When I woke up the next morning at about 5:56am, the summer air was warm and flowed through the cracked window right above Kurt's bed. There was just a small tint of sunlight that was coming from the east. I was relaxed and I wanted to go back to sleep but I knew I had to get up and start working on the two graves for Ralph and Kurt.
I got out of the cot and stretched my whole body. I went to the door and put my boots on that were right next to it. I opened the door and walked out to the rock Kurt laid at last night with his Mg-42. I sat on it and my fingers softly road across the smooth rock. I then got back up and walked around again. I looked at all of the dead soldiers, mostly the German ones. Starring at them gave me an idea, I would spend the whole day burying all of the German soldiers I could find.
When the sun came up a bit more, I started gathering sturdy sticks to make wooden crosses. I plan to put the the soldier's helmet or cap on the top and any sort of award or metal tied to the middle. I would also bury Kurt and Ralph right next to each with their names carved with a knife into a stick. Then, I will move on with burying with the officers, and then the soldiers. Kurt and Ralph will be right next to each other.
Gathering the sticks took about an hour and a half. I started with a couple crosses that were a bit challenging, then got the hang of it. I tie two sticks together with some thick grass. I sharpen the ends with my knife and stick them into the ground. I plan to make about 170 crosses. I know it will take about three hours but I will do it for all of the fallen German soldiers.
Sweat starting to drip from my face as the summer sun shone down on me like a devil. While cutting the sticks, I cut my fingers a couple of times. So far, I've made about 60 of them in about an hour. I have put about thirty of them in the ground so far. I wanted to dig one grave to see what it would look like. I decided to put Kurt's body in that one first.
I walked back to the barracks to get Kurt's body. It took me awhile to carry his body to the grave since I could not find a sturdy enough way to bring him back. I just dragged him over by his arms. When I got back to the grave, I gently laid Kurt in the four foot hole. I looked at him in there and I had flashbacks from the battle yesterday and the first day we met in military training. I felt my eyes start to water but I held them in from crying. I got the shovel and starred at the pile of dirt, waiting to be put back in the grave. I walked over and scooped it up. Pile after pile until it was full. I hung his helmet on the top and tied his Iron Cross to the middle. I carved his name into a stick and tied it to the middle also. I then sat there in front of it it talked to Kurt, wondering if he could hear me.
I tied about twenty more crosses together and rested after that. I was starving and my hands were shaking. I have not had food it about three days. I've lost all of my strength and muscle mass from military training. I planned tonight or the next morning to hunt for wild berries, rabbit, deer, or even insects. I'm so hungry that I don't care what I eat, even if it's raw. I have not had water since the beginning of yesterday. I've been thinking about those things while I keep tying, cutting, and digging. I then went on a twenty minute break. I was about to lay down until I heard the sounds of artillery and bombs being dropped about three miles away. IÂ immediately jumped up and looked to the north where there was a small town.
What seemed to be like a flock of birds became German bombers, all in formation. All of the bombs hit the ground and turned into fiery explosions with dark smoke filling half of the northern sky. Air raid sirens started to sound. I then heard a light buzzing coming from about a mile away, Soviet fighters swarmed in, about twenty of them. I watched as the bombers broke formation and some came low and went over my head. Two Soviet fighters were on the one that went over me. I saw the bombers back tail gunner start to fire.
"Come on, come on!" I said, focusing on the air fight.
One of the fighters did amazing maneuvers that seemed impossible for me. I then looked back to the East and there was more buzzing, Messerschimtt Bf-109s. They caught on the two Soviet fighter's tails. Ones wing was damaged and the other had an engine fire. I looked away for a second and heard the whistling of a Soviet plane going down. I cheered and threw my arms in the air. The other fighter had to break off of the bomber, it was still shot down anyways. The German bomber was heading South now. I got distracted from all of that and almost forgot what I was doing before. I watched the bomber until it was out of sight. I was back to making the crosses and the graves. I was no longer tired since the air town awoke me.
I looked back at my watch and it said 9:48am. About 3 hours have passed since and I've only made 120 crosses. I then wanted to go and gather all of the German soldier's bodies and put them in a pile until I could burry them in a little bit. Even though it was still the morning, it was still as hot as can be with a warm breeze. I could not get a grip on the shovel because of how sweaty my hands were and they shook too much.