The Devil's Blessing Read Free Page B

believed differently where the needle of victory was, and it would change for some from day to day. But Ingersleben had really believed that the Germans were going to win the war. They had won so much so fast, they could surely do it again.
    But now, he wasn’t too sure. Now, for the first time, he really felt a doubt. He felt stupid that he had made himself believe that they were going to survive this and come out as champions of Europe. But now, with the words from the Oberfeldwebel, it looked all the more likely that they were on the road to failure.
    While the men always had different opinions about where they were and how they were doing, the story from command was always the same: victory is certain. For the first time in his life Ingersleben, had heard a top Nazi tell him that all was lost. And he was right. For the first time in this war, Erich Ingersleben felt defeated.

Chapter Three

    It was an odd night for the men with their new visitor. Ingersleben and Haas spent a good part of the night laughing and playing cards. It was the type of jovial exchange that only came from being booze, and Otto and the other men knew that whatever bottle they were drinking from had come on horseback the previous afternoon. Any thought that their Unteroffizier was hiding alcohol from them would be one burden too much to bear.
    The night was again filled with sleepless lengths of time that weren't different from any other; except this time, it was filled also with quiet resentment, as the two men in charge enjoyed a joyous night while the rest looked on from a distance between dirt and useless blankets.
    There was some reprieve, however. The men did wake up to a somewhat pleasant sight. Ingersleben was asleep outside his tent. Otto realized that he had never seen a commander sleep outside. Part of him knew that he should’ve been concerned that the situation had devolved so much so that his commander was now being forced out of his own tent by a superior. But he couldn’t pretend that he wasn't enjoying the man who barked, yelled and ordered everyone around was now being humbled in such a fashion. By the looks of the small smiles shared by the other men, it looked as if he wasn’t alone.
    There was now a strange energy that permeated the camp. They now had another bit of work on their plate, and that was making Oberfeldwebel Peter Haas a happy man.
    Making Haas happy was twofold. For one, he needed to be taken care of. One of the men was assigned to him. Besides getting him his coffee, his job was to play tour guide that morning, which was a huge job in of itself. You could have given a tour in two seconds by having a look around, but the soldier assigned to him did a good job of exaggerating the time and slowly going over each part of the camp. He did this mostly by feeding into Haas’s ego, taking notes as to what he thought should be done. With exaggerated nods of yes , the soldier did everything in his power to make Haas feel as if he was a large king in this small kingdom. While it was a ridiculous sight for the men, it was good that he was at least occupied in something else.
    The second part of making him happy was to make the men, and thereby the camp, look busy. There were chores and basic upkeep that needed to be done, but in this place those things were far and few. For all of Ingersleben’s faults, Otto thought, he was good at spreading the minuscule jobs out day by day, week by week. While no one wanted to sit around all day and freeze, there really was no other option, since their options were so limited. But now that they had an extra pair of eyes looking at them, and an important pair at that, they now had to look busy for the sake of appearances. The men didn’t mind it too much, as it gave them something to do, but this wouldn’t last too long. One more day, maybe, and then there would be literally nothing else to do for weeks ahead. Everyone shared the secret hope that their newfound friend was merely