For England

Corporal Enders45 reported from the battlefield: " It was an early morning in October when I received the message of the paratrooping mission into Monchen Gladbach. I left from Aachen with a group of perhaps twenty men. Our mission: secure the airfield just north of the city. By the time we got near to the drop zone however, everything went wrong. The jump was scattered, and we immediately took fire from enemy APCs. A friend of mine, Berger, dropped near me and we could hear the soldiers being killed from across the plain.

We began headed to the airfield when we saw APCs and tanks cutting off our route. We decided to take a detour and go into the city. By the time we were there, we realized that our troops could not grab the airfield unless we grabbed a depot first. We knew what we had to do. We quickly moved through the town, jumping from cover to cover until we entered the depot. We began using the radio and hoisting up our flag. The timer had started, and we began to hold the position for ten minutes. Ten excruciatingly long minutes.

After the first two, it seemed as if we would encounter no resistance, and Berger convinced me it was safe for him to move throughout the city to an adjacent depot. That was the last I saw of him. Within a minute, I heard footsteps below me, as I was in the attic. I peeked out and saw two german soldiers trying to use the radio. I pulled the pin on a grenade and dropped it down the steps. Troops began pouring in, and I did my best to hold the attic. By the time I was on my last magazine, I had run out of count of how many I killed. A few bodies were on the steps of the attic, just seconds away from reaching me. Soon, grenades started going off all over. Smoke grenades filled the bottom floor and I found it hard to see. Eventually, the shooting stopped, and all there was, was bodies. Suddenly, the radio went off. The airfield had been captured. My mission, complete. I slowly went down the steps, and it was empty. I was able to get outside the town and grab a pickup back to a friendly firebase. Total body count: 14. I was unhurt."
AAR Sortie