Commando- The Complete World War II Action Collection Volume II by Jack Badelaire

Author:Jack Badelaire [Badelaire, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781641196550
Publisher: Wolfpack Publishing
Published: 2019-11-11T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The South Vaagso Beachhead

0900 Hours

Lynch watched one of the Hampden bombers pass overhead, trailing smoke and struggling to remain in the air. Behind it, a bomb floated down towards the flotilla of landing craft, a drag chute slowing its descent. The men on Lynch’s boat watched with dread as the bomb fell, hoping it might plunge harmlessly into the fjord, but several gasped in horror as they saw where it would land.

“Bloody hell!” exclaimed Nelson, staring wide-eyed. “Those poor bastards!”

The bomb dropped dead-center into the belly of a landing craft. The screams of wounded men and the smell of burning flesh carried over the water. Fire spread quickly, and several men tried to climb over the sides, clothing smouldering as bits of burning phosphorus seared their bodies, but only Lieutenant Komrower succeeded, clinging to the bow of the craft as it raced towards the beach. The boat’s machinist gunned the engine, trying to get it to shore as quickly as possible, but when the bow of the boat struck the rocks and sand, Komrower lost his grip and fell under the bow, the boat’s momentum driving the belly of the craft up and over his legs, pinning him at the waterline. Komrower let out a scream of pain as his legs were crushed.

From the bow of their landing craft, the sound of McTeague's voice pulled Lynch's attention away from the horrific scene. “When we hit the beach, ye follow me!” the sergeant thundered, pointing at Nelson, Lynch, and several other Commandos.

They were only a few yards from shore, and the German resistance was so far almost non-existent. A few bullets ricocheted off the armored prow of their craft, but between the pre-landing bombardment and the white phosphorus smoke screen, the Germans’ fire was ineffective. Lynch braced himself for the impact with the beach, and the engine cut out a moment later, so the craft slowed just before making contact with the rocky sand, beaching itself with a grinding sound and a vibration along the craft’s flat bottom.

The armored bow dropped immediately, and Commandos poured out into the frigid surf, weapons at the ready. Price directed most of the men to press onwards, while a half-dozen of them joined McTeague, who immediately set off towards the burning landing craft. The beached craft had dropped its prow, and burned men were scattered all over the beach, while a handful of medical orderlies who’d already made landfall were doing the best they could to aid the most badly wounded.

“We’ve got to get the boat off of Lieutenant Komrower,” McTeague told his men. “Grab rifles from the wounded. We’ll use ‘em to lever the boat away from the shore.”

Lynch and the others took Lee-Enfields from wounded men, some begging to hold onto their weapons even as they were drugged with morphine. Wading out into the icy water, the Commandos approached Komrower. An officer whom Lynch recognized as Captain Linge of the Norwegian contingent was trying to free Komrower by rocking the landing craft back and forth.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.