
Yours Truly
Trevor.

After training in the arid deserts of Cairo another four ships came into the port. Early morning, a call on the wireless came through that it was time to ship out. The soldiers were ordered to pack their belongings and put the green uniforms they were issued on and for a final time moved onto the crammed, smelly yellow buses. The busses arrived at the port and they boarded the transport ship which would take the 5,000 men to France.

Arriving in France the scorching desert heat was exchanged for freezing temperatures which froze water in a cup within a few seconds of being exposed to the elements. During the day it was a blistering minus twelve degrees Celsius and the nights were even worse.

The ships docked in Montpellier in southern France and the ships were unloaded. The men were excited amidst seeing a new country that many of them had only heard about. The excitement was decanted by feelings of anxiousness. The men knew that once they were to enter battle all would change.
Trevor , Craig and the rest of the soldiers were told to walk into the village to the military housing estate where they would remain for the night. They all bunked down in the small wooden lodges.
“Never in my life have I known such a cold place.” mumbled Dannie, one of the soldiers in their company.
“And they expect us to sleep outside for the next three weeks?” Laughed Trevor
“Ah boys we’re used to it, down in Hobart, we sleep under the stars in the freezing nights… for fun too.” bragged Craig.
“We have to get some sleep guys. We got to get up early before sunrise to catch the train to Strasbourg on the northern side of France.” Said Trevor
Early the next morning about an hour and a half before sunrise the men readied their uniforms and once again packed their bags. Fog hung over the city of Montpellier. It was quite and almost no wind blowing at the time. They were marched down to Le’ruge’ Train Station half a kilometer south from the housing blocks. Their Unit was to catch the first train out to Strasbourg.
The enormous black and red 1925 Volvo Steam Engine pulled a remarkable 30 carriages each able to transport 35 men. The trains slowly made its way across the green and lush French country side passing countless vineyards and small towns stopping at every few major stations. Many men now felt this was the last peace they would see for weeks and that the coming weeks were to be hell.
“Alright girl scouts, once we arrive in Strasbourg you are to move onto the green camouflaged troop transporting trucks, bring your bags, equipment and rifle along with you. These trucks are going to take you over the border into Germany from here on there’s no turning back.” announced Staff Sergeant Doyle.
This was it, they were a few hours away from the chaos unfolding in Berlin. The train took 15 hours to travel the 800 kilometers across France.
They arrived in France at about 9pm in the dead of night. The cold was overwhelming. Everyone was warned to not touch any metal with bare skin as it would freeze to it. Of course one of the soldiers thought it would be smart to test this. He licked his finger and placed it on the railing of the steps off the train. His finger froze to it and to pull it off he had to rip the skin leaving his finger exposed and bleeding. He screamed in agony but the others just laughed at his stupidity. They had to hold their guns close to their bodies so the guns did not become too cold to hold. A few of the men had already gotten frost bite as their cotton gloves were worn out from overuse and wear and tear. There was no doubt that they were well and truly poorly equipped for this extreme cold.
They unloaded the trains, men pushed to get through the crowd hoping that wherever they were going was going to be warmer. Each man carried about 30kg of equipment and personal belongings and their rifles. They marched five kilometers over a small hill where they were to meet the convoy of vehicles. This walk was not so far but walking with so much equipment in temperatures well below zero degrees Celsius made it painful and slow. Forty minutes later they arrived at the trucks which were lined up in their hundreds, each with three armed Guards sitting in the front along with a driver. The Convoy was lead by two Humvees and a heavily armed assault vehicle. The assault vehicle was painted a dark green and grey color. It had two mounted 50callibre machine guns with two gunners and three soldiers carrying the standard .303 Rifles. Getting onto the trucks was a menace as they were almost one meter off the ground. There were two footsteps, one on right and the other the left of the back of the truck. Sitting in the back along with 20 other men and their equipment was painful. They were cramped more than a can of sardines. The only benefit was that it kept the cold out. Through the night the convoy pressed on North east across the border through, Frankfurt, Chemnitz stopping in Potsdam.
Potsdam was the final Allied captured town. This was also the last so called “Safe Zone”. The Trucks refueled and were given instructions on where to go next. They convoy once again pressed on North West leaving for the final destination. Mitte, it was only two kilometers East of the front lines of Berlin where they Germans and their allies were making their final stand.
Still in the dead of night, the darkness was almost dissipated by artillery fire and the flashing of bombs from the air strikes. The convoy stopped and things started to get busy, orders from the commanders were going around.
“Where in god’s name is 52nd Battalion, 3rd Division, 2nd Squad?” yelled General Ashford.
“Sir.” screamed the squad as they came into formation on the road.
“Your leading the Battalion in on this one, Sergeant Marks is in charge and you will do as he says, Corporal Kennedy will be Second in Command. You know the drill soldiers. Do your nation proud, lead these men to victory. The weight of our future is on your shoulders men.”
General Ashford and Sergeant Marks spoke briefly and explained the plan to him.
“Squad.” yelled Sergeant Marks.
“By the centre, quick march.” he continued
They were off, marching along a narrow road to the centre of Berlin where the American troops were struggling to hold off the Germans.

The rising sun was momentarily on their shoulders. The warming rays of the sun were soon dissipated by the thick fog and smoke covering the war stricken city. For a moment it all seemed peaceful as the fog shrouded a sight which they could never be prepared enough to see. The freezing wind picked up as the morning began to unfold and the battalion of men pressed on eastwards to the front lines. Within a few minutes the wind blew away the fog and smoke the aweful smell was now clear. The wind exposed the fierce brutality of Hitler and his army.
Not a single building was left upright, ruins lay everywhere. Bodies of children and men littered the streets. There were even some bodies hanging from trees and light posts. Others lay lifelessly on the streets with cut throats or gunshot wounds to the head.
It was clear that the Nazi Forces would do anything to achieve their ultimate goal.
Trevor felt sick in the stomach and felt like the Nazi forces have to die for this, he had to make them pay for doing something evil like this.
The constant thundering sound of machine gun fire could be heard more clearly now. Each squad broke off into different directions. Trevor’s Squad moved straight ahead where American soldiers were hiding in the ruins of a building. They broke out of their ranks and ran towards the shelter of the ruins. Sergeant Marks walked over to American Group Captain Hamish.
“We need you to go to our west and try to out flank their defensive lines, also we need that machine gun turret taken out. It’s causing some problems for our air strikes.” screamed G.C Hamish.
“Come on, you heard him men, let’s move west. Watch the cross fire.” ordered Srg. Marks.
Trevor ran for cover along with the other men. Craig was five meters to his left also running for cover.
“Trevor watch out!” scream Craig at the top of his lungs.
Trevor looked up above him and saw there was a mortar shell about to land where he was standing, he leapt and jumped to his left just as the shell hit the road and exploded.
“Are you trying to get yourself killed Trevor?” roared Craig.
“Come on, we have to keep moving, there are enemy troops moving towards us. We have to get to that ditch over there and set up a defensive position.”
Trevor still dazed from the explosion close to him, made quickly made his way to the ditch. He grabbed his riffle and started shooting at enemy soldiers crossing the road. One of the five enemy soldiers fell flat in an instant. Trevor could not believe he had actually killed someone. He felt proud of himself, and that he finally got revenge for what they did to his brother. They could hear the whistling of bullets flying overhead. The other soldiers in the group looked over the top of the concrete pillar which was protecting them. In an instant a storm of bullets bombarded into the concrete pillar barely missing their heads. Srg. Marks fell over and lay on the ground in a pool of blood. A single sniper shot to the head killed him in a flash.
Trevor looked to his right and saw Marks lying lifelessly on the ground.
“Medic, get a medic!” he yelled
“Trevor, it’s too late, he’s gone, and he’s in a better place.” Screamed Cpl. Kennedy
Trevor looked dazed amidst the exchange of fire, he knelt next to Srg. Marks.
“Get yourself together Trevor, grab your rifle and shoot you imbecile or else I’ll shoot you.” threatened one of the other soldiers.
The machine gun post was just forty meters ahead of them. Craig ran out while the others covered him. He ran to the other side of the street where there was better cover behind a burnt out German tank. Craig signaled them to come to him as he threw a grenade at the machine gun post. The explosion from the grenade disabled the machine gun and they were able to move forward another 20 meters where they set up a defensive line in the ruins of one of a small building. For hours the sixteen men lay within the twisted metal and bricks firing at the enemy soldiers which were attempting to advance up the road. The day dragged on for hours but soon enough night came. The sky was once again lit up with anti aircraft fire.
The radio started to beep.
“Cario , come over here.” Said Kennedy
He grabbed the radio from Cario’s pack.
“Roger, Cpl. Kennedy over, Srg. Marks is dead.” he said over the radio
“What’s your current location?” a voice replied
“We’re two hundred meters directly west from Chappell Hill. “
“We are sending in an air strike, be advised 220 millimeter shells will be dropped in a raid from a further two hundred meters west of you on Decklan’s gulley. Once the shells are dropped move your squad west down Heichen Street until you see the church. Wait there for the American squad to join you. G.C. Hamish will give you further instructions. Over.”
“Roger that.” said Kennedy hesitantly

Although it was only two hundred meters to their objective, the streets were lined with German soldiers. Mortal shells were raining down everywhere. Within a few minutes the flight of bombers could be heard. The sky light up even brighter with plane spotting lights being turned on all around the city. A barrage of machine gun fire was unleashed on the planes as the dropped the bombs just a few meters from where Trevor, Craig and their group were hiding in debris. The exploding bombs caused the ground to shake violently beneath them. One of the bombs was off target and hit a building across the street from them.
“Alright, Craig and Trevor follow me, the rest of you go down the right side of the street. Once the raid is over we need to fight our way through to the church down the road” said Kennedy
As they made their way towards the church, the other divisions also made their way west. 15th Division captured a German shelter which had nine hundred soldiers inside. They were all taken prisoner. The Americans tortured one of the soldiers and interrogated him. Within a few minutes the captured general told them that Hitler was hiding in a small underground bomb shelter north of the church.
“Trevor, 9oclock high, two enemy snipers take them out.” whispered one of the soldiers on the other side of the street
Trevor opened fire and for a few minutes there was an exchange of fire, and during this they did not notice that another half dozen enemy soldiers moved up behind the corner of a building. The German soldiers started to fire with a machine gun. They ran for cover but as they were running Craig tripped over on a piece of barbed wire. He lay exposed in the middle of the street stuck to the wire as machine gun rounds grew ever closer to him.
Trevor ran out into the street not thinking clearly, just as he reached Craig one of the enemy soldiers threw a grenade and it landed within a few paces of them both. Trevor pulled Craig to his feet and they dived away. The force of the grenade exploding pushed them a further four meters. Kennedy ordered the rest of the soldiers to immediately return fire, they shot and killed 5 of them, but one remained lying on the floor still alive but wounded heavily.
They pressed on forwards to the church where they waited only a few minutes for the American forces to come. G.C. Hamish talked with Kennedy for a brief moment.
“What happened to Marks?” asked G.C Hamish.
“He got a shot to the head this morning.” replied Kennedy
“Alright, seeing as you’re in charge I’ll tell you the plan. We received Intel that Hitler himself is in a bunker within a few meters from here. Our aim is to find him and take him prisoner. Our source says he will be heavily protected by other soldiers.”
“Where do you want us to go?”
“Follow us to the park on the western side of the church, there is a small brick building there, inside should be a ladder of some sort.”
“Let’s get a move on then.”
Stealthily they slowly made their way towards the park, suddenly they came under heavy fire, the men were out in the open. Cpl. Kennedy and his group ran for cover behind a water fountain. Seventeen of the American troops had been caught in the machine gun fire and were dead. The remaining men crawled the last fifty meters to the building in the muddy ground in the park, which smelt of blood and the dead from the mass murders. The other Allied soldiers had now also cleared out the German soldiers who were in defensive positions around the building and park in a heavy exchange of fire.
More than twenty thousand Allied soldiers were lost fighting against the estimated one hundred thousand enemy troops to get to this point. This was the Last Stand made by Hitler’s army.
Trevor and Craig were the first to enter the building, they tried to be as quite as possible. The room had no windows and was a little bigger than the average bathroom .It was dark inside they turned on a torch, on the floor was a small rug. They lifted the rug and it revealed a trap door into the wooden floor. In lifting the rug, the American soldiers moved into the room also. The trapdoor seemed to be locked from the inside. Craig grabbed his riffle and smashed it against the wood. It smashed and fell open. Below was a ladder that went about three meters down.
It was light inside of the hide out, there were a number of rooms but they were all empty. There was a thin layer of smoke hovering over the floor. In one of the rooms was a bin of papers still on fire. It was clear that they were trying to destroy all the plans and documents. In the very far corner of the underground hide out was a room with a steel door.
“Shhh… There’s a room over here, it’s got a locked door.” whispered Trevor to the other soldiers
“Who has the explosives?” asked Craig
“Over here.” said one of the American soldiers as he quietly made his way over to the door.
The soldier handed Cpl. Kennedy the plastic explosives and Kenney placed them on the door next to the handle. He set the charge and pullet the detonation pin. The soldiers ducked and covered their heads. With a sudden BOOM the door flung open. They rushed inside, and saw three bodies on the floor. Adolf Hitler was standing in the corner with a 9mm pistol to his head. In a flash, he pulled the trigger and fell to the floor.
The other men in the room cheered, Trevor fell to his knees out of joy and sadness. He knew that this was what his brother fought so hard for. Only his brother did not make it this far, but he had come here to see his brother’s death avenged. It was a moment of joy and sadness, the memory of his brother and the victory against Hitler, a victory against evil.

 

Pretty cool. Never heard of this story. Well done.

 

"Only his brother did not make it this far, but he had come here to see his brother’s death avenged. It was a moment of joy and sadness, the memory of his brother and the victory against Hitler, a victory against evil."

I liked that part, it stood out. Just the way it was stated.

If you don't get an A-is it for school? I'll be dammed.