Chapter 9

There was no joy in the Crimea that evening, as we scurried away, heads held down in shame. Good intentions did not compensate for stupidity, and I had been quite foolish.

I hated when things did not work out the way I had thought they would, but hey, we had saved those lads from getting killed. It looks like the voice was right, the interventions have consequences, not always what was intended.

Since there were not a lot of good press on failures, it was difficult to find events, which might be changed to a success.

Certain things had always bothered me, although I resented what the Tsar had done, the slaughter and rape of Alexandria and her daughters was without any validity. The French Revolution was even worse. Citizen be damned, it was wrong. Had Napoleon been a little taller I might have even liked him; but as so many before and after he just wasted his men to feed his pride and self-worth. Not sure if any other military leader ever did that, but there might have been a few.

I kept trying to remember dates or places we could change. The voice had said my mind could be used to select a new location. I began to just think, anyone out there that needs help? There were millions of cries in my head; I focused on battles where my help could be useful.

One was found, the light came and we were transported, somewhere.

We found ourselves in Africa, Biafra to be exact and it was 1965. Not much had been said what was going on there, after all, those people were just savages, right? What were a million babies, women and children after-all, who would miss them, besides there were more important wars going on, Viet Nam, now there was a good war.

Although there was not just a single, decisive battle; once you were there you could see the effects that wanton destruction had in the eyes of the people. Like I said there were only babies, women and children. The old men had long ago been killed and the young ones run off or fighting the government troops.

When they were not tossing babies in the air or kicking the bodies like in a game of football, they were raping the women before killing them. It seemed a hard life, they were always so busy. I knew not much could be done but at least these pigs would feel what it was like to face armed troops not half-starved women and children pleading for their lives.

With tears in my eyes a German SS division was summoned and they began the assault. General Wenck was an honourable soldier, when an enemy surrendered or had been severely wounded his soldiers would let them be after taking their weapons away. The women though, seeing a chance for revenge had no such compassion, they beat them until all were dead or dying. It was odd now to see so many of those troops that so fiercely could destroy unarmed women and children run away or die from them when a few armed men were nearby. And run and die they did. One may question the morals of some of the SS but these troops and General Wenck in particular were Prussian they fought for a purpose and had never fallen into the foul practices that often befell others.

Those 29,000 men took on 150,000 armed and trained enemies and at the end of the battle there were none left alive, the women had seen to that. It was with a heavy heart that night approached; soon we would all be gone. A messenger approached us, this had never happened before, he saluted then told us that Herr General wished to see us and would we allow this. Upon confirmation, General Wenck, with his aides greeted us, he said; "My troops wish to remain. I know there is little we will do for many, but we can protect those that are here."

He showed me a disc and smiled, "When it is over we shall find our own way."

Like Rommel, General Wenck was a figure in history that both sides admired and respected as a person. This was one of those unexplained moments that would be happening a lot to us. He walked away and we did too. We tried to sleep but still heard the cries and sobs of those dying. We awoke the next morning, again near greenery and running water, none of us cared, too much death had been seen yesterday, we did not want to think about what was happening there today.