"You're about to embark on a great crusade..." General Dwight D. Eisenhower had said in his speech to the troops prior to the opening assault on Normandy's shores.
However, Jack and James O'Brian never heard that speech, because they were in the air...
400 meters away from a nearby bridge, 3 miles behind Omaha
Scharfschütze Leutnant Baron Astor
A half hour ago, enemy planes were heard and the alarm was sounded. Calling all men to arms.
There was a cluster of activity as men were rushing around to get dressed and arm themselves, but in the middle of the chaotic race to arms. The sharpshooters were calmly walking out of the encampment, armed and at the ready.
The Company Hauptmann gave his sharpshooters a single task before dismissing them to see it done.
"Seek and destroy all invaders, good luck men!" The Hauptmann had shouted out, giving the sniper teams their single objective without hesitation.
Oberleutnant Baron Astor is in Germany's elite sniper teams. He had earned his promotion and newer command for his actions back in Centuripe Italy.
His newest command of 1st lieutenant consists of the sharpshooters platoon in his company, and many of these men are young, freshly graduated academy snipers with the exception of the Unterfeldwebel. The meanest and oldest SOAB is a battle veteran, who has the Africa campaign under his belt.
Everyone in Baron's platoon was informed on the march out into the countryside, all thanks to that man.
** 40 minutes later**
Baron had spent the past 40 minutes digging a spider hole into the side of a hill that overlooked the bridge 400 meters to his rear.
He was digging a circular hole that was deep enough for him to sit down in, and deep enough to be at shoulder height. That way, he could rest his arms on the ground and have a stable shooting position.
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(The photo obviously isn't Ww2 related, however this is just to show what the spider hole would look like! Happy reading everyone :) )
He then spent the next 10 minutes camouflaging it, getting it to the point that it looked like a natural bush was growing there.
Satisfied with his handy work, Baron carefully placed his weapon against the wall of his dug hole. So that it's safely leaning against the wall while he eased himself in.
It was still fairly early in the morning and there was another sniper here with him as well, so Baron took the initiative to set up shifts for sleep.
Every four hours or so, they'll take turns on watch. After all, they were only asleep for two hours prior the alarm sounded.
With sleep threatening to take hold of him, Baron won the coin toss and he carefully sat down before he dozed off.
*
For the past 10 minutes, James sat there under his tree listening to the German traffic as marching columns and what sounded like heavy armor passed him by.
