Chapter 4
As we continued down the road to Leduc, I drew my map to confirm where we were in relation to my original plan. According to the lines I had drawn back at the communications tent we were right on target. Looking at the map drew my attention to my hands, still covered in Flarhety's blood. I took out my canteen, unscrewed the cap and began pouring water on my hands. I scrubbed most of the blood off, however a faded red stain remained.
"Did he die quick?" Will asked.
"He went quick enough," I replied, "Must've hurt like a son of a bitch though. He caught it right in the back."
"Damn."
I removed the clip from my Thompson to see that only 3 rounds remained. I removed the 3, .45 caliber rounds and used them to top off another clip; I then placed the replenished clip in my Thompson and pulled back on the bolt. I glanced down at my submachine gun and noticed that it was quite dusty; I brushed off some of the dust with the sleeve of my field jacked. I prided myself in taking good care of my Thompson, as it seemed to take good care of me.
"What the hell is that?" I asked rhetorically squinting down the road
As we got closer I noticed a patrol of men heading towards us. They were too far away for me to see what kind of uniform they were wearing. Will slowed the vehicle down to a near stop. I didn't want to open fire, incase the patrol was allied. Suddenly one of the men fired at us. The round went clean through the glass windshield and grazed Will's arm cutting the golden stripes on his sleeve.
"GET OUT!!" I yelled.
Will kicked open the door, dismounted and made a break for the ditch at the side of the road. I quickly stood up and fired an array of covery fire in the direction of the men. They returned fire as I got out of the jeep and joined Will in the ditch. One of the 6 men, who I could now clearly identify as infantrymen of the 16 Wundulkaumph started running down the road towards us. Will took aim on the running kraut and fired 2 rounds from his M1 Carbine. The rounds traveled straight and pierced both of the man's thighs. He stumbled to the ground; his rifle went skidding across the road. Without missing a beat I got up evading submachine gun and rifle fire from the remaining Germans and ran over to the fallen man who was trying to crawl away. He rolled over to the barrel of my .45 caliber submachine gun pointed directly at his head. I hit the dirt just as a rifle round whipped past my head. The wounded German was scared out of his mind.
"I GIVE UP, I GIVE UP!" He screamed.
"SHUTUP! I'm not gonna kill you," I assured him. "I'm going to drag you over there to safety, Then I'm gonna beat the hell out of you."
I grabbed the fallen man by the Y harness on his back. I took a deep breath and made a beeline for the ditch dragging him all the way. Constantly ducking small arm fire that never seemed to stop. I raised my Thompson, with one hand and fired in the direction of the remaining men, causing them to duck and lose their bearings on us. Finally we got back to the ditch. I began rifling through the pockets on my field jacket looking for some cigarettes. Keeping the barrel of my Thompson trained on the wounded Kraut at all times, but only using peripheral vision to guard him. I figured I'd be civil to the enemy soldier and he may be more willing to give me the information I was seeking.
"We made it." I announced enthusiastically
"Smoke?" I asked.
He didn't answer
"Hey." I grabbed his shoulder. As my hand made contact with his shoulder, he fell lifeless onto my lap. I immediately rolled the corpse back onto the ground beside me. I gazed down to see what had brought on his demise. There was 8 or 9 exit wounds on his back, all of them leaking blood. I found this interesting, as I hadn't fired a single shot at the man. His fellow German soldiers, in their attempts to cut me down, shot him instead. I thought about the irony for a couple of seconds while I slipped a cigarette between my lips and lit it.
"Better you than me." I said looking down at the lifeless body of my, now former adversary
I rolled the dead German onto his back. His eyes seemed to stare right through me. I ripped open the front of his tunic. I started rifling through his pockets looking for information. After a few seconds of searching the body I felt something in one of his pockets. I opened the chest pocket and withdrew a folded map, a German/English dictionary and a letter from an Oberleutnant Kesslinger. I hastily shoved the documents into the inner pocket of my field jacket while rising to my feet. I quickly browsed around the area looking for my Sergeant. I started off in the direction of the gunfire, keeping my head low, a skill that hadn't left me after learning it in basic training. The explosion of a mark 2 fragmentation grenade halted my advance. After the smoke had cleared, and my ears stopped ringing, I noticed that the gunfire had stopped. I stood fast not knowing what to expect.
"I got'em!" Will announced as he walked towards me with a smile on his face.
"Good work!" I replied. "Sorry I wasn't there to help out."
"Well," He said forgivingly "Someone had to take care of the wounded kraut, and it looks like you took real good care of him Sir."
"I didn't do that, He got hit when I was dragging him back to the ditch."
"His own side shot him?" Will asked
"Yeah, The crazy bastards put him down."
"And how." Will replied gazing at the bloody corpse.
About 5 minutes later the deuce and a half that contained the rest of the squad came speeding along the road, kicking up dust behind it. The truck came to a halt in front of me.
"Hey Sir," The driver said sticking his head out of the window, "You guys gott'a quit gettin' so far ahead of us, we cant keep up with all this extra weight."
"Everybody out, we're having a break." I ordered, ignoring the driver. "Private Hawke move the truck off to the side of the road."
"Yes Sir." He complied and moved the truck.
"I'll move the jeep Sir." Said an over-enthusiastic young private.
"No, It can stay there."
"It's no trouble Sir." He assured as he headed towards the jeep.
"GET BACK HERE!" I ordered. The young Private didn't listen. "Everybody stay here."
"GET BACK HERE NOW!" I yelled as I climbed out of the ditch.
I began to repeat myself once more, but the sudden explosion of my jeep interrupted my command. It transformed into and airborne mass of flame and twisted metal. All that remained of the insubordinate private was a bloodstain on the dirt road. As my jeep hit the ground the ground I felt something smash against my helmet. The impact caused me to lose my balance. I scanned the area to see what had hit me and I saw it, lying there on the side of the road. It was the Private's smoking boot. Still leaking blood from the eyelets.
"What the hell was that?" I asked Reiben who was standing beside me.
"I don't know Sir, but I think I crapped my pants." He replied
"WILL, What was that?" I yelled to the Sergeant who was now taking cover.
"I don't friggen know Sir." He yelled back.
The question was relayed through the platoon. No one knew what the explosion was.
"Must've been that burrito I ate." One man said. The whole platoon broke into quiet snickering.
"SHUTUP, BE QUIET." I commanded. "Listen."
When the laughing stopped we could all clearly hear it, the engine of a Tiger tank, rumbling in the woods somewhere along the road.
"Everybody get down." I ordered. "Maybe he hasn't seen us." I figured that must've been the dumbest thing I said all war.
We all laid in the ditch, weapons ready, scared to death. Suddenly the engine revved. A Tiger 2 came speeding out of the forest. Covered in camouflage netting. The massive tank started towards our position down the road.
"No wonder we couldn't find the bastard." Reiben commented.
The tank spun its turret around to face the deuce and a half. It fired off its cannon. The percussion of the gun discharging an 8.8 cm round shook the ground. The Deuce erupted into flame. Private Hawke was killed instantly while trying to exit the truck
"FUBAR" Reiben commented staring at the flaming wreck
"So," I asked, "How do you guys feel about taking out a tank?"
"Upham," I said looking to the young Corporal. "Gather up all the grenades you can, bring'em back here."
"Yes Sir."
"We're gonna climb on top of that bastard and drop in a couple of pineapples for the crew." I explained. "We'll use the ditch for cover and take it by its right flank. McGill, you're coming too."
"Yes Sir." Sergeant McGill replied.
"Sir," Upham said returning with the grenades I ordered. "I got 12 of them sir."
"Thanks Upham." I replied gratefully. "Ok, I'll lead McGill, Claymore and Reiben follow. Lets Go!"
We ran along the ditch keeping concealed until we met an intersection in the road that we'd have to cross.
"Lets make some noise." I pulled the pin on a grenade and lobbed it over the tank to give the men inside the illusion that we were on the other side of the road. The grenade went of with a loud bang, but the tankers didn't fall for it they spun the turret to the right then to the left to find out where we were. As it spun to the left we got up to cross the road but were spotted. The machine guns in the front of the tank opened fire, narrowly missing our small squad. The 7.92 mm rounds from the MG 34 machine gun just missed me, hitting the road and kicking up dirt and rock in front of me. Fragments of the road pranged off of my helmet. I made a tight turn to the rear of the tank, the other 3 men followed. The tank started turning around frantically trying to find us. I ran to the back of the tank with McGill to my right side. I threw my Thompson on top of the armored hull of the mighty tank. I then, grabbed onto on of the rails on the back and hoisted myself onto the machine. McGill handed me his M1 Carbine, I then grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the tank.
"Ok were on McGill." I said while handing him his rifle. Now lets drop a few pineapples in on our Kaiser friends.
I climbed onto the turret of the tank and knelt down beside the hatch.
"Alright McGill, pull the pin and throw me the grenade, on three." I explained. "One – Two – Three GO!"
McGill tossed me the grenade; I grabbed it, opened the hatch and dropped it in. Suddenly the same grenade came flying back into my hands. I yelled and hastily tossed it back in this time closing the hatch. I heard a muffled explosion and then silence. The tank stopped, almost causing me to fall forward. I saw the driver's hatch open and the driver climb out. He hopped off the hull of the tank and began to run. I raised my Thompson without missing a beat and sent five rounds through the running man's back. He stumbled forward and fell. McGill raised his carbine as the wounded man reached for his pistol. McGill popped off 2 rounds into the back of the man's head, immediately killing him.
"Nice shooting guys." A voice commended from behind the tank.
"Thanks Reiben." I replied. "You and Sergeant Claymore can do a quick sweep to see if you can rustle up any more krauts."
"Gee, Thanks a lot Sir."
"GO!" I yelled.
The 2 men ran off into the woods, in search of the enemy. Sergeant McGill and I headed back to the platoon.
"RADIO!"
Private Taber ran towards me with the platoon radio on his back. I grabbed the receiver and began to raise the base in hopes of reaching Captain Beckett.
"Albatross 1, This is Condor Over" I repeated
"This is Lieutenant Morgan, Patch me through to Captain
Beckett Over"
"Wilco"
I waited for about 5 seconds.
"Well Sir, I've lost 3 men, 6 men are wounded. One of the
dead men is Sergeant Flarhety, The number 3 squad leader."
"Replace him, Give someone a field promotion."
"Yes Sir, I've also lost both the jeep and the deuce
Sir."
"Go it on foot, its not that far."
"Sir, I've also acquired a map from a dead enemy soldier.
It appears to detail infantry placement in the town of Leduc. I've also found a
letter from an officer requesting tank support."
"Get there before the tanks to son. Good Luck"
"Yes Sir. Condor out"
"Albatross 1 out"
I hung up the receiver.
"Are Claymore and Reiben back from their patrol?" I asked Private Taber
"Yes Sir. They're over there having a smoke."
"REIBEN, CLAYMORE, McGILL, FRONT AND CENTER!" I commanded.
The three men doubled to my position.
"Ok, here's the deal" I explained. "A few things have changed, 1. We don't have transportation, we gotta walk, 2. We gotta get there fast, cause we may be expecting tanks. And 3. Reiben, You're a Sergeant now."
"WHAT, but sir I'm only a PFC" Reiben complained.
"You're a Sergeant now. Congratulations."
"But I'm a BAR gunner."
"You can keep the BAR."
"I'm a terrible influence, I almost walked out on Captain Miller."
"Well now you're a Sergeant, and if you walk out on me, I'll personally ram my boot clean up your ass. Now fall in your squads and lets move out. We'll go through the forest."