The Longboats

I had Sigrun take charge of the flanking move with about ten thousand more troops from up north. He organized them and got them into the boats and barges then sent me a message that said only one thing.

“To Valhalla!”

We have been using rockets to light up no man’s land between our trenches and the Greeks but they only lasted between three and five seconds because the parachutes would burn up, causing the flair to drop to the ground. I was going to use twelve rockets, fired at the same time, to be the signal to commence the attack. Messages have been pouring in from all fronts saying they were standing by. Hagan was in place off the coast of Amsterdam and I received a message from our men that were with the Romans saying they were ready and only ten minutes from landing. My heart was pounding furiously with my blood rushing to my head in anticipation of either success or failure. If we failed it meant all our assets were committed and there was only retreat as a matter of course.

I took one last look along the trench line at my soldiers. I could see their glistening helmets from the morning dew in the moon light then I heard the final order given in the trench before they left.

“FIX BAYONETS!” I heard the clicking and clacking of the bayonets being forced onto the end of their rifles. The order was echoed along both sides of the trench until it faded out of hearing.

“Fire the rockets!” I said to my aid next to me, then took a deep breath and held it.

I heard the hissing of twelve rockets then saw their sparkly trail rise into the early morning semi dark sky. The sun was just starting to show its presents on the horizon but the popping of the flairs showed, briefly, the faces around me staring intently forward with determined looks. All soldiers leaned against the forward trench wall, rifles held tightly with both hands, waiting for the command to ‘go over the top’ as they said in World War one. Glancing forward, I saw the ground to our front empty, I stepped back, and hanging my head to look at my feet, then yelled the order.

“OVER THE TOP TO VALHALLA!” I yelled.

There was a massive battle cry of the Norse, howls, yelps and barking as they scrambled up the side of the trench into the open. All most immediately the Greek rifles and machine guns began their cracking of death. I could hear cries of wounded and killed as soon as they went into the enemy kill zone, which was a foot from the edge of our trench. Looking both left and right down the trench, I saw it was virtually empty, only the communicators and a few Corpsmen remained peering over the top of the parapet out of curiosity. Our artillery began their bombardment with their shells flying overhead like rockets on fire, sailing towards the enemy lines. Seconds later I heard their report with explosions all along the Greek trench line with the very ground under my feet shaking with such fire power.

Looking over the top of the parapet I saw my troops in the flashing's of exploding artillery shells still advancing but the ground was littered with our casualties. Wounded and dead lay where they fell and it seemed too many were there. Too many of my soldiers were getting killed and wounded. I yelled at them from my position.

“RUN! RUN FORWARD! RUUUUN!” I wanted them to hurry and get out of the line of enemy fire but I knew they could not hear me.

The flashes of our artillery grew in intensity with at least two explosions every second on the Greek lines. I looked to our rear and saw our line of artillery was nothing but blinking lights along a half a mile front as well as our second line of troops advancing as they passed through my trench. Our new guns as well as the Parrot rifles were firing as fast as they could reload. I couldn’t see the crews but I knew they were frantic as they continued to fire and reload. Looking back to the front I could see our soldiers had gained enough ground that they should be at or near the Greek trenches. Then our artillery stopped and I knew our soldiers were in the enemy positions. A message must have been sent to Ralf to cease fire, as was the plane as we attack the Greek lines. The second line of troops climbed over the top to advance five hundred yards behind the main attack wave.

“Message from Hagan, sir!” A communicator handed me a piece of paper.

‘We have landed and met heavy resistance. All shore batteries destroyed.’

I started receiving messages from all seven of my communicators.

Sigrun said he has met heavy fighting but they took most of the docks. Hagan reported his ships were firing support behind the city. Reinforcements were gathering south of the city but he did not know how many. My troops with the Romans said they have little to no enemy contact as they landed near The Hague. From our front I read we have taken the Greek front line trench but resistance was heavy. Casualties were heavy in the center.

Gerhold reported his forces with nominal resistance and pushing forward with his flank closing the door on the Greek right. Klaus reported in saying his forces have met and are attacking the Greeks. They are south of Amsterdam! What are they doing? What enemy contact do they have? How many Greek forces are there? I sent messages to Klaus asking these questions and wanting a situation report of his forces.

A communicator handed me another report from Sigrun; ‘Situation good. Enemy falling back to the south into the Saxons.’

So what are the Saxons doing I wondered.

“Anything from the Saxons yet?” I asked and they said there was nothing.

“Send a message to Sigrun. Ask him if he can see the Saxons yet.”

Yngvildr came and stood next to me.

“The Hardcore are standing by.” She said, and then sat next to me peering into my face as I looked at her as if she was not there.

“Message from the Saxons, sir!” I grabbed the paper and read it quickly.

‘Saxon casualties heavy. Greek attack from the north.’

“Tell him the Greeks are falling back from our attack and to hold position.”

I stood and paced back and forth waiting for answers. Yngvildr moved to the side of the trench as I needed room to walk back and forth, I couldn’t sit down any more. I felt my heart racing at the thought of my soldiers out there and I was not with them.

“Start reading these to me instead of handing me the message,” I said as I turned one way then the other.

“Saxons say they are falling back to Utrecht!” A communicator said.

“NOOOO!” I yelled at the communicator.

“Tell them to HOLD THEIR GROUND!” I took a deep breath. “Tell Klaus that Sigrid is on his way to him right now. If he falls back he will be destroyed.”

“By the GODS!” I yelled looking up. “I need our Hardcore but you are too far behind the lines to be effective.”

Yngvildr stood up, her hand on her pistol.

“We can be up front in no time, Gunny!” She said.

“NO! We are too far away for you to do anything from here.” I said.

“Message from forward. Greek line falling back. They report they are nearing Mulheim with enemy in full retreat.”

“We HAVE them! WE HAVE THEM!” I yelled and sighed loudly.

“Saxons report they have been stopped a few miles south of the city. No sight of Sigrun.”

“Tell them to hold the line. Hold at ALL cost!” I said as I began to paces again. “If they retreat Sigrun will have his hands full but it doesn’t mean we have lost. It means we have more to accomplish, that’s all.” I said to myself out loud.

Sigrun landed with about ten thousand soldiers on the shore west of Amsterdam with little resistance until they traveled inland. There he met with heavy fighting from the Greeks but mostly from the dock area. There was little to no defense around the city its self so getting there was easy. He had very few casualties so far but the further they went, the heavier the fighting became until they were at the edge of the city its self. Here he saw the Greeks start to put up a fight so they had to go street by street to clear them out with snipers from every window and door.

As he looked around a corner into the street a bullet hit the side of the building he was leaning against making him fall backwards sharply.

“Get a squad and go around this building to the other side. See if you can put out some fire out there so we can cross this street!” he yelled at an NCO close by.

The NCO gathered a squad sized unit and ran to the opposite side of the building where they stopped as he peered around the corner. There was no firing so he motioned for his troops to follow him around the corner to another building across the street. Sigrun then heard a lot of firing at once and knew his troops had opened fire on the enemy. He motioned for the troops behind him to go forward with him and took off trying to cross the street as the enemy shot down on them from windows.

As he slid to the building on the opposite side of the street he yelled out.

“GO AROUND!” He saw another unit waiting to cross as he motioned them to go around the building so they wouldn’t take so many casualties.

“Comm man!” He yelled.

He sent Hagan a message that he was one city block away from a large brown building and for him to start shelling the city over that and walk the rounds further outward so he could walk under his guns. Hagan began firing as the shells hissed overhead and it was working so far; he could see buildings being crushed and crumbling into heaps into the streets. The Greeks were starting to fall back to keep from being torn apart by the constant ship to shore firing.

He ordered his forces to attack the center of town with a large group going around to the south to support this attack. As he and his men advanced, he saw the Greeks running out of the buildings towards the south but were they going to regroup? With this thought, he ordered his soldiers forward and to take the rest of the city as quickly as possible. He jumped up and ran forward with his troops, firing his pistol at the retreating Greeks as he ran. Enemy soldiers were surrendering in droves with their hands held up high, yelling something with frightened faces. He had to stop his men from killing them all where they stood.

He gathered all the prisoners and put guards on them in the center of the town then turned to his communicator.

“Contact the Saxons and see where they are. We need to link up with them.” He yelled over the noise of all the firing and officers and NCOs yelling commands.

“Send a message to the rear also; we have taken the city with many prisoners.” He stood up with a smile on his face as he looked around.

“We’re not done yet!” He yelled. “We still have to chase these Greeks all the way to their home!” There was cheering from all his soldiers.

“Message from the rear.” The communicator said.

‘Saxons falling back. They need your assistance. Do not let them retreat; Gunny.’

“This is ALL we need!” Sigrun said with a frown on his face. “Those damn Saxons!”

He looked around at his forces as they were consolidating at the edge of the city with their leaders. He also saw many of his own dead and wounded in the streets with the Corpsmen bent over them working frantically to save them.

“Get on line and move south!” He yelled with cupped hands around his mouth.

Artillery began to fall all around them and his first thought was that Hagan opened fire on his own men but then he noticed it was coming from the south, from the Greek lines. He dove for cover as the shelling increased blowing buildings and debris in all directions, causing more casualties.

“Move forward! MOVE FORWARD!” He yelled then jumped up to run towards the incoming artillery, trying to get under their fire and away from the buildings. His troops were being torn apart by the enemy artillery but all they could do is make a run for cover on the other side of town and away from all these buildings. As he ran the thought of the Saxons falling back was in his mind and that would cause a big problem if the Greeks attacked from behind them. He had to get to their position before they ran straight into the Greek main lines.

Looking around he found his communicator hiding behind a turned over wagon and slid next to him.

“Contact the Saxons. Tell them to move north and we will meet up with them. We are only a few hundred yards away so make it quick!” He said as he ducked from a close artillery shell.

Hagan could see Sigrun was in trouble on the edge of town but he couldn’t see past the buildings because they had moved further inland. He turned his ships around and decided to try going north of town to see if he could make contact with either the enemy or the Saxons.

“Full steam ahead!” he yelled as he saw his gun crew searching for a target on the fore deck.

As they pulled out of the harbor he could hear the enemy artillery exploding throughout the city and the further he got out of the harbor, the more he could see behind the city. Greek artillery had been set up just to the south where the Saxons should have been, with Greek infantry in support behind them, facing the opposite direction. He was assuming the Saxons were close and that was why they were facing to the rear of the Artillery.

“Target!” He yelled then sent a message to the other seven boats to open fire on the Greek artillery. Their firing shook the deck under his feet with the concussion and blast hitting his face with every shot.

His crew was well trained and fired one round about every eight to ten seconds into the Greek position when he saw them begin to disburse towards the city and to Sigrun. He had his boats continue to fire until all the Greek guns were silenced and the infantry were running.

“Cease fire! CEASE FIRING!” He yelled as all boats stopped firing and slowed to a crawl in the water.

“Now!” He said to himself as he scanned the area with his binoculars. “Where are the Saxons?”

Klaus ran into trouble from the beginning when he got the word over the telegraph to begin the attack. His forces were split by tribes and wanted to go in different directions so he had trouble getting them to just move forward when he sounded the attack. Tribal leaders were in the front and each one wanted to do something different as they moved out against the Greek lines. It got even worse when the Greeks opened fire at them with those guns that never stopped firing. His men started to fall before they could ever really see the enemy from this distance and that frightened his men into just laying down.

“Get up and move forward!” He yelled. “We have to meet the Norse at the city!”

There was nothing from them as they lay in the grass firing their rifles at the Greeks. Even when he stood and started walking among them to spur them forward didn’t work, they just looked up at him as if he were crazy. He turned and went to one of the Norsemen that came with them and sent a message to the rear.

‘Heavy resistance. Falling back’ He sent.

“There are too many of them!” Someone yelled from around him. “We have to fall back!”

“NO!” He went to a kneeling position and began to fire at the Greeks, reloading and firing again. Soon others saw him and started doing the same thing which began a movement of his troops to act. After a few minutes he had more than half his men firing at the Greek lines then he stood and motioned for them to go forward.

“Move out! Let’s get to the Greek lines!” He began to walk forward with most of his men following behind him when he was hit in his chest and went down. When his men got to him they saw he was dead and began to panic.

“GET ON LINE!” A Norseman came running from behind them with his rifle in the air. His uniform was a green color and there was a lot of red strips on his sleeve.

“Get on line or so help me I will kill the first man that turns and runs.”

A Saxon turned his rifle on the Norseman but was shot down with the Norseman still standing there as the bullets flew from the Greek lines.

“Get on your feet and act like WARRIORS!” He yelled at them.

More Saxons began to fall from the Greek firing but they started to turn around towards the enemy and move forward slowly. The Norseman followed them as they went forward; waiting to shoot any man that ran away.

The artillery began to hitch up and move forward as I gathered my pack and rifle and, along with the communicators started moving towards the rear of our forward units. I saw Ralf barking orders as his teams were beginning to pull away, trailing his guns behind the horses. He saw me and waved as we began to move out.

I could see smoke from various places on the battle field as the sun came up and saw our dead laying all around us with the wounded still being taken to the rear. My heart felt as if it would stop at the sight of all my dead soldiers on the battle field. The supply men had already begun to removed their equipment and rifles and stack them onto wagons to be taken to the rear for redistribution. I had ordered that all weapons and equipment be taken from our dead so we can reuse it so they were just following orders but it was still something I did not wish to see.

My communicators were in several wagons as we walked so they could still send and receive messages and the messages kept coming in. Sigrun over ran the Greek artillery position capturing over five hundred prisoners and six pieces of artillery with the help of Hagan and his ships. The Saxons leader, Klaus was killed and no leader has been identified but one of my soldiers took his place in the line of attack. I wanted this soldiers name because I was going to give him a medal. He reported they were back in the attack position and were chasing the Greek stragglers but no contact with the main enemy line as yet.

The further we go to the Greek trenches the more of our dead I saw. In one spot there had to be over fifty killed by a Greek machine gun position because they were all just in front of the trench in heaps. A few yards away I could see where the enemy gun had been, a dug out position with firing slits in logs but the gun and its ammunition were gone. I hoped our soldiers got it and not the Greeks. I slid into the Greek trenches and found they were not very well built with logs that were canted instead of upright and the bottom was dirt with no wooden walkway to cover the mud. They had dug into the side of the trench for protection from our guns but I couldn’t find a single bunker anywhere. Their dead were everywhere as well and we had to step carefully over all the bodies.

“Message from forward, sir! Forward elements have reached objective one; Dusseldorf!”

“That quick?” I said aloud and Yngvildr chuckled.

“Did you expect anything less?” She smiled.

“Message for the Germans, sir. Heavy resistance on the left. Door not closed. Say again...door not closed.”

I looked at Yngvildr.

“That means they were building up for a strike on our left, just as I thought. They are going to run into heavy fighting there so I think we are going to have to stop to forward movement and counter act this.” I said as if I were alone.

“If we can swing from right to left instead of left to right, we might be able to close the door on the other side.” I rubbed my face in thought.

“Send a message to Sigrun; what resistance do you have to your south east?” I looked at the communicator as he sent it and waited.

“Message from the Saxons, sir; I have taken control of the Saxon lines. We are in position to advance. Have Sigrun in sight....First Sergeant Bjorn”

“A First Sergeant at that!” I smiled at Yngvildr as she cocked her head.

“What happened to their leadership?” She asked.

“It was renewed by our soldier,” I said with a smile. “Tell them to keep the pressure on them and do not let go of them.” I told the communicator. "Also send a message to the rear and promote First Sergeant Bjorn to Lieutenant!"

“Contact the Romans and get a situation report.” I said. A few minutes went by when the communicator replied.

“Sir! The Romans have no response.”

“What do you mean?” I asked as I got closer to the communicator on the wagon.

“I’ve sent several messages but I get no response at all, sir!”

“Try again. We have three telegraphs there, don’t we? All three can’t break down at once.” I said getting impatient.

Hagan had his ships turn back towards the newly acquired port of Amsterdam when his lookout yelled from above.

“Sails on the Horizon!” He looked up and saw the man pointing south west behind him.

He raised his binoculars and focused them. There were at least two or three dozen ships bearing down on them from two to three thousand yards out and they were all Greek with a few purple Roman sails scattered among the Greek ships.

“Roman sails?” He dropped his binoculars to his chest in thought. Then his eyes widened.

“Those sons a bitches!” He turned to his crew.

“Prepare for battle. Incoming enemy ships to the south!” Turning to his communicator he yelled through a small window to him below.

“Send a message to Sigrun to our rear and to the Germans; The Romans have turned sides! Their ships are in the harbor with the Greeks. Attack on sight!”

“Come about one-eighty!” He had to turn around to face the new enemy.

He turned his attention back to the oncoming enemy ships. Three dozen against his eight? He lowered his binoculars again, placing them carefully into their leather case and stowing them into a small wooden box. He then drew his pistol checking to make sure it was loaded, grabbing an ax nearby and looked at his crew below him on the main deck

“To Valhalla!” He yelled as he raised his ax.