OSS AGENT Volume one
June 20th 1944
Army Ranger & OSS Agent 2nd lieutenant Michael Taylor is sitting outside the office of his commanding officer after a short but very mind numbing wait Michael was told the enter the office. Then he said “LT Michael Taylor reporting as ordered sir!” The Co returned to the salute and then he said to Michael “at ease LT at ease, please sit down”. Michael sat down in a nearby chair and made himself as comfortable as possible.
After clearing his throat the Colonel began to speak “Michael the OSS has another mission for you. The German’s have taken over a French estate and they are planning something big very big. Your mission is to parachute into France at midnight on June 22ND 1944 after landing.
Make your way to a French resistance safe house your contact at the safe house will supply you with a driver and a vehicle. Who will drive you to an area that overlooks the French estate.
Take notes of what activity that you see then you must report it back to us here in England. Do you have any questions or concerns LT Taylor?
Michael shook his head no then he was dismissed from the colonel’s office. Michael then returned to his quarters and he looked over his mission gear and the young LT noticed that he had a lot of gear he also knew that he would be jumping from a high altitude and during the descent some of or all of this gear could be lost.
So he decided that he needed to carry the lightest combat load possible while at the same time having enough gear to accomplish his mission.
So he walked to the Armory and turned in the M1A1 Thompson Submachine gun he had been issued and exchanged it for an m1A1 paratrooper carbine with folding stock and several magazines of ammunition for it.
Once that was done he carried back to his quarters and placed it with his other gear which consists of the following items,
M1A1 paratrooper Carbine with folding stock, Main parachute reserve
parachute map compass Large bag of Tootsie roll chocolate candy several water canteens
duct tape and lastly an A Victorinox Swiss Army knife known as the Officer’s knife which he had purchased at the PX.
After two days of training and mission preparation it was time to board the plane and fly to France.
When it was time to put his mission gear on, first he put his bag of Tootsie roll chocolate candy into one of the pockets of his sanitized uniform along with the compass and map.
Then he put the water canteens onto the belt, then he grabbed the supply of magazines for his M1A1 Paratrooper carbine and he evenly distributed them out into several of the uniform pockets.
Once that was done he put on his main parachute then his reserve parachute, then he folded the stock on his Carbine and tucked it behind his reserve parachute, and lastly he put a small pocket sized photo album into his helmet liner then put on the helmet.
After one final gear check he realized he had almost forgot his pocket knife so he grabbed that and put into one of his uniform chest pockets.
once all of his gear
Michael walked to the airfield got on board talked with the airplane crew
then he sat down in a seat near the plane’s jump door fastened his safety belt
then they plane’s engines where started up and it taxied down the runway. After a few minutes the C-47 lifted off the runway and headed for France.
During the plane flight Michael took out the small photo album that he kept inside of his steel helmet he looked at the pictures for several minutes then he put the album back inside of his helmet for safe keeping.
After a long nerve shaking plane ride the Jumpmaster said loudly “Lieutenant please stand up and hook up”! Michael stood up and hooked up the static line for his main parachute.
Then he stood in the door way of the plane when it was time to jump the jumpmaster yelled jump! Michael jumped out of the plane once he was out Michael looked up and he saw that his chute had opened correctly. Then He
slowly made his way to the ground below.
Michael landed hard with a big thump!
Michael quickly got out of his main parachute then he hid it once it was hid he took the Paratrooper carbine out from behind the reserve parachute unfolded the stock and laid it down then he removed the reserve parachute and hid them both.
Once the main parachute and reserve parachute were hidden Michael took out his compass and map and quickly figured out where he needed to go.
Once he had figured out where he needed to go he put his compass and map away in his uniform pocket then he grabbed his carbine slammed in a magazine of ammunition into it worked the bolt all the way back and let it fly forward under its own power.
He released the safety and made his way to the French Resistance safe house.
Michael had a long journey ahead of him he had to go around a few German mine fields and he were nearly seen by several German patrols. Once he found the safe house he slipped inside quietly then he found the secret door that had a blue button on it.
He pushed the button and the secret door opened and it revealed a secret passageway. Michael climbed down a small ladder and proceeded to make his way through the passageway his Carbine at the ready.
After walking down the secret passage way for several minutes LT Taylor found a large open room with several radio’s sleep bags and a small table and chairs, he also saw a woman hold a British Sten submachine gun.
The woman turned to Michael and she said to him in a very low French accented English “Are you American OSS agent Michael Taylor? Did you have any trouble getting here?”
Michael cleared his throat then he replied “yes ma-am I am OSS Agent Michael Taylor and no I did not have any trouble getting here at all The woman shook Michael’s hand and she said by the way my name is Sophie and I will be driving you back and forth during your intelligence mission”
once the introductions were done Sophie showed Michael around the safe house.
After he had been showed around the Safe house Michael found a place to lie down and he went to sleep. After he had slept for a little while Sophie woke Michael up and she escorted out the back door of the Safe house to a truck.
Then with Sophie behind the wheel of the Jeep and Michael riding shotgun with his Carbine locked and loaded.
After a short drive Sophie stopped the truck and shut down the engine. She looked at Michael and she said to him. “We have to stop here if we go any further the noise from the truck's engine will attract the attention of the German’s”.
Michael looked at Sophie and he asked her” where is the French Estate?” She pointed toward a hill 300 yards away from their current position.
Michael was about the get out of the jeep and head for the hill, but before he left Sophie handed him a small Moleskine notebook and a packet of sharpened pencils.
Michael put the items into his jacket and got out of the truck and he slowly and quietly started walking toward the hill. When he got to the bottom of the hill he quietly climbed it and got into a position where he could see his objective but the German’s could not see him.
Once he was settled into his position Michael took out his Moleskine notebook and pencils and he started to take notes about the French estate and all of the things that the German’s where doing on the estate property. After he had been watching and taking notes for several hours Michael began to get hungry so he took a few tootsie roll candies out of his pocket and he ate them quietly.
When he finished eating it he put the wrappers into his pocket.
Shortly after sundown LT Taylor left his hiding place, walked down the hill and walked 300 yards down to the truck .
Sophie started it up and they drove back to the safe house when they got back to the safe house Sophie parked the truck in its hiding spot covered it up and then they carefully into to the safe house through its secret back door.
Once they were safe and secure inside Michael went to the radio and transmitted the information from his Moleskine notebook back to his OSS contacts in England.
Once all the information had been sent He gave the old notebook to Sophie she burned it then she gave a new empty Moleskine notebook to use Michael who put in a safe place then he sharpened his pencils.
After eating a modest supper Michael went to bed.
Michael’s mission went like clockwork until shortly after lunch on the 5th day.
Michael had just started taking notes, when he saw several more German soldiers on the property that had never seen before.
Michael made a mental note to keep an eye on them. Then he continued his mission until he heard a twig snap near him.
Michael looked up and saw the German soldiers in front of him he grabbed his Carbine and he let them have it! For the next hour Michael fought it out as best as he could. When there was a brief lull in the shooting.
Michael slipped away then got down the hill and got to his driver. Michael explained what had happened to him and what he had been forced to do. Sophie quickly got the truck started.
Michael got into the passenger seat and they drove out of the area as fast as possible...
Sophie and Michael took an emergency escape route back to the safe house. When they got their they both knew that there was a chance that the Germans would launch a manhunt and try to find them.
so all through the night they kept watch to see if the Germans were going to attack the safe house but the attack never came.
A few days later Michael was reunited with his unit and he performed several more missions with the second Ranger battalion and the OSS.
So stay tuned because I am going to write about those missions.
Bibliography
Mg357
MMA10mm
Frailer
TLJ
GatorFarmer
Gunfighter9
Safearm
CAJUNLAWYER
Sprefix
Combat Diver
One eye joe
Senecaap
OSS Agent Volume one
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