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Heiner was walking in the darkness.
In the darkness, where he couldn't see even an inch ahead, he walked without direction, wherever his feet took him.
Heiner wandered and wandered, searching for light, but his surrounding was filled with darkness. A space filled with deathly silence.
He trembled uncontrollably. Yet, he couldn't stop walking. It felt as if the moment he stopped walking, he would be swallowed up by this immense darkness.
When she thinks about it, it seems like she always lived her whole life in fear.
Always gripped by fear and dread...
Heiner continued to move his legs, plunging into the abyss. Only when he reached the center did he see a faint light. He quickened his pace.
Deep inside, at the source of all his fragile emotions, there was a little girl.
She was sitting in the middle of a rose garden. Heiner, unable to approach, stood at the edge of the garden, watching her from afar.
The child gradually grew. In the blink of an eye, she had grown taller and taller, becoming a mature woman. Only then did Heiner take a step toward her.
He hadn't even taken a few steps when suddenly the surroundings rippled violently. Red rose petals fell to the ground, one by one. Soon, the ground was covered in a deep crimson.
Heiner, who had been staring at the floor in confusion, raised his head again. Before he knew it, she was holding a pistol in her hand.
She slowly raised her hand and aimed the gun at her head.
Heiner's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to scream her name, but his voice remained silent. He kicked the floor in a panic and ran towards her.
His feet clanked. The floor, covered with petals, looked like blood. Perhaps it really was blood.
He heard the click of a gun. Heiner shouted, "No," but his words still lingered in silence.
Her mouth opened slowly.
'I am now...'
A voice trembled, infinitely weak. She spoke with a sobbing expression that seemed to be half-smiling and half-crying.
'I want to stop living now...'
Her finger on the trigger moved.
Heiner reached out to her.
Bang!
"Oh my!"
Heiner abruptly sat up on the sofa. His vision, blurry and unfocused, flickered.
Heavy breaths filled his lungs and then escaped them repeatedly. His back was drenched in cold sweat.
Heiner cupped his face with his trembling hands. His breathing still hadn't calmed down. He buried his face in one hand and gasped for breath for a long time.
After a long time, the tremors in his body gradually subsided. The flow of air became clearer than his breathing. Only then did he slowly shake off the hand covering his face.
It was a nightmare that had become so familiar it was almost chilling. Most of his recent nightmares had been similar. The only difference was the way she chose death.
Heiner looked around with his eyes, thick and sunken, as if shrouded in fog. He was lying on the sofa, uncovered, without even a blanket.
Inside the barracks, only one dimly lit lamp was on. Heiner closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
He couldn't remember how he ended up falling asleep last night, not in his bed, but in this place. To be precise, he remembered the circumstances, but his emotions at the time were unclear.
It wasn't anything new. When he was caught up in the thoughts that filled her voice, it became difficult to even recognize what he was doing.
Heiner rose from the sofa and walked toward his jacket, which he had draped roughly over a chair. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a cigar.
He lit a cigar with a gasoline lighter and stepped out of the barracks. It was still dark outside. The end of the cigar crackled and burned red.
It's been quite some time since he resumed smoking cigars. It seemed to coincide roughly with Annette's departure. Since she was the reason he quit in the first place, there was no reason to quit now.
Heiner took a deep drag on his cigar. He exhaled slowly, and the wispy smoke dispersed into the air.
By the time he finished smoking the cigar, his distracted mind had calmed down, but it had also become emptied, as if completely empty. His dry, gray eyes remained motionless, fixed in place.
“Love makes me a better person.”
The voice of a dead colleague whose face he can no longer remember well appeared and disappeared along with the smoke.
Heiner stubbed out his cigar and muttered with a chuckle.
“Bullshit.”
The rainy season ended, and winter arrived. As the Commander-in-Chief had predicted, as the wet ground dried, the Axis powers pushed forward on the western front in Padania.
The season when the ground freezes, the Winter War has begun.
A massive offensive involving 700,000 troops, 2,200 tanks, and 800 aircraft was launched into the Padania front.
Due to the simultaneous defense of the Southern Front, Padania had only about two-thirds of the Axis forces. However, it was protected by an impenetrable defensive fortification, the result of tireless construction even during the rainy season.
The Axis divided their 90 divisions into two groups: one to advance towards the defensive fortress of Padania, and the other, centered around the armored divisions, towards the forested area above the fortress.
The dense forests were difficult for armored divisions to penetrate. They were also impassable for fortifications.
In order to create a delusion in Padania, Frances sent Army Group South to the fortress as expected and secretly sent Army Group North to the fortress.
There was a lot of disagreement within Padania Command. Some said Frances would infiltrate the forests, and they had to be prepared. Others said they couldn't, and they had to concentrate their forces on the fortress.
"Mechanized units cannot pass through forested areas. Deploying forces here is a waste."
"Because of the last battle, all of Frances's units were not even fully staffed. They even deployed grenadiers. Frances simply doesn't have the resources to mount an offensive like this."
The decision, which had been leaning towards the latter due to the prevailing opinion, was overturned by the Commander-in-Chief just before the battle.
Information from a spy working in Frances led the Commander-in-Chief to conclude that Frances's mechanized and motorized forces were advanced enough to penetrate the forested areas.
He also considered several deciphered codes and the offensive thinking of the Frences command staff, concluding that Frances would split the army group in two.
The commander-in-chief's judgment and execution were faster than Frances's advance. Without even reporting to Allied command, he redistributed the fortress's forces and deployed them to the north.
"Immediately move the 13 divisions of the Western Fortress to a defensive line. Frances's Panzer Army will cross the Lenin River at Leumold. We will destroy the enemy from this bridgehead."
Following the Commander-in-Chief's orders, troops were immediately deployed to the north. Thus, the Axis's covert offensive operation turned into a Padanian counteroffensive.
Frances, which had already been advancing to open a supply route despite being short on troops, began to fall behind noticeably on the front lines.
In the end, the Frances command ordered a halt to operations after three weeks and retreated. It was a victory for Padania.
It wasn't a major victory, as it didn't inflict significant casualties on Frances's main forces. However, this victory, the first battle on the mainland, brought great relief to the people.
The victory at the Western Fortress was widely reported in newspapers and on the radio. The Commander-in-Chief, a key contributor to the victory, was given numerous accolades.
Around that time, Heiner heard a rumor from his subordinates: that the first fierce battles were circulating on the Western Front, where they had just ended.
“...What did you just say?”
“That’s what I hear from the Western Front, but I need to verify the facts.”
Heiner asked back without even listening to the end of his subordinate's words.
“Who’s on the front lines?”
“Valde, no, Miss Rosenberg... I hear she’s working as a nurse at a frontline field hospital.”
The papers in Heiner's hand crumpled slightly. He remained silent for a moment, then gave an order in a cool, subdued voice.
“Check the facts.”
In the darkness, where he couldn't see even an inch ahead, he walked without direction, wherever his feet took him.
Heiner wandered and wandered, searching for light, but his surrounding was filled with darkness. A space filled with deathly silence.
He trembled uncontrollably. Yet, he couldn't stop walking. It felt as if the moment he stopped walking, he would be swallowed up by this immense darkness.
When she thinks about it, it seems like she always lived her whole life in fear.
Always gripped by fear and dread...
Heiner continued to move his legs, plunging into the abyss. Only when he reached the center did he see a faint light. He quickened his pace.
Deep inside, at the source of all his fragile emotions, there was a little girl.
She was sitting in the middle of a rose garden. Heiner, unable to approach, stood at the edge of the garden, watching her from afar.
The child gradually grew. In the blink of an eye, she had grown taller and taller, becoming a mature woman. Only then did Heiner take a step toward her.
He hadn't even taken a few steps when suddenly the surroundings rippled violently. Red rose petals fell to the ground, one by one. Soon, the ground was covered in a deep crimson.
Heiner, who had been staring at the floor in confusion, raised his head again. Before he knew it, she was holding a pistol in her hand.
She slowly raised her hand and aimed the gun at her head.
Heiner's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to scream her name, but his voice remained silent. He kicked the floor in a panic and ran towards her.
His feet clanked. The floor, covered with petals, looked like blood. Perhaps it really was blood.
He heard the click of a gun. Heiner shouted, "No," but his words still lingered in silence.
Her mouth opened slowly.
'I am now...'
A voice trembled, infinitely weak. She spoke with a sobbing expression that seemed to be half-smiling and half-crying.
'I want to stop living now...'
Her finger on the trigger moved.
Heiner reached out to her.
Bang!
***
"Oh my!"
Heiner abruptly sat up on the sofa. His vision, blurry and unfocused, flickered.
Heavy breaths filled his lungs and then escaped them repeatedly. His back was drenched in cold sweat.
Heiner cupped his face with his trembling hands. His breathing still hadn't calmed down. He buried his face in one hand and gasped for breath for a long time.
After a long time, the tremors in his body gradually subsided. The flow of air became clearer than his breathing. Only then did he slowly shake off the hand covering his face.
It was a nightmare that had become so familiar it was almost chilling. Most of his recent nightmares had been similar. The only difference was the way she chose death.
Heiner looked around with his eyes, thick and sunken, as if shrouded in fog. He was lying on the sofa, uncovered, without even a blanket.
Inside the barracks, only one dimly lit lamp was on. Heiner closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
He couldn't remember how he ended up falling asleep last night, not in his bed, but in this place. To be precise, he remembered the circumstances, but his emotions at the time were unclear.
It wasn't anything new. When he was caught up in the thoughts that filled her voice, it became difficult to even recognize what he was doing.
Heiner rose from the sofa and walked toward his jacket, which he had draped roughly over a chair. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a cigar.
He lit a cigar with a gasoline lighter and stepped out of the barracks. It was still dark outside. The end of the cigar crackled and burned red.
It's been quite some time since he resumed smoking cigars. It seemed to coincide roughly with Annette's departure. Since she was the reason he quit in the first place, there was no reason to quit now.
Heiner took a deep drag on his cigar. He exhaled slowly, and the wispy smoke dispersed into the air.
By the time he finished smoking the cigar, his distracted mind had calmed down, but it had also become emptied, as if completely empty. His dry, gray eyes remained motionless, fixed in place.
“Love makes me a better person.”
The voice of a dead colleague whose face he can no longer remember well appeared and disappeared along with the smoke.
Heiner stubbed out his cigar and muttered with a chuckle.
“Bullshit.”
***
The rainy season ended, and winter arrived. As the Commander-in-Chief had predicted, as the wet ground dried, the Axis powers pushed forward on the western front in Padania.
The season when the ground freezes, the Winter War has begun.
A massive offensive involving 700,000 troops, 2,200 tanks, and 800 aircraft was launched into the Padania front.
Due to the simultaneous defense of the Southern Front, Padania had only about two-thirds of the Axis forces. However, it was protected by an impenetrable defensive fortification, the result of tireless construction even during the rainy season.
The Axis divided their 90 divisions into two groups: one to advance towards the defensive fortress of Padania, and the other, centered around the armored divisions, towards the forested area above the fortress.
The dense forests were difficult for armored divisions to penetrate. They were also impassable for fortifications.
In order to create a delusion in Padania, Frances sent Army Group South to the fortress as expected and secretly sent Army Group North to the fortress.
There was a lot of disagreement within Padania Command. Some said Frances would infiltrate the forests, and they had to be prepared. Others said they couldn't, and they had to concentrate their forces on the fortress.
"Mechanized units cannot pass through forested areas. Deploying forces here is a waste."
"Because of the last battle, all of Frances's units were not even fully staffed. They even deployed grenadiers. Frances simply doesn't have the resources to mount an offensive like this."
The decision, which had been leaning towards the latter due to the prevailing opinion, was overturned by the Commander-in-Chief just before the battle.
Information from a spy working in Frances led the Commander-in-Chief to conclude that Frances's mechanized and motorized forces were advanced enough to penetrate the forested areas.
He also considered several deciphered codes and the offensive thinking of the Frences command staff, concluding that Frances would split the army group in two.
The commander-in-chief's judgment and execution were faster than Frances's advance. Without even reporting to Allied command, he redistributed the fortress's forces and deployed them to the north.
"Immediately move the 13 divisions of the Western Fortress to a defensive line. Frances's Panzer Army will cross the Lenin River at Leumold. We will destroy the enemy from this bridgehead."
Following the Commander-in-Chief's orders, troops were immediately deployed to the north. Thus, the Axis's covert offensive operation turned into a Padanian counteroffensive.
Frances, which had already been advancing to open a supply route despite being short on troops, began to fall behind noticeably on the front lines.
In the end, the Frances command ordered a halt to operations after three weeks and retreated. It was a victory for Padania.
It wasn't a major victory, as it didn't inflict significant casualties on Frances's main forces. However, this victory, the first battle on the mainland, brought great relief to the people.
The victory at the Western Fortress was widely reported in newspapers and on the radio. The Commander-in-Chief, a key contributor to the victory, was given numerous accolades.
Around that time, Heiner heard a rumor from his subordinates: that the first fierce battles were circulating on the Western Front, where they had just ended.
“...What did you just say?”
“That’s what I hear from the Western Front, but I need to verify the facts.”
Heiner asked back without even listening to the end of his subordinate's words.
“Who’s on the front lines?”
“Valde, no, Miss Rosenberg... I hear she’s working as a nurse at a frontline field hospital.”
The papers in Heiner's hand crumpled slightly. He remained silent for a moment, then gave an order in a cool, subdued voice.
“Check the facts.”
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