A Soldier of No Importance [ Band of Brothers ] 1

FORTY ONE

January 3, 1944

Between Christmas and New Year's Day, the soldiers received a brief leave from training. For Alice, it was a welcome relief. The few months they'd been in training had left her drained and unhappy. Going from training maneuvers to classroom lectures constantly meant very few hours for relaxation. What brief time she did have, Alice had spent mostly with Gene or George. Once a week Alice made sure to have drinks with Nixon, Harry, and Dick.

The four lieutenants saw each other frequently in training. The classroom lectures Alice led continued to include french lessons, while also introducing information about the French Underground and what Alice knew of the other countries' resistance organizations. In the Maquis, she'd frequently been a runner with information between cells, as women had never been suspected as traitors to the Nazis as much as men in France. Through her traveling and passing of information, she'd been exposed to code names and details of the Dutch, German, and Polish movements.

When training resumed after the break, Alice felt a bit more refreshed, having spent some time in London with Millie and Madeleine, while visiting their middle sister Maggie. The few days around the turn of the New Year had been spent with her officer friends, though. Those days combined with the break from the army in general had done wonders.

Still, the men in her lecture were driving her crazy. Alice stood at the front of the moderately sized wooden hall that had been built for large scale meetings. Huge empty windows let in the nice breeze of the chilly winter in Aldbourne, but even that wasn't enough to keep the men awake and focused. Alice had never known the 506th to be quite so inattentive in lessons.

The chalkboard behind her featured meticulously drawn sketches of Karabiner 98k guns, one without sniper modification and one with the sights improved. The French resistance in the Alps had utilized the K98k on more than one occasion, and Alice would always speak highly of the sniper variant.

But even as she continued to speak about the differences in the Nazi gun to the one the Americans trained with, Alice watched the sergeants gathered before her slipping away. To her left she could feel Nixon preparing for his lecture that would follow hers, a discussion on various munitions they would encounter in Europe. Her irritation grew.

"Knowing how to utilize these weapons could save your life," she mentioned again. Hoping to salvage the lesson, Alice tried to appeal to their senses. "You do not need to like me, or trust me, but you do need to know how to save the life of the man to your left and to your right."

Some of the men nodded along with her, dutifully taking notes. But the others chatted in veiled whispers about their recent exploits on leave or their plans for that night. Heat rose to her ears as she felt herself getting angrier. Her gaze flickered over the sergeants of the paratrooper corps before her. Finally her sights fell on Easy.

She saw Ranney, Harris, Lipton, Guarnere, Martin, Talbert, Randleman, and Grant all sitting, watching her. Lip, Johnny, and Bull seemed the most attentive, their pencils scribbling across their notebooks. Ranney and Harris had never been particularly close with her, but they were certainly paying attention. Both Tab and Grant sat watching. But her attention fell on Guarnere.

His jaw clenched in anger. Alice wondered what had him in a tizzy. Alice didn't give herself much time to think, however, turning back to her lecture. Still, she watched Guarnere with her peripheral vision.

"All of occupied Europe is filled with K98ks. When we go to Europe, you will find that the resistance cells are extremely familiar with them. So if you ask us for weapons, you will receive these."

Alice bit her cheek as her eyes fell on a group from H and I company snickering in the back. With a huff, she turned around to the board. Nixon caught her gaze. With a tiny shrug, she began writing several french, german, and dutch words on the board in chalk.