The Battle of the File Archipelago
(August 3rd 2018-August 6th 2018)
I thrist for adventure for those who hungers for freedom.
I am the guardian of valours that are priceless.
Always solidary, never solitary.
I stay awake for you to sleep in peace.
I want to be the new breath of life just after the storm.
Always standing, I move on to reduce fear.
Here, there and far beyond;
I will always go forward so that men never back down.
Your will, our pride.
Extract from the Armée de Terre recruitment advertissement
Day 1, 8 clicks away from File island 2
Private 1st Class Nathan Yvelin was gazing at the File islands, relaxed. The soothing tropical breeze caressing his skin lightly. On board the troop carrier Echeleon built by the Deep Savers, the Infantry Marines of 5th and 4th company of the 2nde RIMa, or 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment, are currently on a mission to capture and secure the File Archipelago with Jungle Troopers' 4th Marine Regiment and Deep Savers' 6th Assault Regiment. With a force over 650 troops, they need to capture all eight islands under imperial control.
Much to the IDDF's surprise, the digimon were able to rebuild the exact model of modern-day amphibious assault ships, however payment was also discussed for compensation. How? Only time will tell after the war.
Leaning on the railings, Nathan was admiring the calm tropical scenery but he knew that it won't be as calm once the operation begins, in a few minutes. He wore over his camouflage Daguet combat attire his bullet proof vest, his modified FAMAS F1 slung by the straps to his side while his combat helmet rested on the rifle's buttstock.
With one last eased breath, he puts on his combat helmet and pulled the tan scarf around his neck up to cover his face below his eyes, leaving only his bright blue eyes to the world. He took a mag out from his vest's pouch and inserted it in the rifle. He cocked the charging handle back and released it, a mechanical snap responded informing him that a round was chambered in and ready to shoot.
The File Archipelago consisted of eight islands, all varied in size and sometimes terrain. File Island 1 is located at the center of the formation of islands, and it is the largest. It is a steep and rocky mountain island with remnants of an old fortress at the flat peak, providing a great overview on the other islands. It would have been a great vacation paradise but now it is a warzone.
The main island is flourished with multiple tropical flowers and palm trees and thick forages, mixed with rocky terrain and large boulders dotting the island. On the edges of the island were the soft sand beaches and small, comfortable bungalows, built by its previous occupants before it was taken over by the Imperium.
The fort was the main objective. Though it may seemed empty and ruined, it held a great significance for the Imperium since it held a large hive-like military complex underneath the mountain, long and narrow hallways connecting with the surface. On the fort were installed four powerful weapons at each cardinal points of the island. The weapon emplacements can only be described simply as rail guns, automated rail gun turrets
As for the other islands, they held little to no importance for the imperials. The smaller islands were used as a natural defensive land wall around File Island 1. The imperials built bunkers, heavy weapons emplacements and trenches were dug in, reinforced with concrete and barbed wires.
Some islands were connected to each other by large wooden bridges, however none of the islands were connected to File Island 1, it was separated by deep sea water. File Island 5 do have a possible entry, but it was a natural shallow sand bridge, to fragile to support the weight of the humans' vehicles; thus only the digimon will have to capture the fort, the humans will provide fire support with mortars and the few attack helicopters available for them.
Capturing an island is easy; holding it will be hard.
It is going to be a slaughter before the coalition can reach the main island. Surrounded by miles upon miles of ocean. Getting additional support from the main force was out of the question; their manpower, firepower and supplies are limited to the four troop carriers they have. With a small force and with limited ressources, the operation must be done in less than a week at a minimum to not strain too much ressources.
Once in the VBCI, a tall and monstrous machine of war, the soldiers mentally prepared and braced themselves for the mission to begin in a few minutes. The wait was spent at a long and painful rate for the French Marines.
Though the French Army has changed the previous standard issue rifle, the FAMAS, for the HK416, under the designation of "HK416F"; the sudden need of more troops to the "Digital Front" meant that Nathan, like a few thousand soldiers of the French army, didn't get the chance to receive the new AR before deployment.
Nathan felt the vehicle shaking lightly as its engines roared to life. With a final sigh, he closed his eyes and awaits for the moment when they will go forward into the fray.
The rear ramp of the ship opened, letting water to flood in, filling about half the height of most land vehicles. A dozen of VBCIs came out first into the vast ocean with the smaller VABs, later following behind them was a landing craft that carried two battle tanks.
The vehicle tilted frequently forward and backward, making some of the marines a little bit nauseous. Suddenly they heard several high pitched whistles before water splashed on the side armours. The enemy had already begun their bombardments. Then it was followed by hundreds of metal hitting the armour, bouncing off harmlessly. The APC fired back, spitting 25mm rounds at the enemy coast, the crew's gunner operated the M811 turret from the computer controller safely inside the vehicle. The empty, large bullet casings bounced on the top of the APC as it fired in consistently.
"Dry feet in 60 seconds." Announced loudly the driver.
The soldiers switched the safeties off. Giving one last quick inspection on their weapon before biding each other good luck. One of the marines started to give a small prayer to his fellow squadmates. Though Nathan doesn't know if God can hear them in the Digital World, he still felt a little bit reassured.
"Amen." Was their unanimous reply once the prayer was done.
The vehicle jolted harshly as it made contact with the shoreline, the bullets whizzing by intensified. It halted before the back exit pulled down, revealing the marines the ocean being peppered by artillery shells, water spurting upwards as shells impacted on the liquid surface.
Nathan quickly got out, his feet landed abruptly with the soft sand of the tropical coast before a chunk kicked up as he took off on a sprint. The French marines quickly dived for cover behind the small dunes ahead of them.
Machine guns spewed out bullets furiously, sweeping the coast. Dozens of marines were hit as soon as they got out of the APCs. The cries of help of the wounded were muffled by the sounds of angry barking rifles and machine guns, Nathan lifted his assault fire and began to suppress a machine gun crew hiding behind a formation of sandbags.
When most of the foot soldiers got out, the APCs moved forward while opening fire. The soldiers waited until they pass the dunes to used them as mobile cover. Shortly after their arrival, the landcraft came to the shore, letting out the two Leclerc Battle tanks.
Following his squad leader, they charged at the small bunker ahead of them. The guns inside the structure kept spewing bullets to the embarking troops at the beach. The squad took cover near the rocks and bushes, the sergeant pointed to Nathan and PFC. Jerome, with precise and clear hand signals he ordered them to prep a frag grenade.
They did so and the rest of the squad opened fire, suppressing the enemy in the bunker. The machine gun halted its shower of death, the two soldiers sprinted out of their cover and as soon as they touch the bunker, they tossed the explosives into the curve opening at the front and hit the ground while covering their heads.
Seconds passed as the hand grenades exploded, swallowing the residents in its fiery blast. The two men got up and fired blindly in the opening slit, making sure there were no survivors. A group of three soldiers breached through the rear door, kicking the metal obstructure down and opening fire blindly.
"R.A.S!" One of them yelled.
The French soldiers repeated the same process, sweeping and clearing the fortifications. Luckily for them, the island held no trenches, however it is also one of the thinest and longest of the islands, meaning the imperials had plenty of targets to shoot at and with little trouble since the island didn't have any sturdy cover.
"Get those mortars down now!" Yelled Captain Jacques Lebel.
Infantry mortar teams set down the 81mm mortars and began firing at Island 1. Soon, the soldiers were being fired upon by the neighbouring islands, three sides to defend with little troops to begin with. Hostile artillery cannons bombarded their island, sand were shot up, palm trees shredded and blown apart, sending barks around them. To get cover, the soldiers are going to dig one. Foxholes quickly dotted the island.
"Commander! We are taking a beating here! Where the fuck are the digimon?!" Demanded the captain with irritation in his voice.
"We're *static* ha *static* diff *static* -please re*static*-" The captain tossed the portable radio back at the specialist. "We are going to plan B." He stated before calling out some of his subordinates. "Take your platoons and capture Island 3," He instructed at the two lieutenants while pointing at their new objective. "I want that building down ASAP. Be aware that the imps are jamming our comms so there will be little air support. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Captain." They replied dutifully.
Sand rained down on him as Nathan ducked his head lower. He fired a couple of shots back but quickly ducked down as dozens of bullets zipped by his head. To his left, he spotted a large crater. He crawled to the potential cover at a painstakingly slow pace. Once he was near it, he rolled into it. However, he got the unpleasent surprise to land next to a corpse.
"Fuck!" He shouted in shock.
His right arm was covered in the blood of the dead. He stared back at the deceased; he was a young private, his body tore in half, legs were completely gone, letting a large pool of blood filling the bottom of the crater. His face showed the shock and horror expression he had before he was killed, his lifeless eyes stared at the sky while his skin paled. A small river of blood was flowing out of his mouth.
Still in shock, Nathan took in deep breaths to control his heartbeat. Suddenly he heard someone calling him from behind.
"Nathan, let's go! We are moving out!" Ordered Corporal Fabien Monfort. "Come on, kid, get out of the hole!"
He gulped nervously and let out a sigh, feeling a bit better. He scrambled to get back on his feet and got out of the crater. He took one last glance at the dead soldier before following the Corporal.
While the squads regrouped around him, Second Lieutenant Valentin Dubois took a quick observation at the secondary objective area. He turned back and faced his subordinates.
"Listen up, for now we do not know why the digimon are not here yet so we just have to make do for the time being," Some of them gave slight nods of understanding, "Our new objective is to take and hold File island 3, we're going with First platoon. They will take the bridge while we cross the small river underneath it. Am I understood?" He asked sternly.
"Sir, yes sir!" They all replied unanimously.
First Platoon took up their positions before the bridge, laying down cover fire for Second platoon to cross from below. With cover fire and smoke grenades, they managed to take a small foothold and in their turn provided cover fire for 1st platoon while they cross the bridge.
With quick actions and synchronised volume of fire, the imperial troopers were pinned down. The French soldiers moved swiftly and precisely, the platoons broke into squads who all went in different key locations of the island, surrounding the enemy force.
Nathan ran down the small stair to the concrete-made trench, FAMAS drawn forward and ready to shoot on sight at a moment's notice. The bullpup assault rifle barked rapidly, spewing out three rounds in less than a second. The rapid bullets pierced the Troopmon's torso easily. It barked a second time, then a third and so forth. Nathan was at the head of his squad, clearing the path for them. The digimon were no match for the french bullpup service rifle, a beast of a machine capable of spewing hot lead at 1000 RPM; compact and deadly from close to mid range.
The imperials were in disarray. Their enemies operated swiftly and deadly at close range, leaving no room for any close quarters melee.
The last of the opposition force on the island was hold up in the building, making their last stand with an advantage on solid cover and high ground, though the humans outgunned and outnumbered them.
"I want Minimis to suppress the windows," Ordered Dubois from the trench. "First squad back door breach!"
FN Minimi fireteams took positions and fired at any window, restricting the enemy to fire rest of the platoon joined in, firing in short bursts to conserve ammo while First squad ran to the back door. The sergeant kicked the door open and they soon went in. The Lieutenant patiently waited for a sitrep from the squad leader as they clear out the building floor after floor. The platoon suppressive fire died down, not wanting to hit one of their own by accident, the fire was now directed at the other islands.
A few minutes later, they noticed one of their own at the rooftop and waving their arms around, the coast is clear, the building is theirs.
"Move to the building," Dubois shouted over the sound of guns firing. "I want MILANs on the rooftop!"
Nathan followed is squad to the rooftop. Each floor resonated with assault rifles and light machine guns, the FN MAG 58 being the loudest and meanest, shooting lead at the enemy, empty and warm bullet casings resonated through the floors like a soothing, quiet melody in the background of the combined cacophony of modern day infantry weapons. It was music to his ears.
Once on the rooftop, two men from his squad quickly deployed the missile launchers, setting the aiming and tripods while the Lieutenant was behind them, his eyes stuck on the binoculars. Nathan simply took cover behind the waist high wall and waited for further orders. He was surprised that the railguns didn't open fire at them yet, they were in firing sights and they know that they've lost one major island, surely they would respond back by blowing the island up.
Either way, he was relieved. Even more when he heard some of his brothers-in-arms cheering, and some groaning like the usual french stereotype, when the digimon allies finally arrived in the battlefield. Looking up, his eyes were set on a group of avian digimon, charging at File Island 8. They struck fast and hard, destroying enemy AA guns and ammo deposit, leaving behind them clouds of explosions.
"About damn time they come here," Jerome complained dryly. "They were suppose to be here an hour ago, lazy and unprofessional shits." He added with a growl.
"Ferme ta gueule, Jerome," Scolded Sergeant Nacim Manara, "Be at least grateful that they came here. Extra firepower would do us some good."
The sergeant looked back through his binoculars, calmly observing the ongoing hectic battlefield. Second Platoon of 4th company is currently assaulting File Island 6; he spotted a small squad of hostile mobile artillery in File Island 4 targeting their forces.
"Sir," He shouted through the loud gunfires, "I spot at least five mobile artillery units on Island 4!" He reported loud and clearly.
"I have lock-on, sir!" Informed Cpl. Julien Cambrais, already eager to pull the launcher's trigger.
"Let them have 'em, boys!" The lieutenant replied back.
Everyone on the roof ducked their heads before the missiles were off, shaking the rooftop and covering them in dust and smoke. After a few moments, the platoon commander confirmed the hits, two hostile tanks were out cleanly, so to speak.
The squads got back up and resumed to unleash storms of lead at their enemy. Nathan felt the adrenaline rushing through his whole body as he lay down small bursts on his targets. With the combat earplugs on, he could only hear his own breathing, pounding heart and his rifle, his right eye glued to the Aimpoint M2 red dot sight. Firing two quick sessions, the weapon kicked up, he re-adjusted his aim and fired again, the metallic click and clack at each burst, followed by empty and warm bullet casings tinkling on the ground, sent him a satisfying shiver down his spine; this was the rushing feeling he was longing for eversince his last tour in Operation Barkhane.
The battle raged on throughout the whole morning. File island 6 was taken by the French soldiers a few hours later. Each passing time intensified the firefights. Eventually, the humans' first major problem appeared, re-supply.
The imperials were getting more aggressive at each step forward the allied forces took, ammunation was running out quickly for the French infantry marines. Transport helos were now prime targets for most artillery-type digimon and rail guns.
"Ah fuck!" Shouted a soldier near Nathan, "I'm on my last mag!"
"Here," Sergeant Manara tossed him the infamous 25-rounds box magazine, "Make sure to make each shot count!" He then turned to the lieutenant, "Sir, when will we get our supplies?"
"It should be here in two minutes, better pop smoke now." He suggested before quickly ducking his head down when a missile barely scraped the rooftop. "We need to take Island 5 if we want to live through this shit."
"So what are your orders, sir?" Another Sergeant asked beside him.
"For now we need to regather our strenghts and resupply. The Captain will give us the order to attack. Fortify this position and await for further orders."
"Sir yes sir!" They all replied.
"Second squad on me!" Manara called and they all went down the stairs.
Supply helos finally arrived under heavy enemy fire. Miraculously, none of them got it, for now. A soldier waved his arms high above, gesturing the helicopter where to land. Once on the ground, troopers quickly took away the supplies and placed the woundeds in.
"Hang in there, Remy," Nathan assured his friend as he and another trooper carried the wounded to the helicopter. "This is probably nothing, bro."
"It's not the wound that worries me," Remy replied, "It's my wife that is going to be the death of me," He added with a humerous smile, despite his condition.
"That's the Remy we all know and hate," The other trooper said jokingly.
They both hauled him in the helicopter, the last one for them. As it flew away, Nathan waved Remy a final goodbye. He checked his FAMAS for the tenth time this past half hour, two full mags left, one frag grenade and one green smoke grenade. The battle was still on going but somehow he managed to cut himself off reality for a small moment. He could clearly hear his own breathing and steady heart, he could feel every sweat pouring out of his skin and flowing down his body. Things were clearer, more simple. With a sense of ease and tranquility, he slowly closed his eyes before opening them a second later. That moment of peace felt like hours for him, which he didn't complained. He now feels rejuvinated, his training and instincts kicking in, things are now a lot more clear. With a sigh, he placed a new mag in the rifle, pulled the charging handle, round chambered, and he took off in a light jog towards a nearby ammo supply crate.
"SMOKES OUT!" Ordered Chief Sergeant "Popeye" Chevallier.
The battle to take File Island 5 has begun. Dubois' men just crossed the bridge but were quickly pinned down, holding only a small foothold on the island. Between them and the heavily dug in imperials was a hundred meters of 'no man's land', no one dared to go in. As for cover, the French soldiers had fox holes and boulders while the imperials were in their trenches, supported by machine gun teams positioned behind sandbags or in the few bunkers. Several Marines threw M18 smoke grenades at the general direction before laying cover fire for two men.
Chief Corporal Daniel DuHavres and PFC. Guillaume "Tell" Allard slowly crawled their way to the foremost bunker, DuHavres has a rucksack full of C4 explosives. Fortunately for them the enemy haven't noticed them yet. From one crater to another, they finally neared the bunker, DuHavre passed the explosive bag to Allard. The Private First Class waited for the machine gun crew to stop and reload. The bright flashes coming out of the openign slit momentarily ceased, Guillaume wasted no time and hurled the rucksack in the bunker. The two of them crawled away to another crater. DuHavres took out the detonator and mentally counted down to one. With a simple push of a button, a fiery blast from within enemy line tore up the trenches, consuming the nearby legionaires in flames while the shockwave broke their formation.
This was their moment to attack. Popeye stood up and looked back at his men. "FORWARD! MAKE THEM SUFFER!" He bellowed confidently, the soldiers pumped by his stern voice and unparalleled courage.
The men got out of their cover and sprinted into no man's land. The legionaires still disoriented from the blast were caught with their pants down when the French troops are on top of them. A Marine fired at two legionaires before he used the FAMAS' buttstock to strike at a Commandramon across his cheek, blood spat out of his muzzle.
DuHavre was struggling to plunge his combat knife into a Troopmon's throat when a Garurumon tackled him to the ground. He was saved from having his face ripped apart when Allard shot the massive canine to the chest and head. DuHavre got back up and caught up with the Troopmon who was crawling away for his life. The human put a bullet through his head, brain matter and blood splashed on the concrete floor.
Brutal close quarter combat ensued afer the initial charge. Men and Digimon fought each other with professional strikes and equally savage blows. In this sort of hectic, chaotic environment, anything and everything is permitted if it means you alive and your opponent lying dead on the ground. No matter the amount or level of training an individual has, the survival instinct is crucial and the one that will direct his moves. It's kill or be killed.
Nathan dived on the ground after throwing his frag grenade at the machine gun crew a few feet away from him. The world shook around before sand rained on him. Looking back, the sandbag formation was obliterated and so was the enemy crew. The cries of men and digimon rang into his ears. Drived by his inner survival instinct, he jumped in the destroyed machine gun nest and took a firing stance. His FAMAS drawn up, he swirved to a direction, spotted an enemy, aimed down the sight, pull the trigger, body drops dead, swirve to another direction and rinse and repeat. His rifle runs dry just when a Sealsdramon angrily charges at him. He tries to reload quickly but instead decided to throw the weapon at his foe. The digimon staggered after receiving it to the chest. Searching around frantically, Nathan found a rock and threw it at the digimon once more. Frustrated, Sealsdramon jumped at the human. The two of them were fighting on the ground for dominance over the other. Nathan was fast enough to pin one arm to the ground before he could reach for his combat knife. Sealsdramon replied with a solid punch across his face. He kicked the human off of him and pulled his knife out.
At the same time, Nathan drew his out. They were mere a couple of feet from each other. Nathan was afraid, not only was this his first time face-to-face with the enemy but he hated CQC, considered too uncivilized and brutal for his liking, he was not looking forward for the day when he has to face the enemy up this close and personal. As for Sealsdramon, he was confident due to experience and trained to be an expert in hand-to-hand combat, his Digimon-line was made for this.
The digimon was faster, better, stronger. In a second, he disarmed the human, punched him on the chest and flipped him on the ground as hard as he can. And now he was on top of him, seconds away from driving the blade into the human's skull. Saved by the Heavens, three bullets hit the digimon center mass. With a pained gasp, Sealsdramon dropped the knife before falling on the ground lifelessly.
Nathan exhaled happily and looked up to his savior. It was none other but Lieutenant Dubois.
"Get up, boy, there is still an island to take." The officer urged him before leading his troops to capture File Island 5.
The battle halted in late afternoon. The coalition has managed to capture already half of the archipelago. The moans of the wounded echoed through the island, carried on stretchers by medics and troopers, they were transported to the main beachhead, at File Island 2, where they will be evacuated by APC or by helicopter. As for those who are still alive and standing, they were tasked to refortify the defences while some others were tasked on guard duty.
Nathan poured some water on his messy face, relieving the heat and clean up some of the dried up blood and grime on him.
"Listen up!" Adressed the Chief Sergeant to the platoon, "I want two men for each fox hole, three hour rotation for overwatch. Keep your heads low and asses lower."
"Yes, Chief Sergeant!" They all replied unanimously.
His stomach growled loudly, demanding food and fast. With a groan, Nathan punched himself on the stomach to "suppress" the hunger. The MRE was still cooking in the bag, a minute more and à table.
"Really, dude," Jerome said with a sly grin, "Didn't you eat for lunch?"
"Shut up, fat ass," Nathan shot back, "I was more worried about me living than my stomach complaining. And since when did you eat for lunch?"
"Right after we captured Island 3, found a spot near the coast and pop a MRE up." His friend answered truthfully and proudly, "A hungry soldier is an ineffective soldier."
"Yeah, right. It was more because you have a bad habit of eating every ten fucking minutes."
"Sure, dude, keep complaining." Jerome said off-handedly before he opened a small pack of chocolate biscuits, a smile etched on his face as he consumes the pack of "Le Petit LU".
"Fat ass..." Nathan retorted dryly.
"Heard that."
Nathan was about to take his now cooked MRE when suddenly he heard water moving unnaturally. He urged Jerome to stop eating before he picked up his FAMAS and puts on the NVGs. In the dead of night, everything was quiet. Nathan scanned carefully his surroundings, his guts were screaming at him that something was wrong. And his stomach is still complaining that it doesn't have any food in it yet.
After two long minutes of silence, Jerome sat back in the fox hole and continued to eat his meal.
"Come on, Nathan, you are tired AND hungry. You must be imagining things." He said, trying to reason with his half starved friend.
"I would gladly agree with you if my guts aren't screaming at me right now..."
"I think your stomach is asking for-"
His sentence was cut off when projectiles snapped just above their heads. The two soldiers ducked their heads down when mortar shells rained on their position. The French Marines were awaken by the sudden attack and scrambled to fire back. At the corner of his view, Nathan could see a large group of legionaires rushing through the land bridge towards them.
"Fuck! Hostiles on the bridge!" He shouted as loud as possible.
"Enemy to our 12! I want Minimis on the bridge!" Ordered the Chief Sergeant as he runs across friendly lines, giving orders to the platoon.
"Kilo 1-1, this is Delta 2-actual! I want a mortar strike on the land bridge! Fire everything you've got!" Demanded Lieutenant Dubois through the radio.
Nathan has already gone through three whole mags in the first five minutes since the firefight began. The bright flashes of enemy fire disturbed his vision through the NVGs, he took them off and proceeded to fire at the land bridge. Jerome hauled over the AT-4, he warned Nathan to keep his head low before firing the launcher. The rocket jerked up, the backblast covered them in sand and thick smoke. The rocket sailed forward and hit a hundred meters away from them, water shot upward violently while several digimon cried in pain.
Red and green tracer rounds flew in every direction. The FN Minimis and a couple of stationary Browning HMGs gunned down the incoming infantry wave, obliterating the foot soldiers to shreds, pieces and to a bloody and gore pulp. That night, the sea bled profusely the deep crimson liquid.
"First platoon! Pull back to the second line!" Ordered Dubois urgently, "To the trenches! NOW!"
"Let's go, Nathan!" Jerome yelled while going out of their fox hole.
Nathan fired a couple of shots more before he got out. His body was hunched over, making as small of a target as possible to protect himself from enemy projectiles and shells. The sand was unforgiving as it was constantly shot up before raining down on the French troopers. Ahead of him was Jerome who kept running until he stopped for a moment to yell something at him. Words didn't come out of his mouth, instead it was blood that spurted out. A lance-like projectile struck him center mass, the sharpened edge sticking out on the other side of his torso. Jerome fell with a heap, his lifeless body twitching the last signs of life he had left.
Without thinking, Nathan ran and slid next to him. Taking off his right glove, he placed his fingers on Jerome's neck, the pulses were still beating, though faintly.
"Medic! MEDIC! Joel! Over here!" Nathan waved his arms up at Chief Corporal and combat medic Joel Yvon.
"Fuck, Nathan, he's fucked up!" The medic said angrily as the both of them dragged Jerome's body back to the trenches, under heavy enemy fire.
"I checked his pulses, he's still alive!"
"He won't be in a few minutes!"
"You don't know THAT!"
Once in the trenches, Joel did his best to find a way to stabilize Jerome. However his observations concluded that his efforts were futile, Jerome will be dead in seconds.
"Sorry, dude, he's gone." He stated sadly. He gave a small pat of Nathan's shoulder before running off to another crying soldier.
Nathan stared at his friend's lifeless body. Friendly air and artillery strikes could be heard over the trenches but he just ignored them, shocked that he lost another friend. Stoically, he closed Jerome's eyes.
"Come on, men! Let them eat lead!" Encouraged Lieutenant Dubois through the sounds of gunfire. "Make them bleed!"
The French Marines of Second Platoon were gunning down the remaining Imperial forces on their turf, now backed up by VABs, VBCIs and Eurocopter Tigre attack helicopters, showering the enemy with 68mm rockets and 30mm rounds of death. The Imperials were powerless against their firepower, they have lost before the fight even began. Meanwhile, the Digimon Allies use the opportunity to strike at File Island 1.
The night battle lasted throughout the whole evening and early morning, the French have successfully held their grounds, their allies destroyed enemy artillery units on the main island and secured a foot hold for the upcoming assault on the mountain. However, the friendly bombardments on the land bridge in the attempt to halt the attack destroyed their only access on foot to File Island 1, meaning that the French will have to take the risk to cross the water front with the amphibious assault vehicles.
And so, day two of the operation began.