Chapter 3: Assault and Defense
I looked over the ridge, through a pair of binoculars. There were several lines of bunkers and trenches, three to be exact. I looked to my left, Twilight Sparkle next to me.
“Is that what we're supposed to attack. It looks very solid.” I said, with concern lacing my voice. Concern for my troops, most of whom had re-equipped themselves with Germane weapons.
“Yes we are. And it is a good line... from the beach, not inland.” responded the resistance member. “Look, all the MGs are pointed out to sea. Plus all we have to do is clear out a small part of it.”
“Good point.” I said. I then turned to my command, which recently gained three new ponies. “Form up!” I ordered to the troops. They walked to the small depression in front of me. “We’re going to break through the rear of the Germane lines. When I give the order we take the back trench. Now get ready.” My troops got into position along the ridge line.
I looked to both sides of me. On one side was the sub-squad commanded by Twilight. Rarity and Big Mac were in it. They were going to be our right flank on this operation. On the other side were Big Ben, Blueblood, Denver Bronco, and Fluttershy, Fluttershy being there to help the wounded. That left me with the Razor Wind and Rainbow Blitz. Our plan was that the two squads commanded by my subordinates were going to hit the Germanes on their flanks. When they did the pegasi would drop in on top of them. It would be brilliant, and, as Ben put it, ‘give them a taste of their own medicine’.
“Wait five minutes before you attack to let us get into position.” I ordered the two other ponies in command. I then took off and flew up to a low cloud and got ready to attack. They looked up to the cloud and I nodded. It was time.
The two squads on the ground broke cover silently and ran at the Germane trenches. The few of guard ponies inside the trench and not the small underground barracks were ambushed and killed before much could be done to us. But the sounds of fighting just outside the barracks caused the twenty-five man garrison to rush out, with their guns at the ready. When they spotted my troops they stopped for a moment, staring at them.
That was my chance. “Go.” I said to the pegasi with me. We jumped into the air and went into a steep dive aimed at the center of the Germane mass. We ripped the pins off of grenades and hurled them into the troops below. They exploded seconds before we landed, causing about six Germanes to fall to the ground. As we did so, several Germanes fled to the south, screaming “Die Amerikaner sind da! Ziehen Sie sich!” Several more took aim at me, Razor, and Rainbow Blitz. I dove into a side trench, Rainbow going with me. Razor tried to take off again. He was not lucky enough to succeed. A Germane round hit him in the thigh, sending him to the ground.
I would have tried to save him, but I heard another voice behind us. “Die Regenbogen-Narr!” it hollered as the brownish pony wielding a trench knife, charging at Rainbow Blitz. We both fired from the hip, not having time to aim. Rainbow’s shot missed, but I had a far larger problem.
The Kar98 was a good gun, a safe gun. A very solid mechanism, one of the best in the world. But every gun can have a catastrophic failure. And that is what happened. The bolt of the rifle exploded, sending shrapnel in all directions, including into my back right leg. The Germane Sergeant leapt through the air and landed on Rainbow Blitz, slicing his stomach, causing a good sized cut. I had one chance at saving him. The Kar98 I grabbed had a bayonet on it. I hefted the gun like a javelin and hurled it at the Germane, still slicing at Rainbow Blitz. It hit its mark perfectly, not only knocking the pony off of him, but killing him as well.
I ran over to the Rainbow Blitz and...
“Poppop, did that really happen?” asked the young mare sitting in a chair, looking at an older version of Bullet Speed. His mane was now grey and his coat was in the process of doing the same. She had the same rainbow mane and cyan color as the other pony in the story.
“Yes it did Rainbow Dash. Now let me finish my story. Where was I? Oh yes...”
I ran over to the Rainbow Blitz and saw he was unconscious and bleeding rather badly from the knife wounds, but he was still breathing. I got out the small medkit a carried with me and bandaged some of the knife slashes, but there was not enough to cover all of them. After doing what I could I drew the only other weapon I had, my Colt .45.
Back in the present the elderly veteran motioned at the drawer of his dresser. “Can you get it out of there for me please?” he asked his granddaughter. Rainbow Dash reached into the draw and grabbed a hard, metal object. She lifted it out, revealing an old, well worn, .45 caliber pistol.
“Is this the one you had in the war?” she asked.
“Yes.” responded the veteran. She handed him the gun, and he started again. “Now this is all I had against the Germanes...”
...and they were not happy with me. Another Germane veered off, charging right at us. I got my sight picture and fired. No matter how many times I fired that gun in training, it still had a ridiculous amount of kick. The solder dropped to the ground, dead.
It was then that I noticed that he was running from the direction the of my other troops. And it was not just him. Others were retreating as well, putting a little bit of a smile on my face. As my troops ran past the side trench I was in I flagged them over. They were missing Blueblood, Big Mac, and Denver.
“Where are the others?” I asked them.
Ben stepped forward and said “We lost them. We surprised them in the initial attack, but they we able to counter attack something fierce. We drove them off, but not before losing them.” I took a moment to realize that the ponies that I had been talking to less than four hours earlier had died. There were several shouts in a foreign language behind us. “And it sounds like they're ready to try again.” Big Ben then added.
I grieved quickly over my fallen friends, and then began to give orders. “Ben, Twilight, Rarity, can you cast a shield spell when they attack again?” The three ponies in question nodded that they could. “Good. Now Fluttershy, go help Rainbow Blitz. I’m not losing another soldier.” She dashed off to the wounded pony. At that point three more Germanes were tossed across the small view I could see of the other trench. A second later a large red stallion was standing there. He was battered and covered in blood, but he was alive. “It’s good to see you Big Mac.”
“Eeyup.” the stallion responded. It was amazing how much he could say with one word.
“You think you’re in any shape to help us hold out here?” I asked him.
“Eeyup.” he once again responded. It’s a good thing he was so dependable.
The shouting was closer now. “Get ready!” I yelled over the approaching fire. A group of five Germanes ran into the trench. before they could fire the force field went up stopping their shot, Big Mac and me then fired out of it. We repeated this several times, each time causing the Germanes to retreat, but we were using some of our own ammo in the process. By the fifth wave of them, we were almost out, even counting the extra from the ponies not fighting.
Then we heard, to our rear, “J'entends la lutte contre l'avance jusqu'à monsieur.” I loaded what ammo I had left into my model 1911, and ran off to charge the new arrivals behind us. Then, I was stopped. I looked back, and saw my tail cloaked in a light blue aura.
“Don’t attack them you dolt!” yelled Rarity behind me, holding me back with magic. “Their Prench!” she continued.
The ponies voices grew closer, then they appeared to our north, climbing over the second line of trenches. By the time they reached us, we were ready to surrender to the Gremanes, because we were low on ammunition, and would have lost the next assault. A short very light yellow pony with a slightly darker colored mane wearing the markings of a Colonel approached me and asked in a Polish accent “What are you?”
“I am Staff Sergeant Bullet Speed of the US 4th Infantry Division.” I reported. “My squad has taken heavy casualties and were forced away from our LC, and inland.”
“Your squad is assaulting with us.” he ordered.
“Sir, we can’t.” was my response.
“You have no choice.” responded the Free Polish officer.
“Yes he does.” said another officer entering the trench behind him. He walked with a limp and had a cane with him. He wore the star of a Brigadier General. It was Teddy Roseluck Jr. the commander of the landing force. “It looks like your squad has seen much action today. You can come back to the reserve. I’ll get somepony to attend to your wounded.”
“Thank you sir.” I responded as I left. The rest of the squad rejoiced when I told them that we were going to the reserves now.
“That was the last fighting I saw in the war.” the old veteran said to the young pony next to him. “We were in reserve when Operation Cobra took place, and by the time we were put back at the front the Germanes were retreating in disarray. We were put on occupation duty in a small town south of Paris.”
“Then what happened Poppop?” asked the prismatic pony.
“The war ended.”