The Twist of Fate Raid

By: AliasCWN

"The Germans are trying a new tactic to drive us out of the area."

Sgt. Chip Saunders sat next to Lt. Gil Hanley in the briefing room and tried not to yawn. Having just finished yet another scouting mission, his sleep had been disturbed by the summons to this meeting.

"What tactic is that Sir?" Hanley asked when no one else spoke up.

"They are sending out squads with specific orders to ambush our patrols. They kill as many as they can within the first few minutes and then they break off the attack before help can arrive. Until now we haven't been able to track them back to where they are hiding."

"Until now? Does that mean you've located them Sir?"

"We think so Lieutenant. That's what your squad is going to find out. I want you to send out your best squad with orders to take out that 'kill team' as they have been called."

"Yes Sir. Sergeant Saunders here will take his squad and check it out." Hanley smiled in Saunders' direction, giving him an apologetic shrug.

"Good Lieutenant. Sergeant, good luck. We want this matter settled as soon as possible. We don't want to give them time to strike again or time to move that camp."

"Yes Sir." Saunders replied, getting to his feet. He swayed slightly with exhaustion before catching his balance. "We'll leave immediately Sir."

"Good enough Sergeant. Sergeant Kasin will give you the map and the coordinates of the farm house where we think they're hiding. Lieutenant, I have another assignment for you, Sergeant Saunders will have to handle this one on his own."

"Yes Sir." Hanley acknowledged.

The Captain turned away, obviously dismissing Saunders as he began to outline the assignment he had for the lieutenant. He automatically returned the salute the sergeant gave him without pausing in his briefing.

First squad of K Company had been assigned an abandoned house as their quarters when the Army set up command in the town. The men were all sleeping peacefully until Saunders arrived.

"All right you goldbricks, time to saddle up!"

The shout brought stifled moans and mumbled complaints from the slowly stirring mass of bodies on the floor.

"We just got back Sarge." A sleepy voice objected.

"Can it Kirby, headquarters thinks you had enough sleep to last you a while. As long as they are paying you, they want their money's worth."

"Tell them to keep my pay for this week, I'm going back to sleep." The BAR man grumbled, rolling over and pulling his blanket over his head.

Saunders walked over and booted the blanket covered form.

"The rest of us get up, you get up. Move it Kirby!"

"All right, all right, it was worth a shot." Kirby groaned. Throwing his blanket aside, he climbed stiffly to his feet. "What have the great minds at headquarters concocted this time? What is so important that it can't wait and only first squad can handle it?"

"Quit your complaining and get ready to move out." Saunders growled. "Check your supplies; we'll be out at least two days." He told everyone.

"Are we walking Sarge?"

Saunders looked over at Billy Nelson with a grin on his face. "No Billy, we're taking a limo."

Billy's eyes got big. "Really Sarge?"

"No Billy, not really. Get moving, we have a long walk ahead of us."

"We ought to get paid by the hour." Everyone groaned as Kirby continued to complain.

"This rain keeps up and we could use a boat, eh?" Caje commented, taking the focus off of Kirby.

"At least it slowed down to a drizzle." Brockmeyer added.

"Move it!" Saunders growled.

The walk was long, and wet, and cold despite the constant movement. The entire squad was feeling the chill by the time they reached the area of the farm house. Periods of high winds and heavy downpours had slowed their travel. Though still light, the clouds were making it dim and gloomy. Saunders glanced up at the sky and got a face full of raindrops for his trouble. Realizing that darkness would come early, he pushed the squad to find the target while they could still see. Sending Caje ahead, the rest of them kept moving, creeping nearer to the coordinates that they had been given.

Brockmeyer, in the lead, suddenly dropped behind cover. Alerted, the rest of the squad followed his example. Saunders rose to his feet as he spotted Caje returning.

"It's ahead, in a clearing, about half a mile Sarge. There's cover from some trees for our approach and there is a crumbled stone wall on three sides. The trees come up pretty close to some out buildings in the rear. I saw two guards huddling close to the house trying to stay out of the rain."

The sergeant listened to the scout's report silently. He tried to picture the scene in his head, planning is next move. "All right, let's do this."