Fireheart, Fernpaw and Cloudtail had been trying to get into contact with Bluestar for the past few minutes, they were trying every tactic that they could think of.
"Dog One Outrider, this is Dog One Six, do you read me over? Any and all receiving units, this is Dagwood White Dog One Six requesting a comms check." Fernpaw called into the radio, no response, transmissions were getting lost in the woods. Fireheart and Cloudtail were walking side by side. Bramblepaw's patch where the graze wound was crude, Cinderpelt would have to make a more high quality fix to ensure the wound was going to heal nicely.
"If you don't mind me saying sir, maybe we should head to the assembly point." Cloudtail suggested that they should move to the base of the hill 400.
"Not yet. Bluestar will get here." Fireheart told Cloudtail that he wasn't so sure about moving to the hill. Bluestar was bound to arrive to help them out. Fireheart turned and began to walk away until Cloudtail ran up to him.
"Sir? Is it true? About Tigerstar almost getting all of us killed at the Kasserine Pass?" Cloudtail asked Fireheart if this notion was going to be true. Fireheart continued to walk along, trying to figure out what he was going to say to his nephew.
"One day, Cloudtail, when you're leading your own platoon, you'll find out there's usually two options." Fireheart began. He stopped walking before he turned to his nephew. "Bad and worse. But, you focus on your clan because that's what will get you through." Fireheart advised Cloudtail on what he was going to do when he became a platoon leader.
"Tell that to Bluestar." Cloudtail told Fireheart.
"Bluestar…" Fireheart began. He paused for a bit before he took a sigh. "You just pray to Starclan that you're never in that position." Fernpaw raced up behind the two of them as she had news.
"Sergeant! Just got a transmission from Baker company. They're gonna assault Hill 400. Bluestar's with them." Fernpaw began. Finally a signal from Bluestar but Fireheart wasn't pleased.
"What?!" Fireheart hissed. He wanted to know more about this from Fernpaw if she had any information left.
"She took the other half of our clan and Second Platoon." Fernpaw told Fireheart about who was with her. "She's waiting for us at the base of the hill." Fernpaw gave the location of the two platoons. Fireheart knew Bluestar wasn't going to begin the assault with him. Now was the chance to catch up and do what they needed to do.
"Gear up! Let's move!" Fireheart called out. Fireheart and the group began to move out from the Sawmill in a hurry, they needed to find Bluestar and secure Hill 400.
December 7th, 1944, Hürtgen forest, Germany: 16:30
Fireheart and the group had arrived at the base of hill 400. Everyone was waiting for them. Tawnypaw was keeping a look out to see if they were going to get reinforcements.
"There they are." Tawnypaw called out. Bluestar turned her head to spot Fireheart and his group making their way to her. Bluestar was worried about the hold up.
"What took you so long?" Bluestar asked Fireheart. "We just had fighter bombers neutralize the guns and we're preparing to capture the hill itself."
"We were waiting at the Sawmill wondering where you were." Fireheart began. "Something went wrong. A flare was fired on us and that was when the guns fired on us. We got separated and scattered. I was looking for Bramblepaw and Cloudtail and we managed to get the group back together." Fireheart explained to Bluestar what exactly happened with the flanking move. Bluestar nodded and began speaking.
"Any casualties?" Bluestar asked Fireheart.
"Bramblepaw's been lightly wounded and we were able to patch him together. Other than that we're fine. I can't say about the others that were with us. I'm assuming they got blown to bits by the artillery." Fireheart told Bluestar. "We didn't have the time to count how many we've lost."
"Okay as long as you made it through. That's acceptable." Bluestar told Fireheart that they managed to pull themselves through the chaos. "We still have a hill to capture so we need to move out." Bluestar turned and began to lead the group to the hill.
Bluestar and the group were slowly making their way through the Hürtgen Forest. Bluestar and the group were moving slowly along to see where the hill was, they must've been at the base of the hill 400. What they didn't know was that they were moving into a trap. Suddenly they were greeted with fire from all sides.
"Everyone down!" Fireheart called out. Everyone dropped down into a sunken ditch along the side of the road. Cloudtail huddled Lostface close to him while Fireheart tried to determine what was firing at them.
"See anything?" Bramblepaw asked Fireheart, he had been shot once today and he didn't need to be shot again. Fireheart poked his head out to get a glimpse of what was head. Ahead was just a single Shadowclan cat firing an Mg42.
"It's just one Mg42." Fireheart told Bramblepaw that the one machine gun was the thing that was firing at them. Goldenflower was stationed more to the rear as she was carrying her Browning Machine gun but it wouldn't be wise to use the ammo to duel with another machine gun. Cloudtail and Lostface began firing their rifles to try to keep the machine gun distracted.
"Some of us will stay behind. Bluestar, I want you to flank." Cloudtail gave the order that some of them should flank and take a whack at the machine gun.
"Me? Flank? I'm higher than you in rank, what makes you say I will follow your orders?" Bluestar asked. She fired her Thompson at the Mg42.
"Because some of us will keep the machine gun distracted and you'll go around and silence it, I'm splitting us into two groups again." Cloudtail reasoned with Bluestar that one group should distract the lone Shadowclan cat while the others were to sneak up and take the machine gun out.
"How about this, fix bayonets!" Bluestar gave the order. This made everyone's blood run cold. No cat wanted to hear those two words. Some of the cats attached their bayonets while others were going to make the dash across the open field. "Come on!" Bluestar called out. She was the first to leap out from the ditch while making a mad dash across the field. The Mg42 gunner continued firing but the gun ran dry. The cat knew it had to load more ammunition. As it began to load, it looked up to see the Thunderclan cats running to it. It tried to reload but Bluestar arrived there first and sprayed it down with her Thompson. The Shadowclan cat was killed but the charge wasn't over as of yet. They began sprinting up the west side of the hill, hollering at the top of their lungs. They finally reached the top of the hill, taking the Shadowclan cats by surprise.
"Everyone down! Nobody move!" Fireheart shouted at the Shadowclan cats. The Shadowclan cats looked up at Fireheart as the rest of Thunderclan made it to the top of the hill. Ravenpaw and Makarov were carrying a small crate of ammunition for the Thunderclan cats while Fireheart and Bluestar checked the prisoners and stripped them of supplies.
"Since we used up a lot of ammunition trying to reach the hill, this is for you." Ravenpaw told Bluestar that this supplies was going to be used to temporarily restock them with bullets as much of their ammunition had been used up in today's fighting.
"Thanks Ravenpaw." Bluestar mewed. "Take the prisoners to the rear and get ready to come back tomorrow." Bluestar instructed Ravenpaw.
"Okay, I will do it." Ravenpaw responded. Ravenpaw snapped his pads to signal to Barley to get the others moving.
"Barley, tell Mitchell, Vasily and Makarov to help escort the prisoners, Bluestar can hold out on her own for now." Ravenpaw ordered.
"Come along you three." Barley gave the signal. The three misfits followed as they escorted the Shadowclan prisoners back to the rear. Bluestar watched as the group disappeared into the forest. Now came the task of organizing the defense of hill 400.
"Since we've taken the hill, does it mean we can go back to camp?" Bramblepaw asked as they had captured the hill and all the objectives that Smallear had laid out had been completed.
"Not yet, even though we've captured the hill, now comes a much harder challenge, keeping the hill." Fireheart mewed to Bramblepaw.
"Fireheart, we need to begin organizing the defenses of hill 400. I want you to take Bramblepaw, Brackenfur, Tawnypaw, Sandstorm and Frostfur with you to set up a line of fire at the base of the hill. Cloudtail will take Fernpaw, Ashpaw, Lostface and Dustpelt to form a defense at the top." Bluestar instructed him. Fireheart nodded.
"Bramblepaw, Tawnypaw, Frostfur, Sandstorm and Brackenfur, you five are on me." Fireheart instructed. The five cats got up as they began to make their way down the hill. Cloudtail and his group moved in to provide support at the top. Bluestar stayed behind to organize the rest of the defenses.
Fireheart and his small group reached the base of the hill, they were all chatting away about what was happening.
"Yeah looks like Ravenpaw wasn't kidding, we're running out of ammunition, if we didn't get that crate, I doubt we'll last long up here." Brackenfur began. "I'm surprised you made it out of there when we heard those guns going off on you."
"I'm grateful that I'm still here." Fireheart told Brackenfur.
"I don't know what will happen further on when winter comes?" Tawnypaw asked if they had any ideas on what would be expected when the winter would begin.
"Nothing good, if I can predict." Fireheart answered Tawnypaw's question.
"Hopefully we can all survive this dreaded war. I just want to go home." Frostfur told the group that the war was playing on her nerves.
"I hope so too Frostfur." Sandstorm told her that she was looking forward to the war's end. Fireheart looked out ahead and stopped walking.
"Okay let's dig ourselves in as this will be a good position to take out Shadowclan cats." Fireheart instructed them to stop walking. Suddenly an explosion ripped through the forest as a great black pine tree began to fall straight at Fireheart.
"Fireheart watch out!" Sandstorm shouted. She yanked Fireheart back as the tree came crashing down. Once the dust settled, Fireheart looked ahead.
"Stargleam! That tree could have almost flattened me." Fireheart told the group. He was shocked but at the same time, he was grateful that the tree was there.
"Yeah if that tree wasn't you would've been dead." Sandstorm mewed. She was right about what she said, if that tree wasn't there, the explosion would have been a direct hit and killed all six of them. Fireheart went prone to see what if he could aim down his sights and get a few shots off but the tree was too big for him to properly aim down his sights. He began to think on what their next action would be and he decided withdrawal back up the hill was the best option.
"Okay everyone, we're going back up the hill, we can get a better vantage point up there." Fireheart suggested. The others nodded and began to make their way back up the hill.
Cloudtail and his group were overlooking the hill; what was left of Second Platoon, exhausted from the day's fighting, had just arrived to reinforce Bluestar. What was worse was the fact that she wasn't going to share any of the ammunition that Ravenpaw had brought for her with them. Everyone was loading on whatever ammunition they could scrounge and fit into their magazines. Cloudtail and his group hadn't gone to collect theirs. Cloudtail continued to look and spotted Fireheart and his group, making their way back up the hill.
"Fireheart, any news regarding the hill?" Cloudtail asked. He was puzzled to see Fireheart and his group back up on this hill when they were supposed to be defending the base of the hill.
"A tree nearly crushed us. We decided that we weren't going to take our chances and decided to come back to the top of the hill as we would have a better time fighting Shadowclan." Fireheart responded on why he was back at the top of the hill. Cloudtail nodded.
"Okay, get yourself into a foxhole, Dustpelt is currently calling in for reinforcements to be sent to us tonight assuming Smallear has any cats to spare." Cloudtail told Fireheart that he was better off up here. Fireheart and the group split up into their respective foxholes and decided to prepare for what Shadowclan was going to throw at them.
The first counter attack came that evening as the sun was beginning to set. A patrol of a couple dozen Shadowclan cats began to move up the hill. Bluestar noticed this and called out.
"Here it comes, get ready." Bluestar mewed. The Shadowclan cats began moving up the hill. Goldenflower with her M1919A4 began firing away, the others joined the frenzy, firing their rifles off and throwing their grenades out. The Shadowclan cats continued to try to take the hill as a barrage of artillery, tank and mortar fire went off around the hill, an unknown number of Shadowclan cats were annihilated. Within ten minutes, the counter attack fizzled out as the last Shadowclan cats were shot down.
"Was that it?" Bramblepaw asked, he didn't know if this attack was going to last longer and he wanted a fight.
"Yeah that's it." Fireheart mewed with confidence. "Shadowclan might launch more counter attacks when the opportunity comes." Dustpelt's radio buzzed as he just got the news.
"Fireheart, Smallear is sending an extra thirty cats along with a mortar to reinforce the defense of hill 400. We hope to get more weapons from this as Cloudtail is the only one without a proper rifle and is using Kraut equipment." Dustpelt told Fireheart about what was going to happen with the defense of this important hill top.
"Okay that's appreciated." Fireheart nodded with approval. Cloudtail went to the dead Shadowclan cats and began to loot them for supplies for his Gewehr 43. Taking ammunition, magazines and extra grenades if they needed them.
The day gave away to night as the cats had dug in at the top of hill 400. Some of the cats were taking turns watching over the hilltop for any signs of a counter attack and it was cold.
"Is it getting cold or what?" Frostfur asked, she shivered as Dustpelt lit a fire to keep them warm.
"I thought you liked the cold, your name is Frostfur." Dustpelt told her. Now he had a fire going. Fireheart and Bramblepaw sat around the fire and decided to talk.
"So Bramblepaw, what do you want to do when this war is over?" Fireheart asked.
"I don't know actually, hopefully I don't end up like my daddy." Bramblepaw responded.
"Why was your dad?" Fireheart asked. He got out the knife he had and began to dig it into a can he brought with him. Inside the can was their ration of chocolate. Fireheart got out a pot and his canteen and began to pour the water inside.
"My dad tried to run for governor in California in 38, he failed, when he came up to me before he joined Thunderclan's army, he said he wanted me to be a governor like him. And I said: No dad, I wanted to become an artist and soar high above the clouds with the eagles. My dad wanted to slap me across the face for not respecting what he wanted me to be but decided he couldn't and told me to at least join you." Bramblepaw told Fireheart what he wanted to do in the future. Fireheart nodded.
"I can see why he failed. I bet the people would get rid of him faster than us getting him arrested for war crimes. I can respect what you want to do." Fireheart told Bramblepaw. He then placed the chocolate into the water and began to boil it over the fire.
"If I had a paper and pencil I can sketch you out. But that's all left at the camp and there is no way I could get there and back in one piece, assuming we're still alive for the next few days to come." Bramblepaw told Fireheart what he was going to do.
"Okay so if we survive this, I'll let you sketch me," Fireheart told Bramblepaw about it.
"Yes sir." Bramblepaw responded. Fireheart finished boiling the chocolate in the water. He got it off the fire and poured some of it into Bramblepaw's flask while he was going to have the rest of it himself.
"Drink up, it's nice and warm." Fireheart encouraged Bramblepaw. Bramblepaw nodded, he began drinking up the sweet anr warm mixture and was astounded by it.
"Hopefully we can store up some chocolate for the winter months ahead." Bramblepaw mewed to Fireheart.
"I hope we can too." Fireheart replied. He began to drink up while they were looking at the night time sky while they sat around chatting. Cloudtail was elsewhere trying to keep the others warm.
"We should have brought some blankets. It's cold out here." Cloudtail began. He went up to Lostface as she was huddled around another fire. "Hey there Brightpaw, how are you holding up?" Cloudtail asked Lostface.
"Cold." Lostface replied. She shivered while trying to huddled around another fire.
"How are you holding up? I hope you're still shooting despite only having one eye." Cloudtail asked. He sat down next to her and continued to chat with her.
"I'm still shooting just fine. I guess you teaching me to shoot with my left paw is finally paying off." Lostface told Cloudtail. She shivered as the dark night time sky seemed to be covering them. However it was some relief, Shadowclan wasn't bound to attack until the morning and this left the holdouts on Hill 400 some time to themselves. But they were preparing for tomorrow's thrust by Shadowclan wherever they could.
"That's good to hear, I don't know how long we'll be on this hill." Cloudtail asked. Lostface leaned down and pressed her head into his fluffy white fur.
"Possibly until tomorrow night, we fended off one counter attack and Shadowclan's bound to bring more." Lostface responded. Cloudtail nodded before he decided to let Lostface cuddle into his fur. Day one was finished but tomorrow was the real test.
The nighttime sky gave away to dawn. Day two on Hill 400 had arrived. Bluestar had received forty more cats as reinforcements and they helped dig in on the side of the hill however, no mortars had arrived. Ravenpaw and Barley had just arrived with news.
"Bluestar, there is a large concentration of Shadowclan cats forming on the southeastern side of the hill, we might as well cover the east and the south, Shadowclan might counter attack from that direction." Ravenpaw advised Bluestar to prepare the defenses.
"Okay thank you Ravenpaw." Bluestar responded. They were interrupted suddenly as a whither of incoming shells was heard. Bluestar and Ravenpaw looked up.
"Get to cover!" Thornpaw shouted, he sounded the alarm. The combined group of cats made their way to their foxholes as they wanted cover from this combined fire of artillery, tanks and mortars. All the cats could do was hunker down in their foxholes and pray that a shell or mortar doesn't hit theirs. They couldn't even breathe in this landscape.
"When will this stop?" Tawnypaw asked, fearing for her life as more shells rained down on them at Hill 400.
"I don't know but keep your head down!" Brackenfur instructed her. Black Pine trees were torn to pieces as this fire was determined to overwhelm them and Shadowclan was going to come with a fresh assault when it was all over. Suddenly an 88mm mortar bursts from the treetops, and explodes just to the left of Cloudtail's foxhole, filling it with shrapnel. Cloudtail immediately felt a burning sensation in his left leg near his hip.
"Argh!" Cloudtail moaned out. He couldn't move properly now that he was hit. "I need help!" He called out. Fireheart and Cinderpelt came running over when they heard Cloudtail's cry for help.
"It's okay Cloudtail, I've got you." Fireheart told Cloudtail as he shielded him from any more incoming fire. Cinderpelt was busy cutting away at Cloudtail's uniform when she noticed the mangled fur and flesh from where the mortar had struck. She quickly pulled out the larger fragments she could see with a pair of large tweezers. The smaller fragments they were going to have to remove later. She got out a packet of medical sulfur, opened it up and poured it all over the wound. Cloudtail hissed at the burning sensation as Cinderpelt wrapped his leg up with a big bandage, she wrapped it tight enough to stop the bleeding.
"I'll get to your wounds later." Cinderpelt told Cloudtail. She hurried off to go find other Thunderclan cats to treat. Cloudtail knew he was going to have trouble moving and their trouble was only beginning. Then the artillery barrage stopped. Bluestar poked her head out of the foxhole to see who was still around.
"Who's wounded?" Bluestar asked Cinderpelt.
"Cloudtail, Willowpelt, Frostfur, Tawnypaw, Fernpaw and Mousefur from our group as well as many more. Two cats from another platoon have been killed." Cinderpelt reported the wounded to Bluestar.
"I don't think we can treat all of them." Bluestar mewed with an anxious tone, Shadowclan was bound to counter attack any moment now. A couple hundred Shadowclan cats were making their way up the hill and they began to open fire. "Engage the enemy!" Bluestar shouted. She began firing her Thompson away at the incoming attackers while the others began firing as well. They were determined to hold the hill. Cloudtail and Fireheart were firing away together as Cloudtail couldn't move that well.
"Cloudtail, two to your right!" Fireheart called out. Cloudtail pointed his Gewehr 43 and fire the rifle off, taking down the two Shadowclan cats.
"They're sending irregulars at us, the ones that fall from the sky, is Shadowclan that desperate?" Cloudtail asked, He fired off a couple more shots before reloading the rifle.
"Possibly, we've dealt a lot of damage to them the previous day and they want payback." Fireheart replied. He fired off the carbine he had and took down another Shadowclan cat trying to storm the hill.
"It's just the black helmets we need to shoot at?" Cloudtail asked. He fired another shot, nailing a Shadowclan cat in the head.
"Yeah, just keep shooting the helmets." Fireheart instructed Cloudtail. Cloudtail pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin, he then chucked it down the hill at three advancing Shadowclan cats, the grenade exploded, scattering them. Cloudtail leaned back out and kept firing. The hilltop was alive with gun fire. Shadowclan was being torn to pieces by the Thunderclan cats on the hill top as they were holding the high ground. The remaining cats turned and began making their way back down the hill.
"They're pulling back!" Bramblepaw mewed with excitement. This was the second counter attack they had managed to fend off.
"I bet they'll be back, so let's see what supplies we can gather to help fortify the hilltop.' Fireheart told Bramblepaw. He, his apprentice, Graystripe, Cinderpelt and Bluestar began making their way down the hill to another squad of Thunderclan cats holding that line, all six of them had been killed due to them being the farthest out from the hilltop.
"They didn't stand a chance." Cinderpelt began. Fireheart nodded as they began picking up supplies that would help them brace for another counter attack. M1 Garands, an M1A1 Thompson, a .30 caliber Browning machine gun and grenades. Once they brought the supplies back to the center, they began to prepare their defenses once more.
The next assault would come that afternoon. Another couple hundred Shadowclan cats made their attempt in storming up the hill. Thunderclan was locked and loaded, ready for final reckoning of Hill 400. Cloudtail and Lostface began firing as they were determined to take down as many of the Shadowclan cats as they could. Fireheart and Bramblepaw had set up one of the browning machine guns in the foxhole.
"Okay you pull the trigger and I feed you okay? Make sure you fire in concentrated bursts." Fireheart instructed Bramblepaw.
"You got it." Bramblepaw mewed. He began firing the Browning machine gun at the Shadowclan cats. They were determined to take down this next assault, in an attempt to hold onto the hill. One of the Thunderclan cats ran over, he was holding a field phone.
"Fireheart, give the coordinates to command." He mewed. "They got the artillery on standby."
"Okay." Fireheart mewed. He motioned the tom to give him the field phone. The tom handed it to him and he began to make the call. "Come in, this is Fireheart." Fireheart began.
"Fireheart, we got 108 guns on standby, you grant us permission to fire?" The artillery cats called out.
"Permission granted, fire along the South, North and Northeastern sides of the hill." Fireheart told the artillery cats.
"Okay, prepare to fire." He responded. Fireheart handed the field phone back to the tom and he was expecting the deafening roar of the artillery guns. He got what he wanted. The 108 guns began opening fire and their shells began landing in the marked areas around Hill 400. They took out the enemy tanks on the south part of the hill and began concentrating on the Shadowclan cats. But that wasn't the only welcomed surprise. Fireheart looked up to hear the buzzing of planes flying overhead. Those planes belonged to Thunderclan.
"P47's. Yeah this is awesome!" Fireheart called out. The planes finished off the rest of the Shadowclan infantry while the cats looked on with pure awe.
"Shock the enemy so it doesn't come back!" Brindleface shouted. The cats cheered on as Shadowclan backed down, they weren't going to take the hill now. They had repulsed the last counter attack.
Evening came and Bluestar and her weary platoon were relieved by two more platoons who came to take her place. They were being evacuated off of Hill 400. Some of the cats were carried on stretchers as they had been injured on that day's fighting and were off to be treated. Eight cats had been wounded on the attack and defense of the hill; they were now heading home.
Fireheart was in Smallear's office as Smallear wanted to talk to him personally.
"Despite the fact that a good chunk of the platoon has been wounded, I am impressed, you've accomplished everything I've expected you to do. You've captured Hill 400, fended off three counter attacks and because of that, Thunderclan now owns the hill. Shadowclan isn't preparing for another attack from what I picked up." Smallear told Fireheart.
"Much appreciated." Fireheart told Smallear. He was weary from being on that hill for two days, possibly three.
"And as a reward for your hard work, I've told Bluestar that we're sending the platoon to Bastogne in the Ardennes forest to rest up. We got news that Shadowclan is still on the defensive so an attack in that area is unlikely. You get two weeks of rest." Smallear told Fireheart what his objective was going to be since many cats were wounded from the two days of aggressive assault.
"Thank you, we should begin the transfer of the forces tomorrow morning." Fireheart mewed to Smallear.
"You are dismissed." Smallear smiled to Fireheart. He was really proud of him for the performance he managed to put up as of today. They were being withdrawn from the frontlines and being sent somewhere else to rest.
Thunderclan packed up their stuff and moved to the Ardennes forest the next day and didn't arrive until the day after. They could finally be able to rest in this landscape.
However, Smallear was wrong, Shadowclan was preparing for something big in that area and Bluestar and her platoon were right in the monster's path.
[A/N]: The continuation of the last chapter has been finished. Now the next big event is going to take four or so chapters to fulfill I am certain. If this isn't interesting, let me know as I'm shifting the gears back to Belgium for the winter season.