Chapter 961: Never to Be Seen Again

In war, trying to track down a few wounded soldiers can sometimes be incredibly easy, and other times, incredibly difficult. Unfortunately, the loss and casualty reports for the 502nd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion were exceptionally chaotic.

At the time, the 502nd was scattered across several locations. As a heavy tank battalion used as a battlefield fire brigade, the area they were responsible for defending was vast.

Almost at the same moment that the last two tanks of Rein’s 1st Platoon, 1st Company were wiped out, the five King Tigers of his 2nd Platoon were also annihilated in the struggle for Hill 808. It was the success of this battle that had delayed the Das Reich Division’s retreat, almost leading to them being surrounded and wiped out by the Soviet army.

And before this battle, two tanks from the 502nd Panzer Battalion had already suffered heavy losses, and one Tiger tank from the battalion headquarters had also been destroyed. By the time Rein’s crew was finally knocked out, the entire battalion had only eight tanks left. And during the retreat, one tank had a mechanical failure and ultimately had to be scuttled.

Due to this scattered deployment and method of engagement, it wasn’t surprising that many units lost contact or went unrecorded. Some infantry from the Das Reich Division claimed to have seen some King Tigers of an unknown unit during their retreat. These tanks were presumed to have possibly come from the 2nd Platoon of Rein’s tank company.

As for the special forces, since they were not part of the regular Wehrmacht army group establishment, a captain’s request to access their operational records was a bit above his pay grade. It was estimated that if Guderian were to apply, it might be approved.

So for two whole days, while the Germans were being routed on the front line and news of the loss of Belgorod had reached Rein, he was still unable to find his subordinates, whose fate was unknown. Rein’s own injuries, however, had recovered a great deal. At least the pain was no longer so exaggerated that he had to suppress a groan with silence.

That nurse came by often, her eyes full of a special light for this young captain. It should be known that although she was a full ten years older than him, to face a “little fresh meat” who had been summoned by the Führer, it was almost certain she would have some ideas. But the current situation was a case of “the flower intends to follow the flowing water, but the flowing water has no heart for the fallen flower.”

On the long line of actual control on the German-Soviet front, the armies of the two countries were like two wounded primordial beasts, quietly licking their wounds, doing their utmost to gather their strength to deliver another fatal blow. Both sides were accumulating all their power, hoping that in the next battle, they could create the situation they most wanted to see.

The focus of the German offensive had shifted from the south back to the center. The other main German force in Rundstedt’s hands, the elite Army Group A, was to attack in the direction of Moscow, to completely capture this Soviet capital, in order to end the war as soon as possible. The other direction in which Germany was to maintain its offensive was the southernmost Grozny front, where General Manstein was leading M Army Group in a hard push towards Baku.

The current stable situation for the Soviet Union was a final gasp and struggle. At least near Moscow, the fact that the Soviet forces were insufficient was a hard reality to change. To resist the thunderous blow of Army Group A with such a weak force, even Stalin himself did not believe he could achieve victory in the defense of Moscow. But Stalin at least intended to try, and the officials and politicians under him were already beginning to prepare their own escape routes.

Many had begun to privately discuss the feasibility of ending the war. Some had even proposed ceding all of Germany’s current occupied territories in exchange for an end to the war and a strategic treaty of non-aggression between the two countries. Some had even more radically proposed that they could join the German Axis group and use foreign expansion in other directions to make up for the losses brought by the German invasion.

What was even more exaggerated was that some had even begun to prepare an attack on Stalin. The entire operation included using suicide squads to attack his motorcade or to lay mines on his necessary routes. Unfortunately for them, Stalin himself had not taken a single step outside the Kremlin, so this crazy operational plan could only be indefinitely postponed.

Moscow seemed to have become an undefended city. Some of the poor wanted to leave the city, while the Soviet troops stationed around it had been ordered to drive them back in. Stalin had ordered that no one was to leave Moscow. He was going to lead all the people in this city to resist the German aggression until the very last moment.

Not everyone was willing to die for their country, especially a country that had only just been born for a little over twenty years. Although Moscow was in almost complete chaos, a large number of civilians were still fleeing through various channels. Even the army was not completely following orders. Everyone was accommodating each other, sending their own families out of the city in search of a safe haven.

After all, the tragic scene of Stalingrad had become known to all with the end of the battle and the spread of the wounded and routed soldiers. The nightmare of Moscow becoming the next Stalingrad lingered in everyone’s mind. Just how tragic a ruin that city named after the leader had been turned into, everyone who had experienced it had their own answer. These answers, when gathered together, were actually only one word—”destruction.”

To be sent to Siberia, or to be directly taken out and shot or hanged, these were all very terrible punishments. But these threats, although they could make people obey, could only intimidate them through fear. Once there was an equally terrible opposing problem, then these people who had been intimidated by fear would weigh and hesitate, would become fragile and uneasy.

At the very least, the current Moscow was a city of despair and chaos. The officials had lost the will to work and the ability to restrain the common people. The number of people who were thinking for this country, or rather, for this city, was pitifully small. After all, this was not the same as the Battle of Moscow in another timeline. At that time, the German army under the walls of Moscow was much weaker than now, and at that time, the number of troops around Moscow was so large it was reassuring. At this very moment, the forces around Moscow numbered only a few hundred thousand. They were no match for the main German force.

A waiter rushed from one office to another, holding a whole stack of papers filled with text. These documents all needed to be dealt with, but no one in the entire Kremlin had the heart to meddle in these important matters anymore. This place was tall and imposing, exuding an air of luxury, extravagance, and power.

The Soviet officials and generals were gathered together in the corridors of the palace, discussing in low voices the wolf-like armored forces and grenadiers of the Third Reich a few dozen kilometers outside the city. From time to time, these men would shake their heads and sigh, as if in complete despair over the entire war situation.

By comparison, the reconstruction work in Kiev, where Rein was, was already proceeding in an orderly and rapid manner. In his hospital room, there were fresh flowers and a nurse. The quilt was thick and clean. The war seemed to be very far away from him, but his heart, in that one instant on that one day, had been left on a nameless battlefield.

From time to time, a nimble little bird would land on the windowsill by his bed. It would look around and sing cheerfully. Rein would watch this lovely creature with great interest, a heartfelt smile on his face that had never been there before.

“I really didn’t know you had such a gentle side.” There was no knock at the door. Rein should have heard the footsteps long ago, but he was no longer the cold-blooded warrior who had been in a standoff with Wolf, but a young boy who was worried about his comrades. So he didn’t care who had come in. The result was that the voice that spoke made him freeze.

This voice was very, very familiar. Even through a headset, amidst the noisy static, accompanied by the roar of the cannons and the endless chatter of the garrulous Bruce and Markus, he could still recognize it.

And so, as if rusted, he slowly turned his head, as if afraid that a too-violent movement would scare away the person by the door behind him. When his eyes saw that familiar face, the face that had been somewhat stiff with excitement was once again wreathed in a smile.

“It’s good to see you.” Having survived the disaster, the first thing Rein said to this angel of slaughter was a bit unremarkable, but it revealed his heart without any concealment. “I’ve been looking for you, but the front is too chaotic.”

“Mm…” the young woman smiled and, with her unbandaged arm, she brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. At this moment, she had a little less of the heroic spirit she had had when sitting in the war chariot, but a little more of a gentle and charming air. She took an old Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves from her pocket and dangled it in front of Rein. “You left this there. It’s a good thing I woke up then, otherwise it would have been really lost.”

Rein nodded, admitting that he had lost something. “Yes, and if your eyesight had been better, I also lost a tank there. I wonder if you picked it up. Oh, and Bruce, and Andre.”

“Andre… he was seriously wounded in the eyes. He had to be discharged,” Alice said, her expression instantly falling as she mentioned her crewmate. “Bru… Bruce… he… hit his cervical spine and head. He was killed on the spot.”

In an instant, the atmosphere in the hospital room became very cold, very cold. Neither of them spoke again. One looked down at their own feet, and the other turned their head to look at the sunlight outside the window. This world was still beautiful, and the corners without the smoke of gunpowder were still so bright. But unfortunately, some people would, in the end, never see this beauty and light again… never again.

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