The Clearing

The rustling of the leaves breaks the silence of the cold night.  The light of the cigarette can be seen from the other side of the clearing. The smell of fear and death was in the air.  The Sergeant of C platoon orders his men out into the expanse.  As the soldiers move out across the opening in the forest, the enemy opens up with a heavy machine gun.  The men hit the ground and began to search for cover.  The sergeant begins to shout orders to his men.  Some of the men have been hit by enemy fire.  Others shoot back into the darkness trying to hit the machine gun that wounded their friends. The enemy opens up with a second and then a third heavy machine gun. The sounds of the dying and wounded filled the cold night air.  The Sergeant orders the men of C platoon to pull back into the safety of the trees.  As the medics tend to the wounded they try their best to squelch the wounded. The medics told the men they would be fine, and that the Sergeant would give them all out of here alive.  The Sergeant looks out of over his men.  Eight men are dead and thirteen are wounded.   The Sergeant’s orders were to take this clearing and hold it until relieved.   The Sergeant orders the remaining men to gather together.  The Sergeant orders Corporal to take ten men and circle around the clearing and to out flank the enemy from the north.  The Sergeant would take the other ten men and would go around the other side of the clearing and attack from the south. 

            As the Corporal and his men approach from the north they can see the enemy through the trees. The Corporal and his men crouched behind some boulders about twenty-five meters away from the enemy.  There is about nine of them from what the Corporal can see.  There are three men per heavy machine gun.  As the Sergeant is getting his men ready for battle the Corporal pulls the pin on the hand grenade he is holding and he and his men open fire on the enemy.  The Corporal throws the grenade into the first heavy machine gun position killing all three of the enemy.  The Sergeant and his men open fire on the third heavy machine gun position killing all three men with a volley of bullets from their M-1 carbines.  The second position manages to get off a few rounds towards the Sergeants group but the Corporals men acted fast and cut the enemy down with a grenade blast and finished off any wounded enemy soldiers with a hailstorm of bullets.