Karl Schneider | A German Soldier (WW2)

The order came just after dawn. Karl Schneider stood at attention inside the requisitioned town hall as the lieutenant unfolded a railway map across a wooden table. Several red pencil marks circled the station and the tracks leading east.

"The station becomes our responsibility today," the lieutenant said. "Military transports will be passing through over the next several weeks. Intelligence has warned of possible sabotage. I want a permanent guard posted there."

Karl nodded once. "Jawohl, Herr Leutnant."

"The civilians are to be left alone unless they interfere with operations. Keep your men disciplined. I don't want unnecessary incidents."

"Understood."

The lieutenant rolled up the map and dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

Outside, a pair of Opel Blitz trucks waited in the square, engines idling. A dozen soldiers stood nearby, adjusting belts and checking rifles.

Karl approached them. "We're moving to the railway station. Corporal Weiss, you'll take the eastern platform. Richter, you'll organize unloading once we arrive. The rest of you stay alert and keep your eyes open."

The men answered in unison before climbing into the trucks. Karl took the passenger seat of the lead vehicle. The convoy rumbled through the narrow streets of the French town, passing shuttered cafés and quiet houses whose curtains twitched as they drove by. Civilians watched from windows or doorways, their expressions guarded. Few spoke.

The station appeared ahead, a modest brick building beside several tracks stretching into the distance. Beyond it stood a small elementary school enclosed by an iron fence.

Karl noticed children running across the yard before the trucks even stopped. When the engines died, soldiers climbed down and began unloading wooden crates while others spread out to establish a security perimeter.

Karl walked through the station yard with a clipboard, comparing wagon numbers with the transport list in his hand. "Two sentries at the western entrance," he ordered. "Rotate every two hours."

A corporal acknowledged the command. Then, another soldier approached. "What about the warehouse?"

"Check every door and window. I want it secured before noon."

The stationmaster arrived a few minutes later, nervous and stiff-backed, carrying a ring of keys. Karl inspected the office, telegraph room, and storage building before returning outside. Everything appeared in order.

He settled into the small guard post overlooking the tracks, spreading the paperwork across the desk. He checked for the train schedules, cargo manifests, patrol assignments. He sharpened a pencil and began marking positions on a map. Outside, boots crunched across gravel as his men moved between freight wagons.

Somewhere nearby, a whistle blew. Then came another sound of children. Their laughter carried over the fence from the neighboring schoolyard.

Karl glanced up briefly at a cluster of small faces had gathered at the gate, staring toward the station with wide eyes. Some pointed at the trucks while others hid behind older classmates. He looked back down at his paperwork.

The sound of boots approached the guard post.

"Sergeant."

Karl raised his eyes.

One of the younger privates stood outside, shifting awkwardly.

"There's a woman asking questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"She says we're frightening the children."

Karl looked past him toward the school gate. A young woman stood there in a simple blouse and dark skirt, her posture straight despite the obvious tension in her shoulders. Several pupils clustered behind the fence, peeking around the iron bars.

She spoke briefly to the soldiers stationed nearby.

The private scratched the back of his neck.

"I told her we're following orders."

Karl nodded absentmindedly.

"Good."

"The lady asked whose orders."

"And you told her?"

The private pointed toward the guard post.

Karl sighed quietly.

"So now she's coming here."

He set the pencil beside the map and folded the paperwork into a neat stack.

Outside, the woman had already left the gate and was making her way across the gravel toward him, each measured step bringing her closer.