Ghost Sniper

“A man always cleans his own weapons. Of course, they need to be fired first,” Von Stenger said, giving the youthful soldier a sideways look. At the church steeple today, the boy hadn’t fired so much as a single shot. He tossed his boots at the boy. “These could do with a shine. Make sure you do it out in the hallway.”

Fritz frowned down at the muddy boots. “Yes, sir.”

The boy took the boots and went out. Over in his corner, Wulf gave a low laugh. He was cleaning his own weapon, the standard-issue Mauser that had been converted to sniper use with the addition of a telescopic sight.

“Honestly, sir, I don’t know where you got him. That boy has his head in the clouds the whole time.”

“You might say I inherited him,” Von Stenger said, thinking back to his old companion Willi, whose body was now likely mouldering in some mass grave the Allies had dug. That was duty for you.

“You should send him away, sir,” Wulf said. “He will only cause trouble for us.”

“He will prove useful when the times comes,” Von Stenger said. “Until then, who else would I get to shine my boots?”

Wulf made a guttural, mirthless sound that Von Stenger took to be a laugh. “Are we going back to the church steeple in the morning, sir?”

“A sniper never returns to the same place if he can help it,” Von Stenger said. He was a little surprised Wulf had thought that’s what they would be doing, but he reminded himself that while Wulf had been to sniper training, this was his first time in actual combat.

Earlier that day, he had worried briefly about being trapped in the church steeple by the enemy, or perhaps once the American tank opened fire. The tank crew had proved to be terrible shots, and then the Tiger tank had come along and destroyed the Sherman with a spectacular show of German superiority. If that was the best that American tanks could do against Panzers, an awful lot of them were going to be turned into burning wreckage.

He found himself lapsing into the instructor tone he would have taken at the sniper school. “Never use the same sniper’s nest two days in a row. Never come and go by the same route. If you can, fire and move on. Those are the rules a sniper must follow if he wishes to survive long on the battlefield.”

“Like you, Herr Hauptmann?”

“Yes, Wulf, like me.”

Fritz appeared in the doorway again. “How many men have you killed, Herr Hauptmann?”

Both the boy and Corporal Wulf waited keenly for his answer, but Von Stenger took so long to respond that they thought it was possible he had not heard the question. Finally, he spoke. “When I began my career, in Spain where we supported General Franco’s troops, I used to keep count. It was a matter of pride. And the Spanish were very tough to kill, so that was something.”

“How many?”

“Eighty in Spain. Then came Poland. I ran out of bullets because there were so many to shoot.”

“You were in Russia,” Wulf said. Every German soldier knew that to have fought and survived as a sniper on the Eastern Front was the ultimate test. “That’s where you earned your Knight’s Cross.”

Von Stenger touched the medal, then shrugged. “Well, I gave up counting back in Poland. One begins to realize that a sniper does not kill so many as a few well-placed bombs, but do you think our Luftwaffe bombers worry about their tally? So I stopped counting. There are many ways to determine one’s success in war. For example, having done my duty for the Fatherland, I came home from Russia with my life, and with this rifle.”

“A Russian sniper rifle.”

“Yes,” Von Stenger said.

When Von Stenger did not elaborate, the boy said, “I must finish your boots, sir.”

“Good, and after you have shined my boots I want you to find the following four items and bring them to me. A burlap sack, forty feet of rope, a uniform tunic and a helmet.”

The boy suddenly looked near panic. “Where am I going to get a uniform and a helmet, sir?”

“From someone who isn’t wearing them,” he said. “Be resourceful.”

Once the boy had left to complete his assignment, Wulf asked, “Sir? What’s all that business about with the tunic and helmet?”

“We are going hunting tomorrow for our own kind, and we must have a trap for them.”

While the old house was short on warmth, there appeared to be no shortage of wine from the cellars. The boy returned with a bottle as well as the items Von Stenger had requested. They shared the wine by the fire, and then both Wulf and Fritz went to their blankets. The boy curled up and went to sleep instantly, reminding Von Stenger of a dog, legs kicking, mouth hanging open. Only the young could sleep so deeply and artlessly. Wulf was soon snoring in his corner.

Von Stenger hardly thought of himself as old, but in some ways he already had a lifetime of memories, and not all of them were pleasant. Wulf and the boy had asked how many he had killed in his career as a sniper. While he had shot a great number of men—and even women—he could easily recall many of the individual deaths. These memories clung to him and weighed down his mind, fending off sleep like armor.