Oct. 19, 1939
Outside of Heinsberg, Germany
Helmut Wolf frowned as raindrops began to fall from the sky and hurried to get inside the makeshift bunker that he shared with another officer from his company. He sighed as he poured himself a cup of coffee and took a seat behind a table that had been fashioned from wood gathered from the forest that surrounded his unit. When he had reported to 2nd SS Division headquarters ten days ago, he had been assigned to this quiet and dreary section of forest to assume command of 3rd Platoon, D Company, 2nd Schutzen Regiment. He had arrived to find the men already dug in and that he had very little to do other than get to know the terrain and the men and non-comms that would be serving under him. Everyone had been proper, but he knew that they viewed him at least skeptically. They had, after all, fought alongside of one another in Poland and it was only natural for them to be wary of a new officer with no combat experience whatsoever. Helmut had hoped to gain that experience soon after his arrival, but he and the rest of the division had not stirred from their positions. With the exception of the III. and IV. Armees, the force that had conquered Poland had been shipped to western Germany to hold positions along the Belgian and Dutch borders and to refit and reorganize. Some of the formations involved in the Polish campaign had suffered heavy losses and vehicles and men needed to be replaced before entering into battle again. With it being so late in the year, Helmut doubted that the war would be taken to Britain and France before spring. Helmut shook his head, still not comprehending the lack of action by the Allies. During the Polish campaign, that had not moved at all. It was only a week ago that British and French bombers had finally begun to run missions over German territory. Although not doing any particular damage, the bombing runs had dispelled any notion that the Allies would come to the peace table after the fall of Poland.
As Helmut began to contemplate spending the whole winter in this depressing place, he was interrupted by knock on the door. Glancing up, he called for his visitor to enter and was pleased to see Max step into the bunker and snap him a stiff armed salute. Helmut stood up and said with a grin, "You're getting better at that. Have a seat and I'll pour you some coffee."
As Max took a seat opposite of his at the table, Helmut grabbed his mug as well as a fresh one and filled them with coffee before returning to his seat. Sliding the cup over to Max, Helmut smiled again and thought how good it was to have a familiar face around. After the Polish surrender, it had been revealed that the Brandenburger Battalion would be dismantled and its personnel sent to other regular army units. Max had come to him and asked if he could come along with him into the Waffen-SS saying that he, "wouldn't be comfortable letting you run around unsupervised." Helmut had been glad to call up some friends and pull the necessary strings to get his friend assigned to his unit. Max's presence had been especially comforting during the beginning of the assignment here when Helmut had been surrounded by strange, slightly ambivalent faces. Of course, he still had some trouble with overfamiliarity but Helmut was beginning to suspect this might always be the case. After Max had taken a sip of his coffee, Helmut asked, "So, what brings you up off of the line where you belong?"
Max frowned at Helmut's pointed remark and replied, "Just wanted to see what you were up to I suppose."
"Since you decided to wander away from your duties, what's the mood like down there?", asked Helmut.
Max shrugged, "The men are bored, but in good spirits. I imagine that the rain might dampen those spirits a little though."
Helmut grimaced and refused to acknowledge Max's pun. He knew that he really should be getting information about morale from his non-comms, but Max was here now and he felt more comfortable talking to him anyway. Helmut leaned back as he asked, "How are you adjusting?"
"Well enough. I've seen combat service so I'm accepted by the rest of the guys for the most part.", replied Max. Seeing that Helmut's face had twisted up at the comment, Max quickly added, "Don't worry, I'm sure that you'll show yourself to be a fine combat leader when the time comes."
Helmut was spared from having to respond to this statement when his bunkmate and commander of 4th Platoon, Untersturmfuhrer Knappe, stuck his head in the doorway and said, "Wolf, the Hauptsturmfuhrer is calling all of us together for a conference. We're to head on up to the command post right away."
Helmut nodded and stood up to pull his coat on to protect him from the rain that, from the sound of it, had intensified while he and Max had been talking. As Knappe disappeared from the doorway, Helmut turned to Max and said, "You had better head back down to the line."
Max stood and headed out of the doorway after clicking his heels and saluting. Helmut smiled wryly at the way that Max couldn't quite keep a straight face when he saluted him and followed him outside. As he took his leave of his friend he heard Max speak up, "I was thinking, you know how you're concerned about how the men perceive you?"
Helmut frowned, not thinking that it was proper for Max to talk to him like this now that they were no longer in private, but motioned for him to continue. Taking a breath, Max said, "Doing something small like letting the men see you walking the line in bad weather instead of heading inside can go a long way. A good officer will always share his men's hardships."
Helmut was about to tell Max that he really had gone too far, but he realized that there was some truth to his statement and instead just nodded and turned away from him and walked on toward the command post.
When he arrived, Hauptsturmfuhrer Bayer looked up and said, "Ah, now that Wolf has joined us we can begin. Gentlemen, I've just come from a meeting of the company commanders where Standartenfuhrer Faber gave me the same information that I'm passing on to you. In short, High Command has determined that we have rested enough and that it's time to go on the offensive." Bayer raised a hand to quiet the the startled outbursts that greeted the news of an offensive so late in the year and continued, "In two days time the attack will begin. If you'll all gather around the map, we can go into our particular responsibilities in detail."
As Helmut bent over the map with the rest of the officers, he was seized with a great feeling of excitement. Finally, he would go into battle for the Fatherland.
