Baker
Private Johnny Rivas loved to draw in his spare time. He drew everything he saw so he wouldn’t forget; hell, he told us that he jumped with more pencils than ammo. In the four days he wandered the French countryside before finding us, he drew dozens of sketches of the beautiful land. Now, I can only imagine what he’d draw here.
September 22nd
At the camp, Baker and his troops were talking with the six elements; except for Applejack, who was sitting by herself in deep thought. She was grateful for everything the men were doing, but there was something about Baker she didn’t like. She could tell he was hiding something; something important.
“You alright?” a voice next to her asked.
She looked up to see Dawson standing next to her.
“Yea, I’m alright,” she replied. “Say, you mind if I ask you somethin’?”
“Not at all,” Dawson replied, taking a seat next to her. “Ask away.”
“Your partner, Baker, he acts kinda strange,” she said. “Is he always like that?”
“Sometimes he’s a normal lad,” Dawson said. “But, other times I see him starin’ off into space like a bloke whose mind’s just been erased.”
“Do you know why he does that?” she asked. “I know it’s partly cause of everything ya’ll went through; but, he looks like he's keepin’ a secret. You got any idea?”
Dawson was more interested now; going into his serious tone.
“I think I know what you see,” Dawson said. “Tell me, Applejack; do you believe in fate?”
The camp was, once again, buzzing with activity. The division was launching more operations today; both to take control of the roads and defend those parts that were already captured. Baker and his men were receiving their orders from Mac.
“Now there’s a farmhouse down the road a bit; that MG’s been wreaking havoc on anyone that tries to get by. The farmhouse stands in front of a small stone bridge, so we need to take it to take the bridge,” Mac explained. “The griffons will probably have patrols on the outer perimeter. Most of the area leading up to it is bocage; there’ll be plenty of cover between the fallen logs, walls, trees and the like. Watch your flanks and make sure as hell those crows are getting hit on theirs.”
“Alright squad, fall in for a sec,” he called to his men. “Ok, we’re looking at a more open battlefield today; you all remember the Four Fs?”
Baker was referring to the tactics that they used to combat the enemy. Step one; locate, or find, the enemy. Step two; lay down suppressive fire and pin, or fix, the targets. Step three; get around the target, or flank, and get a clear shot. Step four; open fire, or finish, the enemy on his unprotected flank.
“Yea, we all got it, sarge.” Jasper replied, picking up his thirty.
It was early in the morning; with the sun just coming up. The sky was a mix of bright orange and red. Starting along the road slowly, everything seemed calm at first. As they got closer to their target, they became more alert and tightened their formation. They knew the enemy was close by.
The troops hustled down the road towards their objective. After moving a short way, they came across two teams of griffons who were standing guard. The machine gun team set up on a small pile of sandbags while the fire team took cover behind an overturned wagon. The griffons spotted them and took cover behind their sandbag cover on the left and right of the road.
The two stationary teams fired heavily on the targets, pinning them and trapping them behind their cover. Baker led Corrion and the assault team through some bushes to the right. Covered from site by a short hedge, the men moved up and emerged behind their enemies. They immediately opened fire and killed the targets.
Baker called for the fire and support teams to come forward when mortars began to fall sporadically, not hitting any of the men. Several patrols of griffons also came forward to attack.
Baker ordered his men to take cover along a long stone wall that ran off to the right of the road. Two teams of griffons took cover in the hedgerows right in front of them. Jasper returned fire, trying to keep them pinned.
One team ran out and to the team’s right and took cover behind a fallen log, trying to flank them. Baker ordered the fire team to the end of the wall and suppresses them. Zanovich carried out the action and, with heavy fire, prevented the enemy’s move.
Baker took Corrion and the assault team back across the road and to the left; attempting their own flanking maneuver. The griffons also caught this and sent another team to stop them. The humans took cover behind a picket fence, while their enemies took cover behind a long mound of dirt.
Now with all his men engaged, Baker ordered Corrion to suppress the team across from them while he continued along the fence. Reaching the end a good ways from the enemy, he spotted a lone wagon parked perpendicular to the enemy and a bit behind their lines. Focusing on it, he got up and sprinted to it; luckily, the griffons were distracted by his team’s fire and didn’t notice.
Baker took out his M1 Carbine and tilted past the edge of the weapon. Taking careful aim, he proceeded to snipe the unsuspecting enemies one by one. A few tried to get up turn to engage while others tried to run; Baker’s squad got any that tried to slip through.
Again reforming his troops, Baker continued to lead them down the road. When they neared the farmhouse, they moved off the road and into some of the forest to their right. Using this cover, they came close to the farmhouse and looked it over.
It was a large, two story building that was on the left of the road, right in front of the bridge. There was a hole on the second floor corner facing the road where the machine gun was placed. Even though the griffons stationed there had been alerted by the combat, they must have thought that their allies had taken care of the threat because they were still relaxed a bit.
“Ok guys, here’s the plan,” he whispered. “Jasper, you open fire on that MG and keep it occupied. The rest will follow me across the road. There’s another stone wall running parallel to us and goes on until it hits a hedgerow that makes a turn towards the river; when we get to it, I want the fire team to take cover open up on any crows that are behind the farmhouse. Corrion and the assault team will follow me to the hedge and try to flank them. Make sure to use grenades if you’re in range. Everyone ready?”
“We’re ready,” Jasper said, mounting his gun on the long dirt hedgerow that was covering them.
“Ready,” Zanovich reported.
“Ready,” Corrion finished.
“Ok, let’s go!”
Jasper opened fire, taking the griffons by surprise but not enough to shock them. They quickly manned the gun, but not before Baker and his group ran across the road. Zanovich and his team stopped about midway along the wall and opened fire on a group of three griffons guarding the back; killing two and sending the last one into cover behind a well. Corrion, Baker, and the rest moved along their hedgerow; quickly flanking the remaining griffon and tossing grenades into the house, killing any remaining enemies.
“Everyone fall in and take defensive positions inside, quick!” Baker called out. “Jasper, move you MG to that window and cover the bridge! Holden, call Mac and tell him we’ve secured the objective!”
“Yes, sir!” Holden replied.
The ten troops ran inside and took up position in a window or opening, fully covering all sides.
“Sir, I’ve got some bad news!” Holden reported to Baker from his position on the top floor.
“What is it?”
“Sergeant Hassay says more enemies have infiltrated and reoccupied the positions we just cleared. We’ve been cut off!”
“Damn it!” Baker hissed to himself.
“He says the he’s trying to break back through but he’s having trouble,” Holden continued. “Until he arrives we can expect heavy attacks from all sides.”
“Is there any good news?” Baker rhetorically interrupted him.
“Yes sir,” Holden replied. “We’ve been priority in the sector, so we have artillery and mortars standing by. I’ll be able to spot from my position up here.”
“At least there’s that,” Baker replied. “Ok, direct it against large groups or enemies in cover. Everyone hunker down and grit your teeth, we’ve got a lot of bad guys coming at us.”
Baker took the opportunity to man the abandoned griffon machine gun himself, since all the windows and openings were occupied. It was quiet as the men watched and waited; save for the distant chatter of small arms fire that was gradually coming closer, signaling them that rescue was on its way.
However, it wouldn’t come in time to spare the group from attack. After a few minutes, mortars came down around the farmhouse; thankfully, the walls were thick, so nothing collapsed and no shrapnel found its mark. It stopped after a few rounds and was soon replaced by loud war screeches by the griffons as they moved in towards the house.
Another advantage with the paratroopers was that the area on the other side of the river was all fields, so line of sight was good for small arms. Holden called down fire on the advancing groups, and explosions began to cut down numerous enemies. The men opened fire with everything, trying to keep the enemy as far away as possible.
The griffons swarmed in large waves, attacking from every side at once. Most came from the field to the north from across the river; however, Jasper and the machine gun made sure none made it past the bridge. Some stopped and dove into cover, trying to lay down suppressive fire on the house. Careful aim and Holden’s spotting made sure they didn’t last long.
Still, the enemy continued to throw himself against the little fortress. Again they would rush out from cover and again they would be thrown back. Still, they got dangerously close a few times.
Baker’s machine gun was focused on stopping the enemy from crossing the road. Every time a griffon was brave enough to cross, he would open fire and cut him down. This continued until his gun finally ran out of ammunition.
“This gun is out!” Baker said, now returning fire with his rifle. “Jasper, how much you got left?”
“I’m down to my last belt sarge!”
“Everyone else is running low, too!” Courtland reported.
“Holden, where the hell is Mac!?” Baker yelled.
“He says he’s on the way sir!” Holden reported. “We just have to hold on a little longer.”
“Well tell him to hurry!” Baker ordered. “We can’t last much longer!”
Another charge came at the embattled troops. This one was just barley stopped; the griffons got within a few feet of the house. One actually got to the wall and tried to crawl through an open window; halfway through, McCreary stabbed him in the throat and shoved him back out.
“Sir, we’re out!” Jasper reported.
“Everyone else is down to their last rounds!” Zanovich added.
“Everyone hold your fire until they get close; make every shot count!” Baker said, the enemies still coming at the little fort. “Prepare for hand-to-hand combat.”
“Looks like this is it!” Franky said.
As another wave came in, the men held their fire. Still, he saw some griffons falling as if they were hit. Checking back down the road, he noticed the enemies had stopped coming from their side of the river, and tracers were flying from the bushes to the griffon’s side.
“Sir, Sergeant Hassay says they’re approaching from our backs and are engaging the enemy,” Holden reported.
“Alright squad, watch your fire on our side of the river,” Baker said. “We have friendlies approaching from our six!”
Sure enough, Mac, Hartsock, and dozens of other paratroopers appeared and opened fire on the enemy. The appearance of a fresh unit caused the griffons to break and run. The battlefield fell quiet and the troops relaxed.
The battlefield itself was a sight to see. All around and counting the ones on the other side of the river, there were over one hundred corpses lying about, not to mention the ones that were blown apart completely by the artillery. The farmhouse had several hundred bullet holes in it. Mac and his troops gathered around the farmhouse.
“Took your time, huh?” Baker joked, coming out to meet him. “Thanks Mac, we wouldn’t have lasted much more of that.”
“You didn’t think I’d leave you out here, did you?” Mac chuckled.
“So what now?”
“There’s another hamlet down the road codenamed California, and we have to take it,” Mac explained. “We’re going to sit tight here for a few hours. Check your equipment and make sure you’ve got enough ammo. And Baker…eat something. You look like hell.”