zman007playr October 2nd 2013, 10:43 am
OVER THE TOP
¬By: Zachary Crabtree
Prelude:
The morning was wet and cold in the woods of the Argonne forest in the French-Belgium border. A layer of thick fog engulfed the floor of the thick labyrinth that was the area around the Charlevaux-Mill. Private First Class Frank Disney hunkered down in a large foxhole with his fellow Chauchat gunners and friends; Private First Class Connor Stillwell, and Private Henry Wilcox. The three sat huddled around the remains of a small fire they tried to start to eat what little rations they had left. Disney took a small bite out of the hardtack that he had and looked forward, towards where the German lines were. Stillwell just sat looking at the smoldering fire pit, wishing they could let it flare up to have some kind of heat, and Wilcox was just sleeping, taking whatever time he could. Disney looked down at the kid and snickered, after all, a kid described him perfectly. He was only 18, and here he was thrust into the mess that had taken the lives of men twice his age. But, he had spirit, and now, that was all the men around him could hope for.
They had been fighting in the thick of the Argonne Forrest for three days now, and were nearly at the end of their supplies. Cut off from the rest of the allied forces, the men of the so called “Lost Battalion” could only pray they could hold just a little bit longer. Disney shook Wilcox awake.
“Hey, wake up kid, gotta stay on your toes” Frank said with a smile. The fog had lifted slightly, and Disney and the crew of the machine gun could now clearly see their buddies to their immediate right.
Private First Class Lewis Franklin, Harry Marshall, and Ronald Mattson lay in their makeshift covered position, a fallen tree. Their eyes locked on to the wood ahead, waiting for a Heinie attack. Lewis looked over to Harry for a quick moment before returning his gaze to the front. The two didn’t speak a word but both knew what the other was thinking. They both knew death would come for them in this forest, but the question was when. Suddenly, they heard the faint roar of artillery shells. Lewis tucked his head close to his body to avoid the shrapnel but raised it when he didn’t feel the shock of the explosion close to him. The shells were falling on the German lines, FRIENDLY ARTILLERY!
“HA! How do ya like that you Heinie bastards?” Lewis shouted as he stood up. Watching those shells fall of the Germans lifted every American soldier in the wood off their feet, shouting with glee, and raising their guns to the sky.
Disney stood up from his machine gun and pulled the brim of his helmet up and away from his eyes. “Well I’ll be damned. Hey Henry, look at that, damn arty boys have finely found—.” Disney stopped his sentence as the shells stopped falling on the Germans, and started falling on them.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The shots started falling all around the Americans, Disney watched as four men surrounding a cluster of trees were riddled with shrapnel as a shell burst caught a tree just next to them. “Jesus Christ! Wilcox get the fuck down!” Frank said, grabbing the awestruck private by the collar and yanking him down into the hole.
“That’s our own arty Frank! Don’t they know who the hell they’re supposed to be shootin’ at?!” Connor gripped the machinegun tightly as he huddled in the shallow hole for what cover he could get. Disney didn’t hear any of this, as a shell landed just in front of their hole, sending the group into pure shell shock. Wilcox felt the worst of it, as he looked around dazed and confused. His ears ringing, he couldn’t hear himself think, let alone the orders given by Major Whittlesey and the other officers.
“You men, there,” the Major shouted above the explosions around him. Private First Class Disney looked back at the Major, who, himself, was hunkered down trying not to catch a friendly piece of shrapnel. “Stay low, but for Heaven’s sake watch the line!” Disney looked away from the Major and back to the line, the sight he saw would haunt him for the rest of his life. The shells kept dropping, leaving soldiers in pieces. He saw a Sergeant running from the front back towards the main line. Disney reached out his hand calling “Come on! Come on you can make it, you can make—.” A shell exploded not twenty five feet from Disney’s hole, almost deafening him, and flinging dirt and debris into his eyesight. When the smoke cleared, the Sergeant had vanished. A pile of blood and shrapnel sat in the last place Disney saw the man. All three of the gunners saw this, but it seemed to his Wilcox the hardest.
“Fucking BASTARDS” he shouted, standing up from the position. “It’s your own goddamn men you’re shelling! You’re killing US, NOT THEM!” He sprinted forward, in an adrenaline fueled rage, much to his comrades’ dismay. “Wilcox, get back here!” Frank shouted above the roar of the barrage, but none of his words reached Wilcox. So he ran to get him, abandoning his post, he sprinted out to get the young private back to safety. Just as he was about to catch up….
KABOOM!!!!!!
