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No man's land |
| Written by Pablo Flores | |
| Wednesday, 05 December 2007 | |
The life on the frontlines was far from the glory Ivan and the rest were promised as soldiers. Over the last two months, life had been nothing but pure misery. The trenches were caked with mud and excrement which make them smell horrible. Lice and disease had swept over them and kept them awake at night. Little action was seen on the frontlines. Beyond the barbed wire lies no man’s land. A few dead bodies and empty gas canisters could be seen lying about in no man’s land. Gas…a very horrible way to die indeed. “You better pray that stuff doesn’t get in your lungs” they say “it will turn them to mush”. Other than a few shots, fighting was relatively boring. One thing Ivan learned here, was that war wasn’t what it was suppose to be. During the whole time there, only one person was killed. A man by the name of Brothsky was polishing his gun when it went off and hit him in the leg. Blood gushed out in a terrible rain. He was dead within the hour. Aside from faulty guns, their rations had gone down greatly. Now they were lucky to get a small piece of bread and some water. One day they were all handed gas masks which greatly excited the soldiers. “Its about time we took some action” one said. Ivan looked at his gas mask. What a miserable little thing. Was this suppose to protect his lungs from the gas? That made him laugh. He put it on and instantly his nostrils were hit with the smell of vomit. He took it off quickly and saw that the mask had smudged his glasses. “Now” their officer said. Their officer was a man of about forty five or so. He was slim and tall and always tried to look his best for the soldiers. “I am not sure” he continued “when we will attack the enemy but an attack is imminent”. He looked back and forth between them and went on. “Our comrades in the skies have done a wonderful job damaging the enemies supply lines leaving them ill equipped.” That night in the enclosing darkness, shadows could be seen moving about in no man’s land. Ivan was being taken away by sleep when some one shook him. “Hey” a voice closed to his ear said. He blinked and looked around. The setting sun was behind them. “Hey!” the voice whispered again. “What, what? I am awake!” Ivan said. “Look” the soldier pointed towards no man’s land. He looked and after a while Ivan could see the shadows dancing about. Coming closer. “What do we -” at that moment, the shadows fired their guns. Bullets zipped over Ivan’s head and struck the dirt. “Were under attack!” some one yelled. “Really?” Ivan asked under his breath. A great time to use sarcasm should never be missed. Ivan took aim at one of the shadows “click” the gun jammed. A Russian gun never fails to disappoint. “S***!” He threw the gun down in anger and heard it plop on the mud. An action he would no doubt regret. Oh well. Getting on all fours like a dog, Ivan made his way through the trench. The atmosphere was that of pure chaos. There were shouts both in Russian and in German and of course the guns. Moving along, a dead comrade flopped on top of him. Ivan pushed him off and grabbed the dead man’s gun. He took aim at one of the shadows. “ Please don’t jam, please don’t jam” he prayed. Ha that made him laugh. He had long since stopped believing in god and it had been years since he had last prayed. He squeezed the trigger. “Bang!” oh thank you ,you wonderful Russian gun! He could almost see the bullet fly off into the darkness. Ivan didn’t hit anybody though; that wasn’t much of a shock to him. He thought of her while fighting. “F***” he said under his breath. “Don’t do this, don’t do this” well sorry me for being human. He loved her. She was all he had in the world. His parents were both dead and he was an only child. It killed him to be far from her for so long. He missed her voice, her smile, her eyes…oh her pretty brown eyes - shut up! Take the gun and kill a f****** German already! Ivan fired again. Nothing. He had gotten a picture of her enclosed with a letter. All the guys looked at it as if they had never seen a woman before. “Wow” they would say. That and other stuff he didn’t want to repeat. Yes ladies, men are pigs. He kept that picture in his breast pocket along with some tobacco. Having smoked their rations long ago, the other soldiers would ask him for some of his rations. “Sorry long gone” you would all like to get your greedy hands on my tobacco wouldn’t you, you f****** scoundrels. When the sun rose, they were down thirty or so men. All the shadows had been killed and now they all laid before their barbed wire. Poor little Germans, poor ,poor little Germans. Their officer had been wounded in the arm. Bless him for that Ivan thought. He now walked toward them. “I have been given orders” he said “to attack”. “All of you…I suggest you write a letter to a loved one incase you are killed.” This guy knows what his soldiers want to here. Ivan sat down on a bucket and wrote several letters which he crumpled up and threw over his shoulder. Finally he just wrote “ I love you. If I die, please do not be sad. Remember me as a lover and a friend. I love you so very much.” He read it “alright” he said. He got up, folded the paper in half, wrote down his information and handed it to his officer. “Time to die I suppose” he said to himself. He went back to his position and loaded his gun. At about nine, they were all ready to go. With guns loaded, the soldiers made their way through the barbed wire and were now in no man’s land. The stench here was unbearable. Ivan put on his gas mask. That’s right! The vomit smell! Oh well. The German trenches were only a couple of hundred feet away. We will never make it though he thought. None of us will. It was at that time that the damn slogans began swimming around in Ivan’s head. “Men of Russia! Men of bravery! Now is the time to stand up and defend the motherland! - “ Oh shut up. A scream and a bang ripped through the silence. What took you so long huh? I was starting to wonder if anyone was home. Ivan saw the barrel of a machine gun. “Pa pa pa pa pa!” Bullets hit his chest and face. Part of the mask peeled off like a banana and some crimson stuff splattered on the mud. “Now is the time to stand up and - “ Oh shut up! Ivan fell on the ground. A canister fell with him. Hissss - you shut up too. The yellow cloud formed over Ivan’s head. “This isn’t so bad” he said to himself. The cloud held him the way a mother does a new born baby. “Death is bliss”.
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