Prologue
'when I was a boy, my father would always tell me and brother's stories about the First World War. He would tell us about his time in the Argonne Forest, how he and his brothers in arms were surrounded by the Germans. You see, my father was a soldier in the 308th Infantry Regiment and joined up to fight the Germans. When he told us this story me and my brothers would see him as a hero, but he didn't feel like a hero. He told us that there are no hero's in war, there are only men who have the courage to fight and die for their country and family. I never understood what he meant at the time, but when the time came for me and my brothers to go to war, we proudly went. Becoming a paratrooper in the 101st was a dream come true for me. Thing is nothing could prepare me for the horrors of war and humanity itself.'
December 27, 1944, Bastogne Belgium
"INCOMING!"
BOOM!
Mortar shells rained down from the skies by the 26th Volsgreandier Division killing many men from the 101st Airborne Division and the 506th PIR losing arms and legs from shrapnel. The 101st are out numbered 5 to 1 but will not give up and will keep on fighting.
"Sgt. Robinson what do we do?!" said a soldier inside a fox hole.
"Bernard You stay on that goddamn radio and you get us some tanks and reinforcements." Replied the Sgt. Robinson making Private Bernard whimper and going back on the radio.
Sgt. Roy Robinson a kid from California in a town called Mary water. His two older brothers are fighting also in the war. The eldest, Edward Robinson joined up with the Marines in 1942 and fought in Guadalcanal and the Peleliu invasion. The second oldest, Henry Robinson joined the Air Force in 1943 and fly's the P-51 Mustang protecting B-17 bombers during missions.
Right now, Roy and his squad are currently fighting the German counter-offensive around the town of Bastogne. Running low on ammo and supplies they are uncertain if any reinforcements will come. As the German advance towards the town, Roy takes aim with his M1 Garand lays down fire on the German soldiers. Roy's squad follows his lead and returns fire making every shot count. One soldier a Private Douglas Coleman fires with the 30 Cal Machine Gun with his friend Private Joe Lopez with his Browning Machine Gun.
"Sergeant I'm running low on ammo on the 30, we need some more!" said Coleman.
"well how about write a letter to Santa Claus maybe he will get that for you!" Said Roy with some attitude making his soldiers smile and raising morale for his troops.
As Roy's M1 Garand pinged making him put in a new clip he noticed something in the trees, what came out of the bushes made him shiver down his spine. "TIGER TANK!" shouted Private Bernard.
As the whole squad looked at the Tiger many of them were scared thinking, they are going to die painful and brutal death
"BOBBY BRING THE BAZZOOKA!" Screamed Roy to his explosive's expert Corporal Bobby King. As Bobby got out of his fox hole and ran out with Roy, he gives the bazooka to him and begins the load it. As Roy saw the Tiger tank get closer with the Volksgrenadier Division in tow. Roy had to make a decision to either stay or retreat back to the last line of defense.
"2nd SQUAD RETREAT!" making everyone jump out of their foxholes and retreat to the last line of defense. As they retreat, Roy and Bobby got behind a destroyed house to wait for the Tiger to hit it from the rear.
When the rest of the squad hit the last line of foxholes, they began to return fire. With no ammo on the 30, Coleman used his Thompson to fire back with Lopez by his side to help him out. Private Bernard wasn't fairing much because he had a jam problem with his M1 Garand but quickly got it fixed by pulling the slide back ejecting the clip. "HEY BERNARD WHERE THE HELL IS THE REINFORCEMENTS!" yelled Lopez while reloading his Browning.
"They said 10 minutes!" replied Private Bernard emptying his clip onto a German soldier.
"well shit, feels like it's going to be more like an hour at this rate!" yelled Coleman while he reloaded his Browning Machine Gun. As they held the line 1st squad of 2nd platoon came to help strengthen the line.
Lieutenant Butch and his squad came behind and helped by reinforcing 2nd with more men. As the 1st took defensive positions along the line of foxholes. They to started shooting at the oncoming German soldiers trying desperately to hold the line against the German forces.
"Where's Sgt. Robinson?" said Butch making Coleman turn around and say.
"He's going to try and hit that Tiger tank from the Rear." Making Butch to look at the advancing Tiger tank that's coming right for them.
Roy and Bobby held their position and waited for the Tiger tank to show its 'ass' to them. When the Tiger tank passed Roy aim the bazooka at the rear of the tank and pulled the trigger. By shooting at the rear, caused to spark in the gas tank making the tank explode and be on fire. Bobby congratulated Roy on the shot but was cut short when a whole German Platoon came up behind them, causing the both of them to retreat to the foxholes.
When they got back in the foxholes Roy spots Lieutenant Butch and decides to go to his foxhole and discuss about the incoming German Platoon.
"Sir we have a whole German platoon coming from the right side behind that broken-down house I was in" said Roy. This made Butch become worried and highly cautious about their next move. If they were to retreat, they would be opening a door to the town making it even harder for his platoon defend. As butch looked at his and Roy's men he could see the giving everything they got on the enemy. He then see's one of his men get shot three times in the stomach screaming for his mama laying there while the medic gets to work on him.
"Alright listen up we need to hold this position and wait for our tanks to get here." said Butch making everyone including Roy look at him disbelief.
"Sir if we stay here, we will die!" stated Coleman
Before Butch could say anything, Bernard gave some really good news to the lieutenant "Sir the 4th Armored Division has just broken through on the other side of town."
Everybody now felt extremely confident in their victory with the help from the 4th Armored but that feeling of victory was short lived when the German platoon that Roy had warned about started to lay down some fire on the allied positions. On top of that more German tanks in the total of 5 Tiger tanks started closing.
"Butch remember that Pak 40 in town" said Roy making Butch nod.
"Go get it and move it up here and lay down some fire on those tanks. Me and 2nd squad will stay here and hold the line." Butch left some of his men with Roy and taking with his leftover troops to go get the field gun.
"2nd squad lay down some fire on those krauts, not one of them will break through!" said Roy making 1st and 2nd squad to lay down the pain on the Germans as they advanced.
Private Coleman and Lopez took aim on the Germans inside the broken-down house laid down on some fire and killing a couple of them. Out of no where a bullet hits Lopez's helmet causing it to fly off. Coleman goes to his friend and checks his friend, but is relieved when the bullet only ricochet of Lopez's helmet
"Lopez you okay man?" Coleman said with Lopez giving him a thumbs up. Grabbing his helmet and putting back on he grabbed his Browning Machine Gun and laying down some fire on the Germans. Without the 30 Cal, Coleman had to resort to his Thompson and just spray his weapon at the incoming Germans.
Bernard and Bobby were returning fire at the German forces, both had M1 Garand's and every time they unloaded their bullets on the them the pings on their M1's would be increased as the Germans advanced.
Bernard then loaded another clip into his M1 Garand, but the slide closed in catching his thumb in the process.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! MOTHER FUCKER!" said Bernard alerting his teammate Bobby to help get his thumb out of the gun.
"Calm down Bernard you're not going to die." As he pulled Bernard thumb out, he saw that his thumb was cut pretty bad by the M1's slide. He grabbed a bandage out of his pockets and wrapped it around Bernard's thumb so it won't get infected.
"Their, now that should be better right?" Coleman said making Bernard laugh quietly and replied "yes." to his question.
As Roy's squad was holding the line strong, he saw one of the Tigers shoot at their position killing two soldiers in a foxhole with there limbs flying everywhere. The blood got on his face making him pissed off at the Germans. As the clip on his M1 Garand pinged, he noticed that he had one clip left and had to make his shots count.
He see's a German prone on the snowy floor shooting an MG 34 on his men, he aims his sites on him and pulls the trigger. The bullet goes through the soldier's eye making a big hole.
"1"
He then shoots the ammo holder for the MG 34 through the head killing him instantly.
"2"
Roy notices a Panzerschreck team and see's them taking aim at Coleman and Lopez. He aims at the German Soldier with the Panzerschreck shoots him once in the chest.
"3"
The second German soldier with the Panzerschreck team goes to pick up the launcher, but is shot in the chest by Roy. The bullet goes in the German's chest and through the lungs tearing it up in the process.
"4"
His next target was a German officer. Roy takes aim at the officer but is blown away by a Tiger's tank and knocked down to the ground with his ears ringing. 'Son of a bitch, feels like I just got tackled by Edward.' Roy thought to himself. He gets back up and picks up his M1 Garand and takes aim again at the German officer.
He see's the officer running back and forth to his soldiers giving them orders to advance. Roy breaths in and out while he steady's his rifle and ready's himself to pull the trigger. As the bullet rips through the air, it goes through the officer's head killing him instantly and dropping to the floor lifeless.
"5"
Roy moves to another foxhole and looks for his next target. He spots a German radio operator speaking into the radio and looking at the American positions.
'He must be the one giving those Tiger tanks orders at what to shoot at.'
Roy takes aim and pulls the trigger. The bullet pierces through the soldier's throat making him put his hands around his throat to try and stop the bleeding.
"6"
This made Roy smile because he just took out the Germans communications to the tanks. Thing is, when he saw the soldier's face his smile dropped and his whole body shivered in fear.
The German soldier looked very young, around the age of 16. He could see the fear of death in the German boys' eyes and tears falling down his cheeks. He could hear him yelling Mama in English.
Roy had mixed feelings, he felt sad and glad at the same time. Sad because the boy looked younger than him and glad that the Tiger's won't be getting any info on the American positions. Roy had shaken all those thought's away because he still had battle to fight, but would be in the back of his head for the rest of his life.
"Sorry kid, I wish things were different." Roy told himself to make him feel better, but he knew deep down that what he did was evil by his standards.
He's brought out of his thoughts when he's fired upon by two German soldiers behind a destroyed jeep with MP 40's.
Being pinned down by the incoming fire made Roy call to his heavy machine gun expert Coleman.
"COLEMAN!" Roy yelled making Coleman look at him.
"I WANT YOU AND LOPEZ TO SHIFT YOUR FIRE TO THE RIGHT AT THAT JEEP! I'M GOING TO FLANK THEM AND TAKE THEM OUT!" Roy yelled out.
"ROGER THAT!" Coleman replied.
Coleman and Lopez trained their machine guns at the two German soldiers behind the destroyed jeep. They opened up fire on them with their Thompson and BAR making the two German soldiers take cover.
As both Colman and Lopez kept up the suppressing fire, Roy gets out of his foxhole rushes behind a wall. He slides along the wall until he reaches the end and peaks his head out to see.
He brings his rifle out aims his sights at the first soldier. His shot alerts the two Germans but his bullet hits one of them in the stomach with blood leaking down making him to fall down on his back.
"7"
The second German turns his attention to Roy and sprays his MP 40 at Roy making him hide behind the wall. "Motherfucker!" yelled Roy as the bullets hit the wall or whiz pass him.
Lopez aims his BAR at the enemy and fires clipping the Germans shoulder, causing the German to turn his attention back at Lopez and Coleman and shoots his MP 40 at them.
This gave Roy the opportunity to aim his rifle at the German and quickly put a round on the side of the Germans head, making the soldier drop on his side.
"8"
PING!
With the clip ejected out, Roy ran back to his men to get more ammo for his M1.
"Bobby, I need some ammo."
"Sorry Sir, Me and Bernard ran out a while. We're using weapons of the dead Sir." Bobby stated.
"Sir take the Carbine off of the dead soldier in the next foxhole." Bernard said.
Roy gets out of the foxhole and runs to the next foxhole with the dead soldier. As he jumps in and grabs the carbine off the corpse. He notices that its not an M1 but is a M1A1 model.
As he loads a new magazine into the carbine he thinks on where Butch is. 'Where the hell are you Lieutenant?'
It has been 10 to 12 minutes since Lieutenant butch and his squad left Sergeant Robinson and his men to get the Pak 40. As he passed other soldiers of the 506th, most of them wounded while others were going to fight the Germans forces to get the tanks in town.
Butch spots the parked Pak 40 and orders his men to get it ready to move. The problem is the Pak 40 is heavy as shit and most of his men lost some of their strength due to only eating combat rations.
"Sir how the hell are we going to move this thing?!" said one soldier.
Butch looks around the area to find a solution. His eyes spot a jeep with a hitch in the back which gives him and idea.
"Anders get that Jeep running and put is behind the field gun. Rest of you lets move this thing!" yelled butch making his men go and do their jobs.
Private Anders gets the jeep moving backs it up behind the Pak 40 to hook it. As the rest of the men move it, Butch hooks it up to the jeep and being sure its secure.
"Alright boys, load up on the jeep we got to get to rest of the squad!" Butch yelled making his hop on the Jeep and drive to the rest of the squad. Hoping they're not too late.
Roy unloaded a whole magazine at a German squad killing half of them, making him reload another magazine into his carbine.
As he turns around, he spots a jeep in the distance with a field gun in the back. He smile's and says to himself "Butch you awesome son of a bitch."
Some of the other men looked too and they just yelled in happiness. Coleman pats Lopez on the head laughing out loud like he was a hyena. Bernard and Bobby looked in disbelief because didn't think Lieutenant Butch wouldn't make it in time.
As Butch and his men got off the jeep and unloaded the Pak 40, he and his men pushed it into firing position to fire at the closing in Tiger tanks.
"Anders, Nichols load armor piercing rounds into the Pak 40 unleash hell on them!" Butch ordered
"Loading round!"
As Anders and another soldier load the AP round into the Pak 40, Nichols aim the field gun at the Tiger tank in front of the others.
"FIRE!" yelled Butch
A Big BOOM can be heard miles around. As the AP round sored through the air it pierced into the Tiger causing it to stop. Few seconds pass and then the Tank exploded with the top part flying in the air then hitting the ground hard.
The men looked with wide eyes without speaking a word for a couple of seconds.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Shouted Bernard causing the other troops to uproar with praise.
"Did you see that shit!" Lopez said to Coleman making him tear up a little bit.
Roy looks at the Tiger tanks and see's that their advance has not. "Load another AP round and target the remaining tanks!" Making the soldiers at the field gun scramble to load another round into it.
Even though the troops had an anti-tank gun, they still had to deal with the advancing German soldiers and the scarce ammo they have.
More and more German soldiers keep on pouring in like ants out of an ant hill.
Many of Roy and Butch's men ran out of ammo making them use their 1911's which did very little.
Out of nowhere an explosive round hits the Pak 40 making it explode. Killing Nichols, Anders, and another soldier with their body parts in the air.
Butch looks to the right and see's a whole Tiger battalion coming out of the woods. "We're not going to make it sir!" Bernard shouted out.
Bobby notices a German run and jump into his foxhole with a bayonet. With no more ammo in his rifle and handgun, he grabs his bayonet and ready's himself to stab the German.
The German soldier thrusts his bayonet towards Bobby, but he quickly stepped to the right grabbing the Germans rifle and pulling it away from him. Bobby quickly got up close to the soldier and drove his bayonet into the neck causing blood to spill out of the wound and of the mouth.
Bernard was shocked by close combat encounter. 'My god...' He thought.
He was quickly pulled out of his thoughts when a German kicked him in the face causing his helmet to fly off. The soldier had a bayonet attached to his rifle and began to thrust his bayonet at Bernard. Bernard brings his hand up to grab the rifle but fails to do it.
Instead, the bayonet went towards Bernard's left hand and pierces right through it causing him to scream and get pissed. "MOTHERFUCKER!" Bernard shouted out. He grabs the German and throws him to the ground; he grabs helmet and begins to bash the Germans head.
Hit after hit to the Germans head caused blood to splatter and bits of skull and batter to come out. By the time he was done, Bernard was covered in blood splat and began to sit on the ground in shock.
As one of the Tiger tanks got really close to Roy and his men. The tank exploded with a sound of a plane going over them. The plane was an American P-51 Mustang.
Roy was absolutely happy and stunned that the reinforcements have arrived. He turned around and saw that the 4th Armored division and Patton's Third Army have come to help push back the German counter-attack. The German saw that they were outgunned and outmanned and decided to retreat.
Many Sherman's from the 4th Armored return fire at the retreating Germans killing a couple of them. As the tanks retreat to the forest, they are blown away by the Mustangs and killing the soldiers near them.
Men of Patton's Third Army quickly took up firing positions along the broken-down houses and foxholes with the 101st Airborne. They to return fire at the remaining Germans killing them with swift action.
"It's good to see you guys." Said Lopez to two other soldiers making shake each other's hands.
Many of men of Fox company got out of their foxholes and went to go greet their relief. Coleman thanks one Soldier and is given a Hershey's chocolate bar and proceeds to eat it, enjoying each bite and the taste.
Medics tend to the wounded of Roy and Butch's men and getting some food to due to the constant battle.
"We did it, Roy. We made, now time to hit the homeland." Butch said.
"I know, it's time to bring the fight to them." Roy Replied
"Stanley would be proud."
Roy was silent when Butch said the name of his old friend. As he remembered the memories, he had of him made him smile and say "Yes, yes he would."
As Roy observed the great event, he notices a moving body of a dead German soldier. He slightly started walking with a hand on his colt 1911. Quickly out of nowhere, a German soldier popped behind the dead body with a Panzerfaust in his hands.
Roy quickly pulls out his pistol and shoots three shots at the soldier killing him, but is to late.
The round of the Panzerfaust hits right next to him causing and explosion smoke around him.
Medics quickly go to tend to Roy with Butch and the rest of the men of Fox company.
When he got there, he stood still with his eyes wide. Roy had lost his right arm and leg with a piece of shrapnel stuck on the right side of his chest. Many of the men could not believe that their Sergeant was hit badly. Lopez and Coleman quickly try to help by blocking the wounds. Coleman talks to Roy trying to make him stay with them. Bernard stays behind with tears coming down his cheek's and saying "Oh god" over and over again.
Roy tries to stay strong but the amount of pain he was in made him scream and cry.
"MAMA… MAMA! PLEASE HELP ME!" he screamed making the medics work more.
'I guess this is it, sorry mom, dad, Edward, Henry. I won't be coming home.' Roy thought to himself as he feels his life gives away.
'don't worry guys, I won't be... alone once I get to the... other side.' Roy's muscles relax and his breathing is now slow.
'I'm...coming...Blake...'
Roy Robinson. Age 18 years old. KIA on December 27,1944. Bastogne.
Greetings to all readers. I hope you have enjoyed this story and continue to keep on reading in the future. This is my first fanfiction I have ever written in my life and have been interested in writing this story. I would like to say that in the future their will be some brutal scenes in my chapters because of the time period I have chosen. I am not a good writer, but I am a hard worker who will not give up. I am not a professional in history, but I love to learn especially ww1 and ww2.
I hope you all have been taking care of yourselves during the Corona virus and stay well. Until next time this is Jobro89 signing off.