I forced myself to aim and pop off rounds at the advancing Germans. The Hurricane came around again and strafed the soldiers. The .303 rifle rounds cut into the Germans, scattering them on the ground. Nearby a grenade exploded, sending a shower of dirt onto me. Even so, as long as we had air support, we could hold out. Almost as I thought it, a pair of Messhershmidts dropped from the clouds and chased the Hurricane off. Lieutenant Morgan was screaming something into the radio receiver. He handed it back to Vogul and screamed "Displace!" We all ran back to the nearest cover and started firing again. I tracked one running Nazi and burned him down with three rounds. More Nazi fire came at us. Lt. Morgan let loose a whole magazine of hot lead zingers while I reloaded. Another squad of SS reinforced this squad. We came to the realization that we were in serious trouble. We displaced and hightailed it back towards the Allied part of the city. We ran as fast as possible, cutting from one ally to the next. We then rushed into a building and climbed to the top floor. An HE round had taken off one of the sidewalls of the room. We all lined along the ledge on out chests and waited for the soldiers to pass. The SS troops walked by the building but none of them looked up and saw us. Lieutenant Morgan breathed a sigh of relief. He crouched in front of us. "Okay, were going to complete the patrol. Run an ammo check and make sure that you are ready to go. Han, I want you on point." Han nodded. I took a drink from my canteen. The sun had burned off all the cloud cover and now it was warm without being truly hot. We set out again, pushing forward. We went about 400 yards in without seeing any Germans, but we new they were close, we could hear them fighting near us. The sound of MG-42 fire was coming steadily closer. We continued on, even a little more careful. Little did we know, we were being watched. I slung my carbine over my arm and pulled out my canteen. I took a drink from it and grimaced at the warm liquid. I stepped into the shade where Han was standing. That's when it happened. I heard the low thump, like a sledgehammer hitting a bag of wheat. Horn tumbled down, then the sound the shot rolled over us. "Cover!" I yelled. I dropped back behind the side of the building. We waited for several minutes, more for our own adrenaline to leave our systems then to confuse the sniper. I looked over at Morgan, who had taken cover behind three barrels filled with rainwater. As I watched, he poked his head around the side to take a look, then ducked it back in quickly. No shots came, so he held his head out again, this time a little longer, still nothing happened. He finally gave us the signal to come out from cover. I ran to Han, he had taken the shot to one of his lungs, the blood that was soaking his M41 field jacket was a bright red, as was the blood that he was coughing up onto my hands. I had no formal medical training, sure I knew how to treat a gunshot with the kit on my belt, and I had seen medics treat gunshot wounds hundreds of times before this, but I had never had to do it. I yanked at my kit and took out a field dressing and tore it open, slapping the pad down to his chest. Lt. Morgan aided by taking out a package of sulfa and spreading it around the wound to prevent infection. I was temped to give Han some morphine, but knew that it would be unadvisable to administer to a chest wound, as it would slow his heart rate down too much. Han let out a series of hard, racking coughs and then laid still, a thin band of bright red blood running down the side of his mouth onto the ground. I stood up next to him and let the dressing that was soaked with blood drop from my hand. The rest of the squad was out in the open, standing in a circle around their dead friend, all in shocked silence. This was very unusual when fighting the Germans, Medics were treated as non-combatants by both sides and German commanders were very strict about not shooting opposing sides medics, this shocked and disgusted the soldiers that had seen it as well as enraging them. We wanted to spend more time and linger around Han's body, but the Germans were on the move and would be advancing to us soon. "Better dig quick." Said Sgt. Morgan, removing the entrenching tool from his web gear. Stankowitz looked at Morgan hold the E-tool in his hand. "But sir, the Germans are advancing, they'll find us before we finish." He whined to the Sergeant. "I don't care, Stankowitz. I'll be damned before I leave on of my troops on the battlefield without a proper burial. That's how we show respect to our dead." Said Morgan angrily. "Your crazy, Sarge. Doing this is suicide, I refuse to." He said in an insolent tone. I stepped forward, undoing the flap on the holster containing my .45 and placing my hand on the butt of the weapon. "Are you refusing an order from your Sergeant?" I asked. "I guess I am, Corporal." He said and started to walk off. I pulled the M1911 out of its holster and began to bring it up, but Sgt. Morgan signaled for me to stop before I shot him. I let the pistol drop to my side, but didn't replace it in its holster. There was a good chance that if Sgt. Morgan wanted to make a report of this Stankowitz would be court-martialed for cowardice and insubordination, possibly even put to death. On the other hand, he did make a cowardly point, if we waited, we would probably have uninvited visitors. Morgan stood silent, contemplating his next action. Oinker stepped forward to follow Stankowitz and then so did Vogul. Finally Morgan walked up to Han's body. He took the wool blanket from the dead man's pack and covered his body with it. Then he stood up and motioned for us to catch up to Stankowitz. Morgan stepped up beside him and I followed closely behind the two. "I won't lie to you Private, you did have reason to question that order, but your opinion of it does not matter. You have no right to question one of my orders, period. There will be an official inquiry into your actions. Frankly, your lucky that I didn't have you shot." Stankowitz remained silent, staring straight ahead. Morgan shook his head and stepped in front of him, leading the squad. As we walked, I kept an eye on all the buildings that spanned up around the street. A sniper had already hit us once; I didn't want it to happen again. Towards the north of us I could hear the groaning noise of the treads of German armor. They were close, we bunched up a little more and ran as quiet as possible. Alemann was point man now, I watched the lanky soldier move. The thin man looked somewhat comical with his thick, wire-frame issue glasses and crew cut hair. He held his Garand ready, and he moved foreword carefully, testing every movement and taking note of every sound, the man could have made corporal in a second, damn shame that he wouldn't hack it. Alemann waved us foreword. We walked along carefully. I stuck to the rear of the squad, watching for any enemy units moving up behind us. The sounds of machinegun fire in the distance had become silent. A light rain had begun to fall. I turned my head to look behind me, then, seeing that it was clear, I looked back. That was just in time to have Oinker's bulk thrown into me. The force of impact threw me to the ground and then trapped me under the dead weight. "Sniper!" yelled Plouffee, firing the clip in his rifle at where he figured the sniper might be, more trying to prevent another shot from hitting anyone then to actually kill the sniper. The squad dispersed to the sides of the streets, up along the buildings where the small amounts of rubble might provide some cover. I, being the unlucky one in the group, was caught struggling to get out from under Oinker's dead weight. I pushed and pulled my way out, making only slow progress. What generally isn't realized is that a dead body really weighs a lot, even more when you add about forty pounds of gear and ammo and a rifle. My helmet had rolled to the side, leaving my head unprotected, and my rifle lay pinned across my abdomen. I could feel the cold water from the rain soaking my field jacket, and the warmth of Oinker's blood coming through the front. It was then that the German's caught up to us. Just as I emerged from Oinker's bulk, a dozen Germans turned the corner. I fired on the run, dodging bullets. I finally made it to the cover of an old burned out Studebaker that had crashed into a building. I fired over the top of the car. The SS troops were being cut down from the Americans that had already taken cover. Even thought they were being fired on with little cover, they put up a fight. 9mm parabellum rounds slashed across the Studebaker. Metal chips flew up and tried to cut at me. I returned fire at the Kraut holding the MP40, my rounds cutting into his upper chest, spinning him around and putting him down for good. I looked over at Vogul. He had taken cover on the opposite side of the street from the rest of our squad. He was screaming into the hand piece and firing his M1 Carbine with one hand. He yelled one last time, then broke out and rushed across the street. I spun and brought up my carbine, giving him as much cover as possible. The Krauts had dug in under cover and were now holding position. I dropped down behind the car and crammed a new clip into my gun. Lt. Morgan was yelling and motioning for me to come to the other side of the street. I cocked my rifle and then beat feet to the other side of the street. Lt. Morgan yelled to me, "We've got artillery support! Get you head down!" I grabbed my helmet and buried my head as the deadly steel rain began. The Germans all made a very deadly mistake, they ran. An artillery barrage does most of its damage by shrapnel. If you are in a foxhole, or even laying on the ground, you stand a much better chance of living than if you are standing up, as these Germans were. The slight whistle grew to a deafening howl as the shells traveled down towards their targets. Down the street three large explosions billowed up, growing so large that they seemed to be one. The running SS troops were engulfed in the flame, disappearing. Just as the sound of those shells going off faded, three more screamed down and slammed in nearly the same place, pushing over walls and entire structures. Dust dropped down onto us. Small rocks and mortar that had been thrown up into the sky pelted around us as it landed. I sat up. The smoke thinned out. We could see no Germans, although we found the remains of their weapons, either they had managed to run away fast enough by dropping their weapons and equipment, which was unlikely, or they had been blown to bits. Lt. Webber grabbed the radio hand piece off Vogul's back. "Fire mission accomplished, thank you very much." He spoke into it. Stankowitz ran out to Oinker's form. "Stankowitz, get back here right now, the sniper may still be out there." Stankowitz didn't listen; he unhooked the shovel from his gear and started to dig a grave. We all held back, not ready to expose ourselves to the sniper's possible fire. I looked over at Lt. Morgan; he looked like he was ready to storm over and put Stankowitz into the grave that he was digging. I could understand his anger, we had to leave Han behind, unburied, because of Stankowitz's whining, now nothing had changed, but he was putting the entire squad at risk because he wanted to bury his own fallen friend. Not that we wouldn't have buried Oinker, but we would have done it when we were sure that we had got the sniper and it was safe for us to all dig, making it go that much faster. We watched as he dug the hole. He finally had it big enough to bury Oinker; Stankowitz stood up, dropped his shovel and placed his hands on his hips, almost as it to show us that he was still safe. The sniper's shot rang out in the cool air. Stankowitz's knee of his left leg exploded. He yelled out and fell over, gripping his knee. Morgan grabbed the radio. "White Knight to Black Rook, we need another barrage, we are encountering sniper fire, over." He waited. "Rodger that White Knight, we need some coordinates, over." Stated the fire controller. That was it, we didn't know where the sniper was, we could guess and still hit him, but we didn't want to accidentally kill any civilians, who often hid in the remains of buildings, refusing to leave the combat zone. Lt. Morgan looked around for a moment, trying to spot where the sniper might be. Then he called out, "Stankowitz, where's the sniper?"

Stankowitz blinked as tears ran out of his eyes. He held his knee with both hands; blood and bone fragments were pumped out of the wound around his hands as he whimpered. "Damn it Stankowitz, you tell me where that sniper is or we'll all die." Yelled Morgan. Stankowitz lifted his hand and pointed. Lt. Morgan risked a look around the side of the building at where he was pointing. A second shot rang out, making a comical ping as it went through Stankowitz's helmet. Blood ran down his face from a wound that we couldn't see, and then he fell limp. Lt. Webber grabbed the radio and relayed coordinates. "Rodger, barrage coming in, over." Responded the fire control officer. I heard several thumps in the distance and then heard the screaming as the shells plummeted to earth near our position. Myself and Lt. Webber both looked around the side of the building as they came down on the building. Three huge geysers of HE collided around the building that we watched. With a tremendous groaning sound, the building collapsed onto the street. Huge plumes of dust rushed towards us. I closed my eyes and held my breath as it rolled over me, then waited for it to settle. I opened my eyes and looked around. The building was demolished into a pile of brick and wood, most of which was flaming. The rain was now pouring down on us, threatening to extinguish the flames, but it served to rinse the dust off of our uniforms. I stood up and checked the squad, "everyone alright?" I called out. Everyone said they were, then Lt. Morgan glanced around the corner again to make sure that the sniper was down, then proceeded to step out towards Stankowitz and Oinker's bodies. He removed their tags and then rolled them into the fresh grave, which was now filling with water. After they were in, we neglected to cover them, since they were so vocal about not burying Han due to our proximity to the Germans; we just figured that it would be nice to return the favor. We moved out. Our patrol was nearly done and had been successful. We hitched a ride on a passing deuce and a half to get back to the general area that we were staying in, then took over a church for the overnight stay. As the men talked, I sat back and brewed up some C-ration coffee and enjoyed a cup of the wretched beverage, it had been designed to keep people up and alert, not to taste good after all. I handed a cup of it to Lt. Morgan, who was sitting nearby. "Rough day at the office." I commented. "Yep," he nodded. "Its not like I enjoyed having Stankowitz around that much, but I'm almost sorry to lose him." He said. "Well, at least he got put in his place one last time." I said. Morgan nodded. "We're supposed to be pushing through the city tomorrow. It's our job to cut off the Kraut's supplies. Well take them by surprise when they are still in the forest outside the city." I nodded and sipped on my coffee. "We had best get some sleep. Big day tomorrow." He said. "They're all big days." I commented as I looked through my things to find my blanket.