Dean Hughes - Soldier Boys

For my uncle, Garth Pierce, who, when a boy himself, fought in the Battle of the Bulge

D. H.

D ieter watched the older boys dive into the pond, fearless. They plunged deep into the bright water, and then, after a frightening delay, erupted to the surface, their muscles shining, skin red. Dieter wished he were so bold and powerful. He wished he had mens hair on his body, that his voice rumbled. But he was ten, and these boys were all at least fourteen. They were in the HJ the Hitler Youthand he was still too young, only a member of the German Young Peoplethe Jungvolk.

Come on, babies, Hans Keller called. Are you afraid to jump in? He was seventeen and Scharfhrer leader of the local troop. Dieter always wilted when he faced this giant of a boy. Hans was what Dieter wanted to be: manly, funny when he chose to be, and fierce when he commanded. Dieter loved Hans, always tried to be near him, and yet he feared him more than anyone he knew. Strip down and cool off, little boys. This is your only chance, and then its back to marching.

But none of the younger boys reacted. Dieter was troubled by the deep water, ashamed for the grown boys to see him naked.

What are you scared of, children? The fish wont bite those little worms you hide in your pants.

The younger boys laughed, and they glanced around to see who would strip down. Then Willi Hofmann dropped to the ground and began unlacing his boots. He was twelve but not much bigger than Dieter. Im not afraid to do it, Willi said. Come on, Dieter, go with me.

Dieter breathed deep, tried to think what he would do.

Deeee-ter, Willi pleaded, stretching the sound of his nickname, shortened from Dietrich. You must.

Dieter glanced at Hans Keller, who was looking down, his hands on his naked hips, his feet set wide apart. Dieter had to show Hans that he could do this. He sat down, too, and pulled at his shoestring. But he didnt hurry.

By the time Dieter had pulled off his boots, Willi had taken off his uniform shirt, dropped his short pants in the dirt, and his underpants, and then, with his white bottom glowing, had run away from Dieter and leaped into the water, feetfirst. He hit the water, hardly penetrated, and popped up quickly. He squealed at the cold, and laughed. The older boys laughed, too, in those deep voices, and Dieter knew he had to do this. But he could hear his heart, the rush of blood in his ears. He stood up, pulled off his clothes, and didnt hesitate. He ran and jumped, as Willi had done, felt the hard surface slap his hip, and then he flailed at the water, desperate to stay on top. He paddled for the bank, his breath gone, the cold stabbing like thistles.

He was back on solid ground in only a few seconds, his body shivering. He ran to his clothes and began pulling his underwear back on, soaking them.

Hey, whats the matter, Hedrick? Hans yelled to Dieter. You didnt stay in long enough to get used to the water. Look at Hofmann. Hes still out there.

Most of the younger boys were hesitatingundressing slowly or staying back. But Dieter knew he hadnt done enough. It was Willi who was distinguishing himself, impressing the Scharfhrer. Dieter tossed his shirt back on the ground and pulled off his underwear. He walked back to the water, found what footing he could in the mud of the sloping bank, and forced himself forward until the water was up to his waist. Then he bent his knees and dropped into the painful cold. He looked up at Hans, naked and glistening, and waited for some sort of approval, but Hans was making fun of the other boys now, the little ones afraid to go in. What would the Fhrer think of such girls as you? he asked. How can you grow up to be fighting men if youre scared of a little water?

Dieter stayed down, forcing himself, but that wasnt enough. He needed to swim about, like Willi, and show Hans that he wasnt afraid. And so he paddled into deeper water a few yards, then twisted and thrashed until he made it back to the bank, where he could get his feet into the mud and hold himself up. He waited and breathed a moment, and then he made another wild rush into the deeper water, and when he did, he heard what he had hoped for.

Hey, you little boobs, look at Hedrick. Hes only ten, and hes out there swimming like a man. Whats wrong with the rest of you?

That night, when Dieter lay in his warm feather bed, he thought of the cold water, and he thought of the way Hans had praised him in front of all the boys.

And after the swim, when the boys had dressed again, and hiked another hour, he remembered the speech that Hans had given. If I push you boys, he told them, its because I must. We are at war now. Our Fatherland is threatened. We must all be men, not children; we must be ready to protect our mothers and sisters. We must stand with our Fhrer against the Polish aggressors.

Germany was at war. The week before, on September 1, 1939, German troops had marched into Poland and unleashed Hitlers new brand of warfare: blitzkrieg lightning war. Troops and tanks and airplanes had all attacked in unison, and Polish troops were tumbling back like debris in a hurricane. Dieters father claimed that in another few days, at the rate the German troops were moving, and with the Russians now attacking from the east, Poland would fall. Dieter listened with his father to the radio news every night, and the announcers spoke of nothing but great German victories. Dieter had also heard Hitlers fine speech to his people. Germany didnt want war, he said, but Poland had provoked this battle, and now the German armythe Wehrmacht would show its valor.

Dieter thrilled to the words, hoping that the day would come when he could prove himself the way these valiant soldiers were doing. But Dieters father was not as impressed. I fear what might come next, he kept saying. France and England wont be knocked about as easily as these Poles. This could be like the Great War. The fighting could go on for years.

Dieter knew all about the last war. Hans Keller, at the weekly Jungvolk meeting, had taught the boys what the thieving French and English had done. After the war, they had stolen land from Germany, forced Germans to pay the expenses of the war, and had kept the German people in poverty. Those same countries had also taken away Germanys military force, and with it, its pride, but the Fhrer, Adolf Hitler, had put a stop to that. Finally, someone was standing up for the Fatherland, making it a great nation again.

Dieter only wished that his father could understand what Hitler was doing for Germanyinstead of talking weakness all the time. He had seen the worry and fear in his fathers face, and in his mothers, and he was ashamed of them. Dieters father had fought in the Great War as a young man, but he never spoke of the brave German boys who had given their lives. If he spoke of battle at all, he only whined about the mud and the trenches and the poor foodand his good fortune in surviving when so many had died. Dieter didnt like to think that his own father had been a coward, but it was hard to draw another conclusion. After the war, Father had come home to the town of Krumbach, in Bavaria, where he had taken over his family farm, and then he had married. Since then, he had done nothing important, and hardly ever left the farm.