Sneak

The soldier was known by friends back in the states as Jimmy the Hand for his uncanny ability to lighten a person’s monetary load. Since being caught and graciously given the choice of service in the military or jail time by the local judge, Jimmy opted for the service. There after his officers called him Private James and his fellow leather necks had christened him Sneaks.

The sturdily structured soldiers strode through the grisly scene. Thick fog and dust with the added sounds of .30 cals and MG42s throughout the city made the boulevard appear surreal. Then, all of a sudden, they hear two loud explosions over head; however, James knows that normal artillery or ordinance doesn’t sound like that. The sky immediately lit up illuminated by two glowing shells over head and instead of the twenty foot visibility they were enjoying; now they could see from where they were standing all the way to the German machine gun position ahead.

“Hit the deck!” screamed the sergeant right before he bit four 8 mm bullets in the chest. Everyone dived for the ditches on either side of the road. Including the corporal, three of Sneak’s squad lay dead in the street. “Rifle grenade!” shouted Cpl. Crainer. Immediately following a shrill whistle an explosion was heard. The machine gunfire ceased and a friendly call of identification was heard by Pvt. James’ squad. A British section had a PIAT with them, which they had fired upon the Germans position.

The Brits, however, had their own objective to take and were quickly on their way. The light shells had either burned off now or had fallen from the sky. The Squad moved forward toward the church that was located about three blocks. They hadn’t met with any more resistance since the machine gun position. While enroute they had met up with another squad from company sent to back them up. All they had to do was round a corner at this T intersection and the church would be a mere forty yards away.

“PFC Clark, take Pvt. James and a radio. Make your way through some back alleys. Take up a position in a building facing the church, then radio in.” commanded Cpl. Crainer.

Sneak and Clark moved off to the back of a building where they found an alley they could move down. After taking up a position looking at the church they radioed in.

“Alright repeat to the corporal what I tell you” ordered PFC Clark. “One MG34 positioned at ground level, another 42 on the second story, and a sniper located in the steeple.” Sneak repeated it over the radio to Cpl. Crainer, who ordered the MG34 and the sniper to be taken out on command. After that, the squad moved off into position.

Standing in the shadows next to the window, was Clark scoping his targets. Sneak was suddenly splattered with blood and bits of bone while Clark was throne back with a gaping hole in his chest. The Springfield sniper rifle fell at Sneak’s feet. With Clark dead he knew it was up to him to take out the sniper and then the MG42. “Take’em out” voiced in the corporal over the radio. Sneak picked up the rifle and crouched in the shadows so as not to be seen, while he began to mouth a Psalm. “Bleesed be the Lord that teaches my hands for the war, and my fingers to fight.” In the scope he took a bead on the German sniper in the tower who was now searching the other buildings to the right of Sneak. With a loud burst, a shrill ping, and the ejected casing hitting the ground the German sniper was dead. Quickly he reloaded a round into the chamber. He swung the gun to aim at the second story of the church. There he saw the two man crew manning the infamous MG42, deemed Meat Grider by the soldiers at Omaha Landing. He had the current gunner in his sights. “Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.” Just then as he pulled the trigger, the area around him lit up like daylight, while he was blinded by the search light. Pvt. James grabbed his M1 Garand, the Springfield, as well as the extra ammo and sprinted to the back of the building just as the
MG34 on the ground level began to pound the front of the building with 7mm rounds.

Outside the building he brought up the Springfield, “Send forth lightning and scatter the enemies; shoot your arrows and rout them.” Sneak intoned. He scoped in on the remaining MG42 crewman and took him out. He continued running around the entire firefight which had erupted by then. It took him about five minutes to circle around to the back of the church and sneak up to the back door.

Most of the enemy soldiers were fighting towards the front, but they still left two guards lookouts at the back. Sneak climbed up a gutter on the back left side of the church and silently crawled through an open window. He saw one guard about twenty feet away looking out another and froze in place. Sneak realized that the sounds of the battle just yards away would cover up any quite noises he might accidentally make. Silently he began to pray again. He removed his detachable bayonet from his boot and quietly sneaked up behind the sentry “Whose mouths are full of lies, whose right hands are deceitful.” In one fluid movement he jammed the blade in at the base of the skull while his hand covered the soldier’s mouth.

Currently on the second floor he exited the room and moved down the dark hallway. As he came upon one half open door he heard foot steps inside. He looked inside and saw a the other look out he had seen on his from outside the building. He again readied his bayonet in had. In a two in one motion, with a blade in one hand and his rifle in the other, He threw the knife into the chest of the soldier and swung the rifle with one hand, which one way or another incapacitated the soldier. “Deliver me and rescue me from the hands of foreigners” Sneak intoned aloud.

When Sneak exited onto a balcony over looking the main hall of the church he saw one man manning the MG34, two soldiers firing from windows with their k98s, one officer in the center of the room giving orders holding his MP44, another officer shooting from a window with an MP40, and several dead or dying men pulled towards the pulpit. Readying his two grenades, he gripped one in each hand took out the pins with his mouth after dropping the Springfield to the ground. “There will be no breaching of walls, no going into captivity, no cry of distress in our streets.” First, he threw one towards the two riflemen and then the other towards the officer in the center. With two loud explosions most of the combatants in the room were taken out. The explosions alerted the two remaining soldiers to his presence. The machine gunner pulled out his pistol and began shooting at him. Sneak quickly ducked and returned fire with his Garand, then aiming at the officer after taking out the gunner. The officer was still firing at Sneak’s squad outside. With two well placed shots in the back he disposed of the threat.

After seeing the two explosions in the church and seeing no more fire being returned Cpl. Crainer ordered the Squad to infiltrate the church. Inside they found the carnage Pvt. James had produced. “Identify yourself soldier!” cried Cpl. Crainer.

“Pvt. James si—“ he was cut off short for on the ground level one of the wounded had raised his rifle and fired upon Sneak. The German prisoner was pumped full of holes by three different soldiers. Sneak, with wide eyes, fell forward over the railing to his immediate death. Everyone watched with horror in thier eyes as Pvt. James fell to the ground, dead. The bullet had entered his neck colliding with his vertebrae paralyzing him, thus ensuring his death one way or another.