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,