bicur_mwm52 commented at 2021-08-26 05:38:42 » #2643080

Carrying the kid, and the sharp contrast of the two facial expressions, reminds me of a story that supposedly happened during the Battle of the Bulge (Germany, Dec 1944).

Two or three U.S. infantry soldiers were manning a foxhole machine-gun position, far out on an approach to Bastogne. They had no support, and no way to cover their withdrawal. They were a "tripwire"; they couldn't hinder, much less stop, anything larger than a platoon for more than a few minutes, but their firing and activity would alert closer-in units to an enemy advance.

A small group of civilians, attempting to flee the fighting, stumbled upon the position. In the snow, with limited visibility, and since the soldiers had concealed their position (of course!) the refugees were literally only an arm's reach from the soldiers before they realized it. Clad in winter gear, huddled under blankets, it wasn't obvious whose soldiers they were. The civilians fell to their knees, begging for their lives in every language any of them knew, expecting to be killed.

The U.S. soldiers handed over what blankets and rations they could spare, and directed the civilians to take cover in a sheltered location a few dozen meters to their rear. "You'll be safe there." they explained. Then pointing to the road in front of their lone machine gun, "That's as far as the krauts will get."

I can imagine this female soldier (Is she ethnically Kurdish, the daughter of refugee immigrants?) saying something like, "Just hang on, sweety. They ain't getting close enough to hurt you.".

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