Page 17 - Fanget I Tiden oversættelse - caught in time (komplet)-converted

When the temperature dropped below minus 20 degrees, the diesel engines on all the vehicles

began to bump in small jolts - it strained engine. The machinery was weakened by the cold.
He had ordered that all of cars should be running idle, while they were working.

He didn’t take any chances.
The big megaphone, that he used to give orders with, rested on the General Major’s lap.

So far everything had gone according to plan.

When his black leather coat could no longer block out the cold, he got out of the driver's cabin and
stood by a huge bonfire in the middle of the square. He took off his gloves, and welcomed the heat

from the flames.

Once in a while he took a greedy sip from the field-bottle that was filled with rum. The
many white lights that illuminated the castle gave the whole square a cold glow, and so the cold

felt even more piercing.
One by one, the trucks were loaded, and after a twenty-minute drive they ended up at the train

station, where a new team of soldiers in the evening darkness were ready to receive and load the

boxes with the precious art.
Fortunately Hahn had organized more than a thousand troops. They worked quickly and

efficiently. The cold forced them to. He shivered, and scowled across the square. They’d make it

on time. In many ways, Action Hermitage was a well-welcomed break from the devastating
struggles and the endless stench of decease that was getting on the men's nerves. They couldn't

get rid of the damn icy cold.

For the past few months, self-pity was getting hold of him. A feeling he didn't know what to

do with. He tried to repress it by drinking more and more. Often he was so drunk that he did not

know how he had come to bed, and regularly he woke up on the floor in his own vomit, ice-cold
and completely stiff throughout his body.

As he sat back in the driver's cabin again, the question of leave returned. Even this year he

would come home and celebrate Christmas. A thought that was almost unbearable. Often, when
he was alone, he went to study his medals. They represented a stubborn symbol of why he was

where he was. He had the habit of hanging them up on a neat row right inside the cargo door.
When the 4th army arrived in September for another small Russian fleet, they had saved some

buildings from going into flames. For some reason, the Russian troops hadn't managed to burn off

the whole city. There were no animals here, and the locals had long been killed or fled, but a few
barns, a larger warehouse and a number of huts had survived.

The Major General and his closest subordinate, Ströhen and Fischer, each had a site hut.

Another site hut was the command center with radios, typewriters and other equipment. The