Second Chance War - 30 MCN

The devastation wrought by the cannon salvo from the offshore flotilla was unimaginable to anyone, not even Thomas could guess what would have happened. He did not know what caliber of gun they used, but normal five-inch guns would never be able to deal this kind of damage by themselves. Even though e had deployed only two red smoke and given the coordinates, the naval barrage had decimated all three bunkers, two were directly hit by the twenty-inch guns, they were just pieces of dirt, concrete, and blood now. The impact from the twenty-inch guns and all of the other artillery shook the third bunker apart, it was crumbling and Germans were still walking out of it dazed.

The rest of the company moved forward and started taking prisoners, no one was going to shoot these obviously demoralized soldiers, some of them even looked like teenagers and probably were. Many of the Germans were falling to their knees or on their butts, they’d completely lost it, the shock of how brutal that strike was too any fight out of them, they were left with no will to fight. Others upon seeing their comrades give up also surrendered, they put down their guns and got to their knees. Thomas left ten men of the now thirty-five man company, it was a tough decision, but he couldn’t let these Germans gain their morale back in any way and he didn’t want to shoot them in cold blood after they had surrendered, that was not the American way.

Thomas ducked into the central bunker, it was the only one left standing after the naval barrage, the doorway was only half intact, the top portion was caved in with a lot of rubble. He moved through the bunker swiftly, there were a lot of dead bodies, they looked intact, mostly just blood trickling from the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Indications of severe internal injuries, most definitely the result of getting directly hit with artillery, the concussive force behind that is massive enough to do the job. Thomas was specifically looking for intelligence, as this bunker was the largest they had come across so far, it would be weird if they didn’t have any here.

He didn’t find anything, most of it was already burned or buried under too much rubble to even begin dealing with, he did find a new gun to replace the MP-40 he picked up. He found a German SVT-40, a German semi-automatic on par with the American M1 Carbine, he also found a few magazines to go with it. He checked the breech on the SVT-40 to make sure it wasn’t jammed or otherwise because of the strike, he found it to be in working order. He made one last check around the bunker to make sure he did not miss anything of value, he was about to leave when he saw a German officer lying dead upon the floor. His insignia labeled him as a Hauptmann or German Captain, but usually they stayed back behind the lines, what was he doing here, in the middle of the battlefield? This was not a question he could answer, best inform command and leave it up to them.

Thomas left the bunker and waved over the radioman before relaying what he had found to command, they were grateful for the information and would send a team of engineers to clear the rubble away and see what they could find after Monte Cassino had been taken. Thomas waved what remained of the company over, they were twenty-five in all now that they had to leave ten to guard. They still had the other half of the ridge line to take, no telling what the naval barrage did to the rest of the ridge.

They moved on to the next bunker and they took it out much like the first two, under the cover of smoke and with a lot of gusto. Thomas did not find any German intelligence or plans inside that bunker either, though he did find a very nice and custom detailed Kar98 rifle, it even had an attached scope for sniping. Soon they reached the next set of guns, which were heavily defended.

German artillery crews frantically reloaded and fired the Pak-38 they were crewing. Spent shells ejected from the field gun at the same rate it takes the standard soldier to reload their weapons. Each crew was protected by no less than ten German elites, the best of the best. They mostly wielded MP-40s or Gewehr-38 semi automatic rifles. As soon as Thomas rounded the corner, they started shooting, their shots going wide most of the time, but the intended effect was achieved, they forced Thomas back.

Amidst the hail of gunfire that screamed through the air, Thomas ducked back around the corner, but not before he took a shot to the shoulder again, this time it bounced off the bone and stayed lodged inside. Thomas grunted, the pain wasn’t that great to him, he literally almost died just a week ago, his injuries then we’re more severe. He pulled a small compress out of one of the tactical pockets on his uniform and a small packet of sterilizing powder. He tore off the part of his shirt where he got shot and doused it with the sterilizing powder, which he then applied water from his canteen to. It stung like hell, but it was better than taking a bullet to the neck or the face. He stuck the compress on there and held it down until it stuck on his own, he didn’t have time to do a full bandaging like it should get.

Thomas flexed his arm, it hurt a quite a bit, but the pain was tolerable, he probably broke the bone, which isn’t really a major issue as far as he is concerned. Then he pulled out one of the German “Potato Mashers”, he had already memorized the positions of the German soldiers and it was time to return the favor. He pulled the detenator on the grenade before lobbing it over the trench wall. A nice resounding explosion followed by a small rain of dirt accompanied by the pained screams and howls of the German defenders. Thomas quickly pivoted around the corner with his rifle at the ready, and out of reflex he shot the two dazed Germans who were still standing.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The last shot had just barely echoed out of his gun when the Germans fell over lifelessly. The other Germans who were still alive were missing limbs and bleeding all over the ground, pain etched into their faces looking for sweet relief. Thomas wasn’t without mercy and compassion or respect, he calmly walked up to each German and shot them in the head while looking them in the eyes. Although they were enemies, they were also men, most likely men who didn’t ask to be involved in this war, and still deserving of the respect and dignity afforded men. Thomas then turned his attention to the Germans crewing the Pak-38 who were now scrambling for their weapons, he shot each of them in the chest while they were still trying to pull out their sidearms. Their blood splattered against the Pak-38, staining the matte green cannon with a red hue.

With all of the soldiers dealt with, Thomas walked up toPak-38 and looked out over the ridge, he had a nice view of the other ridge. He could see the streams of MG fire coming from that ridge, raining down fury and vengeance on the allied force below. He smiled, it was time to give them a taste of their own medicine.