The following journal was recovered by Finnish resistance fighters during operations near a German POW camp. The book was damaged by snowmelt, but the inscription "Immortal Technique" was visible on the inside front cover.
Details of the operation - and the status of any Allied POWs in the camp - are not available at this time.
December 5, 1943
Dear Journal,
I will likely be long dead before another soul reads this, my mortality being a looming reality with each passing day. I sit here in this dark, dreary, and worst of all rainy country called France, with this journal and this cigarette being my only companions that I long to see after each day. After being pushed out of the mainland of France we are posted at the northern outskirts of the country.
After surviving by the skin of my teeth, visiting hell and climbing Mount Everest my reward is to do it all over again. The Axis soldiers or should I say brainwashed legions of Hitler?s ?men? come to attack our posts in Finland or so our commanders seem to think. After being cleared medically fit for combat by some miracle, our company departs to Finland tomorrow. It is really a miracle that spineless dog Prime Zero fights for the oppression of his own country while I must throw my life on the line for its defense. Sometimes I wish I didn?t make it out of the battle for France, I doubt the slain care if they wake or sleep.
The fight for France was promising, our initial assault had proved successful. It is really surprising that I remember it at all having survived two explosions. When the fight started, it started fast. I heard gunfire while we were all still scrambling for positions and gripping the reality that we were about to kill or be killed. I recognized the sound, the loud crack of the friendly weapon the springfield sniper rifle. I call it friendly but I?m sure it isn?t when you are on the receiving end. I remember thinking ?Haha Bloodshot is givin them hell already atta boy?! Bloodshot had joined us from the British army, I don?t actually think he was British though. Who can tell those damn common wealth accents apart anyways? At any rate he had taken out three enemies with that springfield and I joined him on the front lines. I could see he was firing away down a long alley. I knew with his suppressive fire it was my chance to get to the riverbed that we had planned to use to get up close to those axis dogs.
I ran through the alley as fast as I could praying to God I don?t take a bullet. I had made it to a wall on the left for cover and I was now at the base of the Somme rivers dry tributary we had planned to use. It was then that it dawned on me, our frontlines consisted of myself and this young kid who was our squads radio man. I pressed on following the attack plan we had covered in training. I did not fear death I had nothing to lose, my three brothers killed already in the war, my Mom died of Cancer, and my coward of a father who I never knew. I told the radio man ?signal both squads we are clear to the rendezvous point?, he had told me that he was ordered to keep radio chatter clean. I said in an almost whimsical manner ?Kid the only orders you follow are the ones from your trigger finger and the ones that don?t get people killed?.
I had climbed up from that mucky horrendous river bed protected by a wall, it was then that I had heard General Boyle in the riverbed below and I took a little bit of solace knowing that the rest of our forces were on the way. I heard the radio crack and General Boyle begin to speak, Boyle is a modest man, nobody knew his real age but we all knew he had at least 20 years on us. Don?t let that fool you though I wouldn?t go toe to toe with him on my best days, he fought like someone half his age on steroids. He said ?lay low boys and watch out for grenades I?m not planning on writing letters to your mothers for at least another two weeks?. As comical as he was trying to be he captured the grave reality of our situation well, our life expectancy had turned into that of a fly?s or a mosquito.
Up until now the fighting hadn?t really started, Only seconds had passed since I had climbed out of the riverbed and met up with General Boyle. I was determined to clear the way, I couldn?t sit there behind that wall forever, although the thought was enticing. The men of Commander Mavwreck? squad were covering the bridge so I knew that my left was secure. What I wasn?t so sure about was the building right in front of me. I peeked my head out and saw a small glimpse of a doorway, I was willing to bet bottom dollar there was an enemy in there. I shot first and asked questions later, I was right! I had given that poor dogs lungs two extra airholes, I?m sure he won?t be thanking me.
Knowing that it was clear up ahead I pressed on and then there was a bend to my right. I was expecting an enemy soldier to the right but when I got three I was unprepared. Boldly or stupidly I thought I could take them all I emptied my clip expecting the bang of my rifle?s clip as it popped out but instead I got the bang of a grenade and shrapnel. I was down and out of the fight. Apparently sheer willpower could not kill an enemy.
I could barely see, everything was a tinge of red because of the blood pouring down myface. I could just hear the voice of another British exchange soldier Derv as I struggled to get a glimpse of him. Man this guy could fight! Our forces had got bottle necked at the end of a tunnel and there was no way in hell we were getting through there alive. Derv was unphased and fearless he just kept hammering away through that tunnel dodging grenades.
I wondered how long I had been unconscious for, because General Boyle now had the sniper rifle, I could tell both sides were making last ditch efforts. Boyle was sniping through the tunnel checking left checking right every now and then I heard a shot fire. Then one brave soldier named Beret with a thompson decided to act for the greater good. He ran out to their end of the tunnel dodging fire like a mad man. Boyle then acting to save the life of this brave man popped out and started sniping the rest of those wermacht pigs.
The sound of silence was serene, was the fighting actually over!? We had successfully killed the enemy France was ours! Derv helped me up and said ?you aint dyin on me already are ya mate?? I picked up a Garand and at least pretended to be battle ready. That serene moment of silence didn?t last long. I heard on the corpse of the dead radio man, ?they?re coming back through the deployment zone!? I guess France wasn?t ours, not yet anyways. Derv and I were still at the tunnel busily shooting rounds through as if we had targets.
Then I locked eyes with the enemy Commander himself?Wewo. I set up the best angle to shoot him, still barely able to walk from the previous blast and I waited for him to pop out again. Like clockwork there he was I shot and so did he. My sights were right on him but some miraculous updraft or something set the bullet off trajectory. Wewo got a shot off too except his was a lot more explosive, his panzerschreck sent me flying and there I was again all bloody and dazed and this time surely on deaths door.
The axis troops were coming through the alley situated before the riverbed that I had previously scaled down, it?s like nothing could stop them or at least that?s what I heard from the dead radioman?s radio that I now lay beside lifeless. I could hear the droning of the .30 cal in the distance. We were totally unprepared to defend the new found territory. I could only hear axis rifles I couldn?t hear a single American shot fired. We must have been getting cut through as all I heard was static coming from the radio and the 30 cal machine gun. Soon that stopped too and a sense of sorrow loomed over my heart.
It was an astounding fight almost as astounding as how I made it out alive, but that?s a story for another day.
January 17th 1944
I am here shackled by the feet currently en route to what I can only imagine is a prisoner of war camp. I had always got nauseous easily and the impending interrogation and bumpy dirt roads as I sit in the back of this truck are not helping my situation very much. The enemy lieutenant in command at this post seems to have taken some sympathy on me. When we locked eyes it was as if he could see that death stalked me like a shadow and killed anyone I got close to, or perhaps it was just because he knew the coming months in the camps were going to be torture enough for me. At any rate he has allowed me to keep writing in my journal.
I feel an unusual sense of calm and as I recollect I had it at the moment of my capture as well. Surrounded by axis troops, disarmed and with no hope of escape I still smirked and let out a somewhat triumphant laugh. The battle for Finland had not gone our way and yielded a close defeat.
We had some advanced warning of the attack and we set up positions. I was separated from my squad mates who were under the command of squad leader Mini. They were stationed on the front lines preventing the enemy from flanking us from the east. Mini was a stout guy no more than 5, 6 but his personality was at least 6 feet tall. He would never hesitate to tell you how it is if he feels you?re wrong but at the same time if you were nice to him then he was a loyal friend.
There was a man we had prayed would be stationed somewhere else and not present at the battle, the axis legendary sniper that we all called Lungbuster. That is because whenever we went to retrieve a dog tag from an ally who had just been sniped down they were always shot right through a lung, or so the medics told us. At first we thought it was coincidence but by the 100th time we figured that it was just a modus operandi.
I could tell my squad mates were under sniper fire as the only thing I heard was a k98 rifle off in the distance. One shot, two shots, three shots, then some loud bangs of grenades. From the sounds of it we were not returning any fire. Attempts to contact Mini?s squad over the radio were coming back unanswered; we knew it was party time.
I was stationed on the west flank along with General Boyle, but a number of us had to disperse to cover our eastern flank that had become recently exposed. General Boyle and Sergeant Dodgy stayed behind to cover the west. I heard the rapid fire of a German STG and feared the worse but was relieved when I looked back and saw General Boyle walking bloodied holding the German assault rifle. I guess that explained why I hadn?t heard his 30 cal go off.
As I heard explosions in the distance I could only imagine Commander Mavwreck was having fun with his new High Explosive Anti Personelle Bazooka.
General Boyle?s junky axis weapon jammed on him, go figure and I was now too far to help Sergeant Dodgy. His real name was James Macgregor but we called him Dodgy because he was never wounded in combat. He would be in the middle of a firefight running around dodging bullets while piles of axis bodies just built up. Dodgy alone with a weaponless Boyle ambushed the remaining axis soldiers killing three of them that had gotten past our now crippled east flank. They had not seen him camouflaged in a bush and he mowed them down as they walked by.
It appeared as if we had repelled them as it remained quiet for several minutes. Ashes were falling from the sky like snowflakes from the burning buildings in the distance caused by axis bomb runs. Fighting continued on the east flank as another axis wave came pouring through, but there was no way to hold them there. I fell back to rendezvous with Dodgy and Boyle.
I still don?t know what happened to Dodgy, I went to the spot I had seen him ambush those unsuspecting axis soldiers but he was nowhere to be found. Above me was General Boyle, he had picked his Machine Gun back up and was deployed in the window of a strange looking red shed. I remember him saying ?Don?t stand up boy or I might accidentally give you a face full of lead?. My head being one foot away from the machine gun?s barrel made me inclined to agree with his wise words. Despite knowing that the bulk of the German forces were coming from the east we were both looking westward in fear of the remaining German flank from the west. After a couple minutes of quiet, General Boyle shuffled his position to cover the shed entrance and I waited patiently to ambush the remaining Germans in the same manner that Dodgy did. Apparently stealth was never my forte and the Germans could see my arm popping out from behind the wall and out of the bushes from a mile away. I heard a couple of pistol shots and my gun flew out of my hand as I jerked in pain. Several Luger pistols now were aimed point blank at my head, but I still had half a mind to reach for the colt. An Axis rifleman walked up to me slowly and grinned almost sadistically, his hideous smile and the butt end of his rifle were the last thing I remember of the battle. General Boyle was alone in that shed after I had been knocked out but he?s a tough son of a gun, if I know him he?s alive still.
Details of the operation - and the status of any Allied POWs in the camp - are not available at this time.
December 5, 1943
Dear Journal,
I will likely be long dead before another soul reads this, my mortality being a looming reality with each passing day. I sit here in this dark, dreary, and worst of all rainy country called France, with this journal and this cigarette being my only companions that I long to see after each day. After being pushed out of the mainland of France we are posted at the northern outskirts of the country.
After surviving by the skin of my teeth, visiting hell and climbing Mount Everest my reward is to do it all over again. The Axis soldiers or should I say brainwashed legions of Hitler?s ?men? come to attack our posts in Finland or so our commanders seem to think. After being cleared medically fit for combat by some miracle, our company departs to Finland tomorrow. It is really a miracle that spineless dog Prime Zero fights for the oppression of his own country while I must throw my life on the line for its defense. Sometimes I wish I didn?t make it out of the battle for France, I doubt the slain care if they wake or sleep.
The fight for France was promising, our initial assault had proved successful. It is really surprising that I remember it at all having survived two explosions. When the fight started, it started fast. I heard gunfire while we were all still scrambling for positions and gripping the reality that we were about to kill or be killed. I recognized the sound, the loud crack of the friendly weapon the springfield sniper rifle. I call it friendly but I?m sure it isn?t when you are on the receiving end. I remember thinking ?Haha Bloodshot is givin them hell already atta boy?! Bloodshot had joined us from the British army, I don?t actually think he was British though. Who can tell those damn common wealth accents apart anyways? At any rate he had taken out three enemies with that springfield and I joined him on the front lines. I could see he was firing away down a long alley. I knew with his suppressive fire it was my chance to get to the riverbed that we had planned to use to get up close to those axis dogs.
I ran through the alley as fast as I could praying to God I don?t take a bullet. I had made it to a wall on the left for cover and I was now at the base of the Somme rivers dry tributary we had planned to use. It was then that it dawned on me, our frontlines consisted of myself and this young kid who was our squads radio man. I pressed on following the attack plan we had covered in training. I did not fear death I had nothing to lose, my three brothers killed already in the war, my Mom died of Cancer, and my coward of a father who I never knew. I told the radio man ?signal both squads we are clear to the rendezvous point?, he had told me that he was ordered to keep radio chatter clean. I said in an almost whimsical manner ?Kid the only orders you follow are the ones from your trigger finger and the ones that don?t get people killed?.
I had climbed up from that mucky horrendous river bed protected by a wall, it was then that I had heard General Boyle in the riverbed below and I took a little bit of solace knowing that the rest of our forces were on the way. I heard the radio crack and General Boyle begin to speak, Boyle is a modest man, nobody knew his real age but we all knew he had at least 20 years on us. Don?t let that fool you though I wouldn?t go toe to toe with him on my best days, he fought like someone half his age on steroids. He said ?lay low boys and watch out for grenades I?m not planning on writing letters to your mothers for at least another two weeks?. As comical as he was trying to be he captured the grave reality of our situation well, our life expectancy had turned into that of a fly?s or a mosquito.
Up until now the fighting hadn?t really started, Only seconds had passed since I had climbed out of the riverbed and met up with General Boyle. I was determined to clear the way, I couldn?t sit there behind that wall forever, although the thought was enticing. The men of Commander Mavwreck? squad were covering the bridge so I knew that my left was secure. What I wasn?t so sure about was the building right in front of me. I peeked my head out and saw a small glimpse of a doorway, I was willing to bet bottom dollar there was an enemy in there. I shot first and asked questions later, I was right! I had given that poor dogs lungs two extra airholes, I?m sure he won?t be thanking me.
Knowing that it was clear up ahead I pressed on and then there was a bend to my right. I was expecting an enemy soldier to the right but when I got three I was unprepared. Boldly or stupidly I thought I could take them all I emptied my clip expecting the bang of my rifle?s clip as it popped out but instead I got the bang of a grenade and shrapnel. I was down and out of the fight. Apparently sheer willpower could not kill an enemy.
I could barely see, everything was a tinge of red because of the blood pouring down myface. I could just hear the voice of another British exchange soldier Derv as I struggled to get a glimpse of him. Man this guy could fight! Our forces had got bottle necked at the end of a tunnel and there was no way in hell we were getting through there alive. Derv was unphased and fearless he just kept hammering away through that tunnel dodging grenades.
I wondered how long I had been unconscious for, because General Boyle now had the sniper rifle, I could tell both sides were making last ditch efforts. Boyle was sniping through the tunnel checking left checking right every now and then I heard a shot fire. Then one brave soldier named Beret with a thompson decided to act for the greater good. He ran out to their end of the tunnel dodging fire like a mad man. Boyle then acting to save the life of this brave man popped out and started sniping the rest of those wermacht pigs.
The sound of silence was serene, was the fighting actually over!? We had successfully killed the enemy France was ours! Derv helped me up and said ?you aint dyin on me already are ya mate?? I picked up a Garand and at least pretended to be battle ready. That serene moment of silence didn?t last long. I heard on the corpse of the dead radio man, ?they?re coming back through the deployment zone!? I guess France wasn?t ours, not yet anyways. Derv and I were still at the tunnel busily shooting rounds through as if we had targets.
Then I locked eyes with the enemy Commander himself?Wewo. I set up the best angle to shoot him, still barely able to walk from the previous blast and I waited for him to pop out again. Like clockwork there he was I shot and so did he. My sights were right on him but some miraculous updraft or something set the bullet off trajectory. Wewo got a shot off too except his was a lot more explosive, his panzerschreck sent me flying and there I was again all bloody and dazed and this time surely on deaths door.
The axis troops were coming through the alley situated before the riverbed that I had previously scaled down, it?s like nothing could stop them or at least that?s what I heard from the dead radioman?s radio that I now lay beside lifeless. I could hear the droning of the .30 cal in the distance. We were totally unprepared to defend the new found territory. I could only hear axis rifles I couldn?t hear a single American shot fired. We must have been getting cut through as all I heard was static coming from the radio and the 30 cal machine gun. Soon that stopped too and a sense of sorrow loomed over my heart.
It was an astounding fight almost as astounding as how I made it out alive, but that?s a story for another day.
January 17th 1944
I am here shackled by the feet currently en route to what I can only imagine is a prisoner of war camp. I had always got nauseous easily and the impending interrogation and bumpy dirt roads as I sit in the back of this truck are not helping my situation very much. The enemy lieutenant in command at this post seems to have taken some sympathy on me. When we locked eyes it was as if he could see that death stalked me like a shadow and killed anyone I got close to, or perhaps it was just because he knew the coming months in the camps were going to be torture enough for me. At any rate he has allowed me to keep writing in my journal.
I feel an unusual sense of calm and as I recollect I had it at the moment of my capture as well. Surrounded by axis troops, disarmed and with no hope of escape I still smirked and let out a somewhat triumphant laugh. The battle for Finland had not gone our way and yielded a close defeat.
We had some advanced warning of the attack and we set up positions. I was separated from my squad mates who were under the command of squad leader Mini. They were stationed on the front lines preventing the enemy from flanking us from the east. Mini was a stout guy no more than 5, 6 but his personality was at least 6 feet tall. He would never hesitate to tell you how it is if he feels you?re wrong but at the same time if you were nice to him then he was a loyal friend.
There was a man we had prayed would be stationed somewhere else and not present at the battle, the axis legendary sniper that we all called Lungbuster. That is because whenever we went to retrieve a dog tag from an ally who had just been sniped down they were always shot right through a lung, or so the medics told us. At first we thought it was coincidence but by the 100th time we figured that it was just a modus operandi.
I could tell my squad mates were under sniper fire as the only thing I heard was a k98 rifle off in the distance. One shot, two shots, three shots, then some loud bangs of grenades. From the sounds of it we were not returning any fire. Attempts to contact Mini?s squad over the radio were coming back unanswered; we knew it was party time.
I was stationed on the west flank along with General Boyle, but a number of us had to disperse to cover our eastern flank that had become recently exposed. General Boyle and Sergeant Dodgy stayed behind to cover the west. I heard the rapid fire of a German STG and feared the worse but was relieved when I looked back and saw General Boyle walking bloodied holding the German assault rifle. I guess that explained why I hadn?t heard his 30 cal go off.
As I heard explosions in the distance I could only imagine Commander Mavwreck was having fun with his new High Explosive Anti Personelle Bazooka.
General Boyle?s junky axis weapon jammed on him, go figure and I was now too far to help Sergeant Dodgy. His real name was James Macgregor but we called him Dodgy because he was never wounded in combat. He would be in the middle of a firefight running around dodging bullets while piles of axis bodies just built up. Dodgy alone with a weaponless Boyle ambushed the remaining axis soldiers killing three of them that had gotten past our now crippled east flank. They had not seen him camouflaged in a bush and he mowed them down as they walked by.
It appeared as if we had repelled them as it remained quiet for several minutes. Ashes were falling from the sky like snowflakes from the burning buildings in the distance caused by axis bomb runs. Fighting continued on the east flank as another axis wave came pouring through, but there was no way to hold them there. I fell back to rendezvous with Dodgy and Boyle.
I still don?t know what happened to Dodgy, I went to the spot I had seen him ambush those unsuspecting axis soldiers but he was nowhere to be found. Above me was General Boyle, he had picked his Machine Gun back up and was deployed in the window of a strange looking red shed. I remember him saying ?Don?t stand up boy or I might accidentally give you a face full of lead?. My head being one foot away from the machine gun?s barrel made me inclined to agree with his wise words. Despite knowing that the bulk of the German forces were coming from the east we were both looking westward in fear of the remaining German flank from the west. After a couple minutes of quiet, General Boyle shuffled his position to cover the shed entrance and I waited patiently to ambush the remaining Germans in the same manner that Dodgy did. Apparently stealth was never my forte and the Germans could see my arm popping out from behind the wall and out of the bushes from a mile away. I heard a couple of pistol shots and my gun flew out of my hand as I jerked in pain. Several Luger pistols now were aimed point blank at my head, but I still had half a mind to reach for the colt. An Axis rifleman walked up to me slowly and grinned almost sadistically, his hideous smile and the butt end of his rifle were the last thing I remember of the battle. General Boyle was alone in that shed after I had been knocked out but he?s a tough son of a gun, if I know him he?s alive still.
