The Last Fall

The Kubelwagen roared through the roads of Graham Street of West Germany as Maj. General Michael Knapp of the US Army pumped the gas to the floor to dodge the rain of bullets that hit the roads raising spouts of dust and soil to the air, from the fighter bombers soaring the sky. There was this time when the common soldier, James Waldo of the US Army who was in the car along with the General wondered why the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force hadn’t appeared yet. Even before the thought was forgotten, there came the Jabos, the fighter bombers destroying everything off the street, the smoke from garbage cans, the smashed bags of vegetables, the fire and smoke created by the fighter bombers’ bullets hitting the seeped fuel from the cars of the streets mushroomed to the air, raising towards the clouds.

The Kubelwagen which was stolen by the two US Soldiers off the Graham Street was armored, yet the top was made of leather which was easily ripped off by the rain of bullets. The Wagen started to smoke as the young soldier was dodging the bullets by using a spare tire which was lying beneath his feet.

“General, it’s not going to hold, we need to move out,” shouted Waldo addressing the General Knapp who could barely understand what he was speaking.

“What? Soldier, you must speak up,” said the General in a loud voice.

“The engine is smoking, we need to move out,” said Waldo again in a much louder voice.

“And how do you suggest we do that? It’s raining fire out here, the Jabos are not going to stop,” replied the General sternly.

Waldo looked out for any escape plan. “There is a fruit shop shed poking out, we can make a jump out there,” answered Waldo.

“I suppose we have no other choice Soldier. Make for the shed when it is time.” Said the General convincingly.

The General Knapp pulled out the vehicle to the left of the road, he was driving in a zigzag fashion all this time to dodge the fighter. As they came near the shed, the General didn’t slow down, there were minimum three of four vehicles parked in the left side of the road. When the moment came, James was the first to make the jump, he leaped out and rolled over on the road to stop and hit the wall while the General hit the fruit baskets that were laid down and made for the shed safely. The car ran with the same momentum as it made a hard stop crashing with one of the vehicles that were parked along the side of the road.

“Soldier, did you get the rifle from the car?” inquired the General.

“No Sir, I didn’t know that we had a rifle,” answered James.

“You fool, it was your job to get the rifle, and it was lying right in front of you! Are we weaponless on the streets of Germany where almost every person is trying to kill us?” spoke the General who was horrified, feeling aghast at their situation.

“No Sir, we will search for something in the street,” replied James who was also terrified.

As the fighter bomber passed, the General was pleased to see the soldiers of the 69^th Infantry Division of the US Army marching towards them along with a battalion of Light Tank M3’s blazing through the street. The Infantry stopped before the General Knapp in a halt as a man opened the top door of the M3 and came out. He was the Maj. General Alex Davis walking proudly, after clearing up the last few streets of West Germany.

“Major,” he said saluting the Maj. General Knapp who was a senior to him in terms of age.

General Knapp saluted back and spoke “Very glad to see you Major, the German counter attacks are getting fierce, the streets are not safe, we need to take cover or pull back the forces and we need to do it right now.”

“You can relax Major, the Germans has opened air strike because they don’t have any further infantry to spare in this region,” said General Davis.

As they were talking, a fire of bullet hit General Davis at the back of his head and the blood spattered all over the face of General Knapp who was standing in front of Davis.

“Take cover! This is a sniper attack,” screamed General Knapp without even wiping the blood off his face. Everyone jumped to their sides, taking cover with whatever they can hold in front like the fruit basket crates, oil barrels, garbage cans and damaged trucks. The infantry reverted back with firing shots of Kar-98s they were holding. Before he could take cover, James was shot at the back of his chest by a bullet from one of the snipers.

Blood rushed through his green uniform as he was holding it tightly to stop the flow. “General, I think I have been shot pretty well, I’m truly sorry that I failed,” said James who was fighting the pain created by the bullet that entered his muscles.

“You fool, you are a good man, and it is a part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything, you have done that, and you are not going to die,” said the General who took a look at the wound. The outer layer of the uniform had the big hole, the wool inside that had a slightly smaller one, and the skin was painted red with his blood and the General noticed the exit wound. The bullet had exited his body. The General took the big patch of clothe that he tore from James’ hand and stuffed it on the wound to stop the blood flow.

“Get up boy! You have a country to fight for,” said the General after the infantry had put down the snipers.

“Gather around fellas!” shouted General Knapp. “We have lost enough, we have lost most of our army, we have lost our General right in front of our eyes, we have lost a lot of our fellow brothers, we have lost so many lives that we cannot get back. There is no certainty that we’ll live either. But as long as we are here, we are going to show the Germans a good time, are you fellas ready?” asked the General in a commanding voice.

“Yeah!” came the reply in a roaring tone.

Every soldier left took a rifle on his hand and shot down everything and everyone that they saw on the roads. The M3 tank brought down buildings crumbling with its blazing missiles. As James and the General moved through the streets, the tank shot down a building which was brought to the ground and there was a woman rushing out of the building with trembling legs holding two children in her hands. She was also carrying a child inside her. The woman was a German, pale, a decent height, black hair worn short, wore full sleeved white shirt and a black skirt.

James’ legs came to a fumbling halt when he saw that the woman was his lover Elsa and her children. The children were four years old. James loved the German woman Elsa for the past entire year that he was in German along with the 69^th Infantry which was signed and deployed overseas in the December of 1944. James visited Elsa almost every time that he got a chance, they met at a beer café and since then they have been living for each other.

“Elsa!” shouted James when he saw her rushing out of the building which was crumbling down. He ran to her as she fell down, he got her up and he wanted to get them to safety because the infantry was definitely in a mood to rip off any German that they spot on the streets. As he held her hand, he was stopped by the sight of General Knapp as he rushed through the entrance of the Jeremy Street.

“What are you doing boy? Shoot them,” ordered General Knapp.

“This is my family Sir, I love Elsa, can’t do it Sir,” denied James.

“But she is a German, she needs to be shot down, if you don’t do it, I’ll be more than glad to do it myself,” said the General as he pulled out his Kar-98 and aimed at the lady.

“No Sir, I can’t do it and neither can I let you,” said James as he stood in front of Elsa, trying to get them covered behind him.

“Soldier, it’s an order, you are going to let me do it or I’ll have to put you down too, I’ll do it for my country,” said the General in a loud tone.

“It is a part of a good man to do great and noble deeds, though he risk everything, as you said General, I can’t move, my loyalty towards the country can’t overshadow the loyalty towards my family,” said James with a trembling voice.

“You leave me no choice boy, you are a good man,” said the General pointing the Kar-98 on Elsa. The General pulled the trigger as James pushed Elsa to the side of the road with a cry asking her to run and take her children.

The first shot was fired to the right chest of James piercing through the muscles and spouting blood. James walked towards the General still hiding Elsa who was on her feet, running for her life and protecting her children. She looked behind with her eyes filled with tears watching James getting shot. The next shot landed on the center of his chest just below the neck as James fell on his knees in front of the General. Elsa was nowhere to be found on the street. James caught the feet of the General as he fell down to the ground face first as a tear drop from the General’s eyes fell behind his wounded head.