Pitschen ma en gamba - Small, but powerful [A Band of Brothers Story]

The Patrol across the River

Speirs woke her a few minutes before midnight with a hand on her shoulder and a small frown on his face.

Sitting up, the brunette nearly fell off the bed, catching herself only just in time. In her sleep, she had somehow managed to curl up dangerously close to the edge, probably in a subconscious effort not to disturb Lip.

"You still up to this?", the CO questioned, sharp eyes boring into her, almost daring her to lie.

Ella nodded, getting to her feet and brushing a few errant strands out of her eyes. "Yes sir", she replied resolutely.

Redoing her bun, she followed the Captain out of the room, but not after giving the still sleeping Lipton a cursory glance.

Searchlights roamed across the sky, scanning for bombers. A lonely flare shot up, its light bright enough together with the full moon so that the small girl could just make out the swimmer climbing back up the embankment. The rope he'd had with him was already secured to a tree.

"Change into dry clothes and get yourself something hot to drink, alright?", she instructed when he passed her.

"You got it, Ella." Despite shivering so badly that he looked almost blurry, he managed a smile before stumbling off to get dry.

***

Waiting for the command, the ranking medic studied the rubber boats. The veterans of Market Garden and Operation Pegasus remembered how the Canadians had taught them to use the boats. She hadn't taken part in those drills, but she had watched a good while and therefore knew what to do.

Ella was the last one to get in and thanks to her light weight, the small vessel barely dipped. The coarse rope passed through her fingers as they pulled themselves across the river, making no sound at all.

Until a splash behind them shattered the silence.

Her heart leapt into her throat. Twisting to look back, she saw that the last boat had flipped, its three occupants landing in the icy water of the river.

"Oh shit!", Skinny exclaimed, flailing and thrashing in panic, "I can't swim!"

Cobb and Garcia, the other men who had been in the boat, quickly grabbed him and towed him back to shore.

Ella strained her ears for anything indicating that the Germans had heard the noise, while watching with her heart thundering in her throat as the three dripping wet men crawled back up the embankment.

Miraculously, everything stayed quiet.

Slowly, she released the breath she had been holding.

"Okay, keep going", Johnny ordered, catching Lieutenant Jones motioning for them to continue. "Stay focused."

They reached the other side without any further incident. The ranking medic belly-crawled through the hole in the barbed wire behind Grant and Jones, alongside Shifty.

"Clear", came the whisper from Johnny.

Getting to her feet, she followed Shifty to the first check-point. It was supposed to be a small building, but the bombs had destroyed it beyond recognition. Only a few pieces of the walls were standing, the rest had been reduced to piles of rubble.

Ducking behind a small heap of bricks and debris, Ella tensely waited for her cue, watching the men come in in pairs of two. The scouts, Shifty and One Lung, moved out, followed by Martin. Hitting the woodpile, Johnny gave the signal.