"Move it people we have a quota to meet" Sgt. Allen yelled. My name is Charles Long. I am part of the 22nd US Army battalion in charge of raiding concentration camps in Germany. The year is 1944 and WWII is just about over.. Or so we thought. "Hey Charlie, you got a cig?" Jenkins asked with his weasel like voice. "Jenkins this is the third time today you've asked, why don't you go ask Sarge?" I replied with a chuckle. Jenkins then dropped back behind me in our formation. He knew Sarge's answer. More like a smack than an answer I should say. I popped a cig into my mouth an lit it, breathing in the nicotine. I was just about to yell to Jenkins to hurry up when out of nowhere he was blown sky high. Bits and pieces flying every where. "GET DOWN!!!!" Sarge yelled. That was the last thing I heard before my vision went black. ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫ Thanks for reading! More to come!
That's great!I love the way it is set out. Though, try and add more description. I can't wait for the next update!
"Charlie..Charlie!" The screams were loud but the ringing in my ears was louder. I opened my eyes to Sarge and Cpl. Howe standing over me. We were in a medical tent, as I could tell from the field nurses. I leaned up too fast and got light-headed. "Woah, slowly" A nurse said as she gave me a random shot in the arm. "What happened? All I remember is Jenkins getting blown up" I asked "Bouncing Betty, miracle no one else got hurt." Howe answered. I stood and slowly walked out of the tent. We were still at the dirt path where Jenkins got killed. I slowly turned to Sarge. "Where are we going?" I asked with curiosity "Auschwitz, then Berlin to meet with the 56th" he replied, gathering his gear. We decided to march that night. Being alone in the back of formation gives a man time to think. That's what I needed then, because not only was I in for a whole lot of stress, but I was about to the nastiest, cruelest, meanest part of this war. I was about to stare death, and poverty in the eyes. I was going to Auschwitz, the worst concentration camp in Germany. ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫ Hope you like it!
As we moved down that perilous dirt path, slowly inching closer to Auschwitz, I could hear screams of children and adults getting burned to make soap and getting gassed for the Nazi's pleasure. It is something you can't quite get out of your head. The images of little kids being sent to their deaths for being a different religion is sickening. "Wait, patrol" Lt. Grimes stopped us with his hand. We all crouched and watched as two Nazis walked by, laughing and joking around as if the screams didn't faze them. It was the dead of night and they didn't see us. Lt. Grimes slowly crept up with Sarge and slit their throats. We continued on for about 5 minutes until we heard an uproar in the camp and saw 3 people a woman and two kids running from the camp. They were free!....until a spotlight burned on them, they saw us and screamed in a language I did not know, then they were mowed down like game on a hunting spree. ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫
We all stood, mesmerized, how could the Nazis just do something like that? Murder innocent people, a woman and her children? But I knew that by sundown the next morning we would liberate this horrible demonic place and bring hope to these people's frail hearts. We decided to lay low until the sun was about to rise, then we would use the woods to conceal our movements toward the camp. "Sarge? How come we don't strike tonight? While they're sleeping?" I heard Barnes ask. "Well..." He looked at me. "There is an old legend," I said "That 'He whom strikes in the night, will forever be lost in the night', it's some weird stuff about respect." I supplied Barnes took that into thought, then suddenly bursted up. "Respect? Respect? You are gonna sit there and tell me we should teach them with respect?" He yelled. He started to cry and mumble things about death and children. I didn't blame him, we'd all seen some things..but we hadn't seen the worst yet... ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫⚫
The next morning was even worse than before. We used the woods and some very careful planning to get close to the camp. But when we walked to the gates..there was no one there. No Nazis, no Jews, no guards, nothing. We all stood there,dumbfounded at how we hadn't heard them moving out. Soon we would find the tracks, yeah, but the principle of the matter was freeing those people TODAY. I waited some time, just pondering if we'd ever complete a goal without work, blood, sweat, tears, yelling, crying, and the occasional failure. I noticed a little lump of what looked like bed sheets in the mud going South towards Bergen-Belsen. I thought that must be where they were going so I investigated the lump. As I moved closer I heard my unit behind me shift weight until they were all facing my back. Some of them said "No" and "Don't do it" but I pressed on, fueled by curiosity. When I got to the lump and un-raveled the sheets, what I saw was worse than what I could've imagined. What I saw that day will forever haunt me. It will forever tear my soul to shreds because I knew I could've done something. Laying in those sheets, that one cold day, where the woman and two children with their feet cut off. There was a sign with them too written in German. I carefully read the sign over and over again to see if I got it right. It read: "THEY TRIED TO LEAVE, NOW WE HAVE THEIR FEET AND THE HEADS OF 50 OTHER JEW DOGS, THEY CAUSED THIS, NEVER..TRY..TO..ESCAPE..AUSCHWITZ!!" Next thing I knew I was crying. I don't know when I stopped. If I stopped. I was finally broken... ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️
I don't know when but eventually we moved out. I walked slowly behind my unit with Barnes. "Are you ok?" He asked "Yeah it's just.....rough" I replied. He didn't say anything else, just kept walking. We moved on to Bergen-Belsen, where we thought that the Jews went. Good news was that we had a company of men who were already there. Bad news, there was no one else there. No Jews, or Nazis. I was afraid of what happened to them. ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️ Short update, I know. More soon!
Alright you guys convinced me. ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️ We walked the long dirt path towards Bergen-Belsen, always keeping a watchful eye for the Jews and their Nazi captors. I began to feel sick to my stomach thinking of the things that could've happened to them. I swallowed hard, but the queasiness never left me At one moment in time I thought we'd never find them, that they would be lost to the world as we knew it. But then out of the cold morning air, they appeared. I could tell you about all of my unit's separate stories and when they cried but this is more important. They were all laying on top of each other, face down, in the mud. It took me a second to realize what had happened but then I took a second to summarize it. They had all walked towards Bergen-Belsen but then their Nazi captors, not seeing a profitable and safe future for themselves, executed the Jews and deserted the trail. I immediately dropped to my knees, as did some of my other fellow soldiers. The only one not fazed by this was Sarge. He turned around and walked off with a cigarette in his mouth. "Wha...wha...what the hell?" Barnes asked me. I didn't answer, I couldn't, I was in a state of shock that you don't normally get in often. But something about seeing the dead bodies of innocent men, women, and children puts a heavy weight on a man's soul. Was it over? Had we completed our goal? Not likely, Berlin still wait to be conquered and I was fired up by the pure hatred that now consumed my heart. I wanted these Nazis dead. No matter the cost... ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️ Stay tuned for more!