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Show i' ...-.: i V l - PJ I ... - ..." i v v 't ' J By G e n r a I ARED WHITE f 1 . I -I WHIT I WNU II1VICI t ' . -J fcnii- y-iUMifif t' i-m-vrT-;;iTf"'ii"-"'--v"v .v.y.-..-. &. j.. .,.,.. ,.a . "Overhrad the flock was growing." THK STORY SO FAR: IntfUiitnco Officer Banning k'aroed la Mexico City Uul roo.ooo forcicn troop under Vn Hassok wer poised alone the Rio Grande, for an Invasion of the United States. Be succeeded In gaining the confidenca of Flncko and Bravot, two enemy officers, before returning to s? it w CHAPTER VIII Captain Franklin Boll, In com-mand com-mand ot two outpost companies of the 11th United Statei Infantry In the vicinity of Laredo, had patrols along the Rio Grande watching for the first Van Hassek wave. Word had flashed through of the bombing of San Antonio and Boll knew that the land Invasion must be shaping itself already for a vital blow at Texas when daylight came. Colonel Denn had spent a fretful night, well knowing the tight pinch In which he might find his regiment at dawn. His regiment was at peace strength, rifle companies running as low as seventy, total strength 1,132 officers and men. No artillery support sup-port had been sent him from Fort Sam Houston, his only supporting weapons were the 37-millimeter and small mortars of his weapons companies. com-panies. His ammunition supply was less than one day of fire. Such a thing as interdicting suspected sus-pected points of enemy river crossing cross-ing was out of the question. He had given Boll, in outpost, eight machine guns and some light mortars. Lightning flashed in the distance. A shrill screech came plowing through the night. High explosives crashed in to turn night into bedlam. bed-lam. Fragments found a victim who fell with a howl of pain. The crew of a machine gun was dropped. Men scattered, lay flat on their faces, helpless against this hurricane of destruction that howled down upon them across the Rio Grande. All existence was now engulfed by the seething uproar of artillery. Boll saw that the regiment was claiming the fullest force of Van Hassek's rage. Half an hour and Boll's casualties were twenty. Patrols had been sighted, sight-ed, an increasing number of skulkers skulk-ers were reported closing in. Boll saw that his position was becoming untenable. He started his men slowly to the rear, with two squads covering his withdrawal. The enemy, suspicious of a possible trap in the night, followed fol-lowed cautiously. From this Boll guessed that only the first scattering scatter-ing bridgehead troops were in action. ac-tion. But, having guessed that the Americans were without benefit of artillery, the Van Hassek officers now would use the main bridge and move across the Rio Grande in force. Boll had covered less than two hundred yards when a runner arrived ar-rived from Colonel Denn. "The colonel says get back as fast as you can!" the messenger panted. pant-ed. "Regiment is pulling out right away for the Nueces." Half an hour later, Boll panted Into the regimental position. Captain Cap-tain March, assistant plans and training officer, came hurrying up from a vacated regimental position. "Regiment putted out twenty minutes min-utes ago," March reported to Boll. "You're to follow at once as rear guard. Trucks are ready behind this hilL Colonel Denn left you some baldoliers of extra ammunition, but ' we ought to get back of the Nueces before we fight. Second Division is taking position somewhere back there. Hurry your men along, Captain!" Cap-tain!" By jamming his men seventeen to the truck. Boll got his command on wheels. Two trucks went to the wounded, one to his three remaining remain-ing machine guns. He studied the luminous dial of his watch, an anx-I anx-I ious scowl on his face as his convoy made ready to pull out The hour was a little past three o'clock. A plane shot overhead, traveling high and fast. Its shrilling motors sent a chill down the captain's spine. "It'll be just too bad for us if we're not at trie Nueces by daylight," day-light," he muttered to Captain March. "And with light due in half an hour, I'm afraid we just can't msa it!" Major General Brill, area commander, com-mander, kept his head through tangled tan-gled hours whose crises might have INSTALLMENT EIGHT Washington. MagwiU. acung chief of Military Intelligence, told him that forces were also reported massing In the Mrdl terranran and the Far East. Btnnlng continued to pose as an enemy agent when Flncke later appearvd In the capital. cap-ital. Without warning, four southern cities cit-ies were attacked from the air. With- . .V 4 .It J M. d r.- r- v i put an officer of lesser mettle In dizzy whirL Inventory disclosed that the Second Sec-ond Division had escaped the sudden sud-den storm with loss of forty-odd cargo car-go trucks, seventeen men, five officers, offi-cers, and two pieces of artillery. Having given the Second lis orders to assemble and march on Kirk, Brill set about his final tactical plans. From time to time Brill and his staff were interrupted by reports of air disasters over New Orleans, Galveston, and Houston. Total losses there aggregated twelve hundred. General Brill directed his senior aide to get General Hague at Washington Wash-ington on the long-distance. The hour was nearing three o'clock when the Chief of Staff of the Army reported ready to talk. "My best Judgment is to pull out of here," Brill said, after he had reported re-ported latest developments in Texas. Tex-as. "We're too thin to make a fight for San Antonio, but we can do some good delaying back of the Colorado and Brazos while you get troops enough into the Fort Worth country to make a stand." Tne Hague voice responded with quiet firmness, "You'll proceed at once against the enemy. Brill, and make a stand in front of San Antonio An-tonio with your Second Division." Brill groaned. "But Hague, are you sure you understand the whole situation down here? It's simply inviting in-viting a lot of nasty losses to no purpose. I haven't force enough to" "Let's not debate the matter," General Hague interrupted stoutly. "Is that clear. Brill?" "Perfectly, sir." There was neither nei-ther remonstrance nor equivocation in the area commander's voice now. In a calm voice Brill repeated the Hague decision to his staff. He offered of-fered no comment. Without speaking, speak-ing, the staff went to work on its new plan. Circling to the south. Brill found the due-south road to Kirk, which was under military traffic control, and sped to the village, where he found General Mole, division commander. com-mander. Mole was a thin bit of military hickory now nearing retirement retire-ment age. General Mole received his superior's superi-or's battle orders with a monosyllable monosylla-ble of acquiescence, as if to hoard his jaded energies, and promptly set to work with his staff. The division staff was familiar with the country and made prompt plans for organization organi-zation of a defensive position. Orders Or-ders were ready within half an hour, and since there was no enemy immediately im-mediately in prospect, the regiments proceeded to their positions in then-cargo then-cargo trucks. General Brill stood in the growing dawn gravely watching the Second pass out to its battle lines. A force of 10.837 enlisted men and two warrant war-rant officers, led by 546 officers. As Captain Boll sprang into his station wagon with his lieutenants, and sped to the head of his truck column to set the pace, his eye caught the flash of light that turned the waning night into day some miles ahead of him. "Step on her!" he barked al his driver. "They'll spot us in a minuteand min-uteand we're still in artillery range." Boll sat with hands gripping his knees while he observed the bursts. Luckily they we'e striking to the right and doing no damage. But shortly the firing ceased, the air observer ob-server roared by again with a flare, and rushed off to radio correction to the distant gunners. He saw that there was the first touch of gray in the air, dawn only a matter of minutes. It would be a miracle if he reached the Nueces with half of his men and trucks. As the night thinned out, he caught tngton was heavily bombed and the President kUlcd In the assault. NaUonal forces were ordervd mobilised, but the army was 111 prepared to repulse the weU trained and equlppvd enemy columns col-umns which were about to advance against them. Now continue with the story. t jt at the distant hum of this new menace. men-ace. Boll broke out the glass windows win-dows of his station wagon with the butt of his automatic. He thrust his head out and peered into the sky. Planes were circling overhead like so many mad wasps waiting the Instant of better visibility. There was not long to wait. As night shed Its last veil, the war falcons swooped one at a time to pluck the little caravan to bits with their talons of steeL Men In the trucks opened fire with their rifles. But the attacking planes flew with the speed of the wind. They dashed low, pumping bullets from hot machine guns, releasing thelf fragmentation bombs, and in a twinkling twin-kling were gone. Then back they came, one at a time at irregular Intervals, to plaster the road with their fury. Overhead the flock was growing. Fourteen planes, he estimated. Two squadrons, force enough to tear him to pieces bit by bit unless miracles of good fortune and bad marksmanship marksman-ship attended him along the red course to the Nueces. Inevitably, dropping down time after time without with-out other hindrance than the random ran-dom fire of his riflemen, the airmen air-men would take their relentless toll. A truck went out, the third one back from Boll. It cracked up across the road under Impact of a bomb. The driver slumped dead in his seat. Men plied out and began be-gan scattering out of the storm. Boll stopped his car, ran back to straighten straight-en out the snarl. Three planes zoomed down his column, col-umn, knifing the road. He saw two of his men fall He gave Instructions Instruc-tions to a sergeant and two corporals. corpo-rals. They were to pass word down the column. Hereafter stricken trucks were to be shoved to the side of the road, survivors and wounded distributed to other trucks as they passed along. All were to act promptly on their own initiative. Boll ran back to his station wagon, leaped in. The car was vibrating with the gentle motion of idling motors. mo-tors. A shout went up from the men in Boll's truck. A plane crashed out of the sky and whanged into the gray earth. It burst instantly Into flames. Boll's riflemen had claimed another bird In this unequal clash. But the next Instant brought red retaliation. Another truck nosed off the road In a crush of wounded men and dead. Boll saw the survivors sur-vivors act promptly to extricate themselves, gather up the maimed and flag down succeeding vehicles. The village of Encinal flashed by. Boll shook his head and swore bitterly. bit-terly. Encinal told him that he bad little more than started on his long, desperate run. Next would come Artesia Wells, which would be little more than halfway to the Nueces. He looked at bis watch and saw the hour was short of six o'clock. He groaned and passed a tormented hand across his face. Misgivings struck him of making it through. His miiia nidde a nai raiculaliou. At their rate ol kill, those vulturei would tear his column to pieces De-fore De-fore he could run under the dubious cover ahead. Decision snapped in his mind as he saw a new flight swarming into the fight. The birdmen were traveling travel-ing high, but beading straight into the conflict More than twenty more planes he guessed in the daze of tragic discovery. dis-covery. His eye raced over the terrain. ter-rain. There were mesquite, juniper thickets, some rugged dwarf pine Scattered, his men would have refuge until Van Hassek's columns wheeled up. He roared an order to stop tha truck and leaped to the ground. The unwounded men with him he instructed in-structed to keep up their rifle fire. Standing beside the road he signaled a halt, motioned the command to detruck. de-truck. 'TO BE COVTlXhEUi |
