Jean read through the document, "Hm. Seems we have been requested to destroy bridges in a way it would cut off Normandy and parts of Por-de-Calais off from the rest of Francé." He then immediately put a single dot of disappearing ink on various local maps of places then burned the document, "Now, I'm sure you're hungry, lets eat! Also, eh, get you some clothes so ypu can eh, blend in."
Katz squad, after introducing themselves as Coyote Squadron of the recently established US Army Rangers, got themselves dressed into civilian clothing. Jared was dressed in a light brown coat and dark grey trousers. The rest of the squad were all male soldiers who were proud to be American yet also grateful they were helping the French instead of having to fight against the Japanese. Corporal Patrick Gerardin, a second generation American/French man from Chicago, was multilingual and fluent in English, French and German with some understanding of Italian and Russian. Patrick proved to be an invaluable member of the squad when it came to being a negotiator and got along well with the other Resistance members, being the only one to speak back to them in French. Once the Americans got something to fill themselves up, they seemed to laugh any doubts of failure away.
Ryan Wheeler landed in Germany itself. He and his squad were all second generation German Americans who chosen for this extremely covert mission for more than just their ability as soldiers, but marksmen assassins, saboteurs, and the fact they could speak fluent German with no American accent. They had German civilian clothing on, and very little in the ways of weaponry other than concealed, suppressed pistols in their jackets and the disassembled long range, state of the art rifles in their briefcases. While Operation Mattress Fortress was focused on France, this was Operation Snakehead, with two goals in mind; gathering intelligence directly on the German high command, and systematically eliminating them. Ryan found the mock Volkswagon that had been dropped with them, and together the four man squad got it running and out on a nearby road, from now on; they were just college students who had been lucky enough to avoid the draft and felt like their education would help the Reich better than their fighting.
(Strange. Firefox can't load EP or internet, yet Chrome can. Weird) Rene was about 200 kilometres northwest from Paris, putting the finishing touches to ensure his grip on Northern France remained as tight as possible. He wanted no foul ups at all. While rounding up any Jews to be sent on the trains, the SS officer was to unexpectedly find himself as the right man in the wrong place on the 6th of June. To Schneider, the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world (D-Day happened on my birthday)
(Cool. Also, you were born on d-day? Man, I didn't think you were 70 years old Anyways, dontcha think it's a bit early to be going to D-Day? This is still like September the year befoeehand)
(Yes, when I was 47, yes. I am...let me do some quick math...380 years old.) Two weeks later The Coyotes got adjusted to life in the resistance, actually finding it more relaxed then if they were in America. Of course, their first mission with the resistance was soon arriving with breakneck speed, and whoever or whatever they were planning would be fairly significant.
Meanwhile, in Nuremberg, Germany, Snake squad had stopped to explore the Nazi parade ground in preparation for the upcoming annual Nazi rally in October to celebrate the Beer Hall Putsch. The group had decided if they were to kill a high ranking German commander or maybe even Hitler himself, the rally would be their best chance for quite some time as it seemed as though Hitler and his inner circle were spending less and less time making speeches to the German people as the Soviets slowly pushed them back. They found a building eventually that had the perfect angle to allow them to fire a round straight at the speech stand. So they of course took up a covert residence there, however, there was one problem; the shot was at 1000 yards away, the sheer length of the shot had only been done a few times in history, but the distance also meant that no gunshot would be heard. They had to make the shot...
"Do you understand, Staff Sergeant Katz?" A Resistance member informed the Jewish man. His first mission for the Resistance was to blow up a railway bridge, with this bridge being an important Nazi supply route alongside a quick method of transport. One such train contained two important officers that answered only to Schneider along with 500 soldiers. The train was heavily armoured and conventional means of destroying it would be useless. The only way to destroy the train and its cargo was to either destroy it from the inside, or destroy the path that it takes. The target was due to be intercepted at 8pm on the 24th September 1943, tomorrow night. The resistance had to rig the bridge with explosives before then. The only problem, it would take about a day and a half to travel across France unseen to arrive in the area. The Coyotes headed out early in the middle of the night, wearing civilian clothing and having only concealable weaponry other then the explosives they were going to use.
Sergeant Matthew continued on his missions, leading the escorts on daring massive raids, and over the skies of France in the largest dogfight since the Battle of Britain in Europe between Germany and the west, he became a 5-time ace, as he shot down more than 10 emwmy aircraft in a single dogfight, earning him the nickname "Devil of the Skies".
The Coyotes arrived at the bridge, which comfortably sat between two tunnels that cut through some mountains and over a river. The bridge was rigged to blow when the opportunity arose with enough explosives to get the job done and alittle extra, just to be sure. Jared and his entire team were positioned down the stream behind some rocks, while one Coyote was positioned inside of the train tunnel, hiding from view with the lack of light assisting him. The moment he gave the word that the Nazi train was coming, the Coyotes positioned themselves while the Coyote inside of the tunnel moved away from the tracks and into a supply room. The train was heavily armoured, as their reports said, but it was traveling much faster than they expected. Once the train was a quarter of the way across the bridge, a powerful explosion caused one of the supports to give way as it collapsed. The train was at the point of no return and unable to stop while the bridge exploded around it, crashed straight into a cliff that caused the entire train to rain fire, exploding violently and killing everyone on board. What remained of the train and the bridge fell downwards and slammed into the river itself. Jared and the Coyotes, once the damage was done, got out of their positions and were left in awe after witnessing what they had just done. With a job well done, they were picked up by a Resistance vehicle and taken back to base.
Snake squad discussed among themselves while eating some spam sandwiches, "You think we should really do it?" Holger asked "What? You feeling sympathy for the Nazis?" Herman shot back "No, but...I've heard that because Hitler overrides his generals all the time, it has seriously impeded their ability to defend." Holger quickly replied, "If we kill Hitler, I think one of two things will happen; someone who lets his generals, who, by the way, have people like Rommel and geniuses of similar skill amongst their ranks, or the Riech will collapse without Hitler holding it together." "I'm willing to take that chance." Gordin replied sharply. "You're willing to take a coinflip of victory or defeat?" Holger replies. "...Well what do you suggest we do?" "Kill either Goering or Geobbels, they will be with Hitler at the rally. Killing them will show that we can reach out to hit Hitler, or it will show the German people they don't have to support him as not everyone does. If we kill the SS chief, well, I'm sure you guys can deduce what will happen, same with killing the propaganda chief." "What do you think Ryan? You're the one taking the shot." Ryan sighed, "I don't like it...but Holger's got a point. Keeping Hitler alive at the very least until the invasion of France will make sure our boys have the best possible chance of success, once we got a foothold, then we kill him. The best choice for assassination right now is one of those two, and Georbbels sounds better to kill as his hands are dirtiest." There followed a silent agreement, "There we go."
Rene walked across the street in a smaller French town, he was busy making waves all across France. With an armed force of around 100 soldiers, Rene and his men discovered and massacred an entire resistance outpost that resembled a small factory in a remote area of town that aside from attacking Nazi officers, also happened to be hiding various Jewish families. With the resistance members dead and leaving very few survivors, the entire factory was set alight to burn to the ground. Rene spotted a young girl, possibly no older than 15, running off into the horizon while covered in dirt and ash. While the soldiers aimed their guns at her, Rene called off the order. “Why did you allow a enemy of the state to escape?” One solider piped up “I don't think the state is in too much danger, do you?” Rene replied casually back. “I suppose not.” “I’m glad you see it my way. Besides, it’s better not putting a bullet in the back of a fifteen year old girl, and allowing her to escape. She's a young girl, no food, no shelter, no shoes, who's just witnessed the massacre of her entire family alongside plenty of other things. She may not survive the night. And after word spreads about what happened today, it’s highly unlikely she will find any willing farmers to extend her aid. It’s setting an example, it’s sending a message.”
Two weeks later The Nazi rally had finally worked its way through the streets of Nuremburg and poured into the rally stadium. Ryan laid down by the rifle, aiming it at the empty podium to make sure he was on target. Time seemed to crawl by as the rest of Snake squad made sure no Nazi got into the attic they were in. After what seemed to be forever, the cheers rose high enough from the stadium to be even heard from where they were, Ryan had one shot, two at the absolute most before they realized they were under attack and got to cover. The wind was dead still, thankfully enough. The spotlights moved to illuminate Hitler and his hemchmen as they drove in. After an agonizing wait, they finally made their way to the top of the Podium, the spotlights illuminating them, almost as if they wanted to make themselves a target. Aiming up and a little to the right to account for the spin of the Earth ans the fall of the bullet, Ryan waited until Hitler's speech hit its height, when the "Seig HEIL" would be called. The time finally arrived, and after listening to the crowd repeating the "HEIL" he slowly squeezed the trigger so that the sound of the bullet would be drowned out by the crowd as the next chant would come at the right time. *********** Victor, an SS officer, watched in horror as blood sprouted from his Furher's hand as he held it up, then became even more horrrified as he realized Goering, the SS chief laid dead, "SNIPER!" he called out, running out to get in front of Hitler to escort him out, who was staring at his hand in almost amazement as it bled, when Victor felt a stinging pain in his side. A bullet had struck him, the bullet meant for Goebbels, the Propaganda chief. Victot collapsed to the ground, holding his side in pain as Hitler Nd his inner circle were quickly taken away as the crowd screamed in turmoil. As he felt his life ebb away as he bled out, he knew he had done his duty, "My life...for Furher and Riech..." he said weakly, then his world went black. ********** Ryan spent only a second to confirm the four extremely high ranking Nazis he had killed and injured with 3 quick shots before dissassembling his rifle, puttng it in its hidden pocket in his jacket, and running to his allies, "Got Goering and a few others, hit Adolf in the hand." He said quickly before they all quickly retreated out of the building, running away from the stadium when they heard bombers overhead, "Sounds like the flyboys got the same idea!" Holger yelled, then the bombs from over a thousand bombers began plummeting from the sky.
Thousands upon thousands of bombs fell from the sky towards the rally below them, over a million Germans had attended the rally to see their leader speak only to find nothing but despair and horror awaiting him. (Göring was essentially Hitler's second in command, the SS chief was Himmler. I honestly found Goebbels to be far more powerful and important than the two since he was the Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment and without him, there was basically no regime.)
(Oooh, yea I got mixed up. Sorry, change it to Himmler that got killed x3) The surviving inner circle had retreated to a secure bunker that shook and rumbled from the bombardment. They took the time as the world above got fire from the mix of explosives and incendiaries burned much of Nuremburg. Hitler shook in rage as he, Göring, and Goebbels got patched up, as they had all been injured by either the mystery sniper or the bombs before they reached safety. "That was...one skilled sniper..." Göring muttered, "We never heard the shot, so it had to be from considerable distance." Finally, a doctor came in holding a tray with a single bullet on it, the bullet that killed Himmler, "It is a .308 caliber round, seemed to have been barely impeded by your hand my Fürher as it was found lodge deep in the skull, direct shot to the brain which recieved...massive damage from bullet rechoses off bone. Death was immediate." The doctor recieved a nod from the group before finally an SS soldier ran into the bunker and gave the all clear. When they emerged from the bunker, they arrived at a scene of total devestation. At the stadium alone, tens of thouhands civilian and soldier death, with countless more injuries, while the rest of the city still had to be cleared out to provide a clear estimate on the death toll. "Get me, to a radio." Adolf quickly demanded, "And from this moment on until the end of the war, the rally is cancelled." ********** Far away from Nuremburg, almost halfway to Berlin, Snake squad had pulled into a remote camp sight to rest after a long night of running. Turning on the radio to hear if there had been any news reports on the rally, the camp sight was suddenly awash with the voice of a clearly distressed and angry Hitler speaking in German. "...Enemies thought they could kill me...kill Germany with a single raid. No I say. No, they cannot. They can throw all the snipers and bombs at us they want but we, Germany, cannot be taken down so easily. We lost good men last night, and good women and children. In an act of valor, Colonel Victor Dominik Voren matyred himself to protect the lives of those above him. He should be an inspiration, a man so willing to put his country above himself. We should all feel the same way, for we are better as a whole than as individuals. Let this...Massacre be a moment of great national unity, to unite ourselves against those that seek to destroy the German and Aryan people! We must unite against the Jews, we must unite against the communist Slavs, we must unite against the West, for together working for the good of Germany and the Reich, we shall have a better wall against the enemy than any that could possibly be built. Together we can hold out and win this war. For the Reich! For Germany! For the Fürher!" Ryan chuckled, "Tell you what, he definitely knows how to talk up a crowd. Come on, turn that [censored] off and lets get some sleep."
When news of Himmler's death became apparent in France and across Europe, all of the higher ranking SS officials and officers started to compete against each other to fill the vacant position of Reichsführer. Had Hitler been killed, Rene's loyalty to the Reich would have been severely weakened and possibly have thought about the idea of commuting suicide. However, Rene was an Oberführer, the highest rank in the SS without being a General (Equviliant to the rank of Senior colonel). With his charm and intelligence, he was already a popular choice within the Reich to fill this new title. Added along the fact that almost half of France was firmly under his control, he also held immense power. Someone needed to become the Reichsführer and take control of a rapidly weakening Waffen-SS whose leadership was turning against each other for petty means of acquiring power. If under the right leadership, the SS could be turned into the greatest weapon the Third Reich had under it's disposal. Rene's mind was set, he would decide to become the Reichsführer And that was exactly what he was going to do.
(Well, unless Hitler goes Hitler and makes a terrible choice in hopes for a yesman, because you probably know as well as I do that Hitler wanted people who would carry out his order to the letter, even if jt didnt represent the situation on the ground) Matthew chuckled as he read the newspaper headline the next day in the mess hall, standing up, he held the paprr aloft, "Hey Guys! Seems likr our ol bombing target Hitler got wounded the other day in our raid escort!" Everyone instantly turned towards him, clearing his throat, Matthew turned the paper towards him and read aloud, "Hitler and several inner circle members reported killed and wounded in raid on Nuremburg! News has filtered out of the Nazi territories that Hitler was wounded in the hand during a speech and that Himmler and 2 other high ranking inner circle members were killed in a daring raid. The injured include Goebbels and Goering! That will give those Jerry bastards something to thing about, am I right?!" "Yeah!" The soldiers in the mess hall replied in chorus. ********** Snake squad, mission in Germany itself complete and orders from command that the intell mission was "no longer necessary", moved towards France. A small airdrop had resupplied them and given them better weapons, and they had free range over what they chose to do. So, France it was. "What are our potential targets?" Ryan asked as they finally crossed a Rhine bridge and into France. "General Rommel? He apparently has recently been given command of the troops in the Normandy area, and that is a definite area where we could invade." Holger said "There's Carl von Stülpnagen, he's the commander of all troops in France." Gordin suggested "I would say Rommel would be a better target, would inflict more of a morale blow, but at the same time, if Hitler were to die, Rommel would likely replace him because of his sheer popularity." Ryan replied "And I heard he isn't really a Nazi, and his actions show." Holger added. "So no Rommel, okay, anyone else?" "Well..." Herman started, "I've heard about this one SS 9fficer, Oberfuhrer is his rank. He's one of the big dogs of the SS in Northern France. Don't know much about the guy, but I know he's apparently smart, charismatic, and pretty much your run of the mill Nazi style crazy." "Hm. That does sound promising. We'll need to find out more about him, shadow him, then hit him when he doesn't expect it." Everyone agreed.
Jared and the Coyotes, along with the French Resistance, both hit critical targets in Northern France ranging from everything from supply trucks and trains to even key military convoys and assassinations. The Coyotes stood in the resistance base and looked at a wall containing photographs of the higher ranking Germans in France, with a red 'X' on those who were assassinated. They were climbing the ladder when it came to the assassinations, but they were almost at their true target, two down from Rommel and Stülpnagen Schneider. ------------------------------ After fears of the recent assassinations back in Germany, Rene ordered his entire group of forces to protect him and to conduct missions in France almost in a revenge like matter. 3,000 Germans came in force, and were going to ensure that France remained under control of the Reich.
