Upottery, England
June 5th, 1944
"Check all of your supplies at least three times before we head out on the plane tonight, ladies," We were looking at the packs that we were going to wear on our first Operation in Chef-du-Pout. The day was creeping over the hour by hour, the rest of the men there at the airstrip were getting ready on their own, but we were on double time since our own plane was going to be the first to leave Upottery. Since we were grounded yesterday, Black Mamba was going through the same scenario over and over again in our head, all of the scenarios that could happen though we were trained to only have one scenario to be successful. Captain Josephine was making sure we were ready, and I was hoping the same thing for them since I was second-in-command.
"You all have your locations for the companies you're serving?" Captain Josephine asked as we were all standing in front of our packs and seeing the supplies out there in front of us. Compared to the men, our packs were smaller and light, created and formatted to look like it was part of our bodies when we would wear them securely on our backs. The only bulgy thing that would take up too much space was our parachute and reserve chute, the rest was placed carefully and securely enough to be light when we would go on our Operation.
"Yes, ma'am!" We all replied to her as she eyed each and every one of us in our tent out there on the field, hands behind her back and she then gave us a short nod. I could tell she was on edge a bit, but she never has it become a problem with her soldiers. Captain Josephine knew how to take care of her emotions and keep them balanced, but we could still tell that something was ticking in her head.
"Tonight, we embark on the first of many Operations here in the war, and we will be making history as one of the first all-female Special Operation companies in U.S. army history," She said it with such softness there in her voice along with a hint of pride, but I knew it was also laced with anticipation and worry, "The world will be looking towards us as we go and jump out of a plane into enemy territory. You all have been selected to be in this Unit because of your skills, a will and drive to succeed, and dedication to this country. I will be honest with you, there are officers and soldiers outside this tent that are going to want us, want you, to fail. They believe that we don't belong here, that we should be at home being wives."
All of us were not saying a word about it, just watching her as I was letting this drink all in under my skin. I knew we were having a challenge on us, being in a male-dominated place and all of those eyes on us with disbelief and little faith in us, it would assume that we would be cracking under the pressure.
"But you do belong here, you deserve to fight for your country as much as the men do. You have trained, been stretched to your wits end, and you know what to do. I could not be prouder of each and every one of you for what you have done, what you are doing, and what you're going to do in the future. Be brave, don't second guess yourself, and fight hard for the country you love and live in, understand?" She asked us now, having me look at the others around me and see the newly sprung faith in them. We were all women from different backgrounds, different homes and different ways of thinking. But the way we were standing together, not wanting to be in the typical world of women and wanting to prove ourselves to the men in the army, it madam more proud to be in this unit of not just women, but soldiers.
One by one, the women there in that tent, all of different ages and sizes, were saluting her and showing their respect and allegiance to her. I saluted as well, knowing that I would follow Captain Josephine to the ends of the earth because I knew she would take care of us as our Captain and our leader. She slated us back, a mutual agreement was made apparently. We were about to jump out of a plane, into a foreign town and start the battle with the Germans in order to help Easy Company with their work in France. What we were about to was beyond crazy, almost suicidal, and to think all I wanted to do was to find some kind of purpose on this earth. Maybe this was my purpose, not being a dancer or ballerina, not being the perfect daughter my mother wanted me to be all of these years. but to be an almost crazy female lieutenant in the U.S. Army.
Yeah, I was downright insane.
We walked out of the tent now and into the light of the setting sun, the crisp summer air was coming through showing that this was the day that the war was going to start for us. We were in our combat gear attire and our packs were on our backs, slim and black to be more sleek and movable for us. We were walking in a line now over to airplane was getting prepped and ready, Captain Matthews was waiting for us near the door on the other side of the airfield. We had to walk through the other men there who were getting prepped and having their now pep talks with their officers. I saw the men already that I knew and grew close to over the years since I was assigned to them.
Easy Company. Not to mention that they saw me too.
All of them were in their bulkier gear, camouflage there on their faces and the small hint go fear and adrenaline there in their body languages. But once I was locking eyes with them, seeing each and every one them, they were giving me a look of mixed emotions. I was popgun to give them a look of hope and optimism, what I got back was something else. I could see it in their eyes, how they were watching me and not moving for a moment or two now.
They were giving me the look of acceptance.
All of them: Christenson, Perconte, Webster, Liebgott, Talbert, Skip, Shifty, Bull, Buck, Johnny Martin, Guarnere and the rest of them were watching me most of all compared to the others in Black Mamba. I didn't know what to say to them if I wanted to say anything to them at all, but what I saw of them was almost making me lose a step or two now. I didn't think they would do something like this to us, even after the years of me helping them train and getting to know each of them, what they did then in that moment almost blew me away.
They saluted me.
I didn't know what to think or do in that moment as I was walking by, each of them was watching me and keeping their salute, having me reluctantly salute them back as I passed them by. I was worried about them too, how they were going to do in their one jumps and if they were all going to get out okay. They trained under the hardest and ruthless Captains in the army, and though they had a new leader, I was really praying God and if God was going to listen, that He was going to take care of them and keep them all safe.
Our plane was getting closer and closer to us now, having me no longer focus on Easy whom all went back to their own preparations. It made me want to look back at them one more time before I would get on my own plane, but it was a back mistake. A real bad one, since I saw Eugene Roe there talking to Spina, the other Easy Company medic, and it made me heart already feel too fragile to think about him jumping out of a plane, with no weapon on him to protect him. Someone like Eugene was both passionate about helping others and stern in his trade that was thrust into his hands, and he was my closest friend. I felt more sick to my stomach to be leaving him behind, and it wasn't that I had no faith in him, it was quite the opposite. I had enough faith that he could take care of himself and the others in Easy, too much if I was going to be honest with myself. I was still coming to terms that I saw him as more than a friend, that I would maybe think of us…together. It was morbid, it was out of the ordinary, but it also brought me hope.
Hope, in maybe Eugene and I being together.
He wouldn't want to be with me, I was trained to kill and take out officers with my bare hands. I had more family baggage than anything someone would read a book to pass the time, I had no family to go back to or to call my own. I had to be honest, I was a mess. I was not even close to being ready for something like this, let alone being in any kind of relationship. My mother thought I was and looked what happened. But this, what I felt like Eugene, it felt different and more a reality than anything I felt in the past for another male. We both had common ground, we both had a sense of comfort in one another when we felt like the rest of the world was going to shit. So why was I hoping for something that wouldn't seem possible or the both of us?
Why in God's name I was hoping?
The girls were now piling into the plane now, one by one and I was the last one in line right behind O'Neal. I was still looking at Eugene, seeing him nod at Spina from saying something to him and then Spina pointing my way now. Eugene looked right at me, almost freezing a bit and having me freeze there too. I didn't want him to see me before I went off in the plane, it made me really wish that I could run over there and…I don't know what. But he was the one who jogged over to me, his own combat gear one and his pack on the ground before pointing it on. He had his helmet under his arm, which had his black hair sticking up a bit awkwardly, but it none the less made him more unique.
"You leaving, Olivia?" He asked me, the infamous and blunt question that would be more obvious with me in front of a plane, but it sounded more curious than anything.
"We're heading out tonight," I replied back to him, seeing him look at me up and down now with my new combat attire and how my hair was braided and pushed away from my eyes to make me look more like a warrior than a female than his friend. What was he thinking seeing me there, his close friend who was dressed like she was about to go and snap a guy's neck off for sport? God, it made me sick to think I was being viewed like that by him, but then again it could be different with him
"Listen," he said, out of the blue and almost like he wanted to get it out of his chest, "After what happened with you and your mother, back when she disowned you and all…"
"You don't have to talk about that, Eugene," I reasoned with him, already feeling bad for dumping that would him since I didn't want to bottle it all up myself, "It was my fault for telling you that."
"I just wanted you to know that I think you're a great person," I was silent from what he said, not only beaches it sounded so sincere and genuine, but it was also coming from Eugene who was being more bold about it than any other time that we would talk together.
"That came out wrong," he said out of the blue, seeing the shocked look on my face and how I was saying nothing, "I just didn't want you to think less of yourself," He took what I said and what I went through the day before to heart, very close to heart. It was seething that he was not meant to do, being close to another person. He had to do the opposite, he had to be further away from the men and out of their reach. So why was he doing this to me?
"Thanks, Eugene," I felt pathetic for not saying anything more to him in that moment, for not finding better words to express how I felt towards him. He smiled at me, that smile I knew could really lit everything up in a room if it could. It mad him handsome, in which I felt my own body move without me thinking about it. I reached down and held his hands, our fingers linking together and I was pressing my palm into his palm. I felt like this was going to be as close to a hug as we were going to have with one another with others around us. I wanted to hug him, and the way Eugene was talking to me, I could tell he wanted to hug me too. At least, I think he wanted to hug me. But he then squeezed our palms together, almost delicately and urgently to have me feel it.
I was thinking of home again.
It made me think of the warm summer nights in the city, the sound of music coming in and out of the bars and taverns near the ballet studio, the taste of pastries from the bakery, and most of all, the sweet sounds of the wind coming through the low hanging branches and the trees. I was remembering all of those things from that hold he had on me, from a simple gesture that we were sharing together. It took so many seconds for me to remember home, all of those things of home, and then I was back in reality on that strip with Eugene in front of me, still holding onto my hand and having me grin wider at him than before.
"Bellerose, it's time to go," I heard Captain Josephine say behind me as she was near the door into the plane. I looked behind me over my shoulder to see her there, giving me a reassuring nod and having me inwardly curse to myself. I had to look back over to Eugene, but as I did, he leaned over to standing even a bit closer to me now and I felt like I was a frozen statue there.
Because he wrapped both arms around me and hugged me.
I hugged him back immediately, making sure I would remember how he hug felt like and if I could keep that in my memory forever and always. He pulled away before I could even do something else about it, and I squeezed our hands together one more time before we separated and he moved away from me a bit.
"S'il vice plaît être sûr?" (Please be safe?) He asked me in French, having me nod.
"Vous aussi," (You as well) I replied back to him, then moving away from him and over to the plane before I knew I was going to make a fool of myself even more in front of him and the others who might be watching. I got my hand on the alpine, hearing Eugene walking away from me and making me wish that I said something else to him, anything else. But nothing was mean to be said as I then saw Captain Josephine look at me with a small smirk on her face. Did she know? Would she know? I was about to say something when she beat me to it.
"I'm not gonna remind you to keep your head straight," She started, having me be ready for anything that she is going to say that could get me in trouble," However, I'm only to say one thing to you."
"Ma'am," I responded back to her now, waiting for the punishment. In return, I got something I did not intend.
"Never took you to go after the silent ones."
June 5th, 1944
Chef-du-Pout, France
2:230 am
I landed on my feet, almost going into a roll before I stopped myself and got my chute off of me in record time. The other girls were landing too, throng off the chutes and we started to run before we should catch a breath within our lungs. It was all so quick, but we were running before we knew it and the town was right in front of us. So far, there was silence and nothing was really heard, except for our plane that was flying away into the darkness of the night.
We landed, and our operation was about to begin.
"Split and surround, now!" Captain Jpsepinge said in a hiss, all of us splitting to where she wanted us to go. I was verging to the right with Harper behind me and a couple of others, going towards the outer ridge of the town and hearing nothing once again, The others were going left and Josephine was going up the middle, all of us were covered in black from our heads under wraps and helmets to our toes, it was as though we were moving within the night.
I got to the town first and I ran my fingers along the wall, trying to feel or any kind of vibrations that could be tipping us off. The other did the same, and so far, nothing was going out of hand. We made it to the first gap where the street was against the town, all of us stopping to hide behind the building there to peer into the town itself. Everything was dark, not a sound was heard as we peer into the square, looking for some kind of sign as to where they were having their base for communication.
Every window in the square was dark, every door was closed, and everything else showed that the war did not taint this place, not yet. I looked across the square over to the middle, where I saw Captain Josephine contorting her body to mold against the large fountain in the middle of the square, her body pressed against the dark marble underneath and near the earth. To the regular eye, she was not seen at all. But to us, we could see her since we were trained to do so.
"Wait for her command," I said behind me to the others, all of whom stayed low to the ground and some of them drew out their knives in case. I looked back to the front once more, seeing her under the fountain and seeing her head inkling over to the side to see anywhere she can. I was watching her carefully, knowing that she would give some kind of signal to move out. Her hands moved out from the fountain, almost over to me and I knew she was about to tell me through her hand signals where she could see they were holding the communications.
Her hand was now making a fist, hitting the ground four times.
"Four houses down," I whispered, seeing her hand move into an open plan facing towards me now and she clicked her fingers three times, " The third floor."
Everything else around s was in silence again as she froze, having me inch my head slightly over in the direction to see why she froze there from telling us what else was there to see. She must have seen something there in the building that she was watching, It took her another moment or two before she moved her hand again and I felt the other behind me getting a bit antsy.
Josephine finally moved, her hand moving again so calmly and I saw her move hold up 5 fingers.
"5 Seconds we move out," I whispered out loud, the other behind me were moving a bit and getting ready to move on her command. I looked behind myself at the others, seeing them with their own knives and small weapons that they had concealed.
"Now," I hissed, all of us running in slowly and staying within the shadows. We moved into the square, staying along the building walls as I scanned the four building, seeing where she was seeing as well and then noticing the small flicker of light there. Bingo. I started to head over in this direction, the girls right behind me as we could then hear, off in the distance, loud heavy bombing that was echoing from far off in the sky.
The boys were now jumping, either that or the Germans were finding them first.
Once we reached the building, I could hear some movement going on inside, but it was quiet enough to believe that nothing too serious was happening there. I got to the door, testing it silently to make sure it was open, in out case, it was closed and lock.
"Harper," I hissed, seeing her creep over now as I pointed to the door. She nodded, getting in front of me and having me watch her get her tools out to unjam the lock. She knew how to hack into doors and other little places, part of the reason why she was in the army any who.
"Viola," She whispered, the door unlocking under her tools and it creaked open slightly. She moved out of the way in time for me to go in first, the first floor was dead quiet and in total darkness. There are stairs on the left going to the second floor, a parlor on the right and a hallway dead on, barely anything there in the entry way as I head some clicks here and there along the second floor above me.
"Three down here, two up with me," I whispered, the group I was with dispersing and I was slowly getting up the stairs without making a sound. The others were still on the first floor when I looked behind me to see Captain Josephine making her way into the house.
"Five others are outside around the perimeter in case we get caught," She whispered to me as she joined me up the stairs.
"We have light noise on the second floor, possibly a third floor, ma'am," I reported to her under my earth as we made our way to the top of the stairs. Once again, the hallway was dark with barely anything there, but I then heard a couple of sets of feet moving around in one of the rooms across the way. I created over to the door, my gun pointing down and Captain Josephine right behind me now as we were standing on either side of the door. She looked right at me, counting down before we would bust the door open and go in there with guns blazing.
Three….two….One.
I kicked the door in, seeing the light hit me and two men in there talking to each other in German before looking over at us in shock. They were Germans, I could see it in their uniform, and within two seconds they were both shot down. It all happened so fast before they could even get their own guns up and ready. As soon as they hit the floor, I walked in with Josephine right behind me as we scanned the room, hearing a bit more commotion upstairs now since the noise was now in motion.
We were discovered.
"Take the others upstairs and I'll find whatever is in here," Captain Josephine ordered me now, having me move out of the room and over to the stairs again, running was heard on the third floor along with Germans barking out orders to one another. Harper was right behind me when we saw a German right at the top of the stairs with a machine gun in hand, having me feel her push me down by my shoulder and chuck the knife in her hand at him, getting him right at the throat and collapsing to the floor with blood on his lips and skin. We bolted up the stairs, my gun in hand now and Harper dashing over to get her knife from the bloody throat of the dead German.
I saw another German rushed over to us with a gun, having me shoot at him before he could hit us while running and he fell while we got to the third floor. I could hear more commotion within those rooms and more of Black Mamba was coming up the stairs and join us there.
"Take the rooms one by one," I ordered them, seeing him move about in pairs to the other rooms and I moved with Harper to the room right ahead of us. We both walked over there, hearing more barking of orders and then the door being kicked open. A German soldier ran out to shoot at us, shooting a couple of time, but we moved out of the way and I almost got grazed when Harper threw her knife out again, hitting him in the arm and having him drop his gun.
Running over I saw him leap at me, but I grabbed his wounded arm, shoving him towards my raised knee and I heard the pop in his head from the contact with my knee. He fell to the ground unconscious as I heard another soldier running over to me. We sparred for a moment or so, me dodging his punches and kicks and I got him to the ground with a firm kick to the groin and I shot at his head once.
Once again, we were succeeding in this mission.
"Over here, Lieutenant," I looked behind me to see Harper at the window now, not directly in front but over to the side as she was looking out in the square. I walked over to her, seeing where she was looking and we both had the same look on our faces: shock. It was the lightning in the sky, or what I thought was lightning at first. But the more I looked at it, hearing the noise in the distance and seeing how rapid the light was coming and going in the black sky, we both knew what that was.
Another raid in another place, far away from here. The war was finally here.
"We need to find the communications and quick," I replied back to her now, seeing her nod and look at the other girls that were coming into our room.
"We found something in the corner room, Lieutenant," One of the girls, Ruth, said to me as she came into the room in a huff. I walked over with her now, away from the window and I could hear more and more girls coming in from the outside and into the house.
"Square is clear," I heard another girl say to Captain Josephine now as she joined us on the third floor. I was still walking over to the room that they pointed out to me, Captain Josephine right behind me as I opened the door and we both looked inside.
"Bingo," Captain Josephine said in a smile now as we found the room as a communication center. papers were piled on top of the table, a radio was set up and still being used and alive there against the window that was showing the green grass and hills behind the town, and a couple of German beer bottles were all around the surfaces in the room.
"This is enough for us to use and to take back to Captain Matthews," Captain Josephine said to me as we were looking at the papers, all of them in German, "Harper, go grab Dunkle for me." Harper ran off as we were going to find out what is said there on the papers. Dunkle was another one of our soldiers, but she was also our German translator since she's of German descent. She knew the language, just like how I knew French.
Dunkle came running in, already getting ready to work with her dutch brands up in a strategic bun and her bandana over her neck now as she was guided over to the table and was looking at the first paper that was there. Her eyes were already scanning as another bomb went off in the distance and some of the girls were looking out the window and out the door as well in case we were going to be seen or spotted.
"These are reports coming in from other areas in France where the Germans are advancing," Dunkle explained now, moving to another paper, "They have different areas under their command and they're waiting for the Americans and English to come,"
"Looks like they are steps ahead of us," Harper said out of the blue.
"But better for us to know these coordinates now than later," Captain Josephine explained to her now as she then looked at Dunkle again and pointed to the papers, "You have the location there in the papers?"
"Yes, Captain," She replied to Josephine.
"Good, I'll radio back to base with Matthews and report to him on what we find. Dunkle stays with me in case we have anyone else listening in, I want Bellerose to take some of the others out into streets and make sure that no one can get in or out of this town. After we talked to Base, we cut the line and we then head out to our companies we are assigned to aid." Josephine said to us all as one more bomb was hard.
Day one of the war was finished.