Вяйнё Линна - Unknown Soldiers

The Third Company commander, Lieutenant Autio, came up to Ensign Kariluoto’s platoon from behind. Autio was a regular officer – a calm, young fellow with a resolute face, generally reputed to be a good leader. Kariluoto was trying to keep calm, despite the fact that he couldn’t understand anything Autio was saying.

‘The artillery will send a bombardment out in front of the Second Battalion. Mortars, too. As soon as it’s over, we go in – don’t wait for a separate command. Do not let up at any point, as you want to make it in one go. Under no circumstances is anyone to lie down under fire. Koskela, you set up both your machine guns for support if the advance gets stuck, but only then. We want to escape notice as long as possible. They know we’re around, of course, but we should try to take them by surprise, regardless. I’ll be directly behind the Second Platoon. Anything unclear?’

‘No… I’ve got it. Just keep your fingers crossed.’

Autio left, and Kariluoto reviewed mixed-up bits of his instructions in his head. ‘No one lies down under fire… take them by surprise…’

Koskela was speaking to his own men. ‘Keep close behind the guys in front of you, and if the line stops, get into position immediately. And remember, you can’t hesitate in opening fire. And don’t all bunch up behind the guns. There should just be one guy shooting and one guy helping him.’

‘Got it… Yup, we’ve got it.’ They all nodded their heads, though none of them had the faintest idea what this ‘opening fire’ actually entailed. They all knew how to shoot a gun, but nobody knew how he would hold up in the face of one. For the first time in their lives, they would be put to the test. Loading a belt and pulling a trigger were simple enough, but facing down death was harder – and that was the thought that was writhing about in their minds, making their earnest faces twist into vaguely comical contortions.

They heard the opening shots ring out from behind the border. It was the same artillery battery that had frightened them during the night, accompanied now by even deeper booms from further behind. Vicious whistles pierced the air and then the ground shook with the jarring force of the explosions. In between you could hear the weak coughs of bursting hand grenades.

When the barrage fell silent, an intense clanging of infantry fire started up, and a long, sustained cry rose up from the din.

‘Second Battalion’s attacking,’ somebody whispered low, his voice choking with nervousness.

Ensign Kariluoto was lying crouched behind a grass-covered mound. Gasping for breath, he repeated over and over again the line that had been hammered into his head: ‘ What greater honor… what greater honor… ’ He didn’t dare finish the phrase: ‘ than dying in battle ’, so he just kept repeating the opening over and over again.

The platoon beside them set off. Kariluoto rose and called out stiffly, ‘Fourth Platoon, advance!’

He forced himself to start moving forward and the men followed. They hadn’t got very far when they began to hear whistling plinks and rustles in the dwarf pines.

Piew, piew… piewpiew .

Angry little gusts sent them diving to the ground. Kariluoto ran a few steps further on, then ducked behind a small rise in the swampland. Breathlessly he yelled, ‘Advance! Don’t stop… No one is to lie down under fire… take them by surprise…’

No one got up, and even Kariluoto stayed where he was, his will shaken. It was as if he’d been paralyzed. He grasped from his surroundings that the entire company was under fire, and that his platoon was lying under cover in the uneven terrain. A petrifying thought wound its way insidiously through his consciousness: I can’t do it… I can’t get my men to advance… I’ve done exactly what Autio said not to…

‘Machine guns into position.’ Koskela was on his knees behind a pine, pistol in hand. The men lay further back. Not until they heard Koskela’s command did they set up the machine guns. Seeing that Koskela was kneeling, Lehto rose up onto his knees as well and, a tightness in his voice, ordered, ‘Move it, guys. Load the belts. Fast.’

Once Koskela saw that the guns were ready to go, he called out, ‘Shoot for their nuts!’

‘Shoot for their nuts!’ Hietanen repeated, and Lehto and Lahtinen joined in, ‘Shoot for their nuts!’ The guy shooting Lehto’s team’s gun, Private Kaukonen, called out nervously after them, ‘Shoot for their nuts!’ and pulled the trigger. Lahtinen’s gun was already hacking away. Määttä was shooting it, calmly and deliberately, his face utterly blank.

The weapon shook in Kaukonen’s hands and he watched, through eyes stinging with sweat, how the sight skipped along the rim of the forest as the belt jerked in rapidly from the feeder. His nostrils felt as though they were burning with the nauseating stench of grease and gunpowder.

Their own fire kept them from hearing the crackling amidst the pines. Nicks in the trees already shone white where the bark had been torn off.

Suddenly a shell from some kind of direct-fire weapon exploded into a tree, and a low, inaugural blast sounded from the opposite edge of the forest.

‘Anti-tank gun. Shit!’ Koskela crouched to the ground. He wondered for just a moment if he should take over command of the platoon, but decided against it. He could imagine the panic the young ensign was in, and he knew he’d have to conquer it himself.

The machine-gun belt ran out. Vanhala, who was feeding the gun, yelled back, ‘Ammo! Hurry!’

Riitaoja, lying under cover beside the boxes of ammunition, didn’t move a muscle. His eyes were terribly round, and his face twisted into a strangely contorted grin at Vanhala’s shout.

‘Give me a belt!’ Lehto called out as well, but Riitaoja scarcely noticed. Lehto bounded over, tossed Vanhala a belt and, seething with rage, hissed at Riitaoja, ‘You shit-eating pansy. I’m going to beat you into this swamp.’

Riitaoja blinked his eyes in terror, but said nothing. Trembling, he crouched into his hollow and Lehto crawled back to the gun.

‘Let him be,’ Koskela said, having observed Riitaoja’s terror. Lehto grunted back offhandedly, ‘I guess everybody here’s scared, but you’d think he could lift a finger.’

As if determined to prove he was everything Riitaoja was not, Lehto rose to his knees and began shooting at the forest’s edge. Randomly, like everybody else, since none of them had caught so much as a glimpse of the enemy.

Two men approached the swamp – Kaarna and Mielonen. Mielonen was walking several steps behind, saying, ‘Captain, sir. They’re using the anti-tank rrrifle.’

‘No. It’s a tank.’

‘You think?’

‘Yes, yes, of course. You could tell from the sound of it.’

‘Rrreally? A tank on rrroads like this?’

‘Yeah, yeah, it’s not impossible.’

‘I wouldn’t be too sure.’

‘Sure, sure, you can never be too sure, but anyway it’s a tank. But hey! Looks like we’re going to get a bumper crop of berries this year. What with all these blossoms.’

They made it to the swamp and Kaarna pounced immediately. ‘What’s going on here? What’s this? Look here, you boys have made a mess of this whole thing. Ay-ay-ay! Boys, boys, this isn’t how you fight a war. Noo-oo-oo. Fighting like this isn’t going to get you anywhere. Now, we’re going to pull ourselves together and cross this little swamp. The others are already at the enemy positions.’

The men raised their heads. Kariluoto’s head, on the other hand, sank even lower. The bitterness of shame had completely paralyzed him. Kaarna stepped right beside him and said in a collegial tone, ‘Give it another go, Ensign. They’ll take off all right.’