RAF
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“It looks like we’re clear to go,” said Professor Jenkins. The recording from the probe sent to our arrival point did not show any signs of people. He maneuvered, in his skis, across the concrete floor into the middle of the trans-verser and gave a signal. The machinery fired up, and Jenkins disappeared. I counted five seconds. Jenkins then appeared again. “There’s nobody there. Set the level for two hours and let’s go.” The next time Jenkins disappeared, he stayed gone. I went into the trans-verser next, buttoned up my coat, cinched up the hood of my hat, and took a firm hold of my ski poles. There was a half-second of disorientation, then I dropped about two feet onto the snow in northern Russia. Then, quickly, I followed Captain Jenin’s tracks out of the arrival point. The previous day’s snow storm had ended and the sky had cleared, and the temperatures had plummeted. It came with a strong breeze that grabbed some of the loose snow from the trees and drove it along the ground like a desert of fine sand. The cold grabbed onto me the moment I arrived, and I struggled to fasten my clothes a little tighter. However, the cold air found no difficulty find every hole available to it to penetrate to my skin. A couple of minutes later, Private Messerer showed up, his rifle slung across his shoulder. We arrived in an orchard on a rise that separated Pozharishche and Podvoritsa – the town that the Soviets had taken during our last visit. It was twilight, which was safer for us than arriving in full daylight. As Messerer skied over to us, he looked back on his tracks, that began abruptly just a few feet away. He smirked and said, “Some Soviet soldier is going to have a hard time explaining that.” “Soldier, remember who you are,” Captain Jenin said. Messerer straightened up. “Okay, at last report, Major Teodorovich is in Podvoritsa.” Captain Jenin pointed the way, off to the northeast, and Private Messerer took the lead. We did not have long to travel – less than two kilometers, and we travelled quickly on the skis. However, by the time we arrived, I was already feeling a sting in my fingers and toes from the cold. It also bit at my cheeks and nose. With every breath I took, I imagined crystals of ice forming on the inside of my lungs. I wanted to be warm again. We approached the town from the southeast. Images of the previous day’s attack flashed through my mind. I remembered a Soviet NCO shooting a soldier for cowardice, the slaughter of half of 2nd Platoon by a German machine gun set up on the building to the left as we entered town, the sight of the two wounded Germans when I finally got to the building, and the Soviet soldier who had killed the prisoners. The German bodies had been stripped and simply piled beside one of the buildings like sandbags – a stack of frozen flesh in the icy breeze. Probably the two wounded Germans killed in my presence were in that stack. Two Soviet guards challenged us at the south end of town, then quickly recognized Captain Jenin “The Major wants to see you right away,” he told us. “He’s on the other end of town.” As we skied up main street, we saw that Major Teodorovich had brought up a mortar battery. They had set up in a vacant lot in the middle of town. Some battery members patrolled around their four tubes, while others occupied a nearby house. The cars that Teodorovich had ordered rolled out into the middle of the street during the fight had now been rolled back again so that the street was clear. I saw the truck that the Germans had used to assault the Soviet line during the fight for the town, and the snowfield to the right were a German machine gun had raked 1st Platoon. We found Battalion headquarters just up the street from that, on the left. The machine-gun nests and the forest of skis sticking out of the ground near the front door would have given the place away, if not for the battalion colors flying at the front door. Inside the house, it was scarcely warmer than it was outside. However, we were out of the wind, and that helped considerably. Major Teodorovich was here, standing at a table he had dragged into the center of the room and covered with maps. Lieutenant Kajukalo, the commander of 3rd Platoon, along with the other two platoon leaders, stood with him. “What can you tell me?” Major Teodorovich asked Captain Jenin. Jenin approached the table. I approached the fireplace, where a soldier had just offered me coffee. I accepted the invitation, though my frozen fingers had trouble grabbing the cup. Jenin addressed the Major and his platoon leaders. “I think your opposition is going to be lighter than originally expected. If you hit Khisova fast and hard, you can drive the Germans out. However, I’m worried about what the Germans have on the other side of the valley. I would expect machine-gun and mortar fire if you stay put too long.” “Tanks?” asked Teodorovich. “No armor,” said Jenin. “I’m sure of it. At least not today. But there are mines. You will have to be prepared to walk either over them or around them. You won’t be able to stop. If you stop, you can expect German mortars to rain down.” Jenin turned the map on the table around to orient himself, then pointed to the hedges southeast of Khisova. “This looks like your best approach. The forest and hills can mask your approach, and you can maneuver to use the hedges as cover. How long until 2nd Company gets here?” “A half hour,” said Teodorvich while he looked at the map. “Let’s not wait for them.” Major Teodorovich placed a plastic overlay on the map and began writing with a grease pencil. He spoke to the three platoon leaders as he drew. “I want your three platoons here, here, and here – second, first, and third – by 8:30. We will attack at 8:45. Repnikov, you’re new here, you’ll be on our left flank. You’ll have the cover of the hedge, so you move up first, at 8:45. You’ll give us an idea of what the terrain is like. Have runners ready to report to me. I’ll be with Kajukalo’s platoon. Depending on what Repnikov reports, either he will withdraw, or we will advance, at 9:00. Repnikov, 2nd Company will come in on your left. Don’t kill them.” Teodorovich also added to his orders that the mortar battery will move closer, using the hills and forest as cover, and ordered the establishment of a medical aid station and ammo dump on the near side the hill overlooking the town of Khisova. While he spoke, Teodorovich’s aides wrote up his comments as an official set of orders that included copies of the transparency he had made and the name of the map they fit on written in the corner. This included copies for the mortar battery and 2nd Company. These were given to runners. “I would like my aide, Sergeant Apalkin, to accompany your runner to 2nd Company. He can tell them what we know, and help lead them up to the battle zone.” “Very well,” said Teodorovich. He appended his runner’s orders to say that I would accompany him. Captain Jenin officially penned my own orders to report to the commander of 2nd Company and to put myself at his disposal. Technically, this fit in with our real reason for being here, to record the battle so that historians would be able to use it. Unofficially, I could not help but think that Captain Jenin was trying to get rid of me so that he could murder Lieutenant Kajukalo. Only, Jenin would also have Messerer to deal with. I answered Jenin’s orders with a salute, then left with the messenger to go find 2nd Company.
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< Message edited by RAF -- 7/4/2007 7:03:04 PM >
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