Ukraine — Rear Area, July 1941
The engine was still open.Its parts spread out like entrails over an oil-stained canvas.And the Panzer—silent. Motionless. As if it, too, needed to rest.
Falk sat on a stone, elbows on his knees, watching. He didn't speak. He didn't need to. The mechanics spoke enough—muttering under their breath, requesting impossible parts, promising that by tomorrow it would be running… "more or less."
—"It's been three days," Ernst muttered.
—"Three days without mud," Konrad added. "And still… I feel filthy."
Helmut was listening. Not to the radio. To the voices.Whispers that something had stirred in headquarters after Falk's confrontation with the Gestapo.
That afternoon, a young soldier appeared—tense, stiff.
He held a folded paper in his hand.
—"SS-Oberscharführer Ritter. You're summoned for an official interview. Administrative section."
—"Reason?"
—"It doesn't say. But Captain Bormann is expecting you. Urgently."
Falk stood, dusted off his shirt, and walked without a word.
The office smelled of cold coffee and polished paper.The officer waiting wasn't just a clerk: his uniform was pristine, but without vanity. One of those who never dirtied their boots… yet knew how to play the game.
On the desk: a dossier sealed in black.
—"Ritter. Come in."
Falk entered. No salute. He stood in front of the desk.
—"You know why you're here?"
—"Yes."
—"Report from the Gestapo. Two agents. An interrogation… interrupted. And this line: 'If it's in my area of deployment, it's my concern.' Yours?"
—"Yes."
—"Did you interfere with an official operation?"
—"I stepped in during an unnecessary beating. I saw no documents. No evidence. Just a bleeding civilian."
—"Do you think your sense of justice is above the Reich's?"
Falk didn't answer immediately. Then, calmly:
—"I think if we allow everything in the name of victory… there'll be nothing left worth winning."
The officer stared at him. Then looked down at the report.
—"The Gestapo sees this as a 'dangerous attitude.'"
—"And I see them as a risk to discipline."
Silence.
—"You're lucky. You get results. You have an Iron Cross. And a tank—or you would, if it weren't in pieces."
He closed the folder.
—"You're under observation. No formal reprimand. For now."
—"Anything else?"
—"Yes. Get back to the front. You're a nuisance here."
Falk nodded.
—"I'm just as uncomfortable here myself."
When he returned to the Panzer, the crew was waiting.
—"All good?" Lukas asked.
Falk lit a cigarette. Took his time answering.
—"They want us gone."
—"Perfect," Ernst said. "I want to be far from this too."
Konrad looked up from the hull.
—"When do you think it'll be ready?"
Falk looked at the engine.
—"When excuses run out."
And he sat again.To wait.A soldier without a tank.A commander without cover.Without armor.