Prussian soil 2/3

Sonnberg managed half a smile and passed on the cigarette once more. “It’s good. Your plan, I mean. It’s good that you will take care of it. It is a fine piece and should be taken care of”, the Gefreiter said now with a sincere smile. Von Thalsend clicked with his tongue and looked towards the tree line that covered the German trenches. Silence took hold of the conversation as Sonnberg had the honor of finishing it and threw it over his head towards the enemy. The wind increased as the night had arrived. “I did not use to believe in it, you know?”, the officer than said. “In the war?”. “In God”. Sonnberg again looked at the officer. Confusion within his eyes. His voiced now turned a bit daker and took a serious tone. “We have different Gods, Sir”, he replied, still very politely.

A smile ran across von Thalsend’s face. “But still we sit in the same comfortless trench. With the same guns pointed at us and shooting at the same Russians”. Sonnberg dared to turn his head slightly towards the bloodstained edge of the trench. He hesitated seeing the tossed up dirt on the wet, wooden planks in the corner of his eyes. In that earth that was ahead lay the cold of the night already and the feeling of drenched socks and boots, and a constant shiver of emaciated limbs. Burned flesh and rotten cloth. He stopped to turn and nearly forgot what he wanted to say: “Those Russians have a God of their own… I chose to believe that is another from mine, a different one”, Sonnberg finally said fully giving in to the dark tone in his voice. Von Thalsend stared into the dirt under his boots as the light of the oil lamps began to enrich the sparsely manned position. “Well, I do the same… I could not survive the fact that the same God lets us fight against each other. Like animals in a cage with nowhere to go but the charge ahead”, he then said, grabbing his rifle again. Sonnberg did not have the time to reply for the officer thanked him for the cigarette, excused his vain words and left into the labyrinth that was the ice-cold trench on the eastern front.