Screaming Eagles

Chapter 13 - Laying the trap

"You become really weird, but funny weird in a good way when you're too tired to think straight. And youse won't believe me if I told ya, but one hell of a dame actually helped you out by finding me... Then, well. From there I helped you get here, in that bed... Four cigarette cartons it costed me to bribe Captain Mitch to give up that bed for yah." James said and as he talked, his smile grew wider.

"Then the damn bastard bribed Lieutenant Nathan Sharp over there, and he got that fucking bed instead with those four cigarette cartons!" James added as he began to chuckle and Jack joined in too.

They didn't have to worry about waking up the men in the room, most of them are moderately heavy sleepers, it'll take something a lot louder to wake them up.

"But holy shit Jack, I'm surprised you slept through all that racket outside, fucking tank column went by and shook the entire god damn building! It woke everyone up but your snoring ass, youse shoulda seen it, everyone threw the windows opened and yelled at those tank men for waking them up." James laughed as he recalled the hilarious sight from earlier this morning.

As James said that, Jack finally began to notice the other men who were lying around in separate cots, and as Jack looked back over at James, he asked "Officer's quarters?"

"Yeah, Bravo company's officers quarter housing." James replied before he shifted to his side and checked his wrist watch he had lying next to his small pillow.

"It's almost noon, go get cleaned up and dressed. The new men will be coming in and we'll be moving out in two hours." James said as he shifted onto his back and picked his book up, and began to read from where he had left off. Jack didn't even notice the damn thing, it was lying there in plain sight too, right next to Jame's duffle bag.

Jack just nodded though and as he got up, he went about to getting ready and cleaned for the day.

**

Ragnarök, 6 miles away.

Sitting on top of the large turret, Marcus was overseeing the final pieces of getting his tank covered and camouflaged with netting, tree branches and all.

He was given simple orders, conduct ambushes on the enemy and slow the progress down as much as possible before pulling back.

Marcus and his crew were in a perfect position to ambush the Americans, they had a nice, clear view of the main road. And there's an open field that separates them from it too, giving them the advantage of seeing what was coming for them once they commenced their attack.

Marcus and his crew weren't the only ones out here either, there was an elite sharpshooter somewhere nearby that was hidden in the long grass off to their left.

There's even a squad of infantrymen whom are also concealed along the tree line, then the rest of Marcus's squadron. Which consist of a single Jagdpanther which just like Ragnarök, had a devastatingly power 88mm mounted for her main armament. Then along side of that are four more standard Panzer IV's.

His squadron of six made it perfect, and effortlessly possible to conduct a catastrophic ambush on what ever comes within their line of sight. Along with side of those ten Panzergrenadiers and that single sniper, only added to the upcoming carnage.

There was silence as Marcus's crew began to gather around the port side of the Tiger. They then stood there and awkwardly looked around at each other in the building silence.

"So... What about that sniper?" The gunner, Obergefreiter Berg Lochmann asked in order to break the silence that had consumed them.

"Yeah, that was one sour, mean looking bastard Sarge..." Ragnarök's radioman, Unteroffzier Egon Kepler added as everyone shifted their gaze upon the driver.

As Unterfeldwebel Torsten Frost lit one of his cigarettes, he took a drag from it before he spoke to the group, "Shit, he wasn't really in the greatest of moods either... He looked like he's seen and been through some tough shit."

"Oh let the man be, that sour bastard's Oberleutnant Baron Anton, I've met the guy sometime long ago back in Tunisia before the British counter attacked us.... He's seen some things like I've seen back in El Alamein." Marcus said as he leaned over to his left in order to join in on the conversation and to see his men on the ground too.

"Hell, sir. He must've seen or experienced something that put him in such a state." Kepler commented as he stretched out his arms causing them to crack before he leaned against the tank.

Suddenly, the tall grass next to them moved and a figure quickly took form as it emerged, it was such a sudden thing to take in that it caused everyone except for Marcus to jump away, startled.

"Christ, man! You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack!" Berg exclaimed as Baron stepped out from the tall grass in his full ghillie suit, face painting, umbrella, and all.

"Oh shut the hell up, you're too damn young to even have one." Baron grumbled as he walked past e very one and stopped at the side of the tank.

"I'm here to report that the engineers have finished setting up their mines along the road that we expect the Americans to travel down." Baron said as he swung his Kar98 to his back, that way the rifle will rest against him.

"Your fellow tank men are also positioned accordingly up the road to form the lower "L" as ordered... The ambush is set, and ready to go, that concludes my report." Baron said as he turned around, facing the tall grass.

"Danke Oberleutnant, I'll buy you a drank sometime later and we'll catch up from there!" Marcus said, calling after him as Baron stopped mid step for a moment.

"Sounds good Herr," He said, "I'll see you all later tonight then." Baron added as he disappeared back into the tall grass.

Sighing a little bit as he took in the fresh, country air. Marcus looked up towards the road that was roughly 150 meters away.

Lochmann was a damn good tank sniper, so this was going to be a turkey shoot once they sprang the trap.

With that in mind, Marcus had positioned his squadron accordingly and with the support infantry lined along the tree line that made up the longer bit of the "L", that left them in the corner of the letter.

Making the firing field of view a perfect opportunity to annihilate anything that tries to escape from the ambush.

*

That's it for this week's update everyone, hope you enjoyed it!

Definitely expect the next chapter to get us into the combat once more, because it most certainly will!

I'm also sorry about it being short by ten pages instead of the usual 14-16, but it's part of the suspense idea of slightly shortened chapter for a longer wait before the action. :)

With that in mind, don't forget to bayonet that vote button!

And with no translations here, I'll see you all in the next update! :)