Enemy of the State

Winter 1944. A few men escape from the Malmedy Massacre and run from the NAZI's. On the run, suffering the cold and trying to find allied lines, the soldiers stumble upon a NAZI secret...

  It’s the winter of 1944 and my name is Judah Razarda and I am the sergeant in command of the 10th Platoon of the 76th battalion. My platoon has been without supplies for 10 days since we were separated from the rest of the Battalion during Malmedy Massacre. We have no food and very little ammo for the one rifle we were able to take from a dead Nazi back at the prison camp. When we were being held by the Nazi’s there were some strange people there that had some sort of weird equipment on their body, they wore gas masks on their faces but I’m sure that there would be equipment under their mask too. I’m now on the run from the Nazi’s and I have no idea where to go but I see someone else running up ahead, IT LOOKS LIKE BRIAN! The guy’s name is Brian Williams, he is a corporal I know him from Hadron Company back in California at the Mountain Warfare Training center in Pickle Meadows. “HEY BRIAN!” I yelled at him, “JUDAH!?!?!?! GET OVER HERE BEFORE YOU GET YOURSELF SHOT!!” he yelled. I ran to him and as I guessed, he had no gun and no food and he looks like he only just made it out alive. 

 We were camping in the cold because we had no fire starters to start a fire and we were really cold, then all of a sudden we heard some rustling in the bushes. “What is that?” Brian whispered, “I don’t know” I said. All of a sudden we saw this guy walk out of the bush and he jumped like he was scared shitless. “Who are you?!!?!?!?” Brian asked. “I am Corporal John Payton of the US Marines 76th Battalion who are you? “I’m Sargent Judah Razarda and this is Corporal Brian Williams we are both from the 76th Battalion as well.”

 So we decided to stick together because we thought that we would be stronger in numbers. We were walking for what seemed like hours until we for a little crevis we decided that Brian better go have a look over it because he was a sniper after all. So Brian went to have a look over and then he said “uhhh guys you better talk a look at this.” So John and I went to go have a look over and we could not believe our eyes. It was a massacre of American soldiers. There were bodies everywhere, they were piled up in piles and all their weapons were taken from them “The fuckers will pay for this” John said violently. “All their weapons are gone” Brian said. “Well there is nothing we can do for them but their death will not be forgotten” I said grimly.

 We decided to keep moving because it would be nope help to us if we were to go down there to figure out it was an ambush so we kept on walking but deep down we all know we should of gone down there to see if anyone was alive but we could risk it. We were walking for what seemed like three hours or so and then we came to a cliff so we decided it was my turn to look over because Brian did last time. I walked up and took a peek over and then I saw about nine US Marines moving in the snow so I yelled out “HEEEELLLLPPPP!” They saw me and asked “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING UP THERE?” So we all came down from the cliff and we all decided to team up together because like all ways it would be better in numbers. We all walked for about one hour and till we heard “ANGRIFF!!!!” it was a German ambush we all took cover behind a fallen tree but it was no use because they had the high ground and all our men were getting gunned down! I saw Loudmouth and Brian pick up some of the weapons to try and shoot at them but it was still no use there were only six of use now and then a grenade fell down on top of two our men but they were able to throw it back but in the process one of our men was shot throwing it so now there we only six of us. I managed to use my pistol to get a few rounds off at the Nazis but I didn’t hit any of them because they were too far away. Loudmouth and Brian both told me they were all out of ammo and then another one of our men was shot so now there was only four of use but I don’t know where the other guy is and them I spot over the other side of the pass with a rifle trying to shoot at the Nazis but he looked like he was scared shitless I’m not sure if we can hold out much longer.

I looked over at the cold and limp bodies in front of me, bleeding out into the snow, the scarlet liquid slowly freezing. “Bloody Krauts!” I muttered, a tear coming to my eyes. I glanced over through my tear filled vision to see a kid, maybe only sixteen, scared out of his wits, holding with white hands his pistol of German design, slowly breaking down and his brown eyes, those innocent eyes, were full of fear, pain and agony. “Come on, we got to keep moving. Payton moved to the right of me, his Hotchkiss 8mm Machine gun on his back, heaving him down. I grabbed the Springfield M1903, pumping a cartridge into the loading mechanism. The kid got up slowly; nothing in his hands but the gloves he wore. The cold was intensifying and I could see a storm coming quickly from the west.

I quickly snapped the rifle to him, my eyes down the scope. “Who are you?” I asked, standing over him menacingly.

He looked scared out of his wits, shivering slightly. “I…I’m Private…. Uh... Pr-Private L-Lou!” He sputtered out.

“Where are your dog-tags?” Asked Loudmouth and I mentally hit myself. How can I be so idiotic?

“T-the Krauts t-took i-it!” He spluttered again.

I lowered my rifle and helped the freezing man up.

“Krauts t-took everything from me, apart from the clothes I wear. Who are you?” He asked, out of breath and had a shine in his eye.

“I’m sarge, he’s sniper and the last ones Loudmouth.” I informed him.

“Well, these Krauts are going to kill all of us, every last one of us unless we can get to the Allied lines.”

“The bloody Krauts won’t have t’ kill us that storm ‘l wipe us ou’f we don’t get a move‘n.” The sniper muttered. I agreed with him. We trudged grimly through the snow, our boots keeping us partially level through the dead woods.

 

WE trudged for six hours, our stomachs aching for food and our canteens empty. We were in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a few almost empty cartridges and the pitiful guns that held them in place. We had our battered helmets which we stole from the Krauts as with the rifles and some of the equipment.

I squinted through the storm; I felt my body slowly shutting down. The cold was invading my body and attacking the areas like a Blitzkrieg. I shivered and held my gun close, still trying to find shelter.

Then, like a cold beacon, I found it. I had found the first sign of civilization since what felt like forever. A Kraut tank wrecked beyond belief and shut down completely, but still a shelter is a shelter.

Despite my hating of them, I cheered as hard as I could and ran as fast as the snow had admitted, the others following my view.

I got to the wrecked hulk admiringly and grabbed a hold on the slippery and cold metal and started climbing up the tank. I got to the top and winced, blood drawing out of my forearm, but I didn’t care. The others quickly climbed up the tank and I scanned over my men. They were battered, tired, sore, and private still shaking slightly from his shell-shock. I grabbed the hatch and wrenched with all my might and a creaking sound echoed out through the cold and we all stared around, expecting the Krauts to come out of the woods, tanks and all. I lifted my Springfield, on alert.

We relaxed slightly and I pulled as hard as I could, and lifted the metal hatch to reveal a bare and depressing inside. I jumped down, landing in a roll and lifted my gun. I saw clearly though and turned around to see a massive hole rendered through the bare metal inside, but nothing was inside. “Coast clear, come on down men!” I shouted to them, shuddering as my voice echoed.

They came down one by one and scanned the area, alert.

I got comfortable, lying on the bare floor and with the helmet for my pillow.

“We either must be close, or in another world, ‘cause this hunk of metal ain’t got here by the Krauts for no reason.” Pointed out the sniper.

“Well I have no clue where we ‘r, but just sleep, I’ll take first watch.” Volunteered Payton. I couldn’t give a damn. I slowly drifted off…

 

I felt a boot in my stomach and groaned but heard a Quiet and quickly shut up. I scrambled for my rifle and with it in hand, crept towards the gaping hole in the tank. I glanced out to see my worst nightmare; Hundreds of trench-coat soldiers marched in the snow in rows of twelve at a time, a Panzer Tank dividing each one. Already five lots had gone passed. “Looks like the whole of bloody Germany is here!” Whispered Sniper beside me.

I gulped; even my thirst for the blood of those Krauts can go un-sated.

“We’ve got to stop them.”  Payton whispered.

“How will we though?! We’ll be minced meat before we get a shot off. No, our only hope is to reach the lines of our men before they do.”

“We have no hope then. When we get back, there’ll be no friendly lines to go to. The bloody Krauts would kill them.” I retreated as far as I could and waved everyone into the shadows.

The Krauts passed within 25 minutes.

When I could no longer hear them, I crawled out and grabbed my rifle. I climbed out of the hole and braced myself for impact of the horrible shells.

There was none.

I jumped into the snow and waved to my team, who crawled out of their places and took position around me. “We go until we find out what these bloody guys are doing. We need to get into the lines.”

And so we trudged through the barren wasteland of the white forest.

 

“Sniper, what’d you sees?” Demanded Commander in a whisper.

 “Snow, snow and… Krauts. What’d theyz’ doin’ here?” I asked.

I looked through my scope again to see if I wasn’t hallucinating.

“Wait, no…. This, this can’t be… We were meant to… to b...” Private started hyper-ventilating. He was going into panic.

I crawled to him. “Look at me, I said look at me! It’s just a patrol. We are going to be safe as long as we have the element of surprise. We need you though; we’re all going to be okay, in our lines in no time.”

He nodded with wide-eyes and I put an arm onto his shoulder to calm him.

I glanced back to the commander. “It’s Just a patrol. We can put them down and take their weapons and through them, we can sneak to the friendlies.” I told them in fluent English, the best I’ve done since I had to be interrogated by the English.

“We just have to wait for the next one to come.”

 

We had been here for the past half an hour and no advance have come yet. It was getting dark and we needed a way out of the cold. I was freezing and felt my body slowly give in.

But just as I was giving up hope, I heard a faint rumble. The twilight had rolled in and with it another bloody blizzard. Man I hate blizzards.

But it wasn’t my stomach.

“You guys hear that?” I asked. I’m going crazy, but everyone nodded and we quickly got into position.

“Sniper, keel the driv’r. Ah’ll take the oth’r ou’n ow’t. When we get in, Ah’ll driv’. Loudmooth, tak’ c’re of Priv’te.” Leader ordered us. I nodded and took position. Man I hate that accent, German and it puts me on edge. I almost put a bullet through his head.

Focus mate, it’s time to escape this hell. One bullet is all it takes. I checked my Springfield and pulled the lever, a shell flying out of the compartment.

I crawled and took position on my belly, shielded by a snow cavity that was slowly sapping my warmth, but I would be fine.

After a minute of waiting in silence, I saw the lights and aimed through the sights of my rifle. The vehicle came by, a jeep with a NAZI flag hanging off it. I turned back and nodded to Sarge, and he nodded and ran up to the side of me, taking covers about two meters from me.

I then got up to my knees; rifle cradled snuggly into my shoulder, and took aim. The jeep came closer, its tracks crunching in the snow. I aimed down the sights; the headlights helping me track them.

“Got ya’.” I whispered as my rifle took aim and I pulled the trigger.

The ancient gun kicked in my hands violently, the nozzle heating up and spat out death in the form of a shredding piece of metal.

I pulled the lever back and a hot empty cartridge flew out and checked out my work.

The jeep screeched to the side and flipped over, the heated metal of the vehicle hitting the freezing snow, the sizzling sound sending streams of gas into the air.

“Gah’!” I heard Sarge order. Private approached the vehicle, smoking and flipped over.

His eyes suddenly went wide and he backed away slowly, pistol at alarm.

“Wha’ ‘r yer’ dooin’ yer’ ‘tupid panzie! Keel ‘im noo!” Hollered Sarge…

 

I raised my .303 Water Cooled machine gun and leveled it with the bloodied man, groaning like a zombie, slowly climbing out. The scarlet liquid slowly drained out of him, shining devilishly into the snow of night.

“Die you little ‘Itler!” I boomed before I pulled the trigger.

The ancient weapon spat out death without a care in the world, the screaming shells of death slashed through the vehicle. I could see the man, looking at me with a pained expression before my weapon found its mark. I killed the machine gun, discarding it on the mound of snow to cool. I stormed up to the machine, my ears ringing like the bells of church.

“Wha’ the heel Lou’mou’! Weel haf’ the whool Krause’ advance oon os!” Screamed the Sarge. Well that’s all that I could get from that damned accent of his.

“So that we can cover the fire our small squadron has made by putting yours truly in the front seat, so the f*****g Krauts can talk to you and save our arses!” I hollered out, thinking the whole thing through. If this vehicle is still in use, we can go there and make a break for friendlies through the camp, talking the Krauts into following us with a Machine gun on the back to cut down who we can. Brilliant!

“Not half bad, maybe you still do have a brain in that big head of yours.” Grumbled Sniper. Always being the optimistic.

“Well, we can give it a shot…”

 

I saw the vehicle trudging through the snow, riddled with bullet holes and a shattered windscreen.

“Damn, they got hit hard.” Muttered the guard beside me.

“I agree mate. A miracle they didn’t die. Well, we’d better check the cargo see if anything’s wrong.” I ordered them. I grabbed my bi-ocular and read the vehicles license plate. The vehicle definitely was a cargo transport.

The vehicle rolled up to us, smoke drifting out of its engine, smoking the back side. “What are your Names?” I asked.

IT looked like the guy was hard of hearing. “I said names…” I saw the slight confusion in the eyes of the passenger beside him, shifting uncomfortably.

“I… I’m Sam and this is Manny, we’re part of the sev- I mean the eighth blitzkrieg, but we were injured.” He nodded over to the back and I checked, to see a soldier, in pain and bleeding out into blankets, his face white and his expression in pain.

“Ok, the hospitals to the left just follow the road down.” I told them and then slapped the side of the vehicle to signal them to go.

He nodded and drove forward, but then floored the accelerator.

 

“Let’s do this thing!” I shouted. Sniper nodded beside me. That was too close!

I floored the accelerator and drove forward through the snow, the tracks of the tanks clear in front of us.

I heard the German say Stop and I just pointed the rude finger at him. Then, a second later, the .303 Machine gun spat death to the enemy. My ears started ringing but I kept my head down.

We hit a bump and the whole jeep went with it. “Watch it mate, I don’t wanna kill all of y’all!” shouted Loudmouth.

 

I was beside the man who would doubtfully cause our deaths. I heard a slight roar of an engine that wasn’t ours…

“Three trucks, comin’ our way!” Yelled Loudmouth before he took cover and I looked back to discover with horror his truth.

Three trucks were flying towards us, their drivers grim and determined.

I turned back to see a break in the snow and the dead forest up ahead and gulped. I grabbed my Springfield at my legs and handed it back, Private taking it and a few seconds later, the sound of the ancient mechanism firing resounded through the air.

“When we reach that ridge we should be in a small town and we can make a stand there!” Shouted Private.

He spoke actual sense for once. I nodded.

Then I saw what the Sarge was actually doing.

“Don’t do it-!” I shouted but it was too late.

“Hold on to your seat belts!” He screamed and we soon joined as we hit the iced bridge and flew through the air, in free fall.

“Holy mother of-!” Then the crunching impact of our vehicle stalled the engine and my body froze from shock, tensed beyond all belief. The world went upside down, my vision covered by fire…

 

“Steady boys, 20+ Krauts 30 metres and closing,” growled Brian in a hushed voice. I lay there, engulfed in the cold unforgiving snow of France. My hands shaking like the ground during a severe shelling from enemy soldiers. Thoughts flew through my head. Is this the end? Will my friends protect me like they said? Will I ever get out alive?

“Private, private, for God’s sake man, get your head in the game.” Loudmouth shook me violently back into reality. I finally got my wits about me, steadying my shaking hand around the cold hard iron of which my Springfield M1903’s handle and barrel is made.  “Keep it together boys steady, steady” yelled loudmouth gruffly.  “FIRE”

 I put my finger onto the trigger and let it rip. I emptied every round from my magazine within 5 minutes.

“Get your heads down there’s to many of them and not enough of us!” yelled the Sargent.  We ducked our heads back into the trench and did quick ammunition count. We decided to throw what few grenades we had left. “Win this war for me boys,” Said sergeant calmly and softly as he snatched a pump action from Loudmouth’s back. Jumping out of the trench, The Sargent was hit in the shoulder the moment he popped out of the trench staggering to the ground. Dropping 3 krauts 2 with the barrel and the other with the stock before long another shot is delivered to his back.

He bends down onto his knees shooting as many bullets as he cool “behind you!” I yell out, but not fast enough he is knocked unconscious by the back stock of a German gun and shot in the face. I had to look away I couldn’t bear the thought of what was up there  I duck urgently dodging a piece of shrapnel aiming flying towards my head.

“Mortar strike” yelled snipes

 

We knew what to do. I grabbed a close piece of metal and sheltered under it closing my eyes trying to block out the sound of crying krauts. The bombing shortly stopped a 3 men and a woman leaped down from the top of the trench knocking me and my remaining friends out cold. We slowly awoke in a dark storeroom I had no idea how long I was out for.

“Which one of you Krauts is going to start talking first ehh?”

 A talking man with hair as bright as the sun with what seemed to be an Irish accent paced up and down in front of me and the others

“Were not krauts!”

Yelled snipes “then who. Are. You?” he said sternly but curiously I think snipes noticed his badge as did I

 “We are a part of the 76th battalion sir!”

“That’s more like it” he said in a rising tone.

He untied the ropes from around us. It wasn’.t until they were removed that I really realized how tight they were it was like the deadly vice of a tiger snake.

We all stood up and saluted this valiant man and his accomplices.

“You boys got names?” asked the Irishmen curiously.

I stood forward and said “yes sir, my name is Lou, Lou Tenant formally known as private. This is Payton but we all call him loud mouth and this is snipes, the talented one.” 

“My name is Keevan, they call me Irish. This is drake and Blake. Identical twins as you can see, and last but certainly not least Sharnie the brains and the pyrotechnic they all nodded.

 

Irish happily handed us all our guns back and said “the krauts are planning to destroy the Hampshire bridge tonight at midnight that is our only lay back behind friendly line we must protect the bridge.

I began to wonder how he knew all this but it occupied next to no time in my mind. “We move out in 40 minutes stock and ready up” said Blake;

 He was built like a brick house. We all got into the back of his stolen truck and began the drive to Hampshire Bridge. It was only 10:00 so we placed ourselves strategically under cover on the bridge I was and the back covering Loudmouth’s a*s, alongside snipes. And Irish was at the very front of the bridge with Sharnie setting timed grenades. With drake and Blake on lookout as the clock struck 12 we heard the thunderous footsteps of our enemy this is the end I thought to myself I got nervous and let off a shot into the air

 “What the hell are you doing? We can’t lose you, not yet.”

As the first wave of krauts were in site the fell to the ground instantly the loud boom of grenades left a ringing in my ear and could smell nothing but wet rubble and blood. Another wave was inbound the roaring sound of Loudmouths sickening laugh and gun didn’t help my ringing ear but all that aside I aimed down the sight and shot my gun. It was something I had done 1 hundred times before, but this time felt different I felt I was back at the shooting rang range blowing holes in the targets. I guess I can’t complain I mean I was missing very few shots then I was snapped out of my vision from a loud boom of a jam jar grenade the Loudmouth had jumped on to protect me he was lying there as still and a pond deep in the wilderness on a winters misty morning his guts emptied over his hand I gently closed his eyes and said to myself

 I will win the for you Loudmouth

I picked up his 303 and unloaded

I every bullet was just merely an empty shell on the ground, next to fall was Blake he was shot in the shoulder and he stammered to the ground

“NO” yelled drake in anger dropping his gun and fending of Krauts with his bare hand leaping to his brothers aid only to be shot in the chest leaving them both lying here lifeless for their country arm in arm. Not a bad way to die I thought know I was sure that I would be next but something extraordinary thing happened the krauts were falling back running tripping and falling to get out of the way of our endless fire. Sharnie set 18 grenades on the bridge and we got into the truck and drove back behind friendly lines this would have to be the happiest day of my life I said to myself. I got out of the truck and was greeted by a corporal Anderson “good to have you back private” he said to me.