Chapter 7:
22nd January 1944
Anzio, Italy
"After the early success of the landings at Salerno, we fought up into the Cassino region.
Intense action throughout the Volturno line had taken a toll on the boys. By mid-November we were pulled out of the line, absorbing the new replacements.
We lost a CO in 1st Lieutenant Steve Dempsey who caught some lead back in November, before we pulled out, they shipped him back to England along with an observer of ours named Lieutenant James Doyle who was assigned from the 1st Infantry Division. They gave me the bump to company commander and a promotion, still hate the fact that Steve recommended me for the bump.
Nonetheless, the men knew they wanted me as CO, I'll hand 'em that.
It wasn't long before the orders came down for another beach landing, we were goin' in at Anzio, nothin's ever easy for this unit."
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Daniel Lynn and his rifle company steamed towards the designated beach area they were landing at, the steady ocean helped to ease the men's fear.
Daniel had seen more than enough action to last him, the men were itching and ready for the fight.
The replacements had been few amongst the company, only one replacement officer and 4 enlisted men brought in.
When the landing craft neared shallow water, the ramp dropped, Daniel lead his men off the beach as he shouted, "Get off the beach, let's move!"
Enemy planes strafed overhead, the casualties were light amongst the 3rd Division, but the men pressed on off the beach.
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2 Weeks Later
In the later weeks of the battle of Anzio, Daniel and his men had faced fierce counterattacks from the German Army, they were held outside a small town from which they were battling a German infantry unit.
Daniel was taking cover from machine gun fire as he turned to the radio operator and said, "Get me Lieutenant Redeye's platoon and see if he's made progress on the left flank!"
"Yes sir." the radio man had said.
Daniel squeezed the trigger of his rifle and bottled an above ground soldier, machine gun fire pushed Daniel back as dust sprayed around him, the ricochets of the bullets took out a fellow soldier as Daniel dragged him out of the line of fire.
The radio operator returned and said, "Sir, Lieutenant Redeye's not responding, but Sergeant Powers said that they're facing 2 MG42s, they're getting ripped pretty badly."
"Tell 'em to pull back and try to link with Sergeant Peters, I'll take a squad and cut through these buildings." Daniel said.
Daniel signalled for a squad to join him as he took them through the bombed-out area, the men pushed through avoiding the gunfire, they soon got enough view as Daniel told the men, "Nail the machine gun, we've gotta take the pressure off us."
The squad fired on Daniel's command as they tore apart the German defence, they pushed forward and tossed grenades onto the positions, the Germans didn't stand much of a chance thanks to Daniel and his tactics.
The company fortified the town as the rest of the battalion joined up with them.
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February 29th 1944
After fighting through the town, the next few weeks of fighting drew on, trench warfare and high casualties took a toll on the 3rd Infantry Division. Hearing the tales of trench warfare from a journal he had on him that belonged to his Father. He knew that this was no comparison to the 1st World War.
"INCOMING!" the screaming of several men had the men hugging the ground for cover.
Artillery pummelled the ground as Daniel took a knee trying to hold on, the enemy attacked as Daniel shouted to his men, "Machine guns, open fire!"
Soon enough the infantry opened fire straight away, Daniel walked along the line next to his brothers in arms, he gave them encouragement as he told them, "Choose your targets, find and hit 'em, save your goddamn ammo!"
One of the soldiers dropped to the ground as he had a hole straight through to his heart, Daniel fired back and stayed with his men.
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Suddenly though, Daniel had gotten hit twice, but got back up and continued firing. With his men, they continued to return fire. Ammunition dwindled down to which the men had to scrounge of the dead.
Daniel walked to a nearby machine gun squad as he said, "Displace your machine gun and move to the left flank, I'll cover ya!"
Reloading his weapon, Daniel covered the machine gun squad as they moved position. Once they were out of the line of fire. Daniel took cover and reloaded, but he didn't pull the operating slide back. He turned to displace had gotten hit just as he began to move.
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Falling to the ground, Daniel hit his head, his vision blurred as he heard German voices, he saw a grey uniform at which he grabbed his weapon and fired. But nothing happened, he pulled the slide and fired instantly, he knocked several soldiers down and got back up.
His vision returned as he pulled out his bayonet and charged towards the German troops that had poured into the trenches.
He had stabbed, cut through them, or grabbed the weapon of a dead German and fired the weapon.
He picked up his carbine and headed to the machine gun, they were wiped out as he took control of the 30. Cal, he fired at the advancing Germans hoping to force them into a retreat. The rest of the company continued to fire as he looked down at his uniform, there were two others bullet wounds to match with the ones he had gained earlier.
He continued firing the machine gun until he ran out of ammo, he looked around for another can. To which he had found one, he picked it up, to which it had felt heavy, one of the soldiers approached and helped him as the Sergeant said, "Let me take over, Lieutenant."
"Rip it at 'em, Soldier… beat those bastards back." Daniel encouraged. The soldier fired back until the Germans began to retreat.
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Once the battle was over, the Sergeant who had helped Daniel, looked to see his commanding officer holding his chest in agony, the Sergeant let go off the gun as he looked to see more than a dozen bullet wounds.
The Sergeant soon said, "Hang on tight, Lieutenant. I'll get some help, just hang tight, okay?"
Daniel weakly nodded, he held onto his chest as he put his arm under his legs, throbbing pain had shot through Daniel hard as he saw blood on his jacket, Daniel had been shot in the ass and his troubles were worsening very much.
Pulling at his aid kit, Daniel pulled out some sulphur and put it onto his worse wounds. 2 medics came back and saw the lieutenant as one of them said, "Lieutenant, can you hear me?"
"Just about, I think I caught the worst of it, though. I think I got hit in my ass."
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One of the medics signalled for him to lean forward and had taken a look, the medic had said, "Well, you did get shot in your ass."
Daniel winced as he said, "Swell, I knew I had a pain in my ass."
One of the medics laughed as he said, "Don't try to attempt any humour, sir. Not until we can get you patched up."
"How bad were casualties?" Daniel asked.
The medic responded solemnly, "3rd Platoon took the brunt of it, 3rd squad survived, the others didn't."
The other medic looked at the 2 dead machine gunners as Daniel had said, "There was one man, I had passed, then those two guys. Were there any wounded?"
"There were 7 other wounded men, including you, so that's eight." The lead medic had said.
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Daniel nodded as he spotted the commander of the regiment approaching, the men stood easy as some of them limped, Colonel Giovanni Palmieri, spoke up, "How are you doin', Lieutenant?"
"I'm fine, sir. The men are functionin' just fine." Daniel spoke.
The Colonel looked up and said, "Lieutenant, you fought hard, you all did. But to prevent you guys from getting banged up worse, we're pullin' you off the line."
"That's not necessary, sir." one of the platoon leaders spoke, his name was Lieutenant Smothers.
Colonel Palmieri spoke up, "Might not be for you, but you've all been hitting it hard; you broke the German advance for a while, good work. We're getting you guys sent back to the rear for food and rest."
"Get some replacements in for your company. The others haven't fared well, either. 900 men have lost their lives in just one day, we can't afford to lose any more boys."
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The men felt a knife had stabbed them, 900 men in the entire 3rd Division had fallen victim in this battle. Daniel stood up with the help of his rifle.
He turned to the survivors of his company as he said, "I'll walk back with the men, we can make it."
The survivors nodded as Colonel Palmieri nodded, the men walked back to friendly territory as the Colonel walked alongside Daniel who said, "Don't ask about my ass. I know what it means."
"We can get you on a troop ship back to England, after that, it's in the Army's hands." The Colonel had said.
Daniel shook his head, "Not a chance in hell. I'm not shipping back home; I can still fight this war. No matter what it costs."
"I don't doubt you, Dan, but you need to remain objective here. Your bravery in holding the line got you some fans up at battalion, they wanna give you the Silver Star."
"I don't wanna get a promotion, don't take me off the line and stick me behind a desk." Daniel pleaded. The colonel nodded and said, "No promotion, I'll try to find out about the severity of the wounds. I can't promise you won't be sent home though."
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When the battered and exhausted men of Daniel Lynn's company arrived at the aid station, most of the men had been seen too, only Daniel had waited to be seen letting his men go first.
When he got seen to by the doctors, he had blocked out any attempt at a conversation. He had gotten hit 5 times in the battle, the shrapnel removed from him, but it had a lasting effect on Lieutenant Daniel Lynn and one he would carry with him for doing whatever it took to defend the line and protect the men under his command.
A few days later, Daniel was awarded the Purple Heart and given the Silver Star for his brave actions in combat, the 3rd Division found out that they had broken 3 German divisions during the battle.
Daniel wasn't able to accept the award, but his XO had accepted on his behalf and given it to him.
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March 10th 1944
Colonel Palmieri walked in another week later after the award ceremony, Daniel was resting, the bags under his eyes were evident, he closed his eyes and opened them to find the Colonel standing there.
Daniel sat up straighter and said, "Colonel, what brings you by?"
"I just found out the severity of your wounds. I won't lie, but it's not good." Palmieri had said.
Daniel breathed softly before replying, "My unit?" "Under the command of Lieutenant Smothers, he'll be replacing you. You've been ordered off the line and moved back to England." The Colonel had said.
Daniel didn't say a word, but just nodded, he knew it would happen eventually. He would have to accept the decision placed on him.
There was nothing nobody could do. the Colonel had explained how he had fought the decision to remove Daniel Lynn, but he had lost the choice. Palmieri had known Daniel since before the war started, the pair had been respected by each other for their leadership and individual talents over the last few years.
It had hurt Palmieri to lose a good man in combat, but it hurt to see such a great leader and an experienced veteran to leave his regiment.
Daniel Lynn left the Anzio landing area. The company that he commanded since December had been there to say farewell to him, they all trusted their commander with their lives, but they couldn't blame him for the guilt he felt for letting their friends, their comrades die in the battle that had followed.
For Daniel, the war in Italy was over for him, now he was being stood down until the next action would take place.