On the 2nd of October, Easy Company moved to the Island by truck.
They crossed the bridge at Nijmegan that had been captured by the 82nd on September the 20th. Once over the Waal, the trucks took them some fifteen kilometres, past dozens of British camouflaged artillery pieces, to the village of Zetten.
They arrived at night, to relieve the 43rd British Division. The 506th were taking over a stretch of the front line that had been held by an entire division. It was over six miles in length. 2nd Battalion were put on the right (east), with Easy on the far right with the 501st PIR to it's right. Easy had to cover almost three kilometres with only one hundred and thirty men.
British soldiers met the Company in Zetten and led them to their new positions.
It was a three-hour march.
And their position was a clump of houses nestled beside a huge dike. The Lower Rhine was on the other side of the dike, with a kilometre or so of flat and soggy grazing land between it and the dike. The area was littered with dead animals, soldiers, empty machine-gun belts and ammo boxes.
This was no-man's land.
Winters placed 2nd and 3rd Platoons out on the line, along the south side of the dike, with 1st Platoon in reserve. He placed outposts along the dikes that he calculated were most likely enemy infiltration positions. And they kept in contact with each other through radios, wire and contact patrols. Winters then set up his CP at Randwijk.
It was cold and dreary.
They all dug in and made their foxholes.
Abbey tried to ignore many disturbing things around her.
Rats didn't seem to be a great issue for her.
But the pigs turned her stomach.
The pigs were in ditches, eating the dead.
They would snort, oink and squeal, while they tore a body apart. Abbey could hear their teeth bite onto the bones and the first time she heard it, the trench tool dropped from her hands and landed on top of Toye. He tutted and picked the tool up from the ground.
"Hey – get back to work".
Abbey swallowed and grabbed her trench tool again.
This was an awful place.
Once the foxhole was completed, they sat down in the wet mud.
Like always, it was raining.
The raindrops tapped against their helmets, preventing anyone from sleeping. Abbey could still hear those pigs as well, which made matters worse. She even turned her head to the side, setting the noisy pigs a glare. Who, of course, didn't even notice or care for her.
But there was no rest for the wicked.
Winters wanted a three-man patrol.
Toye picked Campbell to lead, with Nelson and Abbey going with him.
She preferred it actually. At least she'd be away from those pigs.
The three of them walked over to Winters, who was standing waiting for them.
"Head to the riverbank, watch out for any enemy movement". Winters told them, "take notes of anything you see, report back to CP in a few hours".
"Yes, sir".
Getting over that dike was their first hurdle.
At the top, there was a wide two-way road and on the other side, was the field.
Campbell took the lead and got his patrol over the road and down the dike.
The three of them landed in the soggy field.
Abbey's boot got stuck in the swampy mud.
She tried to take a step forward but fell face first instead.
Nelson sighed and reached down, helping her up.
"This field is horrible". Campbell commented.
"No, shit". Nelson grunted, while he pulled Abbey's boot free.
She wiped the mud off her face with a tiny shudder.
He smiled a little and clapped her shoulder.
"Yeah…this is hell, Abbey".
Campbell faced the front again.
"Alright, let's get across this field".
Being covered in mud was just apart of her life now.
Abbey was used to it.
But the stress of everything was hard to push down sometimes. So, while they crossed the field, she counted back from sixty in her head and tried to stop herself from lashing out. It wouldn't do them any good if she decided to get angry, the Germans would surely kill them. She tried to focus on the task at hand; crossing the field and looking out from the riverbank. It was a good position to spot enemy movement. If the Germans needed to attack, they'd have to come from across the Rhine.
Nelson had the large radio strapped to his back.
If they came under fire, they'd call in for support.
Both artillery and more guys from Easy.
They reached the end of the field and took cover behind bushes and trees. Campbell put them both into position, Abbey was facing the left-hand side of the river. Her two friends were close by, Nelson was looking at the right and Campbell was staring straight ahead.
Three hours they had to stay there.
And so far, they didn't see anything.
They sat there, getting soaked from the rain and felt cold.
October in Holland was a rainy month.
Nights were cold, mornings were bitter and frosty.
"Hey, Abbey?" Nelson whispered.
"What?" She mumbled.
He licked his lips, hiding a smile.
"You remember when you and Cobb did that hand-to-hand combat match?"
She frowned a little.
Nelson continued, "you know, you got a good right-hook". He said, "I felt it myself".
Campbell frowned this time, "when the hell did she punch you?"
"Oh, we used to hate each other".
Abbey shook her head.
"No, I never hated you". She said, "I do not hate anyone".
Nelson cleared his throat, "well – I tripped her up, she was on top of me and punched me".
"You're an asshole". Campbell muttered, "the hell you tripping Abbey up for?"
"I was an asshole". He said, "Abbey's my friend – heck, she's my sister".
Abbey tried to ignore a warm feeling spread through her stomach.
That was nice.
She bit her lip, "Abbey can hear you".
Nelson snorted, "sorry, Abbey".
Campbell looked over and smiled at her.
"She's the Easy Company sister".
A nice silence past them.
Abbey's head was trying to process all of that, while her eyes stayed focused on what was in front of her. But it was hard to ignore. The men liked her, she had friends and Abbey trusted them all. She enjoyed being around them and hated being apart from them.
Smiling a little, Abbey allowed that warm feeling to spread.
And she felt happy, for the first time in a while.
The good feeling stayed with her, throughout that patrol.
Even when they got back and Abbey was met with noisy pigs, it didn't dampen her mood. She got back into her foxhole with Toye, sat on wet mud and felt the happiest she had felt in a very long time. Leaning back, Abbey placed her hands on the back of her head and looked up towards the sky. The rain wasn't so hard anymore. And soon, they all saw American B-24s flying over them.
"Go get 'em!" Heffron and a few others yelled.
It was a nice moment, reminding them, that they weren't alone after all.
…
Sargent Youman picked Liebgott, Lesniewski and Abbey to go on a patrol with him, Alley and Strohl. Winters wanted them to occupy an outpost in a building near a windmill on the south bank of the dike. The building was beside a north-south road that ran to a ferry crossing on the river to the north, back to the small village of Nijburg to the south.
The mood was fairly relaxed.
It was October 5th, around 0330 hours.
And so far, they hadn't made any contact with the enemy.
Patrols were always sent out at night. They never lifted their heads during the day. So, they were covered by darkness when they set off for the dike. Youman was in the front, Abbey was to his left, with Liebgott on the right. Lesniewski was point man, with Strohl and Alley at the rear.
When they reached the road, Youman ordered Lesniewski to go to the top of the dike to look things over, while the rest took cover. He went up, Abbey crouched down and got ready to fire if need be. And she looked to her right, to check on Liebgott but the man wasn't there.
Abbey frowned.
Where did he go?
All was quiet, when they heard German voices. They were coming from the north side.
"Is that you, Youman?" Leibgott called out.
Then, Lesniewski called out; "grenade!"
Everyone got down and took cover.
The potato -masher was tossed towards them.
And more stick grenades followed after.
When they exploded, it almost blew Alley to pieces.
Abbey rolled onto her side and felt something hot and sharp slice against her hand.
But nothing compared to what Alley was going through.
She grabbed her hand, trying to cut off the bleeding.
Abbey then pushed herself towards Alley, making sure he was still alive.
"Alley, can you hear me?!" She called out loudly.
The Germans continued to hit them.
Abbey looked up and saw the faint out-line of an MG-42.
"Youman! We have to fall-back!" She yelled.
The Sargent was already getting Strohl and Liebgott up.
"Joe – help Abbey with Alley, let's go!"
Alley was alive.
But he was seriously wounded. A blast of shrapnel left wounds in his left side, face, neck and arm. He was groaning, very faintly but never complained once from the pain. Abbey placed her good hand on the side of his neck, trying to stop the bleeding. When Lesniewski came over, he grabbed one arm and Abbey had the other. Together, they dragged Alley back towards CP, which was one kilometre away through a soggy and wet field.
"What happened…". Alley mumbled, "what's – what's this?"
"It's okay". Abbey said back to him, "we are almost there".
They finally reached the barn, Liebgott and Youman opened the doors.
"We've got wounded!" He announced.
Immediately, Winters got up and they all cleared a space on the table for Alley.
Someone went off to fetch a medic.
Abbey was standing by the table, hand still on Alley's arm.
"Where was it?" Winters asked.
"Crossroads". Liebgott replied, "where the road crosses the dike".
"Force unknown". Abbey mumbled, looking at the Captain. "Lesniewski spotted a MG-42, before they hammered us with potato-mashers, sir".
She then looked over at Liebgott, who had a bandage pressed against his wounded neck.
Lesniewski looked over at him, "if it wasn't for your loudmouth, they'd have never known we was there".
"Hey…you know what, Joe? Back off-"
"no, he is not to blame". Abbey cut them both off, "they had spotted us already".
Small argument forgotten about; Winters went into action.
"Lesniewski, send a runner for Lieutenant Welsh. Lipton assemble me a squad".
"Yes, sir – first squad, on your feet!" Lipton called, "weapons and ammo only!"
Abbey and Liebgott weren't about to sit this one out.
With everything at the ready, they left the barn and headed towards the dike.
It gave her a sense of dread, going back to where Alley had almost died.
But still, Winters was with them.
And that made her feel slightly better about things.
Abbey was behind Boyle, who had come along with his radio.
In front of Boyle was Floyd, with Winters in the lead.
They were walking below the dike, where Youman's patrol had just come back from. And while walking, Abbey bandaged her hand to save herself from getting an infection. Just as she was tying the knot, a blast from an MG-42 sounded and broke the silence.
Everyone got down and took cover.
Abbey's back was pressed up against wet grass, Boyle was in front of her.
She could hear Floyd and Winters exchange quiet words.
"MG-42?" The Platoon Sargent asked.
"Yeah". The Captain confirmed.
"What the hell are they shooting at?" He asked, "what's down that road?"
"Regimental Head Quarters". Winters replied, "but that's three miles away. Why are they giving away their position?"
There was a moment of silence.
"They ain't as smart as me and you?" Came Floyd's remark.
Abbey's lips twitched.
"Sarcasm". She whispered.
Liebgott snorted from beside her.
Winters had to check things out before he got the rest of the patrol moving.
He crawled up the dike and disappeared from sight, after giving Floyd the order to wait for his signal. Abbey watched him go, hoping he'd be okay. It would be terrible if anything happened to their CO. The MG-42 would blast every so often, Abbey was biting down on her lip, while she sat in the tense silence between the burst of fire.
She then thought about Toye.
Abbey looked at Liebgott.
"Joe's going to kill us for coming along".
Liebgott shook his head.
"Don't worry about it". He whispered back, "it'll be fine".
"We never informed him". Abbey mumbled.
He found it a little amusing.
Abbey was more worried about how their squad leader would react, rather than the patrol. He sighed a little, shaking his head – Abbey sure had changed since Toccoa. But in the best way possible. Liebgott gave her shoulder a gentle nudge.
"Don't be worried, alright?" He assured her, "Toye won't be mad".
Abbey sighed a little.
She turned to face the dike again.
"I hope you are right, Lieb".
Winters appeared, giving Floyd the hand signal to get moving.
First, they climbed up the dike.
Then, they landed on the bottom by the road.
After a few moments, once they were all together, they crossed the road and headed down another dike, to where Winters was. The machine-gunners were set up on the top of the dike, while the rest of them stayed crouched with their Captain, waiting further instructions.
"This is our fall-back position, here!" He said, in a loud whisper. "Mortars, deploy here! First squad, on me!"
After receiving a nod, Winters sent the mortars off.
"Go!"
The patrol split up, while the rest followed their Captain through a long ditch.
They stayed in a crouched position, running forwards towards the road.
Abbey could hear the Germans talk and held her breath.
Two hundred metres from their position, Winters raised his hand, clenched it into a fist and the patrol halted and took cover. Then, the Captain moved forwards on his own to scout the situation. It was another tense few moments. Abbey's fingers tapped quietly against her rifle, while her eyes looked ahead.
Winters was on the top of the hill, looking onto the road.
He didn't stay there for long and eventually turned, giving Floyd the signal to move up, very quietly. Back on their feet again, the squad carefully crawled up the hill and got into their positions. Abbey got in beside Liebgott and took cover behind a small molehill of dirt. She could see the Germans very clearly now.
They were wearing long coats.
They looked like the SS.
Which took an unexpected turn.
Abbey didn't expect to see them lurking on the road.
She reached for her rifle and set it up on the edge of the small dirt hill.
Winters went around each man, giving them a target.
He gave one to Liebgott, then whispered hers into her ear.
Abbey looked through her sight and set it.
She followed her target around because he wouldn't stop moving.
The man was shooting down the dike at something.
His gun was blasting white sparks.
Still, she followed him carefully.
And it was strange, seeing a target so clearly and following him around.
He had no idea he was about to die.
None of them did.
They had to wait for Winters signal before they started firing.
And it seemed to go on forever.
Abbey breathed in the thick tension, while her finger gently rested against the trigger. She had one eye closed, the other dead set through her sight and on her target. Rubbing her lips together, she took in a breath.
Bap!
Winters took the first shot.
And breathing back out again, Abbey took her shot.
Her target's shoulder dropped.
She shot him again.
His knees gave way.
Sighing, Abbey bit down on her lip, shaking her head.
"Fall-back!" Winters ordered loudly.
Swallowing, she shot him again and left the position.
Their mortars went off.
And it started to rain with bullets.
Back down in the ditch, they sprinted to their fall-back position.
"Higgins!" Winters yelled, "handful of Krauts, based on the dike, twelve o'clock!"
Soon, they were all getting into a firing position.
Abbey was shooting out across the field.
It stretched two hundred metres.
Finding targets was fine, Abbey just aimed for the flashing white lights in the distance, which came out from the Germans guns. They were receiving some serious flak, however. The MG-42 fire was powerful and fierce. Their mortars were doing a good job of hitting those targets, but it seemed more and more Germans were firing back at them.
Winters spread everyone out.
Giving off the impression they had more men than the Germans might have thought.
Abbey was on his far right.
Winters was on the radio, which was attached to Boyle's back.
"Harry! Tell Peacock to bring up the balance of 1st Platoon on the double! And another machine-gun squad, over!"
Abbey took back cover when her clip ran out.
"Dukeman!" Winters yelled, "go get that machine-gun on the right flank, go!"
She put another clip in and was about to turn around and start firing again, when Dukeman let out a long sigh and flopped to the ground in front of her. It happened very quickly, Abbey almost thought he might have fainted.
Moving over to him, she soon saw something sticking out from his chest. A chunk of steel went through his shoulder blade and came out through his chest. Abbey's hands were shaking ever so slightly, while they hovered above the blade.
Luz looked over at them.
"Fuck – Dukeman's down!" He yelled, before firing back out.
Biting her lip, Abbey shouldered her rifle and grabbed Dukeman under the armpits.
She'd just need to drag him back to CP and get a medic.
Abbey wasn't as close to Dukeman as Blithe was.
But Dukeman was always kind towards everyone.
And the best she could do, was get him back with Easy and seen by a medic.
Abbey dragged Dukeman back through that ditch and decided to go the way they came, but further down the dike to keep them both safe from the enemy spotting them. Dukeman wasn't a small guy, he was tall and well-built. Abbey was pretty small compared to him, but the adrenaline kept her going at a decent enough pace.
Once she reached the bottom of the dike, Abbey took in a deep breath.
This was going to be a challenge.
Halfway up the dike, Abbey fell on her bum.
She almost lost her grip on Dukeman.
"Sorry, Bud". Abbey mumbled, "I still have a firm hold of you, however".
Getting back onto her feet, she continued to drag Dukeman up the rest of the dike. And thanks to their covering fire, Abbey crossed the road without any issues, before she made it towards the next dike. Coming down from that dike was hard, she didn't know how she did it. And all the while, she'd inform Dukeman of what was happening.
"It's a little slippery". She said, "but it's okay…I think we'll manage just fine".
Down from the dike was the field.
They were almost at CP; Abbey could see the barn.
Crossing the field went without further injury.
But it was difficult, even more so than last time.
Halfway across the field, Abbey's boot got stuck in the swampy mud.
Biting down on her bottom lip, she gave her leg a tug.
And she didn't budge.
"Fuck". Abbey whispered.
Licking her bottom lip, she had no other choice but to lay him down.
"I won't be long, Bud". She assured him, "I got stuck in the mud".
Giving her leg another forceful pull, she did manage to get out of the mud.
Only, her boot was still stuck.
Her socked foot hit the wet mud and she shuddered.
Grimacing, Abbey pulled her boot out from the mud next and put it back on.
Her foot was soaked and caked in mud.
But she gritted her teeth and took hold of Dukeman once again.
And finally, she made it into CP.
The barn door swung open, the rest of 1st Platoon were getting ready to leave. Peacock was barking out orders, Welsh was on the radio and Lipton was rushing around, trying to supply everyone with ammo and gear. It was noisy, chaotic and no one noticed Abbey enter the barn. She tried to spot a medic but couldn't seem to find one among all the chaos and rushing around.
Carefully, she lay Dukeman down on the ground and sat beside him.
Abbey then raised her head.
Her eyes caught Lipton first.
"1st Sargent Lipton!" She called, "Lip – I need help!"
Lipton stopped in his tracks, holding a round of machine-gun ammo.
And his eyes slowly widened, when he saw the state of Dukeman.
Placing everything down, Lipton soon rushed over to them.
"Someone get me a medic – now!"
Abbey was relieved to have some help.
Lipton was down by their side in no time.
First, he placed his hand on the side of his neck.
And then, he stilled.
The whole barn went so quiet.
The only sound was the door closing, when a trooper went off to fetch a medic. Which wasn't needed. Lipton sighed and sat down heavily. Looking towards Martin, who was the closest next to him, he gave his head a shake.
"Holy shit…". Martin whispered.
Dukeman had died.
…
Back at that ditch overlooking the field, each man was assigned to an assault squad.
From there, they'd race across the field and attack the enemy from the road.
It was an attack to push those SS officers back, once and for all.
Easy couldn't surrender, they were facing too many Germans to do so. They'd completely outflank them if they didn't do anything about it. So, when Abbey arrived with the balance of 1st Platoon and another machine-gun squad, Winters had set up three squads and planned to race across the field and attack.
They were to go at the red smoke.
Winters tossed a smoke grenade out onto the field, got up from the ditch and started to run.
The rest waited anxiously.
The smoke grenade didn't set off right away.
Winters was running out there alone.
Abbey's boot was dug into the mud, preventing herself from running after him.
And as soon as red smoke appeared, everyone got up and sprinted.
For two hundred metres, they had never run faster or harder before.
All that adrenaline kept them going.
Like the rest of the men, Abbey hadn't slept or had anything to drink all night and now, it was morning and the sun was set up high, revealing their cover. Her feet pounded as loud as her heart, they charged down that field like it was a horse race.
When they reached the end, Winters was already there, shooting.
Abbey couldn't count how many Germans were standing around, confused by the sudden attack. But she got down on her stomach and started to fire back at them, along with the rest from 1st Platoon. It was like a duck shoot. They were hitting each and every target with ease. Tired, angry and pumped with adrenaline, they could face just about anything.
And then, from the top of the hill, another Company of Germans came down.
"Holy shit!"
"It's a whole another Company!"
Men were exclaiming.
Abbey found this surprising, she wasn't expecting that.
Reloading, she started to shoot the fleeing Germans.
Shot, after shot.
Clip, after clip.
Easy were giving these guys holy hell.
But soon, the Germans gave them hell back.
With artillery.
The earth rumbled from underneath them, while the Germans across from them jumped up into the air from each explosion. Limbs fell all around them, as did the dirt and shrapnel. Abbey then saw that the artillery was gaining on them, they'd need to move out of the way and quickly.
"Take cover!" Winters yelled, "it's German artillery!"
Abbey's face was plastered against the grass.
Her hands went around the back of her head, bringing herself in closer to the earth.
Like back in Veghel, everything was loud.
Men were screaming, shells were pounding down on them.
The earth was shaking, and their hearts were in their throats.
Abbey thought that was it – she was going to die.
The next shell should have been for her, surely.
But something grabbed her arm, pulling her back into a ditch.
Abbey opened her eyes and saw Liebgott.
He shook his head, "idiot! Out in the open!"
She couldn't argue back; Abbey was past caring.
The pair of them stayed down while the Germans shelled them.
And when it ended, they got out of the ditch and headed back towards the road and field. Many of Germans were dead, some had been taken prisoner. Abbey walked down the line of the field with Liebgott, just looking at all the dead on the field. She was unaware that she had been walking alone for the past few minutes, until she heard someone fire.
Jumping, Abbey spun around.
It was Liebgott.
Her eyes wondered back towards the field.
He was shooting down some of the wounded.
Abbey didn't know if he was doing this to be kind or doing it for revenge.
Either way, it didn't sit well for her.
"Why are you doing that?" She asked, when he stopped to reload.
Liebgott shrugged.
"They're Krauts, Abbey".
Biting her lower lip, she slowly shook her head.
"No". She mumbled, "that is not it".
"What the fuck do you know?" Liebgott snapped, "huh? You don't feel nothing".
Abbey looked over at him.
He had loaded up his rifle and was soon shooting out across the field again.
Lowering her eyes to her boots, she turned around.
Abbey walked away from Liebgott and headed for the dike.
Men from her Platoon had joined in with the fight that morning, just after the rest of 1st Platoon had joined them. Guarnere, Toye and Nelson were at the bottom of the dike, going over some stuff which happened that morning. On top of the dike, the medics were serving coffee, water and cooked food, while they helped the wounded onto jeeps to be evacuated.
A drink of water sounded good for Abbey.
But before she could get up the dike, Toye grabbed her arm.
She stopped and looked at him.
His lips twitched, "good job, Abbey".
"You don't feel nothing".
She felt that.
Abbey gave her squad leader a small nod.
Smiling, Toye squeezed her shoulder.
"Get something to drink and eat, huh? See you back on the line".