Chapter 1:There It All Began
Nazi Occupied Poland, Spring 1944, Operation: Secret Thunder (Part of Operation: Tempest)
It's late at night within the thick forest of Nazi Occupied Poland. A hundred armed partisans of the Home Army's Scout Assault Group: Zniwiarz and OSS agents are gearing up and preparing for a raid of the top-secret Nazi facility known as 'Das Schachten'. The Allies have no idea what the hell is going on in that concrete fortress or why it is such a heavily guarded secret. However, reports say that the Nazis have been experimenting with some mysterious substance that could turn the tide of the war in their favor.
On a tree nearby, a young but battle hardened partisan of seventeen and a half years, Jarek Gniewek, was sleeping. Jarek was one of the youngest partisans in the Battalion.
A slim 5'10 tan-tinted kid, he's been a member of the Resistance ever since the Nazis came and killed everyone in his hometown that didn't look Aryan back in '39. He may be the youngest partisan in the whole battalion, but he's one of the most feared by the Nazis and the Polish collaborators. He's been responsible for more Nazi deaths than any other partisan in the battalion. He has performed countless assassinations, sabotage missions, and has prevented and/or avenged many Nazi atrocities against the Polish people. So feared was were his actions, the Nazis had nicknamed him 'White Lightning' or 'Weissblitz' as the Hitlerites call him for his speed and efficiency that rivals any dedicated SS soldier, not to mention his interesting emblem of three lightning bolts woven through a Kotwica, the emblem of the Polish Resistance.
He's wearing a worn burlap overcoat with a custom AK armband, regular padded trousers, some boots and short puttees he helped stitched himself. Not to mention his special black scarf with lightning bolt patterns that he used to conceal his face and identity from those who live to encounter him. He's armed with a Tokarev TT-33, a hatchet, and a Błyskawica with a removable silencer which he had acquired during a mission to Warsaw to salvage an ammo drop that was captured by the Nazis and scheduled to be destroyed. It was one of the spoils of war. This one happened to be a prototype that some tinkerer nerd came up with.
'Hey Jarek, wake up buddy.' His friend Jozef said, giving him a good nudge to wake him up. Jarek grunted and slowly got himself up, groggy from sleep.
'What the hell is it Jozef? Couldn't you see that I'm busy?' He croaked out grumpily. Jozef could not help but smile and cackle at his friend's "busyness."
'So you're busy sleeping?' he asked sarcastically, before he stood up and walked away in the opposite direction. 'Come on, you're going to miss the briefing. The commander says we begin the attack!' Jarek reluctantly picked himself up, stretched his legs for a bit, picked up his weapons, and followed Jozef to where the group of partisans are huddled together, crouched down and looking at a battle plan sketched in the dirt with a twig. But while they were moving towards the briefing, a sudden rush of anxiety rained down upon the partisans, as if they were being warned something was wrong.
'So, Jarek. Any idea what you're going to do after the war?' Jozef asked his infamous friend.
'I'm not sure. I fear that the Russians will come and we'll all be Communists or imprisoned. I guess that I'll go to America. Chicago, perhaps. There's a large Polish population there and they even speak Polish!' He chuckled at his own comment. 'But hopefully we can kick out the Germans before then and we can rebuild our country once again. That is assuming that we're still alive at the end of it.'
'I hope," Was all that Jozef said. So many thoughts flowed within him that he was overloaded and was all he could say before the raid that would hopefully give Poland the means to be free once more.
'Alright everyone," The Polish OSS agent announced to the battle hardened brigade while they all moved in. 'We all know why we're here. According to our government in London, the Nazis are experimenting with some mysterious substance that might win the war for them. That is, if we don't stop them first. This base is known to the Krauts as 'Der Rattenschatten'. It's pretty much a bunch of concrete buildings all cobbled together with a huge barbed wire fence around it. It's also protected by trenches with machine gun emplacements, barbed wire, mines, a few anti-tank guns, and a whole lot of sentries. In other words, it's a huge fortress. The only flaw is that they haven't been attacked, and thereby tested, not yet at least.'
Then the Brigade Commander, General Kalkstein, took charge of the briefing. 'Okay, let's get straight to the point, lads. 1st and 2nd Mortar squad is going to set up their position here.' He got a twig and sketched out two 'x's on the dirt map some distance in front of the Schatten while the rest of us takes up positions around the facility under the cover of darkness. All the while the Krauts are distracted by a Black Widow from the sky, should keep them looking' up. Once the mortars start unleashing hell, were going to launch our attack. Our goal is nothing less than the total destruction of this facility. Then we get the hell out of here. Any questions?'
There were none. Everyone knew what they had to do. Many of the fighters had been well trained by Kalkstein, most of them had been the Pre-War Polish Army and were well experienced in combat.
'Good, now let's get some revenge.'
Jarek and Jozef crawled down in the bushes within several feet of the front gate of Schatten, waiting for the signal where they sat for many long minutes. The anticipation was unbearable, but Jarek was used to it. He had had one too many of these kind of operations against the Nazis he hated so much. He absolutely hated the Nazis, any kind of Nazis, but in particular the SS. The SS were the ones who had slaughtered his friends, raped and killed his mother in front of him and had attempted to assimilate him into the 'Greater German Reich' whatever the hell that was. However, he managed to escape before that plan was implemented, and he has been on the run from the Nazis ever since, wanted for 'murdering' a German soldier in self-defense, at least the first one he killed.
'What the hell's taking them so long?' loudly whispered Jozef, holding his MG42 in place. His arms were getting all jittery. He had only been in the Home Army for little over a year, his mind still not shell-shocked by the horrors of war.
'Calm down, they'll show.' Jarek said. A few seconds later, what seemed like an eternity, a thundering whistle sound erupted throughout the air as the expected mortar fire erupted in the air and exploded throughout the facility. The ensuing fire spread panic and fear throughout the facility. They were caught completely off guard, obviously never having expected to be attacked with such firepower. For once, Jarek sees the Nazis screaming in fear and trying to get their bearings. Way to go, guys, send 'em to hell! Jarek thought.
The attack began as the one hundred armed fighters charged through all the main gates and shot any Nazi that stood in their way with sheer, ruthless efficiency. It was difficult to see in the thick of the night and smoke, but the lights of fire and the natural lights of the facility made it easier for the fighters to see. Jarek and Jozef stormed into the facility, Jozef's Buzzsaw ripped anyone up. Eventually the partisans reached their main objective, the main concrete building known as 'Wunderland', The place rumored to be the location of all the experiments taking place. Whatever the Fascists are doing, it's not good, and must be wiped clean from the face of the earth.
The main body of partisans approached the door of Wunderland in a semi circle formation. It was made out of thick steel and couldn't be opened from the outside. But the partisans anticipated this and the OSS agents had brought in specialized explosives designed to breach thick steel door. One of the agents planted the specialized the explosive near the hinges of the door, primed them, and placed the fuse in the detonator. Everyone immediately stood clear of the doorway, and a few seconds later the device exploded, throwing the door inwards by twenty feet. This is easy. Thought Jarek, Too easy.
Almost immediately, the Partisans stormed into the building, Jarek being the first one in, all there was initially were a few office workers, employees of the SS, who were doing some paperwork before the explosion happened. They were so shocked that they gave up without a fight and waved their hands up in defeat despite the blasphemy that is surrender according to their ideology. Jarek, Jozef and the partisans stormed in the building and found a hell of a lot of evidence of what was going on there.
There were a lot of jars full of strange sand like substances labeled 'ACHTUNG! STAUB, SEHR GEFAEHRLICH!' This highly confused Jarek, knowing German fluently, Staub is the German word for 'Dust'. What the hell are the Krauts up to? Are they collecting the particles that annoy us every day to win the war? Is that their great plan?
As they continued to search the facility, it quickly became more apparent that the Nazis were up to something weird when they found mysterious weapons laid across several huge lab tables, all colorful and mysterious, with various symbols accompanying them. Eventually, Jarek reached another lab with a figure with white hair, a Nazi armband, and a doctor's overcoat was overseeing a strange device that was implanted onto the floor. Jarek raised his submachine gun at the figure.
'Hands up, swine! Your plans here are finished!' He shouted in German. 'This facility now belongs to the Home Army and the Polish People. You are now under arrest.' The figure gave no reaction but to turn around casually and revealed a German in his sixties, with wrinkles all over his face. Yet his face bore the sinister smile of a madman.
'My, my, my. I cannot believe that my plan has worked.' the mad doctor said. 'The White Lightning is here in my laboratory. What an unexpected surprise, after all of the damage you have done to the Reich and my Fuhrer's plan for world domination. It only took a ploy to lure you and your so called "Army" How many soldiers have you killed? Too many to count I suppose. By the way, allow me to introduce myself. I am Doktor Gunther von Stein, and I've been waiting for you.' The man paused for a brief chuckle as if the facts were amusing. This made Jarek's blood boil.
'Shut up!' he shouted. 'Drop your weapon and surrender. You have no chance, Herr Doktor,' this so called 'Doctor' ignored Jareks demands for a surrender.
'Well I guess it cannot hurt to tell you a bit. All of these Jars and weapons you see here is our shot of victory over the Allies. These weapons are more powerful than you can possibly fathom! And now you will die from them.' Suddenly he pulled out his Luger and fired a round into one of the jars, which exploded into a massive fireball and everything for Jarek faded to blank white. It would seem to be an abrupt end to the young life of the freedom fighter. Where he would only exist in the pages of a history book in an obscure sentence. However, like many times before throughout history, in time and memorial, fate never goes by anyone's schedule.
Five Years Ago… August 1939
"Dad, where are you going?" The young Jarek asked as his Father, Orzel Gniewek, as he donned his officer's uniform of the Polish Army inside their family's cabin. Orzel had been in the army since 1919 and stayed there ever since as an officer for twenty quiet years.
"Jarek, my boy. I've been called up to service once more. Those Nazis and Reds are going to invade our motherland any day now." He explained to his son in unaccented English. It's quite strange for anyone around his town to speak English. In fact, he's the only one who speaks it apart from his son and his wife, of which he taught them both to speak very well. Jarek could speak fluently almost without an accent.
"But you can't leave us like this! What happens if we lose?" He asked in a panic anxiety. It was then that Orzel looked upon and smiled at his beloved son.
"Don't worry about that!" He stated. "We won't lose and besides. Remember what I taught you about being a hunter and survival?" His son nodded. Ever since he was able to walk, Orzel and taught his son a whole array of strange fighting and surviving skills that some would describe as 'Supernatural' or even 'God-Like' to those with piety. But whatever it really was, Jarek found it to be really fun and practiced those skills as frequently as they could.
"Good." Orzel stated "Just remember that, and you'll be alright." He was just about to leave, with his pack ready and all. However, he turned around as if he forgot something. "By the way. If things really get out of hand. Go under my bed, there's a trunk underneath it. I want you to open up and take what's inside. Then make for the woods as fast as you can. Do you understand?"
"Yes," his young son said, the flame of innocence still burning in his eyes.
"Good. You'll be fine." He said before he placed his officer's cap on, with his pack and rifle, strange for an officer, mounted his horse, Resztka, and rode away somberly with his son looking down as his father's silhouette disappeared, leaving Jarek with uncertainty. He's heard all the stories from the radio about the tensions raised between both of their countries. That that mean guy 'Hitler' is going to try to save ethnic Germans from the Poles. What will become of him and his family?