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.
(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.
His heart was racing uncontrollably with the thought of being found out, and it was a major relief for James to hear that the last vehicle had passed him, was the last vehicle in the column.
He felt like he could breathe again, and his world was spinning a little bit for holding his breath too much in anticipated fear.
On the bright side for James's dire situation, the pain in his ankle had gone down considerably and he could confirm it wasn't broken. Now he doesn't know if it's simply just a sprain or a twisted ankle as said. But any further in the twist would've surely caused a fracture or even a possible breakage.
When he rolled his pant leg up to examine the tender flesh, he was surprised to see it was bruised with a dark purplish color. His ankle was also tender to the touch because it felt swollen as well.
When James tried to stand up, he couldn't put any pressure on his foot or he risked collapsing. Hopping around wasn't an option either, the Germans will have a laugh before shooting him up if they saw him.
No, he needed to wait for help to come by instead.
Frustration had set in on the lad as he sat down unhappily before he pulled his bag up to him.
He sat up straight with his back against the tree, and he leaned his head back. Deciding to wait a little longer for the pain to go down enough for him to walk normally.
The hour slowly dragged by and it was nearing, roughly 5 am from what James could tell. His watch, unlike James here, didn't survive the fall through the trees.
"Richard, take your men and start pushing Northwest, the nearest bridge head's a click or two from here." A voice said, and James became fully alert.
He didn't hesitate to call out "Hey! Over here, man down!" James called out as he picked his rifle up.
"Go check it out, but be careful! Those lousy kraut bastards might be setting up for an ambush." Another voice said, cutting in harshly that stopped the racing of feet immediately.
The area was thrown into silence once more, with only the noise of the nearby birds. There was even a light breeze blowing through the cluster of trees, shaking the tree branches and causing them to move.
No matter how hard James tried to listen, he couldn't pick up on any audio cues of the men that were just talking. He couldn't even pick up on falling footsteps.
'They were just there, out of sight but right there! Where the hell did they go?!' James had said to himself warily as he brought his weapon up to bear.
"Hey man, what detachment are ya from?"A voice finally asked after an agonizing five minute of deafening silence.
James thought that the soldiers had moved on since they previously thought this could be a trap.
So quickly not to lose them, he spoke up "101st airborne, Screaming Eagles!"
"Don't shoot man, I'm coming from your right, alright?" The voice continued and finally, James could hear the footfalls of the owners voice once more.
The young trooper came into sight and he was bearing the Corporal's insignia on his battle fatigues, and his eyes widened when he realized who he was talking to.
"Ah shit, jeez... Sorry, sir! We wanted to secure the area before coming in, feared it was a trap yah know?" He said before quickly turning around to face the other way.
"Stan! Get over here and check the Major for any injuries, he looks like he took a beating." The Corporal had beckoned to someone on the other side of the tree.
"Secure the perimeter and get on the horn, let the Sergeant Major know we found the Major!" The Corporal ordered, seeing to it that his fire team of 8 took up positions to establish and secure said perimeter.
"Good thing we found you, sir... Things have gone to literal shit and everyone's scattered. Easy and Bravo company have rallied at a farm to the West and other Company's are either securing roads or bridges. Or like us, they're completely lost..." Miller had said as he filled the Major in on what's happening.
"You're currently in charge right? Well, you're doing one hell of a job so far, anywho- OW! Fucking a!" James cursed as the pain shot up through his leg, cutting him off from what he was going to say.
Stanly, the squads corpsman saw the badly bruised ankle and he was beginning to prod it with his fingers in his examination when James had flinched, shouting out his curses and confirming his suspicion.
"You got a high ankle sprain sir, the bones just above your ankle, the Tibia and Fibula were nearly dislocated. I'm going to apply a splint to your leg to keep you from moving your foot too much, that way you don't risk further injury." Stan said as he retrieved the splits from his medical bag and he went to work on James's ankle.
After a minute, Stan applied the splint properly and he secured it to his leg. "That'll fix you up, the small morphine dosage I gave you should ease the pain. Plus this will keep your bones properly aligned in the meantime." Stan said as he stood up.
"Alright, now then Corporal... Let's see if we can't make it to any nearby rally point." James said after he silently sighed, he could feel the pain already beginning to dissipate.
*
6:10 am, 20 minutes from the invasion beginning.
1 mile west from Easy and Bravo company's rally point.
Sector 2, bridge 3 (Se2-3)
"Scan the area, then push up... Let's get this bridge under control before the Krauts know what hit em!" Jack said in a lowered voice, just above a whisper.
The platoon Sergeant nodded a little bit but he voiced his concern "Yes, sir. But I don't like it one bit, the terrain's flat and too opened, there's barely any cover here."
"Understood Sergeant, you see the incline leading up the hill about 500 meters away? Send a fire team that way to secure it, I'd feel a lot better with an O.P. set up there to spot anything coming our way... But your concern's are noted Sergeant, let's try to get those houses secured at least along the way." Jack replied.
Using what they could for cover on the approach towards the bridge, the platoon was on edge. And everyone was very jumpy, to say the least.
Jack's 48 man platoon was divided into 8 squads of 6, with the Sergeants obviously leading the squads.
"Sergeant Henderson, take your squad and flank around this bridge. I want you and your boys set up on that incline... Weapons hold, everyone. I want everyone to stay quiet until we're engaged." Jack said issuing his order, then he looked up doing another intake of what lies ahead of him.
"On it sir, we'll send you a flash once we're hunkered down," Henderson replied before he turned and regrouped with his squad 10 yards back.
"Alright fellas, don't fire unless fired upon. There's probably early risers out and about, so there's no need for unnecessary civilian casualties... Now then, let's go get this bridge secured, support teams set up in that barn. I want that .50 put to work when the time comes." He said, as the platoon stood up into a crouching stance, and everyone advanced rapidly towards the bridge.
**
It was nearing three hours since Baron had fallen asleep in his spider hole. He was nice and comfortable in his sitting position, but his sleep was disturbed by something disturbing his camouflage covering the hole.
Aaron, his assistant sniper was using a long branch he had broken off from a tree to rustle the bush covering around. An audible grumble escaped Baron's lips as he reluctantly got up and he looked over to the younger German.
Aaron was motioning towards the bridge, by pointing and making gestures. So Baron bent down and picked his rifle up from his resting position, then he leveled the rifle down range.
Using his elbows to keep his gun up and off of the ground, Baron used the shoulder high cover to rest on to further steady himself.
He then proceeded to dial in his high-powered scope, making it zoom in as much as it could go before he began to draw in softer, calmer breaths.
With the sun rising behind them, their muzzle flashes will be considerably harder to locate due to the sun shining in the enemy's face.
With a added bonus that's causing Baron to smile, he doesn't even have to worry about the wind conditions affecting the bullet. Making this more and more in the two sniper's favor for their engagements.
The grass was moist from the morning dew with some fog as well, however, it wasn't thick enough to cause any problems with sight.
With four hundred meters separating the snipers and the paratroopers, they're close enough to make out the insignias for the most part. And distinguish who's in charge and who is just a low NCO.
With a smooth gliding motion, Baron moved the rifle from right to left in his can for priority targets.
He passed over a Lieutenant briefly before snapping his cross hairs back over Jack's head.
Slowly, he pushed his thumb against the rifle's safety until hearing the soft 'click'. Baron started to line the shot up, taking his time and through slow, steady breathing. He worked his heart into a calm, gentle rhythm.
With a delicate touch, Baron eased his forefinger against the trigger. He began to pull the trigger but stopped. His opportunity was gone, the Lieutenant ducked behind the barn, out of sight.
Baron sighed with disappointment, he was a little unhappy about missing his chance to drop an officer but it didn't matter. He moved his crosshairs over the head of a squad Sergeant instead and went through the process again to line the shot up.
*
Jack ducked behind the barn, slamming up against the wall and taking cover. Unknowingly just saving his own life only by a fraction of a second.
The support team consisting of the heavy machine gunner, his assistant gunner, the ammo mule and the 3 riflemen are all carrying different pieces that belong to the heavy Browning .50 caliber machine gun.
The gun itself when fully assembled roughly weighs sixty pounds, and adding to that. All the gear they're carrying is an extra one-hundred-pound burden to carry. It'd be quite a pain to lug the weapon around by yourself, so the team each has a piece of the .50 cal for weight distribution.
The point man in the fire team carefully pushed the barn door opened before he went in, followed by his buddies and the other support team that's handling the anti-tank duty.
Sighing a little, Jack diverted his attention away from the squad and to one of the squad Sergeants instead as he carefully crossed the road to report in.
Once he neared, the Sergeant spoke out "Alright sir, the area looks-"
There was a loud, echoing crackle from a nearby rifle and immediately before anyone could know what had happened, a second shot rang out.
The first bullet smashed into the Sergeant's head, making its entrance wound from the left and exiting to the right, sending bits of the brain and blood with it.
The wide, stunned eyes on the Sergeant stayed open as the body slumped forward, collapsing to the ground.
A bloody mess began to spill from the exit wound as the blood pooled, and Jack forced himself to tear his eyes off of the sight.
"Sniper! Keep your fucking heads down!"
"Someone check Kelly!"
"No stay down damn it, those lousy kraut bastards shot him, he's dead!"
"Did anyone see where he fired from!?" Another voice yelled out in the rising commotion.
"Everyone stay in cover, and Don! Radio Sergeant Henderson's squad, tell them to find cover and hunker down where ever they are. I don't want them getting ambushed by god knows what, because for all we know, there could be more or even mines planted near the snipers nest!" Jack thundered across the street to his command squad's radioman.
Don looked up when he heard his Lieutenant and he acknowledged Jack by a sharp nod before he slipped his radio off like a backpack, then he began adjusting the radio frequency for Henderson's squad.
Meanwhile, Baron was carefully scanning the barn and surrounding area around the bridge for helmets or limbs to shoot at.
His main focus was drawn towards the stone wall, where he suspected most of them to be hiding, and he wasn't wrong either.
A private was sitting up against the stone wall, taking shelter behind it. He was trying to hide his fear from death's confrontation since he nearly got shot by the second shot.
He was doing his best to hide his obvious emotions, but another crackle from the rifle sounded and a split second later. The lad's head snapped forward before he cried out in pain.
"Medic!" A few voices shouted out in surprise, they weren't expecting the person so close to them to get drilled.
Miraculously the private survived, it was a graze wound that barely made it a fatality. It was deep, but it wasn't deep enough to kill him either.
Once the core-man kneeled down next to the whimpering private, he immediately got the helmet off and examined the head injury before getting to work.
The platoon was pinned, there was a threat hidden out there that was close, yet it seemed so far away and they didn't have a single clue about where it could possibly be coming from.
*
Baron lined up his next shot on someone's head, but when he pulled the trigger, the Kar clicked, empty.
"Reloading start firing Aaron," Baron whispered, he then kneeled down in his spider hole to begin reloading the 5 rounds that can go into the rifle.
Aaron was looking for targets now and something bright reflected against a shiny object down near the bridge, momentarily blinding Aaron, forcing his eyes shut.
The last thing Aaron had seen when he opened his eyes was a muzzle flash before the American sharpshooter's bullet flew straight and true.
He didn't even have time to blink before the bullet smashed into his temple, just above the eyebrow.
His head snapped violently backward as the bullet made its exit wound out the back, sending the young man's brains and blood splattering against the inclined hill behind him.
The bush was stained red with blood as Aaron's body slumped against the wall, before sliding down and coming to a sitting position.
Baron was shocked when he stood back up to see what had happened, he wasn't expecting them to return fire...
Anger rapidly replaced Baron's sorrow, and with it, a rising storm seeking revenge.
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand before sucking in a deep breath and leaning forward to take aim once more, he was going to shoot the son of a bitch that shot the young man.
*
That's the chapter everyone, hope you all enjoyed it!
Quick two translations then!
Oberleutnant- 1st Lieutenant
Scharfschütze- Sharpshooter
*
That's about it for this week, I don't have anything to say really...
But in any case, as I've said, hope you enjoyed the chapter, also. What do you all think about the new characters so far? What do you think about the old and what they've earned as well?
Don't forget to bayonet that vote button, and I'll see yall in next week's update! :)