CHAPTER ONE
THE LANDING
My head was awash with thoughts as my hands slid over the cold, hard metal of my rifle, I burned with hatred at the Germans, I had seen the images and newsreels late at night of the carnage left behind and was horrified by what I saw. I, Jackson, one of the snipers of ???? Company, part of the 101st Airborne was determined to seek revenge.
Behind me stood Caponzo, his gaze vacant as he stared at what lay ahead of us. It was obviously too much for several men who were vomiting onto the wet floor of the landing craft. We could see the so-called Atlantic Wall, the reinforced pillboxes towering above Dog Beach. Inside were Krauts, ruthlessly mowing down my fellow Americans with their MG-42s. I was frantic with anger and longed for vengeance.
The craft commander told us we were 30 seconds away from the ramp being lowered. I checked my rifle and gritted my teeth.
Luckily for me I was near the back of the craft as the second the ramp dropped men were falling all around me. I ducked and sprinted as fast as I could with all my equipment. My helmet bounced off my head and I left it rolling in the blood - soaked sand. Soldiers were screaming for medics and their mothers as blood spurted from their wounds. A tank trap loomed above me so I took cover from the hail of lead.
I could see the Captain running for cover but stopping on the way to help a wounded soldier. He began dragging him away from the sea. An artillery shell exploded behind him and I watched the legs of the wounded American disintegrate and fly into a million pieces. The Captain turned, his eyes widened, then he dropped the man and ran for the safety of a tank trap.
Pulling my rifle into the aim and resting it the rusty metal I dropped a Kraut firing a machine-gun. Immediately another soldier took his place. I swore and shot him through the jugular artery. Blood spurted from his corpse as he toppled over the edge of the pillbox and lay, twitching at the base of the wall. Instantly a soldier sprang to his feet and fired two shots before a sniper's bullet caught him in the face. He fell to the ground.
THE LANDING
My head was awash with thoughts as my hands slid over the cold, hard metal of my rifle, I burned with hatred at the Germans, I had seen the images and newsreels late at night of the carnage left behind and was horrified by what I saw. I, Jackson, one of the snipers of ???? Company, part of the 101st Airborne was determined to seek revenge.
Behind me stood Caponzo, his gaze vacant as he stared at what lay ahead of us. It was obviously too much for several men who were vomiting onto the wet floor of the landing craft. We could see the so-called Atlantic Wall, the reinforced pillboxes towering above Dog Beach. Inside were Krauts, ruthlessly mowing down my fellow Americans with their MG-42s. I was frantic with anger and longed for vengeance.
The craft commander told us we were 30 seconds away from the ramp being lowered. I checked my rifle and gritted my teeth.
Luckily for me I was near the back of the craft as the second the ramp dropped men were falling all around me. I ducked and sprinted as fast as I could with all my equipment. My helmet bounced off my head and I left it rolling in the blood - soaked sand. Soldiers were screaming for medics and their mothers as blood spurted from their wounds. A tank trap loomed above me so I took cover from the hail of lead.
I could see the Captain running for cover but stopping on the way to help a wounded soldier. He began dragging him away from the sea. An artillery shell exploded behind him and I watched the legs of the wounded American disintegrate and fly into a million pieces. The Captain turned, his eyes widened, then he dropped the man and ran for the safety of a tank trap.
Pulling my rifle into the aim and resting it the rusty metal I dropped a Kraut firing a machine-gun. Immediately another soldier took his place. I swore and shot him through the jugular artery. Blood spurted from his corpse as he toppled over the edge of the pillbox and lay, twitching at the base of the wall. Instantly a soldier sprang to his feet and fired two shots before a sniper's bullet caught him in the face. He fell to the ground.