Sitting in the jeep, Dallin wasn't sure what to expect. She knew whatever had shaken Perconte must have been bad. She assumed it might have been more suicides from Nazi lovers because they had been coming across those sights a lot since arriving in Germany. But before they could see what Perconte had stumbled across, they could smell it. At first, Dallin could smell fire and then, she could smell something gut-wrenching. It made her eyes sting, her mouth filled with saliva and Dallin gagged into her hand.
Her eyes caught sight of high barbed wire fences. They found the patrol outside of the large barbed wire compound. The jeep halted by the locked entrance. And that's when Dallin saw who was living inside. A large clot of emaciated men, many wearing striped clothing, all looking more dead than alive. It sent a large lump in Dallin's throat. Bull soon walked up to the jeep.
"Bull?" Winters asked inquiringly.
But the Sergeant only shook his head.
Getting out of the jeep, Dallin and Nixon wordlessly followed Winters towards the locked entrance. The men inside dropped their eyes and lowered their heads, much like Dallin had done when she first joined Easy. Something pulled at Winters's heart. His eyes widened a little while looking down at Dallin. She was staring straight ahead, eyes locked on something else.
"Okay". Winters whispered, "let's…let's open the gate".
When the gate was opened, the soldiers walked into the compound and the prisoners parted like the Red Sea before Moses. It was a camp. At first, they thought it might have been a POW camp. The camp was large, with rows of primitive huts half dug into the ground. The huts were five feet high, twenty-four feet long, so a man could not walk around inside without hunching down. The men reeked of filth and death. The Americans could smell the stench of dead flesh, but they couldn't find the source.
But then they did.
Asides from the walking, louse-ridden skeletons milling around the camp, there were the innumerable dead. Hundreds were laid out in neat, straight rows, as if in some sort of macabre death parade. Some wore the striped prison garb, others were semi-clad or nude, with sunken cheeks and chests, gaping mouths and vacantly staring eyes telling a silent story of terror. Some of the dead lay in blood-splattered heaps and still others were sprawled out individually where they had fallen. A few huts had been burned, and in the smouldering wreckage, charred bodies told another grim tale.
It was a horror story.
"Where's Liebgott?" Winters whispered.
Shaking his head, Nixon whispered back;
"what is this place?"
"We need Liebgott". Winters said, "we need a translator".
"No…we don't". Dallin croaked.
Winters and Nixon stared down at Dallin.
Reaching into her pocket, she brought out the yellow Star of David badge the Dutchman had shoved in her hands back in Eindhoven. Most of the prisoners had the same badge stitched on their stripped uniform. It didn't take long for Dallin to put two and two together. And the realization of it all almost brought her to her knees.
"The men are…Jews". She whispered.
"P-Polski?" One of the weary men whispered.
Nodding, Dallin took a step towards him.
Taking his hand, she whispered to Winters and Nixon;
"Polish Jews…maybe German too…".
The prisoner reached up and pressed his free bony hand to the side of her face;
"Jestesmy wolni". He cried, tears rolling down his sunken cheeks.
"Tak". Dallin whispered back.
And with that said, the prisoner pulled Dallin into a fierce hug.
She hugged him back, feeling every bone in his body.
Dallin's face crumbled.
Tears reached her eyes and she breathed out a tiny sob onto his shoulder.
"Tak". She cried quietly, "you are free…".
Nixon ran a hand down his pale face.
Looking at Winters, he murmured;
"what do we do here, Dick?"
"They need care". Winters whispered while staring at Dallin and the prisoner. "Food, water. Medical care. I need to radio Sink and I need a patrol back in town, to collect food".
"Alright". Nixon said, "I'll – uh – I'll sort that out for you, Dick".
Dallin pulled back from the hug.
The prisoner grabbed a hold of Dallin's sleeve.
She stared up into his sunken eyes and whispered;
"sir?"
Winters blinked and took a step towards her;
"yeah?"
But she didn't say anything else.
Frowning deeply, Winters's hand fell on her shoulder.
Dallin knew what this place was. Her people didn't end up in Siberia, they were sent to camps like the one she was standing inside. Women, children, men. Everyone. While Dallin was getting tortured inside of Poland, the Nazis were preparing to murder an entire race.
While she was fighting in the front with the Americans, her people were starving and working until death. And while she was frozen in Bastogne, her people were murdered in the thousands daily. For all that she had lost, they had lost and suffered more. She could remember the Gestapo taunting her, telling her that her family were "up the chimney". Dallin hadn't realized what they had meant until now when she saw smoke coating the sky and bodies burning inside huts.
Moving away from Winters, she travelled alone further up the camp.
It didn't take long for Easy to be informed of the dark secret the Nazis had kept hidden for years. And it didn't take Dallin long to be informed that all across Europe, there were camps like these. This camps purpose was for the sick. It was the largest subcamp. Many prisoners were deported from other camps and one happened to be close to where Dallin had lived in Poland.
Auschwitz.
Dallin learned of the name from one of the Polish prisoners.
"I was inside Krakow Ghetto…they deport me and…thousands of others to Auschwitz".
Leaning against the side of the barrack, Dallin could feel her legs start to shake.
The man continued to tell her;
"a lot of…people died that day. When we reach the camp, they separate everyone. Woman and men to one side…women with small children and the elderly to the other…where they walk up road, never to be seen again".
Swallowing thickly, Dallin croaked;
"what happened to them?"
He lowered his eyes, whispering;
"they gas them….".
Shaking her head, Dallin hissed;
"no, they don't".
"They do". He whispered, "I see it…you see them go in but only the dead come out".
Shaking her head again, she mumbled;
"this…this is not happening…".
Tears filling his eyes, he told her;
"it is…and it did happen. I see it, every day. I hear them. They scream. You see the marks they leave on the walls, scratches. And the Nazis…they burn thousands of bodies every day and every night".
Dallin knew he was telling the truth, but she didn't want to believe it.
Pushing herself off the barrack, Dallin walked away from him and followed the muddy path inside the camp. There, she spotted Heffron and Eddie Joint in front of a train cart. Dallin walked over to them. The two young men stared at her, not knowing what to say. Grabbing the handle, Dallin pulled the cart door open. The bodies inside were packed in like a tin of sardines. They were stacked on top of each other, limbs hanging and contorted.
"Jesus Christ". Joint whispered, before falling to his knees.
"How could people do this to other people?" Heffron asked, to no one.
Taking a step back from the cart, Dallin turned around.
She could see men from Easy, helping her people to their medics. They were wrapped in thin and dirty blankets, bony hands too weak to lift a full canteen. Walking onto the path, she walked with them. Dallin grabbed a man's hand; he was singing the Mourner's Kaddish. Tears rolled down his face, his voice cracked but he sang through it. At the main entrance, Americans came back from town with food and more water.
The despair Dallin felt was different because it was shared with millions. Everyone had lost someone. She knew the fate of her parents and she knew the fate of their loved ones. They had perished. Died in terror, died too young and too soon. Sharing out the food, they ate without rushing. Dallin sat next to them, tearing off pieces of cheese to hand out. For the first time in years, eating didn't have a consequence. It was a simple human need the Nazis took away from them, as well as other needs.
When Sink and his team arrived on sight, he told Winters;
"we've come across several of these camps in the vicinity. Bastards. I have some good news, though. General Taylor has declared the area under martial law. Starting tomorrow the good people living around this camp will be out here helping to bury the dead".
Winters nodded;
"and I'll be here to watch".
Getting onto her feet, Dallin stood before the two officers;
"so will I".
Sink and Winters looked down at her.
They both felt a series of emotions welling up inside of them at the sight of the young Polish women, who had escaped a worse fate. And Dallin knew she got lucky. And she felt guilty. She wanted to do more to help her people.
Winters agreed for her to join him;
"thank you, Sergeant".
The Regimental physician, Major Louis Kent, soon stood by them. His face looked grave and regrettable while telling them;
"we have to stop".
Winters frowned;
"stop what?"
"Feeding these men…they're starving, Major. Food has to be carefully introduced to them, or else they'll eat themselves to death. I have to keep them here, in order to give them proper medical attention".
Dallin's face dropped;
"what?" She whispered.
The physician frowned and told her;
"I understand this is upsetting but it's for their own good".
Nodding slowly, Winters mumbled;
"alright, doc".
Dallin grabbed a hold of Winters sleeve;
"no…you can't". She hissed, "you can't".
"I'm sorry, trooper…but he's right". Winters told her quietly, "we need to take care of these men properly".
"Not in here". Dallin mumbled, "not here, sir…please…please".
Clearing his throat, Sink stepped in;
"Gorski, come with me. I need your help".
Dallin sent Winters another pleading yet heartbreaking look;
"please…". She whispered.
Winters swallowed back the tightness in his throat;
"go with the Colonel, trooper". He ordered her gently, "he needs your help".
Sink put a hand on her shoulder, pulling Dallin away from the Major;
"come now, Gorski". He murmured, "let's get back to the jeeps".
But they didn't make it in time.
At the gate, Liebgott informed the prisoners.
And the men let out anguished yells and cries.
Dallin could feel her heartbreak and shatter into small pieces. Her legs could no longer keep her body up and she fell to the ground. Hands pressed against the ground; her fingernails dug into the mud. With her people yelling and crying, Dallin's breathing picked up until she was near panting. Raising her head to the grey and smokey clouds, she opened her mouth and screamed;
"NIE! NIE!"
Dallin's hands covered her ears as if frightened of her own screams.
Her muddy fingers gripped the ends of her hair.
Nails clawing at her skin.
Her screams turned into loud and uncontrollable sobs.
A hand was on her shoulder, before they went around her waist, picking her up. Dallin was carried back to the jeeps. Someone put her inside the vehicle, got in next to her and started the engine. They drove off to the sound of her crying. And like in Foy, it was Nixon who took her away. He stared straight ahead, keeping the emotions he felt inside from reaching the surface.
But it was easier said than done when he witnessed Dallin's world fall apart.
After driving for three minutes, Nixon stopped the jeep.
Cutting the engine, he pulled Dallin into his arms.
And held onto her tightly.
Nose in her hair, his voice was muffled and tearful;
"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry, kiddo".
…
Roe came around and handed Dallin a warm drink with crushed up sleeping tablets inside. It wasn't fair to spike a drink, but she needed to sleep, in order to stop screaming. When she did pass out in a bed, Winters remained by her side. She was curled up into a tight ball, tucked under his arm, face and body pressed against his side. Nixon was sitting on an armchair, drinking a bottle of alcohol he had found inside the cellar. The two officers were quiet. None of them knew what to say.
When Lipton poked his head into the room, he asked them quietly;
"is she sleeping, sir?"
Nixon didn't reply, so, Winters did;
"thank doc for that". He whispered, "he crushed a couple of sleeping pills into warm milk".
Lipton frowned;
"her friends are worried".
"We're 'gonna look after her". He promised the Lieutenant, "let them know".
"Shifty wants to see her, sir".
Nodding, Winters whispered;
"I'll fetch him when Dallin wakes up, Lip".
"Thank you, sir".
Sighing heavily, Nixon mumbled;
"she's never 'gonna be the same".
"She will". Winters said, "I know she will…it'll just take some time".
"Can you extend her stay here?"
"I won't trouble her with that yet". Winters whispered, "but she's welcome to stick around as my orderly for as long as she needs".
He could feel her body to start to shake.
Frowning, Winters looked down at her;
"get another blanket, Nix".
Sighing, Nixon got up and grabbed the blanket at the end of the bed. He tossed it over Dallin's body and tucked her into the warmth. She was sleeping but she didn't look peaceful. She began to jerk and twitch in her sleep, her face formed a deep frown. Nixon ran a hand through her hair while mumbling;
"not even sleeping pills can keep the nightmares away".
"Are we leaving this place anytime soon?" Lipton asked.
Winters shook his head;
"no…not for a few days, Lip".
"I hate this damn place". Nixon muttered, "I hate the damn people".
Lipton frowned and whispered;
"I agree with you there, sir".
"They must have known". Nixon went on, "Christ, they must have…seen the camp, or smelt it".
Clearing his throat, Winters asked;
"and what would you have done, Nix? If you lived here and knew what was happening?"
"Don't excuse them". Nixon mumbled, "Jesus Christ, they could have told us, Dick but they didn't because they're just as guilty as those damn Nazi bastards. That's why the Mayor and his wife killed themselves, cause they knew how fucked it was to have a camp right next to their town".
Frowning, Winters looked at his friend;
"this anger won't do any good for Dill, Nix". He reminded him, "when she wakes up…she's 'gonna need us strong until she gets better".
"She'll never get better". Nixon whispered fiercely, "look what they did to her people, Dick. To her parents. It's the worst thing I have ever seen. The worst thing we've ever seen. When the rest of the world finds out, people are 'gonna break. And if we're breaking, just think how the kid feels. We're all she has left".
Winters looked down at Dallin again.
His frown deepened, while he gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He couldn't help but think of what could have happened if Dallin hadn't joined Easy. If she didn't get out of Poland before Germany invaded the country. And he dreaded to think what happened to her parents.
"We need to find her parents". Winters whispered, "Dallin deserves to know".
Nodding, Nixon asked him quietly;
"what are her parents called?"
"Shraga and Helena". Lipton answered, "Dill only ever told Speirs".
"Then I'll find them". Nixon said, "I'm a damn Intelligence officer, I can find anybody".
Lips twitching, Winters mumbled;
"thank you, Nix".
A moment of silence washed over the room. It gave Winters time to put a thought together, which he shared with his two friends;
"before we left the camp…all I could think of was, now I know why we're here. This is why we've been fighting, to liberate these people. We just didn't know it. Everything was so black and white, the enemy attacks us, we attack them back. But we didn't see the grey area, the most important area. Dill saw a small glimpse of it in Poland. But none of us expected what we saw today".
Nixon sat down on the edge of the bed, by Dallin's legs.
"The wars 'gonna end soon". Winters said quietly, "because not only did we win the fight, but we also defeated the real enemy".
"Who would have thought, huh?" Nixon mumbled, "evil is just a normal looking guy".