A fair warning, there's some "Suggestive themes" coming up in this chapter, and as always translations are at the end!
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Day 3, Tuesday September 19th 0600
In the following hours that had passed Marcus and his command squad had joined the defensive lines outside of Arnhem. The rest of his company was on standby across the bridge unlike the second squadron since they're tasked with assisting the ground troops in Arnhem.
During the night though, the Germans weren't the only ones that were pushing into combat. The first parachute brigade began its attack towards Arnhem to try and rescue their fellow paratroopers that are surrounded..
With the second Staffordshire's on the first Battalions left flank and the 11th battalion in tow at the rear of the assault. Their orders were to try and relieve the trapped troops, but the main obstacle in their way was the fortified defensive lines the Germans had created to block such attempts.
"Alarm! Alarm! Enemy contacts directly in front of us and closing!" The call had sounded, snapping men awake or out of the verge of falling asleep.
Small pockets of gunfire begin to crackle before a volley of return fire was met from the German side. Then it turned into a massacre as the entire line stretching across Arnhem roared to life with dozens upon dozens of muzzle flashes in the dim morning light.
"Feuer frei!" Marcus ordered over the ear ringing gun fire and Lochmanns loaded H.E. shell was fired immediately. The explosive force from the Tiger's main armament rattled the tank and her crew inside from the shockwave that was produced.
The projectile screeched down range before it crashed into the ground amongst a cluster of British troopers failing to keep their interval paced out. The shell itself had done its intended purpose without failure as the lethal shrapnel was shot out in every direction.
Thus annihilating that cluster of packed Englishmen and their bodies were cut down by the force from the shrapnel impact, watching things like that happen to a human body... It's something Marcus and his men aren't going to ever forget seeing, especially with how the blood splattered against the trees or into the air from the impact itself.
As the crew went through the pacing with reloading the 88mm, Marcus sat there in silence as he observed the outside world and the terrible sight he's bearing witness to.
With all the stories he had eagerly listened to when he was younger about World War I, they had never mentioned what humans could do to each other during war.
The enemy was trapped out in the open ground under heavy, dense gunfire from three directions all at once.
They were getting butchered under the overwhelming firepower and Marcus's crew even had fallen silent as they've watched the helpless men outside come crashing down, get shred to pieces by shrapnel or the out going storm of bullets.
Soon enough, the 1st battalion was disintegrated under the German gun fire, leaving the field littered with bodies and dozens of wounded fortunate enough to survive the fatal error of the advance.
The attempt to break through and relieve the encircled paratroopers at Arnhem was a complete and utter failure with heavy casualties.
The remaining survivors from the 3rd battalion of the first parachute brigade had fallen back as well, even the south Staffordshire's on the left flank were cut off by a flanking mechanized armored platoon and they too have been slaughtered by the mechanized Panzergreandier Guard.
By midday the fighting continued to try and breakthrough the defensive lines, but the German's didn't yield a single inch of ground and repelled all further attempts of rescue.
YOU ARE READING
Screaming Eagles
Historical Fiction"You're about to embark on a great crusade..." General Dwight D. Eisenhower had said in his speech to the troops prior to the opening assault on Normandy's shores. However, Jack and James O'Brian never heard that speech, because they were in the air...
