We were too late for the next operations to take place, Operation Veritable went ahead on the eighth as it was a move to help prepare our final drive across the Rhine. Operation Grenade was launched later that month and the big one was coming. We just didn't know when.
Firestar was in camp as the group was receiving their rations for dinner. Cloudtail was excited about this as he was more interested in the food.
"Split peas with vegetables. This is what I want." Cloudtail licked his lips and sat down next to Brightheart. Firestar collected his rations and made his way to Smallear who wanted to chat with him.
"So what is it that you want to talk to me about?" Firestar asked Smallear.
"I guess the war is finally coming to an end. The Rhine is the only thing separating us from the Shadowclan heartland and the Rhur. Once the Rhur has been captured, it will cripple the Shadowclan war effort and force them into a surrender. However we got disturbing news. Darkstripe is still alive." Smallear told Firestar. Firestar paused when he heard the news about Darkstripe. How did he escape being left there to die. A million questions were running through his head as he didn't know what was going on.
"How did he escape? He was pretty beaten up when we left him." Firestar asked Smallear. He wasn't entirely sure about what happened to Darkstripe. Smallear sighed and began to speak.
"I can only assume that Tigerstar must have found him." Smallear told Firestar about who must have found him.
"So anything else you want to talk to me about?" Firestar asked Smallear. Smallear began to think as he was eating his rations.
"Yes. We got news from Ravenpaw and Barley that they and their friends have found the Ludendorff bridge intact so we need to meet them there so we can prepare for our drive over the Rhine. After that, Shadowclan has no other defenses so we're in the open." Smallear told Firestar that the river was the only obstacle that was left.
"What do you think we should do after the war?" Firestar asked.
"Well when the war is over, you can all go home. War is dragging us down and we need to finish this quickly." Smallear told Firestar he should have the freedom to return home to his country along with the rest of the platoon if they were going to survive.
"I promise I will not delay." Firestar responded. Smallear smiled as Firestar turned and walked away.
Our operation went ahead the next day and we were expected to capture the last bridge over the Rhine River. Once the bridge was captured, Shadowclan had no other obstacles in our way.
March 7, 1945, Remagen, Germany: 12:00
Cloudtail was riding in a truck with Brightheart, Firestar, Sandstorm, Bramblepaw and Willowpelt. Cloudtail was once again holding an M1919A4 machine gun as he was going to task himself with cover fire. He felt clumsy with this huge gun but he was the size of bear so the weight wasn't going to be a problem. In front of them was a jeep with Ravenpaw's friends. They wanted to establish a conversation with them. Bramblepaw knew that this was his moment to shine if he was going to be promoted.
"Hey where did Bramblepaw get the Auto Five from?" Vasily asked with curiosity in his voice.
"He must've taken it. It will be useful for clearing out tight spaces and he made sure to come prepared as he brought along a lot of ammo with him." Firestar replied. The others laughed as they kept driving up the road.
"Once we get across, there will be nothing waiting for us. Nothing." Bao barked with confidence, there was nothing going to stand in their way.
"We better count on that. I think the enemy has basically nothing at this point so if we break through, it's all over for them." Firestar mewed. Bao laughed.
"I'm also happy you're the new leader of Thunderclan, Firestar, though I'm going to miss Bluestar." Bayani responded.
"Yep, that's our objective ahead." Barley told the group they looked ahead to see the Ludendorff bridge, it was still intact and thank Starclan for that. Without it, they would have to build a bridge across using pontoon boats. The others smiled with joy as they were getting close.
"It's within our grasp unless Shadowclan has several battalions of troops waiting on the other side." Mitchell joked that they would be facing no resistance. Suddenly the machine guns opened fire as it began to shred up some of the Thunderclan cats in the truck ahead.
"You just had to open your mouth did you?" Cloudtail asked. Several machine guns and AA guns were firing on the crowd, they were going to take the bridge.
"Hold tight!" Firestar shouted, everyone cuddled up as the jeep in front of the transport exploded, forcing the transport driver to swerve over in front of the newly created hole in the road. The Thunderclan cats see the gunfire coming from the opposite side of the Rhine. "All right. On me! Come on!" Firestar called out. Firestar was the first to hop out of the truck followed by the others. Cloudtail turned to his left to see a Thunderclan cat get shot to death before he could hop out of the jeep. Cloudtail then hopped out as they all gathered in the giant pothole. Bayani was taking count of everyone who was still alive.
"We gotta secure the bridge entrance." Firestar told the others. He didn't want any sort of delay when it came to taking the bridge. Cloudtail looked on before looking at the towers. They had a job to do and taking the bridge was one of them.
"Yes, Firestar!" Cloudtail mewed. "Come on!" Cloudtail ordered. He, Brightheart, Sandstorm and Willowpelt left the pothole with Cloudtail firing his machine gun on the move. Bramblepaw prepared to make his move when Firestar stopped him for a moment.
"Hey!" Firestar called to Bramblepaw. "Make me proud Bramblepaw, you have a chance to get promoted when this war is over." Firestar mewed. Bramblepaw nodded with a smile.
"You know I won't let you down. Let's move!" Bramblepaw responded. He was ready to get this job done. Firestar nodded. They both prepared to make their dash to the bridge.
"Covering fire!" Bayabi shouted. Firestar and Bramblepaw ran out of the pothole while Bayani provided covering fire with his Thompson and ran out to join the platoon.
Cloudtail and the platoon are gathered around Firestar under heavy enemy fire.
"The convoy will provide cover while we push to the bridge. We need to link up with Makarov's group as he's assaulting the bridge from another angle. I sense the bear isn't going to be able to fight all of those Shadowclan cats at once. Let's move!" Firestar instructed. He was the first to lead the way while Bayani continued firing the thompson to keep the Shadowclan cats at bay.
"This way, up here!" Cloudtail called out. He had spotted a branching path leading away from the main road and to the road connecting the bridge. Everyone followed Cloudtail and made their way to the hill. Once they got to the top, He began firing away everything he had at Shadowclan. Firestar turned his carbine and began shooting at the Shadowclan cats at the top of the towers. Vasily and Makarov arrived with the second group.
"They're holding the bridge like a thorn in our side and it's up to us to clear them out. The cats on the towers are going to try to stall and blow the bridge up and all of that progress will be for nothing." Vasily described the situation to Firestar. Firestar nodded.
"Okay, Vasily, try fighting the cats on the bridge, I'll take the others and clear out the towers." Firestar instructed. "Makarov, you come with me."
"I got ya." Makarov responded. Bayani came up the ridge looking a bit exhausted.
"Sorry it took so long. Barley is down there trying to protect the armor and the machine guns are currently ripping us apart." Bayani told Firestar.
"We're getting ready to clear them out. Come on." Firestar mewed. He took the group with him and they made their way straight for the first tower. One of the tanks supporting Thunderclan's attack rolled up but it exploded into a ball of fire.
"Panzerschreck!" Thornclaw shouted. He continued firing his Carbine while Firestar pushed his way to the tower.
"Push into the tower! We need to clear out those MGs!" Firestar called out. Cloudtail made his way to the tower, firing his BAR while a Thunderclan cat with a flamethrower readied itself as Thornclaw breached the door.
"Lighting up!" It called out. Thornclaw broke the door down as the cat with the flamethrower began pouring fire into the first floor of the tower. The Shadowclan cats screamed as they were cooked alive. Firestar now needed some of his warriors to clear the upper floors of the first tower.
"Bramblepaw! Makarov! Secure the upper floors!" Firestar called out. They nodded and began to move out. Cloudtail was busy providing machine gun fire on the retreating Shadowclan cats.
Makarov made it to the second floor and began firing his submachine gun straight into the crowd. The Shadowclan cats were taken off guard as Bramblepaw got out his Auto 5 and began finishing off the Shadowclan cats still there. Makarov didn't need to reload with his drum magazine and decided to help clear the next floor above.
"Let's go!" Makarov called to Bramblepaw who was reloading his shotgun. Once he was done, they made their way to the final floor. Makarov entered by spraying from his submachine gun again while Bramblepaw waited. Once Makarov was out of his way, Bramblepaw made his way and finished off any Shadowclan cats. Some threw their paws up in signal of surrender. "Don't fire on them. They're surrendering." Makarov instructed Bramblepaw. Makarov began to escort the three Shadowclan cats down the stairs. Bramblepaw took an extra moment or two to look around for more cats before he began heading down the stairs to join back up with Firestar. Once he got to the bottom.
"We're all clear!" Bramblepaw told the group. Firestar nodded and he began to rally the group up.
"Squad, on me. We're heading onto the bridge." Firestar told the group. He opened the door as Thornclaw came running in with Mousefur and a bunch of engineers to help them out.
"The Krauts are gonna blow the bridge. We gotta stop them. Brightheart, what do you have?" Thornclaw told the group before they were going out onto the bridge.
"They're rolling out everything. They know we're coming." Brightheart responded. Bramblepaw was busy reloading.
"Just buy us some time. We'll handle the charges." Thornclaw told Firestar that they were going to diffuse the charges. Firestar nodded as he began what seemed to be the perilous crossing of the Ludendorff bridge. "All right, I'll lead the way while Cloudtail and Bramblepaw cover the engineers. Ready?" Firestar asked. He was going to wait for them while they nodded yes with approval. "Come on, let's go." Firestar led the way with Cloudtail spotting Shadowclan cats on the bridge, falling back.
"Open up!" Cloudtail shouted. He began firing away with the machine gun to cover them while Bramblepaw began spraying his Thompson. Mousefur was guiding the engineers to the bridge where the detonation charges were. Thornclaw ran up ahead to one of the detonation charges and he began speaking to Cloudtail.
"I'll defuse this one." Thornclaw told Cloudtail. He began to defuse the charge while the engineers scramble around to defuse as many charges as they could. More cats joined up and continued firing away as Cloudtail and Firestar advanced along the bridge. The Shadowclan cats began their retreat while Firestar continued directing the battle.
"They're falling back!" Bramblepaw mewed with a smile. Now was the time to press the attack.
"They're getting outta here in a hurry!" Sandstorm snickered. They continued forward in the pursuit of the Shadowclan cats but Firestar waved his paws up to get them to slow down.
"I suggest we continue going slow, there might be some big holes in this bridge." Firestar suggested. Suddenly the bridge began to explode. "Shield yourselves!" Firestar shouted.
"They're blowing the bridge!" Thornclaw shouted. The cats covered their eyes as the explosion rocked the bridge and nearly blew out their eardrums. Everyone opened their eyes moments later to see the bridge still intact. Several Thunderclan cats had been blown apart and this left the group shellshocked for a moment.
"Who's down? Who's still with me?" Firestar asked. He turned to see that everyone in his group was still standing, they hadn't taken any brunt of the explosion.
"The bridge held. The whole thing held." Thornclaw panted with exhaustion. Cloudtail looked up to still see Shadowclan cats on the bridge.
"Shadowclan cats were still on it." Cloudtail mewed. The remaining Shadowclan cats melted away as Cloudtail knew they needed to pursue them and finish them off.
"Mouse-brains." Mousefur grumbled. Firestar turned to his group as they still needed to cross the bridge.
"Get up. Keep moving. We still have a job to do." Firestar mewed. He began to sprint off with the others following behind. The Shadowclan cats had either been blown to pieces or escaped to the other side. But the resulting explosions had weakened the structure to the point that the individual bolts began coming off and plunging into the Rhine, the explosion didn't destroy the bridge outright but it severely weakened it to the point where the entire thing was going to crumble. They heard the sound of planes coming in, it wasn't good.
"Stuka dive bombers appear and commence a strafing run, blowing a hole in the bridge." Mousefur announced. Brackenfur looked up to see the planes beginning their attack run.
"Stukas!" Brackenfur shouted.
"Incoming! Watch out!" Brightheart called out. The cats got out of their way as the planes dove and released their bombs. Some of them exploded while others fell straight through the fragile bridge and into the water below.
"They're trying to bomb the bridge! All squads move!" Firestar shouted. He began to make a dash to get to the other side as he didn't want to be in any sort of river again. "Be careful, I don't want any of you slipping into the river." Cloudtail was still firing the machine gun when he noticed that the Shadowclan cats were on the other side.
"They've reinforced the bridge ahead!" Cloudtail shouted, he was beginning to panic as his machine gun was running dry. "We gotta get off this thing!"
"We will." Firestar told Cloudtail. Firestar stopped and began firing his carbine at the Shadowclan cats that were up ahead. "They're ahead. We need to clear them out.
"Yes." Cloudtail responded. Cloudtail continued firing the machine gun as he used up the last of the ammunition it had. The others pushed their way forward as they were helping out. Once the machine gun went dry, Cloudtail dashed ahead to the second tower. Firestar and the others got around as Cloudtail tossed the machine gun down and grabbed his BAR he had slung for purposes like this.
"Cloudtail, Bramblepaw, clear out the rest of the tower." Firestar ordered. Cloudtail nodded as Bramblepaw got out his Auto 5 again and made his way to the second floor. Cloudtail followed.
Bramblepaw entered the second floor and began pelting the Shadowclan cats with buck shots. The Shadowclan cats were being torn apart as Cloudtail made his way to the second floor and finished them off. Bramblepaw reloaded as his shotgun only had five rounds, Cloudtail made his way to the floor above, looking for more Shadowclan cats. The Shadowclan cats had barricaded themselves on the floor above and began firing. Cloudtail dropped back and got out one of his grenades. He pulled the pin and chucked it ahead to the floor above. The grenade exploded moments later as Bramblepaw came up and fired the shotgun at any Shadowclan cats that were still going to put up a fight. The floor was quickly cleared out as Cloudtail decided to head to the last floor. He entered and sprayed the BAR all over the place, dumping every last round from the magazine into the Shadowclan cats. Bramblepaw came up and looked for any survivors. None were spotted.
"That's everyone!" Bramblepaw mewed. He and Cloudtail began running back down the stairs to Firestar as this tower had been cleared out. They were regrouped by him at some doors leading out to the other side of the bridge.
"Those planes are gonna take out the bridge. We need to capture those AA guns." Firestar explained what they were going to do next. "Cloudtail! Thornclaw! On me" Firestar opens the doors leading out to the other side of the Rhine. The platoon reaches the last Shadowclan barricade being manned by cats with teeth in their collars they saw months before and open fire on them. "Smoke and suppressive fire now!" Cloudtail throws a smoke grenade, creating a cloud to cover their movement.
"Get to those trenches! Move! We need to capture those AA guns!" Brightheart called out. She fired her carbine into the trenches to support Thunderclan's assault to capture the AA guns. The others move under cover of smoke to reach the trenches. Cloudtail sprayed his BAR around in an effort to kill the Shadowclan cats and clear a path to the AA gun.
"Cloudtail, get to the AA gun!" Firestar called out. Cloudtail jumped down into the trench after he reloaded and kept firing the BAR on the run. The others rushed in behind to support him while he made the dash to the AA gun. He finally made it as it was still intact and had plenty of ammo. "Cloudtail, man that AA gun!" Firestar ordered. Cloudtail hopped onto the AA gun with Brightheart as they were going to be protecting the bridge from the Stuka's. Thornclaw came forth with the ammo. Cloudtail began firing the AA gun as the Stuka's circled overhead. The fight to hold the bridge was just beginning. "Protect that bridge!" Firestar shouted. Cloudtail fired the AA gun, nailing a Stuka down as the others circled overhead. Cloudtail continued firing, nailing another one as more of them appeared. Bramblepaw was firing the shotgun to keep the Shadowclan cats at bay.
"Turn left!" Bramblepaw shouted. The AA gun turned left and began firing, nailing another Stuka plane and letting it fall to the ground. Cloudtail smiled as Brightheart reloaded the AA gun. He continued firing and nailed another.
"Got one! Keep firing!" Brightheart shouted. Cloudtail obeyed and kept firing away. He nailed another one.
"Got him!" Cloudtail mewed with happiness.
"Two o'clock Cloudtail!" Brackenfur called out. Cloudtail continued firing away as he brought down another plane. "Direct hit! You've got this, Cloudtail!" Cloudtail nodded before spotting more Stuka's and firing on them. He brought down two more as Firestar noticed.
"Nice, Cloudtail! Turn left!" Firestar shouted. Cloudtail fired again as he brought down yet another one. Firestar nodded with approval. Eventually, the Stuka bombers turn their attention towards Cloudtail and attempt to take him out.
"They've sighted you, Cloudtail! 12 o'clock!" Thornclaw shouted. Cloudtail began firing away in his attempt to defend himself. With some help from Brightheart, they knocked out all three of the planes. "Direct hit! Yeah!"
"Good one! All right!" Bramblepaw cheered with excitement. A trio of Stuka dive bombers flies towards Cloudtail, but they are shot down by Allied fighter planes to the cheers of the Thunderclan cats.
"Our fly-toms are here!" Mousefur shouted with excitement. Everyone cheered as they were going to take care of the rest of the planes. Cloudtail dismounted the AA gun with Brightheart doing the same and they all regrouped by Firestar.
"They're gonna hit us with everything they got! We're not done yet! You two, on me!" Firestar gave the order. Firestar and the others make their way back to the bridgehead where Fernpaw and her group have been holding off the Shadowclan cats at the tunnel. She was grateful for the reinforcements.
"They're on the run!" Fernpaw told Firestar. She kept firing her BAR into the tunnel in an effort to take them down. Graystripe noticed and continued directing the battle.
"They're backing into the tunnel! Move! Move! Move!" Firestar shouted. The cats gathered around the tunnel in their effort of finishing the Shadowclan cats off. They had them cornered. Suddenly a rocket was fired from the tunnel and exploded just by Bramblepaw's face. Bramblepaw was dazed as a Shadowclan cat came charging from the tunnel, screaming. Bramblepaw raised the Auto 5 and blasted its face open. The charging cat fell to the ground before Bramblepaw recovered.A Sherman tank arrives on the scene and approaches the tunnel.
"Get clear of that Sherman! We're gonna hit them hard!" Whitestorm called out. The Sherman fired and the tunnel exploded, within moments the tunnel was filled with smoke and flames. Thunderclan had taken cover from the shot and they got up and were ready for round two. The Shadowclan cats wandered out with their paws in the air.
"Enemy spotted! They're coming out!" Cloudtail shouted as he was ready to open fire. Firestar turned to his nephew as these cats were surrendering.
"Everyone stand down! Stand down!" Firestar instructed. "They're surrendering!" Cloudtail lowered the BAR's barrel as he was helpless against Firestar's words. Mitchell arrived with Barley and Ravenpaw who were the second line of defense.
"It's over...it's over…" Mitchell sighed. They had missed out in everything.
It was just minutes later as Bao and Bayani were rounding up the Shadowclan prisoners. Bao walked over as there was a smile on the pug's face.
"The bridge is ours." Bao told the group that they had the last bridge over the Rhine. "We're building two pontoon bridges as we don't think this one will hold up for the time being just in case but the road ahead to Remagen is clear. Once that objective has been secured, Shadowclan will have no other obstacles to retreat behind."
"Bao, I think you're pretty cool." Firestar told the pug. He placed his paw on the pug and patted him.
"Well thanks." Bao awkwardly replied. "I say we're even." Bayani came forth with more Shadowclan prisoners along with Makarov and Vasily.
"We're going to look for more Shadowclan cats in the area. Barley is rounding them up and sending them to the rear. War should be over in another couple of months at this rate." Vasily told them that.
"We made history fellas, we're the first across the Rhine." Firestar mewed with a smile on his face. "Let's get a move on to Remagen as we need to be the first there as well."
"Copy that uncle." Cloudtail responded with a salute.
"Let's make Smallear pleased." Firestar told them as he had the motivation to keep them going.
"All right!" They all shouted with enthusiasm.
Remagen fell a couple days later. Operation Undertone was started in the middle of that month. Shadowclan was broken completely and we were racing through Germany. Some went for the Ruhr while others such as ourselves were racing south to Austria. What Smallear wanted us down there we don't know too much about but what I do know that our troubles weren't over yet.
We had one last battle to do.
[A/N]: Firestar having one more battle he needs to do before he and the others could get home is going to be something of a mystery and all of the clans are going to fight the cats with the collars in their teeth. Tigerstar is still out there and the last chapter will be a bit of a wrap up battle to this entire thing. I hope to see you then.