That day, in Eindhoven, was something that we all needed. We were given incredible meals to warm our bellies. The meals they offered were terrific. We were given roast veal with vegetables and apple sauce and on top of that we were given a glass of delicious milk which I understood to have been produced by local farms.

Holland was a great country; everyone loved us and treated us like celebrities. Some even wanted to take our picture and some wanted us to sign autographs. One woman even told me that, to them, we are angels because we dropped down to them from the sky on a Sunday morning. We were their saviours. They waited long enough for us.

We spent the night in a small town called Tongelre which was on the out skirts of Eindhoven. I found it easy to fall asleep with a belly full of fantastic food. The Dutch sure knew how to cook.

The morning of September 19th we had to move out and march towards Helmond. Most of us travelled on the British Cromwell tanks but the unfortunate ones had to walk along side. I was lucky enough to get a space.

The road was fairly narrow but wide enough to allow the tanks to pass over it. Either side of the road was tall grass and purple and yellow flowers dotted around in clusters within it.

The tanks drove past a sign saying "Nuenen". It jogged my memory of when Webster and I were living together. He often told me random facts and this particular place was somewhere that he had spoken of.

"Hey!" I shouted to Webster on the tank in front of me "Vincent Van Gogh lived in Nuenen right?!"

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

"Yeah!" Web called back with a smile "I just said that to Cobb and Hoob!"

"Bet you didn't think I would remember hu" I said smugly.

"Yeahh, so what" Cobb drawled, clearly not at all impressed by our knowledge.

"Sure do teach a lot of useful stuff at Harvard" Hoob said cheekily.

I could feel Lieb's eyes on me. He was sat to my right next to Skip. I smiled at him and he raised his eyebrows in acknowledgment but wouldn't return one.

"Hey Penk" I leant over to my left and whispered to Penkala "What's Lieb's deal?"

Penkala peered over my shoulder. Lieb was hugging his knees and he looked like he was sulking.

Penkala shrugged "Beats me"

Lieb seemed a little off with me since Aldbourne. He occasionally cheered up and we'd get on as normal but there was clearly something bugging him. I just didn't know what and neither did anyone else, not even Luz.

When we continued along the road we often passed poor Dutch people with ragged clothes. We'd given them all that we could spare but it wasn't much because our supplies were tight. Some of us had already given away our Chocolate to the little kids back in Tongelre and Eindhoven. Webster started that. He always did think of others before himself. We even passed a woman who had obviously slept with the Germans because her head was shaven and laden with cuts and blisters. She even carried a baby with her. My eyeballs began to tickle as tears started to form in my eyes but I never let a tear drop. I understood that those women had to be punished in some way but this was too much. She had a child for godsake.

Beyond Nuenen the tanks stopped. I couldn't see why because the tank in front was shielding my view. Then I heard a gunshot and cries for a medic.

"Move it!" orders were shouted at us "Get into the ditch!"

I jumped off the tanks and headed for a ditch that were either side of the road. My heart pounded in my chest as we all started to fire our weapons in the general direction of the enemy gunshots. Then the Brit tanks started firing so we all laid low.

My ankle started to hurt. It felt like there was a hot pulse twanging in my veins.

"Ouch" I moaned.

"What?!" Doc Roe asked me. I hadn't realised that I was beside him. He examined my with his eyes, trying to find the source of my pain.

"I dunno" I winced "I think I might have twisted my ankle or something when I jumped off the tank and dived into here"

"Keep moving!" Bull shouted at everyone "Get up!"

I tried to stand but Roe pulled me down into the ditch again.

"I'll bandage you up first" he said in his cool calm and collected voice.

"Ok" I nodded and lifted my foot into his lap. Everyone else charged out of the ditch and towards the small town where the fire could be heard.

Doc ripped a piece of bandage and was about to bound it when he suddenly stopped.

"What?!" I demanded. He was staring at my ankle with cold eyes. I peered down at it and saw that it was incredibly swollen. My circular ankle bone was swollen up like a peach.

"It looks like a nasty sprain" he said and wound the bandage tightly around it "It would be better if you stayed here because you need to rest it"

My heart raced in my chest at the thought of abandoning my comrades because of a sprained ankle.

"No!" I shook my head furiously "No, I can manage, thanks Eugene"

His eyes sparkled at the sound of his first name. He nodded and we clambered out of the ditch towards the others up ahead. My ankle still throbbed but I tried to forget the pain by biting down hard on my already chapped lip.

We passed a flaming German tank on the way. The heat from the flames made my hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

I found Lieutenant Welsh and Guarnere crouched behind a wall. Since Welsh was the new second platoon CO I knew I could take orders from him.

I crouched behind the wall beside Welsh and asked "Sir, what do you want me to do?"

"Go with Guarnere; find some more of second platoon!" Welsh nodded to Guarnere.

"Yes, Sir" Guarnere said and I followed him.

The small town was mostly made of stone and there were a lot of green areas. It was mostly quite exposed so we had to sneak along walls and duck behind fences to stay out of sight even though there were no Germans to be seen or any German fire to be heard. The whole company was hiding, just waiting for something to happen.

We met up with Wynn and a lot of others and waited behind a wall of a house for the Germans to expose their position.

The British Tanks began to roll into the town and their squeak was the only thing to be heard. No Germans had shown up still. I thought that maybe they had run away and retreated.

I peered around the wall and saw the Cromwells charging towards something. I looked ahead in the direction that they were travelling...and then I saw it.

"Wynn!" I called out to him and his head popped around the wall to look at what I was staring at.

"Yeah?" he asked, puzzeled "What am I supposed to be look-"

Then he saw it too.

"That's a German Tiger right" I gulped.

"What?!" Guarnere snapped his head round the corner and his eyes widened when he saw it too "Shit..."

"Sergeant Martin!" I called out to Martin who was behind a fence just off from the main road leading through the town with Bull and the replacements.

"If you're on about the Tiger..." Martin replied but didn't even turn his head because he was too busy watching the Cromwells roll towards a death trap "...I already know"

"Someone should stop them!" I yelled.

"I already tried" Martin shook his head "Damn Tommy wouldn't listen to me"

Without thinking I ran out from behind the wall and charged towards the Cromwells.

"Corporal! Shorty!" Guarnere called out to me "What the hell are you doin?!"

I ran out in front of the leading Cromwell, stopping it in its tracks. The English soldier driving it stared in oar.

"You have to stop!" I yelled up to him "There is a Tiger! It's disguised by a mound of hay!"

"Clear off!" he gestured with his hand for me to move aside "I can't shoot the bugger if I can't see him, I've already said that!"

I thought that one English person to another that he might have listened to me. But I was so naive.

A loud screeching of tank wheels could be heard from behind me. My heart stopped. The English guy's eyes blew up in his head as he stared behind me.

"Shorty!" Bull shouted to me.

I quickly ran towards the safety of the fence but I was blown of my feet by the Tiger's fire straight at the Cromwells. I was forced into the fence were Sgt. Martin, Bull and the replacements were hidden. My body collided with the fence and a shard of the broken wood planted itself into my knee.

"Ahh, fucking hell!" I cried out in pain.

Guarnere and Wynn charged over to me and helped Sgt. Martin pull me back and rest me down behind the safety of the wall.

"You idiot!" Guarnere shouted at me "Next time listen to your fucking sergeant, ok Corporal!"

"I'm sorry" I managed to splutter out "Ahh oh god this hurts so much"

The chunk of wood had planted itself so deep into my leg on one side that it stuck out the other. The bugger had gone right through.

"Medic!" Guarnere shouted.

"Fall back!" I could hear someone yelling "Fall back!"

Guarnere nodded to everyone "I'll stay with her, you guys go!"

"No!" I cried "Guarnere go, just leave me!"

"No one gets left behind"

Soon Doc Roe appeared by my side. T

The buildings had started to explode all around us as the Tiger tanks fired its shells.

"Hurt again, Wilson?" he said.

"You know me" I said and winced as he tipped sulpha onto my wound.

"Guarnere, help me lift her" Roe put his arm around me and Guarnere took my legs "I need to remove this splinter as quickly as possible but we can't stay here"

"You call that a splinter?!" I whined.

They carried me through the town and towards the jeeps that were waiting for us on the road. When we reached the jeeps they flung me up onto the back of the truck.

"I need to go back!" Guarnere shouted.

Roe nodded and climbed into the back with me.

"Guarnere!" I called out to him "I'm sorry"

He stopped in his tracks and said "It's okay, Shorty" then disappeared.

"Ok, Wilson this is going to hurt" he explained calmly "Take a deep breath"

"Oh god" I screwed my eyes up and put my fist in my mouth.

"One...two..." Roe clasped the 'splinter' "Three!"

He yanked the wood out of my leg and it felt like he had poured hot tar into my wound.

"Ahhhhh!" I exclaimed and bit down hard on my knuckles "Fuck!"

"The worst is over" Roe said softly and began wrapping my knee with a bandage.

The pain was still unbearable, even with the wretched thing out of my leg.

"Eugene?"

"Wilson?"

"Call me Shorty"

He searched my face with his dark eyes "Okay, Shorty"

"Go back and help someone else, I'll be fine here"

He nodded and said "Okay, just stay put...don't even think about coming back to help, I know what you're like"

I chuckled a little "Ok, Doc"

He jumped down off the truck and I watched him as he ran back towards the other men who were trying to retreat without getting peppered by bullets. By then the Germans had sprang out of hiding and made it hell for Easy to retreat.

I felt so helpless just lieing there, watching everyone struggle. Why didn't I just stay behind that wall like Guarnere had told me to? Why did I always try and be some sort of saint and try and help everyone when it's just wasn't possible?

I tried to sit up but my leg surged with pain with every movement. I forced my knuckles into my mouth, once again, and bit down hard on them to try and distract myself from the pain both in my ankle and my knee. Luckily the injuries were in the same leg so I still had one good one to keep me upright.

I swung my legs over the side of the truck, wincing in pain, and slowly lowered myself to the ground. I grabbed my rifle off the truck and used it as a makeshift walking stick. I knew what I was doing was idiotic but I just couldn't lie there and watch.

I hobbled slowly towards the town. The rifle, keeping me up, shacked in my hand as I tried to move faster.

The closer I thought I got to the town, the more I realised that I wasn't making progress at all. I had only moved about twenty feet from the jeep. My leg started to shake violently and the weight of the rifle just couldn't take the pressure anymore. The rifle slipped from my hand and I fell to the ground in a heap. I clasped my leg in pain and tossed from side to side.

I could hear approaching footsteps. By the sounds of things Easy had finally escaped.

Winters kneeled beside me "What happened?!" he asked.

"My...my leg" I rolled onto one side.

"Wilson!" Doc Roe shouted out to me when he saw me lying on the floor "What did I tell you?!"

"I know I'm sorry, Doc" I flinched and turned to Winters "I'm sorry for getting wounded Sir. I wanted to help so I tried to make my way back but I fell"

Winters smiled down at me and said softly "You don't have to be sorry for anything"

"Geezus Christ" Guarnere moaned when he saw me on the floor.

"Sorry, I wanted to help"

He chuckled "You idiot"

All three of them hoisted me up and carried me back towards second platoon's jeep.

"Rose!" Webster called out to me and jumped off his truck when we passed "What happened!?"

"Long story short Web, I got a splinter in my leg" I explained and laughed through the pain.

"A splinter?" Web asked, a little puzzled.

"Yep" I laughed again "But rather a large one. It wasn't the average sort of splinter"

They carried me away from Web and placed me down on the floor of our truck amidst a sea of feet.

I looked up to see Malarkey, Penkala and Skip sitting on the bench staring at me.

"What the hell happened to you?!" Penkala asked.

"Are you okay?" Skip asked impatiently.

I nodded sarcastically "You I'm great, Skip, real fucking great"

"What the hell happened?!" Malarkey repeated Penk's question.

"Well firstly I sprained my ankle then I got thrown at a wooden fence and bam! a massive big shard of wood found its way into my knee" I explained.

"Holy shit!" Lieb shouted when he made his way into the truck, stepping over me in the process.

"Let Guarnere explain" I said assuming that Lieb would also want to know what happened.

The truck's engines started and they took us away.

That was our first ever company retreat and nobody liked the idea of failure. That attack made me even more doubtful that we would be home by Christmas.

A/N

Guest- It was really nice to read your review! Thank you so much! I'm glad to hear that you had a nice Christmas and I did also thanks. I wonder who you think Rose should go for?

In fact I wonder what you all think. Team Liebgott or Team Webster?

Keep reviewing and letting me know what you think?:)