Prologue: "The Offensive"
- Tronesville forest, Northern France, Fall 1918
-0400 hours
-Pvt. James McPorter of the 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade, British Army, Royal Tank Corps
-After four years of fighting, the British invent a new weapon designed to break the stalemate with Germany. The tank. Consisting of two canons, four machine guns and a driver while heavily armored. The tank can break through.
"This is it boys!", shouted Lieutenant McGil. "We're in the war now!". Our tank kept driving past the Tronesville woods and out into the middle of no-man's land. Our crew, along with our tank, 'The Brute', was tasked with advancing alongside 419 other tanks to punch a hole so deep into the enemy territory that they'd be force to pull full retreat and be unable to recover. We're mainly attacking because of the land we lost to the Germans during the spring offensives that they unleashed onto us. Nearly pushing us back towards Amiens. Well, it's our turn now to attack, this time with a new weapon. We rode into this war on horses, we'll ride out of it in tanks.
No man's land was the space between the two trenches that makes the middle ground. Nobody controls it, 'cause nobody can stay in the open long enough to count to two without getting shot at. The constant battering of the artillery shells also helped to create a lunar landscape on the muddy surface. There were craters everywhere, you couldn't go 10 feet without running into one, whether it was small or huge. You could even use them for cover, plenty of men have done that when going over the top. I should know, I was once in the infantry battalions that went over the top.
Lieutenant McGil raised his hand in a clenched fist, "Stop here". We heard engines overhead, it was the planes. Their job was to bomb the trenches first to disguise the sounds of our tanks so we could surprise them. It took a few moment of patience, but the loud booms came, signaling us to get a move on. "Start the engine". I took the bar and brought it up, then pushed it down, doing this made a spark that switched on the engine. The familiar roar is of the engine was heard and the lieutenant smiled.
"Right there lads, let's get a move on", he opened a little peep hole by the front of the tank. "James, careful not to get us stuck in that damned mud, yeah?".
I looked back him, "right sir". I turned back around and drove on a hill all the while the tank was slowing down due to the obvious gravity that was dragging us down. But the engine roaored and we were at the top looking down at all the trenches. Now that I think about it, they all ran in a sort of parallel kind if order. "Will, krauts at two o'clock". He was the main machine gunner sitting beside me.
"On it", the machine gun rattled as it fired. The men in the trenches were cut down as we drove right past them. Not knowing that the tanks are bulletproof, tried to shoot at us, but have no effect all. "Sam, get on that cannon, a field gun is turning its' way for us!". The field guns were these small artillery guns compared to what else the Germans used and they could actually cause a significant amount damage to the tank if we were to stay still.
A loud boom went off and the field gun was down, "it's down". Sam looked at the other cannon gunner with a bottle of wine he picked out from the basket. "Oi, Edaward, do you want a drink to steady your nerves?".
The reply came almost as quick as the request came, "no, I don't drink".
"Your loss".
"Save the fun and games when we reach the rendezvous point, we still got a job to do", The lieutenant looked down on Sam with an annoyed look. "The day is still young".
Sam just rolled his eyes. He reached down into the cannon's loading system and pulled the lever releasing the empty shell and put a new one in its' place. "Left gun ready!".
Kyle yelled out like he saw the devil himself, "holy shit!!! That kraut's lost his bloody legs!". I turned back to us with a look of disbelief, "I think we ran him over".
"Nothing we can do but to push on, we can mourn the dead later Kyle", inturned back and kept driving ignoring the fact that I probably just ran over a kid. Rumor has it that the Germans were running out of men, so instead of the usual eighteen year old draft or enlistment, they went lower on the age factor. I've seen some dead krauts who looked no older than fifteen, and there they were, dead.
The tank's engine broke down and we were stuck in the middle of the Goddamn battlefield. "Get that bloody machine working right now", Lieutenant McGill handed me a flashlight. "We're sittings ducks here, get us moving". I nodded and got down by the engine. Ah, there's the problem, needs a new spark plug, not a big deal I had one on me. I reached down and pulled one out of my pocket and took out the old one, and put the new one in.
"Right sir, that should do it".
He fired the machine gun and turned back to me, "good, now get that engine started".
I grabbed the bar and brought it and pushed it down and that lovely roar came over and was welcomed like get toasty and cozy feeling of a fire being lit. I got back to the driver's seat and we kept advancing throughout he field. I think we probably crossed at least 4 miles worth of land. And that was something, we haven't gained this much in awhile, at least if I recall us gaining any at all during this year. We mostly lost land before today.
But right then, as I looked up through the peephole, I saw something I'll never forget, 'OH SHIT!!!!!!', I turned back to warn the lieutenant, "sir, artillery barrage incoming! I'm backing us up".
He shifted where he was standing, "alright, just get us out of here James". He looked all around the tank and yelled, "Sam, Edwards, fire! Use the canons to propel us backwards!". Two loud booms went off and we went a little faster than we would've without it. But the hissing of the shells were still close and I felt that we were doomed.
"BRACE FOR IMPACT", I got everyone to get low in the tank as the shells landed around us, near us, or on us. Though, when the shells finally went on us, I felt my head launch back and hit the pipe in the tank, after that, I started to black out. Not remembering a thing later and clueless for what'd lay next.
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-Location: unknown
-status: unknown
-0730 hours
I felt my eyes slowly opening. 'Where am I?', I thought to myself getting up with the mother of all headaches right there beside me. I remember the last thing before everything else black out was that I was in the Brute with the crew, and....oh shit. I turned around frantically looking for my crew, only to find them lying down on the floor, pale and their chests weren't moving. I knelt down and checked each of the bodies. No heartbeats, no breathing, and no color....Their all dead. It's just me now.
I fell back and hit he driver seat behind me hitting the back of head, "Ow, FUCK!". Then the thought came to me, I was still in a war. I opened the peephole and looked out to see if anyone of our boys were still fighting. Only to find a dense forest and not the lunar landscape I was just in. Bugger me, where in the actual fuck am I? I couldn't be in the Tronesville forest, somebody would've found me by now, and Tronesville is not that dense. I stepped on the stand, opened the top hatch and got a more clear look of where I'm at.
It's not any forest near Tronesville either, that's for sure. Every pics of land by no man's land was somewhat destroyed. I closed the hatch and went back down. I grabbed an MP18 that I swiped from a dead kraut during my time in no man's land and a couple of magazines for it holding 32 rounds with a 9mm ammo type. I opened the hatch again to make sure the coast was clear. No one was in sight so I climbed out of the tank to get acquainted with my immediate surroundings. I jumped off the tank and landed on my feet making a small thud.
The forest was a lot more dense in person than inside the tank, that's for sure. This forest looked so thick that if a man were to get lost, it could swallow him whole. I walked around the surrounding area, careful not to let my guard down. Right now, I have two objectives, clear the area if there are any hostiles, and second, attend to the dead. I pointed my weapon all around me, it found no one in sight. Thinking it was time to announce the all clear, I headed back inside the tank. The bodies were still there and they were starting to smell a little bit. I put a hand on the lieutenant, he was cold as ice. I'm definitely not dreaming and this is definitely real, the commanding officer is dead, alongside the rest of my crew. My survival instincts kicked in and noticed a shovel that was sitting on a stand that held it up on the wall.
I took it and examined the shovel, it was a shovel no bigger than a yard, designed for digging trenches and for use as a melee weapon, how? It was sharpened on the edge so it can cut into the enemy. I know right? What becomes of the human race when it creates only to destroy? I reached into the uniform's shirt pocket and pulled out a little carton of fags and checked to see how many I had. Only 10. I reached down to inspect my fallen mates to see if they had any left on them. Just about 6 or five on each of them. Look I'm sorry mate, alright. But they don't need them, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind. I stuck them in my tunic pocket and opened the door. I took the lieutenant's body and with care, brought him outside. I went back for the others and in a few long moments, they were all laying down in order by the tank. I prayed for their souls to find eternal peace and started digging.
I rolled up my sleeves so they wouldn't get in the way. I had just making a huge dirt pile when I heard a small trig crack. I turned around, expecting to see a German. What I saw when I saw the most damned thing in my entire bloody life. It was a dog, wolf I guess would be the proper term. But this wolf had something peculiar about it, it seemed as if it was made entirely out of wood. But I kept thinking to myself, 'how could this be'? The schools back home taught that the most basic thing for life was living tissue and organs and blood. But here, this wolf was growling at me with almost none of those things, the only thing I could guess was that the wolf probably had green blood, based on my observations.
Then, it hit me, wolves travel in packs when they hunt. I pulled out my MP18 and spun around to see three other of the bastards snapping their jaws at me ready to chew on me like chewing tobacco. "Right there you little bastards. I've had me a long day and I'll be damned if a bunch of dogs are going to make it worse!". The biggest one which I assumed was the alpha male, charged at me, hopes big that his kill would be easy. Not likely. I sprayed a few rounds into the wolf and he was dead before he hit the floor and pouring out this green liquid. 'So green was the color of their blood?', I thought to myself as I watched the once predators turn prey before me.
"Well?!", I shouted at the rest of the wankers, pissed that their leader had just died. "I haven't gotten all bloody day! Come on then!!!". One leaped at me with his jaw ready to clamp at me. Not having enough time to shoot, I took out my compact trench knife that was also equipped with a brass knuckle handle and grabbed the bastard by its torso and stabbed deep and it howled in pain, I held on, plunging the knife in and out, over and over, until the wolf stopped resisting and I was convinced it was dead. I dropped t in the ground and turned to see the other one had already jumped at me and it bit into my arm.
I screamed in agony and reached for my handgun, which was an M1911, which held .45 ACP rounds, i had gotten it from an American friend of mine before the war started and kept it with me all the time. It saved my life too many times for me to count. I brought it up to the side of its skull and had let out a war cry as I blew its brains out or whatever it had for brains out and was covered in green fluids.
I turned to fight the last one, but it had its tail between its legs and ran off. Obviously scared shitless of whatever it though I was kill everyone without once falling down crippled. I yelled at it as it ran off, "FUCK OFF!!! YOU FUCKING WANKERS!!!". I panted deeply and I felt the adrenaline that I didn't realized that I had wear off. Now to experience a wave of pain that flooded my left arm.
"Fuck!", I ran for the tank and went in looking for the first aid kit. I found a white metal box with a Red Cross on the top of it. "Right then James", I said in an attempt to relax from the surging pain that filled my arm. "Just get the alcohol and bandages, and you'll be just dandy". I braced myself for the stinging of the alcohol and poured it on the wound. "Aaaaahhhhh!!!", fuck that hurt! Once it was poured I unrolled the bandages and wrapped it around me a few times, making it nice and snug. I then tied it up in an effort to make it hold. It wasn't going to go anywhere.
"Time to see the job done", I announced to no one in particular. I climbed back out of the tank and picked up the shovel and resumed the digging. It took a whole hour, but I got as able to dig out 5 graves. I picked up McGil and gently settled him in his grave. I got up and offered up a moment of silence for him. He was hoping to get back to his family after all of this was over, he had two boys and a little girl that he loved dearly. No wife though, not anymore anyway, she died giving birth to his daughter. He told me just before we headed out that he had a nanny in charge of them and would give anything just to get back to them.
He couldn't live up to his words for his children, I sighed and went to get Daniel, and gently settled him in his grave, he had just been engaged to a beautiful young las before he signed up for the tank regiment. He promised to marry her as soon as he got home. I then remembered something, the pictures of everyone's families. I turned went back into the tank and fished out the photos and went back out. I let myself down into the hole and put the picture of Daniel's wife in his hands and put them together. He couldn't even tell her how he died, which is the worst part in my opinion, never knowing what happened to the person you love.
I put the photo of McGils kids in his hands and pu them together.
I went back out and grabbed Sam and settled him in his grave. He didn't have anyone to get back home to, he didn't care much for his parents and his wife cheated on him before the war. He had nothing to lose, which made him become dangerous in the battlefield. I was with him in no man's land and he would not hesitate to stab or shoot down any krauts that stood in his way. In a way it took his anger out from the man and his cheating wife into the enemy, I'm not sure if it's healthy, but it kept him from going completely off to the deep end, I guess.
I took Kyle and with care, laid him in the grave. He was the most innocent I guess, in a way, he never liked killing, but did it when he was ordered to. He wasn't married and he didn't have kids, but he had two brothers in grade school that he promised that he would take them fishing when he got home. I nearly broke down sobbing. All these stories that they told me and the state they were all in right now. It nearly made me break down into crying right then. But I couldn't stop.
I went back for the closest friend that I had in this bloody war, Will. He had been by my side since day one at the Battle of Mons. We lost that battle and it was a humiliation for Britain, but we fought on. But getting back on topic, he saved my life and I saved his, I promised that I would get him back to his wife and kids, he was newly married and had very young children before he enlisted. Now, he would never see his wife again and his kids would grow up without knowing who their father was. I fell onto my knees remembering the promise I gave him. I broke it, what kind of a man am I, to let my mates not be able to get back to the people they loved.
I laid him in his grave and gave everyone else's picture to their owners and stood in silence for what felt like hours and finally sighed. "I'm sorry". I let out a small tear and grabbed the shovel to pile the dirt back into the ground, only this time, with my mates in 'em. Twenty whole minutes, and the graves were filled. I and went of into the forest and came back with sticks and grabbed some rope that I had in the tank. I tied the sticks together and made a makeshift cross, one for each grave and stuck in at the tip of each grave. I backed up a few steps to look upon the final resting place for the blokes who had my back, and I had theirs. I brought my hand for a prayer and did the sign of the cross. "May God have mercy on you lads".
I went back inside the tank and fished out the bottle of whisky that McGil was saving for when the job was done and we were able to drive home. We couldn't drink to that at all now. So I opened the bottle and only took a few but long swigs of the most repulsive piss-filled bottle of Protestant whiskey I had ever tasted. It didn't matter though, I just needed to drink and try to get over what had happened. The sunlight peeping through he tank was slowly getting darker. I peered out and saw that the sun was going down. Might as well get some rest. I need to find food tomorrow if I'm going to make it through this. I was confident, so far, it was wolves I encountered, I also had an SMLE MK III rifle that I could use to hunt, not mention a FUCKING tank. I closed my eyes and it was relieving to let sleeps's warm arms embrace me.
