Then we come across it, there in the middle of these woods is a clearing where the dimming rays of the sun shine through. I look up and can see the deep pinks and violets of the evening sky. Then I see it, in front of us are trees that have been shattered, many of their tops broken. Something big crashed here, for many of the dark evergreens have been upturned. Their ancient thick webbing roots are now visible for probably the first time to mankind. Many trees have been knocked over as though a giant rove through this place. Then we come across jagged pieces of metal and I realize what we have found. Kurtz shouts from ahead,"I found something!" I look at the Lieutenant and he nods. I rush up to the front of the group and Obrenski joins me and we find the remnants of our missing bomber. The plane's wings were ripped off when it broke the forest canopy. The fuselage is still intact though it slid a short distance breaking up the earth. Jagged metal fragments litter the ground.

As we approach I see the brown and green painted fuselage and cockpit riddled with bullet holes. An engine and fragments of a wing lay not too far away. I am surprised it remained together despite the crash. Patches of burnt earth are blackened from the fires that managed to extinguish themselves. The dark pines look remarkably unscathed. As if something prevented the forest from burning. Obrenski peers into the crew compartment. As I come closer the reeking smell of death assaults my senses in the most unpleasant of ways. Obrenski states,"They're dead." The Lieutenant inspects the long craft and says,"Obrenski, retrieve the flight logs and anything useful. The craft has a large gash in its side to which Obrenski enters. "Franz." The Lieutenant orders,"Check the rear for anything." I enter the aircraft through its open gash and am careful not to cut myself on jagged metal. I peer into the craft and find it to be long and dark. Oxygen cylinders hang on the ceiling and spent brass shell casings litter the floor. Ammo boxes have been turned over from the impact and the rays of light pierce the bullet holes. I looked up the dome turret,and was expecting to find a body, but found it to be empty. I make my way to the rear of the plane, the smell of decay is strong here to where I almost gag. I hold my nose as I approach the seat of the rear gunner. There I find to my horror a decaying body slumped over the gun controls. The body is horribly bloated and black liquid stains the floor beneath the corpse's feet. The reeking smell makes me gag. This body must have been here since the plane crashed. I notice how violent his end came for there are multiple bullet holes and dried red blood stains on his dark blue uniform. The plexiglass screen of the rear gun is horribly cracked and shattered. How violent his death must have been. Did he die in the air or in the crash? Its hard to tell. This is my first encounter with a dead person. I have never experienced a death like this. Then I think of this man and realize that he is far away from his home and family only to get swallowed by the forest. Here will be his final resting place, in a place that sees him as an enemy. To be forgotten among the many who have probably died in these woods. He will sit here manning his post as time passes by and his name will just be an echo of a long forgotten battle. Should I say a prayer for him? Would it do him any good? We should bury him. I decide to say a small prayer,"Dear heavenly Father, bless this man and give him peace. Amen." Just then I hear another whisper in my ear. I look down and I see a multitude of insects scavenging the body. I wretch in disgust and quickly make my exit.

As I leave the confines of the aircraft, Obrenski emerges too and states,"The pilot and flight engineer are dead but look what I found." He holds up a small roll of microfilm. "They didn't have a bomb sight, only a camera." he states. I add in,"Didn't the navigator say he was on a secret mission." The Lieutenant replies,"They were photographing something. Did you get the flight logs?" "Yeah and you are not going to believe this." Obrenski says. "Believe what?" asks Lieutenant Sprieg. Obrenski says in disbelief, “They were flying back from west Poland." "What?" the Lieutenant says shocked. Obrenski says,"Yeah I didn't think Lancasters could fly that far." Lieutenant Sprieg utters sharply,"They don't. This one must have been modified." I ask,"What were they photographing in Poland?" The Lieutenant replies,"I don't know, but it was important enough to send a lone bomber to take pictures of. Obrenski, we are bringing the film with us. Is there anything else?" "Yeah,three bodies are missing from the crew." Obrenski responds. The Lieutenant replies, "They must have survived. They could have encountered our patrol. We need to leave, keep a look out because we are not alone." "Wait." I say as the Lieutenant looks at me,"Shouldn't we bury them?" The Lieutenant looks up at the fast fading lights of the sky and say,"We don't have time Franz. We need to find the patrol." "But sir." I rebuke. "No buts, if we don't find the patrol we may have more graves to dig." "Sir we can't just leave them like this." I say. He replies,"Franz, I know you want to do good but we have more pressing matters. We need to find the patrol and leave, I don't want any more dead on this venture." I stand disappointed that we won't be able to give them a proper burial. I hate the idea of leaving them to decay in this forest.

We venture further into the woods to find the missing patrol, all the while keeping an eye out for the remaining British aircrew that could still be roaming the woods. It is dark now and moon rays now pierce the forest canopy with a errie white light. To make matters worse a fog has rolled in making visibility difficult. The eerie mist surrounds us and I wish we would leave. “Spreig, why don’t we head back? They have to be dead by now.” says Obrenski. The Lieutenant replies, “We are not leaving until we find them.” Obresnki snaps,”We will never find them and I don't want to join them in this God forsaken place.'' I suddenly see movement in the fog ahead of us, and then another. Figures dance in the shadows. Then I hear it, the sharp crack of a rifle. A bullet slams into a tree in front of Obrenski, splintering the wooden bark. Obrenski shouts “ Get down!” and throws Kurtz, who is near him, to the ground. “Take cover!” commands Lieutenant Sprieg. I find cover behind a sturdy tree, completely uncertain of what is happening. Another shot rings out and throws up earth close to me. “Return fire!” the Lieutenant commands. “I can't see them!” Obrenski shouts. My breathing shallows and I feel myself shaking, I am terrified. Obrenski peers out of cover long enough to fire back at our attackers. Kurtz is dumbstruck and tries to rise to his feet. “Kurtz!” shouts the Lieutenant, “Stay down!” Obrenski pushes Kurtz back onto the ground.

“Franz!” the Lieutenant barks as he pulls out his firearm, “Start shooting!” “Where?!” I exclaim both frightened and confused. Anywhere in front of us!” hollers Obrenski. Another bullet kicks up earth near the Lieutenant. I hear another bullet whizzed past me. I take my rifle and, out of cover, fire on my unforseen enemy. I quickly jump back behind the tree as I rechamber the rifle. The Lieutenant boldly steps out of cover and begins firing his pistol slowly and deliberately. He walks forward as he fires, even as bullets smack the trees around him. He is completely fearless. “Obrenski! Franz! Push forward!” he commands. I, full of fear, quickly scurry to the next tree. Obrenski sprints to the next cover he finds. I take my rifle, peer out of cover and fire again. As I rechamber the rifle, I see Kurtz, standing upright, wandering around confused and aimlessly even as bullets wizz past him. Does he have no sense of danger?! The Lieutenant takes cover behind a sturdy tree and looks back as he reloads his pistol. He obviously notices Kurtz’s completely reckless and aimless milling around. Its like Kurtz is walking in circles. “Obrenski!” shouts the Lieutenant. Obrenski stops firing and looks at the Lieutenant and then at Kurtz. He rushes to him as bullets wizz and smack the trees around him. He grabs Kurtz by the collar and jerks him behind the nearest tree. I hear him scold Kurtz, “Damn fool are you trying to get yourself killed?!” I return to a firing position as I peer out of cover. I see a figure silhouetted by the mist dart between the trees. I hold my breath, aim and close my eyes. The rifle barks in my hands and in the distance I hear a man yelp in pain.

Then I hear the voices cry back and forth to another. Then I realized, Its german! They are speaking german! Wait! Have we been shooting at our own men this entire time? The Lieutenant hears them too and aggressively barks the order, “ Cease fire!” Obrenski stops shooting and the Lieutenant shouts as loud as he can muster, “We are german! We are coming to you!” The Lieutenant emerges from cover and approaches the position of our opponents. After a moment the Lieutenant shouts “Franz, Obrenski! Bring the aid kit!”

Me and Obrenski rush to meet the Lieutenant and there we find a man or most likely a teenager in an army gray uniform on the ground clutching his shoulder in pain. Blood pours from his wound, another man in army gray fatigues applies pressure via a bandage to the wound. Blood soaks the gray cloth. "Give me your bandages." The man, who could be in his thirties, says. I reach for my aid kit and pull out the gray rolled up bandages. Obrenski does the same and we hand our supply to him. He quickly removes the blood soaked dressing to replace it with a fresh one. After a while the bleeding stops and the teenager writhing stops, his body is pale. The Lieutenant asks calmly,"Who's in charge here?" "I am sir." says the man who sits up the teenager and begins wrapping the cloth around his shoulder. The man still occupied says snappily,"I am Corporal Johanns Smidt. The man you just shot is Private Paul Ortel." The Lieutenant replies, “And I am Lieutenant Odel Sprieg of the 43rd Auxiliary Anti Aircraft Battery." Corporal Smidt looks up surprised,"A Lieutenant?" He jumps up and salutes, leaving his injured comrade. The Lieutenant returns in a half hearted salute. The wounded private Ortel salutes with his uninjured arm. "Uh erm sorry sir but they just sent you, we have been missing for days and they send an AA crew to find us." The Lieutenant snaps,"Be glad we did find you and I think you should be showing a little appreciation Corporal." "Sorry sir but this has been a hell of a few days. We couldn't tell who you guys were." he says. Obrenski snaps," So you shoot at us!" He replies,"You would have to if you had known what we have been through." I just noticed how disheveled their uniforms are. "Is it just you two?" Asks the Lieutenant. I just realized that it was my shot that injured the private that is about my age. I feel awful, first for shooting someone but even worse for wounding my fellow countrymen. The Corporal leads Lieutenant Sprieg to a nearby tree and there at its roots sits a man balled up and trembling, mumbling incoherent words to himself. The Lieutenant asks, unfazed by the distressed soldier's appearance,"What happened to him?" "This is Private Oskar Keller, our radio man. We have been lost in these woods for three days now sir. First, the Sergeant went missing with the map and compass. We never saw him again. And then Oskar here got separated. We found him a few hours later balled up with a pistol in his mouth." "Shell shock." utters Lieutenant Sprieg."Something spooked him awful bad sir. He has been like this ever since." The Lieutenant asks,"Where is the radio?" "Gone sir, he didn't have it when we found him." "That is unfortunate." says the Lieutenant. "And sir, I think you should know something." Smidt says. "And what is that Corporal?" The Lieutenant replies. Corporal Smidt says in a very serious tone,"There is something in these woods Lieutenant." "What do you mean?" the Lieutenant says sternly. "Sir, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. Odd things begin to happen around midnight." "What things?" the Lieutenant says, almost perturbed. "You will have to see it for yourself sir."

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Look down at my watch and see it is almost 11:30. I am thoroughly spooked by the warnings of the Corporal. I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing upright. Obrenski helps the injured Private Ortel to his feet. His bleeding has stop though he still winces in pain, clutching his shoulder. Obrenski removes his bandages and sees a clear entry and exit wound. Obrenski says," It went clean through, and didn't seem to hit anything important. You won't ever throw anything the same again though. The injured teen sighs and then asks," Which one of you shot me?" "Wasn't me." Obrenski says. I stutter,"It.. it was me." "He looks at me shocked and says,"You ass, if only you knew how bad this hurts." I feel a sinking in my stomach, I feel awful to the point of nausea. Obrenski slaps him on his good shoulder and says,"Well thank God he can't aim worth a damn otherwise we would leave you here to rot." The thought of being left to die alone here sends a shiver down my spine. Obrenski looks at me and says,"Franz, nice shot." I would almost feel pride if I wasn't so ashamed.

The Lieutenant and Corporal Smidt have raised the disturbed Private and guided him toward us. Then the Corporal notices Kurtz and exclaims," A child? You gotta be joking, they are sending children now?" Kurtz just stands there peering into the forest, listening intently. The Lieutenant rushes to defend him,"He is an integral part of our crew." "Sir." Corporal Smidt says,"I mean no ill offense but this is ridiculous sir." "It was the cards we were handed Corporal. Come we need to leave before whatever you say is in these woods find us." the Lieutenant says.

We venture through the woods, Obrenski leads our pack with Kurtz following close behind him. Me and the Lieutenant are paired together. The Lieutenant observes his map with a red light flashlight. Private Keller trembles violently and still mumbles to himself, his eyes fleeting back and forth in paranoia. He is pushed along by the injured Private Ortel and Corporal Smidt covers the rear of our pack. The whispers in my ear grow increasingly louder. They echo near and far and have many voices. I shake my head to no avail as they continue. I look at my watch,11:58. The moon beams rain through the cracks in our dark green ceiling, the light is just enough to see but the fog has grown thicker. The whispers grow violently louder into an intense crescendo of multiple voices and then suddenly… silence. I look at my watch, it is now midnight. Suddenly the disturbed Private Keller cowers and whimpers. The Corporal and Private Ortel try to console him but he screams aloud. He yells in terror, "THEY’RE EVERYWHERE, DON’T YOU SEE THEM! GET ME OUT! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" as he claws at the Corporal's garbs. Obrenski at the front of the pack listens intently, I can see him tense up. Kurtz holds on to his uniform, obviously frightened. Then the Lieutenant pulls his pistol from his holster, and listens with concern. Corporal Smidt utters,"Here it goes again." Then I hear it, the sounds of distant shouts followed by the clanging of metal. The roar of dozens of men reach my ears, and the sounds of metal could only be that of swords clashing. Then the sound of a horn echos throughout the now lively forest. "What the hell is that?" Obrenski asks, astonished. Lieutenant answers quietly while looking around, "I don't know." The sounds of a distant battle rings throughout the woods. The clashes of swords and the screams of men surround us. I see shadows dart between the trees. The shouts come near as though they approach us. Then the sounds of combat are abruptly silenced. I am absolutely terrified, the hairs on my body stand up right, my teeth chatter uncontrollably. Suddenly the movement stops and surrounding us are shadowy figures of men. They are standing in a circle among the trees encircling our group. They glare at us though I can't see their dark faces, I feel their hostility like a burning sensation. They don't like us here, they don't want us here. All of us are stunned by what we are witnessing. Ghosts? Spectors? Malicious spirits? What are they? I clutch my rifle tightly to where I can hear the wooden stock creak. The disturbed Private Keller shrieks and screams aloud. Corporal Smidt attempts to stifle his cries by covering his mouth. Obrenski almost whispers,"Sprieg, what are we going to do?" "Nobody moves." orders the Lieutenant, projecting a whisper. The figures stand there menacingly observing us, contemplating our demise. My palms sweat with fear.

Suddenly the rifle is knocked from Corporal Smidt hands, by the wriggling Private Keller. The rifle falls to the ground and goes off producing a deafening crack that breaks the tense silence. The flash of light temporarily blinds me.

I hold my breath and await the spirits' inevitable response. Every fiber of my being is tense, I am trembling. My heart pounds furiously, I can feel the beads of sweat roll down my face. I fear what the mysterious figures will do to us. The tension is unbearable, I just wish it would end. The forest returns back to deathly silence. I look around and notice we are completely surrounded. My bones and muscles ache from the tension. The standoff continues for a while, the spirits keep their menacing glare upon us. My knuckles turn white from death gripping the rifle. Suddenly a loud ringing in my ear breaks my tension and my head throbs. The other must feel it too because Obrenski and the Lieutenant hold their heads in pain. The whispering of many voices in my mind returns, but in clear loud unison, they utter in a gravelly growl, “You were warned!” Soon the figures that surround us begin to retreat as one back into the forest. "Alright let's move." commands Lieutenant Sprieg.

After several more terrifying hours we make it back out of the forest back to the kubelwagen, all thanks to the Lieutenant's excellent navigation skill. Throughout our trek, I noticed the shadows of men that watched us depart. It is still dark out but thank God we are out of the forest. We pile into the vehicle, Obrenski in the driver's seat, the Lieutenant in the passenger's and Corporal Smidt and the injured Private Ortel sit in the rear with the disturbed Private Keller between them. Me and Kurtz sit on the back of the vehicle and hold on tightly. After several minutes of travel, we arrived back at the gun pit. As the vehicle stops, Lieutenant Sprieg orders,"Obrenski, take them to headquarters and have the film processed. And gentlemen, not a word of this to anyone. What you witnessed did not officially happen." The Lieutenant steps out of the vehicle and says "Franz, Kurtz, with me." Me and Kurtz hop on the back of the kubelwagen as Obrenski and the men of the lost patrol drive off. Kurtz says, "See Franz, I told you there were nice ghost." as if he knew they would let us go. I brush past him and try to catch up with the Lieutenant who is about to retire to his shack. "Lieutenant," I say, "Are we not going to talk about what happened?" "There is nothing to talk about Franz." He says. I press him, "But sir, what were they?" The Lieutenant huffs and orders,"Kurtz, get ready for bed." Kurtz pleads," But I'm not tired." The Lieutenant repeats sterner,"Get ready for bed." Kurtz sighs,"Awww, I don't want to go to bed." as he leaves us to enter the barracks. "Franz," the Lieutenant says,"Come with me."

We enter the Lieutenant’s shack and he commands me to sit, so I take a seat on his cot while he sits in his chair. He starts, “Franz, what do you know about the town's history?” “Sir,” I rebuttal, “What does that have to do with the forest?” “Just answer the question Franz.” he says. “ Well I know about a prince that was supposed to marry the princess but he died in battle and the town went into a famine, but the princess married a new prince and the famine ended.” He sits in thought as he analyzes my answer. He says, "I am going to tell you a story.” He continues,” It's about two brothers named Enrich and Albert Talbot and they were both princes. A princess lived in the castle named Elisa. Prince Enrich was set to marry Princess Elisa but his brother grew jealous and tried to stop him. So Prince Albert raised an army and so did Prince Enrich. Both armies clashed and Enrich was killed in the battle. The long winter where many people died was actually a siege induced famine.” I look at him shocked. He continues, “In order to lift the siege, Princess Elisa promised to marry Prince Albert. It was a forced marriage Franz. It was only after when he lifted the siege.” I look at him in complete awe. I ask dumbfounded, “So the entire town history is a lie?” He replies, “History can be whatever you want when you are the victor.” I ask, “But sir, what does it have to do with what we saw in the forest?” He answers, "Because Franz, that was where the battle took place.” “What? How do you know this?” I ask. He answers again, "I have done my reading.” “But did you know that was going to happen?” I ask. He replies,”I have read the legends, and had my suspicions, but I never thought we would actually encounter anything.” What were they, sir?” I ask. “They were spirits of a long forgotten battle Franz. Their souls are trapped there because they will never find peace, because the truths of their deaths have been obscured from history. That is why no one ventures out there. That is why no one has settled there.” He then breaks the subject, “Is there anything else you wish to discuss?” I, still a little spooked, believe I had found a suitable answer. “ Uh no sir.” I say. “Then good night Franz, get some rest.” he says. “Uh goodnight sir,” I say as I leave him.

I retire to my cot and find Kurtz fast asleep. I take off my boots and crawl into bed. I reminisce of my day and think of how the entire town’s festival has been based on a lie. How we encounter spirits of the dead and lived to tell about it. Most importantly though I pray for the souls lost in that forest and pray they have peace. I still hear a faint whisper in my ear. Exhaustion settles in and I find myself too tired to be fearful. It is not long before I fall asleep.