Chapter 96: Forceful Adoption
By now, most of the Iron Division had returned to the German Reich. It had officially disbanded, and Bruno was among the last to enter the fatherland as a result of the Tsar's final rewards for him. However, there were a few who remained behind.
Primarily those engaging in humanitarian efforts under Heinrich's lead. Though the war may be officially over, the scars left behind on the Russian landscape and its people would take a long time to heal.
And Heinrich, in particular, had become a bit too close to the situation. The man was treated as some kind of saint, having gone so far as to build new orphanages with the labor and material aid of the Iron Division.
He couldn't just up and leave everything behind without building a proper support structure in place to replace him and his men once they had left. By the will of the Tsar, these soldiers of the Iron Division were permitted to stay and continue with humanitarian efforts, and humanitarian efforts alone.
However, after several months of establishing a system to function in his absence, the time eventually came to return home. Heinrich had gathered the orphans together, of whom he had grown close to several of them during his time in Tsaritsyn.
It was a particularly jarring farewell for the man as his occupation of the city, or his support towards that goal had largely been spent helping the people, rather than searching for and eliminating remnants of the Red Army within the Volga region.
Bruno's campaign in the region had, after all, been pretty damn thorough in this regard. And as Heinrich gazed upon the children who varied in age, but were primarily old enough to work, as Russia had still yet to enact child labor laws. Something which was quite honest at the bottom of priorities for the State Duma after the war that had just ended and all the problems that came with it.
There was a bittersweet smile on Heinrich's face as he officially said goodbye to those who he had spent roughly a year looking after. He kneeled down and hugged as many of the children as possible; while assuring them things would be alright for them, even after he was gone.
"If it was up to me, I would stay here and help look after you all until you reached adulthood. But I am not Russian, this is not my home. And I have sworn my service to the Kaiser for several more years of my life.
But not to worry, I have worked hard these last few months to ensure that everything you all need to survive and thrive in this world has been set up to function flawlessly, even with the absence of me and my men.