SS-Sturmbannführer Alexander Von Herrmann.

SS Spezialeinheiten, 2nd squad.

Somewhere over the outskirts of Paris, France.

June 19th, 1941. 7:17pm.

- Sir, get ready, we are approaching the drop zone, first we´ll drop the bombs to soften any enemy presence in the area, our forces have almost taken Paris but the French resistance is still fighting hard along with the remnants of the army, please make sure you don´t lose your map so you don´t have any trouble reaching the rendezvous point. – Said the pilot over the commlink, the headphone crackled lightly as the JU-88 got shaken up with a bit of turbulence.

- Understood, I have the map right here. – I replied tapping a pouch in my vest.

I stood up and began to checking my gear, afterwards I made sure all straps were secure.

I was wearing a plain black jumpsuit with no tags or rank insignias, a parachute on my back, the MP40 slung in front, my Luger P08 placed securely in its leg holster at the right, 3 stick grenades in a leather pouch on the left.

- 60 seconds to drop zone – The pilot shouted.

I took off the headset, placed the goggles and strapped my helmet.

- 45 seconds, releasing bombs. – said the pilot.

The two big doors in the belly of the plane opened up, the bombs behind me started dropping and shortly after they were all out.

- 30 seconds –

As the pilot said that the JU-88 got shaken up really bad by a blast on the right, multiple blasts started to blow around the plane, the plane got an impact on the right engine and also on the tail, it started to shake badly, the pilot waved me over, I stumbled towards the cockpit to speak with him.

- Damn, Captain we are getting flak from down below, the right engine is shot to shit but it still moves, we need to get out of here before we get shot down. – said the co-pilot.

- Sturmbannführer, you are jumping into a hot zone but if everything goes out ok you will be landing right on the designated LZ, we´ll be dropping altitude so you can jump under the flak, get in position, open the hatch and jump after my signal. – said the Captain.

I approached the hatch on the right side and got ready to jump, the captain signaled me with a thumbs up and I removed the hatch lock in order to open it, but then the unexpected happened when three flak rounds clipped the plane one after the other, the first one was in the underside by the belly doors, the impact knocked me down to the ground and one of the belly doors flew off. The second one got the right engine again, as I got back up and opened the hatch I saw how it catched fire but the propeller was still spinning somehow. The third one got the cockpit and shook the plane hard knocking me to the ground again, as I looked up I saw that the copilot had been blown to pieces by the impact as well as the front gunner, there was blood and flesh splattered all over the cockpit, the captain was still alive but badly wounded.

- Sturmbannführer jump now, I got this bitch. – He said with a bloody grin and giving me a thumbs up.

- Best of lucks captain. – I said before jumping out.

The last minutes of flight had been a bit scary but the jump was terrifying with all the blasts and explosions from the AA-guns all around me, I looked up as the beaten JU88 turned around slowly and backed out of the flak zone leaving a black smoke trail in its wake, I wonder if the pilot will be able to make back home alive.

I remained like 20 seconds on free fall and opened my parachute, as I got close to the ground I recognized the little plaza that was marked on the map as the designated landing zone, it had enough open space for me to land with no problem, hopefully I won’t attract any unnecessary attention.

When I touched ground I quickly got rid of the parachute equipment and got inside a big round fountain that was in the middle of the plaza, I took cover behind the tall fountain walls and pulled my binoculars out.

I scanned the area ahead through a peep hole in the stone trying to look for any movement, anything suspicious…anything at all.

A couple of minutes passed but there were no sign of allies or enemies.

I took out and opened my map, there were 7 blocks between me and the rendezvous point: A church just west of here where I was supposed to meet up with the squad leader, someone by the name of Helga Von Schwarz.

- The Squad leader is a woman, interesting. -

I was losing sunlight quickly so I got up and out of the fountain and started walking, I decided that it was best to stick to the sides of the streets and to the shadows as well, if an enemy patrol found me that would be the end.

It took me some time to advance while taking precautions, 30 minutes had passed already and I was still 3 blocks away but being careful had paid off so far.

I was about to move forward to another piece of cover when I saw a tank along with about 15 soldiers on foot at about 50 meters ahead, it turned at the corner in the end of the street I was in and steered my way, I took a look at it and noticed that it was a Char B1 heavy tank, the troops had no army uniforms, most likely French resistance fighters, they were all singing in unison, it sounded like they were looking for a fight.

I was in a tight spot now hiding behind a burnt halftrack in the middle of the street, right in the path of the tank, the troops were scattered around the tank and patrolling the surroundings, If I moved back they would spot me right away and if I stood in position they would eventually stumble upon me, the only option was to open fire while there was still some moving distance between them and me and as the troops run for cover I would have to make a run for it.

I cocked the MP40 and took aim, there was 5 up front and 5 to each side of the tank, I aimed to the ones at the front first and waited for a good moment to fire, I was now sweating a bit out of nervousness, finally I pulled the trigger.

- Suck on this you French fucks! – I said as I sprayed the five in front with short bursts of fire.

The first shots got two of them right in the chest, I shot a second burst and the troopers at the sides ran for cover behind the tank, the tank stopped immediately, the third and fourth bursts from my rifle got the other 3 resistance fighters that were in front as they were trying to find cover.

- Five down, ten and a tank to go. – I said to myself, some bullets whirred as they passed above my head.

I crouched behind the halftrack and loaded a fresh clip but I noticed they were not returning fire anymore, I peeked out a little to catch a glimpse of what was going on and saw the tank aiming the main cannon at me.

- Oh shit! – I said as I got up and started running away, the tank fired shortly after and the blast sent me to the ground, the loud boom left a long ¨beep¨ in my ears.

I got up and kept running down the street, the resistance fighters were after me, I was just stopping, returning fire and running again but after five or six minutes of that I had almost ran out of ammo for the MP40 and I knew the handgun wouldn’t put up much of a fight.

- Down to my last, let´s make them count. – I grunted as I loaded my last clip.

The ten men were trying to rush at me, I had taken cover in a corner behind a concrete wall by the end of the street and the tank was still in the other end 150 meters away just sitting there, not firing or aiming at me for some reason, maybe they were letting the ground troops hunt me down instead of wasting rounds.

I took a deep breath, sweat was running down my forehead, I fired 3 rounds in a row and got nothing but concrete, I fired again, 4 rounds this time, I got two that were running towards me with their bayonets fixed.

When the men fell to the ground the tank aimed and fired a shell, I jumped out of the way as the massive shell blew a hole through the concrete wall that I was using for cover, I landed hard and the noise of the blast left me dizzy and disorientated again, I lifted my head a little and I saw that the men that were giving me chase earlier were getting close to me, rifles at the ready, I thought this was the end for me...