章 2: Bunker Clearing
An explosion of dirt and gravel flew into the air and covered the sky, rendering it darkened for a few moments as a hole was blown in the barbed wire fencing along Thomas's section of the shingle.
"DOG ONE IS OPEN!!! CLEAR OUT THOSE BUNKERS!!!" Ybarra roared as he jumped to his feet and run over the shingles, one of the first to clear the shingles and a moments later one the first to die crossing it. A machine gun tore the poor Lieutenent to shreds and set off the grenade attached to his belt when a stray round struck it, resulting in a horrifying meat explosion as not only he, but the two men beside him blew apart in terrible fashion.
A soldier whom Thomas couldn't identify stood up and blew a whistle. The hundreds of men charging onto the beach shore instantly locked upon the source of the sound, noticing the man standing tall and proud, as if he was a lighthouse shining a beacon of hope in a terrible storm. He waved them all up, and as moths to the flame they charged unto the breach.
Thomas peeked over the small mound of dirt in front of him and witnessed the tens of men getting mowed down as they were rushing the nearest bunker fortification. Meanwhile some hapless troops accidentally crossed over into a minefield on one side of the path, needless to say there were pieces of them raining down.
Thomas gritted his teeth and put his tactical equipment back on, he grunted as he now had fourty pounds of gear weighing him down, as opposed to when he ran for the bangalores and only had his uniform and sidearm. Just as he was about to get up and make a break for the bunker up ahead a loud explosion echoed across the battlefield. He looked around and found the source. Another part of the shingles was blown wide open by forces much further down the beach.
"Good luck, boys," Thomas wished them as he began his own run for cover. Numerous German soldiers in bunkers and small foxes holes below the cliff opened fire upon him and the other men around him. Dirt flew in the air as stray bullets struck the dirt beneath his feet. More men fell screaming to the ground in agony, others fell silently never to know what hit them.
Whilst Thomas was making the hundred foot run to the nearest available cover, a bunker full of Germans, overhead a fierce dogfight was taking place between some P-51 Mustangs and a lonely JU-88 that had somehow made it's way to the beachhead, by itself. Despite some masterful flying involving tight turns and low flying, the poor aircraft stood no chance.
With a loud "scream" the JU-88 crashed into a nearby bunker on top of the cliffs after suffering critical damage to it's left wing and tail. The ground shook and everyone stumbled as the bunker exploded into a huge conflagration of flames and concrete. The plane must have crashed into an ammo dump, probably one of the very few places that could produce such an explosion.
The miniscule break in the action was over and everyone resumed killing each other in short order, Thomas was no exception. His breath was hurried as he lugged the rifle he aquired on the beach with him across the dirt valley between the minefields the Germans had placed.
Up ahead a bunker loomed closer and closer, the yawning chasm that was the doorway an intimidating deterrent to would be intruders, were it not for the gaping hole in the side, most likely caused by a grenade and some other combustible source. As Thomas and some others got closer to the bunker, a German soldier popped out of the hole in the side.
The German popped off a couple of rounds with his KAR-98 rifle. Both shots missed by a mile and as he was cycling the bolt on his rifle, Thomas sighted him with his own M1 Garand and squeezed the trigger. The rifle jerked slightly in his arms, but did nothing to slow his momentum as he kept driving forward. After four shots he finally hit the German square in the chest, a flower of blood blossomed as the bullet penetrated the soldier.
Thomas quickly thumbed the release on his rifle and with an audible, but well known "ping" sound, the eight round clip popped out. He fumbled with his ammunition pouch and pulled out a fresh clip and inserted it into the breech. He kept running and made it to the bunker with three other soldiers.
Noticing that he was the highest rank so far, Thomas issued his own instructions to the men besides him. "Alright, listen up. We're going to go in there and clear out the bunker. Check your corners and watch your shots, we don't want to hit a fuel can, or worse, each other. Move out!"
The three men entered the bunker and Thomas followed them in. The interior was dimly lit, save for what little sunlight streamed inside from the hole in the wall. There were tons of loose rocks and rubble everywhere, a couple of busted up radio stations were spilled out onto the floor from a half broken table against the far wall. Sitting just under the sightline out to the beach, a German soldier with a broken arm and shrapnel sticking out of his leg was smokng a cigarette, the look in his eyes showed nothing but defeat and an overwhelming sense of impending death.
"Nothing, but this damn Kraut over here." One of the soldiers remarked.
"What a shithole, can't believe they post up in these things." The other soldier tossed in.
"Eyes peeled, corporal." Thomas commanded. Just because this small bunker didn't hold much in it did not mean that they couldn't be killed or that someone would come running in from the other side.
"Sir!" The corporal responded. The men tensed up as they checked out the rest of the bunker, but they didn't find anyone or anything, valuable or otherwise. All three of them met up in front of the steel door on the far side of the bunker from where they came in, with a nod Thomas opened the door and as bright sunlight streamed inside blinding the three of them momentarily what they saw stunned them.
Outside the door were more than a half dozen bunkers all connected to each other and this one with trenches dug out to be around five and a half feet tall. The nearest bunker was about half a football field away and its precious defenders were already locked into a battle with allied forces cascading into the trenches from the ground above.
Nothing needed to be said, Thomas and his hodgepodge squad rushed forward, barrel drums and other obstacles made the narrow trench difficult to navigate, there were also quite a few of the sides dug out a few feet and then ending abruptly, most likely break areas for the defending troops as it would not be wise for all the defenders to be in the bunkers.
After round a corner they came face to face with a German officer wielding his MP-40 submachine gun. With it's low recoil and thirty-two round magazine, it was a beast in the close quarters of the trench. Thomas quickly entered melee range with him and bashed him in the face with his rifle. He stepped to the side as the officer staggered backwards just in time to recieve two rounds from each of the soldiers with Thomas.
With the immediate threat neutralized, Thomas and his squad carried on. They ran past the lifeless corpses of soldiers from both sides of the war littering the trenches, painting the trench with their blood. Thomas spied a shotgun on one of the allied soldiers, he stopped to pick it up and after ensuring the the firing mechanism and shell chamber were in working order searched the soldier for ammunition. He found about two dozen shells and he took them all.
"Rest easy, brother." Thomas said a quick prayer before passing his hand over the mans face, closing his eyes. He shouldered his rifle in favor of the close quarters trench clearer. Pressing on with the rest of the squad, Thomas and company came across the bunker they had spied before. It took them a good half hour to travel through the trenches towards it.
The door to this one had been busted wide open, yet the sounds of fighting could clearly be heard over the din of distant machine gun fire. Thomas rushed in the and the other three followed him. As their eyes adjusted to the interior, a German came screaming from a darkened corner, a knife stick out of his side, which he fearlessly pulled from his body and swung toward Thomas. On instinct and training alone, Thomas swiftly brought the shotgun to bear and blasted the crazed German. The soldier's head popped like a balloon, spraying blood everywhere including on Thomas. The headless body flew backward into the corner from whence it came.
Moving on, they cleared a few more rooms of their dying and wounded defenders before coming across a staircase down. Thomas and the others were puzzled, what could a stairway possibly be doing in a bunker underneath the cliffs on the beach. As far as they knew, the Germans had only constructed these defenses within the past few months to defend against an invasion much like this one. It was quite odd that they would construct a stairway beneath the cliffs, most likely leading underneath them.
The other strange thing was even though they'd heard fighting from outside the bunker, now that Thomas had a moment to think about it, there were no allies in here, corpse or otherwise. There were plenty of wounded Germans, and a few dying ones, but as far as friendlies? None. Not a single soul.
Just as Thomas was about to head down the stairs he felt something wasn't right and he turned around. The other three men that were with him were inexplicably gone. Just before the panic and paranoia set in he heard a voice come from the direction of the stairs and it said, "Oberstarzt Spitzbergen awaits you." And before he had time to react, something hard hit him in the back of the head and his vision turned to black.
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