The Boy of Company B

[3] Creeping Barrage

My friends and I managed to survive a month of constant shelling and surprise gas attacks. We never experienced any sort of hand to hand combat until one cool, and gloomy day.
I woke up in the early hours of the morning and stared at the sky. It was cloudy and dark. Charlie had given us all pocket watches that he'd taken from the Germans. I took mine out of my breast pocket and checked it.
0600
I let out a long sigh and rubbed the back of my aching neck. To my left, Thomas and Will were sleeping, snoring profusely. I jabbed Will in the ribs to get him to shut up. He opened his eyes and sniffled.
"What the hell- oh, good morning," he said in a sleepy whisper.
"Can you snore any louder?" I bantered.
"Probably could," Will shrugged.
We both laughed.
"Watch this," said Will, turning to Thomas.
He wet his finger and violently shoved it into Thomas' ear.
"Oi, what the bloody hell!" Thomas shouted. He smacked William's hand and scolded him.
William and I laughed as Thomas ranted on, shaking his fist about and threatening to beat us.
"Keep it down, Tommies..." I heard Charlie grumble.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Nothin, but let a man sleep, will you?" He smirked.
I nodded and gave him a smile.
Tommies, huh? He's a 'Tommy' just like us, I thought.
"Ay, get your stuff, we're going over the top," said our Sergeant, Ronald Smith.
I looked at Thomas, and then William. They both showed signs of excitement on their faces.
"Yes, sir," I said with a wide grin.
Charlie poked Finn and Lewis awake, the two grumbled and cursed in a sleepy haze.
"We're going over, get up," Charlie ordered.
"Five more minutes..." Lewis pleaded.
"I'll drag you lot out of the trench, up!"
"Alright, alright!" Finn said.
The pair sat up rubbed their eyes, put their helmets on, and gathered their things.
Sergeant Smith led us to a line of soldiers waiting to run over. The butt of their guns were dug into the side of the trench to steady themselves. They hunched down low and dodged each piece of flying shrapnel. The sergeant blew his whistle and the men were off. Immediately two were sent flying back into the trench. One was missing his arm and the other his head.
The lad with the missing arm cried out in fear and pain. He pleaded for his mother as two medics rushed to his aid and placed him on a stretcher. His screams continued as the medics took him away. I stood watching the horrific event play out. William let out a sudden muffled cry. I spun around and found that the fellow without a head was lying dead at his feet. William looked at me, his face pale and his eyes wide.
"I think I'm gonna be sick," he said.
"Do not throw up on me!" Thomas instructed.
Will took a deep breath and cautiously stepped away from the dead man. Charlie placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded reassuringly.
"You okay?" He asked.
"I'll be alright, I'm sure of it," Will responded.
Smith spoke up, his voice booming in the air.
"Right, lads, when I blow my whistle, you go over. Do we understand?"
"Yes sir!" We shouted.
Smith turned and perched his foot on the side of the trench, right hand held high in the air wielding a Webley. We lined up on the dirt, getting into a steady position with our guns loaded and ready to go.
My heart raced furiously as I peered over the trench. I couldn't see much other than dirt. Sergeant Smith blew the whistle and we took off, flying over the trench and into No Mans Land.
Jesus Christ.
It was a grisly sight. Men were sprawled out everywhere in the thick mud, limbs were lying all about, about three men were tangled into the barbed wire, one of them was alive. He screamed and cried, begging those who passed by to untangle him.
I ran towards him and began to hastily pull at the barbed wire. My fingers began to bleed as I stabbed them through the metal spikes that stuck out and twisted themselves every which way.
I managed to free the chap after a few agonizing moments. I placed my arm around his shoulder and pulled him back to the trench.
"Thank you, you are a saint, thank you!" He said to me.
"It was the least I could do. How do you feel?" I asked.
"Like hell..." the young man mumbled.
We reached the trench and I carefully slid him down to a group of older men. They promptly took him and called out for the medics.
"Lawrence!" I heard a voice shout.
I turned to see Finn lying on his stomach with his gun propped up against a mound of dirt.
"Get a load of this!" He said as he fired his gun.
I turned my attention toward his target and watched as a German clutched his chest and fell to the ground. I cringed at the sound he made when he hit the dirt.
Finn laughed and grinned proudly at me.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked, crawling my way towards him.
"Lewis and Thomas are over there," he pointed towards a dirt mound that sat behind the barbed wire, "and then there's Charlie and Will," he pointed again to two crouching figures firing their weapons.
I knelt down next to Finn and aimed my weapon at a German who was trying to crawl away. I hesitated for a moment, noticing that the man was badly wounded. I figured I should put him out of his misery, but Finn had got to him before I could.
A young man crawling around in the mud beside me was suddenly hit in the shoulder.
"Fuck!" He cried.
He squirmed around in an attempt to get back to the trench for help.
"I'll be back," I told Finn. He nodded and gave a thumbs up.
I rushed over to the man and scooped him up.
"Are you a medic??" He asked in a panic.
"No, but I'm going to get you to one."
A large piece of shrapnel came flying from out of nowhere and smacked me in the back of the head. I flinched and let out a gasp.
"What happened??" The nervous soldier asked.
"Shrapnel," I replied under my breath.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm not worried about myself, I'm more worried about you."
The soldier smiled and thanked me. I slid him into the trench just as I had done to the previous man. This time, the medics were on standby for more wounded to be handed over. They placed the boy on a stretcher and he was off.
"Back again?" One of the medics joked.
"I suppose I'm saving my comrades," I replied.
"You're a good fellow,"
I smiled. If I was too hesitant to even fire my weapon at the enemy, then maybe saving my men would be better. I scanned the area for any wounded and spotted a man a few yards away from me without an arm. The poor guy was being stepped on. Without any hesitation I went to help him.
"Can you find my brother?" Said the soldier.
"Where is he?"
The boy shook his head, "I don't know. He has brown eyes and hair. He's tall and has a mustache. His names Joe. Joe Murphy."
"I'll try my best," I kindly reassured him, handing the kid over to the medics.
I spent the next ten minutes running back and forth, dragging men back to the trenches, dodging bullets, and searching for Joe Murphy. I saw an older looking Corporal slumped over in a shell crater.
"Sir!" I called out to him.
He lifted his head up to reveal a pair of bloodshot eyes and a beaten face.
I slid down the side of the crater to see if perhaps he was the man I had been looking for.
"Sir, do you know a man named Joe Murphy?"
He nodded.
"He's up the line a bit. Last time I saw him he was in the shell crater just behind me."
"Thank you, are you okay, sir?" I questioned.
The mysterious man looked at me with drained eyes and a gloomy expression.
"I'll be alright, kid."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
I wanted to help him in some way, I felt bad for the guy. I reached to grab my canteen and handed it to him.
"I can't take that from you," he said.
"Go on, have it, I don't mind," I gave him a polite smile.
"Thank you, kid," he nodded and drank from the canteen.
I climbed back up into No Mans Land and crawled my way to the crater that the man directed me towards. I made sure to keep low since I was drawing closer to the Germans. I wondered if my friends were still okay. A sudden muffled noise caught my attention as I scrambled to the water filled shell crater.
In it sat a man with his head resting in his hands. He was crying.
"Sir?" I called.
He looked up, startled.
"What??"
"Are you Joe Murphy?"
"Thats me."
"Your brother is wounded. I took him back to the trenches and he's being patched up, but he wanted me to come find you."
His eyes lit up at my words.
"Thank God he's okay! Hell, I was worried half to death about him!" Joe cried out in joy.
"He's alright. Are you?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.
"Just... in a bit of shock is all," he said.
I nodded, "glad you're okay, sir."
****
After what seemed like forever, the attack was over. Charlie had managed to get the others out of many death traps. It was really quite strange that he knew so much about the Germans. He knew how to operate their weapons, their fighting tactics, and their strategies. It was bizarre, but I figured that the knowledge just came from being on the Western Front for so long.
I got word that Joe and his younger brother had met up. Both of them were in shock, but they were doing just dandy and the boys were very strong.
The medic I had spoken to ran into me at around 2100.
"You should get a medal of some sort, kid. What you did was pure bravery."
I shook my head, "Leave the medals for the true heroes."
"Kid you are a hero! Do you know how many men you saved earlier today?" He inquired.
"Wasn't it 8?"
"12! You saved 12 men! That's something to be proud of, kid!" He placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled.
"You're a great young man, I just want you to know that."
"Thank you, sir,"
"You are more than welcome, kid."