All
MEN ARE
355
"I ain't sheddin' no tears over any goddam DPs. A bunch of
dirty cattle," he muttered.
And I began to believe that something had happened those
nights-and was happening.
After two weeks' residence in Gelbe it had become clear that
the war had petered out. The approach of the Russians was imminent.
Their arrival was heralded by the growing flocks of human refuse
they had uprooted and liberated. French and English prisoners of
war, most of them in desperate condition, crossed our lines and
were shunted to the rear. Cadaverous men in striped uniforms came
to us from concentration camps the Germans had abandoned. The
bulk of the exodus, however, was constituted by German civilians who
had loaded their belongings on carts and had not awaited Russian
justice. These we refused admission through our lines. We didn't
want highways cluttered with Germans whose actual status we
couldn't determine. They settled in the open fields between Chem–
nitz and Gelbe and waited an opportunity to sneak past our guards.
They begged our sympathy with harrowing tales of Russian ven–
geance. We were not sympathetic-nor were the townsfolk of Gelbe.
They were concerned with their own ambiguous situation, located
as they were on the border of the Russian surge.
Despite the rootlessness of German living, Margaret prospered.
She had somewhere secured 'German vehicles. And she had some–
where secured fuel. And during the second week of our occupation
the factory had resumed operating.
I saw her in the yard supervising the transport of cloth and
the loading of the finished material. Dressed always as a well-born
young woman, she marshalled her employees with the assurance of
a general. She less frequently required the lieutenant's assistance.
And during the day, there was little evidence that Smitty was her
collaborator. But concerning this I no longer had doubts. I saw
him
one night bring in a jeepload of gasoline which her employees
unloaded. When they had gone, Smitty lunged at her and wrestled
her against the jeep. For a moment she held him off with an ease
that made his conquest seem improbable. But he continued pressing
and suddenly she caved and I saw him dig his face into her throat.
I could hear their panting from the doorway. They pulled each other
into the factory.
