From the memoirs of Corporal Hawkeye Archer, Equestrian 101st paratroopers, Easy company
November 19th 1944
We're getting transferred out today, Captain Rainbow says. She says we're going to be part of the armored spearhead off to take control of the small town of Foy. Being a corporal, I don't know why we want the small town, but Cap says that Gen. Sparkle insists it's important. I'll take her word for it. On a different note, Prance is cold in the winter; colder than Equestria, that's for sure. Our medics have to thaw out their morphine syringes, granted that the medic still has one or two; they're low on everything. My squad sergeant, Technical sergeant Derpy Hooves, says we're moving out, so I'll write down more later. –Hawkeye "Shifty" Archer
Hawkeye sat in his and Pvt. Altitude's foxhole, waiting for dawn. "Pst, Shifty, how long do you think until we move out?" The private asked him, adjusting the glasses on his muzzle with a hoof. Hawk looked at the private, trying to remember the new recruit's name. "Just wait for dawn, private. You're new, right?" The private nodded. "Have you killed a Gryphon yet?" He nodded again. "I killed one back when we were moving through Carentan on the way here. A machine gun opened up from us and I was in a good position to get him with my carbine sir." Hawk nodded, rubbing his hooves together to keep them warm. "Lose anypony in the first volley?" the private shook his head. "No sir, but my sarge got hit, he had to be taken back to the field hospital. He's back in Equestria right now sir, stuck in a wheelchair." Hawkeye breathed warm air onto his hooves. "Well then good job private. You kept your buddies safe and saved your sergeant. You think you're ready for tomorrow?" The private shook his head fiercely.
"No way shifty. They want us to charge across open field under fire? We're gonna get slaughtered. I don't want to die shift; I'm scared." Hawkeye patted the private on the back. "It's fine private. A wiser pony than I am told me something once. He told me that if a soldier ain't scared when they go into battle, they aren't a soldier; they're unnatural. A pony's natural reaction to war is to run away, we don't want to die for someone else. You'll do fine private." The private hunkered down and held his rifle tight in his hooves, flicking the safety on his M1 Carbine on and off. "Hey private, get some sleep will ya? You're going to need it tomorrow when we move in." Hawk poked him with a hoof. "I just can't sleep. It's unnerving; the howitzers are shelling them right now, and we're just sitting here in the snow and dirt." Hawk snorted. "Is that all private? That's just something you get used to. It'll stop bothering you after a while. Now get some rest."
The next day, Shifty and the private were sipping on some coffee they had brought with them from the last town, when Captain Rainbow Dash trotted up to them. "Good morning cap. Coffee?" She nodded and slipped into the foxhole. "Good morning Shifty, Pvt. Altitude. How was your night?" Hawk poked Altitude. "This one had the pre-battle willies; he's so fresh outta boot camp. So what are we going up against Cap?" She thought for a second, trying to remember. "We're up against the 513th Heer battalion, along with some crack units from the 14th SS. They have a couple flak 36 8.8cm guns, and a couple flakvierling 40mm cannons. We have no word on their armor support though." Hawk nodded, and asked another question. "How long until we move out?" She replied quickly "Five minutes." Hawk and the private downed their coffees and saluted, grabbing their rifles. "Wish me luck captain; I have Lieutenant Dyke as a platoon leader." She raised her eyebrow. "What happened to 2nd Lt. Wynters?" Hawk shook his head. "Re-assigned to Charlie platoon ma'am." She nodded. "Good luck then Shift, good luck and Godspeed to Baker platoon." She finished her coffee and trotted back to her platoon, able platoon. Hawk checked the sight on his M1D rifle (A/N: an M1D is a Garand rifle with a side mounted telescopic sight, useful for sniping at medium ranges.) and made sure it was loaded, as Pvt. Altitude scratched his head with a hoof, Carbine in the other.
"What's so bad about Dyke?" Hawk spat on the ground. "Dyke freezes up in battle; he couldn't give us new orders in a firefight if there was one gryphon soldier shooting at us with a peashooter. Dyke's gonna get a lot of Baker killed, mark my words private." The two hopped out of their foxhole and trotted over to meet with the rest of the platoon. Hawk nodded to Sgt. Pierce. "Hey sarge, how long until we move?" Pierce shook his head. "Dunno shifty, I'd say a couple minutes. I heard the artillery was going to fire one more salvo before we go in." Hawk nodded and nudged another pony next to him. "Hey, stay awake Hayseed. I know you're used to Baton Rouge weather, but we've got a job to do." Cpl. Hayseed Huxley nodded his head, shivering. The 155mm "Long Tom" Artillery pieces back in the forest were doing a good job of hitting everywhere except Foy, Hawk noticed. One hit the church, however, taking out part of the steeple. A whistle blew, and the paratroopers charged out of the forest into the field. "Keep moving Baker or else their artillery's gonna hit you! You stay here you're dead!" Sgt. Hooves yelled out, her Thompson machine gun screaming out staccato bursts of hot lead as she ran from cover to cover, trying to hit the Gryphon soldiers defending the middle flak 36 8.8cm.
Hawk chuckled at the memory of their time at camp Tocca together, back when he was a simple Car and motorbike mechanic, and she was the mail mare. 'Now she's all blood and vinegar.' He thought dryly as he ran. She had never been the same, not since the Gryphons tried to move an armored spearhead against the paratroopers at Carentan. Dispelling the thoughts from his head he continued to run, eventually reaching a tool shed that Derpy was hiding behind. "Hey sarge, what's the holdup?" She nodded her head towards a couple of buildings. "The one with the collapsed roof has an artillery spotter. The big one has a Gryphon sniper. I'll draw his fire for you, but you'd better drop him before he drops me, or else I'm gonna haunt you from the afterlife." Hawk saluted and readied himself. "Ready when you are ma'am!" he shouted over the gunfire and the explosions of mortar shells. She thundered out of the cover of the shed and grunted as she was shot with a Karabiner 98k Scoped sniper rifle, but kept running. Hawk dropped the sniper with a shot from his M1D, going through the gryphon's brain. He then ran over to where Derpy was and pulled out his first aid kit. "Where'd you get hit Ma'am?"
She pointed at her back left leg with a hoof. "I took one below the kneecap. I'm pretty sure it went through, so just bandage it up for me." Hawk nodded and checked the wound, treating it with what he had. "It'll have to do Derpy; I don't have any morphine or anything else. Are you going to be alright?" She nodded. "I can still walk and I can still kill Gryphons so I'll be fine; thanks Hawk." Hawk handed her the Thompson submachine gun she had dropped and helped her up. Looking back, the rest of Baker was sitting behind haystacks and sheds trying not to get hit by machine gun fire from the Gryphons. "What the tartarus is Dyke doing out there?" Hawk thought aloud. "He's getting us killed. Hawk, I don't want to send you out like this but I'm in no state to run. Get back there and have Dyke get his flank in motion." Hawk saluted and waited for the Gryphon gunners to change out their ammo drums before running back to Dyke's position behind a hay bale. When he got there, Dyke was just sitting there with a faraway look in his eyes. "DYKE! DYKE YOU NEED TO GET MOVING!" Hawk screamed into his face, but Dyke offered no response. "Buck this; okay, Dyke, I'm relieving you of command. Baker! FOLLOW ME AND DON'T GET SHOT!" Hawk ran back to Derpy's position, Baker following him.
With Baker platoon safe behind cover, Hawk handed control of the platoon to Derpy, who started giving out orders. "Ok, three of you, start tossing grenades at the gryphons, try and hit as many as possible. Hawk, Try and kill the Flak crew. Everyone else, give them cover fire." Hayseed, Altitude, and another private started chucking out grenades, the other rifleponies giving them a couple of theirs as Hawk sniped the Gryphons off of the gun before proceeding to help clear the courtyard as the others provided them covering fire. With the courtyard empty, two ponies stayed behind to destroy the gun so that the Gryphons couldn't reuse it. The rest of the platoon moved through a building, Derpy taking point and Hawk following close behind, using the iron sights rather than the mounted scope. Clearing the house, they emerged in a courtyard across from the church in town. "Ok, every pony listen up. We need to take that church; it'll give Shifty a good sniping position for clearing the rest of town. On three: one, two, THREE!" They bolted across the road and broke open the door of the church, immediately trading fire with the Gryphons inside. Clearing the church, Hawk trotted upstairs and set up with his rifle, scanning the buildings. "Town's clear sarge!" he slid back down the ladder to where the platoon was. "No one's in the buildings, 3rd armored's free to cross the bridge." Derpy nodded and called for a radio operator.
There was a high pitched whine and an explosion that shook the church. "Gryphon counter-attack!" Derpy yelled out, and the rifleponies jumped into action. "Hawk, get up in that steeple and start taking out krauts! Everyone else on me!" Hawk clambered up the ladder and unslung his M1D rifle from his back and scoped in on the bridge. Trying to cross the bridge were several Gryphons armed with mp44 assault rifles, signifying their status as SS troopers. Raising the scope to his eye, He took aim at a Gryphon lieutenant and fired, stopping him in his tracks. He aimed at another SS member and pulled the trigger, only to hear a click escape the barrel. His M1 had jammed on him, probably from the cold. Hawk tried to un-jam the rifle, but the positioning of the scope didn't allow him enough space to clear the jam. Putting the rifle on his back again, he slid down the ladder and was about to trot downstairs when he noticed a Gryphon Karabiner98K with a Telescopic sight mounted on the rifle. "That'll do just fine." He grinned.
Clambering back up the ladder with the rifle and several clips of ammunition, hawk sighted the rifle on a Gryphon and fired. The bullet missed, and Hawk adjusted the sight accordingly, re-chambering the rifle and firing again, hitting the Gryphon square in the chest. Re-chambering again, he scoped in on the barn and noticed a vehicle of some sort- It was a Tiger I tank. "Oh hay, Tiger! Tiger across the bridge sarge!" Hawk yelled out to Derpy, who was thankfully still in earshot. Derpy looked up at him and nodded grimly, before giving out orders to the rest of the company. Just then, Able and Charlie companies trotted into town, and Captain Dash asked Derpy for a status report, as she couldn't find Dyke. Derpy gave her the full report, including what happened to Dyke, (who was still behind the same hay bale, by the way) and her current orders. Dash nodded and agreed with her orders, ordering Charlie and Able to follow Derpy's standing order.
Hawk was in the middle of reloading when the Tiger aimed towards his position. His eyes widened considerably and he leapt down the ladder, getting out of the tower a few seconds before it exploded into wood splinters. Deciding that the spot wasn't a great spot anymore, Hawk exited the church and ran to Captain Dash's position, at a farmhouse just before the bridge with Baker platoon, who were preparing to cross the bridge. "Hello Cap, what can I do to help? My position just got blown sky-high." Dash gazed at the rifle and tossed him a Thompson submachine gun. "Here, take my machine gun. I want that back, corporal." She looked at him pointedly. "Don't worry ma'am, you'll get your gun back." He set down the karabiner98k and checked the ammo count on the Thompson. "Got any spare ammo?" She tossed him two extra magazines. "That's all I have corporal." Hawk nodded and trotted over to Derpy. "Ok what's the plan Derpy?" She pointed towards the bridge. "There's no way around it, we'll have to cross the bridge and take out the tiger ourselves, so that the Sherman tanks can move through."
"So who's joining us?" She gestured with her hoof. "Baker and Able are both charging the bridge. Alright, is everypony ready?" they all confirmed that they were ready to run across a bridge suicidally. "Ok, on one. Three, two, one!" The platoons rushed across the bridge, three ponies getting shot to death by Gryphon mgs, another being torn apart by a gryphon with an mp44 rifle. The rest kept running until they entered the trenches alongside the road, opposite the farmhouse and the barn, which Hawk and Derpy had cleared of any remaining Gryphons. From there, they provided covering fire for Rainbow Dash and Charlie Company, who dove into the trench with Able and Baker. They started to trade fire with the Gryphons, and Hawk returned Rainbow's Thompson, minus a clip of ammo. "Hey Derpy, can you help me clear my rifle jam? I need a third hoof to hold the cartridge cover open." Derpy nodded and the M1D was soon able to fire again. Hawk was soon taking out Gryphons, and within a few minutes, the airborne soldiers had pushed up to the back of the barn.
The tank was sitting in there, watching the bridge for targets. Derpy gestured for their demolitions ponies to come up, and the two explosives experts set demolitions charges at several locations along the side of the tank, including the external fuel tank. The airborne ran out of the barn, and the explosives experts set off the charges, blowing the tank and the barn to Tartarus. Rainbow called for the airborne to form up, and Sherman tanks and their mechanized infantry started to move up the road. "Good job airborne, we've taken Foy from the Gryphons. Next they're sending us off to a town called Neuville. When we get there and we capture it, I'll be sure to get you guys and gals some good warm food. Alright, take a break for a couple hours, you've earned it." Rainbow then asked for a casualty report, which Hawk overheard as he was trotting over To Sgt. Hooves and Pvt. Altitude. "Ten dead from baker, four from Charlie, and eight from Able." Rainbow nodded. "Did you find Dyke?" The gunnery sergeant she was talking to nodded. "Yes ma'am. Dyke shot himself in the foot with his rifle and bled to death; Medics said he hit an artery and they couldn't stop the bleeding." Rainbow sighed softly and thanked him.
And so it begins :D
Chapter trivia time! (Yay)
1: This is based off a couple of games, those games being Call of Duty 1: united offensive expansion pack, Battlefield 1942 Forgotten Hope mod, and Company of heroes (but just barely Company of Heroes)
2: Originally, Derpy was going to be an Earth pony, Technical sergeant Halifax (I scrapped the idea after reading Equestria Total War; General Derpy is best Derpy xP)
3: The M1D is a real rifle, but it is rather rare nowadays. It's telescopic scope was mounted on the left side of the rifle so that clips could easily be fitted and had a cheek guard on the left side of the butt stock for when the rifle's owner fired it. It still fired the standard .308 round of the M1 Garand.
4: if you haven't noticed, the Gryphons are the Germans, and the Equestrians are the U.S/Commonwealth. Both sides will have their respective languages.
And because I forgot, here's Hawk's bio. Not including background yet, it'll be explained in the next chapter, making the next chapter redundant if I put the full bio in here.
Full Name: Hawkeye Allen Archer
Age: 24
Rank in the army/branch: Corporal/101st Airborne; Easy Company; Baker platoon
Race: Pegasus
Appearance: Slightly skinny, with a Black mane and tail, light gray body color. Has a scar along his left side where he was grazed by a Gryphon Sniper round.
Nickname: Shifty
Personality: He's a nice enough pony, although he doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut sometimes, leading him to problems with his superiors. Has a definite resentment of Lieutenant Terrence Dyke, whom he views as incompetent. (This is shown in Chapter one, during the firefight in the field at Foy) Has a slight drinking problem. Other ponies consider him the caring uncle of Baker platoon, as he often helps out the younger, inexperienced ponies that are just transferred into Baker platoon. Is often sarcastic with his friends, but they know he means well or is joking with them.
Previous occupation: Mechanic
Hometown: Manehattan
And that's it for this chapter. Please leave me a comment, telling me how you like the story, as it's nice to know how I'm doing writing-wise. Feel free to point out any misspellings or grammar issues I missed, and feel free to leave constructive criticism or ask a question. Hope you enjoy the story! –Stormy Winters