Italy
The flight took about an hour considering the plane had to head north and then make a westward approach to make it look like it was a German plane. Trevor and Jordan kept track of their position and they were still twenty minutes out from the jump point. Thankfully it was a clear night with no rough winds which would make things easier for the team and they were at a relatively low altitude. That's when the radio on the plane got an incoming transmission. It wasn't from command as it was in German.
"Shit, that's not good." Jordan cursed when Clark poked his head into the cockpit.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"German command is radioing in. Probably trying to figure out where we're going." Jordan told him, handing Clark a spare headset so he could listen.
"…pilots of Ju 52 transport plane. Identify yourself and your destination."
Clark took the receiver so he could answer. "Ju 52 transport plane enroute to deliver urgent message from German High Command to Lieutenant Heinrich stationed in Foggia." Clark answered in German. Thanks to the info the SSR had, he knew the Germans had a big base in that city and Heinrich was a common enough name that it might work. Trevor, Jordan, and Clark waited to see if his gambit paid off and if not, then the ride would get a little bumpier.
"Roger that. Continue enroute."
"Roger that." Clark removed the headset and gave the pilots a reassuring nod as they breathed a sigh of relief.
"We're ten minutes out." Trevor told him and Clark nodded before heading back to his seat by the door. Judging by the fact that they were above Rome and hadn't been shot down, it was a good sign.
Clark looked over at his team and could see that some were more nervous than others. Logan was hunched over with his hands crossed in front of him, controlling his breathing and doing his best to hold his composure. Logan clearly didn't like flying despite his gruff assurance. Granted, Clark had a fear of heights so being up this high was kind of an issue, but he was too focused on the mission. He figured the other members of the team were nervous for the jump. In the two to three weeks that they spent together getting ready for the mission most of that time was dedicated to the parachuting out of the plane part. Kingsley and Webb were the only two with Paratrooper training which was double of the abridged version the rest of the team got. They had a lot to learn in a short amount of time including the rest of their training, planning, and practice jumps. Even with the training it was still nerve-racking, and Clark would be lying to himself if he didn't admit that he was a little afraid.
Trevor checked the compass and saw they were nearing the coordinates for the jump, so he turned on the jump light. Everyone saw the red light turn on, so they got ready.
"GET READY! STAND UP!" The engineer shouted so Clark and the team did. "HOOK UP!"
The team hooked their cables onto the line before they checked each other's equipment and made sure everything was good. "SOUND OFF FOR EQUIPMENT CHECK!"
"Ten ok!" Diggle shouted.
"Nine ok!" Padmavati shouted.
"Eight ok!" Halima shouted.
"Seven ok!" Solange shouted.
"Six ok!" Daniel shouted.
"Five ok!" Lucas shouted.
"Four ok!" Logan shouted.
"Three ok!" Webb shouted.
"Two ok!" Kingsley shouted.
"One ok!" Clark shouted.
"MAN THE DOOR!" The engineer shouted so they walked up with Clark standing by the door. He saw the night sky and some lights in the distance but other than that it was pitch black. "GOOD LUCK, SERGEANT! GET THIS GUY! WE'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU!"
Clark nodded as the red light on the plane turned green. "GO! GO! GO!"
Clark jumped out of the plane and let gravity do the rest. Despite his fear of heights, he jumped, and his chute opened up, slowing his fall as he descended to the ground. Even though he should be focused on his landing he looked back to see if anyone on his team had an issue. He watched as his team jumped out of the plane one by one and their chutes opened without an issue which was great. That was one problem they didn't need to have. Once the last member of his team had jumped out of the plane, said plane adjusted it course and headed back to Sicily.
The faint glimmer of torches/lanterns in nearby towns or villages along with the moon and stars were the only sources of light and illumination but it did little for the team dropping into the mountain grassland of the Abruzzo region. Thankfully Clark's super senses were more then equipped to handle the situation. His super hearing didn't pick up any sign of German or Italian forces in the area and his infrared and night-vision showed him exactly where he and his team were dropping. The second he hit the ground he ripped his parachute off and dropped his gear to the ground before rushing to catch every single member of his team when they landed. When he caught one member, he would speed them back to his drop position where his gear was and then sped over to catch the next. Even though it was only maybe a ten second window when one teammate hit the ground and then the next, they were in close enough proximity and Clark was fast enough that he could grab them. Doing this prevented any member of his team from having a bad landing and kept them from getting separated. Although Clark was the only one accustomed to moving that fast. His teammates on the other hand?
Clark had dropped off Diggle with the others who were all doubled over and puking their guts out or trying not to. "Sorry about that. Guess moving others at that high speed isn't a good idea." Clark apologized.
"You think?" Halima pointed out, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket before removing her parachute and grabbing her canteen to rinse some water in her mouth.
"Never do that again." Logan demanded. Clark nodded as the others managed to recover from the whiplash they just experienced. They weren't happy but they had to keep on mission. They removed their parachutes and rolled them up as best they could before getting their weapons and gear ready. Clark stuffed all the rolled-up parachutes into one he could drag while the others took his gear. They couldn't leave the parachutes around and risk someone finding them, so they'd take them with them. They were going to meet up with the local Partisans and they'd get rid of the parachutes. "All right, where to?"
Clark took out a compass and map to check their location. "This way."
Clark led them east to the small town of Prati di Tivo which was half a mile away. There they'd meet up with the local Partisans who would help them get up the mountain to the resort where Mussolini was being held.
The small town of Prati di Tivo was a small frazione which was like a small village or hamlet outside a main town. Prati di Tivo was several kilometers north of the Hotel Campo Imperatore in the flat grassland leading up to the large mountains that the hotel and its accompanying ski resorts were set on. After about an hour trek through the mountain grassland in the pitch dark they saw the telltale lights of a village in the distance. Outside a farmhouse next to two-story inn with a chimney bellowing smoke was a young man sitting on an old cart. He was probably 16 or 17 years old, just smoking a cigarette. Next to him was a blanket bundle which was hiding a Berretta pistol he stole from a dead Italian soldier.
The door to the inn opened and out walked an Italian man, roughly early thirties and he had a stolen German MP-40 submachine gun slung over his shoulder. "Angelo, anything?" The man asked in Italian.
"No, not so much as a cricket, Peppi." Angelo answered, taking a small puff from his cigarette. "They should be here soon, right?"
"Yes, if the Americans aren't lost or captured." Peppi said, looking out into the distance but seeing nothing but darkness. "Another hour and then I'll switch with you."
Angelo nodded when they heard the snap of a twig, so both were on alert. Peppi held up his MP-40 while Angelo reached for his pistol when he felt something press against the back of his head.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Lucas warned him. Peppi raised his gun at Lucas but felt the barrel of a shotgun pressed against his back curtsey of Padmavati, so he let go and raised his hands. "Smart choice."
Clark and the rest of his team stepped out into view from the darkness. "Who knows the great mountains and ranges of the woods and forests?" He asked in Italian.
"The Great Butterfly." Peppi replied. Clark nodded to Lucas and Padma, and they lowered their guns. "Was that really necessary?"
"Apologies but we couldn't be too careful." Clark walked over and shook Peppi's hand. "Sergeant Kalvin Elbert. An honor to meet you, Peppi."
"The honor is mine. We were worried you wouldn't come. Quickly, inside." Peppi ushered them to follow, and they did. Angelo helped carry some of the bags inside the Inn. They entered the living room where they saw some men and women sitting around. They were alarmed at their presence but relaxed when Peppi stepped forward. "Easy, everyone. The Americans have arrived."
"Americans?" One of the women asked in confusion as she didn't see all Americans.
"Not all Americans." Clark corrected Peppi. "British, Australian, Indian, African but all here to help."
"Thank you. Thank you." The women and elderly came over and greeted them with hugs and kisses. They were glad to see them and took the parachutes and harnesses. "Oh, give us these. We'll make sure these are destroyed."
"Burn them, Isabela. Burnt to ash." Peppi told her as Clark and the others put their gear down and took out the spare food and medicine they had and handed them out.
"Is our plan still viable?" Clark asked Peppi as he took out a map of the area.
"Yes. We had a woman inside the hotel there. Renata." Peppi said her name and she walked over. "She is a maid there."
"I saw Mussolini there before I left my shift earlier tonight." She said and an elderly grandmother spat on the ground when Mussolini was mentioned. "He was still there and there was no mention of moving him from his place."
"Where is he exactly?" Clark asked and Peppi took out a piece of paper with a crude hand drawn layout of the hotel that was oddly built and shaped like the letter D.
"The hotel has four floors and a basement for the laundry, gas, and utilities. They have him here on floor four in the southeast corner. The windows are covered and there's only one door to his room with 12 Carabinieri officers watching over him at all times in rotating shifts. There are 200 Italian Carabinieri standing guard at the hotel with a man always at the radio station here on the first floor." Renata marked where Mussolini was located and then where the radio man was located.
"What'd she say?" Kingsley asked.
"She knows where Mussolini is. He's on the fourth floor in the southeast corner with 12 Italian police always watching over him. The remaining 200 are spread throughout the entire building but there's a radio man here on the first floor." Clark told his team.
"Ten of us against 200 of them. I'm still liking our odds." Logan chuckled as he lit his cigar.
"We need to take out the radioman first to keep him from signaling for backup." Kingsley said and Clark nodded.
"Where are the entrances for the hotel?" Clark asked Renata and she marked four.
"The main entrance is here at the front. There is a side exit here, a back door here that leads to the Ski station and there is a cellar entrance here to the basement." She explained and Clark translated.
"We could use the basement entrance and shut down the generator for the hotel. Give us an edge." Lucas suggested.
"Have Daniel posted outside the hotel and take shots from the distance while a team moves in from the side entrance here." Webb said, pointing on the map. "That's the closest to the radio operator so they take him out first and keep them from calling in for backup."
"Have another team move in from the back to catch them off guard and then we move up to get Mussolini. Cut off their avenues of escape and we have them. We move in fast with force and get out of there just as quickly as we arrive." Clark added and they liked that. "Is there a truck or vehicle there at the hotel?"
"Yes. In the back there is usually a large truck here. They use that to bring in supplies from the nearby towns and villages." Renata told him.
"Ok, perfect. Thank you, Renata. What time do we leave?" Clark asked Peppi.
"At first light in a few hours. It's our best chance to get you close. The front of the hotel faces the south and the ski slopes face the east but there are cable railways in the area you can use to get close. There is one here halfway up the mountain which will put you right behind the hotel." Peppi told him. "And there is another cable car here that goes all the way to Fonte Cerreto."
"Perfect. We get some rest, and we head out at first light." Clark told everyone and they nodded.
Unbeknownst to Clark and his team, they weren't the only ones planning a breakout at Hotel Campo Imperatore. A special group of the 2nd Parachute Division of the German Fallschirmjäger and the 502nd SS Jager Battalion had arrived in Italy to launch Operation Oak. Its mission was the rescue of Benito Mussolini and his transport to Austria and German High Command before the Italian Government and King could surrender. Led by Oberleutnant Georg Freiherr von Berlepsch of the German Luftwaffe commanding a company of about 90 men with Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny and 16 Waffen-SS troopers joining, the group would be leaving in the morning to capture the location and take Mussolini into custody.
Suffice to say that the mission wouldn't go according to plan for both groups.
Hotel Campo Imperatore, Abruzzo Italy
Clark and his team had moved out from Prati di Tivo at first light which was around 06:00. Peppi and four of his men were their guides through the grassland into the mountains. Though it was technically a few kilometers away, their path took them up the mountain, so it was steep and that took up most of their time to get there. Even though it was a pain in the ass to trek from that direction they had the least likely chance of running into the Italian army who stayed out of the mountain grasslands. The only ones who were in the area were shepherds and the Partisans knew the area well. They would get Clark and the others to the place without being detected.
After a two hour trek the group sat down for some rest as they still had some ways to go. "I'd think this picturesque view and location would be great if we weren't hiking up the side of this mountain." Daniel pointed out as he took a sip from his canteen.
"Agreed. Bloody hell. How much farther?" Lucas asked him, sitting on the ground and out of breath.
"We're close. The cable railway is only a kilometer south of our position. Once we get to it, we take out anyone guarding the area and ride it up to the hotel." Kingsley explained.
"Peppi says at most there's four soldiers guarding the railways. We take them out quick and quiet and no one will know we were there and by the time they do we'll—" Clark stopped talking and looked up at the sky to the north.
"Sergeant?" Solange called him.
"Shh…" Clark motioned her to stay quiet as he focused his vision to the north. His team were on alert as something must have spooked him.
"What do you see, Kal?" Kingsley asked him.
"Seeing and hearing." Clark focused his vision and saw ten German Henschel Hs 126 planes towing ten DFS 230 gliders. "We got company. Ten Luftwaffe gliders carrying Paratroopers and SS commandos."
"They're here for Mussolini. They got the same idea we did." Logan said, taking out his Thompson and pulling the bolt back. Everyone else got their weapons out and loaded them as Clark continued to listen in, picking up on what the Germans were saying. "What's the plan?"
"The Germans are heading to the hotel but first they're having three gliders drop off by the railway station to secure it. They're gonna secure the station and cut all the telephone lines going to the hotel before signaling the rest to come down. That's our way in. Let's move!" Clark and the others grabbed their gear and moved out as three German planes descended to the ground and released three gliders for their approach.
30 German Fallschirmjäger led by Major Harald Mors of the Luftwaffe managed to survive their glider descent and descended onto the cable railway station where they quickly overwhelmed and killed the eight Italian Army soldiers who were stationed there. The paratroopers checked and secured the are before they cut the telephone wires heading up to the hotel. After that Major Mors signaled his radio man over and took his receiver. "Oberleutnant von Berlepsch, the railway station is secure. All communication lines to the hotel have been cut. Make your descent now."
"Roger that. Beginning our landing now."
Mors handed the receiver back and his radioman put it away when there was a distinct crack sound in the air followed by the squish of blood. The radioman felt the blood hit his face and saw Major Mors body fall to the ground from a sniper shot to the head. "Snip—" The radioman's shout was cut off when he got shot in the head, but no sound was heard.
The paratroopers were on alert when they heard the crack of the bullet but had no idea where it came from when they heard another crack of a bullet that killed another soldier. Then six more soldiers were shot in rapid succession so those still standing quickly rushed to whatever cover they could find. One Paratrooper hid behind the truck used by the Italian soldiers when Halima grabbed him from behind and stabbed him in the neck with her knife. She tossed the body aside and rushed forward as another paratrooper saw her. He raised his MP-40 but she knocked his gun to the side and stabbed him in the thigh with her knife before finishing him off with a slash to the throat. Solange came up behind Halima and killed another soldier with a shot from her De Lisle carbine before quickly chambering another round and shooting another soldier. The near silent sound of her carbine helped her stealthy take out two German soldiers before she and Halima ducked back behind cover. Three German paratroopers saw them duck behind the truck when Arthur came from their left flank and blasted them with his silenced Sten. He killed two of them and the third was hit in the leg, so he rushed forward and tackled the German to the ground before stabbing him in the heart with his knife. Padma followed behind him and shot two Germans in the chest with her shotgun before she kicked a third to the ground and shot him in the face. Webb came from her left and shot three more Germans with his silenced Sten as several more sniper shots took down German after German.
One of the Germans took out a grenade but before he could unscrew the bottom, he was grabbed from behind by Logan who stabbed him in the back of the neck with a knife. Two Germans aimed their rifles at him, but Diggle had snuck up behind them and shot them both in the back. The remaining four Germans ran when Clark appeared in their path and shot them with his pistol. And just like that the thirty German paratroopers were quickly taken out. Clark ejected the empty magazine from his pistol and loaded a new one as he walked over to the cable car with his team. They all reloaded their weapons or cleaned their knives as Clark gave a wave so Daniel, Lucas, and the Partisans could join them.
"That wasn't that hard." Webb said, reloading his Sten.
Clark stepped on the German radio transceiver with his boot just as a precaution. "We caught them by surprise." Solange pointed out.
"She's right. They were just here to cut the telephone cables. The rest are making their landing up at the hotel which is where we're going next." Clark told them and they nodded. "They still don't know we're here, yet which gives us the advantage. Once we're up there we split up and cause some chaos. Arthur, take Solange and Lucas. You'll make an explosive entry at the front of the building to draw their attention. Webb will take Diggle and Halima through the basement entrance and secure it. The Germans likely will have someone down there to cut the power so take them out and secure the area before making your way up. I'll take Logan, Daniel, and Padma and we'll make the side entry to surprise them. We go the second Lucas blows the main entrance."
"Time to bring the heavy stuff." Lucas boasted, grabbing a paratroopers FG-42 rifle and his ammo pouches and giving it to Solange. "This might be a better way to go."
"Peppi, take care of these bodies and then go home. We'll handle it from here." Clark told him and Peppi nodded.
"We'll handle it. Good luck." Peppi and his men bid them farewell as Clark and the others got into the cable car and headed up to Hotel Campo Imperatore. Clark radioed to the airfield on Sicily that they were heading to the hotel, so their airplane was on its way. It was an hour flight to Fonte Cerreto which was the rendezvous point.
The remaining seven gliders landed on the mountain near the hotel but one crashed and caused some injuries. Despite that, the Germans quickly overwhelmed Mussolini's captors and all the Italian police stationed in the hotel without a single shot being fired. Helps that they had General Fernando Soleti of the Italian African Police. He was a man who held a big station and he translated for the Germans that if they stood down no one would be hurt. They surrendered when they heard the deal and realized the hotel was surrounded. The Germans pushed in, destroyed the radio equipment, and found Mussolini in his hotel prison room.
The German radioman signaled down for their getaway vehicle which was a Fieseler Fi 156 STOL airplane that was touching down soon. It was making its way down to a smooth, level patch of ground when something struck the propeller and engine causing the plane to shake violently and smoke to bellow out. The pilot tried to course correct but two of the propeller blades broke off and the engine cut out. The pilot attempted to steer and veered to the side down the mountain before crashing about half a mile away. The thing that struck the plane's engine was a rock thrown by Clark like a baseball.
"Nice throw." Logan complimented him and Clark nodded. The team had gotten off the railway cart and took cover by the railway station as they readied their gear.
"Thanks." Clark did a quick x-ray of the hotel to see where everyone was. "Ok. They have Mussolini but that plane was their exit, and they don't know it just crashed. And they don't know we're here, so we move now. Kingsley, head around the front. There are two men standing guard by the main entrance so time your shots right. Webb, head into the basement. There's one man down there. Let's move."
They crouched low and rushed over to the hotel. Clark signaled everyone to go, and they went to their objectives. Webb, Diggle, and Halima took the cellar door to the basement while Arthur, Solange, and Lucas made their way to the main entrance at the front. Clark, Logan, Daniel, and Padma made their way to the side door for their entry.
Webb, Diggle, and Halima quietly moved through the basement which was used to house old furniture and other miscellaneous items but also was home to the boiler and utilities. One German Paratrooper was in the basement, keeping watch over everything and checking through the crates of wine that the hotel kept around. Webb grabbed him from behind and stabbed him in the neck with his knife before putting his body behind some old tarps. He, Diggle, and Halima readied their guns and stacked up at the stairs up to the main floor.
Webb flipped open the cover of his watch and activated the walkie-talkie. "We're in position." He whispered.
"Roger that." Clark replied as Logan, Daniel, and Padma were with him at the side door. Logan and Daniel had grenades in their hands and were ready to pull the pin.
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