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Praetorium Honoris

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Lost...

(Source)

"Lieutenant, hold up." Sgt Stephen Hernandez hissed at 1Lt Nate Paddock who was just ahead of him.

The word passed up to the front to hold position. Paddock, crouching low, moved back to Hernandez. "What's up Sgt Hernandez?"

"One of the new kids is missing."

Hernandez motioned to Sgt Mike Peavey, his 3rd Squad was bring up the rear and it was his man Pvt Riley Taggert, the trail man, who had noticed the gap between him and the next man in the squad. The guy who had been there just moments before, was gone. Vanished. He went with Peavey to brief the lieutenant.

"Sir, I was sweeping the rear, making sure we weren't being followed, when I turned back to the front, McCall wasn't there. I didn't hear anything, didn't see anything in this damned fog. Sorry sir."

Paddock looked around, the fog was getting thicker and there wasn't much daylight left. He hated to leave a man behind, but he had forty others to worry about as well.

"You can't watch everything Taggert, he can't have gone far." Turning to two of the men in his platoon headquarters, Paddock said, "Winston, Romano, check each side of the track for about ten yards out. Don't get lost. Hopefully the kid didn't panic."

Unfortunately, that's exactly what Pvt Jeb McCall did.


He had been moving along, watching his sector, stepping carefully, trying not to make any noise. Then he had misplaced one foot and gone sliding down the bank to the right side of the trail. It was muddy and the mixture of leaves and old pine needles made it slippery as Hell. At the bottom of the steep bank he had rolled and twisted his ankle. Not badly, but enough for him to spend some time massaging it. When he looked up, he had no idea where he was.

At first he thought that he couldn't be that far from the bank, find that first he figured, then climb back up. He saw that the forest floor was disturbed so he figured that must be where he'd come to rest after his slide down the bank. So he moved in that direction.

"That's odd," he thought to himself, "where's the damned bank?"

He moved a bit further on and encountered a small slope. But the forest floor was undisturbed here. "Huh," he thought, "I must have slid down further away, but this must be the same bank. Has to be." So Pvt McCall climbed up that low slope with some difficulty, slipping back a step for every step forward. "Damn, I'm making a lot of noise!" he muttered.

He was, but it had started to rain and the fog was getting thicker. The noise he made didn't carry very far. The two men on the other side of the small ridge never heard him.


"Otto, face it, we're lost."

The older German looked around, he could have sworn they had walked by this particular tree at least twice in the past hour. A city boy from Kiel, Otto Dorfmann had been in the Navy at the beginning of the war, had served in destroyers and fast patrol boats. But there weren't so many of those left. He had been transferred to the Army in early September. He missed the sea and he hated this bloody forest. It reminded him of all the stories his Oma¹ used to tell him and his sisters when he was a boy. The woods still terrified him at times.

"Listen Junge, do you hear that?" Otto froze in place and held his hand to indicate that Karl should do the same, which the young man did.

Not far from them, a branch had made a dull snap as it broke in half. It was damp but it had enough strength left in it to actually make a noise when the man up the slope stepped on it.


The hair on the back of Jeb McCall's neck stood up as he realized that there, not twenty feet away, were two Germans. One, an older man, was equipped with a submachine gun, the younger man had a rifle slung over his shoulder. Jeb's eyes went wide as the older man began to swing the barrel of his MP 40 in Jeb's direction.

Without thinking, Pvt Jeb McCall brought his rifle up and squeezed off two quick shots.


Otto Dorfmann grunted in pain as a round from the American rifle hit him low in the abdomen. He managed to squeeze the trigger of his machine pistol before he dropped to his knees on the forest floor. The American's second round had missed him completely. But the one which had hit him was all it took. Otto knew that without immediate medical care, he was a dead man.

Karl Weber struggled to get his rifle off of his shoulder. He had seen the man up the slope bend over and had heard his sudden gasp of pain as Otto shot him. But why was Otto kneeling now, why had he dropped his MP 40?


Jeb McCall had nearly doubled over and had gasped aloud as a round from the German weapon had hit him in the groin. What he did not know is that the 9 mm round had been delivered from the factory with a short powder charge. It was one of twelve which had been sabotaged by a Polish slave laborer at the ammunition factory. It had managed to get through McCall's overcoat and trousers, and still had enough of a punch left to cause a certain amount of pain. As anyone who has ever been punched in the groin can attest to. The round hadn't even broken the skin where it had hit him high up on the inside of his left thigh.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as he watched the older German fall to the ground. The younger man looked terrified, his eyes as big as saucers as he struggled to bring his rifle into play. All McCall could do was watch as the German K98k came off the German's shoulder.

McCall winced in pain as he tried to stand back up and aim his rifle at the German.


Karl Weber worked the bolt of his rifle and was startled as a shiny brass round was ejected. His weapon had already had a round in the chamber. Ah well, now it has another, Weber thought as he aimed at the wounded man on the rise in front of him.

Weber had trouble aiming his rifle, his sight picture looked funny,"Scheiße!" Weber exclaimed, his safety was still on!²


McCall heard the German exclaim and saw him do something with the rear of his rifle bolt. But he didn't watch for very long. He aimed and fired.


Grenadier Karl Weber's head jerked back, his soft cap flying off as the first round hit him square in the forehead, the next one hit him in the throat, but he was already dead. The man crumpled to the forest floor without any sound but that of his body hitting the ground.

He fell next to the body of Gefreiter Otto Dorfmann, who had bled to death while Weber had struggled with his rifle.


Pvt Jeb McCall waited, he watched the two dead men as if they would suddenly spring to life once more and try to kill him, but they remained as still as the downed tree they lay next to.

"Jesus buddy, what were you gonna do, invade Germany all by yourself."

McCall nearly jumped out of his skin but he recognized the voice of his squad leader, Mike Peavey. He and a man McCall didn't recognize were watching him.

Sgt Hernandez walked past McCall down to where the two Germans were lying. He checked both and looked back up at Peavey, then at McCall.

"Both dead, one shot in the belly, the other in the head and the throat. Jesus McCall, you don't f**k around do you?"

"Your platoon sergeant asked you a question Jeb, you gonna answer?"

McCall hesitated, then just said, "They was gonna kill me Sarge, so I kilt them first!"

Hernandez just shook his head as he stood up, "Pretty good shooting kid, you probably used too many rounds, but you nailed them both."

Peavey looked around, the rain had stopped and he could see the path back to where the platoon was waiting. Or where he hoped they were waiting. "We ought to get moving Sgt Hernandez, gonna be dark soon."

"Yup, let's go. You want to go ahead and safe that rifle, Killer?"

McCall wondered who the sergeant was talking to, then it hit him. This sergeant was talking to him, so he did as he was told. Pvt McCall was happy to have someone tell him what to do as he followed the two sergeants back to the relative safety of his platoon. It could have been him lost out there, like those two Germans.

He shuddered at the thought.





¹ Grandma. Oddly enough, it's also the Korean word for "mom." Just thought you'd want to know that.
² With the K98k rifle, having the safety on blocks the user's view through the sights. By design, as if to say, "Hey, dumbass, take your safety off!"

40 comments:

  1. Another PTSD moment brought on by reading the realism you write, Sarge. "One of the new kids is missing." Just about sent me into a furious rant at everyone who could possibly be responsible for the loss of the FNG! My experience was that right about that time, the CO or XO would show up and say "report!" Son of a Bitch! Well sir, it's like this....yeah we seem to have lost a FNG. And it's never the new guy's fault, no matter what idiot shit he pulled. Babysitting is necessary, but can be very tedious! Amazing too, the incredibly diverse excuses new guys can invent for getting lost, or tripping into the shithole.

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    1. There's only so much you can do when out on patrol and folks are expected to carry their weight. I think McCall can be forgiven, slipping down a hill, getting disoriented in the fog and rain, dealing with a twisted ankle, and all the rest.

      When everyone is focused outward, things going on within the unit can sometimes be missed.

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  2. Talk about reading while holding a breath.......easy Sarge, not as young as I used to be. Did not know that about the K98. That image, lets hear it for video games eh?

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    1. Call of Duty is a great series of video games. I didn't buy the latest, though it looks gorgeous, as it was a bit pricey and the reviews I read on it were not good. I'll spend the money for a good game, but this one didn't seem to make it.

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    2. Video simulations can be helpful in dealing with the stress of a violent fight. Helps to pre-wire the brain and body for appropriate action. I like the simulators as opposed to video games, but "What if" visualizations are also useful. The safety on the M1, while not giving a visual cue as the Mauser does, is easily checked by feel and easily taken off with a flick of the trigger finger while maintaining a firing grip on the gun, giving a slight speed advantage in getting off a shot.

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    3. I looked up the specs on the M1, particularly its safety, pretty clever. I didn't have to look up the K98k, I own two K98k variants, one Czech, one Spanish. I have gone to shoot and realized that my safety was on, no one shooting back but still an "aw shit" moment.

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  3. I bought several M48's from Yugoslavia is the old days. It's a copy of the K98k. That safety can be a bear to move if you have to hurry. Bolt guns are fiddly.

    I "inherited" a Jap 7.7 war trophy. It was sporterized at some time, maybe a better term is "Americanized". I was watching a documentary on the Japanese in China, and there, climbing over a hill was a soldier who put on the safety with the heel of his hand. That chrysantemum on the back of the bolt, push and turn. Clever. I remember the rush I got when I saw him do that. I finally had the last bit of mystery solved on that rifle.

    What a spooky situation, all alone, seeing the elephant, getting racked, and still able to function. Would that be considered a wound?

    I like video games too, but nothing beats the thump on your shoulder, the blast and smell of ammonia, and a hitt where you called it. Excelsior!!

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    1. You're right about nothing beating live fire, but force on force training using Simunitions are about as close as you can get to the real thing. The guns recoil a bit and make noise, and the damn marking pellets they fire hurt and leave a welt, giving an immediate feedback when you mess up. DAMHIK. Definitely induces some of the same physical and psychological effects of a real fight.

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    2. STxAR - I have a Japanese Arisaka, the safety is indeed interesting. I used to look down my nose at Japanese rifles until I worked with a guy who had fought on Guadalcanal (yes, this was a LONG time ago), he said the Arisaka wasn't bad as a weapon. Better than no weapon he said, he used one for several days as I understood it. He didn't go into great detail, which is my experience when talking with actual war veterans. They tend to be reticent vis a vis certain details of their service.

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    3. Tom - I was today years old when I learned of Simunitions used in force on force training. Very interesting.

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    4. Stress testing in any martial art will do the same. I may think I know all katas, but when your Sensei shouts out a name and bears down on you, things seem to leave my mind. That said, always do something.

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    5. Toirdhealbheach Beucail - Excellent observation!

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    6. My intro to the Arisaka was novel. A cousin pulled out our uncle's 7.7 rifle (I know there is a story there, but we never heard it), and we went to the bluff over the river. It was about 30 feet down to the water. I ran to the right, and heaved a branch into the water. We took turn shooting it as it floated by. I stood to the left of my cousin, and as the branch floated by (right to left), he sighted in and I wound up in front of the muzzle, but to the left about a yard. My ears rang for hours after that. And the punch of the blast was quite sharp. That 7.7 round is no slouch.

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    7. Another rifle that's got a lot of bad press is the Italian Carcano. Know a few guys who have them, and they say it is a nice, easy shooting rifle. Great for woods fighting, not bad at reasonable distance. Yes, there are dogs out there, but well-cared for? Everything you expect out of an Italian gun, nice lines, smooth action.

      The Arisaka got a lot of bad press as dumbed-down versions produced later in the war were held as examples of good ones. No. No the dumbed down ones aren't. But good Arisakas are excellent rifles.

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    8. The Carcano in the right hands is a very deadly weapon. The Italians had some bad gear in WWII, their rifle was not on that list.

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    9. I second STxAR on the Arisaka. I have a friend that has one and was present at its firing. It is loud.

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    10. Oddly enough, I've never fired mine.

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  4. I think the Mongols could have told the Nazis a thing or two about using slave labor for essential war materials.....
    Frank

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    1. There's slave labor and then there's slave labor. Sure, the Mongols threatened death to their slaves, but they, for the most part, treated their slaves far better than the Nazis did.

      What's surprising, or not, is actually how civilized the Mongols were, early on. As long as you played by their rules, they mostly left you alone. It wasn't like the Dhimmi rules of Islam.

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    2. Do what the Mongols wanted, you were spared. They were past masters at the carrot and the stick.

      City refuses to surrender? Burn it to the ground, kill everyone within. The next city will surrender as soon as the first Mongol horsemen show up.

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    3. I wonder if the poor construction of the invasion fleet happened because the slaves felt their efforts, if successful, would not be noticed and that there would therefore be no reprisals?
      Frank

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  5. Nice job there, losing a guy. And shooting him in the balls. I have seen things that no man was meant to see in my days of fighting. Rather spectacular bruises, bleeding flesh, projectile vomiting through a helmet... Nut-shots, always something to laugh about later, far later, unless it happens to someone who deserves it.

    As usual, good job. Really ratcheted up the tension there with the whole 'who is gonna shoot first, Mr. Nut-Punched or Mr. Safety-on?' thing.

    And as someone who has slipped down a few banks, during fog, it's either watch what's around you or watch where your feet are, kind of hard to do both at the same time.

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    1. worst fog I ever saw was in Charlottesville, VA, one evening many years ago. Was so think I couldn't see the brightly lit Holiday Inn sign of the hotel right across the road from me, all I saw was a dull glow. Evidently happened all the time there since there were lights embedded in the shoulder of the road to try to keep people from driving off the road. Come to think of it, the fog in the UK on my first flight over was pretty bad - didn't see any of the ground at all until about a second before the wheels touched down. Kinda startled me, and I was a pretty seasoned flyer by then (late 80's). Was on an L-1011 that evidently had very good radar for assisted landing as well as taxiing around the airport grounds. Pilot told me their ground radar could pick up rabbits on the taxiway.

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    2. Beans - So you get why McCall doubled over and took a few seconds to get back in the fight.

      As to 'who is gonna shoot first, Mr. Nut-Punched or Mr. Safety-on?' - stone cold brilliant. Funny as Hell too.

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    3. Tom - Germany north of Aachen, the bit of the Netherlands nearby, and damned near everywhere in Belgium has the worst fogs I've ever seen. My son and I were stuck behind a tractor pulling a manure spreader on a country road traveling along at the breath-taking speed of 10 kph. Longest 45 minutes of my life. There was a car load of nuns behind us, my son noticed tht they were actually swearing, a lot.

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    4. Skip - I've heard people speak of the fogs in that area.

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  6. I wonder how many have died when they need their weapon and the safety was on? Or how many lives saved?

    When on patrol or safety is usually on or off?

    I was thinking that embankment sure could’ve been awfully close to the trail for that guy to just fall off and they were lucky the others didn’t fall off to

    you really get into the detail

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    1. He didn't so much as fall off as he did stumble and slide down the bank. There aren't a lot of flat spaces in the Hürtgenwald.

      Should have a round in the chamber, a well designed weapon will make it easy to go to "fire," good training will make that action instinctive.

      But yeah, guys get killed with their weapon still on safe, guys get killed because their buddy tripped and his weapon wasn't on safe. Training, training, training. Make it part of a soldier's muscle memory and he'll (almost) never screw it up.

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    2. I don’t know how much truth the miniseries band of Brothers had to the actual unit, but I remember when the guy was playing with the captured Lugar and managed to shoot himself in the thigh during the battle of the bulge and bled to death.

      Funny thing about most of those guys. Apparently a family acquaintance, Clarence Hester, was the XO of that unit and in the years we knew him never said a thing about it

      I was in elementary school with his daughter

      I only found out about his association after watching the miniseries.

      Couldn’t have been too many Clarence Hester’s

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    3. The mini-series tried to stay close to the book, it strayed a few times but for the most part was pretty accurate.

      Same Clarence Hester.

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  7. Hey AFSarge;

    That sabotage of war material was no joke, I can't remember if I had told you the story that my old foreman from Ford when he saw me reading the book "Deathtrap" and it was talking about the Sherman tanks and his Dad was a commander of one going through France and a German got the drop on him with a panzerfaust and the damm panzerfaust blew up instead. The Slave labor would sabotage whatever they could to hurt the German munition/war effort. I got chills when he told me that story.

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    1. The names of so many unsung heroes have been lost in time. I cannot begin to imagine the bravery of those slave laborers who did their bit to bring down the Nazis. Heroes they were, men and women both.

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    2. (Don McCollor) [I may have already posted this once]...there was a B17 that took a 20mm in one of its Tokyos. They didn't blow up, they didn't catch fire, the self-sealing held and they didn't even lose any gas. At return to base the crew was sworn to secrecy. Ordinance had recovered the shell. There was no explosive, only a scrap of paper with a note in Czech "This is all we can do for you now"...

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    3. I have seen that before, great story.

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  8. Shouldn't they have grabbed the soldbuchs for G-2?

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    1. Obviously they weren't thinking of such things. They couldn't have known if other Germans were around.

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