Cannon Fire Arc

Chapter 778: Chapter 32: The Other Side of War (6K)

Kazarlia Army Group’s Supply Center No. 711.

The girls finished their morning’s hauling work and took a short break on the now-cleared cargo field after getting their food.

“It’s potatoes with Spam Cans again, wonder how many days it has been.” Aksinya opened her lunch box and started complaining, “Some pickles would be nice!”

“Here.” Natalia next to her took out a glass jar and pulled out the cork.

The smell of pickles immediately spread, attracting the attention of several people.

After taking a slice of pickle, Natalia passed the bottle to others, and a group of girls shared the pickles like this.

Aksinya, while eating boiled potatoes, said: “Heard that the last male transport team has been taken away by the Priest conscripting soldiers. Now our entire support division is all women and old men.”

“I didn’t even know we still had young men in our division.”

“Aksinya, isn’t your man at the Front Army Headquarters? Go to him to take care of your needs!”

“He’s guard duty for Marshal, he’s busy every day, and I don’t have any ‘needs’ to take care of!” Aksinya hurriedly explained, “I was just saying that there are no more young men in the logistics troops, and there are probably even fewer of them in the rear.”

The women all fell silent, munching on their potatoes without a word.

Suddenly someone said: “Wonder if it’s the same with the Prosen people? I heard from my man that there are fewer Prosens than us, and we’re already like this, they must be… right?”

“Don’t know.” Aksinya replied, “The matters of war are none of our concern, now that we’re here stacking boxes, something must have gone wrong!”

After stuffing a whole potato into her mouth, Aksinya mused while chewing: “When my grandmother was young, we had a conflict with Anatolia as well. My grandfather was conscripted, and my grandmother was alone at home; apart from missing her husband every day, she said there was nothing inconvenient.

“But look at us now; we’re wearing ill-fitting military uniforms, moving sacks like dock workers day after day!”

“Pickle goddess” Natalia echoed, “Yeah, it’s even more exhausting than farm work back home. I enlisted because I was tired of the same farm work day after day, but here I am doing the same.”

Aksinya: “Natalia, you finished tenth grade, you should try to go to the medical team.”

Natalia, head down: “No, I won’t go. The medical team came to our training camp for recruitment, and many people rushed to go, I just quietly stepped back.”

“Why didn’t you go?” someone asked.

Natalia replied with a bitter smile: “I was previously in the women’s labor camp working on emergency repairs, and then enemy planes came. A strafing run killed 28 girls, I remember clearly, 28!

“I stood by and watched them. One girl got shot through the belly, from the back through to the belly, leaving a large hole, and her intestines just flowed out, and there were flies on it.

“I chased away the flies, held the girl’s hand, and she spoke: ‘Natalia, I feel a bit cold, my belly is getting chilled.'”

The women cast down their eyes, some even stopped eating their potatoes, immersed in Natalia’s narrative.

Natalia: “So I dare not go to the front. When our support division was moving to the front, I had many dreams in the stifling boxcar for days on end; I dreamed that my intestines were also spilling out, and my man stood before me, silently watching.

“I said, ‘Quick, help me pick them up, they’ve all come out.’

“Before I finished speaking, his head fell off, blood spurted from the neck. I must have somewhere seen a man with a severed head, or else it couldn’t have been so realistic in a dream!”

Aksinya, sitting next to Natalia, patted her back: “Don’t be afraid, didn’t your man write back a few days ago? Plus, no death notice, so he must be alive and kicking.”

Natalia: “He might also be missing, you know? The Priest said that they generally don’t send a death notice for the missing, because they’re not sure what happened to them, maybe they surrendered and are in the enemy’s Prisoner of War Camp.”

A woman said: “Surrendering is nothing to be ashamed of, just admit the mistake upon return. The first year several million people surrendered, are they all going to be hanged?”

…

While people were chatting like this, the Quartermaster of their support company came over.

An old man in his sixties, wearing a cap askew, shouted from afar: “Girls! Good news! I’ve got you all some soap!”

The idle chat suddenly stopped.

Aksinya: “Is it the kind of soap I’m thinking of?”

“Yes! The girls from the 300th Field Laundry complained that they’ve been in contact with soaps and similar things so much that their skin has aged like old women, the higher-ups probably think the girls should stay beautiful, so they issued soap to every female soldier in the support divisions!”

The women’s faces lit up with joy.

Quartermaster: “Quiet! I haven’t finished yet! The station leaders saw the yard was empty and decided to give you the afternoon off! There’s a tributary of the Dibo River nearby, you can go bathe there!”

The women cheered, suddenly turning back into sentimental and easily excited little girls.

Quartermaster: “Come on, Aksinya, you’re in charge of distributing the soap, we can’t manage one per person, so three close friends share one piece, no taking extra!”

Aksinya quickly finished distributing the soap – she was all too familiar with the little cliques within the company and completed the task perfectly.