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PROLOGUE

The Trenches Germany September 1944

A shell exploded not ten feet in front of the line Despite the days and nights the men had spent in their hellish hole in the earth, some jumped at the sound

Others barely twitched

They’d been holding the line nearly a week, waiting for reinforceh that thethem up, none had arrived Soed at their co He was certain the men from Airborne had been sent out

They just hadn’t made it yet Gut instinct warned him that the paratroopers had been dropped froled in the trees Others had been shot dohile their chutes were still billowing in the absurdly blue skies Soround

And so away in the enemy’s prison camps No lack of intent or valor left them as they were now Just the brutal determination of a foe determined to conquer all Europe

"Jesu! That was close!" Corporal Ted Myers ainst their red ririme on his face Beside hi turned suddenly into a full-force spasainst the wall of earth that shielded theet him out of the line," the lieutenant said quietly "Back to the infirmary"

"Ain’t no infireant Walowski said He leaned back against the earth and sank to a sitting position, drawing a cigarette froht"

"The et Decker out of here," the lieutenant said He stared across the earth Pretty soon, dusk would fall Until then, there would be another barrage of mortar fire After that, the eneain He didn’t need anyone in the line as cracking They’d held here now for nearly teeks under impossible odds They’d done so because, for the , and from where they were, they could have a field day with troops approaching them--even the trained professional German soldiers who had been ordered to root the The enemy powers had ordered those soldiers--family men, many of theive their lives, as many as need be, for the Fatherland They’d just send ht Even if fifty of the enemy were killed for every one of his men, eventually, they would fall Unless reinforce tore through the air

"Take cover!" the lieutenant ordered Myers, running with the shell-shocked Decker, ducked and kept running Thein the trench flattened themselves This one didn’t explode quite so close

"Keep down!" the lieutenant warned, and sure enough, the first explosion was followed by a second, and then by a third On the last, great piles of earth fell like rain upon the already filthyan i nuh the dusk and fallout," the lieutenant warned "Reive the command"

"Don’t shoot till we see the whites of their eyes," Myers muttered

"Hell, we’ll never see the whites of their eyes in this powder and dirt," Lansky said Lansky was so of an old timer Forty-five when the war had broken out He’d joined up anyway, two days after his son was killed in Italy By then, the recruiters hadn’t cared oodin Montana and he rarely missed his mark, no matter what the conditions

"Every shot counts," the lieutenant ree, but Lansky never batted an eye at an order Lansky had proven to be his best friend out here He’d seen action at the end of the First World War He’d learned a lot about digging into the trenches, and he had a way of giving da even the officers with higher ranks than the lieutenant’s

He saw Lansky’s eyes now "They’re coave hiht Fro dirt, the soldiers suddenly appeared Knowing that they ithin sight, they let out strange cries, like warriors of old Maybe battle never changed, the lieutenant thought Just the tiument Maybe men needed to scream, to run into a maelstrom of bullets, even if they were armed and prepared to deal out death themselves Perhaps a battle cry was a man’s last roar to heaven or hell that he was, indeed, alive

"Fire!" the lieutenant shouted

The earth see toward them stumbled and broke The eerie battle cries turned to screams of pain as men fell and died

And yet, where the line had been broken, newin, and the battle cry they had taken up see sky "Fire!" he roared again, and another barrage filled the night, and ,in where the others had been The line was co as well, ai blindly for the trenches

"Fire!"

Again, the roar of bullets Powder filled the night so thickly that it was al

They heard screams, and knew more men had fallen

And knew that they were close

A soldier burst into view, throwing hiun aimed at Lansky The lieutenant used his oeapon instantly and instinctively as a eance on the back and neck The et off a shot, but others were co, almost upon theht In a minute, it would be a melee, the enemy would be in the trenches, aanyht as the defenders shot al upon theullet and fell into the trench, on top of Lansky Lansky pushed the dead ain