18-May/1915
I quickly focused on another group of shooters in the city and noticed one of them aiming at me, pointing something out to his partner. I took advantage of the distraction and blew his head apart before he could fire.
Working the bolt at high speed, I fired at his spotter before he could react, wounding him as I saw him twisting inside the house.
Remembering the earlier wounded man, I aimed at the other building and saw the Brit bandaging his arm and torso, surrounded by a pool of his own blood. I lined up the shot on his head and ended his misery.
After burning through my ammunition, I reloaded and heard bullets striking the building, forcing me to take cover while impacts and shouts echoed below the tower.
I pressed myself against the wall and aimed downward almost blindly, opening fire on a group of British soldiers gathering around us.
I dropped three who were running across the street without cover, but a larger group still formed near the entrance.
Shifting position, I caught sight of the British trying to enter the church again and saw a storm of bullets tear into the building opposite.
Friedrich had opened up with the machine gun and massacred everyone trying to get in. Only two remained trying to peek, and one of them had his head blown apart the moment he exposed himself.
The last one, an officer, turned and ran. I aimed for his leg, pulled the trigger, and watched him collapse, rolling on the ground clutching his thigh as a small pool of blood formed beneath him.
"Good… we're compromised" I said as I started heading down quickly.
"Good work. Take the prisoners and move. We need to secure that officer" I said, grabbing the rope tied to the British and pulling them along.
The prisoners resisted at first, but threatening to put a bullet in their heads was enough to make them cooperate. If they didn't follow their role as POWs, I had no reason to follow mine.
I moved out of the church, scanning every direction in case someone appeared in a window, pistol in hand. I approached the British officer, who was crawling away. When he saw me, he tried to draw his service revolver, but I shot him in the arm, making him scream as he dropped the weapon.
"Idiot" I said, disarming him and grabbing him. "We're going to that building." I pointed to what looked like a factory damaged by artillery fire.
Carrying the officer, we reached the factory quickly and I began bandaging him as he continued losing blood.
"Fucking German… aghhh…" the British officer groaned while I tightened the bandages and applied a tourniquet.
"Good… you're patched up… at least you'll live" I said, reaching into his pockets and pulling out a pipe, tobacco, and a notebook. "Looks like you enjoy smoking… I'll do your lungs a favor." I tossed the pipe and tobacco aside and began reading the notebook.
"Oh, good boy" I said, glancing at the officer as I realized he had written all of the day's instructions like a personal diary.
"What does it say?" Friedrich asked, still carrying the machine gun over his shoulder.
"Quite a lot… patrol numbers, how many snipers are with his unit… not many, but… Dominion of Canada? Eh?" I said, looking at the officer, who was gritting his teeth in pain.
"From Canada?" Friedrich asked.
"That's right… looks like there are Canadian snipers here, and according to this, they're good… there's a German-sniper killer in the area" I said while flipping through the notebook.
"I assume that's his partner" I added, looking at the two tied British soldiers.
"Don't talk… we're not obligated" one of them told the other, who looked uncertain.
"So that's how it's going to be, huh?" I said, staring at them.
"What do we do now?" one of my subordinates asked.
"We should leave the area carefully… there are around a hundred British in the area if this is accurate, but we've already killed about fifteen, so fewer now," I said thoughtfully while checking their belongings.
"Fine… we take these bastards and move," Friedrich said.
"Hm… quite cold-blooded, isn't it?" I said, looking at the British soldier who had been keeping track of how many Germans he had killed.
"Movement… I see a British patrol at—" my subordinate began, but something slammed into his chest.
"Shit… shit… rrrah…" he screamed, writhing in pain.
"Get him away from the window!" I shouted.
Friedrich and another man rushed him, grabbing his arms and dragging him hard away from the opening.
I checked quickly and saw the bullet had struck the steel plate covering his vital organs.
"Son of a bitch… lucky…" I said, examining the dented plate. "Broken ribs, but you're alive… breathe… take him, we're pulling out through that hole." I removed the plate and looked at the impact.
"Move, you heard him, let's go!" Friedrich shouted, running toward a hole leading to the other side of the factory while another man carried the wounded and dragged the prisoners along.
"From the angle… had to be from above… from his position it must be there…" I said with a slight smile.
I helped move the prisoners and our wounded man as we made our way to another ruined industrial building.
"Cover the exit we used. I'm going to hunt the sniper who hit our man," I said, climbing the stairs that creaked like they might collapse at any moment.
"Jawoll" Friedrich replied, setting up the machine gun on its bipod and aiming at the street entrance we had just used.
I moved up to the third floor of what looked like a textile factory and kept my distance from the windows, trying to get a firing angle toward where I thought the shot had come from.
Moving slowly, I finally spotted someone aiming through his scope. He hadn't seen me, he was watching the entrance of the first factory we had just used.
I smiled and centered my sights on the Brit's head. He turned his head and looked straight at me.
"Hello" I said, and pulled the trigger, watching the round blow his head apart.
"Did you get him?" someone shouted from below.
"Yeah… blew his skull open" I said, working the bolt while trying to locate the British spotter, but I couldn't see him in the windows.
As I kept searching, a bullet passed close to me and struck my cover.
"There's more!" I shouted, dropping low and crawling to inspect the hole it had left in one of the factory columns. "Straight line… that means he could see me… he has to be there." I began moving prone, leaving my position and pressing against the wall.
While trying to reposition to another window, I heard the machine gun roar and a wave of British screams.
"They're on top of us!" Friedrich shouted.
"Good… keep moving!" I said, jumping toward the stairs as a bullet slammed into the wood behind me.
I moved down quickly. On the second floor, I leaned out and shot a British soldier trying to help one of his wounded comrades, hitting him in the head and dropping him onto the other man.
I reached the ground floor and we moved toward another building.
"I'll cover the street, get across!" I said as I entered and rushed up to the second floor, gaining a full view of the street.
"Come on, Brit, stop whining!" one of my men shouted as he shoved the two prisoners forward, who had grown increasingly resistant at the thought of being rescued.
"If you don't cooperate I'll put a fucking bullet in your head!" I yelled in English while watching the street.
The British obeyed and made it safely across, taking position on the other side among the nearby buildings.
Once I saw one of my men covering the street, I went down to the ground floor and sprinted across at full speed. I heard a shot and saw, to my right, a Brit collapse while trying to cross, his comrades attempting to drag him away.
I made it across and reached the secured area.
"You take the prisoners back to our position. Friedrich and I will stay and hold them off, then you cover our withdrawal" I told my men. They nodded.
They took the wounded and the prisoners, leaving Friedrich and me watching the street.
Friedrich stayed on the ground level with the bipod set, covering the street, while I moved up to hunt the sniper who had fired at us.
"If I were that Brit… where would I be… too high… from where the shot came… too low… it has to be there…" I muttered, studying a building at the same level as the factory.
I aimed quickly and spotted two British soldiers at a window, one already aiming.
I fired and hit one of them. I couldn't tell if it was lethal, I'd hit him in the chest, but the other sniper reacted instantly and disappeared.
Without wasting time, I climbed higher and took position on the fourth floor of a nearby residence. I searched for him again, and when I found him at a second-floor window of the same building, he saw me and fired immediately. The bullet struck the wall, a rushed shot.
I changed position again and moved to the third floor. Same thing. He was searching for me above, I fired quickly but hit the wooden frame, splinters flying everywhere, and he ducked back into cover.
We kept at it for a while. Sometimes he spotted me first and I had to drop. Other times I saw him first, but he had catlike reflexes and moved just before the shot.
After several minutes of trading fire, I heard Friedrich's machine gun open up, followed by a flood of agonized screams.
Looking down at the street, I saw around twenty British soldiers lying dead or badly wounded under the machine gun fire.
"I don't know what the hell you're doing up there, but I'm running out of ammo, last belt!" Friedrich shouted.
"Reposition… I lost visual on the sniper" I replied, scanning the building again, but he was gone.
Checking other possible firing points, I saw a head appear… but it wasn't real. It was a papier-mâché head.
It moved left to right, trying to draw my attention.
It worked, but I spotted the trick thanks to the better magnification. He was in another building, farther away but with a better angle.
I set up with the bipod, resting the rifle on a table on the third floor, and waited.
The fake head moved several times while Friedrich's machine gun kept roaring below.
Finally, the sniper exposed himself with his rifle.
"I've got you, bastard," I said, pulling the trigger and watching his head burst apart.
"I'm almost dry!" Friedrich shouted after another burst.
"Done. I got him. Let's move!" I said, rushing down the building.
Friedrich grabbed the machine gun and we ran. We jumped through a hole and broke into open ground, sprinting while our men covered our withdrawal.
I could hear Friedrich's heavy breathing as he carried the machine gun along with his rifle, but it didn't take long before we reached safety.
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