Harry Turtledove - The Big Switch

Vaclav Jezek slogged up a dirt track in eastern France. Crusted snow crunched under the Czech corporals boots. Like anyone from central Europe thinking of France, hed always imagined Paris blazing with lights and beaches on the Riviera packed with girls in skimpy bathing suits. Freezing his ass off in the middle of a war had never been in the cards.

But here he was, freezing his ass off. This would have been a nasty winter by Czech standards. From everything he could pick up-he spoke only foul fragments of French-it was a bloody godawful winter by French standards. Which didnt do anybody stuck in it one damn bit of good.

And here he was, in the middle of a war. And it was his own fault, too. When the Nazis jumped on Czechoslovakia in October 1938, hed fought till he couldnt fight any more. Then hed gone over the Polish border and let himself be interned. And then hed agreed to join the forces of the Czech government-in-exile still fighting the Germans from its base in Paris.

A good thing, too, he thought, lighting a Gitane without breaking stride. He didnt breathe out much more fog with the cigarette than he had without it. Poland and Hitler were on the same side these days, both fighting the Russians. If hed stayed in that internment camp, hed probably be a German POW now.

Of course, he might yet end up a German POW. It wasnt as if the Nazis had gone out of business. They were playing defense in the west for the time being, not pushing toward Paris with everything they had. That was something. Things looked a lot better now than they had when Vaclav got to Paris. He could still get killed or maimed or captured if his number came up.

As if to underscore the point, German artillery grumbled off to the east. Shells screamed through the air. Vaclav cocked his head to one side, gauging their flight. This lot wouldnt come down anywhere close to him, so he kept marching.

The rest of the Czechs in his outfit made the same automatic calculation and did the same thing. They wore a motley mixture of Czech and French khaki uniforms. Most of them kept their domed Czech helmets in place of the crested French model. Vaclav did-he was convinced the Czech pot was made from thicker steel. The German Stahlhelm was better yet, but wearing one of those wouldnt do, not if he wanted to keep on breathing, anyway.

Most of the Czechs carried French rifles. That made sense. French quartermasters didnt want to have to worry about somebody elses ammunition.

Jezek, by contrast, listed to the right as he marched. The piece slung on his shoulder was longer and heavier than an ordinary foot sloggers rifle. It was made for wrecking tanks and armored cars. The 13mm armor-piercing slugs it fired would punch through twenty-five millimeters of hardened steel. It kicked like a jackass, too, despite padded stock and muzzle brake, but everything came with a price.

It also made one hell of a sniping rifle. Those big bullets flew fast and flat. And when one hit a mere human being, it commonly killed. Vaclav had picked off Germans out to a kilometer and a half. And hed picked off a German sniper specially sent out to get rid of him: a compliment he could have done without.

Those 105s in the distance rumbled again. Again, Jezek cocked his head to one side. This time, he didnt like what he heard. Hit the dirt! he yelled. He wasnt the only one. The cry went up in Czech and French.

Even in his greatcoat, even with wool long johns, doing a belly flop into the snow wasnt his idea of fun. And the goddamn antitank rifle thumped him when he landed. The stupid thing wasnt content with bruising his shoulder every time he fired it. Oh, no. It wanted to leave black-and-blue marks all over him.

But snow and bruises werent so bad, not when you set them alongside of getting blasted into ground beef. Half a dozen shells came down not nearly far enough away from the Czech detachment. Fire at the heart of the burst, dirt and black smoke rising from it, fragments whining and screeching through the air Vaclav had been through it more often than he cared to remember. It never got any easier.

Nobody was screaming his head off. That was good, to say nothing of lucky. Theyd flattened out soon enough, and none of the shards of steel and brass decided to skim the ground and bite somebody regardless.

A couple of Czech soldiers started to get to their feet. Stay down! Sergeant Benjamin Halevy shouted from right behind Jezek. They may not be done with us.

Sure as hell, another volley came in half a minute later. One Czech swore and hissed like a viper, but only one. Bright red blood steamed in the snow under his leg. It didnt look like a bad wound-but then, any wound you didnt get yourself wasnt so bad.

As the injured man bandaged around, Vaclav twisted around (trying his best to stay flat while he did it) and told the sergeant, You may be a Jew, but at least youre a smart Jew.

Fuck you, Jezek, Halevy answered evenly. If Im so smart, what am I doing here? He was redheaded and freckle-faced. He was a French noncom, not a Czech. His folks had brought him from Prague to Paris when he was little. Equally fluent in Czech and French, he served as a liaison between the government-in-exiles troops and his host countrys army.

Before the war started, Vaclav hadnt had much use for Jews. But, in Czechoslovakia and now here, hed seen that you could count on them to fight the Nazis with everything they had. Anybody whod do that was all right in his book. Plenty of Slovaks had thrown down their rifles and hugged the first German they saw. Slovakia was independent these days, though the next time Father Tiso did anything Germany didnt like would be the first.

Since Halevy was a smart Jew, Vaclav asked him, What dyou think? Can we get up now, or will those shitheads try to be really cute and throw some more shit at us?

What did I do to deserve getting asked to think like a German all the time? The sergeant seemed to aim the question more at God than at Vaclav Jezek. That was good: God might have an answer, and Vaclav sure didnt. After screwing up his features, Halevy went on, I think maybe its all right. Maybe.

Yeah, me, too. Cmon. Lets try it. Vaclav scrambled to his feet. Snow clung to the front of his greatcoat. He didnt try to brush it off. If it made him harder for the poor, shivering bastards in snow-spotted Feldgrau to spot, so much the better. Halevy followed his lead. So did the rest of the Czechs. They moved with no great enthusiasm, but they moved.

Stretcher-bearers carried the wounded man back towards a dressing station. Some of the other guys eyed them enviously: they were out of danger, or at least in less of it, for a while.

The German guns growled again. Jezek tensed, but these shells headed somewhere else. He nodded to himself. The artillerymen had a prescribed firing pattern, and by God theyd stick to it. Of course they would. They were Germans, werent they?

A stretch of snow-covered open ground several hundred meters wide lay ahead, with woods beyond. Vaclav eyed it sourly. He turned to Halevy. What do you want to bet the Nazis have a machine-gun nest in amongst the trees?

I wont touch that, the Jew answered. And therell be two more farther back covering it, so when we take it out it wont do us much good. He seemed no happier than Vaclav, and with reason. Be expensive even getting close enough to take it out.

Vaclav unslung the antitank rifle, which made his shoulder smile happily. If we send a few guys forward to draw their fire, maybe I can do something about it at long range. Worth a try, anyhow.

Suits, Halevy said at once. He told off half a squad of Czechs to serve as lures. They looked as miserable as Jezek would have in their boots. The rest of the men looked relieved. A well-sited MG-34 could have slaughtered half of them, maybe more.