American LCVP "Higgins" Boat
February 19, 1945
Corporal Casandra "Candy" Malone was finding it very hard to hold down her breakfast as the small amphibious craft bounced in the choppy water. And even though she was thankful that the weather was far better than when Angel Squadron, along with Rogue and Devil, flew several bombings runs against the Japanese Home Islands a month before, she would rather be in her cockpit than trying not to barf all over her boots…
Or on her friends standing beside her.
The truth was, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions were preparing to storm the beaches of one of the volcanic home islands of Japan...
Iwo Jima.
The problem was, despite the three air squadron's assistance in bombing the home islands of Japan, they did not put in more effort for Iwo Jima, as Vice Admiral Marc "Pete" Mitscher of Task Force 58 had noticed. In fact, the Japanese resistance was expected to be so heavy, that the Marine's needed all the help they could get.
So, Angel, Devil, and Rogue Squadrons were reassigned to ground combat, each colonel taking charge of a Higgins Boat full of Marines, swapping their aviator caps for helmets, and parachutes for kit-packs.
And Candy really wished they hadn't, more so know as she nearly the raging battle in her stomach, but managed to swallow the bile that had started to come up her throat. But, her attention was soon turned a hand being placed on her shoulder, causing her to turn and meet the gaze of one of her commanding officers,
Major Crystal "Claws" Santiago.
"How ya Hanging in there Candy?" the fiery-furred Nebraskan asked with a smile, her yellow eyes meeting blue in a caring gaze.
Once again swallowing the bile, as well as the nervousness in her throat, Candy answered hesitantly.
"W-well, Major," she began, bowing her head like a pup who had just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, her eyes landing on the loaded M1 in her hands, which now felt heavier in her grasp.
"I'm actually pretty scared."
Upon seeing the worrying in her subordinates eyes as she looked back up at her, Claws sent a warm, reassuring smile to the young female, pulling her into a sideways hug as she began to speak.
"Hey," she said with a laugh, "this is no different than shooting down Zeros...we just gotta keep our heads down.
Dax looked up in the sky to see the Husky and Huntress squadrons shadowing them from the sky. The silver wolf began to feel his stomach turn inside out, but it wasn't from the rough waves that were hitting the Higgins boat, but the flashbacks he was getting from his time on Guadalcanal. The screams of dying men began to echo in his ears and he clutched his weapon tightly.
"Please God, keep me safe!" he begged as he prayed.
Not far off from the Higgins boats was 450 American warships. One of them of the mighty USS Nevada ready to strike a blow at the Japanese for what they did at Pearl Harbor. Up on the deck was Warrant Officer Robin Kal Hood. His eyes narrowed as he began to lose sight of the Higgins boats, but it was Chief Petty Officer Alakay "Alex" Trumbull who was smiling.
"Have a look Robin," he said handing the fox his binoculars. Robin took them and looked at the boats that were almost on the beach.
"Those Japs are about to be beaten within a matter of few days. They are nothing but dust in our sight," Alex boasted, but the fox knew that his better was wrong.
He had seen how strong the Japanese were and since this was one of their islands, they were going to defend it to the bitter end.
"CLEAR THE RAMP!" the Marines suddenly heard Eve yell from by the Pilot's station, moving her way to the front of the boat and past the hodgepodge of male and female marines, accompanied by her girls, each armed with M1s, Springfields, Tommys, and BARs.
"3O SECONDS!"
And the moment she heard those words, Candy tensed as she could now hear the distant sound of artillery grow louder by the second. Noticing the tenseness her squad-mate, Claws gave one more squeeze and smile, as well as a few more words of encouragement.
"Just stick close to me, Hon...you'll be okay."
And just as those words left Claws' mouth, a whistle sounded...
And the ramp was lowered.
The Marines and the members of Angle, Rogue and Devil Squadron rushed the beach. Dax began to look for his beloved Sweets, he saw her struggling to move around the many number of people. Then, everyone reached the end of the beach. A Marine peaked his head over and saw no sign of the Japanese.
"Hey," he called out to the landing party. "I don't see anything. Maybe we got them all."
The other Marines began to mummer in agreement, but Dax shut them down.
"No, they're waiting for us," he said scanning the land before them. His mismatched eyes locked onto what he thought was some movement from in the grass zone. His hands tensed up on his M1 Grand.
From up on the hills, hidden from sight of the Americans was General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. From the red fox's vantage point, he could see the landing parties making their way across the beach toward the grass zone. The general smiled as the Americans entered his trap.
"Open fire!"
Sgt Maj. Steele Blackwell was only fifty yards from the grass when all of sudden something struck him in the chest. Looking down, he saw blood, then the machine-guns were heard. Steele was cut down in a matter of seconds, the other Marines following him were also killed.
"They have us zeroed!" Dax shouted.
"Get to cover and move forward up the beach!"
Luckily, the only amount of Japanese resistance at the moment was artillery fire and machine-guns.
Now as they advanced, the landing troops realized that the resistance from the Japanese was pretty much just a dozen small machine-guns hidden in small trenches or camouflaged fox holes. The Marines made quick work of those and moved up the beach.
But, as these forces would soon find out, General Kuribayashi was not done.
For the next hour, American forces began to land on the secured beach, with Angel, Devil and Rogue Squadrons overseeing some of the operations.
But, at 10:00 A.M., all hell broke loose.
In a stunning move, General Kuribayashi's forces rained fire down on the crowded beach. What started as machine-gun rounds soon turned into artillery and mortars rounds. The volcanic ash even exploded as marines were torn apart by land mines, turning the beach into a bloodbath. The attack came so quickly that Corporal Samson "Strong Man" Johnson had barely enough time to pull his squad-mate, and girlfriend, Second Lieutenant Delilah "Skunk" Cutter behind a jeep for cover.
But just before Delilah had time to thank her handsome, brown-furred savior, a huge explosion from a mortar round shook the earth they stood on.
Then came a desperate cry from Elise.
"DADDY! SOMEONE HELP!"
Looking around from their cover, the two lovers could see that the previous explosion had caused a jeep to fly into the air, landing right on top of their squadron's position. And while Cain had managed to get Elise out of the way, the two of them finding some safety under the cover of Rogue Squadron's position, Cody was not so fortunate, his entire body pinned under the overturned vehicle...
which was slowly leaking gas.
Seeing his closest comrade in danger, Rex made a move to get to Cody.
"I'LL GET 'EM!" he yelled, only to be yanked back by Cain just in time as a Japanese soldier hidden in the bushes took aim, he fired, but the bullet missed Rex's head by inches.
Dax Jumped up with Sam and opened fire, killing the Japanese soldier.
"EASY REX!"
Looking across the gap to Samson, Cain gave a knowing nod, a nod returned by his subordinate.
"SAMSON!" He shouted, "GET HIM OUTTA THERE!"
"RIGHT BOSS!" Samson called in a booming bass voice.
More Japanese soldiers began to appear from their hidden positions and opened fire on the Allied forces.
"DELILAH, GIVE ME SOME COVER FIRE!"
"YOU GOT IT HOT STUFF!" Delilah shouted with a smirk, quickly running after Samson as she pulled the trigger fiercely on her M1 as she and her boyfriend made their way to Cody.
"THIS IS CRAZY!" Dax shouted over the chaos, "HE'S GONNA NEED HELP TO GET CODY OUTTA THERE!"
"HE'S GONNA GET THE JEEP OUT OF THERE, NOT CODY!" Cain called back with a smile, earning a round of confused looks from Dax and the rest of Rogue Squadron, only for their eyes to go wide as Samson, in a feet of what could only be described as superhuman strength, managed to lift and roll the jeep off of Cody single-handedly, quickly grabbing the injured wolf and slinging him over his shoulder before he and Delilah ran to rejoin the others, and just in time as the leaking gas on the jeep ignited, sending up in flames.
Tapping Dax on the shoulder, Sam, his hazel eyes wide open, muttered loud enough for his friend to hear,
"Guess that's why they call him 'Strong Man.'"
Just a little further up the beach, the girls in Angel Squadron were trying all they could to make it up the beach with the Husky's by their side. But try as they might, it was becoming very difficult to take down the enemy bunkers. Any flamethrowers fired, or grenades thrown into bunkers had little effect as the cramped spaces were quickly refilled via the tunnel systems that the Japanese had dug out. And thanks to the black ash on the beaches, the treads of the American Amtraks could do nothing but slip.
Back on the Nevada, Chief Petty Officer Alakay Trumbull made his way to the bridge to inform General James "Mufasa" Williams about the battle still taking place on the beaches.
"From Lt. Colonel Maverick, sir," he said handing the older lion a dispatch message.
"Attack slowed by heavy Japanese resistance." Mufasa said reading the note with a grim tone to his voice.
"Beachhead secure, but unable to advance. Will keep in contact."
"This is not good," Alexsaid turning back to look at the battle going on the beach. To him, the Allied forces were in a tight pinch.
Luckily, members of the Naval Construction Battalion, braving enemy fire, managed to dig away paths in the sand so that the vehicles could get through.
"THERE'S OUR OPENING BOYS AND GIRLS!" Eve shouted to her squad-mates and marines, "LET'S MOVE!"
And move they did.
Before long, the separate combat units began to make progress by moving off the beaches and further inland. Their objective, although being highly unrealistic prior to the landing, was the Japanese Airfield No. 1. But, over the next hour-and-a-half, the American forces managed to push their way toward the southernmost point of the airfield.
General Kuribayashi looked over at one of his messengers. "Tell our men to bunker down and proceed with hit and run tactics. We must make the Americans pay for every inch of land they take," he said before retreating to his cot.
And needless to say, upon arriving at their destination, the American's were met with heavy resistance.
So heavy that they believed they may have bitten off more than they could chew. Candy's nerves were so shot that she was curled in on herself behind some cover, which made itself available in the form of a large boulder. And when Claws heard whimpering from beside her, she turned to see her squad-mate with tears in her eyes. After firing another burst from her Tommy-gun, Claws took a fistful of Candy's uniform, pulling her up so that the former had her face in the latter's.
"QUIT THAT NOISE!" She screamed in Candy's face.
"GET YOU ASS OF THE GROUND AND START SHOOTING!"
But Claws instantly came to regret her action as soon as she heard Candy let out a strangled sob, her russet cheeks stained with tears. Softening her gaze some, Claws spoke in a gentler tone, hoping to coax Candy out of her shell-shock.
"Listen Hon," she said softly, cupping her cheek with one hand, using he rthumb to fruitlessly wipe away the cascading tears, "I know you're scared...hell even I'm scared, but this is no time for crying. We need you, okay?"
With sniff, Candy responded with a hesitant nod, only for her attention to be pulled back to the battle by the call of Rogue Squadron's Second.
"THEY'RE BREAKING!" Sam called, firing several shots form his M1911.
"PUSH FORWARD!"
Within seconds, the allied forces managed to push the Japanese back, taking a good chunk of the airfield as they did.
Unfortunately, the Japanese weren't going to quit so easily.
"BANZAI CHARGE!" Dax yelled as he raised his M1, emptying the clip in a matter of 5 seconds before the familiar PING filled his ears. As he quickly reloaded, he noticed three Marines covering their faces, they looked to be suffering from some sort of panic attack, but the silver wolf didn't care.
"GET UP!" He shouted at them. "Get out there and fight!"
Dax then turned and returned fire, killing two Japanese soldiers. Not far from him was Colonel Jaime "King" Ramirez. He was firing his weapon like a mad man, but as he reloaded, a Japanese fox soldier that was half his age tried to stab him with his knife, but the Colonel knocked him back. The young Japanese fox soldier suddenly turned and tried to run back the way he came, but King picked up his knife.
"Hey Jap! You forgot something!" he shouted throwing the knife into the retreating soldier's back.
The Japanese fox fell and breathed his last.
Moving for more cover, the allies gave their all as a hoard of one-hundred or more Imperial soldiers launched a deadly suicide charge against them. And while most of the marines and pilots made it behind cover, a few weren't so lucky.
Especially a certain white-furred Angel.
"LILLY!" Kate screamed as she saw her sister take a bullet to the calf, making the girl fall in a pained scream. But, just as Kate made a move for her sister, Dax was well ahead of her. Charging into the hellfire raining down on him, Dax made quick work of getting one of his arm's under Lilly's shoulder.
"DON'T WORRY SNOWBALL, I GOTCHA!"
With a few rounds fired from his M1, Dax began to help Lilly hope back to the others, who at this point had dealt a severe blow to the Japanese, actually succeeding in forcing them back, allowing the Americans to take Airfield No. 1, re-designated...
Central Field.
"MEDIC!" Dax called as he helped Lilly back to her squadron, Eve and Kate instantly fussing over their youngest family member. Within minutes, two female medics, fur cream and brown, respectively, ran toward the group...and unarmed no-less.
But, that could be expected from two "Conscientious Objectors."
"Get her some morphine, Reba," the cream-furred medic called.
"Already on it Janice."
With that, the two medics were able to determine that Lilly had only suffered a flesh-wound, meaning with some rest and time to recover, she would be back in the fight soon. And not just Lilly. Even Cody would be seeing action again as he only suffered a sprained ankle and bruised ribs.
In the end, by 11:30 that morning, the American forces had maintained, and overall secured, the airfield, which would now serve as the perfect staging ground for the Big E's pilots until the end of the war, who miraculously had only suffered injuries and not fatalities that day.
Day Six of the Attack on Iwo Jima
Combat could still be heard out in the distance, but so far, everything was quiet at the airfield. As Sam placed some sandbags around a 50. Cal machine-gun, he noticed General James "Mufasa" Williams arrive by truck. Before long, all eyes were on the lion as he stood before everyone, his eyes were full of pride.
"Listen up! I expect the best, so I give the best," he declared before turning back to the truck. Now, nobody at the airfield had any idea what was in the truck, but they were about to find out. With his bare hands, Mufasa picked up a huge keg, only to place it down before the defenders.
"Here's the best fucking beer!" he shouted, earning a cheer from the defenders.
He then pulled out a big box.
"And here is the entertainment," he added with a smile. And the moment the entire group noticed the speakers and dials on the box, a couple of marine's wasted no time in hooking the massive radio up to one of the generators nearby.
"Have some fun. That's an order."
The defenders at the airfield all rushed forward and began to help themselves to the beer and the entertainment. However, two wolves had a different idea on how to have some fun. For as the rest of their compatriots celebrated their hard-fought victory, Eve lead King into her tent. There, the two of them made love, their unspoken infatuation for each other consummated on the battlefield that strengthened their bond…
However, the happy moment would be ruined in the morning.
General Kuribayashi stood beside one of his soldiers armed with an anti-tank weapon. A Sherman was their target, but it was also who was on the tank that Kuribayashi wanted…
General James "Mufasa" Williams.
Before the lion knew what happened, the tank exploded, throwing Dax, who had been flanking the tank with several marines, back from the force of the explosion. But, before passing out, the silver wolf saw Kuribayashi walk up to the wounded lion, who had managed to roll off of the burning wreck of a tank, landing flat on his front…only to be turned over by Kuribayashi's grubby boot so that the lion could see the face of his would-be killer.
Drawing his katana, the Japanese General plunged the blade into Mufasa's heart, killing him.
Dax would now be remembering Kuribayashi's for the rest of the war. And Mufasa's grieving widow, Colonel Sarabi Williams of the famed Huntress Squadron, would find herself falling into a deep depression, along with her son, Lt. Matthew "Simba" Williams, who had heard of his father's end while serving in the Air Corps in North Africa. Even Mufasa's estranged brother, Col. Jeremy "Scar" Williams of the RAF's infamous Outland Squadron shed a tear for his fallen brother once he had heard.
The Japanese were still holding the island of Iwo Jima, but they were slowly running low on supplies, thus making it harder to stay and fight. And over the next few days, the American forces had to work hard to maintain their foothold on the coast of Iwo Jima. Luckily, the highly anticipated Japanese Banzai charges were easily repelled. The Big E's squadrons were even returned to their carrier to provide low air cover during the campaign.
But the one thing that made every allied fighter swell with pride, was on February 23, 1945...
When the Stars and Stripes were raised on mount Suribachi.
"Isn't that a beautiful sight?" Claws asked Candy as she pulled the younger pilot close to her side.
"Stunning," Candy responded with a smile as the flag waved in the breeze.
The fighting would continue for another month, with Americans suffering the most casualties over the Japanese in the overall engagement.
March 25, 1945
General Kuribayashi counted the number of his remaining men.
Only 300 remained and many of them were suffering from fatigue and mental exhaustion.
Still, this was going to be the final chance to inflict casualties to the victorious Allied forces. Leading his men under the cover of night, General Kuribayashi launched a sneak attack on the sleeping Americans at Airfield Number 2.
However, Rogue, Devil and Angel Squadron had returned to the island to help in the final clean up.
As Corporal Samson "Strongman" Johnson left his tent to grab himself a pack of cigarettes from a Marine he had met that day, he couldn't help but feel that something felt off about the men he saw making their way into some of the tents on the outskirts of the airfield. They would go in then come right back out, but it was only when he entered the tent of the Marine did he know what was going on. There, laying in his cot was the Marine with his throat cut. Samson rushed out of the tent and hurried to find his beloved Delilah, who was laying on her cot reading a book on child care. As she turned the page, the beautiful wolf didn't notice the Japanese soldier sneaking up on her. It wasn't until she looked up to see the enemy soldier raise his weapon.
But before the enemy soldier could strike, someone grabbed him from behind. A pair of brown furred arms lifted the scrawny enemy off his feet. Samson had saved her, but he was not done. His hand took hold of the throat of the would-be assassin.
"You…" he said growling.
"Tried to…" his grip tightened around the soldier's throat.
"Kill my Delilah!" Samson shouted and with a mighty tug, ripped the Japanese soldier's throat open.
Someone then shouted, "The camp is under siege! Defend yourselves!"
"HELP! MEDIC!"
Major Crystal "Claws" Santiago rushed out of her tent armed with a Remington Model 11/Browning Auto-5, who quickly turned and fired without aiming as a Japanese soldier came around the tent. And in just a quarter of the second, the Japanese soldier felt his leg get blown off.
"MY LEG!" he cried in his native tongue, trying to balance himself, only for Claws to fire another round that struck him the chest, sending him flying backwards.
Soon the whole camp was in a heated battle. Dax stayed close to Sweets to protect her, but then he saw him. General Kuribayashi! The very Katana he used to kill Mufasa was being used to kill other Americans. With a burning hatred, the silver wolf charged toward the Japanese general, who had just finished off another Marine when he saw Dax coming at him. Both officers were soon locked in an epic struggle. Armed with only a knife, Dax stood little chance at getting a lucky strike on Kuribayashi, as all he could do was wait for an opening.
Dax dodged a slash from Kuribayashi's Katana, which gave him the opening he was waiting for. With blinding speed, the sliver wolf slashed the Japanese general across his stomach. Kuribayashi stumbled back a bit, but Dax didn't let up on the attack.
Samson, having been shot in the leg, was quickly swarmed by six Japanese soldiers, who began to stab him repeatably. The strong wolf began to feel weak, but he couldn't give up. No! Delilah needed him. He loved her and was planning on spending the rest of his life with her.
In another great display of his superhuman strength, Samson threw the six Japanese soldiers off of him before picking up a downed log used it like a club.
The Maverick daughters were firing their Tommy guns at many of the attacking soldiers, killing many in the process.
"Die you JAP bastard!" Dax shouted as he plunged his knife into Kuribayashi side, but the Japanese general quickly retorted with a kick to the groin. Dax fell to his knees as he clutched his family jewels, finding just enough strength to look up to see General Kuribayashi being carried away by a young Japanese Bobtail cat.
Dax growled and quickly picked up a fallen Marine's M1 and gave chase.
March 26, 1945
The next morning, Dax found the young Japanese Bobtail, alone, with Kuribayashi's Katana in his hands.
"Where is he?" Dax demanded, but the young soldier looked at him, raised the Katana and gave off an impressive battle cry. He charged Dax…
WHACK! Dax hit him in the face with the butt of his M1. Soon, a group of Marines showed up and took the Bobtail away. Dax looked around but found no sign of Kuribayashi's body.
At that time, all he could do was return to his friends.
And not long after…
The Japanese surrendered Iwo Jima.
In the end, America had lost a little over 7,000 men and had over 20,000 wounded. The Japanese had started out with 21,000, but only 216 were now POW's.
The Sleeping Giant was soon the verge of Victory.