Gunslinger

On 13th January, word came down from HQ that E Company was to launch an attack against the Germans in Noville. To say that Somerville was not pleased would be an understatement. After everything that E Company had gone through in Bastogne, the Bois Jacques and Foy, it didn’t sit well with him that HQ were putting them into an attack. However, putting a company as badly mauled as E Company into a frontal attack over a snowfield in bright daylight didn’t come about because General Ripley wanted glory. Eisenhower needed men and there were no reserves available to throw into the attack. He had to attack with that was there on the front lines.

After Foy fell, E Company and the other companies in 2nd Battalion were put into regimental reserve, south of the village. At 4:15am the following day the Germans launched a counter-attack on Foy with six tanks and a company of infantry. It was repulsed but then they tried again with fourteen tanks and a battalion which forced the 3rd Battalion of the 506th out of Foy. E Company was alerted but with the help of artillery the 3rd Battalion was able to mount is own successful counter-attack and by 9.30am they were back in the village.

Another cold front had passed through the area, and the daylight temperatures were about 20 degrees Fahrenheit, whilst at night the temperatures fell to below zero. It snowed almost daily and it was difficult for Division to move supplies up the Bastogne-Foy road because of drifts and demands elsewhere. As a result, E Company was as bad off as they were during the first week of the siege. There wasn’t enough food, and there insufficient supplies of blankets, shoes and sleeping bags. They were using bed sheets for snow suits.

The terrain in front of E Company was also difficult. There was open ground to cross to get to Noville, and the dense woods had not as yet been cleared. The Germans held the high ground and the solid Belgian buildings in Noville offered sniper and machine-gun positions while providing the Germans with hiding places for tanks.

Colonel Harper told Somerville that 2nd Battalion would have the honour of leading the attack on Noville. The jump-off would be a noon on 14th January, moving from the woods south of Foy around to the lift, occupy the tiny village of Recogne, then attack over an open snow-covered field toward Cobru, another tiny village about a kilometre or so east of Noville. On Somerville’s left, 1st Battalion would move north through the woods to clear them out.

Somerville was unhappy with the orders. The Battalion had 2 kilometres of snow covered open fields to cross to get to Cobru, and it was a bright sunny day. Why the hell did they want to attack at high noon?

There was a fairly deep shoulder running southwest out of Noville to near Recogne. Somerville saw that by sending the Battalion straight for it, he could pick up more and more cover as they got closer to Noville. He put the battalion in single file to cut through the snow. It was dangerous but quick.

As E Company and the rest of 2nd Battalion moved out, so did the 1st Battalion on the left. Germans tanks in Noville got the 1st Battalion in their sights and let loose with some 88s, however they did not see the 2nd Battalion moving toward Noville in the shelter of that shoulder.

Brian glanced to his left and saw the 88s tearing up the 1st Battalion, and there were bodies being thrown into the air from the force of the shells. However, E Company was having its own problems. German machine-guns in Noville opened up on the company, at a stream that slowed the Americans while they were exposed. Dunn set up two of his machine guns to answer the fire. As the machine guns let loose, a group of eight or ten would dash across the small stream.

The stream was narrow enough for most of the men to jump across, however Private Rodriguez, carrying an ammo bag with six rounds of mortar ammunition, fell into the stream and was soaked through. Dana and Brian fished him out, but by the time the group had reached Noville his clothing had frozen and he was creating a crackling sound when he walked. An all-night patrol was being planned so that the company could make contact with the other units, however Dana grinned when she told Rodriquez that he would be staying behind as his crackling clothing could be heard in Berlin.

By 3.30pm 2nd Battalion had crossed the field was snuggled up to the underside of the shoulder. By dark it had worked its way around to the south-east corner of Cobru. Dunn had a meeting with the officers, Richland and Dana. He outlined the plan of attack for the morning, up the draw to Noville, with 2nd platoon on the left and 1st platoon on the right Dunn told Richland to lead the 2nd platoon in attack, and Dana was to lead 1st platoon.

Dana pulled 1st platoon together to brief the men, whilst Somerville stood to the side and listened to her. He marvelled at how well Dana had performed her duties during the war. He had been a little sceptical at first of a woman on the front lines, but Dana had shown an aptitude for leading the men, and she had led by example during basic training. He was pleased that he had been able to convince HQ to let Dana jump with the boys into Normandy and the fact that she had been promoted in the field spoke volumes. He listened to Dana advise the men that the distance to the town was about 800 metres and that they would have to move quickly to get down the road and work together as teams with rifles and grenades, that the mortar men should be ready to drop rounds on German strong points, that they should not bunch up and so on. Somerville’s only comment was that the distance was more likely 1000 metres.

As the meeting broke up, the men could hear tank motors starting up and tanks moving around, however it wasn’t possible to determine if it was Germans pulling out or American coming along the Foy-Noville road.

That night was the coldest night that Dana had experienced in her entire life. There was little shelter, apart from hastily dug foxholes and she shivered in Brian’s arms.
“I’d warm you up but if I take my pants off my cock’s gonna freeze off”, Brian chuckled.
“We can’t have that now, Mr Gates”, Dana said with a smirk.
“Gates? Who’s the hell’s Mr Gates?”, O’Shea asked in confusion as he glanced at Dana and Brian, who just laughed in response.
"Keep your pants on Haner", O'Shea shuddered. "I don't want to see your white frozen ass!"

Richland was uneasy about leading 2nd platoon on an attack without knowing what was ahead. He spoke quickly with Dana, and she suggested going forward with a radio man to the scout the situation. Richland and the radio man moved off and came to a barn on the outskirts of the village. Everything was eerily quiet. Richland called Dunn on the radio to tell the CO where he was and to request permission to scout the town. He advised Dunn that he could see some Sherman tanks up ahead and asked if Dunn knew if American armour had already taken the town. Dunn didn’t know and advised Richland to look around.

Richland moved silently forward to the tanks, and noticed that they had been knocked out. American bodies lay frozen and strewn around them. They had been left there when Team Desobry had withdrawn from Noville on 20th December, almost a month earlier. The Germans still held the town, so Richland and the radio man withdrew as silently as they could.

***************

The attack jumped off at dawn on 15th January. There was resistance immediately from the Germans, which was strongest on the right hand side of the road against 2nd platoon. 1st platoon quickly got into the centre of Noville and up to the burned-out Shermans. 2nd platoon got into a burned out building and set up a CP. They radioed 1st platoon which a message: “ Friendly armour on the right.”

As Lieutenant Higgins and Dana got that message, they heard tanks outside the building. Anxious to get the show on the road, the two moved out to link up with the tanks. They moved to several burned out buildings and rounded a corner into the main road. Up ahead, between two buildings, partway out, was the tank they sought.

Dana moved up to the right side of the tank. The tank commander was standing in the turret looking the other way. Dana shouted “Come this way!”, over the roar of the engine. The tank commander turned, and Dana froze momentarily when she realized that she had mistaken a German tank for an American. The German swore, dropped into his tank, and began traversing his turret toward Dana and Higgins.

Without saying a word to each other, Dana and Higgins took off so fast they were kicking snow in the German’s face. The tank followed them. They ran around a corner, and Higgins dived into an open window head first. Dana ran about 3 metres past him and jumped into a doorway with her rifle ready for the infantry that she was sure would be with the German tank.

The tank turned the corner and drove right past Higgins and Dana. It came to the place where 2nd platoon were clearing out buildings, near the burned out Shermans. Richland and his men dived under the Shermans or ducked behind walls for protection. The German tank stopped, swivelled its turret and put a shell into each one of the knocked out Shermans to prevent anyone from using their guns to put a shell into his tank as he drove past. The tank roared out of town, headed north toward safety. A P-47 fighter plane spotted it, strafed it and dropped a bomb on it, destroying the tank.

Dana went to look for Higgins, and she frowned when she heard moaning and cries for help. She looked in the window that Higgins had dived through and burst into uncontrollable laughter. Her lieutenant was tangled up in the springs of a mattress base in a basement Higgins had not realized was there.

***************

By noon, 2nd Battalion held Noville and had set up a perimeter defence. The little village and its surroundings hills had been an objective of the 101st since 20th December, and it was finally in American hands.

****************

The company had believed, whilst they had looked northward at Noville from their positions outside Foy since shortly after they had arrived at Bastogne that Noville would be final objective. However, one more attack had been planned. 2nd Battalion were to move further north in the direction of Houffalize, to clear the village of Rachamps.

Rachamps was off the highway and was in a valley, with its snow covered ground sloping gently down to it from all sides. The 2nd Battalion attacked from the south and southwest, whilst 1st Battalion on the left came down from north of the village. The men were well-spread and advanced easily and steadily. The Germans put up some resistance, mainly artillery, but as the 506th got to the outskirts of the village, most of the German defenders fled.

In Rachamps, Dunn set up company PC in a convent. It was the first time that the CP had been in a building since E Company left Mourmelon a month earlier. That night the nuns bought in the large hall of the convent a small group of young girls to sing a serenade for E Company.

The next morning, 17th January, the 17th Airborne Division relieved the 101st on the line. E Company got into trucks to begin a move to Alsace. The trucks took the men back down the highway they had sat astride for four weeks, through Bastogne. It was only the second time that most of the men had seen Bastogne – the first being 19th December when they marched through the town whilst frightened American soldiers fled to escape the German onslaught, and second on 17th January when the town was secured. Although the men had seen little of Bastogne, that name, and the experience it represented, would stay with them forever.

Present Day

Emily was sitting beside Dana’s hospital bed, holding her hand. She was concerned that Dana’s body temperature had dropped dramatically over the last couple of days however the doctors could find no reason for the sudden loss of temperature.

It had been two weeks since Dana and Brian had dramatically collapsed outside Johnny’s Bar. As the doctors moved Dana’s body over to check her temperature on her back, Emily had gasped dramatically.
“What is it?”, Matt asked, leaping out of his seat and joining Emily.
“Where the hell did that scar come from?”, Emily stammered, pointing to a nasty scar on Dana’s shoulder that had not been before.
“Scar?”, the doctor asked in confusion. “She didn’t have a scar when she came in.” He looked at Dana’s shoulder and whistled. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“What the hell is going on?”, Emily asked, as Matt took her into his arms. “How the hell could she get a scar like that from lying in a hospital bed?”

Matt ushered Emily out into the waiting area, where they were informed by Jimmy that Brian’s temperature had also dropped.
“What the hell does this mean?’, Emily asked.
“I got no fucking idea”, Jimmy replied. He was uncharacteristically quiet, and it un-nerved Emily to see someone who was normally the life of the party so subdued. He was Brian’s best friend and this was hitting him hard. He was also extremely fond of Dana, and often called her Mini Short Shit, as she was even shorter than Johnny. As Emily was ruminating on the problem, she saw the same elderly lady that she had seen on the first day that Dana and Brian had been admitted.
“You know what’s going on, don’t you?”, Emily asked. The woman nodded, and sat down beside the group.
“I’m about to tell you something that it’s going to sound extremely unbelievable”, she began. Matt’s eyes narrowed.
“You mean to tell me that you had something to do with this”, he yelled, only to be hushed by a nurse walking past.
“Yes”, the woman answered immediately. Jimmy’s eyes narrowed angrily but before he could speak, the woman continued speaking. “I sent them back into the past to correct a wrong.”
“Say fucking what?”, Matt asked, with wide eyes.
“Dana and Brian both lived before, and through a misunderstanding they were both killed during World War 2. I sent them back to relive that past life, and to correct that misunderstanding.
“Let me get this straight”, Emily asked, unable to believe what she was hearing. “You sent them back in time?”
“Yes”, the woman responded. “Right now they’re on their way to Alsace in France.”
“And just what are they doing in France?’, Jimmy asked. “Are they like observers to the war or something?”
“They’re paratroopers in the 101st Airborne”
“They’re fucking what???!!!!’, Jimmy shrieked, his blue eyes wide with shock. At that moment, Emily fainted.
“You send them back to be fucking soldiers!?”, Matt shrieked. The nurse went to hush him again, but took one look at the murder in his eyes and retreated back to the safety of the nurse’s station.
“Both of them are more than capable. They are both in the 2nd Battalion of the 101st Airborne. Dana is the sergeant of 1st platoon, and Brian is her corporal.”
“Bri has to take orders from Dana. Holy hell, that’s fire works right there”, Jimmy sniggered.
“There’s fireworks of a different variety with those two”, the woman responded with a soft smirk.
“What the hell?’, Matt mumbled. “You sent them back in time to hook them up? Lady, they hate each other. I’m surprised they haven’t killed each other already.”