Five Hundred and Fifty Seven Letters

In May of 1938, there were already traces of summer on the vast European continent, bugs began to chirp, and the earth was full of vitality. Of course, the plains of Soviet Ukraine would be more fascinating if the two sides were not investing in each other's bombs and endless shelling.

The fronts of the two sides gradually stabilized after numerous battles. The Germans gave up most of the eastern part of the Dnieper River in a planned manner during the several days of fighting, only retaining a part of the defensive position at the front of Kyiv. Then the two sides once again put their energies at the negotiating table, and the battle on the Soviet-German frontline turned into endless artillery battles and air combat entanglements.

"Be careful! Shelling!" Suddenly, there was a commotion on the German position where they were still eating. The fierce howling of shells piercing the air proved that something deadly had indeed fallen from the sky.

A shell fell on the open space not far from the edge of the trench, and immediately set off a cloud of dust. Huge black smoke rose into the sky, and the entire position was filled with dust and smoke. And when the explosion of this cannonball had not completely subsided, another cannonball fell in time, setting off a "turbulent sea" again.

"Lie down! Watch out for shells!" A German police officer loudly reminded his subordinates, but his shout seemed a little small and pale in the sound of a loud shell explosion.

"Medical man! Someone's wounded!" The bombardment continued, but apparently this time the expensive greeting had an effect, and one hapless German soldier was hit by shrapnel. Calling for medical soldiers at this time obviously has no effect, and few stunned youths will jump out of the trench at this time.

The gunfire gradually subsided, and a German soldier in a white vest with a red cross painted on his chest was carrying a medical kit, bent over and ran to the position calling for medical soldiers. He was almost 2 minutes late. God knows whether the other party needs a priest or a doctor at this time.

Putting down the medicine box and looking at the blood pouring out of the poor soldier's nostrils, the medical soldiers knew that the hope of being able to rescue him was very slim in this situation. Visceral hemorrhage may not be too fatal in a large hospital, but it is enough to make people surrender their lives on the front line where there is a lack of medical treatment.

Stretching out his hand, he touched the poor ghost's stomach, and soon found a hole about the width of two fingers from the pool of blood. The shrapnel was not small, and the wound caused was irregular, and blood gushed out from it. God knows what is missing. Judging from the location, it should be the liver. If there, the soldier wouldn't even need morphine.

In line with the principle of due diligence, the medical soldier motioned to the wounded comrades to help, and lifted the wounded slightly. He reached out to touch the wounded man's back and found another hole—the shrapnel passed through the body, piercing the wounded man's liver and part of his intestines.

"Hey! What's your name? Is there a pastor nearby? Call the pastor!" The medical soldier patted the wounded soldier's cheek that was about to pass out,

He raised his head and asked the surrounding soldiers. Several recruits held their guns and watched their comrades dying on the ground numbly. A veteran who led the team shook his head: "The chaplain was killed in Dokle three days ago."

The medical soldier nodded regretfully, and then looked down at his patient. He gently patted the wounded man's cheek to keep him awake for the last time: "Hey! I said young man! What's your name?"

"Bo...Bode...sir...my name is Bode." The wounded soldier's mouth was full of blood, and he said his name vaguely, while letting the blood flow down his cheeks into his collar inside.

"Please...you, help me...I'm going back to my country, I'm going to see Kolya." Bode's mind was already a little slack, and he said what he wanted to say like a flash of light, and he became fluent little by little. .

The medical soldier helped him press the hole in his stomach with his hands, and forced a smile and nodded: "Okay, Bode, I will find a way to send you back to China. Who is Koria? How can I contact her?"

"I'll go back, I can't go back... Thank you... Thank you, sir..." Bode regarded the medical soldier as a high-ranking officer in the army, and called out one by one: "Help me, send the letter to her... …Okay?"

"Okay! I'll do my best! Do you have anything else to say? Bode? Bode?" The medic called out the wounded soldier's name loudly, but the wounded soldier didn't answer his question.

He just silently stuffed it into his pocket, took out a piece of letter paper that was half-stained red with blood, and held it up high.

The medical soldier knelt beside him, and whispered in Bode's ear to agree to his request: "Bode, I will help you post the letter, I promise."

Bode's arm suddenly fell weakly, and his life disappeared at this moment. He died just like that. A few minutes ago, he was leaning on the edge of the trench and writing a letter to his lover.

The medic wiped his bloody hands on Bode's body before carefully pulling out the letter from between his fingers. He opened the letter paper with sticky hands and found that the writing on it was clean. At least, you can still see a large part of the content clearly.

The handwriting on it is a bit messy, but the medical soldiers can still feel the love in Bode's heart when he wrote this letter. He mentioned a lot of things from the past, and he also mentioned a lot of life on the battlefield, as if he was a trivial housekeeper, talking about all his experiences.

"Dear Kolya:

I don't know what to say, because there is always death here. I think if I don't tell you now, I won't be able to tell you when I get to heaven. How much I loved you during my years at the University of Berlin! But I am afraid that speaking out will damage our friendship. I know you love another person, so I never said it. Now, when I see that life is worthless here, when I feel that I may die at any moment, the person I most want to see is you.

But in any case, it is impossible for me to see your beautiful eyes and golden hair again, and I can no longer hear your beautiful voice of reciting poems. I now regret why I didn't confess my love to you at the beginning, even if I was rejected by you, it would be a hundred times better than what I am now.

The war is too cruel, it destroys humanity and destroys the happiness of many young people. I am here to fight for Germany, and I firmly believe that the Führer will lead us to victory, but I don't know when we will win, and I don't know if we will meet again at that time.

What I want to do most now is to express my love to you! Although you never know how deeply I love you, it is indeed true. I don't want to die, I really don't want to die. I once fantasized that I would propose to you after the war, but whenever I saw someone die, I had the illusion that I would die here and never see the beautiful you again.

Yesterday the troops replenished some canned food, and we had a rare sumptuous lunch on the ground, but Mr. Father, who was very good to me, was shot by a bullet and died in Dokel a few days ago. To be honest, I am still very depressed now, after all, he encouraged me to write this letter to you, asking me to tell you what is in my heart.

To tell you the truth, Kolya, the Führer's canned food is really bad. It's full of starch and messy internal organs. It's really incomprehensible that they call it meat. But this thing is relatively salty, and it is better to eat with potatoes and vegetables than nothing. Mr. Father always prayed before eating. He said that this is piety to God. I would also think of God when I shot at the Soviets. It is a pity that the merciful God could not illuminate this corner.

Well, without further ado, I've had a decent time here, and it would have been even better if I didn't have to sleep in a cold trench. I don't know if you'll miss me, maybe you won't. But I really don't miss you all the time. Imagine what kind of person you will marry and how to spend your beautiful youth... As long as you live well, I will be happy in heaven.

The priest persuaded me to propose to you when he was alive, so I made up my mind to express my love to you. please wait for me I will try my best to live until the end of the war, and then go to you with my medal. At that time, I will propose to you and hold a wedding that everyone envies. We will have many children and live happily together until we are a hundred years old.

Always love you Bode. "

The medical soldier was reading the letter, some places were already stained red with blood, and he needed to carefully identify the contents before he could know the contents, so he read it very slowly, as if time was about to stop.

Someone was crying softly, everyone was moved by such a trivial letter, the medical soldier folded the letter gently, and put the letter in his pocket. Bode did not give the address when he died, so it is doomed that this letter cannot be mailed to where it should go.

"Send it to the division headquarters..." Not far away, the battalion commander stood there at some point, and he spoke softly, as if he didn't want to disturb the soldier named Bode lying on the ground.

The medic was taken aback for a moment, then nodded vigorously.

After reading the bloody letter, the division commander handed the letter to the staff officer who was going to the military headquarters: "This is a very important document. You should hand it over to the Army Group Headquarters. Give it to General Keitel in person."

Soon the letter was forwarded to Marshal Brauchitsch. After reading it, the old marshal said to General Manstein, the chief of staff standing beside him: "We have paid too much for the war, so we have to Win this war and let our descendants be bathed in peace forever!" Manstein nodded, and then asked Brauchitsch again: "Marshal, what should we do with this letter?"

Brauchitsch didn't even think about it, and immediately replied: "Find this girl and give her this letter!"