The Forgotten Soldier

Exhausted and thirsty, Sajer look for a place to decamp, worrying that his unit might have to execute the many prisoners they are carrying with them. They rest briefly among the ruins of shelled buildings, awakening to find each other in a condition where “our closest relatives would probably have hesitated before identifying us” (243). They all wonder how they can go on in such a wretched state, desperately hoping that the German high command will order an end to the war. Sajer falls ill with fever as the battle continues and Soviet forces threaten to encircle their unit. Their captain insists on the need for a “swift and brutal breakthrough by all our forces pressing at a single point” (249). But before they can press the attack, they fall under terrible shell fire, and the entire unit frantically tries to retreat. In their haste, they abandon many of their comrades, especially the wounded, and though they escape encirclement, they do so at the cost of nearly half their remaining soldiers.

Bad weather slows their retreat to the Dnieper River, but it also gives them relative cover from air attacks by the Soviets, who had achieved tactical superiority. They finally reach the banks of the Dnieper after a week of nonstop marching, having lost many more men to the toll of the journey. There are not enough motorized boats to carry so many men over an 800-yard wide river, and so priority goes to the severely wounded. After a few days, Soviet tanks arrive, and “madness seemed to be spreading like wildfire” (257). The tanks are actually headed elsewhere, but Sajer still decides to walk upriver and find a more favorable spot for crossing. He and other soldiers walk through the darkness, surrounded by sounds of fire from both sides of the river. As the sounds get closer, including the unmistakable roar of Soviet tanks, they decide to wade into the river, taking cover under some fog. They get out of the water only to be attacked by planes, but German anti-aircraft fire, followed by the unexpected arrival of German aircraft, fends the planes off. Evacuations continue under this brief spell of calm, and a captain tells Sajer that they can expect to cross the following day, followed by leave. Unable to find his friends, he wonders if his survival will force him to “renounce the friendships which had seen [him] through so much” (267). Rain continues, and Soviet bombers appear again the next day, but by early evening the Germans are preparing to cross. They cross safely, feeling as if they have finally established “a barrier between [themselves] and the war itself” (269). The Germans believe that though they have retreated far, they will hold fast where they are, having won the support of the local population.