Near Strasbourg, October 15, 1944
The platoon leader, Jaroshek, paused for a moment. His men were in position. They would be the base of fire as the rest of the company had been working their way around a German position that had proven to be somewhat bothersome to the French scouts who had run into the position that morning. His friend Jacque was next to him and even before he asked, there was a cigarette lit and ready for him to enjoy the momentary rush and then the clarity of the first drag. He had to wait. The artillery would start in another ten minutes, and then as soon as the three minute barrage ended, his platoon, along with a mortar squad, a pair of heavy machine guns, and a single tank destroyer would begin to shoot the assault in. His men were ready. They had not lost anyone in the past five days, and almost everyone had been shot at and had shot back at least once or twice. Not everyone was a veteran, but the platoon had a good group of men who had at least landed in Southern France and had been on the pursuit northeast ever since then.
Jacque enjoyed his cigarette too. He had a moment before he needed to check on the half of the platoon that was part of the assault. The rest of his men were either in the battalion rear bringing men to the aid stations and re-organizing, or leading the other two platoons to a plausible flanking position. One of the men grew up in the village the division had liberated yesterday afternoon, so he was quite confident that he knew where the trails that would never be on a map should be. Tomorrow, or perhaps the day after tomorrow Jacque would be able to see the ridge where his family had lived for the past hundred and eighty years. He wondered how they were.
There was no time for lollygagging. He took the last deep drag from the Lucky Stripe and began to crawl to where the rest of his countrymen were waiting for the signal to shoot at the Krauts. A moment before he made it to the small hollow, two squadrons of Mitchells flew overhead as they were likely returning to their airbase.