Survive as a World War II Soldier - Chapter 130



Only Noblemtl

#130

Normandy under Overlord, Neptune under Normandy.

The thing that troubled me the most while planning Operation Neptune was which army to deploy in the five operational areas: Utah, Omaha, Juno, Sword, and Gold.

Those who write Canada and read it as a hodgepodge, and the Commonwealth forces including Australia. And the British and our American soldiers.

Should we just send American troops into Omaha, which suffered the greatest loss of life in the history of the country?

Is it really right to send that damn Montgomery to Kang where he’s been dragged around for over a month?

After struggling with my headache, I found an easy solution.

“I was just thinking, but maybe···”

When the story first began, the expressions on the faces of those in the conference room were exactly like this.

“Oh, have you had a drink?”

“I think you ate a bit too much.”

“If you’re drunk, just go to sleep. Don’t hold us back and do this.”

But as the story continued, everyone’s expressions became more and more pale…

“It’s similar to the market or whatever you were imagining last time.”

Bradley sighed and gave his opinion.

“The problem is, how come it seems so plausible···.”

“Ha. You do realize that we’re on the verge of death, right?”

“Damn. But when I hear this, it’s just too···.”

I just shrugged my shoulders at the plausible comment.

And so the long marathon meeting began.

But isn’t it better to hold a blank sheet of paper? When you gather the best elites in the US Army and pose a problem, they quickly come up with a plausible solution.

“Kang is best thrown to the British.”

“really?”

“Then, are we going to crash into it?”

Kang was the top priority and an important place.

“If we take over quickly, won’t we be able to reduce the subsequent damage?”

Bradley chuckled at my question and asked back.

“Have you seen the condition of the new soldiers who arrived this time?”

I understood it right away.

“You’re saying it won’t work because our kids are retarded?”

“Yes, Montgomery is a cripple, but the British are still better than us.”

“okay.”

It was McNair who spoke next.

“We should leave Caen to the British and focus more on the conquest of Cherbourg.”

“I agree with Lieutenant General McNair. Mulberry Port, no matter how well it is built, is a temporary port.”

“If the supply is cut off, we all die.”

Many agreed with McNair’s call that more important than the Normandy landings was the subsequent supply, and that securing the port of Cherbourg was essential for that.

“How could the Germans not know that?”

“They’ll definitely blow them all up before they get taken from us.”

And then Patton said something ridiculous.

“So what if we blow it up first?”

Everyone looked at Patton with astonishment at his words. However, Patton’s next words were surprisingly plausible.

“The reason they are desperately defending that place is because they don’t want to hand over the port. And if they are about to lose it to us, they will blow it up no matter what. But what if the reason they are defending it disappears?”

The argument was that if the port was going to collapse anyway, wouldn’t it be better to make it happen quickly?

“Why don’t we go quickly and start the reconstruction work quickly?”

“Ha, but we might be able to get the port before they blow it up.”

“But there will be booby traps everywhere, right?”

I heard that even in the original history, there were cases where prisoners were taken away and eliminated, but the damage was considerable because things that could not be eliminated would explode from time to time.

“I quite like Patton’s plan.”

Patton’s face lit up beyond words when I told him that I liked his suggestion. Patton, his face filled with anticipation, looked at me and opened his mouth.

“Well, then, Senior, no, Commander, I···.”

“But Lieutenant General Patton, you are the commander of the First Army Group.”

I saw the anticipation that had filled Patton’s face turn to despair at his firm words, but I paid it no mind.

Honestly, it was enough of a mercy that they didn’t send that kid back to the mainland.

We’ve known Patton was a piece of shit ever since he dared to knock Anna out by driving a tank into Washington, D.C. a dozen years ago.

But at the same time, I knew that he was more capable than anyone else and that he was absolutely needed here in Europe.

So I brought Patton in, and I gave him the most capable nanny I knew.

“Did I ask for that much?”

“yes.”

I was speechless at Bradley’s unhesitating answer.

“shit.”

So, even if our bad boy caused an accident, we beat him up pretty hard.

If there were donut girls in World War I, there were Red Cross volunteers now, women’s volunteers who helped the wounded in hospitals in the rear.

And Patton was surprisingly a man who cared very much for his men.

As the battlefield began to calm down, Patton visited a hospital in the rear to comfort the wounded and, of course, gave a speech.

The problem was the content of the speech.

“What the hell? This crazy kid.”

Honestly, if I had done it in a situation where there were only soldiers, I would have just told Patton to spit out a rag in his mouth when I met him later.

Well, guys can have some dirty talk with each other.

But the problem was that while the content seemed to encourage war crimes, there were sane women among those listening to the speech.

“There were a lot of reporters there too···.”

That wasn’t all.

“You said it was comforting? Why did you beat a child when you were comforting a wounded soldier?”

In the 21st century, PTSD has become so well-known that people are demanding compensation for mental damage for ridiculous reasons, but this is the 20th century.

A man with all his limbs intact shouted that he couldn’t stand the fear of the battlefield…

Patton got angry and slapped the bastard, dragged him out, and beat him up.

“It’s not that I don’t understand, but···.”

As expected from the macho era, there were many who understood his actions. However, the general assaulting a soldier was a crime that deserved to be immediately referred to a court-martial.

I don’t know about the joint, but at least it wasn’t a slap in front of others.

The problem is that there are also a considerable number of witnesses to this.

In the end, public opinion was public opinion, but even within the headquarters, there were many who were outraged by Patton’s reckless behavior.

No, to begin with, there were a lot of enemies here and there, so there were quite a few people trying to bring him down this time.

Eventually, Patton was given a new assignment that was little more than a disciplinary action: the command of the First Army Group.

The reason why this is no different from punishment is because

“What, what kind of tank is this? No way···”

“Doesn’t it seem real?”

The armored units assigned to the 1st Army Group were all fakes made of balloons, and the soldiers too…

“You’re a ghost who exists only on paper.”

That’s right.

The First Army Group given to Patton was a ghost army prepared to deceive the Germans.

The dummies, created by a film studio famous for special effects, were scheduled to be delivered to Calais ahead of the Normandy landings.

In fact, the biggest problem after creating this ghost unit was who to appoint as commander.

“If you appoint a mediocre person, the Germans will notice right away.”

“But that doesn’t mean we can keep truly capable people here.”

“Yes, we already have a shortage of personnel to deploy to Normandy…”

If we put just anyone in, I don’t think the Germans will be fooled, but if we put in someone the Germans might fool, it would be a shame to leave him out of Normandy.

At the moment when we were worrying and worrying, the answer that came to us was Patton.

“If it’s Patton···.”

“Surely the Germans will be fooled.”

In particular, it was the best way to block the Holy Fire that demanded immediate repatriation of Patton.

Of course Patton hated it very much, but then he shouldn’t have caused the accident. You punk.

After defeating Patton, who was desperately trying to join Normandy, we moved on to the next agenda.

Once the biggest concern was resolved, the next step was a breeze.

“How to reduce losses on the coast immediately after landing…”

Fortunately, this was my area of ​​expertise.

What are you talking about?

The number of landmines laid on the Korean Peninsula during the Korean War was enormous.

Busan, once the last bastion, now has landmines buried in every nearby mountain.

Anyway, because of the landmines buried all over the country, the army had to carry out mine removal operations from time to time.

“They said they were making a hiking trail···.”

“We’re trying to build a railroad this way, so we need to clear mines…”

“Developing a new city here···.”

Isn’t it true that the more you do something, the more your skills improve and know-how accumulates?

At least in the Allied forces at the moment, there was no one who knew more about mine clearance than I did, and I had known from the beginning that the Normandy sands would become minefields, so I was prepared in advance.

“Will this work?”

Of course, whether my preparation gave confidence to others was another matter.

wherefore,

“The British army refused to accept the award.”

“okay?”

Those fucking Tommy guys refused to accept the special tanks with mine sweepers on them, saying they would interfere with the landing.

They say a funny tank is enough or something.

Of course, I thought the Commonwealth forces would do the same,

“Anything that seems like it could reduce the casualties among soldiers should be tried.”

Harry Crerer, who led the Canadian forces, was a surprisingly open-minded person.

Although we failed to perfectly recreate the mine-clearing special tanks used by the 21st century Korean military, the special tanks with roughly similar equipment did their job quite well.

That wasn’t the only thing my breath had entered.

“Wow. Isn’t this too much?”

It was the last meal before the operation.

They say that even death row inmates are served a feast right before they die, but even so, it’s just a bowl of soup with chocolate.

“That’s why I brought you snacks.”

“but···.”

There were protests everywhere asking if there was any chance of eating that on the battlefield.

In particular, it was the new recruits who were the ones who complained the most. However,

“Have you ever been on a boat?”

“Oh, who among you who comes here hasn’t been on a ship? They’ve all been across the Atlantic…”

“Oh, sorry, not that boat, that other boat. Do you know how much that one rocks?”

In many places, the soldiers began to raise their voices. The voices of those who had survived the Sicilian landings gradually died down.

“That’s why you ate so much yesterday, kid.”

“that···.”

“Shut up and put this in your mouth and quickly gather your gear. You can eat as much as you want as soon as we land. Haven’t you heard that French wine is killer?”

The many absurd actions of the Allied forces, especially the US forces, during the Normandy landings were already widely known in the 21st century.

Among them, there was one that served a high-calorie breakfast of meat, sausage, and eggs to boost morale. The soldiers, who were stuffed with a meal that looked like it would be difficult to digest, were suffering from seasickness while diligently baking pizza at sea.

If one guy makes a pizza, wouldn’t the smell make it impossible for other guys to not make pizza in a chain reaction?

“But wouldn’t chocolate and soup be too poor?”

Even some officers frowned and responded to the protests by serving a meal close to a banquet the day before.

So it was D-Day morning.

I exhaled cigarette smoke as I watched the soldiers board the ship with disgruntled expressions on their faces, chocolate in their mouths.

##

“When the door opens, run right away. Don’t hesitate, run and get behind the tank. Got it?”

“Don’t be stupid”

On each landing craft, the sergeants raised their voices and tapped the helmets of the frozen new recruits. Feeling the hands of the veterans roughly tapping his own helmet, Smith raised his voice.

“Old story.”

Someone who was laughing at their own swearing opened their mouth.

“Still, it’s better than last time.”

“Yeah. I almost died from the smell back then.”

As the veterans had said, breakfast seemed too sparse for a last meal before battle, but now that I think about it, it wasn’t so bad. As the veterans had said, I suffered less from motion sickness because my stomach was empty.

Some of them tried to check what was inside, but nothing came out, perhaps because there was nothing inside.

That was when.

Boom. There was a sound like the landing craft hit something, and then the door opened.

“Jump.”

“Run quickly.”

At that moment, the soldiers jumped up and ran out. Smith also joined the ranks.

The veteran told them to find the tank and follow it, but on the chaotic beach, they couldn’t see even an inch ahead of them.

The constant sound of gunfire, sand and smoke rising from all directions.

As Smith ran, unconsciously pulling the trigger of the rifle he was holding, a huge iron monster appeared before his eyes.

“Tank, it’s a tank.”

Someone hit the back of Smith’s head hard as he muttered absentmindedly.

“What are you doing? Come to your senses.”

It was the beginning of a long night.

The beginning of a long night (2)