Ouch, I'd hate to be McDermot.
By now, I'm pretty sure Eugene's dead. Poor kid.
Great writing.
One more thing screwing with Sgt. Sutherland's head as he enters Normandy
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One more thing screwing with Sgt. Sutherland's head as he enters Normandy
Just a note, I have written up to Part Seven and finished the Normandy Campaign for my guys I'm planning to release one part a day
PART V: DEAD MAN'S CORNER
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Yesterday we advanced into town with the other elements of the 501st. Those Jerry Bastards set up a machine gun right on the side of the main road into town an ambushed us cutting down tons of the 501st guys. Me, Sam and Joe managed to coordinate the teams and take down the machine gun by Joe, Wisnewski and Cowboy suppressing fire and me, Sam, George and Henry flanking. I saw something in that fight however; a bunch of Krauts came out of the basement of the house after we flanked them all and cut down their machine gunner. I ordered Sam to take them back to HQ so he silently took them outside and cut them all down with his tommy. I ran down a started arguing with Sam over it meanwhile George wondered down the main street until he was suddenly shot in the shoulder by a German sniper. Henry, his best mate from back home in New York obvious ran up to him and was proceeding shot by the same German sniper in the thigh. Sam and I didn’t even realize it happening. We didn’t even notice Joe and Cowboy running through each of the French townhouses hunting this kraut sniper. They eventually found and shot the bastard but Sam and I were awestruck when they returned with Henry and George over their backs telling us we too busy arguing over dead Germans to realize that Henry and George had been shot. Henry and George were treated back at HQ and George was sent back to England to be with Lorraine in hospital care while Henry was patched up further and sent back to us in St. Come-du-Mont. Henry has already been shot twice since D-Day, once in the leg and now in the thigh. Army nicknames have never been clever but since D-Day and D+2 Henry has been given the nickname: Easy Target.
Today with our squad numbers down to five and Eugene still missing we were given the all clear to rejoin the rest of G-Company at Highway N13 with Cole. While returning to the regiment trekking through the French countryside slightly south-west of Carentan we stopped at ammo dump that had been dropped the previous day while Private Wisnewski went on point and met a bunch of B-Company boys who had been carrying a F-Company guy around with them since D-Day. I found great relief when John returned with one Eugene Macky intact but scarred like the rest of us, something was in the boy’s eyes, he seemed quiet now not talking much to our rejoicing squad mates, something I had gotten to him, well I guess something really has gotten to us all, its just how you handle it in the end. We arrived at the rest of our temporary Company near Highway N13 late in the afternoon under heavy fire from Germans on the Carentan Causeway who were retreating from the attack on Carentan and St. Come-du-Mont. Upon arrival at the causeway we met with Cole and Clements and discovered the dire situation at hand. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 502nd are attempting to take four bridges, two of which have already been destroyed by the Germans.
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Just another thing, I have changed the name of the AAR from the story of the 502nd PIR to the Story of the 101st Airborne
OCC: arghh! theres been no comments from you guys for a while i feel like ive been talking to myself
PART VI: PURPLE HEART LANE
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Highway N13, Normandy, France – June 10 1944, D+4
It’s been four days since we landed in Normandy, fresh-faced recruits no matter what rank we held on our shoulder. Today, I am sorry to state that we received our first casualty of the war. We had been folded in G-Company the day before and just as luck had us, Cole chose G-Company to be one of the companies taking point in the advance down the Carentan Causeway. We only arrived at front yesterday after securing St. Come-du-Mont and we were on the offensive again. The majority of the causeway down towards the first bridge that we were securing was a long country road with a German machine gun on the business end of it. As soon as we began the advance the Germans tore up the road with their machine gun and we forced to disperse to either sides of the road in the ditches along the sides. We came under heavy fire and the Krauts continuously picked off soldiers from G and I companies one by one. When the machine gun fire began my squad was split off in many directions with Henry “Easy Target”, Sam, Cowboy and I on the left side of the road and Eugene, Joe, and Wisnewski on the marshy ditch to the right of the road. The advance towards the machine gun seemed to last forever as we pushed our way down the sides of the road, knee-deep in casualties and swampy water. We were ordered to keep moving through the swamp on the sides of the road towards the machinegun emplacement. Two hours into the advance it seemed that Easy Target Bennett couldn’t take it anymore and charged onto the road. With his M1 Carbine going through multiple rounds he advanced about two meters up the road until he got torn to shreds by the Kraut potato masher. Sam and I stood calling out to him as he squirmed around on the road bleeding from multiple bullet holes across the entire right side of his body. I contemplated running onto the road to retrieve him but Clements grabbed me and told me we did not need another dead officer. Me and rest of first squad watched helplessly in disbelief as Easy Target bled to death with German Machinegun bullets stirring the ground around him. I attempted to call out comforting comments, after what felt like an eternity of watching Bennett squirm around on the ground staring up at us with terror in his eyes the Kraut potato masher managed to put him out of his misery with another bullet placed directly in his face. I think I may of sunk down to my knees on the side the road and cried if it wasn’t for Sam pulling me up the side of hedge on the flank of the machine gun. Now on higher ground away from the ditch Clements ordered Sam, Cowboy and I to find a flank around the Kraut position through the hedges to the side while the rest of the company continued up the marshy ditches on the sides of the roads. If it wasn’t for the sudden death of Henry Bennett I would of recognized Sam’s great leadership as he pushed Cowboy and I through the next few fields surrounded by hedges to sneak around the flank of the German position. When we reached the hedge that overlooked the German position on the other side with the road Sam threw a grenade over then pushed himself through the thick hedge and sprayed at least three cartridges of Tommy bullets towards the torsos of the Germans around the sandbagged machinegun. Cowboy and I followed suit and only found ourselves with three remaining Germans to kill that weren’t half blown to hell or peppered by Sam. The three of us sat and lent about against the sandbagged machine gun position surveying the Highway with hedges on either sides. I suddenly remembered Bennett and leapt over the German machine gun to find the rest of my squad crowding around intent on the corpse of Bennett. I ran over to find the torn up corpse of Henry Bennett. Now 1st Squad had only six capable members with Lorraine and George Elliot: Henry’s best friend in England hospitalized. The Bennetts the first family I failed in keeping their son safe. More importantly, how would I explain this to George? To had been inseparable since Benning, it was always Henry’n’George. The two never left each other’s sides in training and even up until Normandy when George carried Henry for 12 hours of his back on D-Day. The Germans counterattacked that afternoon but had has much luck us a trying to take the former Kraut machine gun emplacement we commandeered.
The section of Purple Heart Lane on which Pvt. Henry "Easy Target" Bennett was killed
The fighting ended by sunset and we proceeded across the bridge we were tasked with taking but we still had a long way to go and it seemed that we were bogged down for too long by stukas and Germans retreating. I feel Cole is planning something for tomorrow June 11th, however for tonight we can bury Henry Bennett and rest for what its worth. Its funny what we talk about while were all huddled up in our foxhole, for example Cowboy has just started telling us about a dame back in England who he found out was pregnant in October back in 1943 with the hick’s baby. Now Cowboy was a character, a yokel from Texas with no real Southern moral values at all. Also I am starting to relize that I have at least one natural soldier in my squad, who today showed great courage in the light of taking that machinegun nest on the Highway, Sam Pelfrey. If I die I want him to lead these men.
PART VI: PURPLE HEART LANE
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Highway N13, Normandy, France – June 10 1944, D+4
It’s been four days since we landed in Normandy, fresh-faced recruits no matter what rank we held on our shoulder. Today, I am sorry to state that we received our first casualty of the war. We had been folded in G-Company the day before and just as luck had us, Cole chose G-Company to be one of the companies taking point in the advance down the Carentan Causeway. We only arrived at front yesterday after securing St. Come-du-Mont and we were on the offensive again. The majority of the causeway down towards the first bridge that we were securing was a long country road with a German machine gun on the business end of it. As soon as we began the advance the Germans tore up the road with their machine gun and we forced to disperse to either sides of the road in the ditches along the sides. We came under heavy fire and the Krauts continuously picked off soldiers from G and I companies one by one. When the machine gun fire began my squad was split off in many directions with Henry “Easy Target”, Sam, Cowboy and I on the left side of the road and Eugene, Joe, and Wisnewski on the marshy ditch to the right of the road. The advance towards the machine gun seemed to last forever as we pushed our way down the sides of the road, knee-deep in casualties and swampy water. We were ordered to keep moving through the swamp on the sides of the road towards the machinegun emplacement. Two hours into the advance it seemed that Easy Target Bennett couldn’t take it anymore and charged onto the road. With his M1 Carbine going through multiple rounds he advanced about two meters up the road until he got torn to shreds by the Kraut potato masher. Sam and I stood calling out to him as he squirmed around on the road bleeding from multiple bullet holes across the entire right side of his body. I contemplated running onto the road to retrieve him but Clements grabbed me and told me we did not need another dead officer. Me and rest of first squad watched helplessly in disbelief as Easy Target bled to death with German Machinegun bullets stirring the ground around him. I attempted to call out comforting comments, after what felt like an eternity of watching Bennett squirm around on the ground staring up at us with terror in his eyes the Kraut potato masher managed to put him out of his misery with another bullet placed directly in his face. I think I may of sunk down to my knees on the side the road and cried if it wasn’t for Sam pulling me up the side of hedge on the flank of the machine gun. Now on higher ground away from the ditch Clements ordered Sam, Cowboy and I to find a flank around the Kraut position through the hedges to the side while the rest of the company continued up the marshy ditches on the sides of the roads. If it wasn’t for the sudden death of Henry Bennett I would of recognized Sam’s great leadership as he pushed Cowboy and I through the next few fields surrounded by hedges to sneak around the flank of the German position. When we reached the hedge that overlooked the German position on the other side with the road Sam threw a grenade over then pushed himself through the thick hedge and sprayed at least three cartridges of Tommy bullets towards the torsos of the Germans around the sandbagged machinegun. Cowboy and I followed suit and only found ourselves with three remaining Germans to kill that weren’t half blown to hell or peppered by Sam. The three of us sat and lent about against the sandbagged machine gun position surveying the Highway with hedges on either sides. I suddenly remembered Bennett and leapt over the German machine gun to find the rest of my squad crowding around intent on the corpse of Bennett. I ran over to find the torn up corpse of Henry Bennett. Now 1st Squad had only six capable members with Lorraine and George Elliot: Henry’s best friend in England hospitalized. The Bennetts the first family I failed in keeping their son safe. More importantly, how would I explain this to George? To had been inseparable since Benning, it was always Henry’n’George. The two never left each other’s sides in training and even up until Normandy when George carried Henry for 12 hours of his back on D-Day. The Germans counterattacked that afternoon but had has much luck us a trying to take the former Kraut machine gun emplacement we commandeered.
The section of Purple Heart Lane on which Pvt. Henry "Easy Target" Bennett was killed
The fighting ended by sunset and we proceeded across the bridge we were tasked with taking but we still had a long way to go and it seemed that we were bogged down for too long by stukas and Germans retreating. I feel Cole is planning something for tomorrow June 11th, however for tonight we can bury Henry Bennett and rest for what its worth. Its funny what we talk about while were all huddled up in our foxhole, for example Cowboy has just started telling us about a dame back in England who he found out was pregnant in October back in 1943 with the hick’s baby. Now Cowboy was a character, a yokel from Texas with no real Southern moral values at all. Also I am starting to relize that I have at least one natural soldier in my squad, who today showed great courage in the light of taking that machinegun nest on the Highway, Sam Pelfrey. If I die I want him to lead these men.
OCC: arghh! theres been no comments from you guys for a while i feel like ive been talking to myself
No comments, who needs comments!
It's a shame Bennett didn't get get a Purple Heart, rather he get's killed, but hey, in war, soldiers die. Anyhow, another good update (although it's hard to keep up with daily updates when you're writing a narrative... which may explain a lapse of comments from time to time).Either way, excellent stuff!
No comments, who needs comments!
Either way, excellent stuff!
Ahh i guess so hahah but after the next update slow down on posting updates for the everyone read to catch up as after that chapter it is the end of major combat operations in Normandy and Ill spend my time writing Operation Market Garden and responding to comments from the first Part. I am thinking of splitting the AAR into segments, Training, Normandy, Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge etc. and will continue in this fashion for the rest of the AAR hopefully.
Great updates. Sad situation with Bennet. War is hell.
You're battle scenes are great, keep up the good work!
You're battle scenes are great, keep up the good work!
PART VII: COLE'S CHARGE
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Highway N13, South of Carentan, Normandy, France – June 11 1944 D+5
I hadn’t really talked too much with Joey since the first night landing in Normandy. Well not until we both were charged with guard duty in a perimeter foxhole overlooking a field followed by a massive German line of entrenched infantry who had withdrawn from Carentan in the previous days. It was barely even morning and we had already chatted for hours like we were best friends again back home in Missouri. We felt like the young men we were before we enlisted discarding all that surrounded us. I felt a sense of happiness in the tranquility even though we were on the front line in a foxhole behind a small hedge spotting the Germans. Well we did until the explosions started happening. The field we overlooked was lit up by artillery sending dirt and Krauts alike into the air in chunks. After the initial shock of the beginning of the bombardment wore off Joey and I scrambled around a poked our heads of the hedge spotting what was going on. It was the most awe-inspiring use of firepower we had ever seen in our lives. Soon we were joined by Cole at the hedge overlooking the field, he told us he had ordered an artillery attack on the German positions to try and weaken their defenses that were slowing down the advance of the 3rd Battalion. He soon mustered a couple hundred soldiers along the hedge-line of the field. He ran up and down the lines ordering us to fix bayonets even though the only weapon Cole had was a mere 45-caliber side-arm.
He told us that we are now about to lead a massive charge across the field against the German positions under cover of smoke grenades and take the German positions and finally advance towards the Ingouf Farm the Germans had set up around on the other side of the field. We were to take the “Cabbage Patch” and hold for further orders. I had mustered our six man squad right near Cole so we were at least near the chain of command when he blew the whistle. One sentence in particular seems imprinted in my mind from the orders of Cole shortly before the charge, “We are now launching a full battalion bayonet charge across the field to capture the farm, we will wait for smoke then launch ourselves over the top of the hedge, shoot anything that moves, if it screams in German shoot it again.” Cole then looked over the hedge to check the smoke and at exactly quarter past six am he blew whistle signaling the charge. Nearly 400 Airborne soldiers launched themselves over the top into the field under heavy German mortar and machinegun fire. Guys from all over the field suddenly began to fall chewed up by German machinegun fire while some where literally blown to shreds by mortar and dive-bomber attacks. How the Germans could see us through the popped smoke I could never guess but for a second I completely forgot I had a squad to look after. I haulted for a second looking over my shoulder through the smoke for my squad but suddenly I felt a piercing pain my left hand and soon found my self lying across the grass and Private Winsnewski attempting to lift me over his back to continue the charge. I soon saw the face of Cole as I looked back from Wisnewski’s shoulder. Cole had discarded his pistol and taken my rifle to continue the charge. Wisnewski with me over his shoulder made it at least halfway up the hill before I heard a high pictched noise and saw a Stuka descending upon our position. After that all I can remember is lying on the grass next to Wisnewski. John was screaming in agony as Joe, Sam and Cowboy ran to our sides. Wisnewski rolled over blood pouring out of his mouth as a nearby airborne medic began to attend to him. I saw the extent of his injuries right then and nearly fainted at the sight. Both of his legs had been blown off as well as the entire right side of his body seered and replaced by bloody carnage and his right army replaced by a smoldering piece of meat. It all went dark after that but all I could still hear the screaming.
I woke up sometime later to find Joe sitting next team as I lay next a haystack in some kind of manger. For a moment I thought I was back in Missouri, but his dirty and blood-soaked face greeted me to back to reality. As my senses came back I felt a horrible pain in my arm and looked up to see it bandaged right to the elbow. I suddenly remember what had happened before I blacked out during the Charge. I asked about Wisnewski and was greeted by Joe’s depressing glance. “Dale, he had both his legs blown off and the right side of his body shot to hell. He wouldn’t have made it if we were all surgeons. He died shortly after you went unconscious. The best we could do was comfort him while he died. We feared the same for you but you were lucky, when that shrapnel cut open your arm it didn’t cut any arteries and we were able to stitch it up.” It came to me then that Wisnewski had died trying to save me. How could I live with myself? John Wisnewski a 24-year-old from Louisiana had sacrificed himself for me. Joe then told me that they had successfully taken the farm and defended “the Cabbage Patch” from counterattacking German forces. Also along the way both Eugene and Sam had been mildly hit by Kraut fire but had continued never the less even though Eugene had collapsed after they reached the farm. In the end Sam took up the reigns of squad leader while I had been out. We were a now a five man squad. In Normandy we’ve had three wounded including myself, two killed: Private Henry Bennett, Private John Wisnewski and the rest of them at least shot once during Cole’s Charge except for Joe Bahlau. He seemed to have held out the best in the last few days. Good News though. After we hold the Carentan Causeway for a few more days the entire regiment is being transferred back to Cherbourg to go into reserve and earn some much needed rest.
okay so guys I am gonna update a few times over the next couple weeks before beginning the writing of part 2 but that may not be until the next school holidays possibly as I am taken up by doing other things *cough *cough leading the PRA in La Republique (the new Realpolitik) *cough vote PRA *cough So it hasnt died if I don't update alot in the weeks to come
So it hasnt died if I don't update alot in the weeks to come
Can't wait, and I like the new avatar.
ah yess, the pretty flag of the most unknown and unheard of Durrani Empire in Afghanistan haha
thanks robie! i think that i may write a new update soon id just thought id take another break to let ppl read. hell for a while there i lost alot of interest maybe another marathon of Band of Brothers blueray will sway my interest
thanks robie! i think that i may write a new update soon id just thought id take another break to let ppl read. hell for a while there i lost alot of interest maybe another marathon of Band of Brothers blueray will sway my interest
my grandfather was in the 82nd or 101st i don't know
that's why i like it.
i want to go in the airborne if i can.
its hardcore skydiving
damn right hardcore skydiving shame here in australia the closest thing to an airborne we have is the Aussie SAS regiments i beleive.
shame here in australia the closest thing to an airborne we have is the Aussie SAS regiments i beleive.