The first thing to know about Vera Dietrich is that she does not share the same ideals as Herr Hitler and his Nazi Germany. She had lived through the aftermath of the last war, seen how it torn the country apart, but she did not subscribe to the belief that a fascist dictator was the only way to return Germany to its former glory. She was only in this predicament because she was an only child. When Germany's call to arms began and able-bodied men were being picked from their homes to fight Hitler's war, Vera had nothing to worry about. That relief soon turned to grief as the demand for more soldiers increased, because of the growing opposition that came from fighting on two-fronts. With more and more people being conscripted, whether they were able-bodied or not, she feared that they would look at conscripting her father into service.

Herr Dietrich had fought his way through the Great War, the trench warfare ate him, spat him out and he barely made it out alive. Now, he was still broken from his fighting days and this was only made worse due to poor living conditions. Something as small a minor cut turned lethal because of infection. There was no way in hell Vera was going to let him be pulled into another war.

One of the things that she would never forget was the story of the Christmas ceasefire; it was one of the only things her father ever told her about his time at war. To know that such an amazing act of kindness could happen between enemies was something that she felt helped to make her a better person. She knew she would have to do what she could to help a person in need. And when that person was her father… she would do just about anything. Vera knew what she had to do to keep her father out of danger – it was something so crazy that she couldn't even comprehend what she was doing, but she felt as though she had no other choice. To help one in need.

For Vera, it was almost like she was having an out of body experience, just going through the motions of changing her appearance, creating a new identity and going through rigorous training. She knew she wasn't the most masculine girl out there, she played the odd sport here or there, but other than that there was no way that she could see herself being a soldier. And yet here she was, serving in the military for the madman who wanted to conquer Europe. She made it through basic training with a bruised ego from the constant barrage of insults from the instructors, only to be swept up into the world of an elite unit; the fallschirmjäger. An infantry unit that threw themselves out of airplanes.

From Africa, Italy, France, Holland and now Belgium, Vera had killed and helped kill men who were only doing their best to stop a crazed man. As much as she too wanted the Herr Hitler stopped, she knew she had to follow along, not for her own safety, but in order to keep her father safe from all the madness.

The first time she saw time in the terrors of war was in Africa back in 1942, holding off the British from taking back precious terrain from both the German and Italian forces. By 1943, she was rear guarding the German retreat from invading allied forces in Sicily before taking part in the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944. After Monte Cassino, the higher ups in the German military knew of an impending attack in France– and decided to add more divisions to the ones that were already stationed there.

Since that faithful day on June 6th, the fighting had been non-stop. It was a never ending uphill battle with American, British and Canadian forces. At the back of her mind, Vera couldn't be happier. This fighting meant that it was only matter of time before the Third Reich would fall and this nightmare would be over.

Vera wished that 'matter of time' was sooner rather than later, however, especially considering the situation she found herself in now – in the woods freezing her tits off, just to scout ahead of the town they were held up in.

So far all Vera had found during her scouting was trees, more trees, and. believe it or not, even more trees. She shrugged her grey greatcoat closer to her shivering body. What she would give just for the proper winter equipment that most of the men in Foy possessed. Not only was she freezing, but the scouting was probably the most useless thing she could be doing with her time at this moment. It was a known fact that the Americans were squatting out in the woods – just waiting for a crack in the German defenses so they could strike. As miserable as she was, she had to admit the idea of having to squat down in the woods while being bombarded by artillery shells wasn't exactly at the top of her bucket list.

She had to give it to the Yankees, it took balls to do what they were doing.

"Hey Lieutenant, don't venture off too far, wouldn't want you to be killed by some playboy American." One of the Aryan blowhards shouted at her from several meters behind. She waved off his warning, not taking it seriously by any means. They were nowhere near the area that their artillery had been shelling, and the Americans would have to be completely insane to venture this far.

As she trudged through the snow she could only think about what she would give to be home right now, warm and safe away from the fighting and the chaos. Where she could be celebrating Christmas with her family and not celebrating it by having people shoot at her. The only thing running through her mind at this point in time was eating her mother's homemade cooking, that and quenching the biggest thirst for beer that she's ever had in her life.

Hell at this point in time, even just not having to live a constant lie would be nice. She wished she could just come out and say that she was a member of the fairer sex even to just one person. There was no way that could end poorly, right? She had formed a kind of camaraderie with some of the men, surely that had to mean something.

Vera let out a heavy breath as she continued on her path. She couldn't tell anyone, she knew that, but it was nice to dream every once in a while. Instead, she would have to appreciate this chance she had alone. Maybe it wasn't as freeing as telling someone who she really was, but at least she didn't have to pretend to be someone else as she wandered out of the sight and earshot of her fellow German soldiers.

With this bit of freedom, she hopped over a log and looked up at the canopy of trees above her, enjoying the sight of snowflakes floating down from the sky. Vera tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and stuck her tongue out. There was so little time for such innocent pleasures in the time of war, such as catching snowflakes on ones' tongue. When she tipped her head back just a little too far, her helmet slipped off and landed on the ground, the sound of a thud snapped her out of her small piece of heaven. Her blue eyes slowly opened and she ran a hand through her sandy blond hair, letting out a soft sigh before moving down to one knee.

Vera had just picked up her helmet and place it upon her head when out of nowhere a dozen American soldiers jumped out from behind trees, their weapons aimed down at her. She slowly placed her MP40 down on the snowy ground while her other hand slowly rose up, an attempt to show that she meant them no harm. They shouted out a command at her and she could vaguely understand what it was they said but she didn't move to comply.

"I said step away from the weapon!" The man repeated and still she just stayed put, trying to convey that even if they had her out numbered and unarmed that they would not and could not bully her.

"Where the hell is Liebgott when you need him? Someone go find him." One of the soldiers ran off in one direction. Vera watched him go, trying to memorize which direction he was going, if only to avoid that direction all together next time, if she lived to see a next time. A hand came up viciously twisting her head in the other direction, tearing her eyes away from the fleeing man. Meanwhile, another hand reached into her jacket to pull her Luger out of its holster and hand it off to another man.

"I'll be taking that back." The German promised. To them it must have sounded like she was threatening to rip his throat out, because the moment she said it, guns raised once again and they all looked like they were going to shoot her. A man, whose brutish size reminded Vera of a bear stepped forward, grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and roughly hauled her to my feet. The brute shoved her forward, sending her helmet flying off her head once again.

She fell forward and barely caught herself by grabbing a nearby tree. "You don't have to be so rough, you brute." She snarled before attempting to reach out for the discarded helmet. Several hands reached out and stopped her. Fighting against their hold, she reached out for the helmet one last time before a body crashed into hers – lifting them both into the air then slamming them both into the frozen ground. If she could have predicted the future and known that would have happened, she wouldn't have struggled against their grasp, but sadly she couldn't and now she was paying for it. Vera tried to push the body off of her, but the group of American soldiers had no trouble overpowering her and the last thing she remembered was the butt of a rifle colliding with the side of her skull.

When Vera's eyes finally fluttered open, she was graced by the sight of dozens upon dozens of American soldiers walking about. It was in that moment that she knew she was in big trouble. She knew how a situation like this would go, constant interrogation for any intelligence that would give the Americans an advantage in pushing the German troops out of the town of Foy.

"Looks like sleeping beauty is finally awake." She turned her head toward the voice, trying to convey that she was not afraid of the interrogator. Despite this display, she was beyond a little afraid. She was terrified about what lay in store for her.

Another man stepped forward, a tall slender man with red hair and freckles that covered his face. He was clearly the one in charge, seeing as everyone beside him stopped and waited for him to speak. "Liebgott, ask him about what sort of opposition the German's have in Foy."

The skinny man in the group turned towards her and repeated the demand in rough, but passable German.

Vera gathered up the access saliva in her mouth and spat it at the red head's feet. As much as she hated what Germany's army was fighting for, she was not about to betray her men and be responsible for countless deaths.

Her head snapped to the side as a fist hammered into the corner of her mouth. Vera tasted metal as blood pooled in her mouth. She slowly turned her head back towards the translator and the ringleader of this whole ordeal and spat the blood from her mouth at them.

"What do the Foy defenses consist of?"

Once more the skinny man translated.

Once more she refused to reply and another blow struck her.

"When do the German's plan on attacking next?" Before the skinny translator had a chance to utter the translation, Vera opened her mouth.

"Fuck you." Her heavily accented taunt drew no response and she found herself anticipating another blow that would bring even more pain. However, this time it wasn't a fist impacting her jaw, but a hand enveloping the top of her head and thrusting it forcibly into the pole behind her. Stars swarmed her vision, as she fought against the darkness that threatened to consume her vision.

"Captain Winters, Colonel Sink is requesting to speak with you."

The tall red head turned and addressed the man next to him. "Lipton, I want rotating guard shifts for the prisoner. Looks like he'll be staying longer than anticipated." He left after that, and so did most of the others. All except one; the one who had kept striking her was seated only a meter away, glowering at her.

Vera moved to reach up, wanting to wipe away the blood on her chin, but she quickly found she wasn't able to. Her arms were securely bound around the pole behind her, stopping her from moving them too far. She tried to move her legs but they too were bound tightly. So, much for hospitality.

Great. Not only was she stuck here but now she couldn't even wipe the filth away from her face.

Unable to move, Vera took the time to finally observe her surroundings. Destroyed trees littered the area around her, and that meant that sooner or later she was going to face the considerable force of German artillery. The thought of that petrified her. Sure these men had to face this barrage day in and day out, but at least they could run, at least they had a chance. She was stuck in one spot, unable to run away to find cover if a shell happened to drop nearby. Her breathing became erratic and her eyes became wild as she realized she might die tied to this pole. The man watching over her easily noticed the change in the prisoner and it brought a sneer to his face.

"Aw, is the fuckin' Kraut scared? Too fuckin' bad!" He kicked snow in her direction and just laughed as the snow hit her in the face.

Why hadn't she heeded the Private's warning? If she had remained close to the group, she wouldn't have found herself in this mess, captured by the Americans and awaiting her fate.

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