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MARINES: Operation 2 (part 2)
Posted By: Matt Anderson<RaptorV22@hotmail.com>
Date: 13 March 2003, 7:44 PM


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MARINES

Operation 2: Feet First into Hell (part 2)

Jim held up his hand, telling paren to stop. They crawled under the shelter of a twisted oak tree. In front of them, a flak turret's barrels flashed into the sky. Jim leaned over and whispered to Paren. "Wait until they reload..." After a moment, the firing stopped, and shadowed figures ran about, handing each other shells and reloading. They shouted in what sounded like polish. Jim crept into the woods, nearby.

"Aren't you D company?" Paren shook his head. "Able, sir... Guess that means one of us is in the wrong drop zone. Sir." "Yeah. Or both of us..." They continued walking, quietly, in case any Symp soldiers were nearby. The booming of flak, and pelican engines was constantly overhead. "Do you have a weapon, sir?" Jim shook his head. "No. Just my knife." "Do you have any idea where we are, sir?" Jim stopped, looked around. "Stop..." Paren caught up, breathing heavily. Jim continued to look around.

"So you're a radio man?"
"Yes sir. Well I was until I lost my radio on the jump... I'm sure I'll get chewed out for that."
"I'll see if I can get you a new one. First, I need your help... We'll need some landmarks to get our bearings. Keep your eyes out for buildings. Foreign houses. Bridges, roads... Trees..." They both laughed nervously, the irony being that they were in a forest.

"I wonder if the others are as lost as we are," Paren wondered.
"We're not lost, Private. We're in Normandy."

They found a road, and walked along it for a ways. Jim slowed, then dashed behind a tree. In front of them was a river, on the other side figures moved through the underbrush. He pulled out a clicker- a small metal device that made a click similar to a frog- and prssed it a few times. A couple of marines splashed out into the river. "Whos that.... Lieutenant Morris?" Jim stood, and ran over to meet them. Three more marines splashed out and followed from the trees. They ran to dry land and huddled together. Jim looked at them. "You guys got a weapon?" they shook their heads. One trooper said, "No, sir. I lost my leg bag as soon as jumped. All I got is this knife and some TNT." He pointed to a marine next to him. "This is 82nd boy scout Jerry Mundo." Paren shook his head. "Man... 82nd? Where the hell are we?"

Jim pulled out a map, and looked at it. "We're about seven kilometers away from our next objective. Only four hours away from when we need to have it secured. So. We got a lotta walking ahead of us. You men will stick with us until we find you a unit. Lets go."

They walked for a few minutes, along an old railroad they found. "I didn't here about any railroad in our objective..." one marine complained. Another assured him, "I'm telling ya, this is the spur line that runs parallel to the river. We should be coming up to a road and bridge ahead." "Yeah? How would you know." "Cause I studied the sand tails, Alright?" Jim help up his hand, and the troopers kneeled. Again the trooper complained, "It's probly a frickin' train or something-" "Shh...." Jim whispered, "Flash." Behind them came a series of, "Thunder!" A group of marines stumbled out of the forest. "hey sir, that you?" Jim walked up, the rest of the troopers stood up and sighed relief. Troopers nodded as they went past, greeting each other. Jim stopped one. "Garner?" "Yeah, sir?" "You and Paren up front." "Who the hell is Paren?" Garner walked past to the front.

They continued walking a little ways. Again, Jim held up his hand, and he crouched and ran to an opening overlooking a road. Shortly he ran back, and signaled to the rest. "Lantern, Go! Garner, Go!" the troopers took up position along side the road, hiding in the brush. Soon they heard the sound of soldiers walking towards them, talking loudly. The troopers steadied their guns. Jim nodded to a trooper, who in turn changed position to cover their flank. Garner ran his finger over his trigger nervously. Jim noticed, and whispered, "Wait for my command." The soldiers came closer, their language was either polish or German. Jim held up his hand, telling them again to wait.

As they go almost parallel to the troopers, Garner jumped up and sprayed rounds into the soldiers, who screamed In terror, surprise, and pain. Jim covered his ears, and glared at Garner. The rest of the troopers sprang out and fired their weapons into the group, who continued to scream out in terror and pain. One stopped, raised his hands in surrender, and yelled out, but was quickly shot down. A few of them tried to return fire, but resistance was hopeless. A soldier trying to run away was shot in the back of the helmet and in the back, red mist sprayed out on contact.

Soon the screaming quieted and died, Jim ran over and grabbed Garner, who was still firing. "Garner, that's enough!" The two stared at each other for a minute. Finally Jim yelled to the others, without taking his eyes off Garner, "Everyone okay?" the troopers murmured affirmatives. Jim continued to glare at Garner. "Nest time I say wait for my command, you wait for my command, sergeant!" Garner muttered a forced, "Yes sir..." Jim walked off, and the others started to follow. "Alright, lets move out! Quietly." they followed Jim and Paren's lead, a couple of troopers nudging dead Symp soldiers with their feet.

At dawn, they came across a small battle zone. Fighting had finished. Before them was a shelled-out farmhouse, still on fire. A wrecked car was nearby. They walked closer, and saw a dead trooper hanging from a tree. His parachute had gotten caught on a branch and strangled him. Across the field a few cattle grazed. Dead paratroopers were all around. Obviously they had landed in the middle of a group of Symp soldiers. They stopped, and looked around. Jim walked over and kneeled next to a dead soldier, checking his pockets. "Anyone need supplies or ammo, now's the time to get it."

The troopers walked around the bodies, grabbing guns, ammo, water, anything they could. One stayed behind. "McDowell, you okay?" the trooper that stayed behind looked over at Jim. "Yes sir." "Well lets go." the trooper walked over and grabbed some ammo. One trooper kneeled by a symp soldier. "Hey I promised my kid brother I'd fetch him back an M6D pistol, so I got first dibs ok? Check that one..." The scream of an artillary shell flew overhead. Jim stood up. "it's the navy..." "The landings have started, lets go." "Move it out!" a marine checked his watch. "Right on time..." Garner pointed to a dead trooper. "Yeah? Tell that to him, cowboy." "My named Paren." "That so?" "Move it out..."

They walked a little ways along a dirt road, the artillery became a more constant sound now. They passed a group of captured symps, a few troopers stood guard. Jim addressed the ranking officer. "Good morning." "Good morning, sir. The townies sure will be happy to see you guys." "Where?" "At the farm shed." the troopers laughed at the symps as they passed them. "Top of the morning to ya fellows, enjoying the war?" the troopers laughed, and continued on their way.

Before long they come upon a small village, troopers covered the streets talking. Most of the companies were here. Jim saw a group of his soldiers. "Hey!" "Hey, Charlie company!" the troopers all greeted each other. Glad to see there hadn't been any casualties. "Hey, this here's Paren, Able company." "we know him as cowboy." "You from Texas?" Paren shook his head. "Manhattan."

Jim wandered around. "Lieutenant Morris!" Jim looked and saw Ryan, he walked over. "What's going on?" "What's the hold up?" Ryan asked. "Not sure." marines walked passed. "Its good to see you, Jim." "You too, Ryan. What's the situation?" "Well, not good. Nine percent of our men are still unaccounted for." "Lieutenant Mennen?" "No ones seen him. Or anyone from his Pelican." Jim looked down. Ryan continued to speak. "You know if he's missing, wouldn't that put you in line to be the next commander of Charlie?" Jim nodded, tired. "Hello, Lieutenant Moore." a man walked up, shook hands with Jim. "How many men of Dog Company have you got assembled?" Moore shook his head. "Handful. Maybe Twenty." "And you're the only officer that made it?" Moore nodded. "So far. Still waiting for orders." he turned to Ryan. "You got some cigarettes?" "Yeah." Ryan pulled out a pack and gave it to Moore, who walked off. "Hey, keep the pack!"

A trooper ran through the crowds of soldiers. "Charlie company? Charlie? Hey any of these guys know where Charlie company is?" he spotted Ryan. "You seen Lieutenant Mennen?" "No, not yet..." "well Straighter wants Charlie company's CO up front." the trooper walked off. "Well I guess that's you, Jim." Ryan said. Jim got up, and walked in the direction the trooper was headed.





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