—— Duel ——61either him or me – there’s no other way. But I have to go, I have to.
Do I have your permission?’
‘Well, Yevgeni, if it’s a duel, so be it. But remember: we need
you to get him. What assistance do you need from us?’
‘Give orders to the platoons not to walk along the trenches for
two or three days and keep out of the way without good reason. But
don’t stop firing! Let them shoot at the sky, so long as it’s audible.
I want the Nazi to be on edge, to look for a target.’
‘We’ll do that. When are you going?’
‘I’m setting off tonight.’
By tracking the path of the Nazi’s shots back to their point of
origin I came to the conclusion that he was sitting somewhere close
to the tram lines, in the broad expanse in front of our 3rd Platoon
- to the right of it and closer to the Gulf of Finland, in no man’s
land. Only from that point was he able to strike across our trench.
I presumed that he had not one but possibly two or three reserve
positions, but they would have to be on the same side. ‘Set himself
up nicely, the son of a bitch!’ I thought. ‘Unable to see the targets,
he was firing blindly at the entrances to our dugouts. And hitting
soldiers sitting by the entrance, which was covered by a simple
tarpaulin. He was firing on the offchance and hitting the mark.’
And so, clad in a snowwhite camouflage smock over my regular
clothes, I crawled in that direction one dark and frosty night. By
first light I was already lying in no man’s land, well camouflaged in
the deep snow. I was not concerned about concealment. But would
I succeed in spotting the enemy? He would also be camouflaged
against the same snow, one imagined, just as well as I was.
The day was spent looking for my opponent. I was out of luck;
the Nazi ace did not reveal himself. There was not a single shot
from his side – whether because the falling snow got in the way
or because he failed to find a target. There was nothing left to do
but wait.
And I waited. ‘He’ll either change his position, or he’ll move a
little way forward, as I have done,’ I reasoned to myself. ‘But he is
bound to show himself.’