Chapter 17

Troina, Sicily. Late July 1943

It was nighttime in the city of Troina which made it that more dangerous as the battle between American armor/infantry and the Italian/German defenders raged on. A platoon of soldiers on the eastern side of the city had been cut off and were surrounded by Germans but their rescue didn't wager that much concern from the superiors. The reason for that was because the platoon was from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team which was a segregated unit of Japanese-American soldiers drafted to fight the war. Their rescue didn't wager much concern from the superiors but Clark was of a different opinion.

A Japanese-American Corpsman pulled one of his platoon members behind some cover next to another soldier of their unit. The Corpsman and the two injured platoon members were the only survivors at the moment from the German Ambush. The Corpsman readied his pistol as some Germans closed in when he heard them screaming for help so he peaked his head out to see what was going on. He saw the Man of Steel send four Germans flying back with a push before taking out his pistol and shooting two more. He holstered his pistol and walked over to the Corpsman. "Sergeant Kalvin Elbert. Heard you guys needed some help."

"You've got good timing." The Corpsman replied, tending to his injured squad mates with what he had.

"How bad is it?" Clark asked and winced as one of them groaned in pain when the Corpsman tightened the bandage on his leg.

"They're in rough shape but will make it. We need to get out of here." The Corpsman told him and Clark nodded. He picked up one of the injured soldiers and put him over his shoulder while the Corpsman grabbed the other one and did the same.

They walked out of their cover and saw a German soldier raising his rifle at them only for a bullet to go through his head and kill him. Clark looked up and saw a Japanese-American soldier up in a bell tower with his M1 rifle. He gave him a nod and Clark gave him a nod back as he and the Corpsman carried the two injured soldiers down the street. The Japanese-American soldier used his M1 rifle and killed any Germans that tried to stop them. He landed all head shots with his Garand and kept Clark and the Corpsman safe. He sniped another German and saw three more coming down the street but saw a grenade on the ground. With one well-placed shot, the grenade exploded and killed the three Germans. Clark and the Corpsman stopped when they saw a truck block their path and four Germans got out and held them at gunpoint. Clark and the Corpsman backed up as the Germans slowly walked up to them. The sniper saw the Germans down below and began thinking of how to take them out quickly before they opened fire when he saw the other bell tower in the square. They were right next to it and the bell was partially hanging out of the tower with a rope being all that kept it from falling so he took aim and fired. His bullet sliced through the rope and the church bell came crashing down and killed the four Germans.

Clark and the Corpsman breathed a sigh of relief as the sniper walked over to them. "Nice shooting." Clark complimented him.

"Thanks." The soldier replied, shouldering his rifle. "We can use the truck to get the wounded and dead out of here."

"Sounds like a good idea." Clark walked over and carefully put the injured soldier in the back of the truck before helping the Corpsman with the other who then got in the back to stabilize them. "Sergeant Kalvin Elbert. Nice to meet you."

The sniper didn't expect to see the handshake but shook back. "Sergeant Daniel Take-Yatsu. 442nd Regimental Combat team."

"Nice shooting, Sergeant Take-Yatsu. I think that's gonna earn you a medal." Clark told him.

"I don't need medals." He replied, carrying the body of one of his fallen comrades. "I'm here to fight and follow my one rule. No matter how bad things get, everyone comes home."

Clark smiled and really admired that rule. "Amen to that."

He helped carry the rest of the deceased members of the platoon that died there and they used the truck to drive them back into allied territory. The battle for Troina was hard but with the aid of the Man of Steel, they managed to capture the city in two days after intense fighting. The Germans quickly withdrew from the city and began making their way north. Same with the troops in San Fratello. They thought the Germans were being pushed back but it was more of a tactical retreat. The 78th British Infantry managed to occupy Adrano a few days later as there was minimal German defenders in a rear guard position since most of them had already withdrawn to the city of Messina.

It was clear to Allied command that German Commander Kesselring was making an organized withdrawal from the island because he knew that he didn't have the men and resources to retake the captured the cities. Instead of attempting a failed counter-attack, he had some units engage in a rear guard action to keep the Allies occupied while the remaining forces got on transports ship for the Italian mainland. Anti-aircraft guns and artillery in Messina and on the coastal straight of Italy kept back Allied naval vessels and bombing runs.

Still, while the Germans were retreating, not all managed to get to the transports as they intended.

Randarro, Sicily August 1943

A column of four trucks was driving out of the town of Randarro at the base of Mount Etna on its way to the city of Messina. 32 German Wehrmacht soldiers were in the trucks along with four members of the Waffen-SS who were safeguarding a locked box. The trucks were moving down the rural road to get to their destination of Messina, unaware that they would never get there. The driver in the lead truck was as calm as can be until the vehicle was brought to an abrupt stop and the driver and passenger in the front seat were jerked forward. They were jerked forward again as the truck behind them had crashed into them, the third truck crashed into the second truck and the fourth truck crashed into the third truck.

The driver was confused as to what happened when he and the soldier in the passenger seat saw a man holding the front of the truck with his bare hands. It was Clark who had forced the truck to a stop and caused the crash. He then punched through the hood and pulled out the engine so it wasn't going anywhere.

"Hinterhalt!" The driver shouted ambush with urgency as he and the passenger shot at Clark but their bullets bounced back into the front seats of the car and ricocheted around. The soldiers quickly got out of the trucks and readied their weapons when some of them began getting gunned down. That's when gunfire erupted from both sides of the road and the ambush kicked off. Kingsley and the British were in the trees to the right while Logan and the Canadians were in a ditch on the left. 28 of the German soldiers were quickly gunned down and the rest threw down their guns to surrender when a Waffen-SS soldier in the third truck killed them all with his MP-40.

"Sterben Amerikaneische Schweine!" (Die, American Swine)

The Waffen-SS soldier led a battle charge and sprayed a lot of bullets as he was joined by two of his compatriots. Kingsley fired a barrage of bullets and killed one SS with his Bren while Logan gunned down the second and third. With the Germans dead, the British and Canadians slowly moved in and secured the area. Logan walked over to the third truck and looked into the back which is when he saw a fourth Waffen-SS soldier holding up a grenade.

"HEIL HITLER!" He raised his grenade and pulled the cap off the bottom in a suicide attempt to blow up the trucks and take down as many of them as he could.

"Grenade!" Logan shouted in panic when a fist punched through the side of the truck and grabbed the Waffen-SS soldier by the arm. Clark had punched through the side of the truck and grabbed the German before pulling him out through the side. He grabbed the grenade and tossed the German to the ground before throwing it up just as it exploded so no one was injured. The Waffen-SS soldier scrambled for his pistol only for Kingsley to knock him out with a gun butt to the face.

"Tie him up." Kingsley ordered and some men began to restrain the German and remove anything he had on him. "We'll question him later at command."

"What are the Waffen-SS doing on Sicily?" A soldier wondered.

"Nothing good, that's for sure." Logan slung his Thompson on his shoulder and got into the back of the truck to see a locked chest the SS soldier was sitting next to. "Pretty sure I found what he was trying to protect."

Logan got out of the truck with the chest and put it down. Clark and Kingsley walked over as the other soldiers organized the dead to see if there was anything else they were hiding. Clark ripped the lock off the chest and opened it to see it was filled with papers, files, and maps. Clark took out a file that was filled with paper he immediately recognized as transcribed communication. "Communication transcriptions between Italian Parliament and King Victor Emmanuel." Clark told them earning looks of surprise from Kingsley and Logan.

"The Germans are intercepting Italian communiques? Aren't these bastards supposed to be on the same side?" Logan pointed out, putting the small bud of his cigar in his mouth.

"With the way things have been going here I'm not sure how much of that partnership is still hanging on." Kingsley said, taking a sip of water from his canteen.

"This could be the reason why. According to this, King Emmanuel has dismissed Mussolini as Prime Minster of Italy and had him arrested." Clark told them, earning even bigger looks of shock. "He's been replaced with Marshal Pietro Badoglio. It looks like a Nazi sympathizer on Sicily contacted the SS about what was going on. They were probably heading on a transport back to Germany."

"Mussolini is done? That's it boys. Italy's ours and the war's nearly over." Logan told him and they all cheered. Logan chuckled in amusement as did Kingsley. "What else does the thing say?"

"Um…says that the King might surrender if his terms are met. Some pretty outrageous terms." Clark read through the rest of the communique when he got to the last part. "Are there any maps and stuff in the chest written in German?"

Kingsley looked through it and found some papers that had German writing on it and a large map of Italy that had an area circled with military writing. "Yeah."

"It says here that Mussolini is imprisoned at Camp Imperatore in Abruzzo. About 130 kilometers from Rome and Mussolini is being held prisoner there at a hotel." Clark explained.

"A hotel?" Logan had a stunned look of disbelief on his face. If he were imprisoned at a hotel, it definitely was the nicest prison he could ask for. He took out the map and saw that Abruzzo was circled. Kingsley handed some of the papers to Clark and he read through them.

"The German communiques talk about putting more troops into Italy to stop the allied advance on the mainland. The German high command think Italy might surrender and are ready to take over fighting." Clark read through and told them. "And if that happens then Hitler wants some German Fallschirmjäger and Waffen-SS commandos to drop into Italy and rescue Mussolini. There's no set date on this but if Italy concedes to the allies then Germany wants Italy retaken."

"Guess we know why the SS didn't want us to have this." Logan kicked the chest with his boot and Clark began thinking.

"But this could be something we can use. Let's get this back to command." Clark put everything back in the chest and the group used the three working trucks to head back to Adrano with their Waffen-SS prisoner.

They drove past the barriers into town and saw the changed state of the city. It was still in shambles after the fighting but work was quickly being done to fix what could be fixed and the people of the city were happy that the Germans were gone. There was a renewed spirit in the air with its liberation and with the summer weather so people were out and about with farmers tending to their lands and soldiers flirting with single Italian women. The trucks drove into the middle of the city where British allied command was set up in what used to be Adrano's City hall. MPs took the Waffen-SS soldier into custody while Clark, Logan, and Kingsley headed into the command building and were escorted to an office by MPs and an office aid.

They walked in to see several British lieutenants, majors, and a few generals discussing things at strategic tables with map and information. "General."

English General Bernard Montgomery looked up to see a British Paratrooper, a Canadian Special Forces Commando, and the Man of Steel himself in the office. "General Montgomery." Clark put the box down before he, Kingsley, and Logan saluted him and he gave them a salute back.

"At ease, gentlemen. Irving, get these men some coffee and that other thing." General Montgomery ordered.

"Yes, sir." The aid quickly left after that and General Montgomery walked over to them.

"How are things, Sergeant?" General Montgomery asked him.

"Fine sir but we found something we think you should see." Clark picked up the box and put it on a table. "We encountered a German convoy leaving Randarro and heading to Messina. Mostly German infantry but there were four Waffen-SS commandos with them and they were guarding this."

General Montgomery opened the chest and saw the files and maps so he took them out and put them on the table. The lieutenants, majors, and other higher ups in the room began to sort through them but it was all either in Italian or German. "We managed to take one Waffen-SS commando prisoner. The MPs have him right now." Kingsley told the General.

"Lieutenant Brady, get a translator here as soon as possible." General Montgomery ordered.

"There's no need, sir. I read German and Italian and we took a look through the chest before we brought it here." Clark took out of the file that had the Italian communique and placed it on the table. "The Italian transcripts are communiques between Italian Parliament and King Victor Emmanuel. A Nazi sympathizer on Sicily intercepted the communication and contacted the SS who then arrived to pick them up. The King ousted Mussolini as Prime Minister and had him arrested."

That bit of information was a shock for every high ranking person in that room and they all looked at Clark with stunned looks. "Yeah, that's how some of us reacted when he translated that." Logan remarked.

"You're sure this is accurate?" General Montgomery asked him and Clark nodded.

"I'm sure, sir. My Italian is spot on. Mussolini's been arrested and they've taken him to a residence outside of Rome. At the moment, Parliament and the King are considering surrendering but no official plans have been made yet. That brings us to the reason the SS were on Sicily to get this information. They radioed this information to German High Command and they're already making plans to put more troops into Italy to halt the advance. If Italy officially surrenders then the German army is gonna take over fighting. And one part of that plan is sending in a team to rescue Mussolini and put him back in power. The Waffen-SS team was probably here on Sicily to get some last minute information before we stopped them." Clark finished explaining.

"We'll get this to Central Command. It'll take some time to go through all of this but this is good work, Sergeant. This news alone is gonna help the war effort and the planned invasion of Italy. You're a credit to soldiers everywhere as well as the SSR." General Montgomery told him.

"I'm just doing my job, sir." Clark replied when General Montgomery's aid walked back in with the coffee and a box he handed to the General.

"It's more than that, Sergeant. Your actions both in the recon mission on the island and everything since then has been tremendous to our efforts in taking Sicily. It's fair enough to say that a lot of good soldiers are alive today because of what you've done. And good work like that deserves recognition." General Montgomery told him as all the other men in the room stood at attention. He placed the box on the table and opened it to reveal a medal. It was a silver circular pendant attached to blue and red ribbons. On the front of the medal were carvings of armor and weapons while on the back were the words for distinguished conduct in the field. "Sergeant Kalvin Elbert, in recognition of your bravery and defense of the soldiers of his Majesty's army through harrowing conditions I am proud to aware you the Distinguished Conduct Medal. And on behalf of his Majesty, thank you."

The General pinned the medal on his chest and shook his hand when an aid quickly took a picture with a camera. "Thank you, Sir." Clark told him.

"The honor is mine, Sergeant. And this medal was well earned. Colonel Phillips sends his best wishes for your success and congratulations as well." General Montgomery told him. "We'll make sure the rest of Command gets the information you brought us, Sergeant. Now, go and get some rest. You've earned it."

Clark nodded as the other generals and lieutenants in the room shook his hand and congratulated him. Arthur walked up and shook his hand. "Well done, Kal."

"Thanks, Arthur." He replied.

"Just a regular boy scout, aren't ya?" Logan chuckled before taking out his cigar. "Now, I don't know about either of you but I think something to eat and drink sounds like a good idea. We've earned it."

"Fair enough." Clark and Arthur followed Logan out of the building to get some food and rest with the other soldiers in their unit. Their work was done for the moment and the capture of Sicily was practically complete. There would be more work tomorrow but for tonight, they could rest and savor their victory.

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