Easy were called up to a barn of such, five minutes after Winters was called-up.
They were all gathered around a table, with Hall soon standing next to Noelle.
She didn't find it weird at all, that Hall was with them. He only wanted to help, after all. It wasn't like Easy had an entire Platoon doing this objective. But Strayer could only afford to send one Company for this attack, and he chose Easy. It didn't seem to matter that ninety percent of the men were still unaccounted for, but it did feel good to be needed. It gave you confidence. Strayer knew Easy would get the job done, with Winters in command.
"The 88's we've been hearing have been spotted in a field down the road. Major Strayer wants us to take them out". Winters started to explain. Though, they'd soon find out that they weren't 88's at all, they were 105 mm cannons. "There are two guns that we know of, firing on Utah Beach. Plan on a third and fourth, here – and here".
It seemed the Germans were dug in a long and winding trench system, shaped like an L. From the way Winters drew this out, anyway. And he had mentioned hedgerows and a line of tree's covering the trench, the Germans had this battery well-hidden.
"The Germans are in the trenches with access to the entire battery. With machine-gun covering their rear". He continued, "we'll establish a base of fire and move under it hard and fast with two squads of three".
"How many Krauts do you think we're facing?" Guarnere asked.
"No idea".
"No idea?"
Noelle figured that was one of the best questions.
For all they knew, they could have been facing five guns, or maybe even fifteen.
They didn't know anything.
"We'll take some TNT along with us. To spike the guns". Winters said, "Lipton, your responsibility".
It was shaping up to be a very good plan.
"Liebgott, you'll take the first machine-gun, with Petty A-gunner. Plesha, Hendrix, you take the other".
Winters had the covering fire planned out.
"Who does that leave?"
Noelle raised her hand with the rest.
"Compton, Malarkey, Toye, Stewart, Guarnere and Wynn. Okay".
Hall lowered his hand.
"We'll be making the main assault. Understand?"
"Yes, sir".
Winters gave Lipton the nod.
"Alright, let's pack it up, boys – Nelly". Lipton told them all.
"Shouldn't you be outside with the other Able Company guys?" Toye asked Hall.
Guarnere snorted, "see you around, Hall".
Noelle looked up at him, "at least he didn't call 'ye cowboy, John".
He huffed lightly, "right".
She left the barn with Hall and wondered towards Malarkey.
"Just weapons and ammo, Nelly".
Noelle nodded, dropping everything else but her rifle and ammo.
Malarkey looked up, with a tiny smirk. "Looks like Sink's jeep driver is coming along".
"Aye?"
"Yup".
Noelle shrugged, while she placed another round of ammo into a pocket. "Maybe he wants to help".
"What? Like your friend?"
Snorting, she shook her head. "Shut up, Malark".
Smiling a little, Malarkey nudged her arm. "What're you feeling about this?"
"Nothing". She said, "just want to help".
"You'll be fine". Malarkey said, "just – don't be a hero, okay?"
Noelle frowned, looking up at him.
He sighed, "use your head, Nelly, like you always do".
She raised her eyebrows, "what?"
"Come on…".
"You're mad, Malark".
…
The battery was at this large farm house, also known as Brecourt Manor. It had a huge field in front of it, with hedgerows all around. The hedgerows in Normandy were bad news. They were cement like walls, branches all entwined, they had been growing for seven hundred years. They were thick, ten feet high, six feet wide. You couldn't see over them, you couldn't jump over them, not even a tank could get through them. A tank had to have a special big iron fork to cut through those spawns of demons. Hedgerows were a perfect place for Germans to dig in and hide. And they were told the hedgerows would only be around a few feet high, they thought they could jump over the damn things.
Well, they all had to go under them.
Most of the holes were tiny.
Noelle's slight frame came in handy.
Someone had gone back and grabbed a trench tool, handing it to her.
The hole was small but big enough for Noelle to get under.
Winters told her to widen the hole, so they could all fit.
And she did just that. It didn't take her long, the gun-fire from the 105's made her speed up. The mud wasn't that firm either, it was moist and easy to dig up. Noelle had created the perfect hole for the others and made it to the other side. Only to stay low, because she was now in an open field. From the end of the field, she could see an abandoned truck, the gun-fire was coming from over there.
Lipton's was the first head to poke out.
"Stay low". She warned him quietly.
Lipton called through the tunnel, warning the rest to stay low.
When everyone was out, they proceeded down the field.
Lipton, Buck and Winters were at the end of the field, sussing out what they had. From the truck, Winters formed a plan of action. He planned to attack the first gun closest to their current position first, they had about a two-hundred-yard run of open field to cover before reaching the trench and first gun. The Germans had a machine-gun firing out from across the field. Only, the Germans wouldn't expect an attack from the open field. Winters put Plesha and Petty on one machine-gun, giving them covering fire to advance across the field, while Guarnere, Malarkey and Buck secured the gun. Lipton and Ranney would give them more covering fire from their right flank, and the rest would advance across the field with Winters.
Noelle moved into position with Toye and Popeye, staying hidden among the trees.
At the word go, Winters signalled for Petty and Lorraine to open fire.
The German machine-gun let rip as well. But the Germans in the trench, they stayed down, hiding their heads from getting hit. There was fire coming at them from three sides, you'd hide too. Toye had made sure to spread Noelle and Popeye out, to confuse the Germans further. While Winters shot a few feet away from their covering fire.
Once the first gun was secured, Winters called for everyone to move out.
"Let's go! Follow me!"
Lorraine, Liebgott, Noelle, Popeye and Toye all ran behind Winters.
Noelle could feel her heart in her throat, she felt like she had the strength of an ox. She was a superhero, totally invisible. Nothing could touch them. They were going at it hard, the Germans didn't stand a chance!
Because of this surprise attack, the Germans were running all over the trench and out onto the field. They made an easy target, when they ran across the field. But the Germans who ran through the trench, that was always a heart stopping moment. Who'd get the first shot? Who was going to get hit that day?
When they jumped right into that trench, Noelle had to quickly position her rifle and shoot down a German who was running right at them. He was yelling, holding up a stick grenade, prepared to die along with the explosion. Noelle had never seen that before, shooting someone so close, almost face to face. And when dropped to the ground, like a sack of potatoes, Noelle didn't feel anything.
"Fuck, my ass!"
Popeye cried, while falling into the trench.
Noelle turned around, Popeye was down.
He got shot in the arse.
She helped him onto his stomach, Toye soon ran over to the pair of them.
"I'm sorry, sir!" Popeye yelled.
Amongst all the grenade tossing, machine-gun fire and rifles, Popeye shouted the loudest. Two years of working hard and you get shot on the first day of combat. No wonder Popeye felt defeated.
"It's 'no bad!" Noelle told him, "you'll be back!"
He looked at her for a moment, "you think so, Nelly?!"
She nodded, "aye, 'a do!"
Some of the Germans started to retreat across the field, making them an easy target. It was like a duck shoot. Noelle was on the edge of the trench, tossing out a grenade, and then firing out. She wasn't sure how many she had hit just then but seeing one of her friends get shot like that, it hit a nerve. And Noelle used that aggression, hitting the enemy hard and fast with her friends.
You had to be careful of grenades, they'd roll right into the trench.
If you were quick enough, you could pick it up and throw it out.
Noelle did that a few times, as did the others. You only had around five seconds. But it was possible. And if you couldn't pick it up, you'd just dive in the other direction and take cover. Someone would always warn you of a grenade, so you'd always know when to move.
Which happened with Toye.
"Joe! Roll out!" Winters hollered.
Toye jumped on top of Popeye, the grenade went off behind him.
Of course, the wounded man underneath him had a few chosen curse words, Toye landed on his wounded arse. But they both came out of it unharmed. Noelle and Guarnere couldn't believe it.
"You're one lucky bastard, Joe!" Guarnere said.
Malarkey, Guarnere, Lorraine and Noelle all got back towards the first gun.
Winters wanted it secured, while he, Buck and Toye took the second gun.
The only problem was, the bullets were pouring at them like rain.
They had around twelve Easy Company guys, while there was around forty Germans out there, shooting at them from all sides. They were outnumbered but the Germans didn't need to know that, that's why they had to move hard and fast. If the Germans knew how little they were facing, they'd all be dead.
Every time they raised their hands, a bullet pinged against the gun.
"Jesus Christ!" Guarnere exclaimed.
He got them all into position.
The Germans were ducking up and down in a ditch across the field from them.
It was like a game at the funfair.
Noelle re-took her cover, putting in a magazine.
She realised that her supply was limited and wondered if everyone was the same. She'd need to shoot more carefully now, if that was even an option.
God, her heart was pounding.
This was the weirdest day of her life.
Now, they just needed Lipton with the TNT. Lipton and Ranney, who were both up a skinny tree, saw that they had secured the first gun and began to climb down from the tree. Problem was, they had to get across that field, which was next to impossible with the amount of fire which was headed their way. But they didn't know that at the time.
"We need Lip!" Malarkey yelled.
"A' was thinking that!" Noelle responded.
"Stop thinking, just shoot!" Guarnere shouted.
Nodding, she looked back across the field, doing as was instructed.
Promotions were made on the spot.
They had no idea where Diel was, so Guarnere took over as Platoon Sargent and Malarkey took over as mortar Sargent. Winters was made Company Commander too. So, Noelle wouldn't argue with Guarnere, or try to think of an excuse for "thinking". But it was good to see his rage was being put to good use.
Petty and Liebgott soon came into the trench with their machine-gun.
While Malarkey's eyes wondered towards the open field.
"I think one of those dead Krauts has a Luger!"
Noelle pulled a face, slowly turning to look at him.
"Yeah? So, what!?" Guarnere yelled.
And soon, Malarkey got on his feet and bolted.
She couldn't believe her eyes.
"Don!" Noelle screamed.
Malarkey sprinted across the field, no bullets fired his way.
He got down on his knees, searching the dead German.
But it wasn't a Luger, it was a gun-sighting device.
"Christ! They must think he's a medic or something!" Petty exclaimed.
"He's 'gonna need a Goddamn medic!" Guarnere snapped.
Noelle swallowed, gut twisting with horror.
And it got worse, when Malarkey started to make his way back, the Germans caught on that he wasn't a medic after all and fired right at him. Malarkey slipped, Noelle gasped. He got back up, zig-zagging his way back to the gun, to a safer point.
"Forgot your 'frigging Luger? Or should I go get it for you, you stupid mick?" Guarnere was pissed, Noelle was pissed, even Winters had called him an idiot, while he ran over to them. But Malarkey looked a little shaken, he was inches from getting shot. Noelle didn't know how he came out of that unharmed, or alive, for that matter.
Noelle sat down next to Malarkey, back pressing up against the mud and sandbags.
She gave his arm a slap, "'awright?!"
He gave her a tiny nod.
She looked back down at her rifle, taking out the empty magazine and replacing it with a new one. Winters soon slid down next to her. He reached over her and Malarkey and gave Guarnere's arm a nudge.
"Where's Lipton with that TNT?!"
Guarnere shook his head, "don't know, sir!"
Winters then gave Noelle's arm a gentle nudge, "how are you for ammo?!"
"Two rounds left, sir!"
He then moved over towards Liebgott, asking him the same question.
It seemed they all needed ammo.
"Hiya, cowboy!" Guarnere yelled, looking across the trench.
Noelle followed his gaze and saw Hall, who was with Captain Hester.
"Shut your fucking guinea trap, Gonorrhoea!" Hall fired back.
She grinned.
"He's alright, that kid!" Guarnere stated to Noelle and Malarkey.
"You need help?!" Hester asked Winters loudly.
"I need ammo, sir, lots of it!" He replied, "and TNT!"
"I've got TNT, sir!" Hall replied.
God bless John Hall.
"Good job, Private!" Winters said.
While the pair of them set up destroying their first gun, Noelle, Malarkey and Guarnere provided them with good covering fire from their current position. Though, she was very careful with her ammo, they still had two guns to secure. The third and the fourth gun. Buck and Toye were still at the second gun.
Hall placed the TNT into the cannon, Winters used a German stick grenade to set it off with.
"Fire in the hole!"
They all took cover, bracing themselves for impact.
It was loud but it didn't shake the earth.
"Plesha, covering fire. Third gun, here! Lorraine, grab some more of those potato mashers and follow me! Malarkey, Stewart, Hall, you too, go!"
Soon, the four of them were running behind Winters through the trench.
Noelle stayed low, knowing she was running low on ammo.
But she had enough to secure another gun.
And when they reached the other two, Buck picked Malarkey and Noelle to go with him to take the third gun. They sprinted down that trench, chasing after the Lieutenant. Once they reached the gun, it was grenades first and they shot down the remaining Germans by the gun.
Noelle crawled towards the side of the trench, realising now that she had no ammo left.
While cursing to herself, she then noticed that Hall wasn't behind them.
Frowning, Noelle looked back up towards Buck and Malarkey, thinking maybe Hall had took some cover close to them but he wasn't there. Her heart sank a little, only thinking the worst. Rubbing her lips together, she slowly moved away from the gun and headed towards a dug out, an under-pass the Germans had dug to reach this gun.
When she reached the under-pass, Noelle found Hall.
He was lying on the ground, bullet through the head.
A sniper must have got him.
"Thumper!" Buck was yelling, probably wondering where she gotten to.
Noelle slowly sat on her knees, looking down at Hall.
It was a strange feeling, losing a friend.
Noelle wondered how Hall's best buddies would react to his death.
She tore off his tags, placing them into her pocket.
Noelle would give these tags to his friends from Able.
Taking in a few deep breaths, she gathered herself and got back onto her feet. Noelle ran out of the under-pass and back towards the third gun. Malarkey gave her arm a nudge, while she leaned against the sandbags, not being able to fire out.
Noelle shook her head, "John's dead!"
His face dropped, "Nelly, I'm – it's 'gonna be okay!"
She gave him another nod.
Noelle knew she couldn't think about it, they had to finish the job.
That's just how it was. If you lost a friend, you had to keep moving. You'd be dead otherwise and Noelle didn't want to die on this objective. Her body was still pumping with adrenaline, they had hit those Germans with such a remarkable force.
Winters came out from the under-pass, TNT in his hands.
He looked over at Noelle, who was bracing herself against the sandbags.
"Buck! Take the TNT!"
"You've got it, chief – Malarkey, cover me!"
Winters got down beside her, "no ammo, trooper?!"
Noelle shook her head, "no, sir!"
He must have seen Hall, he obviously did.
Noelle tried not to think about. She wished she had ammo.
"Winters!" Speirs was soon there, guys from his rifle Platoon with him. "Hester said you needed more ammo!"
"Malarkey, Stewart – take as much as you can for everyone!" Winters instructed them.
Together, Noelle and Malarkey placed machine-gun ammo around their necks, grabbed a ton of magazines and mortar rounds, before they ran back towards the first gun, where Guarnere and the others were. They handed out ammo for everyone, making sure the machine-gunners had enough for their withdrawal. When they got back to the third gun, Petty had been shot in the neck, Winters wanted them both on the machine-gun between the first and second German guns.
Noelle acted as his assistant gunner, while he aimed and fired out.
She fed the rounds into the gun, ducking her head every now and then to avoid the empty shells from hitting her in the face. It was a good thing they studied other weapons they might have to use and trained hard with them, or else they'd be clueless on what to do next. They fired that machine-gun out for an hour, until Winters had them move west to disrupt any German infiltration coming in from behind them.
They threw five or six grenades down the hedgerow when they heard German voices from the opposite side from the hedgerow. They hit anything that moved, a couple of Germans crossing the west, a few running back towards another side of the trench. Their position was good, though almost wide open, if it wasn't for the hedgerows offering them good cover.
Speirs and his guys secured the fourth gun and they all had to withdraw, leaving some of the German machine-gun nests. They had killed fifteen Germans, while they lost four men, with two wounded. They'd taken twelve prisoners, scattering the rest but Winters had a plan to finish what they had started.
Toye noticed a barn and the three of them ran over there for a little shut-eye.
"Where the hell's your helmet, Malark?" Toye asked.
Noelle was leaning against a bale of straw.
"Left it back under that gun". Malarkey replied, while sitting down next to Noelle, Toye sat on her other side, she was now squished in the middle. And they had been awake for two days, Malarkey ended up nodding off. Noelle couldn't sleep, still pumped with adrenaline. Toye had his eyes closed, though wasn't asleep.
She sat there, hands resting on her knees, staring at that barn door.
And it opened, twenty minutes later.
"Malark, Nelly, Toye". It was Winters, "Let's go. Hang tough!"
Winters had secured four Sherman tanks, coming inland from Utah beach. They went back to Brecourt Manor, aiming to get rid of the machine-gun nests and take down the hedgerows. Guarnere, Toye, Malarkey and Noelle all ran beside the tanks. Toye got on a machine-gun, Noelle assisted him, while Malarkey and Guarnere fired out a round from their mortar. There wasn't any German opposition, they were overrun by their constant firing and the Sherman's blasting the nests. Some of the enemy were fleeing, most of them were dead. More than a dozen horses had been killed. Smoke from small fires rose in the air. And it all went quiet. Finally.
Noelle leaned back against her hands on the muddy soil, letting out a quiet sigh.
Toye took his hands off the machine-gun. "Good job, kid".
She swallowed, "you too, Joe".
…
They reached the causeway that had been secured and set up a defensive position.
They were in some bombed-out village of Culoville, it was around eight at night.
The guys from Brecourt, they all gathered around each other in the back of this truck, where Malarkey was cooking rations into a giant pot over a small gas burner. They started to talk about the events which happened during the assault. They learned Lipton and Ranney went up a tree, they beasted Malarkey for running across a field and then discussed Speirs, who ran on top of the trench with his men, practically securing that fourth gun himself because most of his men got shot down.
They each had moments where they stood out.
Winters, of course, who led the entire objective.
Buck, who crashed into that first gun first, not knowing what to expect on the other side.
Guarnere, for leading them back to the first gun.
And Hall, for bringing along the TNT.
"And Nelly, for digging that hole, huh?" Lipton said, giving her shoulder a clap.
She shook her head.
"Come on, Thumper". Buck said, "we'd still be on the other side of that damn hedge".
Noelle left the truck before food was served, promising she'd be back soon.
She had to give Hall's tags to his friends.
And it wasn't hard to spot one of Hall's friends from Able.
He was sitting on the bottom of a step, staring out into space.
Noelle took in a quiet breath, sitting next to him.
He snapped back into reality, looking down at her. "Easy?"
She nodded and reached into her pocket. "Here".
Noelle placed Hall's tags into his hands.
"It's John's".
Sighing, he looked down at the tags. "We enlisted together, you know".
She frowned, staring down at her knees.
"He was a good buddy". He said softly, "he did a brave thing, huh?"
Noelle nodded, "aye, he did".
He cleared his throat, "uh – thanks".
"It's 'awright". She whispered.
Giving her arm a squeeze, he got onto his feet and left.
The adrenaline had officially left her.
Noelle's hands were shaking, and she felt exhausted.
Leaning back against the wall, Noelle placed her hand on the side of her head and leaned against the bricks, eyes closing. She just needed to close her eyes for a few moments, before getting up and heading back to that truck with her friends.
It was a very strange first day.
Though extremely rewarding.
Surviving that, was very strange for Noelle, she didn't expect to live through it. Not with her brain, not with her slow mind. But she did. For some reason, Noelle dodged the bullets, followed out every order and was a part of an extraordinary squad of men who saved the day.
And now, she was sleeping on a set of stairs, almost curled up into a ball.
Noelle had only dozed off for around ten minutes, until someone gave her a gentle shake.
Opening her eyes, Noelle pulled herself away from the wall and looked up.
Her face melted into nothing but relief and softness.
"Hi".
It was Muck, Penkala and Jackson.
Oh, thank God they were okay.
Noelle rubbed her eyes, letting out a shaky breath.
"Hey, Nelly". Muck crouched in front of her, "some-day, huh?"
Noelle took in a couple of breaths, getting a hold of herself.
She nodded.
Muck placed a hand on her shoulder, "where's Don?"
She uncovered her eyes, "in a truck".
He smiled, "let's go see him".
Taking her hand, Muck pulled them both onto their feet.
Jackson wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "miss me?"
She choked out a tiny laugh, "a little, aye".
A lot of guys had turned up that night.
And it was a relief to see each and everyone of them.
They slept outside that night, each beyond the point of exhaustion.
They'd sleep anywhere, no one cared. They were used to it from training.
Though, for being summer, it was pretty cold and wet in Normandy.
Noelle and Toye and dug in a nice little foxhole, a perfect size for two.
The pair of them leaned back, staring up at the sky.
"I'll be seeing you.
In all the old familiar places.
That this heart of mine embraces.
All day and through".
Noelle's lips twitched.
Toye wasn't the worlds best singer but he sure sounded good out here.
"In that small cafe.
The park across the way.
The children's carousel.
The chestnut trees.
The wishing well".
She closed her eyes, enjoying the song.
"I'll be seeing you.
In every lovely summer's day.
In everything that's light and gay.
I'll always think of you that way-"
"I'll find you in the morning sun".
Grant joined in.
"And when the night is new.
I'll be looking at the moon.
But I'll be seeing you".
She ended up falling asleep. Even if both men were off-key and not in time with each other, their deep voices put her to sleep. Toye was humming the last two verses of the song, while he took out a blanket from his bag and placed it over Noelle, she had lost her blanket. And it wasn't raining at the moment, so his blanket wouldn't get wet.
"Oh, are we done with singing?" Malarkey asked from behind them.
"Yup". Toye said through a sigh, "you want another?"
"No". He smirked, "I 'wanna sleep, Joe".
"Then sleep, you stupid mick". Guarnere grunted from another hole.
Toye sighed in content and leaned back against the mud, crossing his arms.
It was a quiet night, most of the guys had passed-out as soon as their foxholes were dug-up.
Though Toye would like to think his singing helped.
And it did. Though he was a better soldier than singer, Toye's singing lifted the morale. Everyone loved, "I'll be seeing you", it was a song which was re-released for the boys heading off to war and it was very popular on the radio. It just so happened that Billie Holiday covered it, Noelle's favourite singer.
She once said to Penkala, "'am 'gonna meet her one day".
"Yeah?" He replied, "what're you 'gonna say to her?"
Noelle had shrugged, "marry me?"
He got a kick out of that.
Noelle was only half serious.