Not So Late Night Blog Post #5 · 3:47pm Mar 19th, 2019
Long time no see from me. I just wanted to come in and say I'm not dead, and that this story is still going strong. I've been having some serious writer's block and also been distracted by other stories and other ideas floating around my head. Plus, I actually started reading stories on here again, which is something I don't often do anymore. I can never find really good stories that just draw me in completely and captivate me, leaving me wanting more.
Until now.
I spent an entire weekend, literally, from Friday evening to Monday morning reading Monochromatic's The Enchanted Library and The Enchanted Kingdom and all the other little stories that go with it. It quite honestly messed with me. I was so entranced with this story, especially the side story Constellations0 which made me rethink all I've ever done with character interactions and romance. It also made me really want to write those characters. I ended up not thinking about Textbook Soldier for like a week because of that story. It's just too good and cannot be recommended highly enough.
Anyway, moving along, the main point of this pointless blog post, I've been working on Textbook Soldier. Right now, Chapter 8 sits at around 5300 words, and I've got more planned. I may post another blog update to tell y'all how it's going, or I'll tell you in the Author's Notes of the next chapter. Hopefully the second. Look out for that.
OBLIGATORY EDUCATIONAL PORTION
I mainly wanted to write this to talk about a really important battle in the story of both the 36th Infantry Division and Private James Garrett. In Chapter 7, James mentions his participation in the infamous Battle of Rapido River. I wanted to explain to you all the facts of that battle because it's really fucked up.
On January 20th, 1944, the 36th Infantry Division attempted to cross the Gari River to attack the German 15th Panzergrenadier Divison. Following an artillery barrage, the 141st and 143rd Infantry Regiments crossed the river on boats, landing on the enemy bank. Two companies from each regiment landed at 19:00 on the evening on January 20th. The 143rd sustained many casualties from German fire, which also destroyed their boats, so their landing ground was abandoned. The 141st Infantry Regiment, on the other hand, landed in an enemy minefield. Combined with the enemy fire, they took staggering casualties and were forced to retreat.
The next day, January 21st, brought a second attempt. Landing at 16:00, the Americans took heavy fire, preventing the engineers from building bridges or ferries across the river, leaving the infantry without armored vehicles. On January 23rd at 12:00, the order was given to attack after no significant progress was made, and casualties were stacking up. The 143rd managed to retreat relatively intact, despite their heavy losses. The 141st would not fare so well. Artillery and heavy gunfire destroyed their boats and bridges, leaving most of the unit stranded on the wrong side of the river. The Germans took this opportunity to launch their counter-attack, capturing many of the 141st's stranded men. A truce on the 26th allowed the Americans to collect wounded soldiers and take back some of their POWs.
Below is a picture that was taken from a page from the 141st Infantry Regiment's Executive Officer's notebook documenting their losses.
The 141st went into that battle with 99 Officers and 2056 Enlisted Men. At the end of it all, they came out with 52 Officers and 1142 Men. Looking down the line, we can see G Company. G Company is James's company. As you can see, they went into the battle with 5 Officers and 147 Enlisted Men. They came out with 0 Officers and 12 Enlisted Men. After the truce, they had 1 Officer and 20 Enlisted Men. This battle was one of the largest defeats for the US Military of World War 2. In 1946, a congressional investigation was started to find out what went wrong and who was to blame for this. The result was something the men were not truly satisfied with, as Congress found no one to be at fault.
END OF EDUCATIONAL PORTION
So you can see why James would be a little fucked up from that scenario. It's not something he can just brush off.
Anyway, I just wanted to share that bit of information with you all. Hopefully, I'll be out with a new chapter here soon. See you all then.
