Suffer in Silence
Note: this story is fictional, though based on actual events, any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental, and any historical inaccuracy is a product of the author's ignorance.
Europe, 1945, the world is at war. With Hitler and his Axis armies on the defensive the Allies launch operation "Overlord" in hopes to gain a foothold in Hitler's "Fortress Europe". Operation "Overlord" was to begin with an amphibious invasion of occupied France, starting on the Normandy coast. Before the amphibious landings were to occur the allies sent thousands of paratroopers deep behind enemy lines to disrupt the Germans and pave the way for the main force.
Our story begins at night, high above the French countryside in a transport plane, there sitting on one of the seats was Cpl. Michael Parker. As he nervously sat on his uncomfortable seat as the plane shook and quivered trying to avoid enemy FLAK. Mentally he began to go over what the jumpmaster had told him. "If in the event that the canopy does not open within nine seconds of exiting the plane pull the reserve cord, if your reserve chute fails to deploy, pray, and hope you land in something soft." Unfortunately this memory did nothing to improve his overall feeling of nervousness. Sitting next to him was Pvt. Scott O'Neil, a fellow paratrooper, discharged from the tank corps for running over the commanding officer's car during training exercises.
Soon the sergeant got up and grabbed a handrail, "Okay ladies! Time to jump!" he said. Nervously Cpl. Parker got up and slowly made his way to the door. As the men prepared for the jump the Sergeant opened the door, "Alright ladies! GO! GO! GO!" he shouted as the men began exiting the plane. Soon it was Michael's turn, as soon as exited the plane he knew something was wrong. He looked up and saw that his static line was unhooked! His parachute wasn't opening! Frantically he reached for the ripcord and yanked, his reserve deployed and he was pulled upward with a tremendous force. He recovered from the jerk only to be faced with another problem, looking down he saw his weapons and supplies plummeting earthward! He lost his food, ammunition, and weapons before he even reached the ground! He began to hear an unusual noise, it sounded a bit like cloth ripping, but much louder.
He hit the ground hard and got knocked off his feet, as he recovered himself and looked around; he was standing in a bare field, its stone walls cast an eerie shadow in the meager light, the strange sound and the explosions of the flak still permeated the environment, to the north he saw a village. He began making his way across the field and had reached the rock wall when he heard footsteps. Quickly he ducked behind the wall and waited; as the footsteps passed he looked up and saw a red armband, with a white circle and a swastika! His hand reached for his knife and in one swift movement the German was down!
Filled with regret he crouched down and picked up the soldier's sub-machinegun and headed down the dirt road to the village. As he entered he was shocked to find out what was making the strange noise… a machine gun! In the middle of the town square was a machine gun nest! He ducked behind a large piece of rubble as the gunner aimed a barrage of hot lead in his direction. There he sat and couldn't think of what to do, there was no way he would survive if he rushed it, and if he moved from behind his cover he would be so full of lead the Germans could use him as a pencil! Soon the firing came to a sudden stop. He looked up and saw the germans reloading the fearsome killing machine; he also saw them remove the barrel.
"Now's my chance" he thought as he got up and ran into a nearby alley. The alley was filled with stinking trash and was part of a labyrinth of back roads and other paths all over the town. Soon he heard more footsteps coming from around the corner. With his captured weapon in hand he pulled out his cricket, a child's toy given to all the paratroopers so they could identify one another. He squeezed the metal device, producing a hollow clicking sound, and waited, soon he heard two of the same clicks coming from around the corner. He peered over and saw Pvt. O'Neil, along with about five other men.
"Corporal, we need to take out that nest or we're all dead!" Scott said.
"I agree, private follow me, you five, watch our backs." Michael said.
The small band of soldiers made their way to the center of town, avoiding the main roads which were deathtraps to anyone foolish enough to venture into them. As they approached the nest Pvt. O'Neil picked up an old tin can and threw it into the street. The can was barely out of the alley when it was torn to shreds by machinegun fire.
"There's no way we can get past that." Michael said.
"Maybe we don't need to." Scott said, eyeing a nearby manhole.
"What do you mean?" the corporal asked.
"I mean that instead of going up to it, we could go under it." He said.
Our heroes opened the manhole and climbed into the sewer.
"Man it reeks down here." One of the soldiers said holding his nose.
The small company made their way through the fragrant smelling concrete labyrinth until they reached a ladder in the middle of an intersection. Michael climbed up, opened the manhole just a crack and peeked through. He saw a wall of sandbags and two germans on one of the machineguns. He picked up a grenade and silently pulled the pin, and then he rolled the grenade towards one of the machinegun emplacements. After accomplishing this feat he slid down the ladder and plugged his ears. The resulting explosion signaled the squad to exit the sewers and take the nest. In the ensuing chaos they managed to take control of the town square, but at the cost of two companions. As they cleaned up the bodies they heard shouting coming from the street "Americana! Dondwieben!"
German reinforcements had arrived!
"Hold them off!" ordered Scott. Michael ran to one of the machineguns and pulled the trigger, he jumped as the weapon spewed round after round.
"Grenade!" Scott shouted.
Cpl. Parker looked up and asked, "What was that priv-" ,but it was too late the explosive detonated and flung the corporal high into the air. Michael's mind raced as he was hurled by the blast. Time seemed to almost stop as he flew effortlessly through the air. As he hit the ground time began to once again move at a normal pace, but something was different. His men were firing but there were no gunshots, explosions were going off all around, but he couldn't hear them, men were shouting, but not a word reached his ears. He felt the sides of his head, blood! The blast had burst his ears!
Soon he felt something on his shoulder he turned around and saw Scott. His mouth was moving but he couldn't hear anything!
"I can't hear you private!" he said. Scott, noting the copious amounts of blood coming from the corporal's ears had deduced that he must have gone deaf; pulled out a notepad and began writing. He handed the corporal the notepad and he read it. This was how they communicated the rest of the night. As the sun rose the tired soldiers finally had time to sleep. Soon they were awakened by members of the French resistance. Fortunately one of the soldiers spoke some French and was able to communicate their predicament to the resistance fighters who showed them their hideout and offered them rest.
After they introduced themselves the small band of insurgents took them to an old garage, here in the dimly lit mechanic shop there was a large tarp covering something. The men took off the tarp and much to their surprise found a tank! A 100 german Panzer IV!
"Where did they get this?" Pvt. O'Neil asked. Through the translator they found out that the guerrillas had captured it during an ambush. They said that it wouldn't run but maybe one of the Americans could help.
"I'll take a crack at it." Pvt. O'Neil volunteered. So he grabbed some tools, slid under the tank and began trying to bring the metal leviathan back to life.
After about twelve hours he slid out, covered with oil and rust and said, "She's good as new; let's take her on a little test drive."
So the five soldiers climbed into the vehicle and started the engine, soon the mechanical beast roared to life and they waved goodbye to the French, who thanked them for freeing their town.
As they drove off the corporal remarked, "Another job well done eh private?"
"What was that?" the private responded.
Epilogue: Corporal Parker was honorably discharged and received a purple heart for his service. After the war he bought a ranch in Texas.
Pvt. O'Neil went on with the 101st division until retiring in 1957