To Hell and Back Chapter 2, hope you're ready, the invasion of Normandy begins.
Chapter 2:
June 6th 1944
Off the coast of Dog Green Sector, Omaha Beach
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Those were the sounds that the 2nd Ranger Battalion could hear clearly. It was now the invasion, Matt O'Mara started going deaf hearing the loud sounds of the Naval guns as he said to Joe, "THOSE GUNS BETTER BE HITTING SOMETHIN'!"
Joe had his fingers in his ears as he said, "WHAT?!" "THOSE GUNS BETTER HIT SOMETHIN'!" "WHAT?!" "Forget it!" Matt said rolling his eyes.
That naval bombing had been hitting the Atlantic Wall since 0545, whilst it was still dark. Until the Navy shifted their targets to the beach. That was unknown to the Rangers who thought they were bombing the coastal defences making it safe for the boys that were to be landing on those beaches.
Everyone had gathered in front of the Company commander who was tall, a little bulked up, he had the look of a battle-hardened vet, dark eyes, hints of stubble as he commanded, "RANGERS, TEN-HUT!"
Everyone stood to attention even O'Mara and Cross who stood very straight.
The company commander known as Lieutenant Farway had spoken, "Gentlemen, today we take back France, from the Nazis! We're goin' ashore at Charlie Sector, this is designated Dog Green of Omaha Beach. This is a heavily fortified area. Charlie Company's going in with the 116th Regiment of the 29th. While the D,E,F companies secure Pointe-Du-Hoc, any questions before I continue?"
O'Mara put his hand up as he said, "Begging the Lieutenant's pardon, sir?"
Farway signalled for O'Mara to continue as Matt did so, "What resistance are we to be facing once on the beach?" "Well, for now we've battered their positions so hopefully we won't face much resistance, we'll launch in 15 minutes, hope y'all had breakfast because you won't be eating until we've secured Omaha in its entirety."
O'Mara nodded as Farway continued, "The 5th Ranger Battalion will also accompany us on Omaha beach, if Pointe-Du-Hoc hasn't been secured. So hopefully let's pray those boys that are climbing have secured their objective." "Yes Sir." Every man in Charlie Company said.
Farway nodded as he said, "Good men, start applying plastic to your weapons, then make your way to the deck to prepare climbing! Let's get it done Rangers!" "SIR!" the entirety of Charlie Company had said.
They all checked weapons and ammo. Even heading back for more as Joe said, "Never such a thing as too much ammo." "Or food for that matter, half the boys are goin' to throw up their lunch." Matt joked.
Joe laughed as they headed topside as they followed the senior Sergeant up to the deck as they all assembled by climbing rope as Matt said, "Well shit, just like the climbing ropes at the ground huh?" "Yeah except we ain't on a ship." "Whaddya expect?" Matt joked.
12 minutes later, the entirety of Charlie Company were climbing down the ropes towards the LCVPs, Matt and Joe were climbing down as others followed them, while the rest of the boys were scared, Matt and Joe weren't they stood at the back as soon as everyone was down in to the LCVP.
Once done, the landing craft took off for Omaha Beach.
Matt stood firm-eyed as he listened to the sounds of the artillery fall upon their heads splashing them with salted sea water as he said to himself, "Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen."
Matt POV
So much for the Navy, goddamned sailors couldn't hit a barn door for the love of their pay-check, now we're going to schlep it out on that beach with MG fire shitting down our throats.
As I looked around the Higgins boat, I could see my fellow soldiers all were praying, some spoke in Latin, Italian and English.
Joe was not afraid. He never showed it, mostly chewing on a bullet he had kept in his mouth, but deep down, he's afraid.
Hell a lot of us were scared to high hell. But this is what we do, who we are. We'll bust these bastards open, drive 'em back to Paris, the Rhine and then Berlin, punching Hitler in the face. Let's get it done.
Joe POV
Naval bombardment may have shaken up the German defences, seeing all the smoke making its way into the air is not at all comforting. All we know is the goddamned German Army has been woken up by that crappy aim of the Navy.
All we can do now is make it onto the beach and make it to the seawall, blow a hole through that wire and kick the kraut bastards back inland. The boys are all afraid, some of the vets, didn't flinch when the arty came down, or at least I thought they did. It was hard to tell what they were doing.
Most of the weapons onboard the ship were either M1 Garand's, Thompson SMGs like the one I currently hold, or the M1 Carbines. Only Matt held a BAR, that thing weighed about the same as him. Matt's a warrior, he fights for his country, his family and his city. Me, him and Frank are the same.
We'll fight to keep our country safe. We're the boots on the ground.
Main POV
The Higgins Boats steamed towards the Charlie Sector of Omaha Beach. Everyone had steely-eyed glazes, the artillery came down, Baker Company was on the left of Charlie Company 2 boats down.
Frank Miller watched the artillery hit the water and heave saltwater onto them from the back of the boat. Soon they started to hear ricochets of gunfire against the Higgins boats as his CO ordered the men, "COVER!" the gunfire became intense as the Coxswain shouted, "10 SECONDS!"
Frank steeled himself as he kissed his dog-tags quickly as he gripped the weapon in his hands. The ramp was lowered and the gunfire was unleashed.
Matt and Joe's Higgins boat was smashed into by the neighbouring Higgins boat on their left as they were knocked down, they watched as their comrades were gunned down by the terrifying accuracy of the German machine guns as Joe said, "COME ON BUDDY! OVER THE SIDE!"
Matt had gotten up and followed his buddy Joe climbing over the side and diving into the water. Joe came up gasping as Matt pulled up saying, "KEEP LOW, SARGE!"
The pair worked together holding onto each other as they made their way to close cover as they surveyed the area as Joe said, "Fuck! What happened to the rest of the boys?!" "Shit, I don't know, they musta gotten cut down!" "We gotta make our way over to Baker Company!" "Let's focus on getting to the shingle and gather as much men as we can find!"
Joe nodded as he opened the plastic covering of his Thompson as Matt did the same with his BAR as he said, "Okay, work our way, slow and steady, wait for 'em to reload!" "That be never!" Joe said.
Joe and Matt made their way to where a group of men were taking cover behind some anti-tank stoppers as Joe said, "What unit you guys?" "A Company, 116th!" "You boys seen anybody from Charlie, 2nd Rangers?!" "No!" "OKAY! LET'S GET OFF THE BEACH!"
Matt and Joe continued to advance quickly taking cover, step by step of the way.
Down the beach, Frank had made it through the MG fire that had been hammering them, he and several of the men from Baker Company were held behind a tank-trap, they were struggling to move, the Lieutenant was trying to maintain any hope that he'd be able to pull the men out from the current mess they were in.
Frank was suppressing the enemy machine guns with his M1 Garand as he reloaded as he shouted, "ALRIGHT! THERE ARE 2 TYPES OF MEN ON THIS BEACH, THE DEAD AND THOSE THAT ARE GOIN' TO DIE! GATHER UP WEAPONS AND AMMO AND GET OFF THE BEACH!"
Some of the Rangers had begun to follow Miller as they moved up from cover to cover, avoiding the MG fire that was following them and trying to kill them they made it to the shingle as Miller shouted to somebody, "LIEUTENANT! Where's the armour?!" "Floundering in the channel!"
Frank heard the sound of a BAR going off as he saw Matt firing at the German bunkers providing covering fire for the boys on the beach. He had seen his buddy Joe do the same as he shouted to the men, "COVER FIRE, LET'S HAUL OUR BOYS IN FROM THE BEACH!" the men started to cover the boys that were pinned down on the beach as Matt raced over to Frank as Joe jumped over Frank and landed right on top of Matt as he groaned saying, "Nice job, left feet." "Fuck you, O'Mara!"
Frank patted Matt and said, "Damn good to see you fellas!" "Think you're winnin' the war without us?!" "Only if y'all are with me here?!" "Let's get off this damn beach first!"
Soon a Ranger ran up to take cover and was cut down by the MG fire. He dropped a BAR and several Bangalores as Matt said, "Joe! Get that banger and start putting it in the shingle, I'll pass these spare ones down!" "Go. I'll hold the ammo for ya."
Matt took the Bangalores as he holstered his own weapon as he passed down Bangalores for the boys taking cover as he said, "Take a Banger and push it into the wire, let's blow it to high hell and get off the beach!" once the Bangalores had been taken off his hands, Matt raced back to Joe and Frank as he said, "Bangers distributed!"
Joe nodded as he stuck the ignition pin into the banger as he shouted, "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" and threw the banger as it went off. Resulting in the wire blown to pieces as Matt looks over before turning to the soldiers, "LET'S GO GET THE BASTARDS!"
Matt sprays the trench in front of him as he dives in followed several soldiers including Frank and Joe as Frank says, "Follow me!" the makeshift squad follows him as they clear the trench of German resistance. Matt sprays several German machine gunners as he says, "Payback, fuckers!"
The squad pushes forward as they move next to a bunker as Frank says, "Ready your charges! Hopper, Hagen, Stone cover us!"
Frank, Joe and Matt throw explosives into the bunker resulting in a mass explosion as Matt says, "RANGERS! PUSH FORWARD, MOVE!"
Matt pushes forward as he signals for the squad to push right as he joins them covering their rear alongside Stone and Frank.
Hagen stands ready with the flamethrower as Frank says, "Hagen, do it!" Hagen fires the flamethrower letting loose as he sets fire to the Germans inside as Frank says, "Good work, we're not done yet! We gotta push and clear those 88s."
Matt sizes up the enemy strength as he cocks his BAR and says, "What are we waitin' for?" "Let's do it." Baker Company and what was left of Charlie Company headed to assault the 88s, clearing the enemy out, bunker by bunker, trench by trench.
Fierce resistance had been put up against the soldiers as Matt and Joe pushed everyone forward. Until they had taken several prisoners.
By the end, Matt was looking out over the beach seeing it littered with dead bodies, he began to think about whether anyone from their company had survived until he saw Joe as he said, "Any luck?" "Whole of Charlie is gone, fuckers ripped apart our company." "Shit. What happens now?" "I don't know."
Matt takes out his canteen and takes a drink from it as he says, "At least we cleared the beach." "At great cost to all those boys out there. I spoke to the Lieutenant in Baker Company. We're being folded in with his platoon." "Where we headed next?" "Pointe-du-Hoc." Joe said bitterly.
Matt placed his helmet back on as he said, "Weren't that supposed to be secure?" "We don't know what's happened to be honest." Joe said.
The two Rangers were soon joined by Frank who said, "Glad we're all here. We got orders to head to Pointe-du-Hoc." "Joe told me." Matt said.
All three headed back to Baker Company and prepared themselves.
A hard-fought battle for Matt and his buddies. What awaits them in the coming days?
Hope you liked this chapter and it was to your liking.
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