Part 8
They arrive in Hagenau early that evening and begin occupying houses throughout the town just as the sun starts to set. The 4th Infantry had trashed the place up pretty good, but there were bunks and rations left behind so he couldn't complain too much.
It was a great feeling to have his own bed of sorts again, inside where it was warm and dry and he didn't have to stay constantly on edge. Tossing his gear onto the mattress, he flops down next to it, looking over at Heffron who is the next bunk over.
"Can you believe this?" Babe sounds positively giddy. "We make through the forest, through Dike, and at the end of it all we got warm beds and chow? I'd almost forgotten what this felt like."
He can't help but smile. For all his bravado and toughness, Babe isn't that different from him, really.
And with nothing left to do for the day, he gets up off his bunk, wanders over to where Luz, Malarkey, McClung and a few others have started up a poker game. What a great way to spend an evening.
Part 9
Morning comes far too soon for everyone in 2nd platoon. Janovec rolls over, attempting to avoid the sun shining in his eyes. Pulling the blanket over his head, he manages to doze back off for awhile, but is woken soon after by the smell of food. Hunger eventually outweighing his desire for more sleep, he gets up; hurriedly putting his boots on and going in search of the smell.
He follows the aroma to a room downstairs where a makeshift kitchen has been sit up. Heated K-Ration cans are being passed around for all to sample. Grabbing his spoon, he takes an open seat at the table and digs in.
A few hours later, Easy Company is still without anything to do. It felt odd to him, to be given so much free time, and he couldn't help but wonder when it would be over. As it turned out, he'd have his answer shortly, along with a surprise.
Around 1300 hours, while he was smoking and staring out a window onto the street below, he heard two sets of heavy footsteps making their way up the staircase. Two men came into the room; the first was a Lieutenant he'd never seen before in his life and the other was Webster, his close friend from months before. Leaving Malarkey to deal with the officer, he headed for Webster.
"Webster! How're you doing?"
"Hey, Janovec; I'm doing alright. How are you and the rest of the guys?"
"Eh, I guess we're holdin' up pretty decently. Just got pulled off the line last night; lucky bastard, you missed all that."
"Yeah, well, I feel like I should say 'wish I'd been there' or something equally appropriate, but the truth is I think I'm glad I returned when I did."
"Grab a bunk, Web, why dontcha? Nothing goin' on right now. Probably be a game of poker in an hour or two, though, is you want to join in."
For some reason he couldn't understand, Webster got a funny look on his face at the mention of having nothing to do.
"Hey, Web, why're you lookin' like that? I thought you liked poker."
"I do, it's just, well, things aren't going to be quiet here much longer."
"What do you mean?"
"I was at Battalion CP, waiting to find out which platoon to report to when I overheard Captain Winters say there's going to be a patrol tonight. Something about crossing the river for German prisoners."
"Tonight, you say? Did they say who was going?"
"Captain Winters told Captain Speirs to pick 15 men to send on the patrol. Speirs only named off three names initially and told the Lieutenant to tell them they were going."
"Wait, are all three from 2nd platoon then?"
Webster nodded.
"Well, who then? Who do they want?"
"Heffron, McClung and Ramirez."
"Damn. After Foy, too, just….damn."
"He didn't say who the other 12 were supposed to be, so I guess he could always change it up still. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."
Janovec didn't want to believe Webster's words were true, but he knew his friend wouldn't lie to him, either. Why the hell did they have to go out on patrol? Like a coupla German Privates or Sergeants could be able to tell them anything that important.
"Alright, people, listen up!" Malarkey's voice filled the room.
"There's gonna be a patrol tonight. Have to cross the river, get a few POW's in the hopes that they'll talk. Heffron, McClung, Ramirez, you're going. At the moment, they don't want anyone else from 2nd, but knowing how things usually go around here, they probably will before long. Got a briefing at 1700 at Battalion CP, so be there. If the roster changes, I'll let you know."
Glancing over at the three men whose names were just read off, he almost felt guilty he wasn't slated to go along. Poor Babe looked like he could almost cry, even though Janovec knew he never would.
"Oh, and by the way," Malarkey continued. "We've got showers here so let's get going before we miss our turn."
Now that'll feel good, he thought. A shower and a nice clean uniform. Wonderful. He turned and followed Luz out the door.
Part 10
They lined up in the streets, peeling off their filthy clothing as they waited to go into the heavy canvas tents where the showers were set up. He dropped his clothes by the side of the street and walked into the warm mist. It felt amazingly good.
He had only a little soap on him and he used it all, scrubbing at his hair, face, neck, back, hell, at everything, until his skin turned from grey to pink and he actually felt clean again.
Making his way through the tent carefully avoiding the others still showering, he went out the flap at the back where he grabbed a towel off a large stack and moved on down the line to be given a clean uniform.
Quickly drying his hair, he pulled the uniform on, followed by his boots and helmet and began making his way back to 2nd platoon's HQ when he spotted Webster staring down an alley.
Following his friend's gaze, he spotted the new Lieutenant, Lieutenant James or Jones or something, talking to Malarkey, but he couldn't hear what was said.
Shrugging his shoulders, he continued down the street.
Later, when everyone was back at platoon HQ, Malarkey had another announcement to make.
"Okay, listen up, there's been a change to the roster for tonight's patrol. Unfortunately, they want more people from 2nd. Luz, Janovec, Cobb, Webster, Jackson-you're all going now also. Still meet at 1700 up at CP to be briefed."
"Jesus Christ," Luz groaned. "Is there anyone they don't want from 2nd?"
"No, I think that sounds like everyone," Malarkey said.
"I swear to God, it's always 2nd. Even if we had 3 people, they'd still come looking for us."
"Might as well head on over to the CP; it'll be 1700 here shortly."
Part 11
They were all gathered around a table, waiting for either Captain Winters or Captain Speirs to come in and brief them. They weren't kept waiting for long.
"Ten-hut!" Lieutenant Jones called the room to attention as Winters walked in.
"As you were," he said, waving the men back to their seats.
"As I'm sure you're aware of by now, there has been a patrol scheduled for tonight. The objective is to cross the river, secure the three-story house by the river bank and secure any people inside to be taken as prisoners. Before you leave, I want you to set up an explosive charge on a time delay, make sure the building gets destroyed after you return to our side of the river. The entire battalion is set up to provide covering fire for this operation; Sergeant Grant, here are two whistles, only blow them when you are safely across the river, and the machine gunners will open up. Be careful out there; don't take any chances. We've come too far for something to happen now. Alright, then, patrol is scheduled to leave at 0100. I expect a full report first thing tomorrow morning, alright?"
"Yes, sir," they replied.
"Sergeant Martin will be leading the patrol with Lieutenant Jones along as an observer. I know you men will do fine."
With that, Winters turned and left the room, leaving everyone behind with their thoughts.
Part 12
That evening found 2nd platoon's HQ a hub of activity, as men worked to silence and blacken any gear that may make noise or shine. Rifles were taken apart and carefully cleaned, helmets left behind on bunks for they'd reflect too much moonlight and quickly give them away.
Janovec sat on a crate, M-1 balanced in his lap while he used a lighter to blacken his front sight post in order to make aiming easier. Around him others were doing similar things, some placing black tape over metal buckles or snaps, some opting to leave certain gear behind all together. Janovec wanted to get this over with, come back, and go to bed.
"Alright, everybody, let's get ready to move out," Martin called from the doorway.
They gathered what necessities they didn't already have on them and fell into formation behind the Sergeant and Lieutenant.
Quickly, they made their way to the edge of the river where four black rubber boats were waiting for them, as well as a rope that spanned the width of the river to make navigating easier.
They piled in, trying to be as quiet as possible but failing miserably when the last boat, the one behind Janovec, some how flipped over, sending men and equipment splashing into the water.
"So much for surprise," someone whispered in the darkness.
"Shhh!," another voice hissed.
The boats began moving across the river, one at a time, as the men pulled on the rope strung over their heads and guided themselves across.
Upon reaching the other shore, they got out quietly and dragged the boats up onto dry land so they wouldn't wash away. Creeping towards their target building, they slowly advanced to a rear door.
Tossing a grenade through a window, they hurriedly kicked open the door and swarmed inside, hoping to catch the enemy off guard. However, a young Private, Private Jackson, who was also along on the patrol, tossed a second grenade at the window, but missed. The grenade bounced back and exploded at his feet. His screams and cries of pain soon filled the air. Two men dropped back and began moving him toward the boats while the rest of them continued inside.
The Krauts put up a little resistance at first, but not too much, especially after rifles were waved in a few faces and Webster said something in German that made them all shut up real quick.
Ushering the prisoners back to the boats in a hurry, they all climbed in and waited for Cobb to come back from setting the explosive charge. Once he arrived, they set off across the river once more, in a hurry to get Jackson to Doc Roe and see what could be done for him.
Back on their side of the river, Sergeant Martin and Lieutenant Jones escorted the prisoners up to Battalion while Luz went looking for Doc. Janovec helped carry Jackson inside and was horrified when the man's flesh came off in his hands.
A minute later, Doc Roe came running into the room, trying to asses Jackson's condition.
"It's al'righ, It's al'righ," he told the frightened man.
"You're a gonna be jus' fine as soon as I get these here bandages on you."
Doc worked as fast as he could, hands flying as he tried to stop the seemingly endless bleeding.
Then, suddenly and without warning, the light faded from Jackson's eyes and his body went limp. Doc halted what he was doing and stared at the body before him for a good minute or so before pulling the blanket up over his head.
Gloom filled the room as Jackson's body was carried out. They'd gotten two prisoners but lost a good man in the process. Janovec hated this war.
Part 13
The next afternoon, there was word going around that Battalion wanted another patrol to cross the river again that night. Apparently, the two prisoners they'd picked up the night before had talked and now the higher ups wanted more information. It made Janovec mad just thinking about it; he knew they wouldn't get anymore prisoners as easily as they had last night, after all, the Germans were probably on alert after waking up and finding some of their soldiers gone. Janovec thought it was a pretty stupid idea to have them go wandering across the river once more in hopes of getting some more Krauts.
They assembled again that afternoon, once again in the CP, the same roster as the day before-minus one-and waited for the inevitable briefing telling them they were, indeed, going back across the river.
Captain Winters walked in the room and sat his helmet down on the table. For the first time, Janovec noticed how tired the officer appeared to be. Winters looked exhausted, utterly worn out and nothing like the Lieutenant he'd known months before.
He was still thinking along these lines when Winters began to speak.
"I want you men to know how proud I am of you for what you did last night. Colonel Sink's proud also. He's so proud, in fact, he's ordered another patrol for tonight. Now, everything will remain the same as last night's operation except the kick off time has been changed to 0200. Everybody clear on what's going to happen?"
They nodded.
"Good. I want you all to get a good night's sleep tonight. In the morning you will report to me you made it across the river, into the town, and were unable to secure any prisoners. Understand."
Once again, the all nodded, realization slowly dawning in their eyes.
"Alright, then. Look sharp for tomorrow, we're moving off the line."
Janovec watched Winters leave and was filled with an overwhelming sense of respect and gratitude toward the man. He knew how much trouble Winters would be in if this phantom patrol were ever discovered, so it spoke volumes about how much he cared for his men that he'd even consider doing something like this.
Webster was back, Winters was still watching out for them, and he was alive. Things were looking up.