Heimatfront Episode One - The Girl and Her Tank

Undisclosed Desires

The tank kept rolling, having left the buildings cluster well behind. It was now entering a set of rolling hills in the outer edge of Baderberg. To their right the crop fields belonging to the complex spread over a flat meadow, the two working tractors bawling as they moved along the dirt trails. Most of the girls stopped what they were doing when the tank passed by, curious to see it finally working on its own.

Inside the combat vehicle, though, the girls couldn’t really notice their distant comrades or the beautiful landscape. Only Ursel was really glancing to the outside and did so through a small slot right in front of her.

“So say, Maria.” Anja started, turning back at the technician. “Have you ever thought about taking one of these things into combat yourself?”

For a moment Maria almost couldn’t believe in what Anja had just said. She surreptitious tried to see the other girl’s expressions. Ursel was absolutely focused in her driving, her face unreadable for once. Monica was leaned back against her seat, glancing back at Maria through the corner of her eye. They seemed to be in union with whatever was Anja’s goal with that conversation.

“Why are you even asking something like that?” That was all Maria could muster as a reply. In front of her Anja finished eating her sweet potato and leaned her face against her free hand, seemingly disappointed.

“Because I’d love to.” She finally said. It was an unbelievable statement, especially coming from someone of Anja’s rank. It went against everything they had been thought in the BDM. Maria asked herself if Schon even imagined her second-in-command was going around saying that kind of things to the girls she was responsible for. Simply put, there was no way the leader could be backing Anja’s initiative there.

“But you can’t. It’s not the role of a girl to fight in the war!”

“And yet you seem to know more about tanks than most soldiers.” Anja rebutted. “You know that soon it will make no difference whatsoever. Even we the girls will have to fight if we want to survive.”

“What do you mean?”

It was Monica who replied this time, Anja remaining silent but with that strange expression on her face, like if she was evaluating every single word coming out of Maria’s mouth.

“We’re losing the war, there’s no doubt about that by now. What do you think will happen to us if the Soviets ever put their hands on us? Can you imagine?”

“I won’t allow that.” Anja continued. “When the time comes I will fight for my friends and all the other girls in Germany. If I manage to gain them even a few days, even at the cost of my own life, then it will be worthwhile.”

Bit by bit the tank slowed down and finally came to a halt.

“We’re here.” Ursel told Anja.

“All right.” She replied before resuming her conversation with Maria. “If the opportunity ever comes, would you like to join me, Nitzschmann? Help us protect our country and our people?”

How could she realistically reply to that? Of course she fantasized about being able to defend the Fatherland. She did so ever since she was old enough to understand what her father did for a living. And she felt unimaginable proud when he triumphantly returned from Poland and France like a conquering hero. She’d imaged she could join the war and fight alongside him, cursing her luck for having been born a girl more than a few times.

But when reality came crashing down with its ugly face she decided she really didn’t want to take any part in any of it. All the knowledge she’d gathered with her father, with her books, and with her work in Dresden, she would live happy if she’d never have to really test its limits. Because that would mean seeing other youngsters suffer like those she saw in her hometown. Her friends.

“I-I…”

Anja waved at her, slightly annoyed. “I’ll give you some days to think it through, if you want to.” She told Maria. “I’ll just ask you to think really hard about it in the meantime.”

For a few seconds, Maria tried not to look directly at any of the other girls. She could feel they were disappointed by her reaction. But the fact remained that their stance regarding the whole issue wasn’t at all anything like what she’d seen in other groupings. Those girls were actually fierce and wanted to make a difference. Maybe it was despair, fueled by the fear of the raping and the killings, and the unwillingness to abandon the Fatherland and its people to the enraged invader.

She could understand it, but-

“Hey Nitzschmann, do something else for now.” Anja’s words brought her out of her digression. “Reach for the compartment under your seat and take one of the rounds out.”

Maria did what she was asked for. This time the fact that she found herself with a 3,7cm armor-piercing round in her hands didn’t even registered as surprising.

“How did you?” She had to ask.

“I’ve made a special request, and convinced Schon to pull some strings. We might receive a few more for the other tanks in two or three days.”

There was really nothing she could do or say, so she went along with it for the moment.

“I suppose you’ll want to fire this?” Anja simply nodded back at her so Maria slammed the shell in the Skoda A7 main gun’s breech. She saw a large smirk opening in Monica’s face right away.

“Now, how do I aim this?” She asked. Maria gave her a quick run-up of the procedures, to which Monica made a few more questions before feeling herself comfortable with what they were about to do.

When she felt ready Monica looked through the aim sight. The tank was stationed in the bottom of valley between two stumpy flat hills. Green grass spread all around and there was not a single soul in sight except the crew of the lonely war machine. The target for that practice firing was one of the sparse trees growing here and there, located almost one thousand meters in front of the tank.

“I have a target.” Monica warned, prompting the other girls to put their fingers in their ears. The gunner wouldn’t have that chance and would have to simply endure the gunshot.

POW!

It wasn’t really that loud, at least when compared with the bang of the larger guns. Still it was enough to echo across the landscape and rattle the tank a little. The shot went too wide and slammed into the flank of the hill, several yards to the left of the target tree.

“Wunderbar!” Excited with the flawless firing, Anja turned at Maria. “How many shots are usually fired in basic training?”

“Six, if I’m not mistaken.” Maria had to admit that even she was now somewhat thrilled with the situation. As far as excitement went nothing could beat a tank shooting at things, at least in her opinion.

“Shall we fire five more, then? We should also test the other tanks this way once you get them ready, don’t you think?” Anja glanced at Maria, always with that intriguing smirk in her face.

Maria patted the top of the main gun’s breech, seemingly considering the issue for a moment.

“You’re right.” She conceded. “We really should do it.”

“We don’t want the soldiers to go around in untested equipment, isn’t it?” Ursel asked from her post. They were right on that point, Maria had to agree. So she smiled back at the other girls and nodded.