Legion of the Damned by Sven Hassel Read Free Book Online Page A

the war.
    Then we took the oath. The chaplain recited it a few words at a time and the company repeated them in chorus, while one of us stood out in front of the company with three fingers touching the point of the commandant's drawn sword. That was part of the tableau.
    A buzz of voices rang out across the silent square:
    "I swear by God--our Holy Father--the sacred oath--that I in everything--will fight dutifully and faithfully--and will give up my life--if that be required--for the Fuhrer, people and fatherland--he who swears this oath--must know--that it is branded on his heart--and if he breaks his sacred oath--may God the Almighty have mercy on his soul--for he will then have forfeited--his right to live--and he will be tormented--for all eternity-- in hell-fire--Amen."
    Then we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, uber alles!"
    Thus were we confirmed, but we were given no confirmation present.
    The next day we were split up into small groups of from five to fifteen men and issued new field equipment. I and a few others were given the black uniform and beret of the tank troops, and the following morning we went under command of a Feldwebel to the barracks in Bielefeldt, where we were at once thrust into a Company on the point of leaving for the front and loaded into a troop train.
----
    "Is this company to be burdened with more of you bloody criminals? Disgusting! Don't let me catch you committing the least irregularity or I'll have you sent back to the prison where you ought to have had the decency to die long ago, devil take me if I don't. Prison's the place for your sort."
    Such was the greeting with which I was welcomed by the commander of No. 5 Company, obese Hauptmann Meier, tormentor of recruits. But one was so used to that sort of thing.
    I was assigned to No. 2 Squadron under Leutnant von Barring, and then things began to happen to which I was not accustomed.
----
    Our First Meeting
     
    Von Barring held out his hand and took mine in a strong, friendly clasp. That is the sort of thing an officer in the German Army simply cannot do, yet he did it; and when he had done it he said, "Welcome, lad, welcome to No. 5 Company. You've come to a hellish awful regiment, but we have to stick together and make a go of it. Go across there to truck No. 24 and report to Unteroffizier Beier, he is leader of No. 1 Section." And then he smiled--a big, open, bright smile, the smile of a nice, friendly young man.
    I was completely bewildered.
    I soon found truck No. 24 and Unteroffizier Beier was pointed out to me. He was sitting beside a large barrel playing cards with three others--a short, powerfully built man of about thirty-five. I halted the regulation three paces from him, brought my heels together with a bang and in a loud, clear voice began my report:
    "Herr Unteroffizier, I beg--"
    But I got no further. Two of the four leaped off the buckets on which they were sitting and stood as stiff as ramrods, with their fingers down the seams of their trousers. The unteroffizier and the fourth fell over backward, sending the cards flying like dead leaves in an autumn storm. For a moment all four stared at me. Then a tall, red-haired obergefreiter said:
    "What the hell, man! You scared the life out of us. Hitler's got into you, I do believe. What can have possessed a flat-footed dung beetle like you to come and interrupt peace-loving burghers at their innocent occupations? Tell us, who and what are you?"
    "Report, Herr Obergefreiter, that I come from Leutnant von Barring and am to report to No. 1 Section to Unteroffizier Beier," I replied.
    Beier and the fourth man, who was still on his back, stood up, and all four stared at me in horror, looking as though they would run shrieking in all directions if I took one step toward them. Then all at once they burst into a roar of laughter.
    "Did you hear him! Herr Obergefreiter. Ha, ha, ha! Herr Unteroffizier Beier, ha, ha, ha!" exclaimed the red-headed obergefreiter, who then turned to the