Ch.6
"KEEP FIRING ON THEM!!" I scream over the sounds of men dying and explosions.
Only two of my small group are still alive firing at the Germans in the fort with the bazookas. So far we've taken out several machine gun nests, though they are still dug deep in the fort firing back at us. Thankfully the mortors can't reach us as we are close to the fort.
"SIR! LO–" one of my men says right as he gets shot in the face falling down limp.
Then I felt another shot hit my shoulder making me stumble as the round was a 7.92×57mm, commonly used by the K98 for German Snipers. The final man with me then received a shot right after falling down dead. I then grabbed the bazooka along with the final few rounds standing up and looking for the sniper.
As I stood up another round shot me right in the chest flattening against my sternum. Now I could tell the general area of the German sniper, though just as I aimed another round hit me in the face. I could feel my anger rising very quickly almost making me lose control. Though I took aim and fired at the German sniper, just as the rocket left the camber another round struck me in the shoulder.
"MOTHER F–" I say in anger as I'm starting to lose my grip on my animalistic instincts.
Then two explosions are heard the first being the one where I killed the sniper as I saw a rag doll's body flying in the distance. The second explosion came from the fort as our reinforcements finally arrived blasting the fort open. Within seconds the fort began to fall with all the Germans focusing on the reinforcements.
"Sir!" my men yell while running over to me. I can see my shirt is littered with gunshots and blood.
"I'm fine!" I say with a growl while pushing the medic away from me since my anger is still there.
"Follow me," I say standing up as we go around the back of the Fort to the other entrance/ exit.
Arriving there we see several Germans already trying to escape but we gun them down. Then I order some of my men to hold the exit in case we miss any while going inside. Walking inside the underground exit, the place is poorly lit with makeshift wiring. There we run into several Germans packing things.
"Amis!" one of them says while pointing to us. (German slang for American soldiers)
Then all hell breaks lose, as this is a close-quarters underground area. Both sides rush one another with a few gunshots being fired at one another. I shoot several Germans as I rush forward with a few shots hitting me. Then there is nothing but men screaming and dying, which replaces the sounds of gunshots.
The Germans start using their rifles and shovels to beat my men dead, while my men are using their rifles and army-issued trench knife. I grab one German by the face pushing him against the wall and stabbing him several times in the stomach. Then I feel another German strike my neck with his shovel cutting down to my bone.
With an animalistic growl, I backhanded the German who struck me sending his teeth scattering in all directions. Then I stomp on his head making it burst underneath my foot with brain matter squishing out like gelatin. Immediately I felt a German officer shoot me in the back with his handgun.
My anger then snapped as I let out a guttural yell in anger grabbing the German officer by the neck. Then the last thing I remember is ripping his head off his shoulders with his spine coming out too. I tossed it to the side before rushing toward the remaining German soldiers who were still engaged with my men.
When my anger subsided, I was once again completely covered in blood and viscera. Though now so too were the men who survived the encounter with me down here. Everyone stared at one another as the battle lust and adrenaline faded, though no one spoke a word. As everyone here was coming to terms with the horrors of war and the killing a man can do in times of life and death.
"Come on… we have to flush out the rest of this area," I say grabbing my rifle and reloading it before continuing on.
My men didn't say anything they just silently grabbed their rifles and reloaded, following me right after. We then silently made our way through the underground area and quickly killed any combatants. None surrendered as the war was still early, later when Germany was falling apart surrender was more common.
All remaining survivors of my unit except for the handle full holding the exit came out from the underground area of the fort. Once outside we saw our fellow Americans walking through the fort checking everywhere for hiding Germans. However, they all stopped seeing us with many looking at us in fear due to all of us being covered in blood.
Once the fort was secured, I cleaned myself off as best I could before meeting back up with Colonel Millar in the command area of the Fort. There I saw him with several radio operators relaying information to HQ. Though they all stopped and saluted me on my arrival, except Colonel Millar. However, I quickly dismissed them back to work.
"Colonel Howlett, you and your men did God's work today. If not for you guys our casualties would be much higher," Colonel Millar says while I just glare at him, since more of my men died than I thought was necessary.
"Any word from the General," I say ignoring his statement making my anger clear, though he doesn't say anything.
"They took the beachhead, but with more casualties than us. We received new orders to slowly push the Germans out of North Africa," Colonel Millar says showing me the morse code sent through a secure line set up here from HQ.
"I figured… I'll gather my remaining men and I want some tank crews with us and we will begin pushing west toward Algeria," I say while showing him my planned movements on the map laid out on the table in the command area.
"Any issues?" I say rhetorically while giving him a hard look making my feelings clear.
"None… Though just so you know, the men have been calling your Unit the 'Blood Angels' after what happened today. Seems your Unit is going to become famous soon," Colonel Millar says as I just grunt and walk away to relay our commands come the morning.
The next morning I gathered the remaining men in my Unit along with the new one who would be trained as we worked. Then we headed toward the several Tank squads who would be joining us. Once I gathered all my men, I had the commanding officers in the Unit meet me for one last meeting to go over my plans.
Finally, we set out to head west while hitting several German forts on the way to Algeria. While Colonel Millar would be waiting for reinforcements before cleaning up the remaining of Morocco.
"SIR!" my radio operator yells to me while running over in a hurry.
"What?" I say while sitting on the tank leading the column.
"The Germans!... They are coming!" the radio Operator says while catching his breath. Immediately everyone jumps up and quickly runs around to their battle stations.
"How many and how long until they are here?" I say to the radio operator.
"Maybe around five hundred. They have a few dozen Panzers with them too and half-tracks… Might be here in an hour or two," the radio operator says as I stand up and begin shouting out orders.
I get our armor which unfortunately is outgunned by the panzers, but luckily we have more than them currently. That plus the bazookas we have, we might be able to delay them. I had a few machine gun nests set up, overall we were able to set up a decent defense with little to no notice.
"I see them! They are maybe a mile or two out! No one fires until I say so!" I yell to everyone while the officers relay my command.
We had some decent camo too, that if you weren't looking for us you might just miss us. Then the Germans got into normal eyesight without the need for binoculars.
"Fire!!" I yell as everyone then fires, the sounds of the cannons going off from the tanks.
A few explosions from the enemy tanks went down and men screamed as bullets shredded them. Then enemy officers began relaying orders to form up and begin firing back. However, I already gave the order to fire at will as the battle became full-blown.
MG34s already firing back at us with my men screaming in pain as several went down. Along with the few remaining panzers firing back at us. They took out a couple of our tanks killing the men inside and beside them.
With my superior eyesight and now decades of experience, I could easily snipe the enemy with my iron sight M1 Garand rifle from half a mile away. I was targeting the German officers who went down one by one from my shots or the stray machine gun fire from my men.
The battle lasted for what felt like forever until finally, the Germans gave the order to retreat as they lost more than four hundred of their men to our several dozen. In the end, we lost four out of our sixteen tanks, leaving us twelve left.
"Tend to the wounded and once everyone is stabilized we will continue to move," I say to my officers as the medics run around tending to the wounded.
"What about the Germans?" one of them asks since they left behind their wounded who were currently bleeding out on the other side of the battlefield.
"Fuck'em," I say bringing out my cigar since I have no love for them. Plus my feelings have died over the years making me more robotic.
The officers just nodded their heads and over the next hour, we counted up our dead which was just over two dozen. Mostly who were the newbies of our unit, then we headed out after sending word to command to grab the deceased.
We then were left to travel the next few days without any issue, though I had a bad feeling that the Germans were planning something. Then as we were approaching the border between Morocco and Algeria my scouts saw a heavily fortified checkpoint on the only crossing for miles.
"What should we do?" one of my officers says as I contemplate the situation.
"Even if we leave them, they could come from behind us one day and hit us even more unprepared… That or they could push forward taking Morocco back…" I say since deep down I know we have to fight this while outmanned, by ten to one.
"Gather everyone," I say once I decide to send many men to die in the next few hours.
"I want you all to know that what comes is going to leave many dead… However, here we will stand and fight; there will be no further withdrawal. We will stand and fight here. If we can't stay here alive, then let us stay here dead," I say to my men who all nod their heads giving me shouts of agreement.
Like that everyone gathered their things and prepared to fight the Germans knowing that none may survive the following hours. Then we marched toward the Germans, with the battle quickly unfolding at our appearance. Once again the sounds of cannons, gunfire, and men dying took over the senses.