Genesis: the Beginning and the End | Band of Brothers

【Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ６ － Ｃａｒｅｎｔａｎ】

Chapter 6 - Carentan

Someone was sent ahead. And eventually they all got going again.

Stern words were definitely had, but no one heard what Winters said. Not that anyone really wanted to know what was said, they were too busy fending off mosquitos whilst keeping quiet themselves.

Because of the... delays, it was not until nearly midday that they reached their destination. Or rather, could see it.

Carentan.

Intelligence didn't have much, and Genesis didn't know anything that hadn't already been said...actually, before discussions began, she knew less than what they'd said. However the advantage she had was that she knew, roughly, the topography of the surrounding area.

The next day and a bit were spent scouting Carentan, trying to work out what was there and find a suitable route for Easy Company to enter through. The other companies scattered to patrol the surrounding areas, and would warn of incoming back up. At least that was what it sounded like.

That evening it was decided that the assault on Carentan would begin tomorrow, D-Day plus 6, in the morning. Under the cover of darkness, Easy Company got into position, and so did Able, Dog and Fox to provide back up if needed, and if it wasn't they would enter Carentan from the North and West a little while later.

Florence spent the night with Easy Company, in ditches on either side of the road heading into the East of Carentan. None seemed too happy about the ditches, but she could not care less. She'd practically lived in ditches for a while. And this was one of the better ones, not overgrown with sharp brambles or dog rose bushes, not damp, certainly not cold.

D-Day plus 6 dawned, and the sky was clear and blue. Pretty, one might even say. The kind of blue you'd imagine seeing swallows flying high in. But all birds had been scared away.

Soon.

Soon it would begin.

This was something she had never experienced before. Even with all the training under her belt, Florence had never been in an actual combat situation, there would be no going back, no do-over if she messed up. And that scared a part of her. A part so deep down she'd almost forgotten its name.

Genesis didn't care. No. She never seemed to care about much, just getting the job done. Death would catch up eventually, it was a fact Genesis had always accepted.

And when the shouting started she would not hesitate, for she was a soldier now and to hesitate meant to die.

Men in front of her began to move, moving almost soundlessly along the road, up and over the crest of the hill. Cries went up not a second after machine guns were unloaded at them, only a few kept moving, the rest falling into the ditches either side of the gravel road in an attempt to get low. But Winters remained in the centre of it all, shouting for people to get going before resorting to practically kicking people up and onto the road.

2nd and 3rd Platoon went through the fields on either side of the road, coming into town where the guns couldn't see them. Florence didn't know which one she had followed, but she was there, peering round a corner at the Café de Normandie.

A grenade went off, then another. Then they were running from their cover to clear buildings.

"Guarnere! Clear that sector on the right!"

A name she recognised amidst the chaos.

She had received no orders, so she just followed after.

Orders were to clear buildings in twos. But Genesis was left alone,  no one wanted to put their trust in her, which was fine, she didn't want to have to rely on them either. So instead of kicking down doors to point two rifles into, she crept into houses with her two BHPs in hand, rifle strapped to her back. In hindsight, there was so much noise all about her she did not need to tiptoe. But any Nazis she did come across saw no sight nor sound of her as she executed them.