Heinrich was sitting on an empty overturned crate, taking a pleasant smoke break, he had just done several hours down at the mine face, and his body ached. A familiar feeling, but none the less unpleasant. He took a long drag of the cigarette when his shift leader walked in and broke the news to him. “Heinrich,” said Bernard, an older balding man with a squat rotund body, “their calling in the reserves, you need to go report in,” he said flatly, a thin frown betraying his feelings. He let out a long exhale, the smoke blowing out like an engine’s revving exhaust rather that thin wispy tendrils. “So this is it then, it’s really happening, I had hoped things would calm down and it could be avoided,” he said grunting as he stood, “then I’ll be off now, wish me the best,” he said with a week smile, trying to raise Bernard’s spirits. He walked out past the older gentleman, no more words spoken, no more needing to be said, he was off to war, and there was no guarantee of returning.

 He arrived to the mustering which was already alive with activity, and quickly took his place in the issue line. He caught the boxes of rounds that were practically tossed to him before being handed a stuffed pack. His brow furrowed for a moment before his question was answered, “Engineer right? This is your additional kit.” He fumbled a moment to hold the boxed rounds while sliding it over his shoulders before hurrying off to allow the men behind them their supplies. He began the tedious task of loading his mags as others were loading onto trucks, before being directed to his squads truck. He clambered in and looked around. Only seven? Out of twelve? He hoped for their sakes the other weren’t trying to desert.

 Shortly after settling in the Korporal addressed him, “Heinrich, Gerd didn't show up. You're the most experienced. I want you to be assistant squad leader. Can you handle that? When we go into the attack, you control the pigs." His eyes widened slightly, “Yes Korporal, I can, and you needn’t worry, they’ll be used to the best affect.” He closed his eyes, this was almost unbelievable, he really hadn’t heard the rest of what the Korporal said, he just breathed deeply before slipping into a light slumber for the duration of the ride.

 Once at their destination, he was awoken by the sudden movement of the others. He groggily stood up before shuffling to the back and jumping out of the truck. They were on a farm, quaint little countryside without the most pleasant of weather. This brought a smile smile to his face, having shortly forgotten just why they were here, and then it hit him. [i]“What will become of this farm?”[/i] He thought to himself, [i]“What of the people who lived here?”[/i] He steeled himself; he would have to protect this quite countryside, he and the rest of them. He finally dropped out of his little world in time to catch what the Korporal had to say, directing himself and Dupont to the left side and get dug in. He nodded curtly and made his way over in that direction. Dupont had found a patch of tall grass, concealment, a place to start. They set about digging, Heinrich’s work in the mines paying off, making plenty more headway than his comrade. After a grueling while with their small trench shovels, a pretty young woman came out with proper shovels. Heinrich smiled, no way in hell he’d let anyone past now, not with her back there. An hour past, and they had the basic frame work of their cozy little home away from home dug out. Another hour had seen to a couple grenade sumps dug out, a small berm with firing cuts and a firing step constructed. “Well, this could still use some work, but given the conditions, this may be as good as it’ll get for today,” he said wiping the sweat from his brow with his sleeve.

 Then it happened, the distinct sound of diesel engines. Heinrich dropped down into the hole as Dupont pulled in there ammo. [i]“Damn, we didn’t get a dugout for the rounds!”[/i] He cursed himself as he realized the mistake. He took to ensuring Dupont’s first belt was free of debris and ready to go before sliding the other two in close. He fixed his bayonet and peeked over the berm, a trail of halftracks approaching. Dupont rasped out, “Orders, sir?” “Remember your training, sustained fire, 5-9 bursts, take a couple seconds and readjust as necessary, another burst. You can’t take out the vehicles, but you can suppress the gunners, wait for the big gun to take out their engines, when the infantry dismount, reap your harvest. Keep the guns talking, you burst, let the other take a burst, back and forth,” he said somewhat shakily, before remembering that he was a leader now. He gathered himself quickly, “And for god’s sake don’t call me sir,” he said bluntly before taking aim down his sights, hoping the grass would conceal his longer rifle as he tried to pick out a target he could do some good against.