Oss Agent Volume two
August 14th 1944 U.S. Army ranger and agent for the office of strategic services 2nd LT Michael Taylor is waiting outside the office of his commanding officer. After a brief yet painful mind numbing wait Michael is allowed to meet with his commanding officer. Once he was inside he looked at the Colonel and he said


“Sir 2ND LT Taylor reporting to the colonel as ordered!” The colonel returned the Lieutenant’s salute and told him to stand at ease. Once he was at ease the Colonel began the mission briefing.
“Lieutenant the Office of Strategic services has another mission for you.”

“There is a small French town called Sophie and it is on the border between France and Germany and this town is in the path of the allied advance.”


“Unfortunately it is also loaded with German’s so your mission is to parachute near the town of Sophie then you are going to make your way into the town and head for the bank, once you’re inside of the bank send a radio message back here.



“Then the allies will advance into the town and link up with you “
Now this advance may take a while since there are a lot of German forces between our current position and the town so pack plenty of water ammunition and Tootsie chocolate candy. “
“One more thing during your journey to the town of Sophie and your journey to the town’s bank you are to kill as many German’s as you can now unless you have any questions of concerns you are dismissed.”


Once the mission briefing was done Michael left the Colonel’s office and he returned to his living quarters and got himself and his mission issued gear ready for the mission.
As he reviewed his combat load of mission gear he realized that some of it could be lost during the jump. So he decided to lighten his load while at the same time remaining as combat effective as possible.


He took the contents of the M1936 Musette bag and removed it then he put the bag aside.
Then he laid the grenades and the 8 round enbloc ammunition clips for his m1 Garand neatly on his Army Cot and he decided that the grenades should be left behind so he could carry more ammunition for his Service Rifle.

So he turned in the grenades to the supply sergeant and obtained more rifle ammunition. Once that was done he decided to carry all of this ammunition in the various pockets of his sanitized uniform.
Making sure to evenly distribute the ammunition among the pockets of course he also decided to carry just one radio battery for the radio, and to put all the water canteens on his belt before he boarded the C-47 transport plane.



The young soldier decided to put the bag of tootsie roll candy, pocket knife and duct tape into one of the uniform chest pockets.
He would also make sure that the reserve parachute would be secured very tightly to his midsection just in case he needed to use it.
At Midnight on August 16th 1944 it was time for the mission,


Michael carefully put on the follow pieces of gear, on his strong back the radio and its battery, main parachute.
The Rifle ammunition was put in his many uniform pockets, in his chest pockets he put the bag of tootsie roll chocolate candy, duct tape and Victorinox Swiss Army Knife Officers knife that he purchased at the PX.


The Water canteens were attached to his belt, now last but certainly not least he attached his reserve parachute on his midsection tightly , once he had all of this equipment was attached to his body he made his way to the airfield where a C47 Transport Aircraft that was waiting for him.
After a prayer with the chaplain he boarded the plane and found a seat.



After talking with the pilots and the Jumpmaster the pilots got into their seats and buckled their seat belts then they prepared for takeoff.
When those preparations where completed the piloted started up the plane’s engines and once the planes had enough engine power the pilots taxied it down the runaway.
Once the place had traveled down the entire runway the pilot pulled back on the controls and the plane was airborne.

Once the plane was finally airborne Michael let out a sigh of relief.
A Few moments after the plane got airborne Michael reached under his steel helmet and he removed a small pocket sized photo Album that contained some family pictures an some pictures of his sweetheart Ashley.



He looked through the small picture album a few times then he put it back inside his steel helmet for safe keeping.
When the Plane was near the drop zone the Jumpmaster told Michael to stand up and hookup the static line of his Main Parachute. Michael stood up and then hooked the static line of his main parachute.

Then he did an equipment check and worked his way to the jump door. Then watched the red light and he nervously waited for it to turn green which was the signal for him to Jump. When it finally did turn green Michael Jumped out of the C-47 transport plane his main parachute opened with a very big forceful jolt.
Then after several moments in the air he landed on the ground with a big thump, Michael quickly removed his main parachute and his reserve parachute gathered them up and hid them in a safe place. Then he


unslung his M1 Garand retracted the charging handle and put an 8-round enbloc clip of ammunition into the rifle then he headed for the French town of Sophie.
The young man worked his way toward the French town of Sophie with extreme caution;

he worked his way around several mine fields.

When he encountered German troops he would kill them with a long range rifle shot to the head or the chest. When he got to the outskirts of town he saw an MG42 Machinegun nest.
The young Army Ranger/OSS Agent, found a spot on the road leading to the town where he could see the nest clearly, without being seen by the machinegun crew, he raised his rifle up to his shoulder lined up the sights and began to slowly squeeze the trigger.


But he hesitated for a moment he knew that the 30-06 rifle cartridge makes a lot of noise when it’s fired and with so many German forces in the immediate area, the sound of the shot would probably alert them all.
But he had been taking chances and risks he whole life, so he decided to risk detection and shoot them and he slowly put pressure on the rifle’s trigger and he shot the first German soldier.
Who fell over dead, the second machine gun crewman just sat their behind his weapon.

Michael lined up the sights again and he fired. Then this enemy soldier fell over dead beside his buddy.
After waiting a few moments to see if any more Germans would come around the immediate area he ran like a crazy man to the bank. When he got to the bank he burst through the door, then he cleared the building room by room.

Once the building was cleared Michael returned to the ground floor and setup the radio and sent the radio message that he was instructed to send.
Then he opened the bag of Tootsie rolls chocolate candy and ate a few of them then he took a large drink from one of the canteens that where hanging on his belt.


Once all that was done Michael closed the two interior French style doors that were used as the banks entrance then he retrieved his Victorinox Swiss Army Officer’s knife and the roll of duct tape he had with him.
Then he used the knifes large cutting blade to cut several strips of duct tape and he put them across the two doors as a crude form of barrier to keep the doors closed, it was not the best barrier in the world but it would have to do.


Once the door was secure Michael established a number shooting positions the 1st one on the balcony that was on the front of the bank’s building and a second position at the window that was on the left side of the bank’s doors and another one on the right side.
Once the second and third positions where established Michael returned to the balcony during the long night Michael kept watch. Whenever he saw a German soldier moving around in the darkness or saw

movement in a window or a doorway he would take a mental note of it.
Then he started a routine of manning his many shooting positions he would start at the Balcony and man that position for 30 minutes.


Then he would go to the left window and he would man that one for 30 minutes,
Then move to the right window and man it for 30 minutes. Then start the whole routine again.
When he got hungry he would eat a few Tootsie rolls when he got thirsty he would drink from one of the canteens on his belt. When the sun rose the next morning the area in front of the bank became a shooting gallery!


Michael ran from position to position shooting every German Soldier that came into the sights of his service rifle. When they got to close to the bank he would shout at them in German then he would shoot.
When the Germans started to fire Mortars in the direction of the bank Michael was forces to abandon his shooting position on the balcony when he got downstairs Michael went down to his window shooting positions moving from left to right.

At one point the German fire got very heavy so he retreated away from the windows sat down on the middle of the bank’s staircase and continued to shoot at the enemy.
During this whole gun fight Michael listened to the radio and prayed that the allies would make it to the bank to link up with him.

At one point Michael’s knees began to shake violently so he took a few Tootsie rolls out of bag that was in his pocket and he began to eat them when he saw a couple of German soldiers rushing toward the left window with hand grenades.
He raised his M1 Garand service rifle up to his shoulder and he fired two 8-round enbloc clips of ammunition at them then he took a drink from his canteen. When he done was drinking from the canteen He returned to his deadly duty.

Michael continued to shoot at the German’s while at the same time he listened to the radio and to the allied advance toward the French Town of Sophie. With each radio message that came through the speaker Michael would say to himself “I hope that the tanks and the infantry get here before I run out of ammunition.”

During a lull in the battle Michael heard the loud grumbling noise of an engine coming to toward the bank so he grabbed a pair of binoculars that he found in the bank and he searched for the source of the noise that was getting louder and louder.

When he saw that the source of the noise was and American M4 Sherman Tank firing its machine guns he remarked with great joy
“Thank you God it’s an American M4 Sherman Tank!” He quickly took his Victorinox Swiss Army Officers knife out of his pocket opened the large cutting blade and cut the duct tape barrier that was on the doors once that was done Michael closed the blade and put the knife back into his uniform pocket.

Once the tank had finally stopped one of the tank’s crewmen got out of the M4 Sherman tank and walked into the bank and shook hands with Michael and they talked briefly.
When they were done talking Michael took a moment to thank god for watching over him during yet another dangerous mission.

This story is the second in a series of stories so please stay tuned because there are a lot of missions ahead for OSS Agent/Army Ranger 2nd LT Michael Taylor.

Bibliography
Mg357
Borntoraisehogs
Roadranger
Iggy
ACP230
Mack
Captainjohnsofd
Homie
Akviper
Combat Diver
Camster