When another calm mid-summer evening came around, me and Kurt and the others went back to the barracks. I stared at the beautiful sunset and listened to the crickets that chirped loudly. I was now completely relaxed.
As we entered our barrack, me and Kurt sat down on each other's chairs and talked to each other until Kurt fell asleep on my shoulder, with his Mg-42 on his lap. His head slowly started to fall until one of the officers outside our barrack yelled "Beer!" Kurt quickly jumped up of excitement and sprinted to get me and him a bottle. I looked out the window and watched Kurt grab two beers from the officer that had about 60 of them in a crate, more were being loaded off from a truck. I laughed as I saw a smile light up on his face. I watched Kurt sprint back again. He was here in half a second.
Kurt opened my bottle with a bottle opener in a pocket on his pants. He then opened his. We raised our bottles up, cling them together and laughed. Kurt opened his left breast pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He offered me one but I told him I did not smoke. He pressured me to try one until I said yes to get him off my back. I put the cigarette in between my lips and held it with my teeth. Kurt lighter it and my eyes went big. I immediately took it out of my mouth and coughed hard. Kurt laughed at me when he lit his. I nervously put it back in between my lips. The taste of it became strong and that's when I took it out again. I was about to throw it on the ground until Kurt stopped me from doing so.
"I will smoke it after this one." Kurt said.
I handed the cigarette back to Kurt. He was already half way through his other first one. I watched him twiddle in between his dirty fingers. I looked back at my bottle of beer and took another sip of it.
Kurt was finished with his beer in about five minutes. I took about fifteen. I looked down at my watch and read the time.
"9:38pm." It read.
Kurt was already asleep and fell from my shoulder to my lap as we still sat on the chair. I pointed my head down and looked at Kurt's cigarette butts on the ground that Kurt had stepped on. I looked back at Kurt and decided to take of his helmet and to drag him over to his cot. I went over and laid him down. I walked back over to the window and looked out it. I saw other soldiers in a different barrack having a good laugh with each other. They did not stop until about 10:30. I went over to my cot and laid there, trying to go to sleep but there was still too much noise, the sounds of them laughing and artillery in the distance.
At about 10:40, they stopped, everyone did. There was an air raid siren in the distance that was at least close enough for us to come at attention and get ready for anything that could possibly come by. I got up startled and ran to the window that viewed the North. Search lights spread about in the sky, moving side to side. The lights around the camp turned on immediately and our commander opened all of the doors to the barracks and told us to come into formation and attention. I looked at Kurt before I went out the door. He was sitting up putting his helmet on. He grabbed his Mg-42 and some grenades. I ran over to the corner and grabbed my Kar98 and quickly loaded it. Me and Kurt ran out together to formation. I hated these night fights, I've done a couple the past year or two. You cant see anything, what you are shooting or who and you can never see the direction the enemy is coming from. We ran about 50 meters from where the Soviet soldiers were and the bombers. Some soldiers got on the anti-air guns and started shooting wherever in the clear night sky.
Whenever we were in night fighting, I never knew want to do or where to go. I was in a state of panic when Kurt was not with me. I tried yelling his name but I could barely hear myself over the gunfire. It then started to get foggy from all of the smoke that was deployed. I stood there looking around with soldiers running past me from all directions. Until I looked about 20 meters away, I saw a shadow of a soldier with an Mg-42 that was firing it at the moment. I saw the fire star at the end of the barrel of the machine gun. The smoke cleared up around him with some light from the light poles shinning down on him for about five seconds. Then, the shadow was gone again. He was now a black figure with none of his face to be seen. The outline of the helmet on his head in the light shadow made him look evil.
I quickly ran over to him. He was on the side of the street behind a big rock, firing at the incoming Soviets. Kurt was not paying attention when I yelled to him that Soviets were coming up the road to the right. He turned his Mg-42 to the right and fired. I fired a few shots also. On the right side of the road, there were a bunch of trees and bushes that most of the other German soldiers were taking cover and firing in. Kurt looked over there and picked up his Mg-42 and sprinted over to it.
"Come with me now!" Kurt yelled over the gunfire.
I followed Kurt's steps. When we reached the middle of the street, there was a shot from a sniper rifle. I was not looking in front of me. I noticed Kurt's scream and that he had fallen to the ground, in pain. He was holding his hand on the left side of his chest, on his heart.
"NO!" I screamed
I dropped to my knees and my gun fell to the ground next to me. That's when my eyes started watering and tears fell to my cheeks. I had an idea to drag him to safety but Kurt refused to do so.
"No, please go. I'm nothing worth saving!" Kurt said while he started to cry
I looked at Kurt's Mg-42 and looked back at him. He nodded his head. I went over and picked it up and ran towards the trees. I looked back at him, he had his arm up and he was waving his hand at me. Kurt slowly rested his head on the ground. His arm was no longer in the air, his hand was no longer waving at me. There we no other movements from him.
Anger starting to rage inside of me. I found a spot to place Kurt's Mg-42, in between a tree and a thick bush. Went I got set, I pulled the lever back on the side of the machine gun and grinned my teeth together. I took a deep breath and laid my finger on the trigger and pulled it. Tears kept coming down my face as the Mg-42 buzzed. I yelled in anger as I fired round after round. I shot about five of them in about ten seconds. That was when the smoke started to clear up and became easier to see the enemy.
After all of that for about fifthteen minutes, I was worn out again. I lay my head on the bush next to the machine gun. I started crying harder again. I decided to get up and carry the Mg-42 on my shoulder to go see Kurt. His body was about 10 meters away from me. The smoke cleared up and the only person around was me and some dying soldiers which I could not help, everyone else was dead. I could barely look at Kurt's body when I went over to him. I looked at his dead blue eyes that were open and his mouth was open to a "O" shape. There was a bloody hand print on his face and ran down to his chin. I noticed in the side of his head that both sides of his helmet were shattered and there was a gash from a bullet that went straight through his head. The blood was still flowing out of both sides of his head.
I looked through his pockets next and found two packs of cigarettes, a lighter, a wooden pocket knife, his dog tags, a picture of his wife and children, a small doll from his daughter, and the Iron Cross from around his collar of his uniform. I gathered all of those things and put them in my pockets. I then wanted to carry his body back to the barracks. I tried my best to carry him back, in my arms like a baby.