The first line of soldiers dropped dead and the rest panicked and ran for cover. The group approaching the bridge suppressed them as they walked closer.
"Those aren't the 31st! Shoot back goddamn it!" Edward shouts from behind cover.
"Hilbert! Get on those guns!" Jacques shouts as he fires his gun at the enemy.
Hilbert nodded and immediately started gunning down the enemy soldiers. Riddling them with bullets before they could run to cover, this allowed the others to also shoot back at the enemies.
"Captain, the rally is red hot right now." Tristan states.
"What do you mean? I thought they already secured it." Richard replies as he looks out the window.
"Richard, we should help out the major." Eugene added.
"We will. Tristan, tell everyone that we're crossing the river to flank the enemy. Inform the Major on the radio too." Richard orders.
Tristan rallies the men and asks the radioman to inform the group on the bridge about the flank. They didn't waste a second and immediately crossed the river despite it being deep enough to reach their necks.
"Major, 1st platoon said that they're going to flank the enemy from the south and warned us to watch our fire!" The radioman shouted.
"Richard and the others are going to be coming up on the right side! Watch your fire!" Jacques exclaimed.
Eugene was too short but this didn't let them stop, Richard decided to carry him on his back to the other side of the river. Once on the other side, they climbed the slope and crept up on the enemy's flank.
"Take aim and fire at will!" Richard shouts as he squeezed the trigger of his gun.
Hilbert shifted his fire to the enemy's left flank to draw them closer to the road and towards Richard's platoon. One by one, the enemies dropped like flies and the 116th started to gain a foothold.
"Major! The 31st are on the radio!" The radioman shouts as he hands the radio to Jacques.
"Where the hell are you!? We need more men on this bridge!" *Jacques exclaimed as he hid from enemy gunfire behind a pillar.
"How many are they? They just keep on coming." Edward states as he shoots back.
"You over shot by a click northeast, turn around and head southwest." Jacques replied as he looks at his map.
Richard and his platoon didn't let the enemies get a chance to organize themselves. They would keep moving by the treeline under the cover of darkness while shooting at the disorientated enemy force.
"Keep shooting! Pour it at 'em!" Tristan shouts to the others.
"Stay low and give them everything you got!" Richard added as he loads a new magazine.
Hilbert hopped off the machine gun as it ran out of ammo and climbed up a section of the bridge to shoot from. Every shot he took would hit a target, his every shot looked effortless. He was almost invisible with the help of his suppressor, the last thing an enemy soldier would hear before dying would be the bullet entering their body. A true perfect specimen of the program Doctor Fenrich supervised, a killing machine that was under the control of Lanston.
"Major, there's movement on the left." Edward states.
"That's the 31st. Watch your fire! We have friendlies on both flanks!" Jacques exclaimed.
The enemy force was now outnumbered and almost surrounded but they had no choice but to stand their ground. It now became a shooting gallery for the Lanstonians, like shooting fish in a barrel. The sun was now rising slowly from the horizon and it brightened everything by a little bit. Hilbert was now visible so he climbed back down before a sudden explosion was heard in the distance followed by an explosion on the enemy's position.
"Well hello 18th armored. Fucking late for the party." Richard chuckled.
"It's a beautiful sight alright. The big cats are here to play!" Edward cheers as the buzzing noise of the MG-42s ripped through the air.
The tanks rolled up on the bridge and the enemy began to retreat but were either riddled with bullets or blown to pieces by the tank's main guns.
"Roger! You're late!" Jacques shouted as he ran towards the tank in front of the convoy.
"I'm right on time, what are you talking about?" Roger asks as he climbs up the tank's hatch.
"What took you so bloody long?" Jacques asks him.
"A massive traffic jam back there, you're lucky you left ahead and missed out." Roger replies as he brushed his silver hair back.
The invasion was so sudden that all the roads became congested with military vehicles added with them being slowed down because of the unfamiliar terrain. This also weakened the chain of command since it was harder for information to keep moving because of the congestion.
"How about the 31st? When did they get here?" Roger inquires.
"A few hours ago, they read the map wrong and went too far north." Jacques replied while slinging his gun behind him.
"We got disorientated earlier during the jump and got scattered so far away from objective. This isn't even half of the 31st yet." Henry commented.
The three officers discussed their current situation and how they could work around it while the others regrouped. Richard's platoon merged back with the others from the 116th, they helped carry the wounded and dead back to the trucks.
"We didn't suffer as much as the landing on the beach but if you add it up, we're down to half of what our divisions was originally at." Richard tells Eugene.
"It's hard, one moment you're laughing and having fun then you'll be burrying the same people by the next moment. I'm still not used to it." Eugene replied.
"War is hell but you gotta see the good things about it too. I sure did." Richard looked towards Eugene and smiled.
"You're only saying that so I won't get scared." Eugene states before looking away as his cheeks warmed up.
"Oi! Let's go take a picture with the tank!" Tristan shouted.
"Shut up, you mood killer!" Richard and Eugene shouted in unison at Tristan.