Such scenes allowed Bannon to understand for the first time why the pacifist movement had been so large in Europe. The children of the last war, who had witnessed his uncle’s Sherman tank roll through their villages had not wanted their children to experience the same horror. Unfortunately, the good intentions of those parents were no match for the intentions of the Russian leaders. As had happened too often in the past, well-meaning people who desired peace at any price were no match for cold steel and people willing to use it.
Inevitably, the children he saw caused Bannon to wonder about his own. He still didn’t know if all the families had made it out before hostilities. It was the nagging fear that they hadn’t, and what he would do if that proved to be the case, that caused him begin to turn away whenever he saw a child, for the thoughts they evoked were simply too painful.
It was near noon when Team Yankee finally rolled into the town where the 3rd of the 78th was supposed to be. As the Team entered it, they passed a group of American soldiers sitting in front of a house cleaning their weapons. All were stripped down to their T-shirts or bare chests, enjoying the weather and in no hurry to finish the tasks at hand. Some of the men didn’t even have their boots on. A PC Bannon assumed was theirs was parked in an alley. Clothes and towels were draped all over it to dry. A shirt was even hanging on the barrel of the caliber .50.
Bannon stopped Alpha 55 and signaled the rest of the column to halt. Turning to the group of soldiers, he called out, “Who’s in charge here?”
A couple of the soldiers looked up at Bannon before chattering among themselves. One young soldier finally turned and yelled back. “Who the fuck wants to know?”
Garger later told Bannon that he had never seen him move so fast. When the soldier gave him that reply, he was up and out of the turret of 55 and on the ground headed for the man at a dead run all in one motion. “ON YOUR FEET, YOU SORRY SON-OF-A-BITCH! ALL OF YOU! YOU TOO!” he added, thrusting his arm out at a soldier who wasn’t moving fast enough.
Suddenly realizing that perhaps they were talking to an officer, they came to their feet. Not that there was any way they could tell Bannon was an officer. About the only thing different about him since his meeting with the Tank Battalion command group that morning had been the cleaning of the wound on the side of his face.
“All right, soldier, I’ll ask you one more time,” Bannon growled as he shoved his face into the face of the man who’d spoken out. “And before you answer,” he added as he narrowed his eyes, “if you give me a smartass answer like you just did, they’ll be sending your remains home in a very small envelope. Is that clear?”
The soldier took stock of this god-awful looking and foul smelling figure before him. Taking no more chances, he came to attention. “Sir, our squad leader is not here.”
“That’s not what I asked you, soldier. I asked you who is in charge. There is someone in charge of this cluster fuck, isn’t there?”
“I guess I am, sir.”
“YOU GUESS! YOU GUESS! DON’T YOU KNOW?”
“Yes, sir, I am in charge, sir.”
“What unit are you soldier?”
“Charlie Company sir.”
“Good, great! You wouldn’t happen to know what battalion you belong to, would you?”
“Sir, the Fighting Third of the 78th, sir.”
By this time, the tracks in Team Yankee had shut down and were listening to the conversation. When the soldier Bannon was dressing down came out with the fighting first comment, everyone in the Team broke out in uproarious laughter. From struggling to keep his rage in check, Bannon suddenly found himself fighting to hold back his laughter as well. He lost. Now it was the turn of the Charlie Company soldiers to become peeved over being the object of laughter. Wisely, none of them said or did a thing. They were not about to tempt the wrath of a column of soldiers who looked no different than Bannon. They simply stood at attention and bit their tongues.
After regaining control of himself, barely, Bannon continued, “All right, soldier. Where is your Battalion CP?” The soldier informed him that it was in a school just down the street and how to get there. With that, Bannon turned and climbed aboard 55, gave the hand and arm signal to crank up and move out, then led Team Yankee at a dead run to the headquarters of the Fighting Third.
As Bannon and Uleski walked down the corridors of the German school, Bannon was overcome with the odd feeling he was out of place here. In the field he felt at ease. They belonged in the field. That was where they worked. But this was a school, a place where young children came to learn about the world and to prepare for the future. Bannon was a soldier whose job was to close with and destroy the enemy by fire, maneuver, and shock effect. In short, to kill. He had no business here, in a place dedicated to the future. With that thought in mind, the two hurried down the corridors in silence so as not to offend the spirit of the school.
When they entered the classroom where the battalion staff and company commanders were having a command and staff briefing, they felt even more out of place. Though hard to imagine, the battalion staff appeared to be even cleaner than they had been two days ago, when the order to take Hill 214 had been given. It could have been that Bannon was just dirtier.
Both he and the XO had gone tromping into the room like two men storming into a strange bar looking to pick a fight with the first man who said boo. They stood just inside the room for a moment, surveying the assembled group who returned their stares. It reminded Bannon of a scene from a B-grade western. He looked at Uleski, who seemed to be thinking the same thing, causing him to stifle a snicker.
Major Jordan was the first to come over and greeted them with a sincere smile and a handshake as if they were long-lost cousins. The battalion commander and the other company commanders followed. Only the Charlie Company commander hung back. Bannon imagined it was from embarrassment. When the greetings were over, Colonel Reynolds took him to the front of the group and sat him on the seat next to his, displacing the Charlie Company commander. This move shocked Bannon since Captain Cravin, commander of Charlie Company, had always been Colonel Reynolds’s fair-haired boy. Whatever Cravin did was good and right. Major Jordan, who didn’t think much of Cravin or his company, smiled at the sight of the colonel’s wunderkind being taken down a notch.
As the meeting continued, Reynolds would stop, turn to Bannon, and ask what Team Yankee needed from the battalion motor officer, the S-4, the S-l, and so on. It quickly became apparent that the colonel was prepared to give Team Yankee first choice of whatever was available. Given the opportunity, Bannon grabbed it and ran. When the S-l wanted to know about personnel needs, Bannon told him that the Team needed eighteen infantrymen to replace Polgar’s losses. The S-l stated that it would not be possible to replace them now. Upon hearing this, Bannon turned to the battalion commander and told him that since Charlie and Delta companies were still up to strength, if each of their squads gave up one man, Polgar could easily be brought up to strength. He had meant this as a cheap shot at the two companies. To his surprise, the colonel told the S-l to see that this was done and to ensure that only the best soldiers went. He then turned to the S-4 and told him that if the S-4 couldn’t get another PC for Polgar right away, Charlie Company was to turn one over to Team Yankee.
At the end of the meeting Bannon and Uleski briefed the colonel and the S-3 on what had happened after Team Yankee had crossed the line of departure. The Colonel and S-3 frequently stop them and ask questions about certain aspects of the operation, effects of weapons, where their soldiers seemed to be wanting, how the Soviets had reacted, and so on. At the conclusion of Bannon’s impromptu update, Major Jordan recommended that the leadership of Team Yankee prepare a briefing for the officers and NCOs of the battalion. He pointed out that this way, lessons learned at such a high cost could be passed on to those officers and senior NCOs who had yet seen any action. Reynolds endorsed the idea without hesitation.