AUTHOR'S NOTES

Everyone has dreams, no matter how small. Sometimes, when writing a war story, and the largest events unfold, it becomes easy to overlook this fact. It goes double when the characters in question are secondary to the main plot, and everything they represent becomes unimportant by comparison. But while it's easy to look at a history book or a battle scene in some fantastical conflict and see the numbers as little more than that, in reality each person is the main character of their own story. So, what do all those stormtroopers, redshirts, and so on think and dream to themselves? What is, truly, the value of each one of those lives?

III

SIMONE

Once the tanks were refueled, the column got once again on the move.

Incidentally, the trip was rather uneventful. From the command hatches of the tanks the designated commanders could see the darkened landscape of their Fatherland, covered by the wide blanket of the night, the forests and the hills barely distinguishable, the few lights lit in the tiny villages in the distance looking almost like stars which had lost their way.

It was a rather depressing sensation that they were forbidden to seeing the green crop fields and forests, and the snow-covered mountains in the distance, because their country was engaged in a war to the last consequences. Under the perils of exposing to the overwhelming enemy forces, they had to travel under the night, hidden in the shadows. And as such there was very little to see, a feeling of hopelessness slowly crawling into their young hearts.

This meant that there was very little to do except slowly driving the vehicles across the road barely illuminated by their headlights. Being so the girls ended up reverting to the only other thing they really knew about apart from their work: singing.

It was Simone who had taken the initiative. She started the trip in the commander's post of the Panzer IV, but little after they've left the police station she decided to move to the radio-operator's position. It was occupied by Ysabelle at the time, but once she heard Simone's idea she squeezed through the hatch and sat against the main gun's mantle, allowing the other girl to slide in.

But a couple hours later, though, Simone was starting to deplete her repertoire of songs. It didn't stop her from trying to keep the morale high.

"All right, one more!" She chirped through the com. "Wenn wir schreiten Seit' an Seit'!"

One by one the commanders started to repeat the first verse of the song, taken out of the official song booklet of the League. Shortly later voices started to echo across the radio waves and over the growl of the engines as the girls outside sang on top of her lungs and into the night.

"Wenn wir schreiten Seit' an Seit'
Und die alten Lieder singen
Und die Wälder widerklingen
Fühlen wir, es muss gelingen:
Mit uns zieht die neue Zeit!"

The only ones not singing where Anja, who tried to look like a very professional commander, Hanna, because the truck didn't have a radio of its own, and the boys, who didn't really knew what was going on around them. It goes without saying that Simone was absolutely happy for managing to keep the girls singing and their spirits high, with the added bonus of getting the boys quite confused.

Maria sang along the other girls. After the stop in the police station she'd moved to the turret, occupying the loader's position. She kept the access hatch open, feeling the cold air of the night against her soft skin.

"This is incredible!" Ysabelle told her once the singing stopped for a while. "Feels like a field trip!"

Simone came right after peeking though her hatch.

"Yes, you're right! You did well in coming with us, Maria!"

The sentence made the faint smile on Maria's face darken slightly. Did they really have no idea about Anja and her companions' plans? Simone immediately noticed the change in her expression.

"Maria, are you all right?"

There was no time to respond as shortly after a loud crack burst in the column, somewhere behind the Panzer IV. Maria turned back while Ysabelle and Simone stood over the front of the tank, holding to the main gun so they wouldn't fall. The Japanese Type 89, which was travelling behind the StuG III, was now rolling out of the road and into a wide ditch dug beside it, the engine roaring under a stream of dark smoke. Something had broken. Anja ordered the crews to halt the march and all the other tanks moved to the edge of the road, several meters ahead of the damaged vehicle.

When Maria and Anja got to the Type 89, now standing silent, two of the crew members were out of the vehicle waiting for them. The others had already opened the engine cover and started to try to figure out the issue, their flashlights glowing against the cloud of smoke which erupted from the tank's innards.

"We're so sorry!" The tank's gunner, Anke Saks, cried to Maria, nervously jumping from one foot to the other.

"There's no need to panic." Anja told her. She turned to Maria. "Nitzschmann, can you take care of this?"

Maria simply nodded back at her and then moved to help the other girls repair the tank. That left Anja to decide what to do while the group stood there waiting for the Japanese machine to be ready to move again. She glanced at the dark sky, covered in clouds, with the moon beyond only managing to show its face through the few small gaps.

It didn't take her long to time to realize what the incident meant.

"We're going to be late…"

As the saying goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Like all adages the "enemy" in this case can be an actual opposing force or a simple obstacle which can be quite formidable nonetheless. Usually military commanders avoid moving combat vehicles to the front lines on their own steam as they not only spend a great deal of fuel but are also rather complex and prone to breakdowns.

Unfortunately for the Wehrmacht the German industry of the time had produced too few transport vehicles capable of carrying large tanks from one place to the other. They were mostly dependent on trains but when such an option wasn't available the tanks had to travel on their own power. That meant keeping the engines and transmissions working for longer periods, thus exposing them to more failures.

And that was exactly what happened to the Baderberg girls that night. Fortunately for them Maria quickly realized the issue was rather simple and could be fixed with the tools they had with them. Regrettably, it still took a whole hour.

By this point, Anja had compromised herself in taking the five tanks to the 77th Panzergrenadiers, so they would not leave anyone or anything behind.

While they waited the girls who had nothing to do sat around the M3, its flank illuminated by the truck's headlights, and started chatting. The conversation quickly settled on the always interesting thematic of the opposite sex, with Simone leading the talking.

"Is that so?" She asked to another girl, Jule Uthman, who was detached to the American tank and who had been chatting about two young men from her hometown who were now soldiers fighting for the country. Simone had her chin over her hands and sat on the M3's side hatch, her feet dangling against the suspension bogie.

"Yes! They're tall and athletic!" Jule was rather enthusiastic with the conversation. "When they come back from the front I'm hoping that at least one of them will ask me in marriage!"

"But don't you have a preference?" Simone asked her.

"Well… I would prefer if it was Thomas." The other girl admitted. "But Heinrich is also a great match, I think."

Simone raised an index finger. "It is very important that you have proper standards regarding these things. We must know how to choose a good man for ourselves, that's why we are in the League, after all! To be proper maidens!" She clasped her hands together. "Oh, can you image what would be to find a tall and handsome man to live a true love story with?"

The other girls smiled in true glee before those words. Most of them indeed wished for such a thing to happen to them. Who doesn't want to find true love, anyhow?

It was at this point that Erwin had the unfortunate idea of intervening in the conversation.

"I'm handsome and tall." He said. The girls turned to him and his friends, sitting on the roof of the StuG III while they waited.

"Speak for yourself!" Simone spat at him, like if he'd said the most revolting thing ever.

"You're not even a man yet!" Other girl exclaimed. Erwin opened his mouth wide, shocked and too hurt to reply.

Ignoring the banter, Karina Schumacher, the M3's driver, turned at the Type 89 still surrounded by the repair team. "Oh, did you know?" She said. "It seems Nitzschmann over there has a famous brother!"

"Yes!" Jule yelped. "I've heard he's like a true knight!"

"Really?" Now Simone was truly curious. Maria had told about her family, of course, but never went into too much detail about her brother neither did she ever described him with those terms. She turned at the Type 89 and yelled. "Hey, Maria! When will you present us your brother?"

Maria had been paying some occasional attention to the conversation, while she helped Ysabelle and the Type 89's crew replacing a blown water pipe from the engine's cooling system. Once she realized what the others girls were really talking about she decided to not give it too much consideration. Simone's assertion, though, almost made her lose her composure. She stood still where she was, sitting over the right mudguard of the Japanese tank, without any idea about what kind of retort she could come up with.

Fortunately, Constanze Kaulitz, the tank's driver, peeked through the driver's hatch and call for her, asking if she could turn on the engine. Maria got up and looked at her.

"Just a moment. Let us put this back in, then try to go back to the road."

A few minutes later, the engine revved to life and the tank started to slowly roll back. There was a healthy purring coming from the vehicle and everything seemed to be in working order once again, at least for the time being.

Anja had been silently sitting on the hood of the truck, chewing on a dried sweet potato for most of the time. Now, seeing the tank get back to the road, she decided it was time to lead once again. So she jumped to the ground and approached Maria. "Is it working?"

"I hope so." Maria replied. The tank halted once it got to the middle of the road, the engine purring pleasantly. Still, Maria walked to the tank and climbed to the mudguard to look at the engine compartment, the cover still open.

"So?" Anja asked while she also climbed the tank. He glance drifted to the Mitsubishi A6120VD diesel engine illuminated by the flashlight Maria was holding. Like all girls in that group Anja had became rather proficient in mechanics during the last weeks. And she didn't found anything wrong with what she saw before her.

"I think everything is all right now." Maria finally replied.

"Great!" Anja jumped to the ground and gestured to the girls around the tanks. "We're good. Get to the tanks and get moving!"

Everyone got into motion, running to their respective tanks and starting the engines in a loud rumbling. Apparently unfazed by the controlled chaos around her Simone waited for Maria near the Panzer IV, a huge smile in her face.

"You know," she told Maria, "you should consider presenting me your brother once you have the chance."

For a moment Maria considered what to respond. It wasn't the first time that a girl wanted to know about Marco, but although she dearly loved her brother she wasn't actually keen to talk about him. Not casually, at least. On the other hand she realized Simone was mostly being goofy, always full of energy. So Maria smiled at her.

"You never lose a chance now do you?"

"Well, I must keep my options open until I find 'the one', isn't that right?"

Maria actually chuckled at that. She climbed to the flank of the tank and only then noticed Simone had stayed behind.

"Is everything all right?" Maria asked her. Ysabelle, who was already inside the turret, peered through the loader's hatch to see what was keeping them.

"Well, you see…" Simone rubbed her neck for a moment. "There's something else I wanted to tell you. I think you should be the commander from now on."

"Tammeke… I know you like the post."

Simone giggled a little. "I do, but you've worked so hard to repair these tanks and know so much about them. I realized it's kind of unfair to keep you from commanding one, especially now that we'll surrender them anyhow."

In truth, Maria didn't know if she really wanted to command a tank anymore. She'd dreamed about it for most of her life, but the desire had subsided since what happened in Dresden. If that was what the men who crewed those powerful machines were always subjected to then she really hoped she wouldn't ever have anything to do with that.

"That's a great idea!" Ysabelle's excited voice coming from behind Maria made her snap back to reality. Maria didn't even realize she'd started to phase out. "As Nitzschmann's brother commands a tank squadron it would be fitting if she commanded at least a tank while she has the chance!"

Simone winked at Ysabelle. "It's decided then! I'm better at operating the radio, anyhow."

"Yes." Maria told her. It was always so heartwarming to see how those girls had such esteem for her. And she really didn't think she'd made enough to deserve it. It made her feel happy in a way which honestly disarmed her more than she liked to admit. "You're really good at dealing with people, you know?"

"I do." Simone ran around the tank to get to the radio-operator's hatch, humming something to herself all the way through. She passed by Meike, who was prying through her own open hatch after having taken a nap through most of the stop.

"What was that about?" She mumbled to herself, before yawning.

In the front of the column, Anja was already barking more orders, trying to make the girls move faster.

"Come on, what are you doing? We don't have all day!"

It annoyed her to no end that those girls seemed so relaxed when there was yet so much ground to cover.