“Why are we waiting Sergeant? It looks clear to me,” asked the Lieutenant.
Sergeant Smith was stood next to a tree, carefully searching the skyline for any useful information. Something caught his eye and the officer tried to follow his gaze. After a few seconds he gave up, seeing nothing but dark shapes in the distance. Smith, noticing the growing frustration of the Lieutenant, turned to him.
“Look , Sir,” he pointed to the outbuilding.
The Lieutenant looked out towards a small number of trees with some kind of structure nearby.
“Yes, I see the building, what of it?” said an exasperated Harvey.
“Look in front of the building, see the open area, next to the barrels,” added Sergeant Smith.
Lieutenant Harvey was starting to look angry at the forced lecture from a mere sergeant. There was no sign of movement, no vehicles and no obvious threat. He looked for a few more seconds, eventually spotting something small in the direction Smith had pointed out.
“Ok, a dark object. I still don’t see why we have stopped.”
“Look again, to the side of the shape,” whispered Smith.
Harvey looked again; it looked like a there was something moving next to the shape. The movement betrayed it as some light fabric due to the way it blew freely in the wind. As it moved it was clear that the fabric was attached to the dark object on the ground.
“A parachute,” Harvey finally replied.
Smith looked wearily as he rechecked the skyline.
“The question is though, what is on the end of it, a man or equipment? If it’s the latter then we can make use of the supplies, if it is a man though we have a problem.”
“I agree,” said Harvey, “if we have a dead man on the ground it could mean this area is compromised.”
Stepping back into the darkness of the trees, Harvey continued.
“Send a group to check the parachute, I’ll stay here with the rest in case they need assistance.”
Smith nodded, trying to hide his look of contempt for the Lieutenant. Smith checked his gear, making sure his Sten was in place and ready to be used. He then moved to the others in the group and signalled to Corporals Chard and Humphreys as well as Private Gardner. The small group of men gathered around him.
“Right, it looks like we might have a man down, out near the building,” he pointed to the location.
“I want you three to scout ahead and check the area. We need to know more. Don’t touch anything and if you see anything you don’t like get back here.”
“Where will you be, Sarge?” asked Chard.
“I’ll be taking Trent and move in along the ridge near the river,” Smith’s hand traced the outline of the ridge.
“We’ll be watching your right flank, if you get into trouble make sure you watch us to your right and the Lieutenant behind you.”
“The Lieutenant is watching the rear, huh?” said Chard sardonically.
“Watch that, Corporal!” barked Sergeant Smith.
“Sorry, Sarge,” he replied, looking downwards sheepishly.
Smith continued, “We’ll move out at the same time, ready?”
The men nodded. Each man checked his weapon and gear to ensure they were completely ready for whatever lay ahead. There was nothing worse than being surprised only to find your weapon unloaded or inaccessible. With the men set to go they moved to the edge of the woodland. Smith turned to Harvey, checking he was ready. The Lieutenant nodded. Sergeant Smith and Private Trent moved off at a pace. Both men kept low and rushed for the ridge to the right of their position. Smith carried his Sten submachine gun whilst Trent still carried the units Enfield No.4T sniper rifle. As soon as the men were about halfway to the ridge the second group moved forwards towards the building and the parachute. This group carried Stens and Enfield bolt-action rifles, a good mixture for facing off against all manner of enemies at both close or long range.
Chard, Humphreys and Gardner had no cover to make use of so simply ran and ran fast. As they had practiced many times before they zigzagged, making it difficult to track them in case anybody had them in their gun sites. The men carried their weapons low and at the ready. As they reached the parachute they hit the ground, going prone and making them as difficult as possible to hit. Waiting low to the ground the only sound was the heavy breathing of the men that had just completed their dash. Humphreys and Gardner lifted their bolt-action rifles to their shoulders, scanning the cover ahead down the rifle barrels. Chard, carrying his Sten looked first to his left, then right, spotting movement where he expected to see Sergeant Smith. Good, that meant their flank was being covered. He looked back behind him towards Lieutenant Harvey, there was no sign of them. All looked good so far. With one last check he lifted himself up quietly and slipped forwards towards the parachute.
Back at the tree line, Lieutenant Harvey and the rest of the men watched the unfolding reconnaissance unfold in front of them. Archer was lying prone, his Bren gun cocked and aimed directly at the building. The Bren was a modified version of a Czechoslovak-designed light machine gun, the ZB vz. 26. The British version of the weapon featured a distinctive curved box magazine, conical flash hider and quick change barrel and had proved to be an accurate and effective light machine gun. Three of the men were also in prone positions, each man watching the horizon with their Enfield rifles. The remainder watched their flanks and rear. The Lieutenant lifted his field glasses, watching the scouting party as they approached the parachute.
Chard was now at the parachute. It was pretty clear that the dark object that was attached was simply a dead soldier. What surprised Chard more than anything though was that the dead man was not British but American. Searching the body, but being careful not to move it, Chard spotted the shape of the Screaming Eagle. He sighed, these men were his American equivalent and it saddened him to see the body. He signalled to Corporal Humphreys who crept over to check the body. Humphreys took the man’s dog tags and his weapons and then checked for any obvious injuries. The man’s legs were in an awkward angle and this gave him a good idea as to what might have happened.
“Looks like he broke his neck in the fall, he definitely came down hard, look,” said Humphreys as he gestured to the dead man’s legs.
The broken legs was a sure fire way of telling the man had hit the ground too fast. Whilst looking at the body a strange, creaking sound came from the trees a short distance away. Humphreys and Chard glanced at each other and then back to the sound. There was a metallic click. Without hesitation the two men rolled back towards Gardner. The quiet night was interrupted by the clatter of semi-automatic rifle fire. Luckily the reactions of the two men had saved them from the initial rounds. They kept their heads down in what cover they could find in the open field.
Lieutenant Harvey snapped into action as soon as the fire started. Calling out to the men he ordered covering fire. Archer opened up with the powerful .303 inch Bren gun, firing short burst of four to five bullets at a time. His companion riflemen put a handful of rounds into the building and trees nearby. Whilst the overwatch unit kept up the covering fire the three men caught out in the open field made their way back to the Lieutenant. By the time the Bren gun had expended another magazine of thirty rounds they were back into the cover of the trees.