David Healey - Ardennes Sniper

Jolie returned to France a few days after the fight at La Gleize, when an irate Colonel Akers had found out that a French civilian — and a single female at that — was in a combat zone and traveling with a sniper squad. He had shipped her out with the truckloads of wounded from the Ardennes Forest. Jolie did not complain — seeing the young Belgian girl killed at the church outside La Gleize had spilled cold water on her fighting spirit. She still wrote to Cole.

He still saved the letters, even if he couldn’t read them.

The incident involving Jolie had not improved Lieutenant Mulholland’s chances for promotion.

But now here the snipers were, ready to cross the Rhine.

“I can’t believe we’re in Germany,” said Vaccaro, expressing how they all felt. “Germany.”

“It don’t mean the war’s over,” said Cole. That was a fact — there had been plenty of hard fighting through the first few weeks of 1945. They might be on German soil, but Cole knew well enough that a cornered beast could be very dangerous. A few fanatical German troops didn’t seem to have gotten the message that the war was almost over. Most worrisome were the Hitler youth boys holed up with their rifles in church steeples, trees, and tall buildings. The poor dumb kids had been brainwashed all their lives and were ready to die for the Fatherland. A preferred tactic was to let American troops pass by and then shoot them in the back. It was the job of the American snipers to eradicate that threat.

Vaccaro had more to add. “I can’t wait to have some beer and sausages in downtown Berlin. Maybe some weinerwurst, weisswurst, bratwurst, schnitzel—”

“Shut up, Vaccaro,” Cole said, shaking his head. “The Russians will get to Berlin before we do. You’ll be lucky if there’s so much as a pretzel left when they get through. I don’t trust them damn Russians one bit. And don’t forget that there are a lot of Germans between here and there.”

Cole got a strong grip on his rifle and walked on.

Ardennes Sniper was inspired by events surrounding the Battle of the Bulge that took place in the rugged Ardennes region of Belgium from December 1944 to January 1945. However, in writing this book, I have taken a few liberties with geography and the timeline of events to better suit the storytelling format of a novel.

Many of the events in the novel are based on actual history, particularly the terrible massacre of American troops near Malmedy, Belgium. There remains some controversy even today about how and why the massacre took place. What can’t be disputed is that more than eighty unarmed American POWs were killed there.

Kampfgruppe Friel is a fictitious unit and the commander and other soldiers are invented characters.

All too real is the fact that soldiers on both sides suffered in the bitter cold, and thousands lost their lives in the fighting.

For those who would like to read more about the Battle of the Bulge, there are several fascinating nonfiction histories of the battle and of events at Malmedy. I would also recommend William Peter Grasso’s excellent novels in the Jock Miles WW2 Adventure Series. Fans of World War II fiction will also enjoy the historical novels by David L. Robbins, including War of the Rats.

Finally, I want to thank all those who had a hand in producing or editing this book, especially Aidan, Mary, Joanne, Marianne, and Michael, as well as the many readers of Ghost Sniper who encouraged this follow-up story.

David Healey lives in Maryland where he worked as a journalist for more than twenty years. He is a member of the International Thriller Writers and a frequent contributor to The Big Thrill magazine. Visit him online at www.davidhealey.netor www.facebook.com/david.healey.books