"Bridge to Somewhere" (Part 2/2)
I pull the troops out of the buildings and give Spurgin's platoon the order to
move in.
3rd platoon is given the task of hitting the Germans' flank.
Under fire from both the 1st platoon and the elements of the 3rd, the first
line of buildings is quickly cleared.
Time to get rid of those pesky Germans on the other side of the river.
1st Platoon's mortar team gets the job.
More Germans fell now that I have a solid line of guns pointed at them.
Things calm down a bit. No time to rest, 2nd and 3rd platoon, move up!
2/2 makes a backdoor into the building, while 2/3 keeps a small group of Germans
pinned down in the trench.
The German(s) in the trench quickly start to retreat, only to be gunned down
on the open field.
Oh wow, I was expecting 6-7 KIA.
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"Déjà Vu"
0600 6 June 1944, Bridge W of Village
"****," observed Evans. "Where the hell is this ****ing city?" He threw his arms
up in frustration.
"God damn it," concurred Bautz.
The pair had encountered another road sign to Sainte-Mère-Èglise, this time pointing
along the direction they'd just come from.
"****. See if you can find anyone or anything that can tell us where the hell we are!"
barked Evans.
Bautz began barking orders in turn. Over the next few minutes, the scouts of
Company C fanned out and began looking for clues. "The rest of you, get some rest,"
said Evans. Within minutes, most of the company had found a comfortable patch of ground,
and had fallen into a sleep as deep as only soldiers in combat are capable of.
***
0645 6 June 1944
"Sir! I found a local!" reported one of the returning scouts. The GI had a young
farm boy by the hand, whom he brought over to the company command post, such as it was.
"Do you speak English?" asked Evans, slowly and clearly. Without waiting for a
response, he asked, "Where are we?"
The boy shook his head in confusion.
"Here, sir," said Bautz. "I speak a little French."
"Go ahead," said Evans. He moved aside for his XO to begin. Bautz talked for a bit
with the boy. Evans didn't understand any of it, and he began examining his
surroundings, and trying to see anything that could help.
"He says we're at the bridge over the Merderet," reported Bautz.
Evans scratched his head. "The Merderet?" That's well west of Sainte-Mère-Èglise,
he said. "Ask him where we are in relation to the city."
Bautz began his stumbling conversation in French again. After a while, he turned
back to Evans. "I think he said we're northwest of Sainte-Mère-Èglise. He said
we should go back through the town we came in from, go a bit to the east, and we
should hit a big highway from there that we should take south straight into the city."
Evans nodded. "That must be the road that Spurgin found."
The boy spoke up again. Bautz had to ask him to repeat a few things, but he got
the gist of it and returned to Evans. "He says the Krauts have been uprooting and
either destroying or turning road signs around. That's probably why we ended up over here."
"Well, ****. Nothing more for it now. Let's head back." He approached the boy.
"Thank you," he said slowly. He gave the boy one of his rock-hard chocolate bars.
The boy seemed to appreciate it anyway.