Ukraine — Southern sector of the advance, July 1941
The engine coughed.
Then it died with a dull snap and a puff of white smoke.
—"That's not dust," Lukas said, pulling his head back from the controls. "That's something bad."
Falk said nothing. He climbed down from the hatch and walked around the Panzer IV. He touched the still-warm armor, as if he could read it with his fingers.
—"Mine?" Ernst asked from the ground, cleaning the track.
—"No. Internal failure," Lukas replied. "Transmission or worse."
—"How bad?" Konrad asked.
—"Bad enough we're not moving today. Or tomorrow."
The radio crackled. Helmut received the official order shortly after:"Vehicle out of action. Remain in rear area until reassessed and repaired."
Silence.
—"So they're leaving us here, watching everyone else pass by," Ernst muttered, tossing a wrench to the ground.
—"It's a pause. Not a punishment," Falk said.
—"Not to us."
Lukas shrugged.
—"What did you want? Push forward until the gearbox explodes under fire?"
Ernst glared at him.
—"Better that… than feeling like a spare parts truck."
The rear camp had no mud, no gunfire, no urgent orders. Just artillery crews resting, trucks in neat rows, officers filling out forms.
The Panzer was towed next to a line of immobile vehicles, like a wounded beast in a pen. The crew was assigned to secondary tasks: patrols, checkpoint duty, routine.
—"Is this war too?" Konrad asked as he sharpened his knife.
—"Sometimes," Falk replied.
—"And you? Gonna sort supplies too?"
Falk looked at him calmly.
—"I observe. That's what a commander does when he can't advance."
That night, they ate in silence.
Ernst chewed without appetite. Lukas barely touched his bread. Helmut listened to the radio through headphones, though there was nothing new. Just rumors: pushing toward the Dnieper, heavy fighting up north, Soviet prisoners by the thousands… and movements of special units near the rear.
—"They say people in black uniforms are coming," Lukas murmured.
—"Gestapo?"
—"Or something like it. Reich Security, they say. They say a lot of things."
—"I prefer tanks," Ernst said, setting the bread aside.
Falk finished eating, cleaned the tin with water, and set it down.
—"Tomorrow I'll check the Panzer with the mechanics. If there's no fix… we'll see."
—"And if they leave us here?" Konrad asked.
—"Then we'll know in a few days.And until then… we do what we always do."
—"Which is?"
Falk stood, looked at the four of them. Then at the tank.
—"Wait. And endure."
The Panzer didn't move.But inside, its men…kept marching.