"disposable soldier" chapter 11. guests at the apiary near village of u. frontline. winter of '22 the original can be found here:   e16c9ca9a21c77a2960065ab-applicatio npdf.pdf part 1/? our entire company was stationed further back, behind us. some lived in the tree lines, others in the villages. our "five-hundredths" lived in p and had it easy. sometimes they worked on procuring firewood or digging trenches for other units, but most of the time they just sat in their houses, posting one-night watchman at the entrance. but our position at the apiary was considered dangerous. so, the command came up with the following scheme: any soldier who committed some offence was sent to us for hard labour for a few days. sometimes we also got people sent to us not as punishment, but by quota. i called these temporary attachments "gastarbeiters" (guest workers). they were supposed to follow our orders, and we started taking advantage of this. we stood guard duty during the day, and the "gastarbeiters" stood guard at night. in shifts, of course. each person stood guard for no more than three hours per night. we let them sleep in longer in the morning, but they also had work to do during the day. during the day, they would join me for digging. and i really, really hate digging. so, i put two unfortunate souls under my command. i wasn't a harsh boss, no. i'm generally a very easygoing person. but i assigned them tasks: "dig a trench here, deepen the dugout there, level the steps over there  digging time is before and after lunch, ill provide you with the tools." i was their foreman, a kind foreman. having assigned the tasks, i would simply leave and go about my own business  anything to avoid digging myself. i didnt demand much from them, shared snacks, and showed them where they could get a phone signal to call home. in general, the "gastarbeiters" didnt complain about life, but like everyone else, they were afraid of the shelling.
Finland