With not enough trucks to go around, a bulk of Easy was forced to march.
They were headed for a hamlet called Uden. According to the Dutch underground, a large enemy force were headed in their direction. Winters received the order to move out on the 22nd, just days after their latest battle in Nuenen.
Sitting with her squad, they were the lucky guys from 2nd Platoon who got a ride into Uden. The rest from 2nd were forced to march, along with a handful from 1st and 3rd Platoon. Accompanying the trucks were a trio of British-driven Sherman tanks, nicknamed the Firefly by the Brits. And like most scenarios, 2nd Battalion took the lead into Uden.
Passing through Veghel, the trucks made it safely into Uden.
The small hamlet didn't have much to offer but like most places in Holland, it was very pretty. Rory jumped down from the truck and followed the squad towards the men from 1st Platoon. Winters and Nixon had run up the church towards the belfry to check out their surroundings.
While they waited, Hashey and Garcia approached Rory.
She looked up at them, noticing the frowns on their faces.
"Yeah?" Rory asked them both softly.
"We're sorry-"
"about Miller…".
Frowning, Rory shrugged.
She looked down at her boots.
Toye sent them both a tiny glare;
"clear off you two, huh?"
Rory sighed softly;
"it's fine, Sarge…they're my friends". She mumbled, "they don't mean harm by it".
Winters and Nixon then quickly ran down the stairs and exited the church.
Facing his men, Winters told them;
"the Krauts have cut the highway behind us, so there's nothing to get excited about. The situation is normal. We're surrounded. Not only that, there's an enemy patrol heading this way. Follow me".
There, Winters led them towards the edge of the village.
Getting down, Rory could see the patrol.
There must have been more than twenty Germans coming towards the village. They could see them, walking down the highway. Rory looked through her sight, finger lightly against the trigger.
"Hold your fire until I give the word". Winters warned each of them.
Rubbing her lips together, Rory's rifle followed one German.
"Fire!" Came the Captain's order.
Pulling the trigger, Rory watched that German go down.
And she quickly looked into her sight, finding another target.
The Germans were spreading out on the road. They were grabbing their wounded buddies, dragging them back to the side of the road. They tried to return fire, but it wasn't effective. Rory and the men from Easy fired out towards the patrol for almost twenty minutes. Waiting for the enemy to pull back. And when they did, they were ordered to set up roadblocks around the village.
Lipton put the men into place and kept a squad in reserve.
The 1st Sargent had to order the British around as well, which was proving difficult. Luckily, Winters managed to get the tanks moving. Rory had only ever seen the man yell once and that was to tell off Gaurnere. He had no trouble moving the tanks along. While making her way towards her position with Heffron, Rory suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She doubled over a little, the pain taking her by surprise. Heffron turned around;
"keep up, Roo, come on".
Giving her belly a little rub, Rory nodded and straightened herself back up.
Their position was by a road, another way into Uden.
Heffron leaned against the wall and grabbed a cigarette;
"you don't smoke, huh?"
Rory shook her head.
He sighed;
"yeah…good choice".
Heffron lit up his cigarette and watched the road before them.
It was empty.
There was no sign of any Germans coming up the road.
Rory frowned a little;
"thought we're surrounded?"
Heffron shrugged;
"maybe they're hiding out…like in Nuenen".
She frowned;
"don't say that, Babe".
"Why?"
"Cause…that's not good".
Heffron shrugged again;
"just pitching my idea, Roo".
Lifting up her rifle, Rory looked through the sight.
Heffron looked at her;
"anything?"
Shaking her head, Rory lowered her rifle;
"nothing".
"Yet". Heffron added.
"How come the rest ain't here with us?"
"They're stuck in Veghel, Roo". He said, "and we're stuck in Uden".
When she was about to respond, another sharp pain hit her stomach.
Pulling a face, Rory doubled over in pain and gripped her belly with both hands.
"What's the matter with you?" Heffron asked.
"I 'dunno". She mumbled, "just hurts".
"Your belly?"
Rory nodded.
"Maybe breakfast didn't agree with you, Roo. What'd you have?"
"Um…an apple". She said softly, "I got it the day before Nuenen".
Heffron snorted;
"probably a bad apple then".
Soon, the rumble of a battle reached their ears.
Eyes following the sound, they soon saw German tanks roll forward, towards the town of Veghel. And following them, were Luftwaffe planes up in the sky. The roar of artillery shattered the small village, while the Germans began to bomb Veghel. The entire town lit up in orange flames and great whites from the explosion. Heffron and Rory stared at the scene, both with wide eyes and hammering hearts, having never seen anything like it before.
"Oh, shit". Heffron whispered, "the other fellas are there".
Rory frowned.
The battle echoed across the fields, while tracers blazed through the sky.
It was both terrifying and impressive.
As well as the firepower going on in Veghel, Rory's stomach wasn't getting any better. She could barely stand up and had to resort to leaning against the wall. Eventually, Lipton came around and brought her into a house, where he planned on keeping the reserve squad. Inside the house was Nixon, who was looking over a map, while drinking from his flask.
Lipton nodded towards a couch;
"have a seat, buddy". He told her, "others should be round soon".
"Thanks, 1st Sargent". Rory mumbled, before taking a seat.
It was nighttime. A few oil lamps were lit, and Nixon had the radio turned down low.
Soon, Winters walked into the house, not noticing Rory at first.
"That stuffs 'gonna kill you, Nix".
Nixon held up his flask in a mock toast;
"here's to that day". After taking a drink, he offered it to Lipton, who shook his head. Nixon shrugged and turned around to face Rory, "what about you, kiddo?"
Facing him, Rory shook her head and whispered;
"no thanks, sir".
Frowning, Winters looked over at Rory;
"weren't you on duty with Heffron, Roo?"
Lipton cleared his throat;
"she's not feeling too well, sir. I've put her in the reserve squad".
Winters sighed;
"that's not good". He said, "what's the matter?"
Rory shrugged;
"Babe thinks I ate a bad apple, sir".
"Oh, so, you're feeling sick?"
"A little, sir". She mumbled, "my belly hurts loads".
Nixon soon turned up the volume on the radio, drowning out what Winters was about to tell Rory. Benny Goodman was playing. But Winters wasn't very impressed. With a sigh, the Captain walked over to the table and sat himself down. He looked over the maps with Lipton, confirming each roadblock they had set in place.
"That was 'Let's Dance'". Cooed a female voice from the radio. "Wouldn't you just love to be home dancing with your girl right now? I hope you lovely GIs don't miss home too much. After all, here you are, suffering and dying here in Holland while Eisenhower sits back in London dining on all the luscious foods you may never get to taste again…".
Pulling a face, Rory slowly looked over at the radio.
"And speaking of food". The voice continued, "some of your comrades are right now enjoying hot meals being served to them by our excellent German army cooks. I will now read to you a list of the Americans' we have captured today…Private Brown, Sargent White…".
Rory felt her eyes suddenly glare at the radio.
"How fortunate they are". Said the voice, "their war is over. They now have hot food and shelter from the rain, thanks to the victorious forces of our Fuhrer. Perhaps you'd wish to join them and end the risk of dying in a cause that no one back in your homeland cares about. Especially your president, the Jew Roosevelt, whose family now runs your entire nation. If you care to surrender, make sure to bring your-"
The woman's voice was cut short.
Rory had thrown her boot across the room.
And it hit the radio, turning it off.
The three officers looked her way.
With raised eyebrows.
Rory didn't look very happy;
"what a shit basket".
She wasn't very good at insults or swearing.
But it did make Nixon laugh.
With a tiny smile, Lipton told her;
"we call her Arnhem Annie…take it you've never heard her before?"
Rory shook her head.
"Well, she popped up in Normandy too".
"Yeah, only we called her Norma back then". Nixon added.
Frowning, she muttered;
"I don't like her".
"No one does, kiddo". Nixon said.
"Rory, put your boot back on". Winters ordered her, "and sit back down".
"Yes, sir". She mumbled.
After collecting her boot, Rory had turned on the radio again.
But Annie was still talking;
"think about that boys, as you listen to 'Humoresque' by Glenn Miller. And remember, you can listen to our music, but you can't dance in our streets".
"Maybe we should get our personal gear together". Nixon joked, "sounds like the Krauts'll be here for us soon".
"Why should they?" Said Lipton, "we're not going anywhere".
"Lips right". Winters said, "right now they're focusing on the main body behind us, and in cutting the road. They can mop us up anytime they choose".
When her stomach started to hurt again, Rory lay down on the couch on her side.
She brought her knees up to her chest and frowned, feeling miserable.
"We're not losing this place". Winters added, "and our men in Veghel will put up a fight".
Lipton nodded;
"that's right, sir". He agreed, "Wild Bill's with them".
Winters huffed softly;
"then the Krauts don't stand a chance".
Looking to his right, his eyes landed on Rory.
Her eyes were closed, and she appeared to be sleeping.
Winters noticed that her body was shivering. He wondered if it was a chill from the rain, or her body fighting off a bad apple. Rubbing the back of his neck, he got up from his chair and walked towards the couch. Taking the blanket out from Rory's musette back, he carefully placed it over the girl's body.
Nixon sighed;
"Dick…what'd I tell you, huh?"
Frowning, Winters made his way back to the table;
"you tell me a lot of things, Nix". He said.
Rolling his eyes, Nixon told him;
"she needs a leader out here, Dick. Not a father figure".
"I beg your pardon-"
"I get it, alright?" Nixon cut him off, "she's been through hell and you just 'wanna be there for her or whatever".
Nixon was a little drunk.
Winters had learned from experience not to start an argument with his friend when he had been drinking. But he had every right to defend himself.
"Lew, I'm not trying to be her father figure-"
"no? Sure looks that way".
Rolling his eyes, Winters crossed his arms over his chest;
"what would be so bad about that, Nix?"
"She'll start to rely on you".
Winters huffed;
"Christ, Lew…Rory and hundreds of others rely on me".
Nixon tutted;
"not just about war stuff, Dick…I mean everything".
"Like what?"
"Oh, I 'dunno…like a home?" Nixon listed, "somewhere safe. A strong parental figure to see her through the rest of her damn life".
With a tiny frown, Winters said;
"she doesn't have that anywhere else, Nix".
"What if something happens to her, Dick?" Nixon questioned, "you gave Buck hell for getting too close to the men and now you've practically adopted a kid".
Shaking his head, Winters said;
"don't worry about it, Nix".
Nixon sighed;
"fine. But if something happens to the kid, then I'm 'gonna have to pick up the pieces, Dick. And I'm too damn drunk to do that".
Glancing at this watch, Winters got up and put on his helmet.
While grabbing his M1, he said;
"it's 2200. I need to check on the roadblocks. Care to come along, Nix?"
"Why not?" Nixon said and got up.
"Lip, keep an eye on things here at CP".
"Yes, sir". The 1st Sargent complied.
Winters then nodded at Rory;
"Private Doe has a habit of tossing her cookies on the floor. Make sure that doesn't happen".
Pulling a slightly amused face, Lipton nodded slowly;
"yes, sir…I'll try".
Nixon smirked;
"what he means is…take care of his kid while he's out".
Winters rolled his eyes;
"Nix, I swear…".
His friend chuckled;
"Christ, I'm kidding…still lost your sense of humour, huh?"
With a snort, Winters gave his friend a shove out of the living room;
"move it, Lew".
"Yes, sir".
…
When Rory woke up an hour or so later, Lieutenant Welsh was passed out on the armchair. The man's mouth was hanging open, while he snored softly during his deep slumber. She could smell the alcohol off Welsh, which caused her stomach to turn. Already feeling sick to her stomach, Rory carefully sat up.
Lipton was still at the table.
Luz was with him.
The pair of them were talking quietly while fixing up a radio.
Rory then noticed the blanket sitting on her lap, which had fallen.
Taking the blanket, she wrapped it back around her body for the warmth.
"Hey…looks who's up". Luz said with a smile, "Lip says you ain't feeling good".
The 1st Sargent looked her way and frowned a little;
"well, you don't look better".
Rory wasn't feeling any better. In fact, she felt worse. The stomach pains had turned into nausea, her body ached, she was sweaty and had the chills. Whatever was in that apple, didn't want to stay inside of Rory. It felt like the flu.
Getting up from his seat, Lipton walked over to her.
His hand went on her forehead;
"you're a little warm, Roo". He mumbled, "Winters said you ate a bad apple?"
Rory nodded.
Lipton sighed;
"Well…there ain't much we can do, buddy. You've just 'gotta let it run its course".
She gave another tiny nod.
He frowned and felt bad for her. She had not long lost her friend and how she was suffering from food poisoning. Lipton could see the morale leave her eyes. With a tiny sigh, he looked over to Luz and asked;
"why don't you tell her about the cow prank, George?"
Luz grinned;
"oh, that one, huh?"
Rory looked over at Luz and said quietly;
"Jack told me 'bout it…you pretended to be Major Horton".
He continued to grin;
"I did, yeah…and the old duck fell for it".
Lipton huffed out a tiny chuckle;
"you might have gotten away with it too if Sobel didn't find out that Horton was in London that week".
Luz shook his head;
"I doubt it, Lip. Sobel was always suspicious of us".
Looking back down at the girl, Lipton asked;
"well, did you hear the story about our Thanksgiving at Toccoa?"
Rory nodded;
"yeah…the hogs innards problem, Sarge. It's famous".
Luz beamed;
"I told you we're famous, Lip".
Rory leaned back against the couch, feeling worse as the seconds ticked by. She wanted to go back to sleep but felt too sick to relax. Rory had never been poisoned by an apple before and she promised herself to never eat one again.
The door opened.
Toye walked inside with another Sargent named Talbert.
Sargent Talbert was 1st Platoons, Sargent.
He snorted when he saw Welsh;
"Jesus…".
Lipton raised an eyebrow;
"yup…it's better if he sleeps this one-off".
"What's the word, Tab?" Luz asked, "things are pretty quiet up here".
"Well, Winters still wants us prepared for an attack". He said, "roadblocks are still set-up. You got that reserve squad together yet, Lip?"
The 1st Sargent nodded towards Rory;
"she's my only one".
Toye made his way over to her.
With a frown, he sat down next to her;
"kid…why's it always you, huh? Heffron said you got poisoned by an apple".
Talbert snorted;
"what? Like Snow White?"
Luz chuckled;
"ah…leave her alone, Floyd. Roo feels pretty miserable".
Talbert gave her a tiny smile;
"stay away from old apples, Roo".
Toye wrapped his arm around her shoulders;
"get some more rest, kid. You'll be back with us in no time".
…
The fight in Veghel continued until the next morning.
The men in Uden continued to watch, while their friends fought off the enemy. This time, however, American P-47 Thunderbolts and British Typhoons, all carrying bombs or air to - ground rockets, attacked the Germans in Veghel. That's what woke Rory up, the sound of screaming rockets hitting the earth.
She fell off the couch, after getting a fright.
From the table, Nixon snorted;
"morning, kiddo".
Breathing heavily, she sharply turned to face him;
"what are those, sir?" She asked, sounding alarmed.
"That would be our guys". Nixon told her smoothly, "looks like our buddies in Veghel are getting some help".
Winters soon entered the living area.
Giving Nixon a nod, he soon saw Rory on the ground.
Raising his eyebrow, he asked;
"okay, trooper?"
Nodding, Rory slowly got onto her feet;
"feel better, sir".
Winters smiled;
"that's good. The men will be happy to see you".
She got back on the couch and began to pack away her blanket into her musette bag;
"is the squad close by, sir?"
"Heffron and Jackson are dug in across the street, Roo". Winters directed her, "they've had a pretty boring night, apparently".
Rory felt her lips twitch. She had missed her friends.
And she was happy to get back out there again.
Clearing his throat, Winters took a tiny step towards her.
With a small smile, he said;
"if you start to feel unwell again…".
Nixon raised his eyebrow with a tiny smirk.
Taking a drink from his flask, he waited for his friend to continue.
"Well just…uh – take it easy and I'll get doc to check you over". Winters finished.
Slinging her musette bag over her shoulder, Rory nodded;
"okay, sir". She replied.
Getting onto her feet, Rory saluted the officers;
"thanks for…letting me stay here, sir".
Saluting her back, Winters nodded;
"that's fine, trooper. Go back to your Platoon".
Rory felt herself smile small;
"yes, sir – I will, sir".
And with that, she raced out of CP and into the pouring rain.
They had a better day in Uden. Especially when the bulk of Easy turned up from Veghel in the afternoon. It was a glorious reunion; they were glad to see each other again. But the men from Veghel looked pale and slightly shaken from the intense shelling. And while digging their foxholes for the night, the Veghel men could have dug all the way to Australia.
"It was hell". Malarkey was telling Jackson, Rory and Muck. "The shells dropped every three seconds. Folk were screaming, crying and praying. We laid low in a cellar with a Dutch family for the first night and then someone told us to get up and fight".
"Fight?" Muck huffed, "with what? A mortar and rifle?"
Malarkey shrugged;
"hell, Skip…we could have easily all died".
"But you didn't". Jackson pointed out with a smile, "you're all back with us. And it's a Goddamn relief to see you all again".
"If those planes didn't show up…". Malarkey trailed off.
With a tiny smile, Muck clapped his shoulder;
"but they did". He reminded him, "and you all got out".
"And nothing happened here?" Malarkey asked.
Jackson shook his head;
"nothing…well, Roo got poisoned by an apple".
Pulling a slightly amused face, Malarkey looked at the girl;
"like in Snow White?"
Rory looked confused;
"what's Snow White?"
"You've never seen Snow White?" Muck asked, "me and Ruth saw it…she loved it. I didn't".
"She eats an apple that puts her to sleep". Jackson explained, "but then a Prince kisses her, and she wakes up again".
Rory frowned;
"that sounds…stupid".
The three of them chuckled.
"Yeah, it is". Muck agreed with a grin.
…
Easy slept outside that night, under constant cold rain. They had ponchos to keep themselves dry, but some weren't always as waterproof as others. No one got a lot of sleep that night and Winters had everyone up before five in the morning for a long march to a road south of Veghel.
During their three-hour march, the rain let up and the sky cleared.
2nd Battalion was in reserve for a change, with 1st and 3rd taking the heat off them.
They were sat in a ditch, taking cover.
However, by one in the afternoon, Hester wanted Easy to take point around the left flank with a trio of British tanks. They followed Winters through the woods, towards the edge of a field. Winters deployed his men, making sure they were spread out and not bunching. There, weapons at the ready, the began the walk across the open field.
Halfway across the rain-softened ground, a German machine-gun fired out. With nowhere else to go but down, the men dropped and hugged the earth. Pinned down, Winters soon barked out orders for Guarnere to put a mortar shell into the German machine-gun nest. But Guarnere was already one step ahead of him. He had already given Malarkey the ranges to fire.
Rory and Heffron were unfortunate enough to be lying next to a new Platoon Leader.
The guy went as white as a sheet.
Looking over at Heffron, she yelled;
"Babe, what do we do?!"
"Let's try and give the fellas some covering fire, Roo!" He yelled back, "but we've 'gotta move up a little. Let's get on top of that molehill!"
Nodding, Rory took the ammo from Heffron's neck and wrapped it around her own neck, before they crawled up towards the small hill. Behind them, the Platoon leader had dug himself a hole and buried his head in the ground. Rory cringed and looked away from him, before following Heffron up the rest of the hill. He dug the stand into the mud and placed his gun on top. Rory followed by clipping the ammo into the machine-gun.
Heffron soon fired out.
While feeding the ammo into the gun, Rory spotted something massive in the distance.
She could see a turret from a Tiger tank, its turret was only visible above the road embankment. But it was the biggest turret Rory had ever seen. Eyes widening slightly, she yelled at Heffron;
"WE'VE GOT SOME NEW COMPANY, BABE!"
Heffron continued to fire but looked her way for all of three seconds to see the turret.
Huffing, he yelled back;
"THAT'S THE BIGGEST FUCKING TURRET I'VE EVER SEEN!"
Rory shared a quick worried look with him before they got back to work.
Eventually, Easy retreated back into the woods.
There, Winters had to come up with a plan to take care of the big Tiger tank, lurking by the embankment. He warned the Brits not to pull out into the open, but their tanks roared to life, knocked down several small trees and headed into the open. The second Firefly followed.
Heffron and Rory and set up a position near the field and continued to fire out.
They stopped for a few moments, just to watch the Firefly's.
The Tiger didn't wait around. He blasted out a furious 88 and the shell screamed towards the first tank. It took off the six-pound gunner then ricocheted off the turret. The Firefly driver slammed his tank into reverse, trying to get out of the field but the Tiger fired a second-round that ploughed straight through the steel hull and exploded. The Firefly seemed to lift off the ground as it exploded. Now, both tanks were engulfed in flames. Thick, black smoke blanketed the air, as the smell of burning flesh and hair hit their senses.
Rory quickly got onto her feet and ran towards one of the tanks.
"ROO!" Heffron screamed after her.
She began to cough harshly while battling her way into the thick smoke. From inside the tank, she could hear men scream, while being burnt alive. The tank was piping hot, Rory found that out while she grabbed onto a piece of metal to pull herself up to the opening. Avoiding the flames but still getting burnt along the way, Rory reached the top of the tank and with effort, she pulled the heavy door open.
Reaching into the tank, Rory grabbed a very burnt and blistered hand.
The man screamed in pain, while she helped him out.
Coughing still, Rory looked through the flames and screamed;
"HELP!"
"I'M HERE, ROO!" Came Malarkey's voice, who was trying to climb up to reach her.
A few of the Brits managed to quickly evacuate themselves and many of them were on fire. They rolled about on the grass, while GI's smothered the flames with blankets. Rory climbed down from the tank to help with putting out the Brits who were on fire. She chucked wet mud at them, patted them down with a blanket and got them on the ground to roll around. A lot of them died from their severe burns, one of the officers lost his hand. But for the survivors, they were quickly pulled back from the line.
Once that was taken care of, Easy continued to throw everything they had at the edge of the woods. They raked the road with everything. And continued to fight during the night. Rory stuck by Heffron. Whenever he ran out of ammo, she'd run off to find some more. Lipton was usually there to resupply them, however. Rory only had to make two trips for more ammo.
Heavy rain began to fall again. A relief for Rory's blistered hands.
Winters had called for the firing to stop when they could no longer see.
The men huddled along the tree line, under cold rain.
…
They arrived back in Uden the next morning, after a cold and miserable walk.
What lifted the morale was their letters from home, waiting for the men after Hells Highway. Vest gladly handed their letters out, with a large and happy grin. It was as if their prayers had been answered when they read those letters from home. It brought laughter and tearful smiles to their faces. All except Webster, who walked with his head low towards one of the houses.
Getting up from her foxhole, Rory walked over to him.
Frowning, she asked;
"you didn't get a letter?"
Sighing, Webster looked at her;
"oh, I got a letter". He grumbled, "but Peacock wants me to clean up his damn quarters".
"Really?" She mumbled, "that's not fair, Web…we just got back".
He sighed again;
"tell that to him".
Nodding, Rory faced the house;
"alright, if you want me to".
Webster's eyes widened slightly;
"no – I didn't mean it, Roo. If you tell that to him, he'll court-martial you".
Rory pulled a face;
"he would?"
He shrugged;
"probably".
"But he's only doing it 'cause he don't like you".
Webster frowned;
"yeah, I know". He muttered, "maybe it ain't so fair, huh?"
"Then I'll help you". Rory offered, "we'll get it done quicker if we both do it".
Webster's features softened;
"you don't have to, Roo".
She shrugged;
"I ain't got a letter to read…and I don't 'wanna hear how good home is from the others either".
With a tiny smile, Webster nodded;
"thanks, Roo".
