Across the Barbed Wire

After a moment she watched Walter ease his way toward the fence.  Then he stopped, probing the ground for tripwires.  The fence in front of him was about seven feet high with twisted bands of barbed wire parallel to the ground about a foot apart.  A long diagonal band of wire connected the fence posts.  As best she could make out, the farther fence was the same.  A strip of ground about ten meters wide separated the two fences.  Then she saw a sign on the closer fence that sent a chill through her body.  WARNGEBIET MINEN!

They had heard a rumor that the Grenztruppen were going to place mines along the border strip.  After some discrete questioning of their Gasthaus proprietor, Walter had dismissed the rumor as propaganda.  Now she wasn’t so sure.  Her mind was racing.  What should they do?  To come this far and turn back was unimaginable.  And she wasn’t sure she could make it back.

Walter was crawling back toward her.  Reaching her he whispered, “There is a tripwire.  I marked it with a couple of rocks.”

“But what about the mines?  Didn’t you see the sign?  Her hushed voice couldn’t conceal a tone of panic.

“I saw it, but those bastards couldn’t have planted mines here already.  The sign is just another one of their tricks.  We’ll be all right!”

Anna whimpered, distracting them.  From her position Gisela couldn’t reach her.  “I think the grass tickled her face.  Help me find her pacifier.”

Walter knelt over them and groped through the pockets of Gisela’s backpack.  Finding the wire cutters first, he stuck them in his back pocket.  The pacifier was in the corner of the same pocket, wrapped in a handkerchief.  Walter removed it, slipped it into Anna’s mouth and stroked her hair.  He leaned over and kissed his daughter, watching a moment until her eyelids closed.  Then he helped Gisela back up to her hands and knees.

“Stay behind me while I cut through the fence.  Then I’ll hold the wire back while you go through first.  Understand?”

“Ja.  Be careful, Walter.”

They crawled a couple of minutes more until they reached the first fence.  Walter began clipping away the bottom strands of wire.  He made an opening wide enough for them to crawl through and motioned Gisela to move ahead while he held back the sharp edges of wire.  Suddenly she heard a popping sound, and a flare burst overhead outlining them in a flash of white light.  One of them must have hit a trip wire!

Walter scrambled through the opening and ran past Gisela to the second fence.  He was right, she thought, following him.  There were no mines after all!  Frantically Walter cut at the wires.  Shouts came from the direction of the guard tower, and she heard dogs barking.  The wire cutters were not designed for barbed wire, and each successive wire was taking longer.  Stepping on the bottom wire, Walter grabbed Gisela’s arm and pushed her through the small opening he had made in the two strands above his foot.  When she was nearly across the bottom strand, his foot slipped and he lost his balance.  Twisting to his right, he staggered backward.

A loud explosion rent the air amidst a swirl of grass and dirt.  Walter was blown sideways.  He and Dieter landed in a crumpled heap against the fence.  Gisela and Anna were lifted up and thrown forward.  Gisela felt pain in her legs, and heard her voice scream, “Walter.”  She had a sensation of being outside her body, seeing Anna and herself beyond the barbed wire with Walter and Dieter behind her.  Before blacking out she struggled to touch Anna, and felt blood on her hand.