The Second World War had seen its fair share of insane stories from soldiers. Heroes were born from the fire and brimstone of that hellish conflict on all sides. The allied heroes had been the ones the world had called upon. The Greatest Generation of the US, the Guards of the British Commonwealth, the Heroes of the Soviet Union and the Lights of Finland. Today, these men and women were laid to rest after having lived their lives, post-war.
Yet, as it seemed, when another country, another small nation, cried for help in a faraway land, there would be no rest. Heroes of the Second World War. The Armored Fist of the Red Army, the Ghostly Sniper who stemmed the tide of Talvisota in Finland, the Finnish Commando known as the Soldier of 3 Armies, the brave defenders of Wizna, Death's Lady of Odessa, the Mad Churchill, The American of Two Fronts, the Young Man from Texas, the Angel of Hacksaw Ridge, the Canadian One Man Army and the famed War Bear of the 22nd Artillery Supply Company.
One more war. Once more unto the Breach, for a small nation beset on all fronts...
And A Good Day to Die Again!
A Good Day to Die Again:Memoirs of the "Company of Heroes"
Unknown Date, unknown time.
He woke up with a gasp, eyes darting to and fro. He felt his heart skip three beats in his chest before he stood up straight, gasping for breath and clawing at his chest. He swallowed empty, trying to slow his breathing as he took in his surroundings:a thick forest which you could barely see the end of. Above him, the canopy was thick enough to almost block out the faint traces of sunlight.
Slowly, as he felt his heart rate slow, the man's right hand balled up, tightening around a wooden frame in a shape so familiar to him. He almost stopped breathing as his gaze looked down into the mud. His hand lay, wrapped around the bolt of his old service rifle. He picked it up, feeling the familiar weight of thick wood and metal in his hands once more, after so many years.
He growled, then pushed himself up to his feet and looked down at himself, finally noticing the brown leather boots and the baggy pants that were shoved in there. God, he remembered how much he hated the feeling of those boots, yet here he was, wearing them again. He felt for his head, just to confirm something and his hand, indeed, landed on the net-covered dome of an M2 Helmet. He sighed, checking the gun for ammo and, upon discovering it was fully loaded with .30-06 Ball ammo, putting it on his back and holding it by the strap, before murmuring to himself, "I swear, if this is some sort of prank..."
He began to walk forward, feeling a sense of uneasiness as his boots crunched against the dry dirt and leaves below the sole. He swallowed, scanning the treeline for any potential movement. If the damn Garand was loaded, he was gonna shoot warning shots to scare the fuck out of whoever pulled this prank on him. A twig snapped behind him. He froze, ramrod straight, as he heard another pair of boots step on mud. Quickly as he could, the man almost instinctively unslung the rifle from his back again and trained it on the advancing pair of footsteps.
A young woman with black hair, clad in a khaki uniform with red markings and a rifle with a wooden stock and short zoom scope trained on him had almost pulled the trigger. She hummed, looking just as confused as him, before slinging her rifle onto her shoulder and showing her hands, still curiously giving him a once-over. He raised a brow at her, then gradually lowered his M1 Garand.
"Uh... Hi...?" He spoke.
"Hello..." The woman voiced, her accent clearly of some Eastern European origins, "What is going on?"
"... A very good question..." The man nodded absentmindedly, then responded promptly with:"I have no clue why we're in our Second World War kit... Or what the hell is going on."
"... Huh..." The woman raised a brow, "Well... This is weird."
"You can say that again, sister..." The boy murmured, putting the rifle on his back. He extended his hand, then said "I'm Audie. Audie Murphy... You are?"
She stared at his hand for a moment, before gripping and shaking his hand and saying "Lyudmila Pavlichenko... A pleasure, comrade Murphy." while smiling. Audie smiled back, although he felt like he'd heard that name before, somewhere. Whatever the name meant to him, though it'd have to wait. Both turned to the left, hearing a crash, a crack of a tree branch and a hard thump as a figure hit the floor in the back, followed by the white silk of a torn parachute landing on top of him.
"... Chto za Khren'?" Murmured Lyudmila, stepping up to Audie's right. She looked to him, to see him just as confused as she was, before both went instinctively for their rifles, watching a man rise, covered by the canopy of his 'chute. He wrestled it off of him, sharing a series of expletives that the Russian girl had not heard before in English and never thought could be strung together as such. Hell, Audie didn't know how to react to it.
The man that emerged from under the canopy, a handsome young fella with a strong jawline and clad in a US Army Airborne uniform, kicked down the remnants of his chute and murmured another expletive at it. He then turned to face the two people simply looking at him, disbelievingly. He hummed, then said in a thick Michigander accent, "I'm fine... Still, whoever threw me in a chute better have a damn good explanation." as he stepped over it, holding his own M1 Carbine by the strap. He added, "And the same person probably strapped me into this uniform and kit."
"... What kind of altitude did you fall from there?" Audie asked, now more at ease that this was an American.
"Hell if I know... Didn't get to open my eyes before I hit the top of the canopy and my chute tore." He answered. He shook off the feeling of the fall, then looked between the two of them and said, "Huh. It's a reunion of the Allies... Name's Joseph Beyrle, though most of my folk and friends just call me Joe. Who're you and you, Ruski and my fellow red-blooded American?"
"Hey, Joe... I'm Audie. Audie Murphy." Audie nodded, then he motioned to Lyudi and added, "This is Lyudmila Pavlichenko."
"Privyet, comrade Beyrle." She nodded, "Two GIs so far. I'm gonna need a drink, preferably something stiff..."
"You and us too, Pavlichenko..." Joe murmured, then he looked to Audie and asked "Any idea what's going on?"
"No. We know about as much as you do." Audie returned. He looked around, expecting another set of new arrivals. Despite his best efforts to mentally beg God for it to end here and for him to wake up aboard his airplane, it didn't work. As a matter of fact, things seemed to get all the more weird when a soldier wearing an infantry parka and an eyepatch, as well as running shoes, appeared in the clearing, one Sten SMG in his hand.
"... Who...?" Audie murmured.
"... I seem to have mistaken the clearing..." Murmured the man, then he said "Pardon me, yanks and..." and he stopped upon eyeing Lyudmila. He blinked, squinted and then approached the group of soldiers in the middle. He hummed, "Huh... A Russian... Bonjour."
"Privyet..." The girl hummed, then smirked, "A Canadian. I'm Lyudmila, comrade."
"Leo Major, at your service. Surprised to see you so calm." He tipped his paratrooper's beret, then took and kissed Lyudi's hand. Audie and Joe looked to one-another and rolled their eyes. The man then looked to the two Americans, not noticing the slight red tint on Lyudmila's cheeks, before he asked, "So, do either of you two fellows know how all four of us wound up here, in this clearing?"
"You're the third person to ask me that just now, Leo." Audie chuckled. "I'm Audie and this is Joe."
"A pleasure." He nodded, "Well, at least you speak English..."
"Sounds like you'd prefer a pair of Frenchies." Chuckled Joe, leaning his M1 Carbine on his shoulder. Leo rolled his 'eyes', then chuckled and shrugged. Audie raised a hand, telling them to be quiet and listen. The only echoing noise was the chirp of birds and, now, the gusts of wind around them. Turning around, the four caught sight of two other figures walking up to them, both holding what looked like Submachineguns fed by drum magazines, of a 'local' make. They wore grey uniforms, with odd symbols on their shoulders and, of all things, the blue and white flag.
"Finns?!" Lyudmila raised a brow, going for her rifle. Leo put his hand in front of her, watching as the folks approached. Both looked about as young as the lot of them... Huh, funny, Audie had just now noticed himself and his compatriots. Despite their supposed age post-war, they looked about 20. All of them looked much younger than one would assume.
"... Why are we younger...?" Joe murmured the question.
"Hello!" The leading of the two Finns raised a hand, lowering his SMG. His accent sounded slightly more American than Finnish as he spoke, "Hope we aren't bothering... Anybody have any idea how I and good mister Häyhä wound up here?" before they saw Lyudmila. Both of them almost instinctively went to train their guns on the girl, with the Häyhä fellow also having a long rifle, a Finnish Mosin, on his back as a secondary weapon.
"... Häyhä... Simo Häyhä? " Lyudmila mused "Belaya smert'?"
"... Well, that's awkward." The man looked back to the shooter, then quipped, "Looks like you have fans, even in Russia..."
The Sniper rolled his eyes, then lowered his SMG and said "Don't take the war personally..." to Lyudmila, "You shot first."
She glared at him, "It was a precautionary measure."
"One that pushed them to the Nazis' side later in the war..." Murmured Leo. The woman glared at him now.
"Easy, folks." Audie said, stepping in-between the groups, "Whatever's happening, there's no point to shoot at each-other now... War's been over for a good few years. Just because we're in kit, it doesn't mean we gotta kill each-other like back in the day... Or even back during the Cold War." then he eyed Lyudi and said "Can we make peace here? Not really sure I want you and..." He looked to the sniper, then finished, "Simo... Duking it out. I think we all have a common goal, right?"
"Hmph..." She huffed, crossing her arms. With a sigh of resignation, she nodded, "Da... Da... I can keep to myself."
"I have no interest in fighting you either." Simo said diplomatically, offering the proverbial olive branch and a hand to shake. She walked up to him, gripped the hand and shook. He gave her a half-smile, then nodded, before turning to the man to his left and saying "Törni. Olemme toistaiseksi rauhassa. Stow the gun." watching as the man put his weapon behind his back, keeping his hands off the trigger, grip or mag. He raised his hands and nodded.
"... Lauri Törni, too." Murmured Lyudi, "You Finnish anti-soviets come in packs?"
"Teams of two, usually." Lauri shot back, lowering his hands, "Greetings, Pavlichenko. I heard of you."
"Huh." Leo chuckled, putting his own SMG away, "Good work, Murphy... You defused it."
"Just called upon their common sense... Right, let's figure things out, folks..." Shrugged the Yank, then he turned to Joe and asked, "You're a Pathfinder, right, Joe?"
"Yeah. Dropped into Normandy six times... Got captured about a dozen too." He flashed a toothy grin to his fellow American, "101st Airborne... Still, I got a question for y'all... Did nobody notice what happened to us? I mean... Listen to your voices, look at one-another... We're all young as all hell... And I clearly remember aging up to and dying at 81, back in 2008."
"Cyort, he's right... I died in '58..." Lyudi paused.
"Died in '08 just like you, mister Beyrle." Noted Leo, looking between his newly-discovered comrades, "This is strange."
"'02." Simo said, pulling a tiny mirror out of his service kit and looking at himself, "And my jaw isn't fucked up anymore..."
"I went out in '71, died in a plane crash..." Audie added, eyes wide, "What the hell is going on?"
"Looks like something grabbed us by the collar and dropped us in here for some reason or other..." Lauri chipped in, crossing his arms, "I went out in Vietnam. Heli crash." and he showed everyone to be quiet. The drum of marching feet echoed from the right, the roar of a tank engine and tracks from the main path and another bunch of muddy footsteps coming to them.
Stumbling out through the treeline, a young man wearing the green uniform of the Pacific Army Corps, with a medical red cross on the helmet and on a white armband, as well as a doctor's bag draped over his shoulders, looked up. The young man was tanned slightly, touched by the Pacific Sun, clearly. He eyed the gathered crew of soldiers and saw two American troopers among them. He slowly walked to them, then said, "I uh... Presume this is where we'll all meet or something? Hi, I'm Desmond, Desmond Doss..."
"Third yank." Murmured Lyudi, crossing her arms, "You're a medic?"
"Yeah." The boy nodded, "Well, I was back during the war... Anyways, we got a lot of people coming."
"We hear." Audie noted, "I'm Audie Murphy. Paratrooper's Joe Beyrle and the folks around you are Leo Major, Canadian, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, a Russian and Simo Häyhä and Lauri Törni from Finland. We should probably hide..."
Lyudi smiled as the sound of the tank came closer, then said "That won't be needed, comrade Murphy... That's a T-34. I'd recognize those creaking treads anywhere."
The group paused, looking at the woman, before all of them turned to Simo and Lauri. Both men nodded, having met the enemy's tanks during the Winter and Continuation Wars, respectively. Despite most tanks sounding the same, certain giveaways like the engine and the rattle of the equipment on a tank, like tools, could be tells for the vehicle type. Leo hummed, then said "Right, well, if it's one of yours... What about the infantrymen marching toward us?"
"I don't know... But I don't doubt that, even if they are hostile, we will have no issues." Lyudi noted. She tilted her head toward the main road just as the long, slim main gun of the tank, colored in the standard, off-the-factory-floor green, with only the added mud stains. Then, the body and turret of the tank emerged. Slanted at the front, where the driver's hatch was, thus providing good armor protection, with angled armor on the sides andwith a rounded heavy turret bearing the Soviet Red Army's star on its sides(plus some writing in Russian that only Lyudmila could concisely translate), the late-war model Soviet T-34-85 veered toward them, its machine guns now trained onto the gathered allied unit.
Emerging from the turret's commander cupola, a confused woman wearing a tanker's uniform stared disbelievingly at the gathered Allied unit. She swore to herself in Russian, before watching Lyudmila push her way through. At the sight of the female Soviet sniper, the corners of the tank commander's mouth curled into a smile. She greeted the woman in Russian and Lyudmila answered the warm welcome with one of her own. She then motioned to and spoke the names of each of the soldiers before the woman.
The woman's smile grew upon Lyudmila finishing the introductions. She called out to Simo "Hey, White Death! Long time!"
"I've never met you!" Simo shot back, crossing his arms and grinning.
"Of course not! I was on different part of the Invasion Front!" The woman laughed heartily. She whispered something to Lyudmila, then spoke in a slightly more broken English "You scared the shit out of our men in Winter War, though!"
"That, I remember." He quipped, fondly. "Who are you?"
"Lieutenant Aleksandra Samusenko! Pervaya Gvardeyskaya Tankovaya Armiya! We pushed the Germans back at Kursk!" She laughed heartily, "Wish we would've fought Finns too! We would've showed you real soviet metal, but it was not to be!"
"I got shot in the face, Lieutenant. I doubt you would've seen much of me out there!" Simo responded, grinning. The woman nodded, then looked to Lyudmila again. They all stopped as the marching boots grew louder, then quickly stopped. Each soldier in the team instinctively drew their gun, aiming for where the sounds last came from. And, as if by magic, out from the forest, soldiers wearing dark-brown and khaki uniforms emerged, with one carrying on his shoulder a flag bearing the colors of white and red, with the crest of a white eagle.
The man leading them raised his hand, showing the men to stop, before entering the clearing himself. With an overcoat slung over his shoulders and a handgun on his hip, the officer tipped his peaked cap to the Allies and spoke, his accent, that of a Polish man's, "Greetings... I presume you are in much the same situation as us... I am Captain Raginis, Polish KOP. Narew Line. I am here with over 750 of my men, a few horse-drawn carriages and two AT cannons."
"Poles..." Lyudi mused, lowering her rifle and staring wide-eyed.
"In full military kit..." Murmured Audie, then he said to Joe "I'm starting to feel really odd about our situation, Joe."
"Same here... One more bonus weird thing is that we understand each-other completely, even though I doubt half the people here speak any English." Joe shot back. Audie chuckled, then nodded and stepped up. He saluted the Captain.
"Captain. I'm Audie Murphy, US Army... I guess..." He shrugged, then extended his hand. He began introducing everyone, going from Lyudmila down to Simo. The Captain seemed more and more (understandably) surprised by the present of both Finnish and Soviet soldiers in the area. Doubly so with a Soviet tank in their midst. He, however, acted level-headed, greeting everyone as Audie got to them.
The Captain sighed, rubbing his eyes "We don't know what the hell happened... None of us. I and my men fell during the battle of Wizna."
Samusenko froze, "You were the defenders of the Polish Thermopylae?"
"Oh?" The man raised a brow, "Huh, funny name. I guess so, yes."
The woman seemed almost dumbfound by the revelation while the Yank and the Pole continued to talk. The man stopped only to signal his men to come out of the shrubs. Despite the size of the clearing, few Poles actually fit into the place. Only about three or four dozen out of the 750 present. The others chose to form a perimeter while the teams of Allied and semi-neutral troopers continued to talk.
"... Well, this is certainly concerning..." Sighed Raginis as he recalled their battle and his death, in parallel with the idea of this 'revival.
"Yeah." Audie nodded, "Which is why I'd suggest we all stick together... At least until we find some sort of civilization and we figure ourselves out."
From aboard her tank, Samusenko said "I and my crew agree... If anyone wants to hitch a ride, you can climb on the back of my tank. This road is bound to lead somewhere close to civilization and-" She yelped as a bullet pinged off the hull of the tank. She cried out "SNIPER!" which got just about everyone to scramble for any tinsy bit of cover they could find. A Polish soldier ran up to Raginis and told him something.
Raginis' eyes went wide. He turned to the others and called out "We have an advancing assault unit of some kind! About one hundred men, according to the scout... And they're wearing some kind of medieval armor!"
"Pfft... Idiots don't know who they're messing with!" Laughed Joe, "Y'all wanna kick some ass?!"
"They shot first!" Samusenko said, before diving back into her tank's turret and calling out "Let's greet them the proper way!"
"Right..." Sighed Audie, grabbing his M1 Garand off his back and taking cover behind the T34. Two gunshots echoed from their right and they turned to see two Mosin Nagants, one with a scope and one without, barrels smoking. Simo looked to Lyudi and grinned as if he'd gotten that one. She raised a brow, racking the bolt of her rifle. The two nodded to one-another as if agreeing to some sort of contest... Audie looked back as he saw a Bear approaching them. He froze, turning to the massive animal(who was wearing some kind of vest and kit from one of the Allied Armies on its back) and greeted it shakily, "H-Hi, buddy..."
It nuzzled him, licked his face, then looked at the Polish soldiers with a glimmer in its eyes. Audie stared with disbelief at the massive bear with dark-brown fur. It barred its fangs toward the gunfire, growling. And the young American just now noticed it had dog tags wrapped around its neck. Cpl. Wojtek, Polish 22nd Artillery Supply Company... What The Fu-
He ducked under gunfire, watching the first of the enemy unit pop up. Soldiers in steel armor and with brown, Nazi-like uniforms. And then, he saw a man carrying bagpipes, a basket-hilted longsword, bow and arrows charging one of them... Before stabbing him clean through the side, pulling the sword out, parrying a bayonet strike and kicking another guy in the nuts. All boys in the unit winced collectively at the sight as the man cried out, his accent thickly British "Come on, you bastards! Want me to make it hurt!?"
... Oh, well... They would get those answers they sought sooner rather than later, it seemed...
... And presumably several hundred more questions to add to the mix.
AN:Well... This happened! :D
I've been ruminating over this idea for all of two days since I and a few friends came up with it.
What I'm basically doing here is the Crackfic of Crackfics, a Valkyria Chronicles story where the greatest heroes, Madlads and Madlasses of World War 2 join the Gallian defense after being 'revived' into their world by a possibly benevolent(or just downright weird) creature looking for entertainment and war hero stories to continue.
... I think y'all can figure out the Madlads from the chapter and the 'enumeration of traits' from up above.
Enjoy!
PS, this story is not to be taken seriously. Valkyria Chronicles and its associated trademarks belong to SEGA. This story is my way to bring an homage in memoriam to the elite and badass men and women of our history, while also somewhat writing them out as exaggerations of their original selves at times. These men and women have fought, bled and died for Europe to be free from the thrall of the Nazis, regardless of their own ideology or country's actions and they deserve respect.