This is War [ONC 2021] // Honourable Mention

Chapter Twenty-Three - Daniel

"The role of Sergeant suits you," George said when Daniel peeled off from the meeting.

"Try telling that to the toffs, they think of me as a Temporary Gentleman, as though I didn't earn the position," Daniel said.

"You deserve it more than them, at least you proved you're good in a leadership role."

Daniel laughed and shouldered his rifle. After a year in the trench, the promotions were welcomed but he thought he suited the role of a Sergeant more than a Corporal. A Sergeant had a little more responsibility, although Lieutenant would be his next step up; he liked the idea of having men working under him. Still, a promotion was a promotion and he worked hard to be recognised as someone more than just a farm boy whose only use was lugging sandbags through the trench.

Since returning from leave, Daniel had thrown himself into every battle they fought to prove himself to Captain Brooks and the other officers that he should get that promotion. He also wanted to stick to the promise he had made when he was on leave and so far, every German he had come across he had shot. There was one in particular that Daniel had been looking out for. The man who had handed over Tommy's identity disc and family photographs.

At first, he thought the man had done it because it was the right thing for him to do, but as time wore on, he started to realise there may have been another reason. Guilt. By handing it over, the soldier that killed Tommy would be able to alleviate some of the guilt he faced for shooting a man who had simply wandered too far. Daniel thought that he didn't deserve to live without guilt and was determined to find the man and make him pay. He had directly killed Tommy and indirectly killed Arthur. Two of his friends' deaths were attributed to one man.

On the battlefield, Daniel had turned into an animal, shooting any enemy he came across, but he could barely remember any of it. George had told him just how he behaved and Daniel couldn't believe that he could act that way without remembering. When he signed up, he never thought of himself acting like that, enjoying the killing of other men, but war changes people and he knew that.

"How many of us do you think are left? From the original training group?" George asked as they walked through the trench. There would be no battle that day and the men had been told to relax before the next push.

"Not many. Most of the people from our Battalion I've never seen before now. Some were taken off the line for injuries and came back. I think Bishop got hit twice."

"And then there's us; never been hit in over a year."

"Wilson said that and then he got his leg blown off," Henry said, jogging to catch up with them.

"Where did you come from?"

"Patrol. They wanted us to scout a little further forward, see if we can find out what the Huns are up to. I went with Murray."

"Did you find anything?"

Henry nodded. "They're gearing up for an assault on our position, but we don't know when. Captain Brooks wants us to go in first and get them before they're fully prepared. I'm not sure if we'll get the same support we've had in the past, they want us to go in unnoticed."

"Go in unnoticed, or get annihilated when they see us coming?"

Every time they had gone out onto the battlefield in hopes of pushing the Germans back further, they had gone with some form of cover. Artillery or machine-gun fire to distract the Germans whilst they went around in the hope of surprising them. Daniel knew that going in without that sort of cover might end up being a death sentence for them all if they got caught. One man making the slightest noise and they'd be gunned down before they had a chance to react.

When they reached the dugout, Daniel pulled out the sheets of paper he usually used to write home to try and draw up a plan for going in without the artillery support. Although Henry may have made it undetected, there would be more of them and that would be a lot harder to conceal than two people. Support would help them to conceal their movement, but they had done it so many times in the past that the Germans were probably clued into it.

On his paper, Daniel drew two lines to represent the different trenches along with an X to mark where they planned on attacking. As a Sergeant, he had to do whatever he could to protect his men and ended up going into the last battle first. He needed to figure out a way to get his men into the German trenches relatively unharmed, a way he could present to the Captain to prove himself that much more.

"If we won't have the artillery support, we could go around," Daniel said, thinking out loud.

"Go around? The trench is one long line." George pulled a face.

"Not like that. We set up two bases of fire further down the line to draw the Germans down the trench, leaving behind a machine gunner and maybe some privates for covering fire. We can then minimise the casualties without alerting to a full-frontal attack by using the artillery. If we drop mortars on their position, they know that we're coming and they'll be prepared. Draw them away from the target location, we have more chances of success."

"That could work, we'll have to make sure they've been drawn away, though," Henry added.

"We send in some scouts. They can grenade the remaining privates and alert the rest of us that the trench is clear."

"Sounds like a good plan. Go and find Captain Brooks, that's a better idea then us charging at them all guns blazing and getting shot to pieces in seconds."

Daniel nodded and tucked the piece of paper into his pocket. He grabbed his rifle, just in case, and left the dugout with an idea in mind and conviction that it would work as planned.

~~~

First Published - February 27th, 2021