In the Trenches
I could hear the sounds of distant tanks approaching me. Slowly, they inched closer towards our frontline. We were in dire straits all our allied tanks had been immobilized or destroyed and we were running low on anything that had the capability to destroy the enemy tanks.
A stray shell range overhead as it narrowly missed my trench line. I was severely underequipped for the incoming enemy forces. With only basic military clothing, none offering protection from anything significant except my helmet which only helped against minor shrapnel bits.
Besides that, I was only equipped with an assault rifle, 30 rounds per magazine. Virtually useless against tanks unless you could somehow shoot the crew inside of it. Each of us got two extra magazines plus the one already in the gun.
Definitely not enough to hold off a brigade of soldiers and two dozen tanks. Thankfully the prolonged fighting in this area decimated the natural aspects of it. Leaving only dirt, later it turned into mud. Safe to say the tanks and infantry alike were having their fair share of problems advancing at a reasonable speed.
I was deployed to the frontlines about two weeks ago. Two months before that our leader announced that due to the heavy casualties sustained and virtually no progress made on the front. They would be rescinding the ban on woman taking part in the war.
Two weeks later, I got a letter in the mail, I forget exactly what it said exactly but it was something along the lines of. ‘Kira Gray, we are pleased to inform you that you have been selected to be deployed to the frontlines…’ Bla bla. You get the point.
So, I said my goodbyes to my parents and little brother. I tried to not get too emotional. Especially not in front of my brother. I didn’t want him to see me as anything else than his ‘unbreakable female sidekick’ as would refer to me. Usually by screaming it as he ran down the hallway in his mock-up superhero costumes but regretfully, I let a tear slip out. Then another and another. By the end of it I had cried until I didn’t have any more tears left. I think that’s the only time my brother has ever seen me cry.
Despite the horrible things I had heard about the war. We had seen wars before. We had seen destruction before, and we had seen death before. It was nothing new to the world but when you start to hear about people you knew dying or getting injured or towns getting razed. Suddenly all those wars from lands far beyond seem to matter. There destruction and victories matter. Not because they suffered but because you now suffer together and if only our country had helped. Then they might help us now.
Nonetheless Feeling a strange sense of excitement and anxiety, I took the bus to where we would be trained for the next month. The horrors I had heard surely couldn’t be as bad as they claimed, especially considering our short training period. I assumed we would most likely be helping at camps and such.
Boy was I wrong.
I knew the war was more serious than I had thought it was when we arrived at our training camp. Our instructor was barely a few years older than we were, and I doubt he had seen any real combat. Not to mention many of the wound were sent to the camp to get treatment or to be held until they could.
After a month, we finished training. Barely.
I had been on the frontlines for two weeks now. The attacks that happened in that time were mostly small. Probably to prod our defences or the occasional soldier that had gone mad and decided to test his metal.
In that time, I had learnt more about war and how combat works than I ever would have at training now matter how long it was. Fortunately, at training I had made no friends. So, when I came across the occasional corpse, I recognised that’s all it was someone I vaguely remembered. War was nothing like training. It was far, far worse.
But I was able to manage with the smaller attacks until 40 minutes ago when they launched and all-out assault and destroyed or crippled most of our tanks and static defences.
I grew impatient. I was just ducking in the trench waiting for them to overrun us. I couldn’t wait anymore. I had to do something.
I didn’t have any binoculars or anything to see if we had anything beyond the trench line we could salvage and potentially drive them back with.
I hobbled my way over towards our Captain. Staying in my crouched position and making sure not to poke my head above the trench wall.
“Captain.” I said, barely audible amidst the sound of ranging gunfire and tank shells flying overhead.
“What is it Gray?” She said seemingly focused on something else.
“We have to do something Captain, we can’t just sit here and wait for them to stomp on us.”
She cracked a slightly half smile for the briefest of moments.
“Thanks for stating the obvious Gray but if you couldn’t tell we don’t have anymore anti armor weapons left.”
“Yes, ma’am I’m aware.” I said as dust sprayed into the trench from a near miss shell. “But surely we must have something that survived the initial onslaught?”
“I requested additional support but haven’t heard anything back yet.”
“I might be able to clarify why. Grayson took two to the chest went straight through the radio on his back.” I paused for a moment expecting the captain to say something back but was instead only met with a silent reply.
“-and I haven’t been able to find anyone who knows how to fix it.”
“There is one possibility.”
“One possibility of what captain?”
“A possibility we can push them back or delay them in the very least.”
“Three of our automated anti-armour guns are all linked to a control system one trench line ahead of us but as you know everyone in that trench line died before they could activate it.”
“I’ll need to get volunteers-“
“-I volunteer.” I said abruptly.
The captain immediately turned to face to the right way from me. Two men there were also taking cover there.
“How about you two. Do you want to live forever?
“No ma’am.” They said in sync.
Good. Now go stop those damned tanks from moving forwards. I’ll give you three the signal when to move out.”
I quickly glanced at the two men as I was preparing to vault over the trench, to most certain death. They seemed familiar to me. I couldn’t quiet place where I had seen them exactly, but I had this nagging feeling that I had seen them somewhere even if it was just briefly.
I snapped back from my brief break in focus. Right now, I couldn’t afford to be distracted. Not even for a moment. I had to get back to my family and back to my little brother. I had to tell him his big sister wasn’t as big a cry baby as the last time he saw me.
The captain had raised her hand in a fist signalling for us to hold. She was in no danger of being shot, directly anyway. She was using a set of binoculars specifically designed for the trench. They worked much the same way as a periscope from a submarine and allowed the user to peer over the trench without need to put themselves in immediate danger.
“Go.” the captain yelled as she signalled with her hand.
The other two men and I quickly pulled ourselves up the trench and into the open. Getting up and running as quick as we could. The gear we had on, even though it was minimal compared to some of the other troops made it difficult to move and inconvenient at best.
I think the enemy must have been shocked that anyone was actually crazy enough to try and advance while we were at such a disadvantage because for the first few seconds, we didn’t encounter any return fire and ran unopposed. After those first few seconds they must have seen us. Bullets whistled past us and a few seconds later tank shell eviscerated a brunt out tree trunk in front of us scattering dust and wood particles everywhere.
It was truly a miracle that even for such a short time we were still alive. It was almost certain that we should have been shot by now. Looking back at it I imagined the soldiers shooting at us being half panicked and surprised at these three mad people trying to stop them. Unable to fire accurately and their commander screaming their ears off as they kept missing.
That’s when I heard a bullet nearly miss my head followed by a thud a second later. I glanced back and saw one of the men hunched over grabbing his stomach.
“Damn.” I thought to myself.
Even If he did make it out of here, gut wounds were near fatal if not treated quickly and most medical facilities were already overwhelmed.
I glanced again. This time at the other man still running beside me. He had a twisted expression on his face. A mix of terror, anger and grief. He knew as well as I did the situation his friend was now in.
“Covering fire.” I heard him yell from behind us.
He was firing past us towards where the most immediate bullets seemed to be coming from. Of course, it was obvious. He was also aware of the situation he was in. A shell impacted near him spraying dirt and bits of rocks over him.
I hoped he would survive.
The trench was now within our reach just a few more meters… A loud explosion behind me. I was turned and tossed forwards. My back hit something wooden. I couldn’t see quite so well. Black spots and a mix of blurriness as I tried to look around me. I was struggled to breathe, the impact must have knocked my wind out.
“Hey… you need to get up.”
The man said as he pulled me to my feet.
“The console is right here but I have no idea how it works I need your help.”
I was still having trouble processing my surroundings. My senses were all over the place. My vision was still blurry. I could barely hear anything, it sounded like I had stuck my fingers in my ears and my balance was still off.
I had to hurry despite my condition. At most we had a dozen minutes before the tanks reached us and less until the infantry reached us.
I stumbled my way to the console with the help of the man. Doing my best not to trip over the corpses and assortment of weapons and gear.
Finally reaching the console I leaned against it trying to get a sense of what I was looking at.
“While you reactivate it, I’ll provide you with some cover.”
The console was pretty similar to anything else electronic. It looked like the soldiers who were stationed here tried to activate it but didn’t have enough time to do so. There were two types of these consoles one connected to only one anti-armour emplacement and another that connected to three of them. I never did see the point in setting up the activation system like that but that’s what the eggheads decided and that’s how it was going to stay. Not like they would ever come and inspect the weapons functionality on the battlefield that would be far too risky.
Right now, though I had a problem. I knew exactly how to turn on this thing, but my fingers were being far too clumsy and not doing what they were told. I felt like a teenager who had just been allowed to drink for the first time and went straight for the strongest drink in the joint.
I could hear people shouting. The shouts were coming from the enemy soldiers. They were close. I had to act fast.
The man, whos name I still hadn’t gotten much to my annoyance. Started peering over the ledge of the trench and firing quickly before ducking back down. As many more bullets followed him back. He would then move a couple meters to another side and repeat.
Summoning all my strength and focus I had left. I grasped my right hand with my left hand and forced it to move where I wanted it to. With both my hands working together I could press the buttons I wanted to. Albeit like a child who had just started learning how to use a console.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I managed to activate the emplacement. I could hear it turning as it started to acquire its target.
I felt like I wanted to collapse but I was suddenly jolted when a very loud bang sounded. Followed by a sound I can only describe as metal meeting hollow metal.
I did not expect the emplacement to be so loud, but it sounded like it had destroyed a tank which was one less to worry about. What did have me worried was I could still hear one approach. By that I meant it sounded like it was right next to me.
“We have some problems.” I yelled to the man.
“No kidding.”
I scrambled to look for anything useful amongst the dead soldiers. A gun, some form of explosive or if I was really lucky a gun that would kill all the enemies near me. Maybe the last one was a stretch, but a girl could always hope.
I grabbed the nearest gun and what seemed to resemble some sort of explosive from a soldier’s vest.
“Quick play dead.” The man yelled at me.
Thinking quickly, I grabbed a corpse. I resisted the urge to retch. It was a horrific sight the way some of the soldiers had been killed. I quickly laid against the wall slouched slightly and laid the dead man on top of me as best as I could. Relaxing my muscles enough to look convincing and flopping my head to the side.
Mostly because it would allow me to see ever so slightly past the dead soldier’s head. The last thing I made sure to do was to lay the gun down next to me but still having it in my hand.
Now we had to wait and see if the enemy would buy our little ruse. I sure hoped they would others all of us would die in an explosion. I hoped so anyway since I wasn’t sure if I had grabbed an explosive or extra rations. I was desperately hoping it was the former.
I was sweating. I felt like even the dirt and grime that had built up one me was starting to wash away. I tried to keep my eye perfectly still on a spot where I thought the enemies’ troops would jump into the trench.
In a retrospect this was a strangely relaxing experience if you removed the life-threatening danger. It was the first time since I had been enlisted that my job required me to sit down, do nothing and pretend to be dead. Then again this was not in retrospect. I was here now, and I was probably going to die but I refused to I would do everything in my power to get back to my little brother.
I was almost startled when the first part of boots jumped down into the trench, I had gotten so lost in thought for a few moments.
As I predict a soldier landed where I was looking. Now was my chance I could… a shadow cast over me as a tank drove over the trench. As it crossed half a dozen soldiers dropped down among the one who was already there.
This was going to be problematic. Even with this assault rifles fast fire rate I could kill two at most and three if I was lucky. That still leaves four soldiers.
I could see they were looking for something. Probably the console to the gun emplacement. I had to do something. Quickly. That gun was our lifeline.
I saw two walk out of my line of sight towards the console. Now was my chance.
“Sorry buddy.” I whispered into the ear of the dead soldier.
I flung my hand up and grabbed his collar and sprung up with the gun in my other hand and out of pure instinct I screamed as loud as I could. Almost like a savage animal.
The soldiers recoiled in pure fear. I had bought myself a few seconds.
I could barely hold up the body. So, my shield would only last a few seconds too until I inevitable dropped him.
But I had one thing. An assault rifle and no control over where it would aim. So, I pulled the trigger and swung the gun horizontally over the soldiers. Surprisingly two dropped before the rest started to fire back. Lucky for me even in death this soldier was saving a life. The bullets slammed into him, but they couldn’t get to me.
But my time had run out I could feel my left-hand trembling and even if the other man jumped up and fired, he would still have to kill the two at the console and they were on my left directly and I was directly between the man and them. I guess this is where I died.
But then I had a loud bang. Even the enemy soldiers flinched. This time it was even louder and closer than the gun emplacement. Then I heard something I will never forget as long as I lived. Hundreds if not thousands of people yelling.
The enemy soldiers froze. I smiled. Their fear confirmed what I was wondering. Which side was charging at which?
Judging by how scared they were it was not there’s.
A moment later they were all dead. Our men had charged and had managed to reach us in time. I dropped the man’s body and with what must have been the most deadpan expression I had ever produced I looked over to that man who was with me in the trench.
A dead enemy soldier lay on top of him. I could see a knife in his one hand guess I would have really died if it wasn’t for our men charging.
That’s when the smell of death really hit me. I quickly covered my nose as best I could only to notice I was covered in blood.
“Dammit.” I cursed as I yanked my hand away from my face.
“Well done.” My Captain said as she saluted me. “Fights not over yet though.”
I quickly saluted back.
After the battle they rotated some of the soldiers like me who were in battle for extended period of time. I’m not entirely sure why we were rotated out. I have heard stories of soldier in full blown battles far longer than I ever was.
Nonetheless I welcomed the respite from the battle. I was not completely removed from the battle they only moved me to the camp behind the frontlines so technically I could still be involved in a battle if the enemy advanced far enough.
At the moment though all I wanted was a proper shower. I have not had one since I was on the frontlines. So plus, minus two weeks. Not very ladylike I know but they don’t exactly include those kinds of amenities in such dangerous areas.
The campsite I was in was mostly composed of tents. Some were used to store weapons and supplies. While others were used as a barracks for troops. Not exactly the most comfortable place to sleep with 20+ people sleeping in a tent depending on the size of the tent, but it was far better than sleeping on the ground in trenches.
We had a somewhat mobile shower. More a less two trailers attached to a water tank with four showers each. One trailer for men and another for woman. Fortunately for me not many people were recalled from the frontlines so there was not any queue to wait in to get into the showers. Inside of the showers it was pretty cramped with four showers placed next to each other.
Inside the shower was one of the most refreshing experiences I think I’ve ever had in my life. All that grim, dirt and blood finally washing off.
My thoughts started to drift back to the battle and the two weeks I spent in the trenches.
After the battle I was told that the other man that had charged with us was rescued by the captain. Apparently after she confirmed that we had reached the gun emplacement and activated it she rushed to pull him to safety and treat his wounds as best as she could.
I think that was why I respected her so much. She was not like many officers that preferred to give orders but weren’t willing to take the same risks they asked others to. She would willing do exactly what we had to endure.
Judging by some of the whispers I have heard in passing she had done far more than the average soldier. The only thing that she really did that most officers would do. Was sleep in there slightly better officer tents. Which didn’t bother me all that much. She was stationed in the trenches for two months before they recalled her. Guess I got lucky that I was also recalled along with her.
Just as I had finished my shower and prepared to return to my quarters. The memories of the battle rushed into my mind like a flash flood. The smell of death in the air. The dismembered and mutilated bodies. The sounds of horrible screaming and groaning. I ran as fast as I could to the bathroom.
And I retched.
Far behind the showers far away from where anyone could see me and hopefully hear me. Yet someone did.
“Ms Kira Gray?” I heard young man’s voice.
I hastily swiped a handkerchief over my face, trying to conceal the anguish surely etched upon my features.
“Uh… yeah that’s me. Sorry about that some of my food must have been off.”
“Yes of course.”
I couldn’t see the man all that well in the dim light, but it looked like he was wearing formal officer’s attire. He definitely wasn’t a soldier. Well, technically he was but not the type that saw any real combat.
“I’m Lieutenant Jacobs and I’m here with your new orders. They go into effect effective immediately.” He saluted me before turning around and marching towards the camp.
That could have been less embarrassing.
Getting orders hand delivered to you usually meant one of two things. You were either going to a more important post with less danger or a new more dangerous posting. Higher ups rarely if ever sent individual orders to soldiers. Something was afoot.
