Opposite Sides (78 page)

“
Good
morning. I read on your papers you are a nurse, Staff-sister
Turner.” It was the Russian who spoke to her. “Doctor says he’s
given him morphine for the pain and a sedative. He will be sleepy
for a few more days.”

“
I don’t have
a few days!”

“
Sorry. His
injury is too bad. We must have to wait for nature to work.
Injuries are still bad.”

“
Injuries?”
There was alarm in her expression. “What injuries?”

There was a brief
exchange between the Intelligence Officer and the doctor. The the
officer explained that Hans had received bullet wounds to his lung
and back. It had happened when a group of young Russian soldiers
had become excited and trigger-happy during a skirmish with
ex-Hitler Youth teenagers who had come across a few weapons that
had been discarded among some rubble. They were so excited by their
find that they had attracted the attention of the soldiers who were
patrolling the streets. When the youths began making Heil Hitler
signs, the soldiers had taken deep offence. Hans had intervened and
tried to calm the situation but when bullets were fired in the
direction of the youths, several had hit Hans. The officer told Jan
that it was unfortunate but there were still some of their own
soldiers who were still so shaken up that they were known to be
taking revenge for what had happened to their own friends and
families when Hitler’s armies crossed Poland and spilled into the
Soviet Union.

“
You see, war
makes murderers of us all,” he commented. “Doctors and nurses, like
you, have to repair injuries. Even those responsible for the
terrible things these Nazi thugs did to populations.”

“
But this
man’s not responsible.”

“
The
authorities know he was a major. His file says he was fighting on
Eastern Front. He was sent to my home country. So far as I am
concerned, he was responsible.”

Jan was shaken yet again.
Hans had said nothing of being in the eastern campaign.

“
He was in
North Africa. So was I. Then he was captured. Does your file say
that?”

“
He was still
in Hitler’s army.”

“
That doesn’t
make him responsible for everything that happened.”

“
As officer
he must have done something.” The Russian was becoming suspicious
and wanted answers. “Otherwise, why are you British so keen to get
your hands on him?”

Jan knew she couldn’t
answer this. She had to force herself to remain silent. To divulge
any sort of information could blow her cover and then she may never
see Hans again.

“
I am just
following orders,” she said hastily, hoping that such an answer
would suffice. “How soon will it be before he can be moved? It is
important that he be taken into the British sector.”

“
Ah. Maybe
two or three weeks.”

“
No
sooner?”

“
No. Not if
you people want him back alive to answer questions.”

Jan knew she had no
option but to leave Hans where he was and return to West Berlin.
But at least she now knew he was safe and was being well cared for.
Even during the Desert war, she had been impressed by how well the
army doctors and nurses looked after their sick and wounded. She
also knew that she would have to wait and hope.

On a cold, early Spring
morning, under a grey, sombre sky, a man on a stretcher was passed
over the border from one world to the other. On the eastern side
stood a young woman and her brother, pleased that they had helped
in some small way to mend the hate that had overwhelmed the world
during the past seven years. In the west, an English nurse was
waiting to accept the man she had grown to love, and for whom she
had made this journey. Together, they could begin a new life in a
world without war.

Major Erwin
Hans Resmel of the Afrika Korps and Staff-Sister Janine Turner of
the British Auxiliary Territorial Services were just two ordinary
people who became caught up in the dangerous desires of
dictatorship.
Let us all hope that, never
again will the world come to know such grief or where two people
who only wished for love would ever be thrown into a world of hate
on opposite sides.

THE END

Thank you for reading my
book. If you found it interesting and enjoyable, I would like to
invite you to leave a review at your favourite retailer or at
Smashwords. Many thanks for that.

Susan Firman

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