Woods of Madness

It was an early morning, and I was having breakfast while bullets flew right over my head. We were engaged with the German army, and we had been battling non-stop for the past three days. Our enemies had a stronghold and refused to yield an inch. With the intense fighting, there had been numerous casualties and too many violent sights to remember. I was just a poor person caught up in the most violent conflict in human history, hating everything I had seen so far.

My job was clear - to bring the wounded to the medics and pick up any weapons that had been dropped. While not the worst job, it was still stressful and awful. After surviving the Omaha Beach assault, I thought that I had endured the worst, but things kept getting worse. As I quickly stuffed eggs and bacon in my mouth, chewing rapidly to get some food in my stomach, it appeared a breakthrough had been made, and a full-on assault had been ordered. This time, I had to participate even more in the battle. Like any sane person, I was terrified, but I had no choice but to obey.

I shot several people, but I do not know if I killed anyone because whenever I fired my rifle at someone, they simply fell down. The assault began, and there was an abundance of blood on the battlefield. Explosions were everywhere. Several of my fellow soldiers were violently killed, and the best-case scenario in war is a quiet headshot, but many had their limbs blown off, with guts flying through the air.

Eventually, we stormed into the village and started killing off the Nazi soldiers one by one. After an hour of shootouts and grenade launches, the village was finally overtaken. Many cheered, but there were some, such as myself, who did not, as taking another life is never right, no matter how repulsive that person may be. Everyone was quickly given orders on what to do ; no time was wasted. The bodies of the deceased German soldiers were thrown out and burned.

Captain James Connely despised the Nazi soldiers and fascism as a whole, and anyone sympathetic to the soldiers was beaten half to death, regardless of any good claim they made. Therefore, I kept my thoughts to myself.

 My new order was to look around for supplies and weapons and ensure that no enemy soldiers were still alive. I explored the village, which was nearly completely destroyed. Everything was gone - every house destroyed, even the woods were ruined by the battle. Thankfully, most of it did remain intact, and at least one house was still standing despite suffering many bullet holes in its wooden walls. 

I went in to find any supplies. On the surface, there was nothing too useful, so I went down and checked the basement. The basement was dark and dusty. I looked around, but there was still nothing other than a bunch of cobwebs. The only striking thing was a cellar. I never liked them, and I will never see myself in one ever. It was nice to have some time alone, some peace and quiet, to recollect my thoughts from all this violence.

As day turned into night, we gathered all the remaining supplies we had left and set up camp. The 13th battalion needed some rest after the battle. Exhausted like the others, I decided to rest my legs by sitting on a chair. While I was sitting, I heard a cough coming from the closet behind me, which made me sweat nervously.

I quickly signaled some nearby soldiers with aggressive hand gestures and pointing. They rushed towards me, holding their guns up, and one soldier slowly opened the door. Inside, we saw a lone German soldier, hugging his knees like a terrified child. I felt sympathy for him, but my colleagues did not. The enemy soldier was promptly brought to Captain Connely and was severely beaten. Helpless, I could only stand and watch, knowing the consequences if I dared to intervene. The soldier was beaten until his face no longer resembled that of a human being. To make matters worse, he was then crucified and set ablaze. Witnessing this gruesome scene made me realize that we may not be so different from the "bad guys." It was truly disturbing.

What concerned me the most was the captain himself. For the first time, I believed he had crossed a line. Now, it was midnight, but sleep was a luxury reserved for the most important soldiers. Others, like myself, had to patrol. I found myself at the top of the house, where I had an excellent view and looked out for any intruders. Despite the darkness of the night, the woods looked peaceful and had a captivating beauty.