The War Down Stricken Lane

Chapter 3: Smelling the Cologne

Warning: This chapter has gore and blood in it... and vomit.

The forests were quiet, Theodore at this point was deep behind enemy lines. The 11 other men with him were scanning the the almost same looking trees... but using the map he had cologne was at least 15 miles ahead... he thought... a rumble started to sound "Shit! Get down!" Through the bushes in desperate areas did they cover... when a PZ IV rolled by right into one of the bushes... a blood curdling scream could be heard eventually it was drowned by the sound of blood in a man's mouth then quiet... luckily not loud enough for the tank crew to hear since they were pushing their engine to the max, as the tank passed the men went straight to the scene... as Theodore looked around it was a horrific sight... tracks of tank treads stained with blood... and in the bush was the crushed corpse of one of his men... bones crushed in and sticking out as well as organs and intestines from whatever wasn't crushed... he had time to scream so there was suffering... but soon the lungs must have been crushed, and filled the sinuses of that poor young soldier with blood... "Jesus Christ! Bill do you see this?" Bill put a hand on the colonel's shoulder... "yes sir... I-I do... h-holy-" Bill was having a hard time trying not to vomit... even Tandy struggled not to have any vile reaction... it was truly a horrific sight to see. another soldier couldn't help it vomiting in a nearby bush luckily out of sight... "Dear god... come on men... we need to keep moving... we'll come back to bury him properly some day..." all the men gladly moved on...

13 miles from Cologne they came across a road... and the tank division they had watched roll out... some of the tanks were still burning, but plenty others were now of twisted broken metal, the barrels of practically all of them were warped at the end, and penetration marks could be spotted on the sides, some weren't in the orientation to be going down the road showing there was time to show front armor. Around one of the Sherman's was a burnt out corpse... face couldn't be differentiated out of anything but a skull. It seemed as if the commander of the nearby tank jumped out burning and fell off snapping their neck judging by the inhuman turn of the neck too far from normal... "Sir, we found proof one of the crew members are alive. We found tracks leading away from one of the tanks." Theodore kneeling and studying the body looked up towards the man who made the observation, "We have some time to search, but not for too long. We have to get to cologne" they began a small church, and brought no leads... whoever this was they were likely captured... so Theodore decided to move on... "Alright boys... let's get a move on, kid was likely captured." However this wouldn't be the last time something came across their path.

Now the forest was quiet, they were 7 miles from the city, and were preparing themselves for the battle ahead after all there would be a battle to win. Theodore was busy walking them through it seemed too quiet... that changed as the rumbling engine of a tank rolled close, they hid in the bushes again however this time one of the men dropped their helmet... the tank commander was peering out of his Tiger H1, and spotted the helmet clear as day "Halt!! Sieht so aus, als wären die Amerikaner hier ... suchen Sie die Gegend ab!" The tank did not move away forcing Theodore to keep moving through the bushes... the tank followed closely despite not seeing them if sure acted like it did. One of the men whispers to the colonel, "Sir,.. we have to shake this tank." Theodore looked over eyebrows furrowed, "Oh you don't say." He whispered. They continued to move bush through bush. Suddenly one of the soldiers pricks himself on a thorn reacting loudly, but suddenly a louder sound of a machine gun rips through him... blood splattered onto another soldier... causing him to give away their position... it was time to run. Theodore yelled at all of his men "Go go!!! Start running!" each of them scrambled in different directions forcing the Tiger to choose... if it could even keep up.

The Tiger was far behind them... Tandy looks around... Theodore was nowhere to be found. Only bill followed near him. "Where's Theodore!?" Bill shook his head while sitting behind a bush half crouched he didn't know... he just pointed over somewhere and made a shushing action... when Tandy took a look it was a squad of German soldiers. Tandy lowered his voice "Shit. Hope they didn't see us." He got behind the bush next to Bill, then peeked out watching the unit as it made its way through the forest... suddenly someone jumps out at them, and attacks them. It was humanlike no wait it was human!! The Germans were quick to apprehend the soldier that jumped out. It was that American Tank Commander, the Germans spoke from afar "Nun, was haben wir hier?  ein kleiner Winzling-Amerikaner." Tandy retreated back to cover whispering to Bill, "We have to save him! We can't leave him to die!!" Bill was already preparing his rifle... Tandy's eyes dropped, "What? I'm gonna help him!" Tandy opened his mouth to speak, "Alright... just head over there and wait for them. I've got a plan in mind." Tandy began to navigate behind the enemy, pulling a grenade from his side... he made a motion at Bill who he could barely see in a bush nearby... it was about time to strike.

Theodore was barely awake in a bush... that run from the Tiger has him tired... and as old as he is... it does its toll. He was near another soldier, John. Who was trying to urge the Colonel on his feet... eventually Theodore brought himself up, in time to notice a sniper shot... "Shit get down! Sniper!" It was a sticky situation as another soldier joining up with them started to run up to them, Theodore tried to motion them to take cover, however the sniper was quick to dispatch this American soldier "Shit... kid's down..." he had no idea how he was gonna get out of this one... but a sudden obvious rumble started to grow louder, and he peeked at its loudest to see a Tiger tank barreling at them, diving to the ground nearby and narrowly avoiding a sniper shot, he started to flee from the Tiger getting separated from John. "God damn it!! I'm not worth this much trouble am I!?" He continued to run as Machine guns blazed around him... however he got distance from the sniper... "God damn it quit chasing me!" Suddenly the tank blows up behind him... served it right... and there stood Tandy... next to some sort of tank commander, "You're welcome sir!" The commander yelled, and Theodore came up and stared him in the eye, and yelled with all his anger "God damn it!! Do you know how loud that was! You'd be lucky if every god damn kraut in this forest doesn't know we're here!!!" Tandy of course didn't interrupt waiting for his commander to inform him, "Sir. There's no jerries now, but we should get moving... we have to get to cologne before sundown." The colonel looked and nodded, he picks up a radio and says some code. "All teams meet at Alpha bullpoint, mission area for rendezvous." And so they went .

Meeting near the forest it overlooked a vast trench-line... filled with German troops they had to find a way past... they took some time to survey it, Theodore looked amongst it with binoculars, "We won't make it by that... too many of em... artillery... tanks... Half tracks... it's impossible." However one of the men called out "Sir!! Come look at this!!!" Theodore rushed over, two Germans lay in a welter of gore... somehow untouched from any wild creatures. "Hmm... I have a plan... Tandy c'mere. Let's get these Kraut uniforms on. I have a plan" Tandy glared at Theodore... he wasn't happy with the situation, "Oh come on! It won't kill yah! And I'm gonna need your German skills." Tandy stared... "Fine... but as soon as we get by I'm burning that uniform..." Theodore nodded, and they hurried the uniforms on... "You ready?" Tandy looked over to Theodore. "Yes sir." And so they approached the line... their plan was to distract the enemy forces. A gun was pointed at them. "Was machst du hier draußen!?" Tandy spoke as fluently as possible "Wir waren auf Patrouille, als wir zurückkehrten, um darüber zu berichten." The German looked up at him "Das muss ich verneinen." Of course Tandy furrowed his eyebrows, and spoke defiantly. "Wenn Sie den Feldmarschall nicht bei sich haben wollen, würde ich vorschlagen, uns passieren zu lassen.  schließlich wäre er höchst unangenehm, wenn er sieht, dass wir feindliche Truppenbewegungen haben." The German looked with fear, his mouth opened wide, "In Ordnung, in Ordnung ... beweg dich!" Tandy and Theodore made their way towards the back of the line. "I didn't know you were that fluent" Theodore whispered making sure nobody else could hear. Tandy looked over and whispered back "Yeah... there's a lot more things that could surprise you." Moving into a building in the back that was holding fuel they planted charges... suddenly there were footsteps behind them. Theodore looked, and prepared... however it was that same young boy that he had tortured. His eyes widened in surprise, and it seemed the boy had recognized him as he looked surprised too, before his eyebrows furrowed... that tacky colonel was in trouble...