Chapter 54 Falaise Gap

Phillips had noticed that Susan had been slowly warming up to him, but not quite there in the way of earning her respect like Steve said, and

Phillips had to admit that Susan's growing intelligence is remarkable as she enjoyed playing with army toys, often pointing to them when she asked for it.

Phillips couldn't help but admire the young baby. He was mostly married to the army life and didn't have much of a chance for a family through the years and yet,

here was Susan who obviously was reaching to his heart figuratively.

Between checking on Susan in her playpen and looking at the papers on his desk, it was a normal morning as much as previous times, with amused smiles when

Susan did something to call his attention, and with simple explanations when Susan wanted a story, it was routine when

Phillips noticed that he needed to grab one of his maps from the room next door so he could compare notes from reports.

Phillips got up from his chair, moving around the desk, earning Susan's attention, and she babbled, and

Phillips smiled softly as he grabbed the bottle from the cabinet table, and replied,1

"I forgot something. Here's your bottle if you're a bit hungry. I'll be right back, okay?".

Susan smiled gummily, clapping her hands, and Phillips knew that that was her way of acknowledging his words,

and Phillips left the bottle in her playpen as Susan was currently playing with a toy army truck, and got up to head to the next room.

Phillips sighed as he quickly wanted to take care of what he needed to do as to not take much of an eye off of Susan.

He'd rather not end up somehow have something bad happen to her while he looked away and face the wrath of her parents.

Susan obviously was a smarter baby than normal ones, but at the end of the day, she still was one.

Susan happily played with her toy army truck, figuring that she'd drink soon, humming a nonsensical song that only made sense to her in baby language, and looked up when a knock came, and the door opened, revealing two army officers coming in, stiffly and respectful, "Colonel Phillips?".

Susan shrugged, figuring that it was officers talking to Phillips again about something called war, turning her attention back to her toy army truck.

She knew war was bad, but she was kept from most of it except for the reels that starred her parents.

The two officers saw the baby before Phillips called out. "I'm in the next room, gentlemen, just go through there.".

The men shrugged before they looked back at the baby once more as she continued to play, both of them having their own private thoughts at the situation before marching into the next room with Phillips.

Phillips were looking through the map storage shelves when he heard the two officers, and now turned around to face them,

"Ah, Khelps and Sanders. Make it quick, gentlemen. I am not in the mood for long term reports.".

"Well, sir, it's mostly just those last-minute reports for the upcoming operation.", Khelps explained as he placed the folders on the table.

"Right... Monty's big plan to end the war by Christmas.", Phillips huffed as he sat down to look over the documents.

Once the Falaise Gap had been closed, the Allies pushed hard with their victory. Forces landed in the south for

Operation Dragoon and blitzed northwards to link up with Patton's 3rd Army that was driving towards Alsace where the old Maginot Line and German borders were.

Meanwhile, the US 1st, Canadian 1st and British 2nd Armies liberated Paris and drove towards Luxembourg, Belgium and finished clearing out much of the

German forces in their path, pushing most into small pockets along the Channel ports like Calais and Dunkirk.

With the recent liberation of Antwerp and the quick clearing of the Scheldt estuary, the largest port in Europe would be open soon for the Allies to pour in their supplies and keep the drive going.

However, Field Marshal Montgomery was planning a major coup de grace in order to win infamy by having an operation to cross the infamous Rhine River of Germany and bypass the Westwall defenses.

Using the Airborne troops that hadn't been used since D-Day, land at several cities in Holland: Eindhoven,

Nijmegen and Arnhem, seize critical bridges along a main road that the British XXX (30th) Corps would roll armor down and get Allied troops across the Rhine at Arnhem.

"His plan has some issues obviously.", Sanders added. "The intel that it's only old men and young boys as part of the

German units guarding much of those areas while the Dutch resistance claims that two SS Panzer divisions are refitting in Arnhem alone.".

"Which if Carter and Rogers jump with the airborne won't matter much; they'll smash any armored vehicle the Germans throw at us with ease.", Phillips reminded.

Khelps nodded, "Yes, sir. We were said to deliver those last-minute reports, and when you're ready after editing the reports to help Montgomery, we are willing to send them back.".

Sanders replied, "And Montgomery would appreciate it if you could do it under 12 hours or less, sir!", with a nod.

Phillips raised an eyebrow, "Urgent, then. Very well, inform your unit chief that I'll be done with the edited reports within 5 hours.

You are dismissed, gentlemen.".

Khelps and Sanders saluted him, and left the room, closing the door partly, figuring that Phillips will organize the reports from most important to less important.

Khelps glanced at the baby, "Does it look familiar to you, Sanders?", and Sanders nodded,

"It's the spawn of Carter and Rogers. No way that Phillips would volunteer taking care of a freaky baby...I mean, he's practically married to his work, and

I never, ever heard of him having a family at all...Is Phillips playing grandfather for this brat?".

"Why else is it here? Of course, he is." Khelps scoffed. "That little freak just sits around the damn army command rather than being in a nursery or a freakshow.".