"Dentley, take cover god dammit!"
I dived behind a stack of sandbags, lead bullets were shooting from what felt like all directions. I stuck my M1 Garand over the top of the sandbags and wasted a whole round on pot shots.
"Pvt. Don't waste your ammo shooting blindly, wait for the opportunity!"
"Yes sir, I thought I might get lucky sir, but apparently lucks not on our side in this war so far!"
"Your right there Dent!" shouted my best friend, Huckson, over all the gunfire.
A grenade landed next to my ear, I reacted on adrenaline and threw the grenade back from where it came from. The explosion echoed all around us and the machine gun which was pinning us down stopped abruptly.
"That'll teach those damn Kruats a lesson," said Huckson laughing at his own comment.
"Ok Huckson, less of the teaching a lesson crap and more of moving your sorry ass across the street," said Cpt. Dickson (Dicks.)
We moved closer to the MG nest, from out of nowhere a gunshot rang out through the street.
"Shit, Huckson is down, Huckson is down, we need a medic up here ASAP!" screamed Guzzos.
"Everyone, find cover, there's a sniper in the area," I informed the group.
Another shot fired into the street.
"Is anyone hit?" demanded Dicks.
"Er, no I don't think so Dicks," Mickel shouted back down the street.
"Dentley, take out that god damn bastard, watch out for where the next shot comes from!" Dicks shouted across to me.
There, in the shop window, second floor. I took aim at the distant figure and fired two shots at him. I hit him and saw his limp body drop out of the window.
"It's clear, get that medic up here and advance towards that nest," I commanded. "Sorry Dicks, thought I might take that call." We both advanced, grinning at each other.
I couldn't worry about Huckson, I knew for a fact he'd be fine, he's too tough to die from one bullet; he'll be fine I said to myself.
We got closer to the nest; there was no movement from inside. Me, Dicks and Anderson checked it out while the rest of the squad stayed back to cover us.
The Germans were dead; it looked as though the grenade done all the work.
"Well that's three more German's dead in St. Lô," expressed Anderson.
"Ok people, move into the house!" ordered Dickson.
Our squad moved in while other squads went there separate ways.
I took cover behind the couch, waiting for the Germans to open fire, but it didn't come.
Dicks got impatient and broke the silence.
"Ok, surrender now and come out with your hands behind your head, any funny business and we will open fire!"
From the top of the stairs a deep German voice shouted down "Essen meine schizer, du Amerikan scwein!"
A grenade rolled down the stairs towards us.
"Shit, take cover!" I roared.
There was a blinding light then all was focused again, gunfire filled the air, German and English voices were also mixed in with the lead bullets pinging of the walls.
"Werfen andere grenate!" roared a different German.
A grenade landed on my lap, I picked it up, rushed towards the stairs and launched it up towards the Germans.
"Schizer, teik bedecken!"
There was movement but the grenade had already gone of before they could move far, by the sound of it.
"Right, Dentley, Anderson, with me. Mickel, Brooklyn and Guzzos, check the ground floor.
Our group moved up the stairs where the Germans were moments before. The five Germans were dead; the one closest to me had his leg stuck out at a weird angle.
"Oh man, that's gross," I said, holding back the vomit trying to force its way up my esophagus.
"Keep moving boys, we still need to clear these rooms," said Dicks, purposely stepping on the dead soldiers as he walked past them. We moved up towards the first door, I pressed my ear up against the closed, flimsy door and heard German whispers.
"Stei in hier, weit für dem nach gehen!" said one of the low voices.
"Ok Dentley, when I open the door, roll a grenade in and keep the door firmly shut, got it?" whispered Dicks even lower than the Germans.
I nodded.
He swung open the door and I rolled the grenade in, the Germans shouted out in anger and panic.
I was struggling to keep this flimsy piece of shit closed, the grenade then came to my aid, but the force of it wiped me clean of my feet.
"Dentley, get up, this is no time for a nap," said Anderson, laughing at me. I smiled back at him as he gave me a helping hand.
"Its all clear men, lets move," said Dicks as he finished inspecting the other room down the hall.
The others were waiting out the back for us.
"Didn't find a thing Cap, its all clear," Guzzos informed Dicks.
"Ok boys, down that ally way and onto the main street."
I kicked down the gate and moved down the ally. Man there was a bad stench coming from somewhere, and I didn't particularly want to know what it was.
Me and Mickel moved out first and took cover behind a burnt out car. The others took cover behind a wall.
"Why are they all bunched together, why don't they spread out?" asked Mickel.
"If I knew, I'd tell, but I don't so keep quiet, plus I'm sure Dicks has a perfectly good reason," I said being a bit harsher than what I intended.
I looked over at Dicks and he gave me the nod so I could advance.
"Ok Mickel lets go," I whispered just in case any damn Kruats were close by.
We advanced down the narrow street; there were no signs of Germans about. This definitely isn't right, St Lô is supposed to be crawling with the enemy. This is why we're here, to kick their sorry asses back to where they came from, they couldn't have retreated already, that would be a weird act for the Germans.
The others had moved up behind me and Mickel, we were hiding in a shop.
"Where's Brooklyn with that radio?" I asked desperately.
"Why, what's the matter Pvt," Dicks asked, suspicion covering the whole of his face.
"Well, don't you think it's weird, there are no Germans in sight, I mean five minutes ago, this place was covered in them, and now there's none here."
"Yeah, I was thinking that too," expressed Dicks. "He's right. Brooklyn, radio the Sergeant and ask him what the bloody hell is going on!"
"Er, well it looks like we're having a party, they retreated!" Brooklyn shouted out in joy.
"Ok boys, lets head up to the rally point, I'm sure the rest of the Division will be there," ordered Dicks.
We reached the rally and sure enough the rest of the Division were there, waiting for there orders.
"Ok men, you all did well today, so go get some rest and take it easy," said Dicks, looking exhausted himself.
But before any of us could sit down there was a long, high pitched whistling noise coming from the sky.
"Shit, everyone, take cover, I knew this was too easy to be true," I roared.
Shells rained down on us from the heavens above, we were doomed, the Germans were advancing with nearly a whole division, maybe more.
"Ok, everyone, smoke grenades!" screamed the Sgt.
About a hundred or so smoke grenades bombarded the ground in front of the Germans.
The artillery shells stopped.
"Well that's a relief," Anderson sighed.
"Ok smokes filtered, fire!" roared the Sgt.
Bullets ripped through the sheet of smoke, there were German screams of agony, but no bullets came back at us.
"Ok, cease fire, I said cease fire god dammit!" shouted the Sarge.
All went quiet; the smoke cloud still hung low in the air.
Suddenly a German screamed into the silence "Gebühr!"
There was an angry shout and the Germans charged through the descending smoke. Without being told we all fired at will, the first couple of lines of Germans went down with ease, but they kept coming at us, hard and strong.
I took aim and fired at the German trying to set up his MG, I hit him in the shoulder and he spun around before dropping to the floor dead. I then threw a frag at a bunch of them making there way towards our radio guy, (who was calling for reinforcements). It landed in the middle of them and exploded, they where knocked of their feet and didn't move again. I moved behind the sandbags where most of our group was huddled.
"Anderson, follow me if you want to live!" I screamed at him.
He sprinted towards our position, he was nearly there, but then he went down and landed awkwardly.
"Shit, we need a medic now, come on, we need a medic now!" roared Guzzos desperately.
There was no medic in sight, he was going to die if he stayed out there, stuff this, I'm going to get him.
"Dentley, what the hell are you doing, get back here now!" Dicks screamed at me.
I didn't care; I wasn't going to leave him out here like a sitting duck. I put him over my shoulders and ran back to cover, I put him down, then a lead bullet impaled my arm, I dropped to the floor and blacked out.
I woke up, I felt sick, I looked around and saw allied soldiers, I let out a sigh of relief, at least I hadn't been captured. A medic went past and I asked "Hey you is Anderson ok?"
"Don't worry soldier he'll be fine," he said in a soft tone.
"Oh and what about the German counter-attack?"
"Well, we were really lucky, they were breaking through but then reinforcements came to our aid and kicked their sorry asses back to Germany. But you should get some rest now; you'll be back on the battlefield in one week."