Steve Rogers went back to the past to reconnect with his true love, Peggy Carter. That's what everyone in 2023 thought. The truth is he went back to right a wrong, several of them in fact. He went back to save his friend, James Buchanan "Bucky" B...
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In early December, while most of the world prepared for Christmas, the Howling Commandos and the Phantom Patrol both started preparing in earnest for their first separate missions. For the Commandos the target was one of the HYDRA bases that Steve Rogers saw on the map in Arnim Zola's lab. Located west of the Maginot Line, the base was to be raided by the Commandos, a unit of soldiers and the French Resistance in a combined effort to rescue those who had been enslaved to work there and to make sure its destruction would be so thorough that nothing could be rebuilt. Steve and Bucky would also search for any intelligence on other HYDRA bases or labs prior to the base's destruction.
A new development in the missions was the use of the transformed pilots that had been rescued in Germany to fly a dedicated aircraft just for the two special squads and their associated teams. The General had liked the idea of having them available to pilot an aircraft once Steven Grant had passed on Grady's request to be involved. Grady and O'Neill were assigned to the Commandos, while Murphy and Costello were assigned to the Phantoms. Although they would stay with the aircraft they still received the same physical and tactical training as the others. Both Dr. Erskine and Dr. Waslewski were interested to see what regular training would do for the abilities of the four pilots. While they weren't as strong as Grant, Rogers, Barnes and Bradley, they were showing signs of being stronger than the average soldier.
The first mission for the Commandos was a rousing success. After landing at the airstrip, the Commandos and the accompanying army unit rendezvoused with the Resistance who had been observing the base. With the schedule of the guard changes known they took out the HYDRA soldiers who were patrolling the perimeter. Without anyone to hold them back or give up the alarm the combined group infiltrated the site with the Resistance entering the prisoner quarters to free the captive workers there, many of them locals forced into service. The army unit entered the smaller work floors engaging the single guards there and sending the workers from those areas out to the muster point where their already freed compatriots were. The Commandos entered the largest work floor, guarded by the largest contingent of HYDRA soldiers. With their guns blazing they took out the enemy as the workers there took cover.
While Bucky and Steve went on to the office area, easily dealing with any remaining enemy along the way, the others, under Dernier's direction, laid charges everywhere. When the two super soldiers found what they were looking for in the office, namely the locations of more HYDRA sites throughout Europe, Bucky stepped outside and fired a flare signalling that the charges could be set off. Together, he and Steve ran through the destruction before meeting their combined forces and the rescued workers at the muster point, safely away from the effects of the blasts. Satisfied that the base was completely destroyed the Resistance took the workers, first to rejoin their families, then to relocate them so they were safe from retaliation. The army unit and the Commandos returned to the waiting aircraft and were already over the English Channel before Johann Schmidt and Arnim Zola arrived at the charred remains of their base. By the time the evening editions of the English newspapers hit the London newsstands the exploits of the Howling Commandos were splashed across the front pages everywhere, detailing the exploits of the special team, led by Captain America.
