Screaming Eagles

^FORTY-NINE GRILLO

He’d never seen so much demolition in one place. He’d had the other men help him load rows of twenty-two pound satchel charges into the back of the half-track while Staff Sergeant Graves kept them covered with the Kraut machine gun. They’d outpaced the rest of the force fleeing the city, only to find themselves on a side road, and having to backtrack.

The trip through the rest of the city had been harrowing. They’d found clumps of civilians blocking entire roads. The people of Bastogne seemed to be trying to flee with all of their earthly possessions.

After a group of men, women, and children were run down and massacred by the crazed Germans, the villagers got the idea and abandoned their belongings in favor of a faster escape. It made for a frustrating journey.

“Here,” Captain Taylor yelled.

They’d run into a squad of Americans directing traffic out of the city. A deuce and a half rumbled next to a building. Men moved boxes out and stacked them on the ground. When Grillo got down from the German truck, he was relieved to see others with demolition patches on their uniforms.

“You the other guy?” a man named Lyris said.

Lyris’ uniform and thick field jacket looked like they’d just been pulled out of a bag. He even had creases on his pants.

“Yeah. 101st, Baker Company, but I got assigned to the wrong outfit. Demolition engineer.”

“Great. We got most of the explosives deployed, and Ankers over there,” he waved at a man who hunkered over a bale of wire, “is running cable. Can you get all of this into that building?” Lyris pointed at a two-story complex that probably housed apartments.

Grillo nodded, and took a few steps back to take in the the tall buildings. It’d work, but only if they could get the explosives set correctly. That, or put so much in place it would blow the structure into tiny pieces. The rubble wouldn’t stop the Germans, so they needed to drop the building correctly and create a wall. Then again, it might just destroy this entire block and a lot of civilians.

“How much help can you spare?”

“None,” Lyris said. “You’re on your own. You got some strong backs in the Kraut truck. Load her up.”

Grillo nodded. “No problem, Sergeant Lyris. I’ll make it count.”

“Make it count, or just blow up a million Krauts. Don’t matter much to me either way.”

Trucks rolled past them on their way out of Bastogne, with soldiers and civilians close behind. While the MPs tried to keep order, there was a panic that was setting in. Every face that passed them was harried. People looked over their shoulders in fear.

Grillo scrambled up the remains of the building that had been partially destroyed, and surveyed the route the Army was using to get everyone out of the city. He found a natural choke point and dropped back to the ground.

“Captain. I need a couple of guys,” Grillo said.

Captain Taylor nodded and pointed out Shaw, Wayne, and Hough. He knew Shaw and Wayne. Hough was from Able Company. He was about Grillo’s age, and looked as green as Grillo felt. He wondered what had become of the guys he’d arrived with on the back of the truck a few days ago. Were any of them still alive?

“You men. Corporal Grillo is going to need your help. We’re going to provide covering fire while you get that demo set up.”

“Don’t know nothing about blowing stuff up, sir,” Hough said and pushed his GI helmet back to wipe a line of sweat off his forehead.

“That makes two of us. Just do what Grillo needs and we’ll get out of this, right, Corporal?”

“Yes sir,” Grillo said.

Later, he’d wish he could take back those words.