15 Minutes of Your Time

[Whiterook]

Oh bloody hell this water is cold! And the current is fast.....almost to the other side. I should be in the village soon, and first stop is the rally point, the old church Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Father Pandico leads the Parrish, and though he's a man of God, he has a fair amount of contempt for the occupiers.....the Gestapo having ruthlessly disposed of his brother in typical gruesome fashion. He's 7 generations in that sleepy little village, and knows who can assist us in our mission, and supposedly a tunnel into the castle. I hope the boys are making their way to the church OK.

[MAGNA]

Bloody British! Interfering in my business operations! If I get my hands on any of them they will be more than sorry before they die.

A paratrooper shot at the village. Great. Now there will be Germans running everywhere and the castle will be on full alert.

I have sent Gavrillo the brute - not too bright but very brave and loyal - to the castle to contact our man and see how dangerous things are.

Bloody British......

[Panzermacher]

Hustling my section back to the castle at the double, I realize the wine was a real BAD idea last night. The veins in my head are pounding by the time we reach the front gates. The wound in my thigh is cramping as we trot inside. Leutnant Schräeder is already there with the rest of our guard platoon, sorry looking youths, and old front swine like myself on convalescence duties. I halt the section before him, toss a salute, and rattle off my report of what we had seen in the village. Lt.Schreder is a front swine like myself, and doesn't take a dead Tommy Parachutist lightly, especially after I described the gear the man had.
"A rescue mission." He states. "The Tommies are trying to get their officers out before the 'stapo cracks them. These boys from across the channel must be important."
I shake my aching head in agreement, "Jawohl, Herr Leutnant. Shall I post my section?"
He nods and begins telling the other men to take up positions. Our one MG-34 is in the Gatehouse tower. I take my section to front of that tower. I hear other NCOs shouting out commands to their men. Koener and Gericke take up position on the MG. They are old frontline sweats and will know what to do if the Tommies come.They have a great beaten path down the road and to the sides, but I am concerned about the buildings to the right. I send a few men into the closest building and tell them to use the windows to watch the back alleys and flanks. Before they depart, I tell them "And stay alert! These commando boys can move like Ivan's Siberians! No goofing off, keep your eyes and ears open! If it gets too hot, use grenades and get back here. Koener will cover you."
They nod and head off. It occurs to me, they are new recruits and may not come back. But I have no time for remorse, who knows when Tommy will show up, knocking with grenades?
"Ringel, you and the other 5 here are with me in the tower. We will support the MG and watch the left side."
At that moment a Droning sound echoed through the still village. It didn't sound like one of OUR aircraft. "Jabos!" I shout out as loud as I can while pelting for the tower door.

[razorboy]

I look around, my arm still around the neck of the young soldaten, now limp in my hands. I drag him over to the edge of the ravine and push his body over, he rolls to the bottom some 30 feet down and rests face down, that will have to do.
Looking over my shoulder I see the young Sicilian I had blindsided to steal the bike from, he is looking at his mangled front tire and looking at me with great disdain. Oh marvelous, now I've got to kill two children within 5 minutes! "English", "English" he says now pointing towards a barn on the outskirts of what seems to be passing for a small village. "Come", "Come" he motions for me to follow.
The Browning 9mm was still in the holster, attached my web belt. Pulling it out and leveling it waist high at the teenager, I motion him towards the barn. Friend or Foe, I guess I shall know shortly. Approaching the barn I can hear a truck making it's way at high speed through the village. It's headed my way!

[Panzermacher]

A white hot stream of lead chase us into the tower door. I can hear the bullets shattering and carooming off the ancient bricks. Several bullets tear through the old doors and wreak havoc inside the guard room. The older Landser at the desk in front, gives a grunt and collapses as one of the bullets rips out a lung. My section scramble and scurry like rats as we can now hear the roar of the Jabo as it passes overhead. From bitter experience, I know what comes next.....And am deafened by the explosion. Luckily I grabbed Ringel and the two of us dived under Hauptman Meyer's heavy Mahogany desk as chunks of the ceiling and light fixtures crash to the floor.
"Jesus! Gott in Himmel!" Ringel cries out as things fly about. I pull him down under the desk as a second detonation goes off and we are tossed like rag dolls. The heavy desk flips over in the blast wave as the old wooden doors fly across the room. More masonry showers us.
Cautiously, I raise my head. My ears are ringing like cathedral bells, and my pitiful little hangover is the least of my concern. I see the old Landser hit by the bullets, his body has been thrown up into a bookcase. One of my section lies still with wide mouth and staring eyes. Killed by the concussion, I know. Ringel raises up, staring wildly about at the destruction.
"It Didn' hit us?" he slurs out,while looking about. I look through the gaping hole where the doors were, and see the bomb crater in front of the door. It was only a mere twenty meters from the tower! We got lucky.
I see the other 4 men from my section moving about.Fuzzily I hear Koener yelling down at us from the stairwell.