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face`s on whiteground

by tonelock1 

Posted: 22 April 2004
Word Count: 657
Summary: stalingrad,1944-323rd panzer grenadeir regt 21st army group febuary-


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freezing it must be 20 below,fingers numbed by the cold
and the stench of death hang on our clothing,no amount of cold washing cold rinse it from our nostrils,in my bleary eyed vison i could see men huddled togeher their breath freezing in mid air,ammo tins and spent cartridges lay like confetti,the shattered remains of the building we took cover in,had no roof or any window frames,we used them earlier for fire wood,the icy russian winter froze men to the spot,both russian and german stared at each other,in total silence peering out over the broken bricks meant a quick death from a sniper,i often thought how it would be far better to end it quickly,then simply freezing to death,many chose it too.jurgen a big lump of a man from saxony,just stood up the inpact from the snipers round throwing his lifeles body meters backwards
into a heap,lying in the remains of our makeshift latrine
wasnt a place for hero of the grenadeirs,to lie i couldnt forget the look on his contorted face,he was smiling it seemed,its snowing again time to move the snow was so thick it was lke as sudden foggy blanket,it deaden sound so,that you couldnt hear anything,a man could simply walk past you and you never see him,let alone hear his steps
suddenley gun fire the rat rat of our mp40,versus the psh russian guns,was deafing in this crap confined room,it was our men covering us as we ran from our dingy hole to another,i fired at their side,i couldnt see anything,but nor could their snipers,the rush went to your head the sudden movement on tired limbs,and starvation rations was labouros my feet felt like weights my breath caught between excitement and freezing fear then clink,clink
GRENADE,was the scream as the pineapple shaped grenade landed among us,life went into slow motion as if time stood still then it rushed and caught up with you in an instant.deafened blinded by the flash,i lay motionless
as my brian digested the information,as the debris fell to earth stones earth brick dust and a arm still clutching
a rifle stock my ears ringing and the sudden shock hit me at once,then being dragged by my tunic into the darkness
of another hell hole hide out,i was struggling to free my self,to no avail i had no strength to fight back the voices were harsh i felt the strike on my jaw from the butt of a weapon,and voices again in semi cons state my eyes met a slant eyed mans face in uniform,of muddy brown
stained great coat,his pistol held at my face..his face was of a man who seen the worst conditons to fight a war in,haggard deep black shadows under his eyes,unwashed for weeks,his hands black with dirt n oil,i could smell the mans breath on me,i knew id been captured and normally russians dont keep pows alive long,if at all 'dont get taken'was drilled into us all the time the ss were shot on the spot,after some much brutal punishment first,but i was an ordinary trooper not a z manilch i explained,in broken russian the pistol was levelled at my head and i wait to die if i could cry for my mum i would but i couldnt,i felt nothing afraid yes but were all afriad really we pass it off as a joke,i didnt want to die,but didnt want to live like this either my mind wondered to home my brother playing in the garden,my dad yelling at us to be quiet,my dad funny old sod a iron worker with arms like a boxer,but a gentle giant us a bunch of skinny kids,in uniforms which didnt fit,my dad laughed at me in the uniform,'u can hide in your helmit no one would see you he said.taking the piss i was quite proud to wear it
now i wished i could burnt the thing,and all it stood for
then get a bullet in the face,






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Comments by other Members



tonelock1 at 23:40 on 22 April 2004  Report this post
my attempt of explaing the ghaslty war on the eastern front,from the ordinary german trooper,then do the same for a russain one,but taken as the man who got this soldier at gunpoint

Anna Reynolds at 19:16 on 23 April 2004  Report this post
Tonelock1, there's some very powerful language and imagery in here- it is quite difficult to read at the moment because of the way you've condensed it all into one great big sentence- can I suggest you have a go at making it simpler, it feels almost poetic, and stream-of-conciousness. Maybe it would be good to split it into quite a few shorter sections; this would make it much more readable. Is this the finished piece? or it part of a longer piece? In a way it seems complete, and the part looking back at the childhood is moving and well conveyed.

Dee at 23:39 on 23 April 2004  Report this post
Kevin, your knowledge of war is clear in this and gives it authenticity.

I agree with Anna but my problem is that you haven’t indicated which level of comment you are looking for. So I’m not sure how much to say.

As Anna said, the imagery is powerful but, I have to ask, have you completely switched off your spellchecker? Why do you not use capitals? Why do you use ‘u’ instead of ‘you’?

i didnt want to die,but didnt want to live like this either my mind wondered to home my brother playing in the garden,my dad yelling at us to be quiet,my dad funny old sod a iron worker with arms like a boxer,but a gentle giant us a bunch of skinny kids,in uniforms which didnt fit,my dad laughed at me in the uniform,'u can hide in your helmit no one would see you he said.taking the piss i was quite proud to wear it
now i wished i could burnt the thing,and all it stood for
then get a bullet in the face,


Just picking out a few samples in this paragraph:

You need a space after a comma.
I should always be a capital.
‘wondered’ looks like it should be ‘wandered’
‘u presumably should be ‘you’
‘helmit’ – helmet.

This has the makings of a good story but, as it stands, it is just too difficult to read. And, if this style is deliberate, I’m not sure what you are trying to say?

Sorry.

Dee.


Dee at 09:10 on 24 April 2004  Report this post
Kevin, I've just had another read through this morning. There is some extraordinary imagery and emotion here. So much so that I don’t understand why you’d want to cloud it with this style of writing. I’m assuming you’ve written it this way deliberately. In which case, I’ll shut up…

If you haven’t, and you would like advice on how to edit this piece, just ask. We’ll be happy to help.

Dee.


tonelock1 at 12:02 on 24 April 2004  Report this post
thanks every one for your comments
i write very fast,the story unfolds as i type it hence the errors,speling mistakes,its rough at te moment but i dont have a spell checker i just went ahead n did it their and then,ill do what you guys said and make it more flowing and readable

scottwil at 12:52 on 25 April 2004  Report this post
I agree with previous comments. This is very strong in terms of conveying a sense of place and the feelings of despair, but the typos etc. are off-putting. A bit of finessing would certainly help, but hopefully not too much of an edit. For me the raw stream of consciousness style seems to add to the power here.
Good stuff Tone.
Best
Sion

tonelock1 at 08:29 on 27 April 2004  Report this post
hi all not able to get pc working due power cuts every 5 mins,when i get paid i take up the full memebership

Beejay at 18:26 on 08 October 2004  Report this post
Hi Kevin,

Enjoyed this piece. Just finished reading a non-fiction book on Stalingrad and this could have been lifted straight out of it. Very realistic and 'in your face'.

Are you planing to polish it up or upload some more?.

Cheers

Beejay


paul53 [for I am he] at 11:37 on 14 March 2005  Report this post
It comes across like a hurried diary entry, and would benefit from being set out correctly and the errors corrected.

Small note: a head-shot from a sniping rifle might snap the head back but the body usually just slumps forward. I've got a Russian Mosin-Nagant and the velocity of the round is too fast for the body to react to its trajectory.


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