Chapter 65 Powerless Efforts

Unable to wait for dawn, the junior sergeant of the Waffen-SS in charge of temporarily commanding this civilian evacuation team made the decision to set off again. For Lynn, four or five hours of rest were quite generous, but these elderly, weak, and women and children had never experienced military training and discipline. Each one looked tired, yawning incessantly, but no one refused to move or made any other inappropriate actions. With the help of the soldiers, they each picked up their luggage, took care of their families, and naturally reformed the long queue.

Caroline, waking up, saw her "dad" still there, smiling as brightly as a flower. Just as Lynn bent down to pick her up, she gave him a sweet morning kiss and said something unexpected to Lynn: "Daddy, I'll walk by myself!"

With that, her little hand took the initiative to hold Lynn's big hand. Although he was a soldier, Lynn's service time was not too long, and his hands were not as rough as those of the old soldiers. He could clearly feel the tenderness and smoothness of that little hand. Every few steps, the little girl would look up at him, sometimes smiling mischievously, sometimes bouncing happily. In her world, this was not a refugee evacuation, but a joyful journey.

Although he still had to carry the cunning old man's suitcase from before, and because the carriage had left, the blanket from the white-bearded man's house could only be carried on his own back, having rested for most of the night, Lynn was walking particularly lightly now. If it weren't for the fact that it was difficult to carry two suitcases in one hand, he could even help the old man and the young widow carry all their luggage. But this morning, the fields were unusually cold, and he looked back at the "white-bearded man" and the young widow. They each hugged their clothes tightly. Fortunately, the thick scarves and shawls helped them resist the cold as much as possible, but the exhaled white breath was so clear that it revealed the low outdoor temperature.

"Caroline, are you cold?" Lynn asked, lowering his head, worried that his pronunciation might be inaccurate, making it difficult for the child to understand his question.

The little girl immediately looked up and replied, "No, Daddy!"

Each "Daddy" sounded like a gentle breeze brushing against Lynn's face, filling him with waves of warmth. Perhaps, it wouldn't be so bad if the journey was a bit longer...

After about an hour of walking, the frequency of the little girl looking up at Lynn increased. Lynn smiled knowingly, bent down to pick her up, and naturally received another sincere kiss. As the German soldiers walked towards Konigsberg, the fate of the civilians with them was not so fortunate. The long queue maintained a walking speed of about two kilometers per hour. It was fine at the beginning, but after a while, some people began to stop to rest—the elderly with white hair, followed by women with children. They went from the front of the line to the back, with most people struggling to keep up with the queue. But as time passed, more and more fell behind, mirroring the situation from the previous day.

Finally, the sky began to brighten, but before the sun rose, the distant sound of cannon fire came again. Whether it was the Soviet army attacking or the German defenders counterattacking, the speed of the retreat team increased slightly for a short time, but quickly returned to its previous state, or even slowed down.

The cannon fire had already affected the fragile nerves of the civilians. Soon after, a group of German fighter planes flew in from the direction of Konigsberg. Some civilians stopped to cheer and wave their hats, and a few soldiers joined in. But in the late stages of the war, any optimism was bound to be blind. Looking back at this moment, a larger-scale Soviet air force fleet appeared like a dark cloud looming. With their appearance, the rumbling along the river defense line suddenly intensified, the momentum stronger than ever, and the ground even trembled.

The German fighter planes sent up to intercept numbered more than twenty, the largest group Lynn had seen in the past few days. However, he couldn't feel happy about it at all—the greater the investment from both sides, the more it indicated that the battle had escalated to a decisive stage. If the German army could hold the position, then the time limit for the civilian retreat team would still be relatively lenient. But if the Soviet army broke through the river defense line in one fell swoop, the consequences would be as terrifying as a breach in a dam!

Many civilians and soldiers stood on the road with interest, watching the aerial battle. Although the German fighter pilots were as brave and fearless as their predecessors, by 1945, except for the more advanced jet fighters, other air combat units had lost their once proud technological and equipment advantages. With intuition and rational judgment, Lynn quickly called the old man and the woman and hurriedly carried Caroline towards the woods on the right side of the road, shouting back to the civilians and soldiers in his broken German, "Take cover, pay attention to cover!"

The distance of three or four hundred meters was not far, but it took courage and determination to walk a little further under conditions of limited physical strength. Although unclear about the situation, "the white-bearded man" and the young widow still followed Lynn out of the road. However, among the remaining civilians and soldiers, few responded to the ordinary Waffen-SS soldier's call. Only about a dozen people decisively left the road and headed towards the woods, including six or seven accompanying Waffen-SS soldiers. By the time they breathlessly entered the woods, the spectacular yet insufficiently intense aerial battle was nearing its end, and the remaining small group of German fighter planes retreated, while the massive Soviet air force continued flying towards Konigsberg, with squadrons breaking off along the way. They quickly descended to find their targets, such as German positions, villages, houses, and bridges, anything deemed to have military significance could be targeted by Soviet pilots. Looking down from hundreds of meters in the air, this convoy on the road must have been very conspicuous.

The disaster Lynn feared had indeed come. The two carriages with Red Cross-marked sheets, which might have played some protective role at a critical moment, had already left. The dozens of civilians and soldiers left on the road could do nothing to change the attacking intentions of the Soviet pilots, even if they shouted until their throats were hoarse and waved their arms. Four olive-green-painted Yak fighter planes dived down in a standard tactical formation, their elegant and agile postures resembling an air show performance. The rocket pods under their wings were probably already depleted from the previous air battle, hanging empty without any sense of burden!

"Run, hurry!"

As the Soviet fighter planes assumed the posture of a diving strafe, the soldiers and civilians already in the woods urgently shouted to their companions who had stood by and watched or had just thought of running for their lives. But how could human legs be faster than airplanes? Most people hadn't even run half the distance when the roar of the aircraft machine guns burst in the air, and the continuous bullets immediately flew with clear trajectories. The frightened civilians who hadn't escaped screamed and wisely chose to lie down on the spot to avoid, while the dull or panicked ones continued to run forward, even running off course under the interference of enemy bullets...

Although not true "kin", watching these unarmed innocent civilians suffer in front of him, Lynn felt like he was being stabbed with needles, in pain and suppressed but unable to find a way to release it. As an unfortunate born into war, little Caroline had obviously witnessed similar scenes before. She buried her head tightly in Lynn's arms, sobbing softly, her body still trembling slightly. Her mother, the young widow Alice, also couldn't bear to watch this human tragedy. She stood behind Lynn, silently pressing her forehead against his shoulder.

In the storm-like barrage of bullets, those lying down remained motionless, and those who sacrificed themselves to run forward fell one by one. It seemed that no one else would escape into the woods. The face of "White Goat Beard" was marked with endless sorrow, as he turned towards the woods. The surrounding soldiers either clenched their fists and pounded the trees or knelt on one knee, heads bowed. The civilians who had narrowly escaped were all deeply saddened.

They had saved themselves, saved the family of three including Caroline, but could not save more innocent civilians. Lynn looked up at the sky, which was originally pristine and flawless, but now marked irregularly with white streaks from the airplanes. If heaven existed, how many grieving souls could it bear?