Then and Now.

The Earth stood as still as you did. The gentle autumn breeze touched hit your face as the open fields around you brought memories. To your surprise, there were still trees standing and animals still wandering. The thought of there still being life in a place where so much death occurred was amazing. The fields were green but the land was now curved and ridged from the events that had occurred previously. You stared at the scene around you, time had lost it’s meaning and you did not care.

Everything was quiet, you could not see anyone, not even the farmers that were meant to be tending to their crops. There were now less animals around as time had passed vigorously. You made sure to carefully walk across the field, avoiding any small holes on the ground. The feeling of being there was overwhelming and although you were not a strong believer in a faith previously, it was true what they say. War changes people.

You began to reminisce about the war and how lucky you were to be able to continue your life although you almost let death take you. Right there, where you stood, you began to feel nauseous and blinked hard as if to ‘shake yourself’ from whatever had succumbed to. Suddenly, you felt the ground vibrate and heard the sound of marching boots. You noticed the smell of gunpowder and burning wood. The smell was strong and was coming from all directions. As you opened your eyes slowly you saw that within less than 200 metres from where you stood there were soldiers. Your heart sank in disbelief. The most feared, strongest army was in front of you. Once again. The sky was grey now and upon looking up you saw conflict’s taking place between different aircraft. The land was just dirt, the tree’s were either injected with an array of bullets or missing parts due to explosives ricocheting. The soldiers were now closer and much more visible. They wore a grey uniform, steel helmet and carried MP 40’s or Karabiner 98k’s. The notorious Wehrmacht, Hitler’s unified army, were firing towards my position. The bullets flew by and the sounds of a bullet passing your ear faster than an aircraft made you almost deaf. The dirt field was now rising as explosions were happening and the earth was being opened up. You turned around to run away and see people you knew. Your squadron and reinforcing squadrons. They were calling you over in a frenzy, you immediately run and feel heavier than before. You look down and saw that you were no longer wearing your leather jacket, but instead you were equipped with the suit of a British infantry soldier. The brown uniform was almost grey as there was the light from the sun was blocked by clouds of powder.  Your legs were churning hard and fast through the uneven ground and even stepped on a body from time to time. This did not bother you as death was so common during the war. Bullets kept flying past you and it was if they were purposely missing the target. The ground was soft and you stumbled a little bit, dirt was thrown onto your face but you knew that if you did not get up the next bullet fired towards would certainly hit you.

Your legs pushed even more and began to shake as they were becoming tired. What looked like a short distance between you and the allied soldiers calling you was in fact an unbelievably long run. However you were now much closer to them but suddenly the ground beneath you disappears, you feel the sensation that you’re falling. You become blinded by a bright flash of light and everything to you becomes silent. You feel a sharp pain in your leg but you’re still falling. You suddenly hit the ground landing in a crater caused by an explosion. You see someone run over to you calling your name. He manages to duck under the curtain of bullets that are being exchanged and falls almost on top of you. The crater that you had landed in had water in in, the French soil was soft and did not make a good running surface. As you lay there, almost frozen in time, you see a large object pass by at the speed of a bullet. Suddenly the ground shakes and the soil crumbles. Tank fire. The Panzer (German for amour, referred to a tank) battalions were firing at the allied positions. Your eyes were almost bloodshot red as the exposure to bright, sudden lights and heat was hurting your eyes. “C’mon! We have to go, we’ve been ordered to fall back rather than surrender!” The soldier speaking is wearing the same uniform as you but is dirtier and baggier. As he reaches down to lift your frozen body, you lock eyes and you see the face of a young man with hopes and dreams but instead he is fighting a war and is trying to save your life. A loud explosion rang that stood out of all other shots. A sniper had fired his weapon. Before you even had time to realise what had happened, the soldiers face went pale and his eyes rolled back as a small explosion-like pool of blood flew from the back of his head. His steel helmet had not been enough protection and let his body collapse to his final resting ground, a war-torn field in France. The sound of running men surrounded you and the gun fire had almost stopped completely. You saw a figure peek into your mud-shelter and had hope once again. Yo awaited another soldier to help and the events that had just taken place made you realise that your leg was bleeding profoundly but still had all limbs intact. The soldier began shouting but it was hard to understand what he was saying. His helmet glistened in the sun that was no longer blocked and you saw an object facing you. You slowly put energy into your arms to attempt to get up but your bloodshot eyes fixed and focused on what you realised was not a hand of aid but instead the end of a gun barrel. “Eine Hier! Eine Hier!” The shouts kept going on. The Germans had you surrounded and you knew that your end was near. Expecting for your life to end right there, you closed your eyes and prayed to God to keep your family saved. You kept your eyes closed but felt yourself moving with foreign hands on your back. The German’s pulled you out and threw you onto the bullet-sore ground and your face hit a bullet casing. You had been captured by Hitler’s army as they advanced through France. Your eyes remained closed as you laid there with your hands on your head.

Warmth began to hit your arms and you heard birds chirping. The entire atmosphere had changed. You slowly raised your head to see tree’s and a bright yellow Serin jumping around. The smell of gunpowder and corpses had gone. Where a bullet case once was, was a bright white daffodil. You slowly turned around and saw no one around you. The field which was once the host to several battles was now calm and peaceful. You were wearing your leather jacket once again and sat up in astonishment. You were glad that whatever happened, is over. History repeats itself and you mentally prayed that this dark part of history did not. You were always right. War changes everything.