Maria, Pull the Trigger and Kill (a World War II adventure)

Jimmy

It took us well until the afternoon to bring all vehicles over. On our last trip, I asked, if I could borrow the tow-truck again, because for some time already, I thought, we should also have a truck at our disposal and I wanted to get us one. The Master Sergeant shook his head in disbelieve: "Don't you already have enough vehicles? But, go right ahead with it."

I smiled and went over to the tow-truck, when he yelled at me: "Don't you dare bring a vehicle with corpses in it!"

I knew a location with a damaged light Studebaker truck. The right front wheel and axle had been damaged and I guessed, that it could relatively easily get repaired. It was within the American Sector and it only took me about 45 minutes to get it to the Hauptkadettenanstalt.

When I showed it to the Master Sergeant he stated: "You are correct, we can put a new axle, a new wheel and a new steering gear in and it will be good to go again. I still wonder though, how this happened? You know, those are sturdy truck axles, made to take abuse. That driver must have hit a big stone at high speed. That's my only explanation for that kind a damage."

I had a feeling that there still was something he had not mentioned yet: "OK, so you can fix it, but---?"

Now he added the second part: "But, this is a US Army truck and I have to give it back to the respective unit. Bring me a German or a Soviet vehicle and it's gonna be yours."

Pinche, now I had to drive out again. Vaguely I remembered some locations with damaged trucks in the Soviet Sector. Unfortunately, it took a lot longer. One hour to get to the Soviet Sector, another two hours of driving around, until I found a GMC light truck nicknamed Jimmy. It did not have an accident, was not damaged and I asked myself, what had been wrong with it, but so what. I hooked it up and brought it over to the Engineering Corps. There one of the mechanics, checked the battery and then tried to start it, but nothing happened, besides a clonk noise. "There is something wrong with the engine."

He looked at the engine again from all directions, then checked the oil level and provided me his analysis: "Russians eh. They did an oil change, removed the old filter, but did not realize, that the rubber O-ring still stuck to the motor block. Then they put the new filter in, but with the old O-ring still being in the way, the new one could not seal up. Then the fabulous Russian driver drove, until the oil reservoir was empty and then until the engine seized. So this one needs a new engine, but we don't have one here. We need to order it. Will take about 6 weeks until it'll be here."

He showed me the culprit. There was an O-ring right at the motor block and it was not correctly in place. The O-ring, which was on the filter, could thus not seal up to the motor block anymore. In between the two O-rings, oil had gotten spilled in masses.

Fine, again, I had to go and look for another Jimmy. It took me 6 hours to find one. That one had a completely damaged front. The engine, sat twisted in its mountings and I was not sure, if it was still usable? It was after 10:00pm, 2200 alpha and I was too tired, to look further, so I just hooked it up and transported it to the Engineering Corps. Funny I thought, the abandoned vehicles in the Soviet Sector, were mostly US made and had been given to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease act. Close to midnight, I dropped the tow-truck with the Jimmy in tow off at the Engineering Corps. After that I had to walk back to the women's quarters, because Amanda had taken the Jeep. The distance was a bit over two miles. The new moon was coming up in a few days and I did not see much, which made it quite cumbersome. After about half an hour, I walked along Habelschwerter Allee and the trees of the alley blocked even more of the light from the stars. Suddenly, I heard something and the very next second someone had grabbed me from behind and I had a knife at my neck. Pinche.

A knife is a dangerous weapon. A sharp knife cuts deep, even with little pressure. The wounds take long to heal, if they properly heal at all. In any case do they leave a long, nasty scar. Having a knife at one's neck, is potentially fatal.