7 Strategizing
It was on the next day that both Alfie and Steve was picked up.
Steve to a facility in New York to start the Super Soldier test.
Alfie to the airport as he was going to Europe front lines.
They said their farewells before separating, although Steve considered himself alone ever since his mother died he can't help but feel more so after Bucky left, and now Alfie.
He could only hope the two would be alright.
Steve was heading to fight Germany, there was three enemies to fight, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Germany has fully occupied France now and the Allies are moving to take it back soon.
Alfie was headed to London where the Allies have regrouped ready to head out to France.
••••••
Soon enough the plane Alfie was on landed, he was the only one in there other than the two pilots and large cache of weapons and rations.
Alfie got off the plane and walked to the nearest building trying to find where to go.
He saw many foot soldiers rushing to the plane taking the resources Alfie came with.
"Mr.America?" Alfie heard, he looked to the side of the walkway to see a blonde man shorter than his 6'1 level looking at him.
"Huh?" Alfie paused.
"You come from America yes?" The man asked again.
"Uuh yeah." Alfie said.
"Then follow me please."
Alfie followed after the blonde man.
As Alfie followed he observed the airport, there were giant planes lined up on the far side of the area he was in.
Many foot soldiers doing their jobs while some others marched around being on guard.
Alfie and the man signaled for a military vehicle as Alfie got in the back with his duffle bag and the blonde man got on the passengers seat.
It took more than 20 minutes before they reached an area with many tents around.
"Private!! Come take Mr.America to the resting area, then show him to your higher ups." The blonde man said.
The American soldier complied as he led the way to the barracks for Alfie to settle down.
The aoldier introduced himself as Ricky and was from Kansas.
Curious he also asked Alfie who he was, and why he where he came from.
He was shocked to hear that Alfie was just a one man reinforcement along with resources.
Ricky asked what was so special about him that the higher ups back home would send only him here, he was more shocked that Alfie had friends in high places and asked to be in the front lines against the Germans.
Taking the chance Alfie also decided to ask about what the status of the current war at the moment, Ricky was more than happy to share what he knows.
The man in charge of the American army is a man named George Marshall.
George Marshall was a veteran from World War 2 and was appointed as the Chief-Of-Staff by the current U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt.
It was thanks to his experience that the U.S. armies increased in it's soldiers significantly, as he was put in charge of the army, General Marshall either picked or recommended the various Generals around at the moment, including General Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Omar Bradley, Mark Clark along with others, and so far since the war started General Marshall has not yet been on the battlefield to lead his troops.
He did excel on many other tasks that a modern officer is asked to perform, other than taking civilian roles of diplomat and making policies he worked with Navy Admiral Ernest King to win over the sea and the British military for the air.
And at the moment the army is sitting pretty as the Air Force and the Navy are going all out against the Nazi's.
"Here we are, this is the tent of General Eisenhower, to be honest I'm not sure who handles the small stuff for us foot soldiers but I know the General can help you." Ricky said.
'Eisenhower...why does that sound so familiar?' Alfie thought.
"Well I'll be off now, who knows maybe we'll see each other again if we don't die from this war, catch ya later." Ricky waved as he head off.
"See you around, Rick." Alfie said.
Alfie walked in to see a man around his early-40's sitting behind a desk faced to the side pouring a drink for himself.
The man didn't say anything and just looked at Alfie, Alfie also looked at the man back for a cool awkward moment, then glared intently working his mind to find out why this man seemed to also look familiar to him, until the General spoke.
"Haha, you got something to report son?" General Eisenhower said chuckling, Alfie came back to reality realizing how idiotic and rude he was just staring.
"Uuh yes, Private Alfred McBride, reporting for duty.
I was sent from New York by Colonel Phillips." Alfie said.
"Oh yes, we did get word that a young man will be accompanying the resources being transferred." Eisenhower said, he then got up and walked to a table full of food as he spoke.
"Tell me son, why would you, and alone, be sent to the front lines?" Eisenhower asked.
"I asked to, camp Lehigh didn't give me much training and things I already know.
I wouldn't brag but I'm an expert in weaponry and combat, I came to test myself." Alfie said, he seemed to have went back to his slumped shoulder self.
"Hahahaha, now that's new, I haven't heard of anyone wanna head straight to the front lines, let alone admittedly say they wanted to test themselves." Eisenhower said.
Eisenhower sat back down on his chair with a sandwich in front of him as he bit onto it before speaking again.
"Have you killed anyone?"
"No." Alfie said, though there were many chances and times he could've and wanted to.
There were many gangsters and criminals in New York but Alfie haven't had the time, he did break a lot of limbs thought working in the restaurant.
"Have you ever been on a battlefield?" Eisenhower asked again.
"No."
"Hmm, well a lot of the boys around here haven't done much either, we'll see soon enough." Eisenhower said.
"For now, just go an-" Eisenhower was suddenly interrupted by a young soldier walking in the tent.
"Sir, the commanders are gathering." The soldier said.
"Thank you son, how would you like to come and observe?" Eisenhower asked.
"I'd be happy to." Alfie said.
•••••••
When Alfie followed General Eisenhower for a few minutes to a tent almost 5 times bigger than Eisenhower's tent.
As Alfie walked in with Eisenhower and there he saw about 20 or more people that has colorful badges on their upper left chest uniforms.
Most were Americans while there were also Brits, and Canadians, what's surprising is there seems to be Frenchmen as well, but considering their land being taken by the Nazi's it is reasonable that some would rebel.
There was only 6 Frenchmen and they seem to be the commanders of their small army left.
Most of the men in the tent were Commanders with a view assistants with them.
Alfie walked up to see if he would recognize someone but he felt a hand on his chest.
He traced that hand back to Eisenhower in front of him as he looked back at him.
"Stay by the entrance, and don't interrupted." Eisenhower said.
"Sir." Alfie nodded.
Alfie stood at the tent entrance as he saw the commotions inside.
By the time General Eisenhower walked in, everyone seemed to focus on the large table in the middle of the group of men.
It was a war table that they use to strategize and plan attacks or such.
The commanders seemed to be waiting for Eisenhower as most of them looked at him.
"Everyone present?" Eisenhower said.
He walked to the side on a table pouring another drink for himself.
"Seems so." Someone said.
"I guess we'll start then." Eisenhower said.
"Is there any movements from these German bastards?"
"No, intelligence indicates they are in a still, they are heavily fortified and the rapid productions of their weapons and vehicles are not dropping, factories appear every month." General Mark Clark informed.
"We shouldn't be worried about that, what we have in front of us is enough at the moment." General Marshall said.
"Yes, gentlemen this will be a hard fight, but if we play this right then this operation could take us all the way to that bastards front doors." Eisenhower said.
"I get that your plan is good, but why here? You want Normandy to be the main battlefield, but what about Brest in Brittany? If anything they will ambush you from the right." A man named Harold said.
Alfie observed the name tags these commanders have.
"They might, but we could close down these routes and trap them before the progress we make is broken." General Marshall said.
"If everything goes right then we won't have to worry about Brest, we'll have the Air and Sea for ourselves." Eisenhower said.
"And that is all we are really waiting for, any progress?" Eisenhower asked to no one particularly.
"Admiral Ernest and I have been working to coordinate with Admiral Cunningham and Mountbatten and take the channel, at the moment it's a hard fight but a few months and Atlantic we'll be ours." General Marshall said.
"Air Force?" Eisenhower asked.
"We have small progress here and there but Germany has always been pushing back farther." An Air Force General named Arnold said.
"Hmmm, well we still can't initiate our full on attacks yet, we need the Air and Sea clear before we can advance, if it takes too long we will have to look for other opportunities." Eisenhower said.
It wasn't until 3 hours later did they finish with their strategies and plans.
The commanders went over everything, even if it was a small matter on the map, they can't afford to leave things out or else this battle will be lost and the Nazi's will be victorious, this battle will be a key point for a step in the war.
Yet they don't know that Hydra will soon outgrown Hitler and take over everything again almost too easily.
During the plannings Alfie also thought about what he can do and other thoughts, but he didn't voice it out and stayed quiet.
The Brits, Canadians, and Frenchmen walked out if the tent before the other Americans did.
Eisenhower soon rushed out taking Alfie with him, it felt to Alfie as if Eisenhower was hiding him from the other Commanders.
"Come on, son, so you said you are an expert on weaponry correct?" Eisenhower asked.
"Yes, I spent a good amount of my life training with them." Alfie said with almost a careless attitude.
"I see, well I'm not gonna ask why you train for it, I am gonna ask you to shoot some targets with me...for fun, hahahaha." Eisenhower said.
"Really? Alright." Alfie said.
As soldiers trained, marched, and worked around the temporary camp, the two went to a shooting range poorly built, but good enough for training.
As a known General the soldiers more than complied and made way for the two.
Eisenhower gave Alfie a rifle and looked at him waiting for him to shoot.
Alfie looked onto the redzones where no one should go, unless they want a bullet going through them.
There was a 20m target, a 50m, and 100m target.
"You need a warm up, son?" Eisenhower asked with a chuckle.
"No need old man." Alfie said not minding the titles and aimed his rifle at the 20 meter mark.
But he didn't shoot.
He then changed to 50 meter mark.
But again he didn't shoot.
Then he aimed at the 100 meter mark.
After that Alfie put the rifle down looking back at Eisenhower.
"Having second thoughts about this?" Eisenhower asked.
"No, I already locked onto my target." Alfie said smiling.
"Okay, well that shoot." Eisenhower said.
"Hehe." Alfie slowly raised his hands aiming the rifle at the closest 20 meter mark and shot.
*Bang* x3
Everyone including Dwight Eisenhower stood there shocked at the fact that this young man shot three targets in less than 2 seconds.
Everyone looked at the man who was checking the accuracy of the shots and waited for the signal.
It was all bullseyes.
When the man signaled it the men and women nearby lowly clapped while a few even couldn't believe it.
Eisenhower on the other hand was hysterically laughing as he clapped happily.
What shocked him even more was that Alfie didn't even look at the targets, when he shot that three bullets his eyes were on Eisenhower's eyes with a smirk.
Alfie was that good.
"Unbelievable!! Damn son, that was ridiculous!!" Eisenhower looked ecstatic.
"How did you achieve this level of expertise?!" Eisenhower asked.
"A magician doesn't reveal his best tricks." Alfie said smugly.
"We're not magicians, are you?" Eisenhower said.
"No, but the same saying applies, hahaha, after all it's nothing secretive, it's just like I said I've trained in weapons almost all my life."
"Really? Well I guess you are special after all, if only there were many of you with such skills." Eisenhower said as he happily patted Alfie's shoulders.
Eisenhower suddenly didn't think of him as just a useless one man anymore, with this young mans skills he could achieve many things.
If anything his ranks would jump up high if he were to use these skills carefully.
"Oh!! I got it!!" Eisenhower jerked in realization.
"What?" Alfie asked hoping it's nothing he doesn't like.
"You teach these men how to be the best sharpshooter they can, as much as you could." Eisenhower said with the biggest smile he can show.
"But sir, I'm not her-"
"Nonsense, you're here and are not expected to do anything unless you're an Airmen or Seamen, so, my first order to you is to teach our young novices how to shoot." Eisenhower said.
"Ugh fin- I mean, yes, yes sir." Alfie said.
"Great!! I'll inform some of Drillers about you, they'll give you some space while the other young ones will come and learn a thing or two from you." Eisenhower said.
"Sure, you're the boss." Alfie muttered.
••••••
And just like that a month passed and July came, from the second day until now Alfie did his best to guide the soldiers how to shoot.
After a week of teaching them how to shoot General Eisenhower also learned of Alfie's combat abilities.
And then Alfie's schedule filled up more training others how to do a few tips and tricks in a fight.
The first few days nobody acknowledged Alfie's skills, until they challenged him, the ones who knew of his abilities watched on the side and laughed.
Alfie did his best to make the lessons small and simple, so the simple minded ones can also understand and progress.
Some commanders watched on the side but didn't say much.
Almost everyday the Commanders gather up to strategize, even the smallest detail that changes in the battlefield would need to be spoken of in the war room, or tent in this case.
Eisenhower seemed to have taken a liking to Alfie and took him to the gatherings whenever he asked.
If Eisenhower doesn't go see Alfie the next day then Alfie would go see Eisenhower.
They thought about the advantages of knowing each other one way or the other, for Eisenhower he thought Alfie was full of surprises, not only is Alfie full of skills and strength but he also has a good mind as well, tactful and smart.
For Alfie, getting to know Eisenhower might get him advantages knowing he was the top General right after General George Marshall.
Through the meetings Alfie learned more about their plans every time.
Eisenhower with the help of the others came up with a plan to start liberating France.
Operation Overlord.
Which was to send more than a thousand planes to drop bombs over the bases of Germany on the Coast of Normandy.
During that bombing, the Allies would also drop a few men to infiltrate and sabotage their big weapons such as turrets and cannons freeing the beach of heavy fire.
After that many ships would land on the coast and the army would take over the Normandy.
The Americans would take the Utah and Omaha beaches.
The Brits will take Gold and Sword, while the Canadians and Frenchmen work together to take Juno.
After that was all up to fate.
But it was only if they conquered the English Channel and the air way.
••••••
Time passed again and months past, 1943 August 14th.
Everyone on the side of the Allies were happy as they finally made progress and secured the sea going to France.
Now the only thing left before they proceed with the main plans is if they also conquered the sky.
But they're chances of taking down the Nazi airmen increased as the Allied ships also turned their weapons on the Nazi planes.
As everyone in the camp celebrated and laugh because of that victory, Alfie laughed for another reason.
As he drank and got drunk with his new friends he had a newspaper on his hands, a new mascot for the Americans was on paper: Captain America.
When Alfie saw the cover he snatched it from one of the soldiers and read it, laughing crazily.
He thought of how much more he can make fun of Steve due to the new names given to him such as poster-boy or his favorite, Chorus boy.
He went around the camp showing everyone that the man called Captain America is his friend.
Everyone didn't like Steve for most obvious reasons, but Alfie didn't care and just showed Steve off while laughing at how ridiculous he looked.
•••••
By the time April came in 1944, the Allies took the air and so the time came for the armies to move in and take back Franc starting with the Normandy coast.
That was when Alfie also decided where he wants to be during the war, and so he headed for Eisenhower's tent.
He also figured out why Dwight D. Eisenhower was so familiar.
He was a president, after the war he became a president.
But thats all Alfie can remember, he can't remember what number president he was or such because he barely cared.
No, what he cared about was finally being able to step into the battlefield, something his soul has been telling him to do, a place where he belongs.
