Michael Thomas - Night of the Nazi Zombies

“The question is though, what is on the end of it, a man or equipment? If it’s the latter then we can make use of the supplies, if it is a man though we have a problem.”

“I agree,” said Harvey, “if we have a dead man on the ground it could mean this area is compromised.”

Stepping back into the darkness of the trees, Harvey continued.

“Send a group to check the parachute, I’ll stay here with the rest in case they need assistance.”

Smith nodded, trying to hide his look of contempt for the Lieutenant. Smith checked his gear, making sure his Sten was in place and ready to be used. He then moved to the others in the group and signalled to Corporals Chard and Humphreys as well as Private Gardner. The small group of men gathered around him.

“Right, it looks like we might have a man down, out near the building,” he pointed to the location.

“I want you three to scout ahead and check the area. We need to know more. Don’t touch anything and if you see anything you don’t like get back here.”

“Where will you be, Sarge?” asked Chard.

“I’ll be taking Trent and move in along the ridge near the river,” Smith’s hand traced the outline of the ridge.

“We’ll be watching your right flank, if you get into trouble make sure you watch us to your right and the Lieutenant behind you.”

“The Lieutenant is watching the rear, huh?” said Chard sardonically.

“Watch that, Corporal!” barked Sergeant Smith.

“Sorry, Sarge,” he replied, looking downwards sheepishly.

Smith continued, “We’ll move out at the same time, ready?”

The men nodded. Each man checked his weapon and gear to ensure they were completely ready for whatever lay ahead. There was nothing worse than being surprised only to find your weapon unloaded or inaccessible. With the men set to go they moved to the edge of the woodland. Smith turned to Harvey, checking he was ready. The Lieutenant nodded. Sergeant Smith and Private Trent moved off at a pace. Both men kept low and rushed for the ridge to the right of their position. Smith carried his Sten submachine gun whilst Trent still carried the units Enfield No.4T sniper rifle. As soon as the men were about halfway to the ridge the second group moved forwards towards the building and the parachute. This group carried Stens and Enfield bolt-action rifles, a good mixture for facing off against all manner of enemies at both close or long range.

Chard, Humphreys and Gardner had no cover to make use of so simply ran and ran fast. As they had practiced many times before they zigzagged, making it difficult to track them in case anybody had them in their gun sites. The men carried their weapons low and at the ready. As they reached the parachute they hit the ground, going prone and making them as difficult as possible to hit. Waiting low to the ground the only sound was the heavy breathing of the men that had just completed their dash. Humphreys and Gardner lifted their bolt-action rifles to their shoulders, scanning the cover ahead down the rifle barrels. Chard, carrying his Sten looked first to his left, then right, spotting movement where he expected to see Sergeant Smith. Good, that meant their flank was being covered. He looked back behind him towards Lieutenant Harvey, there was no sign of them. All looked good so far. With one last check he lifted himself up quietly and slipped forwards towards the parachute.

Back at the tree line, Lieutenant Harvey and the rest of the men watched the unfolding reconnaissance unfold in front of them. Archer was lying prone, his Bren gun cocked and aimed directly at the building. The Bren was a modified version of a Czechoslovak-designed light machine gun, the ZB vz. 26. The British version of the weapon featured a distinctive curved box magazine, conical flash hider and quick change barrel and had proved to be an accurate and effective light machine gun. Three of the men were also in prone positions, each man watching the horizon with their Enfield rifles. The remainder watched their flanks and rear. The Lieutenant lifted his field glasses, watching the scouting party as they approached the parachute.

Chard was now at the parachute. It was pretty clear that the dark object that was attached was simply a dead soldier. What surprised Chard more than anything though was that the dead man was not British but American. Searching the body, but being careful not to move it, Chard spotted the shape of the Screaming Eagle. He sighed, these men were his American equivalent and it saddened him to see the body. He signalled to Corporal Humphreys who crept over to check the body. Humphreys took the man’s dog tags and his weapons and then checked for any obvious injuries. The man’s legs were in an awkward angle and this gave him a good idea as to what might have happened.

“Looks like he broke his neck in the fall, he definitely came down hard, look,” said Humphreys as he gestured to the dead man’s legs.

The broken legs was a sure fire way of telling the man had hit the ground too fast. Whilst looking at the body a strange, creaking sound came from the trees a short distance away. Humphreys and Chard glanced at each other and then back to the sound. There was a metallic click. Without hesitation the two men rolled back towards Gardner. The quiet night was interrupted by the clatter of semi-automatic rifle fire. Luckily the reactions of the two men had saved them from the initial rounds. They kept their heads down in what cover they could find in the open field.

Lieutenant Harvey snapped into action as soon as the fire started. Calling out to the men he ordered covering fire. Archer opened up with the powerful .303 inch Bren gun, firing short burst of four to five bullets at a time. His companion riflemen put a handful of rounds into the building and trees nearby. Whilst the overwatch unit kept up the covering fire the three men caught out in the open field made their way back to the Lieutenant. By the time the Bren gun had expended another magazine of thirty rounds they were back into the cover of the trees.

Lieutenant Harvey was the first to speak.

“Okay Corporal, what did you find?”

“It’s a paratrooper, Sir. Here,” Chard handed the dog tags to the officer.

“The man was a private in the 101st Airborne,” he added.

The unit kept up light fire but there was no sign of life from the building or the small wooded area. With a simple hand signal the men ceased fire, each one carefully watching for signs of the enemy.

“Who is that, Sir?” asked one of the riflemen, pointing out to their right flank.

Lieutenant Harvey gasped, then realised he was looking at Sergeant Smith who was making swift progress across the field towards the body. There was no sign of Trent, presumably he was covering Smith. As Smith rushed over the field he kept his head low but did his best to maintain his speed. He needed to reach the body, but more importantly, he needed to keep close enough to speak to whoever had been shooting at the soldiers. Just feet before he reached his target a stream of bullets forced him to the ground. The sound was definitely the same as before and simply confirmed to Smith what he had been thinking for the past two minutes. That weapon was not German!

Back in England, Sergeant Smith and the other men had been introduced to all manner of equipment on top of the weapons they normally trained with. Unlike the regular infantry, the airborne soldiers could only make use of the equipment and ammunition that they took with them. Once behind enemy lines they would have to face an unknown number of enemies at any time. Because of this it was imperative that they knew how to use foreign equipment and also to make use of ammunition that they could strip from them or their supplies. Because of this Smith had practiced with the German Kar98 bolt-action rifle, various 9mm submachine guns like the MP40 and an array of pistols and machineguns. His personal favourite had been the captured MG42 machinegun, a weapon that spat out bullets at a prodigious rate. What really got Smith’s attention though, as he lay prone in this field in Northern France, was that the report from this weapon sounded nothing like the British or German weapons he had experimented with. This sounded just like the M1 carbine that fired a distinctive, reduced-power .30 cartridge. What was even more interesting though was that this carbine was widely issued to infantry officers, and American paratroopers. It was certainly not a weapon he would expect to find in this part of the country. Not yet anyway.