Attacking for show
As darkness fell our unit relieved a worn out, barely existent cavalry regiment. They went to the rear to take replacements while we occupied their trenches. For some reason, the place was strewn with Cossack sabers - apparently, having discovered their uselessness the cavalrymen discarded them just like we had thrown away our bayonets. Our officers, barely older than any of us, immediately put the sabers on and wound up parading around the trenches with them all evening.
Our scout platoon took up several trenches near the bunker with the battalion HQ. We were probably going to attack in the morning, but meanwhile there was nothing to do to pass the time. Several of us from the platoon climbed out from the trenches and went for a "stroll" through no man's land.
Even after all these years I can't figure out what made us do things like that. No-one gave us any orders, and we weren't old enough or wise enough to understand the importance of scouting out terrain before an attack. Most likely, we were spurred on by curiosity, or by a boyish lust for adventure.
And so, we walked towards the German trenches, carefully peering into the darkness and listening to the distant sounds of the front: the rumble of artillery, the bursting of gun and mortar shells (I remember, I was astonished and even frightened by the silence that greeted me when I first woke up in a rear-area hospital - L.Veger). For some reason though, we didn't hear the usual bursts of small arms and machine gun fire as we neared the German trenches.
Then we came upon the first trench line. We got to within 50 meters, but still, no gunfire, no voices. We could have turned back, but somehow kept crawling forward, expecting a bullet in the gut at any moment. Finally we got to the trenches and saw that they looked completely empty. We decided to check if the Germans are just sleeping in their bunkers without any sentries - two guys went to the right while I moved to the left along the trench lip without jumping in. After some distance, I saw a communications trench going back to the German rear and followed it. The trench ended in front of a bunker. The door was closed; I paused for a moment. Opening the door with the Germans still inside was pretty risky. At first I thought of just tossing a grenade in through the ventilation shaft, but then decided to chance it with the door.
With my SMG readied in my right hand, I carefully pried the door open with my left and pushed my way in. The bunker was silent, and after my vision adjusted to the gloom I saw that it was quite empty.
As usual, the Germans had left in an orderly fashion. All the bottles emptied, nothing edible left behind. I went back outside and joined my companions. We searched a few more bunkers, failed to find anything interesting and, seeing as it was almost first light, started a leisurely walk back to our lines.
Just as we got to our trenches and turned in, we were roused by a great deal of noise. The battalion was getting ready to attack the German trench line. Unusually, the attacking force included the entire battalion HQ headed by the CO himself. I went up to him and told him that the German trenches were empty.
- How do you know? - he asked suspiciously.
- Because we were there llast night.
I saw some doubt in his eyes. It must be said that, empty trenches or not, the bullets still kept whistling overhead. There are always stray bullets whistling over the frontline, seemingly born out of thin air. Even when there aren't any Germans in front of you, the bullets are still whistling. The veterans hardly pay them any attention - you can't spend your whole time at the front crawling around on your belly. First-timers, on the other hand, always react to them, and that's how you spot the new guys at the front.
Regardless, the attack went in by the book. The attacking infantry dashed forward, went to ground, then got up and dashed forward again, the signals man was stringing the field telephone line behind the battalion CO. We were walking alongside, fully upright, and feeling very uncomfortable: serious, mature, respected commanders were crawling on the ground right next to us while we just strolled along. We heard the CO report back to brigade HQ that he is personally leading the attack, that the assault is proceeding as planned, that they're getting ready for the final push towards the German trenches.
For their personal participation in the attack, the battalion HQ officers were decorated for bravery by the brigade.
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