A HERO TALE OF THE RED CROSS
Told by G. S. Petroff, War Correspondent of the "Russkoye Slovo," Moscow
The following incident is narrated in M. Petroff's account of a battle on the eastern front. Translated for Current History.
I—STORY OF THE WOUNDED GERMAN
One of our soldiers brought with him a German officer, who could hardly stand on his feet. His leg had been pierced by a bayonet, his shoulder was bleeding from a bullet, and his arm had been bruised by the butt end of a rifle. He was losing consciousness from pain and loss of blood. As soon as the soldier led him to our place he dropped with his whole weight to the ground. The doctor bandaged him, exclaiming: "What luck! Three wounds, and in spite of all of them he will be well soon. The wound in the leg is only a flesh wound, his arm is badly bruised but not broken, and only his collarbone at his shoulder is broken. In a month he will be all right again. Just look! what a handsome fellow, and what expensive underwear!"
The bandaged officer came to himself, looked around the yard, and, seeing the farmhouse in the background on fire, he sharply seated himself.
"Now be quiet, calm yourself," said the doctor, speaking in German and taking the man gently by the shoulders.
"My wife, my wife!" cried the German, tearing himself forward.
"Where is the wife?"
"There, in the house, in the fire!" He made an effort to get off the stretcher from under the doctor's hands.
"Is he delirious or what?" muttered the doctor in Russian. "There is no one in the house," he added soothingly in German. "Your German wounded were there, but they were saved in time."
"But my wife? My wife!" cried the captive in terror.
"What wife? How did she come here?"
"She is a nurse. She was here with the wounded. We loved each other, we married only a year ago. She became a nurse. Our regiment happened to be near their hospital. Your offensive was unexpected. There was no time to remove the hospital. The other nurses left, but she would not leave when I was so near. Where is she? My wife!"
"Did any one see a German nurse in the house or yard?" asked the doctor, turning to the Russian soldiers and telling them briefly what the prisoner had said:
"There was no woman," came the response. "The house was empty. Look at the fire within. Even mice would have run out by now."
At this moment something metallic shrilled through the air. A heavy German shell flew over us.
"Scoundrels!" cursed the doctor. "They are firing on us—and their own wounded! We must get out of this. Two or three more shells and they will begin dropping in the yard. Carry our wounded first, then theirs. Hurry, or we shall remain here for eternity!"
II—A WOMAN'S FIGURE AT WINDOW OF BURNING HOUSE
The captive officer, apparently powerless, could not rise from the stretcher, where he was lying with one of his soldiers who had been wounded before him. He gazed devouringly at the blazing house. Suddenly he shouted savagely: "There, at the window, under the roof! Look, she is breaking the window—where the smoke is pouring out!"
We looked at the roof of the blazing house, and, in truth, there was a woman's figure in white, with a red cross on her breast. The doctor shouted: "Eh, fellows, it is true! A woman was left in the house—a nurse—his wife!"
"What can be done?" asked the stunned soldiers. "The whole house is on fire, and she is not strong enough to break through the window frame. She must be weak from fright. But why did she go up? Why not down?"
"There's no use guessing!" shouted a bearded fellow, evidently from the reserves, throwing off his overcoat.
"Where are you going?" cried the soldiers.
But he was already out of reach of their voices. He rushed into the house. All were stupefied, fearing to breathe. A minute passed, another, a third. Then at the window appeared the bearded face of the Russian soldier. There came the sound of broken glass and wood. Above our heads something was shrilling, but no one paid attention to the German shells. The soldier broke the window, dragged the woman into the open air. She was unconscious.
"Catch!" rang from above, and a big white parcel came down. The soldiers caught it successfully on the hero's outspread overcoat. Only one of them was hurt in the eye by the heel of her shoe.
"How will our chap get back to us now?" asked the soldiers of one another. "It is hell inside."
"Oh, he will get out, all right," said some one. "It is easier to get out than to get in. He knows the way. And if he burns some of his beard, no harm; he has a large one."
"Carry her to her husband!" ordered the doctor, "and get out from here immediately. The Germans are shelling us. Take away the rest, and don't forget the couple," remarked jokingly the doctor, happy over the incident. "I will wait for our hero. He may be burned."
The soldiers caught the remaining stretchers, and nearly ran out of the yard. At that moment a big German shell struck the burning house. A deafening explosion shook the air. The walls trembled, shook, and fell. The heroic soldier had not had time to get out. He remained buried under the ruins.
When the woman recovered consciousness near her wounded husband she did not understand where she was. She murmured in perplexity: "Dream, death? Otto, is that you? Are we together in heaven?"
"On earth and both alive," calmed the doctor.
"How did you get to the upper story?" asked the husband.
"I saw Russian soldiers run into the house. I feared violence, so I ran upstairs. I thought I would run down later, but then came the fire.... A soldier appeared behind me and I was terrified to death."
"But that soldier saved you!" sighed the doctor.
"How? Where is he?"
"In heaven, if there is such a place for heroes." The doctor then told them all. The German officer and his wife both cried.
"But how was it that your guns were firing at a farm which you were occupying?" asked the prisoner.
"Our guns?" exclaimed the doctor, who was already bandaging a new victim. "It was your guns that were shelling a house over which flew a German Red Cross flag. Our soldiers were saving the lives of your wounded, and your guns were firing at both ours and yours. They killed the man who saved you. That's the way the Kaiser makes war."