So I apologize for my hiatus. Recently, I was given a position as a English Teacher for my old High School and I have been wracked with grading and lesson planning. Oh, and also I had a writer block with this chapter. Sorry for the wait. Hopefully I will update more frequently.

The Engineer

July 7, D-Day + 31

"Engineering is achieving function while avoiding failure."

T/3 Adam Mercer lit a Chesterfield and inhaled the smoke as he and his Engineer section listened in on Captain MacKay's plan of attack of St. Fromond. Light was beginning to break.

The Engineers knew the score, as did all of Able Company. MacKay gave the debriefing, and it was the usual spiel that the Army told its Company Commanders to tell the men anytime the Krauts held a place that Uncle Sam wanted. Take the town, kill the Germans holding it, and keep moving. This town was St. Fromond, and these Germans to kill were of the 38th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment, which contained elements of Germans that Able faced in Carentan. Many Able men were eager to face off with these Germans.

Mercer knew this approach was going to be trouble. There was only one way to enter St. Fromond, and that was through that long stretch of bridge, divided by a miniscule island right in the middle. The first bridge led to a small island, large enough to fit three Shermans, which led into a second bridge directly to St. Fromond. But the second bridge into the town was overlooked by line of homes that could be housed by Germans, leaving the crossing party exposed to fire.

It was going to be a tough approach but at least Mercer and his men wouldn't be in the first wave. If anything, that's one lucky perk that comes into play with being an engineer. He and his engineers were doing what they were most comfortable doing—sitting by the sidelines until they were called into action. Though they were combat engineers, they were more fixers than fighters. If a tank needed to be repaired, if barbwire needed to be cut, if a positioned needed to be structurally reinforced, then they were the guys to do it. Problem was, after a month of bitter fighting in Normandy; his old reliable guys were dead or wounded, so he got a new batch of men, like everyone else.

Four new replacements came to his Engineer Section. There was Reggie Zappano from Manhattan; he was 19 and pretty tall for an Italian kid. Mercer took a liking to him immediately on him being a fellow New Yorker.

And he got three 18 year olds kids, all three with the last name "Smith" and all three with the first letter of their first name beginning with "H". Haley Smith from St. George, Utah, Harvey Smith from Keene, New Hampshire, and Henry Smith from Boise, Idaho.

All three of them had the same round, pink face without a strand of hair on their cheeks. All three of them had that annoying habit of saying at once, "Ready to get to work!" Christ, when Mercer first met them, he assumed the three were triplets.

Out of these four kids he got, he still retained an original engineer in his section back from D-Day, Birch, now his second-in-command.

It was eerily quiet within the town, as if the only occupants were phantoms. Yet they knew the Germans were there, they could hear the rumbling of tank engines and obscure shouting in the distance. It would be 3rd platoon who would be leading the assault into the town, being led by a replacement officer, 2nd Lieutenant Eric Sleeman.

"They… they gotta cross that long bridge?" asked Henry Smith.

"That's a damn bottleneck up there," replied Harvey Smith.

"Looks like the riflemen will have all the fun, when are we going to get into some action?" Haley Smith asked open-endedly

"Seriously," Henry Smith agreed.

"Y'all that eager to go up there?" Mercer said to his new men.

"We haven't been doing anything since we got to France, Sergeant Mercer," Haley said.

"Who's leading the assault?" Zappano asked.

"I think it's a new guy," Birch replied, "His name's Mewman, from 3rd platoon."

"What the hell that green louie thinkin'?" Mercer grumbled lowly, "Sending out a fresh squad of replacements for the first time…"

MacKay checked his watch and held his hand in the air ready to kick off. He brought his hand down to 3rd Platoon and the replacement lieutenant, Sleeman, ordered Mewman's squad to advance on the bridge.

The squad kept moving at a brisk pace; Mewman looked over his shoulder and waved his hand for the men to follow him across the bridge. MacKay silently motioned for the rest of 3rd Platoon to follow Mewman's squad.

A light creaking commotion came from the village. Mewman stopped the advance, he extended his head out to hear. The noise came right toward Mewman, who backed up with suspenseful dread. The originator of the noise rolled right up to Mewman's feet. It was a bizarre, foreign contraption, the likes of which neither he nor the squad had ever seen.

The contraption was made of metal and it had treads on the right and left side of it and was tall enough to reach a man's knees. It was amazingly bulky and completely grey; it seemed as if it could be a soapbox car for a five year old.

Mewman leaned forward, cross-eyed in confusion, "What the hell…?"

MacKay's teeth were grinding. "Wh-Why did they stop? Keep moving!"

Sergeant Conti told him, "Sir, it looks like a small machine on the bridge? Like a little car…"

A small machine? Like a car…? Mercer looked through his binoculars. His feet were moving as soon as his brain registered what it was.

"GET BACK!" he hollered.

Mewman never had a chance to turn around.

The contraption had burst into a flash of light and fire. The explosion shattered the silence. As the dust was clearing, the Americans bore witness to the second bridge crumbling into the river as debris fell from the sky. Mewman's squad of six had vanished into nothingness within the flash.

"CHRIST!" Conti growled.

"What the fuck was that?!" Lieutenant Sleeman shouted.

Mercer and MacKay exchanged stares of frustration. Mercer placed his hands on his hips, "Goddamn Goliaths…"

Sleeman looked as if he was at a loss for words. "What? Wh-What are—"

"Those were Goliath tracked mines, sir. They're giant toys the Germans use to destroy vehicles and bridges from a distant. These little bastards are stuffed with TNT and the controller pushes a button and boom. They can travel a long way."

The smoke was beginning to clear. The second half of the bridge was completely demolished by the Goliath, with pieces of the bridge crashing into the deep water below. Nobody saw any remnants of Mewman's squad.

"Oh my God… my men…" Was all that Lieutenant Sleeman could mutter.

MacKay wasted little time with Mercer. "How long can it take to build a new bridge?"

"Y-You're serious, sir?"

"As a bullet."

"Well it's not gonna be short, especially with six of us working…and it would go much quicker if we had the Regimental Engineers with us as well…"

"I'll put in a call for them, but how long will it take? We need this town, ASAP!"

"Shit… with all the incoming fire that we may receive, it'll hamper us too and also—"

"How. Long?"

"Half an hour, sir."

MacKay grunted. "That isn't too bad. Once we get the bridge situated, we can roll in the armor and—"

"About that sir…we can probably make the bridge stable enough just for infantry if we're doing it quick as possible. We'll need to reinforce the bridge to get a minimum 30 ton tank across securely without sinking it."

"How much longer will that take?"

"Depends on how many men are trying to cross the bridge as we reinforce, sir."

MacKay rubbed his chin and grunted. "Just get the bridge up as soon as you can, Mercer. We'll provide suppressing fire at the buildings overlooking the bridge."

"Not worried about discretion, sir?"

"The Germans already know we're here since they blew the bridge right on our approach. And they know we'll send engineers to fix the bridge. I assume you don't want your men to run into any fire, do you? Now hurry up and organize your men, we need this bridge fixed, pronto."

MacKay hurried away, leaving Mercer to turn to his section as he lit a cigarette.

"What's the damage, Sergeant?" Birch asked.

"Krauts blew up the goddamn bridge, and guess who the lucky bastards are that's gonna build a new one?"

"Yippee…" Harvey Smith said with a roll of the eyes.

Mercer took a knee, "C'mon ya mangy mutts, where's the cheer you had earlier? Ya wanted to get to work right?

"How the hell did the Huns blow up the bridge anyhow? I didn't see any wiring on it." Henry Smith inquired.

"It was a Goliath mine, remote controlled car-like thingy that blew it to hell."

"Oh shoot," Henry said, "You think they're going to send another one our way when we fix it?"

"I don't wanna wait and find out, so hurry up and get your tools, come on!"

"But Sergeant Mercer, won't we be exposed?" Haley Smith asked.

Mercer sighed, These replacements with all these questions. "Yeah, but we got Able Company to provide covering fire. Along with two Shermans who will be behind us."

"Hear that, fellas?" Zappano said with a wry smirk, "All of our firepower is going to be right behind us and the Germans' firepower will be right in front of us. What can possibly go wrong?"

"C'mon ya bums, who's ready to earn their stipend?"

"And I'm guessin' that comes with a coffin, Sarge?" Zappano replied.

Birch chuckled, "Leave it to a New Yorker to be the pessimist." He turned to the three Smiths, "How you three feeling?"

All three of the Smiths said at once, "Ready to get to work!"

Zappano sighed and pulled out his blowtorch and sighed with a smirk, "Alright, what the hell…"

Birch smiled at his Sergeant, "Nobody lives forever, right?"

Mercer chuckled harder than he thought he would at the comment. He stood up and rolled up his sleeves, "Alright Engineers, we have a job to do."

By the time the engineers arrived, MacKay had already established a company-wide firing line that stretched the bank. Sergeant Paine's Heavy Machine Gun section were deployed parallel to each over and were positioned so they would have interlocking fields of fire if necessary. Sergeant Wilcox's Excalibur and Sergeant Marco's Hitler's Bane were sitting idly in the center of the line, their 76mm barrels pointed directly at the houses in front on the opposite bank.

MacKay approached Mercer, "You can begin when you're ready, Mercer. We'll lay down suppressing fire across the bank on your approach. We put in the call for the Regimental Engineers, but you'll need to get started fast before the Germans start pouring fire over here. Got it?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright, whenever you're ready, Sergeant."

Mercer nodded to his Captain then turned to his men and bellowed, "Engineers! Let's go!"

The Engineer Section took off in a dash straight to the ruined bridge. Captain MacKay gave the command for covering fire. Sergeant Paine's machine guns kicked off the melody of automatic fire at the closest houses in St. Fromond which overlooked the bridge. Then came the small arms fire which joined the chorus and slammed into the buildings on the opposite side of the river. American bullets smashed into the stone homes, chipping off wooden windows, and blowing away pieces of bricks. The Sherman duo began pelting the houses apart with their shells, sparking several small flames inside the homes.

Through the ongoing fire, the engineers fell to the broken edge of the bridge and set down all their tools in front of them and immediately went to work. They laid down the sheet metal, they slathered the pasty mortar over the rebar, and then welded steel over it to reinforce. They kept the pace up in a consistent manner; measuring, cutting, hammering, welding, and pasting the material together in place.

The symphony of American gunfire died away as they reloaded. For the briefest moment, all was quiet in St. Fromond. No return fire was being delivered by the Germans.

The bridge was 30% complete.

"If my Ma could only see me now, hammering and welding away…what a smile she would have," Zappano said.

"What? Daddy never taught you to fix a bridge before?" Henry Smith said with a smile and a chuckle.

"Nah, I bet he was too busy porking ya mother, little Henry," Zappano smirked.

Mercer had just finished hammering in the wooden beams and now he needed to weld some steel on it for support. The first man he saw was Zappano.

"Bring that metal over here, Zappano. Quickly now!"

A single rifle cracked from within St. Fromond.

Dust and blood shot out from Zappano's torso. He crumpled with a sigh.

The engineers dived to the ground in surprised fear from the thunderous crack. Henry Smith dropped his hammer and reached over to the lifeless man. "Zappano, no!

Mercer's body moved on its own and he jumped on Henry, pulling the kid down. What seemed like the entire town of St. Fromond came alive in gunfire. Storms of bullets came pouring from the windows and behind low stone walls at the Americans, kicking up dirt and dust in front of their faces. Many on the opposite bank dipped further into cover and bellowed out for everyone to return fire.

And this small group of engineers was lying directly within this typhoon of steel from German and American weapons. The trapped men had to shout over to one another just to be heard.

"Holy shit!" screamed Henry, curled up in a ball. A stray bullet had just punctured his canteen on his waist.

"Get back to work, Henry! Now!" Mercer ordered.

"But Zappano's—"

"Get back to work goddammit!"

"Sarge, we're sitting ducks out here!" Harvey Smith screamed, he had lost his helmet in the ensuing bullet storm.

"And we'll be dead ducks the longer we stall, so pick up that hammer and hurry on up!"

"We need to fall back, Sarge! It's too hot out here!" Haley winced as a ricochet sliced open the back of his hand.

"Keep it together, Haley!" Birch yelled at him.

Mercer turned back to his men. The Brooklynite in him came out, "All of ya's! We's got a job to do! Offya asses and get it done! Longer we stay here, the worse it gets! We're engineers goddammit!"

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou—" Haley began to pray in a frantic stupor as he pounded nails into the metal.

Mercer raised his head for a moment, noticing several German soldiers running into cover, prepping their weapons and machine guns to fire.

The bridge was at 40% completion.

Birch was hammering down some metal. As he raised his mallet in the air, a rogue American bullet crashed through the wooden neck and shattered it.

"Damn it!" he cursed. "This is crazy! Hey y'all, I've lost my mallet!"

Harvey leaned up from welding and tossed a mallet to Birch. "Hey Birch, I got an extra!" Birch could see fear welling in the kid's eyes, but he still had the spine to get up to assist his fellow Engineer.

The bridge was at 45% completion.

A burst from an MG42 caught Harvey Smith fully in the back. He dropped his welding torch and began falling backwards. Birch reached out to grab him, but the young replacement was out of Birch's grasp. His body fell back into the river below, and the engineers watched as it floated downriver.

The bridge was at 50% completion.

Henry Smith called out, "They got Harvey!"

Mercer ducked his head from the incoming rounds, gritting his teeth bitterly. He picked up Harvey's welding torch and went back to work. Birch grasped Henry's shoulder and gave him a quick hard stare. The trembling Henry was fighting back tears, but ultimately picked up a hammer and went back to work.

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee!" Haley continuously chanted.

Through the maddening fire, Mercer could pick up the creaking of metal grinding closer to river. Out from around a building, the cannon of a Panzer protruded outward. The tank was lurching closer to the banks, it's machine guns squeezing out neon green tracers into the Able Company position. The cannon swiveled to Mercer's squad's direction.

"Oh God, it's targeting us!" Haley Smith said, "We need to move, Sergeant!"

"We ain't movin', not yet!" Birch replied.

"Get ya ass back to work, now!" Mercer shouted.

Fortunately for the engineers, the Panzer targeted Wilcox's Sherman. The Panzer's cannon made a shattering boom and Wilcox's Sherman, Excalibur, rocked from the impact of the shell hitting the treads.

Excalibur rotated its cannon around. The giant 76mm cannon belched an AP round which slammed into the hull of the Panzer. The Panzer was still operational but began to withdraw.

A bazooka round went soaring over the bank, but missed the Panzer, instead exploding on the dirt road beside it. Hitler's Bane targeted the Panzer, and scored a solid hit against it. But the Panzer was stubborn and fired at Hitler's Bane, but the round drifted downward and exploded at the edge of the bank next to the bridge, sending dirt and smoke to rain on the engineers.

"This is nuts!" shouted Henry Smith.

"What?!" shouted Birch who couldn't hear him.

"I said, This, Is, Fucking, Nuts!"

As if for emphasis, a shell exploded 15 yards behind the engineers, causing all of them to dive to the ground. No man was wounded but they heard ringing in their ears throughout their work.

The bridge moved to 60% completion, and then to 65%, then to 70% completion.

Cries of medic ran out along the riflemen ranks, followed by the screams of the wounded. Conti crawled out to the edge of the first bridge and shouted, "Mercer, gimme a time!"

"About ten more minutes!"

"Anything we can do to make it go faster?"

"Yeah! Actually pop those Krauts and get this fire offa us!"

Mercer's helmet suddenly went flying off of his head, a pinging sound echoed around his skull. The force of that shot sent Mercer tumbling forwards.

He brought his head up in twisted anger, "And tell ya goddamn men to shoot straighter for fuck sake! We ain't Krauts, alright?!"

An officer came jogging to the bridge, running at a crouch to dodge the incoming fire. He was wearing the uniform of an engineer. "Who's in command here?" he asked.

"I am, sir. Staff Sergeant Mercer, sir."

"I'm Major Cooper, 121st Engineers! I was told you needed help, son!"

Mercer took a look behind the Major and noticed a large contingent of Regimental Engineers coming down the road with tools and supplies in hand.

A mortar crashed along the bank. The major dived to the ground, losing his helmet.

"We do, sir! I already lost two men in this firestorm out here! We need all the help we can freakin' get!"

"Understood, Sergeant." He turned to his men "Abner! Get your men over hear now with that sheet metal!"

As they ran to the bridge a number of the Regimental Engineers were being picked off by German fire and mortars. But they kept rushing to the bridge and immediately got to work. Several engineers slid down the bank to help reinforce the foundation of the bridge, others laid down more sheets of metal to reinforce its integrity. Soon close to twenty men were working on that one bridge, Mercer's relief was rising; they were almost finished.

"Everyone get ready to move!" Mercer called back to Captain MacKay. "The bridge is…95% complete! Get ready everyone!"

Six loud and deafening thumps echoed from inside the village. A wail shattered the air above St. Fromond. A wail seemingly from a woman. So loud was the wailing that the engineers stopped to take a listen. The wail soon turned into a multitude and the pitch was growing higher and higher until the wail had turned into a scream.

"Sarge, the hell is that noise?!" Henry Smith asked in a panic.

"SHIT! That's a Mimi!" Mercer explained in a shout.

A huge geyser suddenly exploded upward from the Vire River just five meters shy from the engineers.

Mercer got to running, calling backwards to his men. "Find some cover! Fall back and find cover!"

"They're targeting the bridge! Engineers, retreat!" The Major called out to the men.

Five shells crashed against the bridge in rapid succession. The earth quaked so hard that Mercer and his engineers were bouncing in the air as they ran from the bridge. The cries of explosions from behind nearly blew away Mercer's eardrums. He could feel the scorching flames behind him as if he was escaping an oven.

Through the dust, a burning stench rose in the air, followed by screaming. As the engineers recovered, they recoiled once they realized that their bombed bridge was now on fire.

"Those were fucking incendiary rounds!" Birch remarked, his face twisting in repulsion.

On the bridge there were four men burning brighter than a candle, running in a circle and flailing their arms, bellowing in utter agony. Two of them fell on their knees and silently collapsed as the flames consumed their bodies. But one of the standing, screaming men was calling out to Mercer for aid as his flesh was being scorched. All Mercer could do was to watch in horror as he realized it was Henry Smith, who was charring up like an overcooked turkey dinner.

Private Henry Smith stumbled over the edge of the bridge, screaming and still aflame, and fell into the river and didn't reappear.

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee! Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee!" Haley chanted in sobs.

The German fire continued. Bullets raged against the engineers as they dove on the ground, staring at all their hard work literally going up in flames. Mercer clawed into the dirt, his hands were shaking, his fury burning hotter than the blaze. Zappano, Henry, Harvey, and the Regimental Engineers, they were so close… and they had all died for nothing...?

Then Mercer noticed it, the fire was dying away and the smoke was beginning to clear. And the bridge was still standing.

"It's still there… the bridge is still standing!" Mercer cried out. He looked back over the rest of the engineers, "We need to get back in there, fellas!"

"But what if they bomb us again, Sergeant?" an engineer asked, burying his head in the dirt.

"Then those bastards are just gonna bomb us. I lost too many men buildin' that bridge up, and dammit I'm not gonna let the Krauts knock it down! Imma go up there myself if I have too! C'mon Engineers, we're holdin' up the whole goddamn war!"

"The Sergeant's right," said Major Cooper, rising to his feet. "The Battalion needs this bridge, let's get ready to move!"

Haley was still quivering from the bullet streaks, but Mercer patted his back with reassurance, "You with me, Smith? You with me, Haley?"

"Y-Y-Yeah…"

"C'mon and let's go then."

"B-But all that…"

"C'mon! Before they target us again! Haley, youse the one that wanted to get to work, ain't ya? Well come on! For Reggie, Harvey, and Henry! Haley, you ready to get to work?"

The fear was still there, but Haley gave the Sergeant a nod, "Ready to get to work!"

They rushed the bridge once more under withering fire. The Regimental Engineers took casualties from the second charge but they made it to the destroyed end of the bridge. On this phantom metal trail was the stench of burnt hair and flesh which befouled the area and killed the nostrils of these men. But as engineers, they chose to persevere through the horror around them; they chose to carry on through the carnage. The bridge was nearly to completion.

Those determined engineers continued on through harrowing tempest of bullets and explosions that picked them off one-by-one. And yet, they chose to continue on, to honor their dead comrades through the completion of this massive project. Mercer and Birch placed sheet metal down on the bridge, allowing Haley Smith to finish welding the last bit of steel. The quiet young man turned around and gave thumbs up to his Sergeant. The bridge had been repaired.

A German shell came down short and landed inside St. Fromond, right at the edge of the completed section of the bridge. Mercer and Birch dived instantly to the ground and covered their heads. Haley made a hyuk, like a sudden hiccup. His eyes were bulging out his skull and his arms seized up like he was paralyzed.

His voice was a near broken whisper; a single tear fell down his cheek as he gasped for air. The two veteran engineers of Able Company rose over Haley, terror was their expression. They both picked Haley up and retreated back over the bridge, screaming for a medic to remove the five inch piece of shrapnel lodged in Haley Smith's throat.

The Major called over to Able Company. "The bridge is repaired! It's repaired!"

Lieutenant Sleeman stood up and rallied his men. "Alright 3rd Platoon! Let's go kick their ass! Let's go!"

The platoon rose to their feet and charged the bridge as the tanks and machineguns provided heavy suppressing fire on the approach, ignoring the engineers as if they were phantoms.

"Medic! Medic! Where the hell's the medic!" Mercer cried out.

"Doc Rad! Doc Rad! Doc!" Birch called into the area.

They got Haley back across the bridge and back to the Headquarters section. They continued screaming for Conrad.

"I'm here!" Conrad was running to the engineers. "What's the problem?"

"Help him out, quickly!" they said, placing Haley on the grass.

Doc Conrad bent over him and placed his hand on the wound and looked into his eyes. He then lowered his head and rose to his feet. "Sergeant, I'm sorry… But he's already dead."

Both men finally looked down at him. Blackish blood was pouring out from Haley's throat. His face was a pale blue, with lifeless eyes jutting out of his sockets. Behind the two men was a thicken trail of Haley's blood, all the way from the bridge.

From the reports on the radio, the riflemen had charged into St. Fromond and were engaging with the Germans in ferocious house-to-house fighting. But the engineers of Able Company never saw it. They remained back at Able Company HQ, overhearing the radio chatter. The two men were slumping down into the dirt, their gazes lost on Haley's figure draped by a blanket. Their job was done. Unless HQ had a flamethrower on standby, or they got a call to repair a tank, then the engineers had no reason to go over that bridge.

Major Cooper stopped by Mercer and Birch and sat down beside them. He offered a Chesterfield to the Sergeant. "Not going over there, Sergeant?"

Mercer reached out and grabbed the cigarette while staring into the dirt and shook his head, "Nah, not yet anyway, sir… Your men are already over there to help aid the tanks…"

"I understand. You two had a long day today… Did you know them long, Sergeant?"

"They came in last week, they were replacements, sir. All of them.

"Weird, sir. We…" Birch said, "We didn't even know them that well…"

Mercer stepped in, "Yeah… They kind of, blended together, ya know…? Didn't even get to know what was special about any of 'em. And all four of them were killed today… What are the odds of that, huh?"

"That was a tough moment, Sergeant. Damn tough and unfortunate, but you held on through it."

"…Thank you, sir."

"I can spare some engineers for you two, but that'll be after we take this town. But I got one new engineer who saw your team in action…and… he wants to join your section, Sergeant. I know he can't replace your fallen men, but he's a sharp kid."

"Oh… alright then." He placed the cigarette in his mouth.

"What were their names?"

"Reggie Zappano, Henry Smith, Harvey Smith, and Haley Smith."

"I'm sorry, son."

"Yeah…"

Cooper rose to his feet, "Alright, Mercer, I'll send the kid over here."

"Okay, sir."

The replacement came running before the exhausted men and stood at attention.

"You wanted to join our section?" Mercer asked with skeptical eyes.

"Yes, Sergeant. Knowing how the six of you were caught between those bullets and you got the bridge up as fast as you did, uh… well; I just want to be a part of that, Sergeant."

Mercer and Birch exchanged glances.

The replacement cleared his throat, "If that's alright with you two that is."

He looked so young, just like the other four. Actually no, he looked even younger than the three Smiths. Birch asked him, "You eighteen?"

"Uh no, I'm actually seventeen. I—uh, lied about my age."

"I see. What's your name kid, and where you from?"

"Oh, I'm Private Horace Smith, from Bellow Falls, Vermont. I'm ready to get to work!"