4steps2death blog 8

It's Christmas day in the city, or remains, of Stalingrad. This is usually a day when most soldiers take the "day off" and remain at their bases or bunkers.

Conrad is now alone and wandering into the white space with blackened & frozen limbs sticking out of the white. As he is walking he listens to his crew mates complain about their situation. As he listens to his mates, he soon realizes the fact that they were all dead or sent back home. He had been asleep while walking in a monotonous sheet of white. Erich was sent back home due to his injury, Franz just collapsed due to malnutrition and insufficient layers of clothing, Gottfried died screaming in a burning tank, and Heinz bled to death due to one leg being blown off by a shell and the other just hanging on by a few tendons. He was alone and didn't see the point of moving on. However, he still had hope of seeing his brother, Josef, fighting in Stalingrad. And so, Conrad moves on.

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As for Vasily and Yelena, their fight in the battle is still dangerous as before, but they are fighting well. Vasily still makes a distraction for Yelena, while Yelena shoots the hidden enemy. Their fight in the war has been pretty consistent; almost to the point where their daily lives are "timely scheduled" with just different events occurring. Just before the day gets late, the two return to their bunker where other soldiers find shelter, food, and rest. Occasionally, inside the bunker, somebody would start a catchy tune with an accordion and create a dance hall out of such a stale, miserable place.In addition, talks about Hitler, Stalin, communism, fascism, doubts, and all the prohibited subjects are let out and debated upon. In front of a high rank, loyal, Russian leader, that would cause death or severe punishment. But at this point in the game, nobody seems to care what others say about their own leader and his "great" decisions.

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Sergei is given a rifle by an old man, a neighbor, as a way of payment for the turnip that he stole from the old man's garden. But the old man did not just hand over the rifle, he "ordered" Sergei to kill German soldiers according to the number of turnips he stole. Sergei, being a little child, is curious of the heavy machinery he holds. And since his mother doesn't want the weapon to be in their apartment, Sergei hides it in one of many hiding places he discovers. As a fantasy, Sergei wanted to become a sniper; just like the famous snipers in his pictures. And he hopes to become a great sniper like Yelena Pavlova.

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Conrad and the 16th Panzer Division are now left for doom in the city of Stalingrad. Conrad's tank, Lili, and along with many other German tanks were destroyed in the narrow road of rubble.So after the destruction of the division, the rest of the survivors headed East, away from Russians and the rising smoke from the burning town of Kalach. The Russians are trying to cut off the German sixth army with the pincer movement tactic. The works of the Russians seemed to be progressively working, because there are lots of German soldiers moving East. Conrad and his crew mates reached a hospital after a long run and had  the injured mates treated and sent one back to motherland because he was no longer capable of fighting. 

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As Vasily and Yelena are assigned to go off and kill Germans in ruined buildings, Vasily goes through the terrors of war very quickly. He sees an officer shooting a retreating soldier, lines of men cut down by a machine gun, rotting corpses piled on streets, unceasing and deafening sounds of artillery. However when he is by Yelena's side he feels safe and he quickly adapts to the new environment.

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Yevegeny just died!!!! Woah, he was cursing the Germans for their bombing when he was clearly shot. Yevegeny was shot in his temple and he bled vigorously. I learned that no matter how wise you think you are and how cruel you think the world is, it all doesn't matter when you die.

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So far, Vasily hasn't had a girlfriend yet. He is described to be really shy and very introverted when he encounters a girl. Coincidentally he met a girl, at a spot beside a tree where he sits to have time to himself,  and he "froze". He soon finds out that she is the sniper that was to be assigned in his division, and was delighted to have her. I learned that Vasily had very little contact with girls.

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I chose the canadian novel 4 Steps to Death by John Wilson. From this novel, which seem to be about the World War II, I hope to learn about the violence and gruesome contents of the war that is unknown to people commonly. More importantly I want to learn about the war in point of view from the people that actually experienced the tragedy. I Don't have an inquiry question.