FAR FROM HOME

On a different day and under different circumstances, Ross would have found the beautiful scenery of the majestic Polish alps endearing. The icy peaks of Tatra mountains with snow peacefully settling down on them would have made him take a picture to preserve such memories. But there was nothing about this day that he ever wanted to recall. He just wanted to go home. He missed the farm back in Oxfordshire, the cows, the sheep and the smell of the horse stables. Mostly, he longed for his family and friends.

He looked at the mountains begrudgingly and wondered why they got to have it easy. Why wasn’t he a mountain too or even a tiny pebble on the mountain. The mountains didn’t fight, they didn’t argue over territory, they didn’t care for ethnicity, race or one’s political ideologies. He wished so bad that he was rock on those peaceful alps.

Aboard the ‘Old Lady’ were men who had given so much but only managed so little. They were hungry, tired, defeated and bruised. No one had managed sleep in days some even weeks. The latest barrage of chemical attack only a day ago had left people reeling from side effects of the mustard gas. No one had died thankfully but it had weakened the platoon greatly.

He was still moaning the loss of his dear friend Michael who had died two days ago. It had been a basic assignment that they had gone to undertake. Inspecting a cluster of German tanks that had been disabled by allied bombers. The field was riddled with Nazi body parts that had been blown off by the bombers. Mike, who was the only one in the group who could operate a tank was tasked with getting inside to check whether there was any that was still functional.

Inside the last tank, there happened to be a German soldier still alive. Before Mike realized, the enemy detonated a bomb. The blast was so bad that the only retrievable part was a hand.

Ross looked away from the window to the silver ring on his right finger. It was the only thing he had to remember his best friend by. The ring had been on Mike’s finger when he died. He took in a deep breath to prevent the tears and averted his gaze back to the window. The rest of Mike’s personal belongings were buried together with his hand as per their military tradition. A way for the soldiers to move on from a sudden but somewhat expected loss. The warring had been so bad so far that the family wasn't given a chance at a farewell. Everything needed to be done hurriedly. Bodies were dropping like flies all over the battle field. Most people didn't get a decent burial, their bodies lay rotting in the fields getting devoured by vultures and crows.

It hadn’t been his choice to join the army. It hadn’t been his luck either because he’d only just turned 18 a week prior to the mandatory consignment. He still remembered the night Major Cartwright had called on his home. His mother’s worst nightmare had come true and she couldn’t hold back the tears as her only child was driven away in a military truck. People had always speculated about the war but no one actually thought it might happen.

“Hitler knows better than to invade Poland. He won’t I tell you! It’s just propaganda. The full force of the queen’s army will descend on him.” His grandpa had said.

Granddad fought the Germans in France during the first war and lost a leg. Whenever he told stories to children he would proudly remove his prosthetic leg and show the stump like some sort of a trophy. If he was in a very good mood, he’d let them rub it.

His unit had lost ten people so far. He had heard of some units that had been wiped out completely by suicide bombers. He wished they didn’t have to lose any one else but they were only a year into the war. Death had brought them close together and made them into more than a family.

***

Once the train came to a stop in the small town of Zakopane, Lieutenant Jack Hayes got up to address his men.

“Okay boys we are only here temporarily before re-deployment. We don’t know what’s going to happen but keep in mind it’s just began. There’s no going home to mummy just yet. This is a very small town, probably less than five thousand people so let’s not spook anyone. Silvertone I know you have a reputation with the ladies but I won’t be having none of that.”

A lot of people gathered at the town square to watch the soldiers as they marched to the old church where they were to put up. Fear and uncertainty was visible all over their faces. Not for the soldiers but for what was to come. The horrors that would happen to them if Hitler's invasion succeeded were unimaginable.

Rumours of Auschwitz had spread. Nazi scientists using detainees for experimentation and the egregious nature of the death camps.

The people of Zakopane warmed up to the soldiers. The church in which the soldiers put up was old, no one used it anymore or so they thought until on the second day someone caught Ross's attention.

They had been playing football in the church backyard to pass off time. Hayes kicked the ball too far so Ross had to go fetch it.

He had to climb over the fence to the other side of the church. He’d just got the ball when through the corner of his eye he managed to spot a figure disappear into the wall. He should have walked away but he was curious. The town mayor had told them no one ever came to the church.

It wasn’t complicated, just had to push a stone out of place to expose a hidden lever that when pulled exposed a narrow space through the wall that he barely managed to squeeze through.

***

Their first encounter wasn’t pleasant at all. She got spooked like a little mouse and were it not for the fact that he was blocking her only passage, she would have fled. Her English was better than he’d expected.

She came there to pray every evening and was apologetic for disturbing the soldiers. Ross assured her that she had not disturbed anyone and that she could come by anytime, after all they were the visitors. The next day, he waited for her inside the secret room but she didn’t showed up. He was disappointed that she didn’t come. He couldn’t stop thinking why she never came and blamed himself for scaring her off. He soon realized that he couldn’t get her off his mind and kept thinking of her the whole night. Her smooth, dainty hands when he shook them goodbye.

The fourth day moved slowly. There was no communication yet on their next deployment and the longer they waited the more anxious they became She showed up this time and they had a lovely conversation. Her name was Olena. She was nineteen and was studying literature at the local college so as to be a teacher.

He told her about himself. His life back in England and how he’d ended up in the military. What it was like to see your friend get blown up into tiny bits unable to do anything about it. Olena had a big brother slightly older than Ross in the front lines. She broke down in tears as she opened up on her fear that he might be dead.

"He went to fight in Auschwitz when the invasion begun. A week later there was news that the whole town had been overrun. They must have put him in one of those camps." She said in between tears.

They were abandoned as children and had to live in a children's home that was under abusive caretakers . He was the one who’d been paying for her college before the war.

Ross held her in his arm as she cried. They became close and confided in each other. He told the others about her thinking they would disapprove but they were happy for him. Lieutenant Hayes gave him a pat on the back with a broad smile.

“Only love can get us through the insanity around us. We’re happy for you buddy.” He said.

***

On the morning of the fifth day, word finally came. The Germans had advanced on Danzig with brutal force. It was bad. The allies had suffered mass casualties, hundreds dead in another air strike.

“We are going deep into the front line boys. Where the fighting is heaviest. Pray to whatever god you worship tonight, we leave at midnight.” Hayes announced.

A tense and somber mood crept over group. There was a realization among each and every one of them that this could be it. Ross tried not to think about. He had just stumbled upon an unexpected treasure in this small town at such an unfortunate time. He wished things could be different. He wished he didn’t have to leave Olena to go marching into the beckoning hands of death.

That day they strolled freely through the village holding each others hands and ignoring the stares. She showed him every part of her world. The beautiful Gothic church that every one else used for worship, the frozen lake that she often swam in during summer, the college that she went to and her home.

On her small wooden bed they lay together for the first time. He had never known what it meant to be happy and content till that night. On that bed he made a solemn promise not to die. And when the war was over he would come back for her. They would go to England together as husband and wife.

***

At midnight the twenty soldiers boarded the train that would stop two kilometers outside Danzig. From there on they would march onto the trenches. Ross felt re-invigorated. Fate had given him another shot at life. Before meeting Olena, he had accepted death as a reality but now he wanted to fight. No rifle, land mine, or bombers would deny him his destiny.