The two men dashed back across the field, keeping low and made straight for the British position.
Lieutenant Harvey saluted to the American, the Captain ignored the gesture and started talking.
“Your sergeant has explained your situation to me.”
He looked around at the rest of the unit. He paused for a moment, obviously considering his options.
“I suggest I join your unit until I can make contact with the rest of my unit.”
Harvey, a little taken back by the bullish attitude of the American paused for a moment before launching into a tirade.
“We’ve just managed to get out of a pretty hairy situation with Jerry and the next thing we’re being shot at by an American! I think you have some explaining to do!”
The Captain, looking nonplussed, replied with a distinct lack of patience.
“You’re kidding, right?” replied the American, before realising the British officer was being serious. He turned back to him to explain.
“Look, we couldn’t see each other, you tried to get to me, I fired, you fired, and nobody got hurt. It’s wartime, get over it… Lieutenant!”
Smith intervened in what he saw as a pointless round of rutting.
“It isn’t going to stay dark forever, we need to get to the bridge. That way we can get on with our mission and the Captain can find out where the rest of his men are.” Smith glanced at both men whilst speaking.
“Of course,” spoke Harvey in a forced but conciliatory manner. He showed his map to the Captain.
“We’re making our way to the bridge here,” he pointed at their objective.
“Have you seen any enemy movements in this direction?” he marked the space between their current position and the bridge.
“Yeah, I saw some kind of action going on there on my way down. We’d better get a shift on if we’re going to help,” said the Captain.
The American nodded discretely to the Sergeant. There was an understanding.
Private Clarke approached, interrupting the group.
“We found a few more bodies in the woods, looks like more Americans.”
Harvey responded without thinking, “Looks like your boys got hit when they landed as well.”
The Captain didn’t look impressed, he answered Clarke directly and somewhat impatiently.
“Where are they?”
“Follow me, I’ll take you to them,” answered Clarke.
The private led the men to a group of tree stumps close to the tree line, there the bodies of three Americans were sprawled out on the ground. Bending down the men examined the bodies for evidence of what had happened. The first was that of a paratrooper, similar to the body discovered near the building. The dead man was still holding his rifle yet his body was covered in scores of minor wounds as though he had been struck many times with sharp objects, perhaps falling through the woodland canopy. Smith pointed out the wounds to the hands and neck, there were multiple punctures on the exposed flesh and presumably significant bleeding as the body was drenched in blood. The second man was also an American paratrooper, this one was different though. He was unarmed and had significant blood dripping from around his mouth. There were obvious bullet wounds in his arms, chest and throat. These two men had definitely died from different causes.
The Captain spoke first.
“I don’t get it. I know these men, good paratroopers from my unit. They were disciplined and knew their objectives. Why would they do this?”
Lieutenant Harvey explained, “I don’t understand it either, it looks like this one turned on the others,” he pointed to the body full of gunshots, “he isn’t carrying a weapon but his hands and face are covered in blood.”
“Couldn’t that just be from a face injury? The blood on his hands could be from any injury,” Smith said.
I don’t think so,” answered Harvey, his medical mind kicking in, “look at this.”
He lifted the man’s hands, examining the fingernails.
“His fingernails are broken and bloody, it looks like he used his hands to strike and claw somebody or something. There’s blood under the nails.”
“Yeah, look at this one,” said Clarke.
The dead man had gouges across his face, there were obvious markings from finger nails across the cheek and throat.
“It looks like he must have attacked this guy,” he continued.
Harvey stood up, scanning the scene. “What about the third body?”
Clarke moved over, examining the man, it didn’t take long for an answer.
“Same as the other one, Sir. He’s got blood on his hands and mouth and looks like gunshots killed him.”
“Strange, very strange,” muttered Harvey to himself. He turned to the Captain. “Any ideas?”
“Maybe…” Captain Scott thought for a moment.
“So, in your opinion the two unarmed men inflicted injuries on this guy with their mouths and hands?”
Harvey looked a little bemused, “Yes, it does sound a little odd but the evidence does support teeth and nail based injuries to the arms, throat and hands of the other dead man.”
“Could an animal have done this after they died?” asked Captain Scott.
I don’t think so; for starters the wounds are very, very recent. Second, the position of this group suggests to me that these two men attacked the other in hand to hand combat. They mortally wounded him with the throat wound here,” he pointed to the gash in the man’s throat.
“I would suggest that he was still able to drive them back with his weapon but then died from his wounds.”
The group said nothing for a moment. Smith broke the silence.
“Has his weapon been fired?”
“Good point,” said the Captain as he lowered himself to the dead man and checked his M1 carbine. He released the magazine and checked the breech. “Yeah, he used this alright, the mag is empty,” he smelt the barrel, “and the gun has been fired.”
The Captain looked confused, he spoke to the men, “Anymore bodies?”
They split up to look around. The three bodies had been found in a tight group around the tree stumps and the ground around it was a series of open trails through the small wooded area. The undergrowth was quite thick and could easily conceal something unless examined carefully. After the previous firefights the soldiers were careful not to dislodge anything or trigger any traps. Setting off a mine or booby trap was one of their worst nightmares, especially this far behind enemy lines. Help wasn’t a luxury airborne soldiers could expect. Clarke spotted the trail first, “Sarge, there’s a blood trail here!”
Smith looked towards Clarke then cocked his Sten gun. The two officers also drew their pistols, cocking them and then followed Smith. The blood trail continued a good twenty yards before disappearing into a series of large bushes on the edge of the wood.
“Cover me,” spoke Sergeant Smith as he pulled the foliage aside to look inside. At first he could see nothing, he moved closer.
Lieutenant Harvey could hear something, “What is that?”
The sound was like a ghost whispering to the men softly in the night. He kept quiet whilst he listened intently. He turned to Smith.
“Did you hear that?” he asked.
“Yeah, sounded like somebody saying “help me” to me,” said Smith.
Smith placed his left hand on the bushes only for a bloodied hand to reach out. The voice called out again though this time more clearly, “help me!” it cried. Clarke shouted, “Fuck, Sarge!”
The two officers pointed their pistols into the bush but refrained from firing. Smith also refused to fire though out of choice or shock, who only knew. Clarke stepped forward and opened up the vegetation to help Smith withdraw the man. As Clarke and Smith pulled the man out it was immediately clear that he was another of the American paratroopers. This man had several bloodied bandages around his leg, as well as blood patches across his torso. The man was conscious, though obviously in a great deal of pain. Captain Scott knelt
down to the man, “What’s your name son?”
“Martinez, Sir,” the wounded man replied.
He coughed then added, “Corporal Martinez, 101st Airborne.”
Lieutenant Harvey responded, “Another one of yours, Captain?”
He lowered himself, checking on the man’s wounds.
“Kind of, same division, not the same unit thought. Looks like this drop is going to shit,” answered the Captain.
Harvey checked the wounded man’s limbs then throat.
“No sign of the injuries that the other man sustained, apart from his leg.”
The officer started to redress the wounds as blood was seeping through them.
“What happened to your leg?” asked Captain Scott.
Corporal Martinez coughed again, then tried to lift himself to a sitting position. Clarke helped him and put him up against the nearby tree.
“O’Brian bit me in the damned leg,” he said, somewhat hysterically.
“Bit you?” asked Harvey.
“Yeah, me and Tony were looking for survivors when we found two of our guys back there.”
He pointed in the direction the men had found the other bodies. Martinez looked a strange combination of confused and surprised.
“There was something weird about them, really weird,” he added.
“What do you mean?” asked Harvey.
“Well, for starters they were staggering around, like they were drunk or something. We spoke to them but they just stumbled over to us. We thought maybe they were just messing with us, but then the one grabbed Tony and starting biting him in the goddamned throat!”
“What the fuck!” exclaimed Clarke, taken aback by the story.
Captain Scott interrupted Clarke, “Keep your damned voice down man!”
The Captain moved to Martinez and beckoned him to continue his account. The other soldiers crept forward, now all intrigued by what he had to say.
Martinez made himself more comfortable and then continued.
“Well, I shouted at this guy, but the next thing I know the other one is grabbing for me as well. I hit him with my M1 and he fell down, I hit him really hard. Tony was screaming so I ran to him and punched and kicked the guy off him. He was bad, man; he had loads of blood coming from his throat. He was a dead man, I was sure of it.”
Smith handed Martinez his canteen, he took several gulps, finishing the water and then dropped it to his side.
“Are you alright kid?” Smith asked.
Martinez attempted a smile, “Yeah, just about, my leg is killing me.”
The Captain added, “Carry on Corporal, what happened next?”
“Yes, Sir,” he responded.
“I tried to help Tony, carried him a short way but those two guys kept coming at us. They were slow, not running but they kept reaching out for us, and those mouths, fuck me, those mouths!”
The obviously traumatised Martinez muttered to himself for a moment before refocusing on the men. Clarke moved back to the group of bodies, checking their wounds.
“Sorry, uh, yeah, they tried to pull Tony off me and then I got pissed! I fired at both of them, good shots, square in the chest. Those shots just wouldn’t stop them though. I tried to get away but Tony was slowing me down, I had to drop him so I could aim properly. I emptied my mag into them and Tony did the same. I thought this time they were definitely dead. Anyway, I tried to help out Tony, put a dressing in his throat but he was just bleeding out too fast. He didn’t have long and the bastards attacked me again! The crazy bastards, this time they came for me! One of them got my leg, he just kept trying to bite my bloody leg off,” he pointed to his wounded leg.
“Bite your leg off? What did you do?” Captain Scott asked.
The soldier grinned.
“I used my little friend.”
He pulled out his pistol, a Colt 1911 automatic pistol. The M1911 was a single-action, semi-automatic, magazine-fed, handgun chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. It was both reliable and powerful, the perfect sidearm for many Allied soldiers.
“I put a few rounds into the one that was biting me. A few hit the guy in the chest, but I could see they were not going to stop him. The last one I put between his eyes, that did the trick.”
Clarke came back, confirming the news on the bodies.
“Yeah, its like the Corporal said, the one guy died from major wounds, mainly to his throat, the other two died from gunshot wounds.”
“What about the other one?” asked the Captain.
“Tony took care of him, it was the last thing he did. I think I passed out or something because the last thing I remember was waking up and hearing gunfire. I dragged myself down to here in case it was more of those crazy bastards, then you turned up.”
“I can get a splint on that leg, do you think you can walk on it?” said Lieutenant Harvey.
“No way, Sir, I can hardly feel it anymore,” replied Martinez.
“That’s weird, the blood loss doesn’t seem too great and it has clotted very quickly,” observed Harvey. He turned to the Captain.
“I suggest we put him on a stretcher and get back on the trail for the bridge.”
“I agree,” answered Captain Scott, “we’ve made quite a bit of noise, who knows who else is out here.”
“What about the bodies?” asked Clarke.
Smith replied straight away.
“Strip them of ID and ammo and move them off the trail. We don’t have time for burial, if we hang around we might end up joining them.”
Both the officers nodded in agreement.
Captain Scott spoke to Lieutenant Harvey, “I appreciate these are your men and I’m not here to interfere. I’ll stay with you just as long as needed till I meet my unit. Is that going to be a problem?”
Harvey responded with a look of satisfaction.
“No problem at all Captain, I’ll do my best to get you to your unit as soon as possible,” he turned to Smith.
“Get the bodies out of sight, when you’ve finished assemble the men, we will continue in ten minutes.”
Smith saluted the officer, “Sir!”
He returned to the men who were now preparing to move out.
The mission would continue.
CHAPTER FOUR
Adrienne and Madeleine both sat quietly, they had now been waiting almost half an hour and there was still no sign of the others. The only movement they’d seen were several rabbits that had darted out from the wood in front and scared the two girls half to death. From their position they had a good view out into the field of anybody approaching, the main reason they had chosen this spot. For the last few weeks the girls had been running errands for the local resistance cell that they and the two men were a part of. It was a risky business but all of them wanted to do their bit to drive the Nazis away from this area.
Madeleine spoke quietly, “Do you remember how many trucks we saw yesterday on their way to the base, you know, the ones with all the boxes on them?”
Adrienne scratched her head whilst counting on her hands.
“I think there were seven or eight of them, about the same as the night before.” “Madeleine spoke to herself, “I wonder what they are up to?”
“Look!” called out Adrienne, pointing to the tree line in front of them.
Shadows crept out onto the grass at the front but it looked like more than two people. Adrienne looked towards Madeleine with a confused expression.
Madeleine looked more carefully, finally spotting the figures of Pierre and François as they emerged from the trees. She lifted her torch up and flashed it briefly at the two men, the light revealed far more than either of the girls expected. Chasing the two Frenchmen were a dozen German soldiers, staggering towards them as though they were hurt or drunk. In the middle of the group was a soldier with a long coat, he looked like an SS or Gestapo man. Pierre shouted out to the girls to take the radio and run, but before he could finish his sentence one of the soldiers grabbed his foot and pulled him down. The man in the l
ong coat seemed to be biting him. François turned back to help but was dragged to the ground by three of the soldiers. He shouted and flailed wildly but in seconds another two were on him, clawing and biting as they went.
The two girls stood in terror as they watched the two men being attacked in such a violent way. Madeleine’s fear turned to anger and she pointed the torch at the group as she went to move forward to try and help them. One of the soldiers looked up, blood dripping from its mouth. It opened its jaw unnaturally wide and let out a terrifying groan. Two of the others dropped the Frenchmen and looked towards the girls.
Adrienne lunged forward, grabbing Madeleine to stop her moving towards the scene of carnage. As soon as she stopped the Germans turned back to their victim, almost oblivious to the girls. It was now clear that they could do nothing to help the men as more and more of the soldiers crowded around and started attacking them. François screamed and then a sickening tearing sound stopped him. The light from the torch showed a heaving group of people, a head lifted up, it was one of the soldiers and looked directly at the girls. From its mouth dripped blood and it chewed on what looked like raw flesh. Adrienne screamed and turned to run. Madeleine tried to stop her but she was too late. The girl’s movement attracted the attention of the soldiers and this time a small group left the dying Frenchman and started moving towards the girls, one of them grabbing Madeleine. Madeleine’s decision on whether to help the men or not was made for her as François must have pulled out his pistol. With just two shots fired in quick succession the screaming stopped and the group of cannibalistic Germans turned en mass to the girls. Madeleine left the radio equipment but did grab her notebook and then chased after Adrienne who was already thirty feet away.
* * *
The sixteen man column was once again back on the route to their bridge objective. Now with an extra two Americans in tow the group was slowed down by the additional stretcher on which the wounded Corporal Martinez lay. It had been forty five minutes since they’d left the woodland and they were nearly a third the way to their objective, the Orne River Bridge. Though they’d missed the first stage of the attack, there were only two options and both required their presence. First, if the British soldiers had already captured it then they would be needed to help with the defence of the bridge. The second scenario would be that they had somehow failed to take the bridge, if this was the case then Lieutenant Harvey and his men would have to capture the bridge themselves and hold it till relieved.
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