Johan Dieter Application

[Sean]

Username: Johan_Dieter
Character Name: Johan Dieter
Rank: SS-Scharführer (1st Lieutenant)
What Army Will You Serve Beneath? : Nazi/German Army
Nationality: Austrian
Character History:

Johan Dieter was born during what would come to be called the First World War as the second of four children, behind his brother and continual comrade Bernhard. He forgets most of his early childhood, but does remember the hunger he suffered following it as the victorious nations imposed unrealistic reparations on the defeated Austrian people. Throughout his childhood, Johan's parents talked often of the great Austro-Hungarian Empire and how it had been carved up into nothingness following the First World War.

Johan's parents spent most of their waking hours working hard just to survive. Schooling was a difficult task to say the least. Johan was mostly instructed by his family when they had the free-time. It wasn't until nearly his teenage years that he would receive formal education.

Johan spent most of his time playing in the streets with his brother and friends. He learned a lot about life that way and got into many brawls with his brother right next to him. He had also started learning how to take what he needed. He and his friends would invent tactics to distract shopowners and other people while one of them made the hit. Some would say this contributed to Johan's strategic prowess later in life.

In the late 1920s, the Dieters emigrated to Germany. Nazism was on the rise again after the first failed coup in 1923. An organization known as the Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth) had reemerged from the underground and was growing stronger and more organized in the shadow of its adult-oriented counterpart. It was the promises and preaching of these organizations that were the leading contributors to the Dieters' emigration.

After moving into Germany, the Dieter children old enough were placed in the Hitler Youth where they received necessary education, but mostly focused on physical development. Johan was a bit older than what was normally accepted, but he fit right into the role and quickly caught up.

When Hitler was declared Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Johan had turned 17. Because of his being late to join the Hitler Youth, he ended up staying with the organization a little longer as a part-time student of sorts. When his class graduated, he was allowed to sit in, but would not receive any sort of commendation until he finished with his program.

After he did finally graduate a year later, Dieter went to work with his father in the Nazi party. He grew tired of the politics though, and being a young man decided he'd join the growing military. Initially he went in as an infantryman, but as his battalion entered the Rhineland he became enamored by the tales of the Panzers.

Johan, as mentioned, was in one of the units sent into the Rhineland to reoccupy it in March 1936 in German defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. His unit did nothing more than march to the Rhine River and set up camp for a few weeks before pulling back out and letting other units move in and setup permanent establishments.

After leaving the Rhineland, Johan quickly put in an application to join one of the Panzer elements. However, before he received an answer, the Condor Legion had been assembled and he had been volunteered to join it.

It was in Spain that Johan got his first real taste of combat. He spent several months fighting in the hills and lowlands with occasional skirmishes in the urban environment. He would end up spending nearly 2 years, off and on, involved in the Spanish Civil War. One time he left Spain on leave and returned to his original homeland of Austria in April 1938 shortly after Anschluss the previous month. After this, he returned to Spain to complete his tour and was then brought back to Germany at the end of the summer.

At this point, things were heating up between Germany and the western nations of England and France. Johan read many a newspaper talking about the oppression of the ethnic Germans in the Sudentenland of Czechoslovakia. There was the possibility of war with the young Republic if the Sudentenland was not handed over.

Johan was called up and given his desired position with a Panzer unit. He received additional training in order to operate the machine and the crew that went with it. However, before there came invasion, France and England agreed to give over the Sudentenland to Germany. Things began to calm down then but Johan retained his position and continued to train.

In the middle of August 1939, Johan's unit was moved to the border with Poland. He was not entirely sure what was to come, but he had several ideas, including the possibility of invasion. Still, he wished to see Poland joining the Third Reich as peacefully as Austria and Czechoslovakia did. Unfortunately, that was not going to happen this time...

Writing Sample:

Johan ran through the darkness with the near full moon as his only light. He moved quickly hunched over in an effort to make himself as small a target as possible. Today would not be the day he wanted to die. In the distance a machine gun came to life firing on some unseen foe. In the back of his mind he hoped it was slaughtering the enemy piecemeal. At present, his main thought was on staying alive in this not so friendly territory.

Johan plunged down the side of an embankment and slid down into a kneeling position. A figure lurched up from the ground and yelled at him in the all too familiar English language. The figure lunged at Johan with a bayonet-tipped rifle. Johan was quick to roll to the side out of its path and snap out with his hand and grab the rifle barrel, holding it in the dirt of the embankment. With his other hand, he pulled his knife from its scabbard on his waist and plunged it into the side of his attacker’s throat.

However, his foe was no greenhorn. Dropping the rifle, he blocked the incoming blade and then delivered a punch into Johan’s stomach. Johan grimaced, but would not be fazed. He yanked on the rifle, sending the butt of it into the Englander’s stomach. He then dropped the knife and used both hands to delivered an upward cut with the stock of the rifle.

As the Englander fell on the ground, Johan twirled the rifle briefly before sending the bayonet into the chest of his foe. The man yelled out as Johan bent down and picked up his knife. He briefly placed a finger to his mouth then sliced the knife across the man’s throat, ending the cries of pain.

Not wanting to stick around to see how many of English heard the dying cries of their comrade, Johan yanked out his knife and moved on through the darkness. Once a few dozen of yards away, he paused briefly to wipe his blade clean and listen for any movement through the brush that could indicate the enemy moving to check on the noise. They would be in for a surprise when they learned that one of their own was now dead.

Approved/Denied?: Approved
Staff Notes:

Great application, I see nothing wrong with it accepted at the rank you asked for! Welcome to the board! PLEASE CREATE AN ACCOUNT


~Austin!