How Could This Happen?
May 1945-Lambach, Austria
"Here," Troy said to Hitch, handing him a canteen. The young corporal was on his knees where he had just experienced a prolonged bout of retching and bringing up the contents of his stomach. Tully was in the same position, not far away. Hitch shakily took the offered canteen and took a long drink. He looked at Troy with blue eyes tinged with red and filled with a look of incomprehension and bewilderment, Troy squeezed the younger man's shoulder and glanced over where Moffitt was doing the same thing with Tully.
Truth be told, all of them had spent the day in similar positions. Their stomachs had been queasy all day and the retching hit them periodically, although they did their best to keep it under control. They tried to keep the horrified, revolted looks from their faces. The other soldiers around them had similar expressions but were trying to put on a brave front. They took were struggling with periodic vomiting as they confronted the massacre around them.
All because of this place they had been sent. They had come as an advance team to the 71st Infantry. In spite of everything they had seen and experienced over the past five years in Africa, through Sicily, Italy, Poland, Belgium and Germany, they were totally unprepared for the sight before them.
"Sorry, Sarge," Hitch said nervously, handing the canteen back to the sergeant. "I... I just can't believe what I'm seeing. The inhumanity. How could this happen?"
"You have no need to apologize. It's hit all of us pretty hard," Troy answered, taking a drink as he surveyed their surroundings. "How you doing, Tully?" The Kentuckian looked at Troy with the same shellshocked eyes on the faces all around them.
"Not good," Tully replied weekly. "Could use a stiff whiskey about now."
"So, could we all," Moffitt agreed. His British soul felt shredded by their surroundings. It was terribly hard to keep his stiff upper lip from cracking.
The entire day had been a living nightmare of epic proportions. All in a little place called Gunskirchen. A place that would shine as an example of humanity's inhumanity. Upon arrival they checked out the area and discovered the German guards had fled days before. The 71st division arrived to find living skeletons among the piles of dead bodies. How these people had survived the malnourishment and mistreatment was a mystery. How could something like this have happened? It was the 20th Century.
The Rats had spent the day assisting the soldiers of the 71st sift through bodies to separate the dead from those clinging to life. Several passed away in the process. The set up a medical facility to try and save as many as possible. Attempts by the soldiers to share their rations with the survivors were unfruitful since their tortured bodies couldn't digest solid food. Finally, the Rats were told to scout the perimeters of the camp and those nearby to search for any lingering German guards.
They had stopped for the night when all the feelings they had experienced caught up with them.
"Anyone ready for some dinner?" Troy forced himself to ask, knowing they wouldn't be able to tolerate food. The others shook their heads. "I could use some coffee," Troy said, "and Moffitt, I'm sure you could use some tea."
Tully moved to start a fire while Hitch made coffee and boiled water for tea. When they each had a cup in hand they sat about the fire and tried to process what they were feeling and what they had witnessed.
"I just don't understand," Hitch said weakly, his voice shaking. "How could the German people allow this to happen? Why didn't they stop him?"
"They believed the lies," Moffitt replied. "He took a depressed country and brought back some stability, gave them a sense of purpose."
"But so much of what he said were lies," Tully was as upset as Hitch.
"But it was what they wanted to hear. He put himself in place as a Savior, someone who would fix everything," Troy commented.
"He gave them something to believe in by convincing them that some people, Jews, especially, were the cause of all their problems. He gave them someone to hate and fight against," Moffitt sipped his tea.
"He made them embrace nationalism over everything else and to accept him as their ultimate leader," Troy continued.
"But it was wrong. Nothing changes that it was wrong," Hitch was visibly upset. How could people just blindly follow him? I will never understand."
"I'm just glad I live in America," Tully shook his head, still disbelieving what his eyes had shown him.
"Yeah, this could never happen in America," Hitch stated firmly. "That's what we've fought so hard for—to end fascism, once and for all."
"I hope you're right, Hitch," Troy poured himself another cup of coffee. "I would hate to think that after all the sacrifices made by our Allied forces, such a leader could arise on our own shores. I hope those who come after us remember these lessons in history and don't allow this unhinged nightmare to repeat itself."
"Amen," the other three agreed.