“Sir, you’re not going to believe this,” exclaimed Chard.
Harris nodded, providing backup to the impossible situation the two men had recently found themselves in.
“Speak up man, what did you find?” ordered an exasperated Lieutenant Harvey.
“Well Sir, we examined the convoy and as expected, the vehicles were abandoned.
One is still on fire, the rest look abandoned, not sure if they still work.
We would have looked further…but”
“But what?” intervened Sergeant Smith.
Harris stepped up, adding to Chard’s description, “Well, we found bodies…lots of bodies.”
“So they must have been hit by the rest of our unit then,” said a satisfied Harvey before he was interrupted by Chard.
“No, Sir.
The men weren’t shot, they were attacked by some kind of animal.”
Harvey and Smith both looked unimpressed.
Smith spoke first.
“What do you mean some kind of animal?
There must have been thirty plus men there, all armed and all ready for a fight.”
Harris carried on.
“You’re right, we found them, at least thirty bodies, all mutilated and still bleeding.
Some of them had their throats torn out, it was…” Harris bent over and vomited on the grass.
Smith thought for a moment and then turned to Harvey, offering his suggestion.
“I don’t know what’s going on Sir, but I can tell you it’s something we need to keep well away from.
We don’t have time to mess around any longer, we need to get to the bridge and fast.”
Lieutenant Harvey nodded in agreement, “Yes, we can’t stay here and we need to get to the rendezvous, pronto.
Put out scouts and let’s get going.”
Smith saluted and moved to the men at the glider.
He pulled his Sten gun to the side, making it easier to move and headed directly to where Chard and Trent were standing.
As he approached Trent stopped speaking and turned to the sergeant.
“Right, you know the drill.
You two, you’re on point.
Get the rest formed up.
We need to get the rendezvous and fast.”
The two men split up, passing on Smith’s orders.
Within seconds the unit was loaded up and already moving off in a column, running parallel with the convoy and road, but keeping at a safe distance from the previous ambush.
Two of the soldiers finished their preparations and set the remains of the glider alight, ensuring any equipment the depleted unit couldn’t carry would not fall into the enemy’s hands.
The only thing left to do was to leave a few surprises for Jerry.
This was a task that Lance Sergeant Jones was finishing with a great deal of relish.
What better way to use up the surplus weaponry they couldn’t carry than to use it against any following Germans?
The British Airborne soldiers advanced along the riverbank, the battle at the AA emplacement and the butchered German convoy now well and truly out of sight.
The depleted unit, thought suffering from their unfortunate losses in both the glider crash and battle, was still in high spirits.
They had been training for many months for the opening of the Second Front and every man knew they needed to get to the bridge and to their mission objective.
Failure to reach their allotted position would both adversely affect the outcome of the initial landings and also leave their unit alone and dangerously exposed.
A short distance ahead of the column Chard and Trent were on point, followed by Sergeant Smith and seven men carrying a mixture of Sten and Enfield rifles.
Lieutenant Harvey and three more soldiers brought up the rear.
This last party also carried the unit’s heavier weapons including the two inch mortar and the Bren gun.
On top of their standard kit several of the men also carried captured German weapons, though the one being talked about the most was the Panzerfaust being carried by Archer.
This unusual weapon was a recoilless German support weapon.
Unlike the other weapons carried by the paratroopers, this one consisted of a small, disposable preloaded launch tube firing a high explosive anti-tank warhead.
Once used it could be thrown away.
He appeared very pleased with his find.
“Why did you grab that thing?” asked Gardner.
“They had plenty of other weapons we could use.”
“I don’t need other weapons, I’ve got me Bren and now I’ve got me launcher,” laughed Archer.
“But what the hell are you going to use it against?” added Private Gardner.
“When I see Jerry, I’ll show you what,” Archer answered sarcastically.
They continued their cautious but steady march, each man checking his flank for anything suspicious.
Lieutenant Harvey inspected his map to double-check on their progress.
They had landed too far behind their original landing zone.
In the original position they would be too far behind enemy lines to be linked up to the ground forces due to arrive by landing craft later that day.
From what he could see they were roughly six miles away from the bridge and their chance to get back into the fight proper.
It was further than he’d hoped but at least they could possibly be there within two hours, even at this slower rate in the night.
It was absolutely critical that they regroup with the rest of their forces at the bridge sites.
The Lieutenant was looked agitated, not helped by the briefing he’d attended just hours before, prior to leaving England.
All the senior officers had been shown their various objectives and Harvey had been told, in no uncertain terms, that the safety of the Allied ground forces was in his hands.
If he did not take his bridge objectives on time they could quite well find their beachhead contained and possibly even be forced back to the sea.
Lieutenant Harvey turned to Smith.
“Sergeant, can we quicken the pace?
We need to get there faster if we’re going to achieve our objectives.”
Without stopping Smith explained whilst trying to not sound disrespectful.
“We’re going as fast as we can without exposing ourselves to the enemy, Sir.
By going this way we’re taking a direct route.
Any quicker and we could easily walk into a trap, and in this light we wouldn’t see them until we were right on top of them.”
They continued moving.
Smith thought to himself about the training incident with the Lieutenant back in England and shuddered at the thought of what could happen.
The idea of marching at full speed into an armed unit of German soldiers was something he would like to avoid at any cost.
He muttered under his breath.
* * *
Above the landing zones the drone of aircraft could be heard.
Though the residents of France might be used to fighters and bombers circling over their skies, these aircraft were different.
The 6th of June heralded the start of the massive campaign involving aircraft of all shapes and sizes.
Right now these were waves of Douglas C-47 Skytrain military transport aircraft, also known by the British as the Dakota.
These reliable aircraft delivered their cargos of paratroopers and equipment to other units across the drop zones throughout occupied Europe.
The impressive aircraft had originally been built as passenger and cargo transport planes but their great range, durability and payload capacity made them ideal for use as a military transport.
The C-47 differed from the civilian DC-3 in being fitted with a cargo door and strengthened floor.
Alongside these aircraft were additional heavy bombers pulling more gliders, bringing in the extra waves of elite paratroopers from many Allied nations to participate in the first few hours of the invasion of Europe.
One group in particular carried members of the elite, 101st Airborne Division, the United States premier unit of airborne infantry, also known as the Screaming Eagles.
This would be their first ever action in enemy territory and every one of them was ready to make his mark.
* * *
The British soldiers were forced to make a detour a short distance away from the river due to the rough terrain.
Even though it was now far from the water Sergeant Smith and Jones made sure that they kept sight of the riverbank to their right.
Both knew how easy it was to drift away from a particular route, especially when it was this dark.
They were now about a hundred yards parallel with the water and making their way through a lightly wooded area.
As they reached the centre their visibility was cut drastically, luckily the sound of the river to their flanks kept them on track.
Upon reaching the tree line the unit spread out, each man keeping low and watching the open ground for signs of movement.
There was nothing other than the occasional sound of aircraft overhead that would be the bombers and C-47 transports bringing the reinforcements.
In the distance about three hundred yards out into the open was a small wooded area and what looked like an outbuilding, perhaps a storage area for farm equipment or animal feed.
Between the river and the building was a rough ridge, quite shallow but tall enough for a man to keep hidden if he kept himself very low.
The ground all around this area was open apart from the side facing the river with the low ridge.
“Why are we waiting Sergeant?
It looks clear to me,” asked the Lieutenant.
Sergeant Smith was stood next to a tree, carefully searching the skyline for any useful information.
Something caught his eye and the officer tried to follow his gaze.
After a few seconds he gave up, seeing nothing but dark shapes in the distance.
Smith, noticing the growing frustration of the Lieutenant, turned to him.
“Look , Sir,”
he pointed to the outbuilding.
The Lieutenant looked out towards a small number of trees with some kind of structure nearby.
“Yes, I see the building, what of it?” said an exasperated Harvey.
“Look in front of the building, see the open area, next to the barrels,” added Sergeant Smith.
Lieutenant Harvey was starting to look angry at the forced lecture from a mere sergeant.
There was no sign of movement, no vehicles and no obvious threat.
He looked for a few more seconds, eventually spotting something small in the direction Smith had pointed out.
“Ok, a dark object.
I still don’t see why we have stopped.”
“Look again, to the side of the shape,” whispered Smith.
Harvey looked again; it looked like a there was something moving next to the shape.
The movement betrayed it as some light fabric due to the way it blew freely in the wind.
As it moved it was clear that the fabric was attached to the dark object on the ground.
“A parachute,” Harvey finally replied.
Smith looked wearily as he rechecked the skyline.
“The question is though, what is on the end of it, a man or equipment?
If it’s the latter then we can make use of the supplies, if it is a man though we have a problem.”
“I agree,” said Harvey, “if we have a dead man on the ground it could mean this area is compromised.”
Stepping back into the darkness of the trees, Harvey continued.
“Send a group to check the parachute, I’ll stay here with the rest in case they need assistance.”
Smith nodded, trying to hide his look of contempt for the Lieutenant.
Smith checked his gear, making sure his Sten was in place and ready to be used.
He then moved to the others in the group and signalled to Corporals Chard and Humphreys as well as Private Gardner.
The small group of men gathered around him.
“Right, it looks like we might have a man down, out near the building,” he pointed to the location.
“I want you three to scout ahead and check the area.
We need to know more. Don’t touch anything and if you see anything you don’t like get back here.”
“Where will you be, Sarge?” asked Chard.
“I’ll be taking Trent and move in along the ridge near the river,” Smith’s hand traced the outline of the ridge.
“We’ll be watching your right flank, if you get into trouble make sure you watch us to your right and the Lieutenant behind you.”
“The Lieutenant is watching the rear, huh?” said Chard sardonically.
“Watch that, Corporal!” barked Sergeant Smith.
“Sorry, Sarge,” he replied, looking downwards sheepishly.
Smith continued, “We’ll move out at the same time, ready?”
The men nodded.
Each man checked his weapon and gear to ensure they were completely ready for whatever lay ahead.
There was nothing worse than being surprised only to find your weapon unloaded or inaccessible.
With the men set to go they moved to the edge of the woodland.
Smith turned to Harvey, checking he was ready.
The Lieutenant nodded.
Sergeant Smith and Private Trent moved off at a pace.
Both men kept low and rushed for the ridge to the right of their position.
Smith carried his Sten submachine gun whilst Trent still carried the units Enfield No.4T sniper rifle.
As soon as the men were about halfway to the ridge the second group moved forwards towards the building and the parachute.
This group carried Stens and Enfield bolt-action rifles, a good mixture for facing off against all manner of enemies at both close or long range.