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Gray SaintsI: Paroxysm

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Gray Saints. A Jim_Riley and Uberslug production.

A Higgins boat carrying United States Army troops crosses the sea. The narration describes them embarking upon the Great Crusade, toward which they've striven these many months, and that the eyes of the world are upon them, the hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with them, in company with their brave allies and brothers-in-arms on other fronts they will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe and the security for themselves in a free world.

A US Army soldier in the Higgins boat reflects on how quickly one's life goes by, one moment he's helping to deliver groceries for the lady next door, the next he's signing up for the Army. He wonders whether or not he'll see home again and whatever happened to that freckle-faced grade school kid and what the hell he is doing there.

The closer the boat got to the beach, the closer the German's artillery felt. With nowhere to go, the soldiers prayed silently that they're luckier than others. A medic in the boat looks to the side, watching another Higgins boat get blown up by the Nazi artillery.

A soldier turns to another soldier next to him, Grady, and tells him he looks like he's about to puke. Grady grabs his helmet and tells him to just shut up, then moans. An officer then tells the troops it's in thirty seconds and starts to tell them to give them hell, but is cut short by a bullet hitting his neck and opening a hole in his throat.

The Higgins boat suddenly spins to the side, hitting a wooden obstacle that prevented it from turning over completely. Another soldier shouts at everyone to get outta the craft.

As soldiers get hit by stray bullets from the German army, the rest of the troops jump out of the Higgins boat and make their way across the ocean towards the Normandy beach.

Bullets fizzle through the water right next to the legs of the American troops making their way to shore. A soldier gets hit in the face so hard it is completely obliterated, leaving only a gaping, bloody hole.

Other soldiers die still in the water, their blood turning the ocean red. As soldiers all around him get torn to shreds, one soldier hiding behind an anti-tank obstacle, a Czech hedgehog, calls for Sergeant Riley and shouts that they're murdering them.

The soldiers asks Sergeant Riley what the hell they do now. Riley asks if he's seen anyone else from Third Squad. The soldier replies shit, no. A soldier in the sand screams that he's gonna die and calls Jesus' name. A medic tending to him tells him he's not going to die and to not look at his wound and hold still.

As the medic tends to the soldier's wound, a stray bullet hits him in the head, killing him instantly. As the medic curses, a random bullet hits his canteen and enters his body.

The medic screams in pain and grabs hold of his canteen, which is now leaking blood as well as water. Another surviving soldier makes his way through the water as bullets rain down around him.

The troops approach the Normandy beach, where the Nazis are entrenched and firing at them. A soldier asks if anyone has found the captain, to which another replies that the captain's dead and so are about two-thirds of the rest of the commanding officers.

A soldier asks what about Lieutenant Woods and if anyone has seen him make his way onto the beach, to which someone replies they don't know and maybe he did. Sergeant Riley then orders them to find Woods and that he's the rallying point.

Soldiers lie dead on the sand as the rest try to make their way through the beach.

A soldier, Allen, asks another, Alex, if he has any idea where they are and says he can't see anyone from their squad, let alone their unit. Alex retorts Christ, he thinks Allen's right.

A soldier orders the rest to stay in cover. One unfortunate troop that didn't heed this warning is perforated by bullets fired from the Nazi strongholds at Ohama beach.

An explosion throws the bodily remains of soldiers into the air like they are ragdolls while the rest of the survivors try to make their way forward. Sergeant Riley approaches his troops and tells them they have to make a push to the shingle if they want to get outta there alive.

Sergeant Riley tells Ramos, Creek and Ross to stick close to him and to not stop running, then orders Parker and Ricardo to keep their machine gun ready. He's interrupted by a stray bulle that kills one of his troops.

Riley orders them to go and runs forward. They make their way up Ohama beach, with Riley telling them to not stop. They reach a trench where other US soldiers are already lying in wait.

The commanding officer, Lieutenant Woods, sarcastically tells Sergeant Riley it's nice of him to make it. Riley retorts you too, sir. Woods incredulously asks if that's all that made it up, to which Riley tells him it's pretty bad out there and A Company is nearly completely decimated. Woods protests that that just isn't enough.

One of the grunts, Parucci, tells Woods that some of the guys there are leftovers from Dog, Fox and Able Company. More American soldiers rush towards them.

Allen and Shaw sit down next to Riley and Woods and introduce themselves. Shaw tells Woods he must be the only commanding officer alive as most of the others were killed before they hit the beach. Allen says they found a few engineers from K Company but they didn't make it.

Riley asks Woods what's the plan. Woods orders Murphy and Grady to move down the line and look for some engineers or Bangalore torpedoes. Alex mockingly tells Grady to move his ass, Grady tells him to shut up.

Allen complains this would be a lot easier if they just had some goddamn armor on the beach. Sergeant Riley retorts that they'll have to make do with what they have and that it's the only way any of them are going to get outta there alive.

A soldier approaches and tells them he found two engineers from A Company, the only two that have made it up to the shingle. Lieutenant Woods starts to tell him what to do when the soldier gets hit right in the head by a stray bullet in front of them.

Lieutenant Woods orders a soldier to bring up those bangalores and tells Sergeant Riley to get down there and bring that pile up. Riley and the rest of the troops help carry up the Bangalore torpedoes. Sergeant Riley thinks to himself that the amazing thing was, despite the overwhelming odds against them, somehow they still pushed on.

A soldier counts down from one to three as another holds up the Bangalore torpedo. They shout in unison three and set off the Bangalores.

A soldier drops down screaming fire in the hole. The Bangalore torpedo hits the Nazis' fortification hard.

Lieutenant Woods says that Dog One is now open and to go. Meanwhile, on the opposite side of the single, a squad of soldiers is firing on the Germans.

A soldier up front has a bazooka. He aims at the Nazi fortifications and tells the others to hurry and load him up.

The Nazis on the fortification are still firing their machineguns towards the beach. A soldier aims his M1 Garand rifle at them.

Through the scope, the US soldier can see the head of a Nazi. He fires, opening a hole in the Nazi's neck and killing him instantly. The other Nazi next to him reacts in shock.

The soldier with the bazooka shouts to clear the back blast and screams fire. He shoots the rocket-propelled grenade, obliterating the Nazi fortification.

A soldier tells the others that it looks like some more of their 29th boys are coming through the shingle and to move on ahead, they got it from there. The soldier replies right and they move forward, rifles in hand.

A US soldier makes his way through what remains of the Nazi fort, seeing a smoking burned out corpse. A German soldier with half of his face burned off and gaping holes in the right side of his body is still alive, however, and he moans as he tries to raise his rifle.

The American soldier immediately moves his rifle up to kill the German soldier clinging to life, but his rifle jams. He curses it and starts hitting it to try and unjam the bullet.

Before the surviving German can do anything, however, a bullet opens a hole in his forehead. A US medic stands next to the other soldier, his handgun aimed at the German.

The soldier whose rifle was jammed thanks the medic who saved him, who tells him let's go.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Woods, Sergeant Riley and their troops are making their way up the shingle. Woods orders Parucci to give them suppressive fire.

As the Nazis fire down at them, Sergeant Riley reflects on the two things he planned to do after the war. First, get a patch of land out in the country for himself and live out his days in peace. Second, not come home in a box. He wasn't one for crazy moves, but he was an adrenaline-pumping machine, rushing the entrenched position ahead of the others. He couldn't stop.

A German soldiers tells the others that the Americans have broken through their lines on the left flank and they'll be in the trenches soon, so they must get out of there before it's too late. Two of the soldiers start to move away, but a third, Christoph, continues firing on the Americans despite the insistence of his squadmates that they have to get out of there now.

Riley fired three bursts from his Thompson machinegun and saw the German go down, but wasn't too sure he had him. He leaps over the trench and into the German's hole.

As he checks around, Riley realizes the German soldier is gone. The other troops in his squad soon make their way up to him.

Lieutenant Woods and Sergeant Riley grab cover near the entrance to the German's bunker. Woods asks Riley if he's ready. He replies yes, sir. Woods then shouts go and both rush in.

Inside is a squad of four Germans, one of which telling the rest they have to get out of there quick. Riley and Woods enter the bunker and start firing on the Germans.

Outside, Riley's squad is waiting patiently. They see Riley and Woods exit and one asks if it's all clear.

Woods replies yeah, all clear. He and Sergeant Riley move outside in silence.

Sergeant Riley spots two Krauts on the run and points it out. Woods replies that's good news for them.

Riley notes that more landings are coming in, that means more troops are heading Hitler's way. Woods agrees and notes that the Krauts will fight even harder, so they got a long road ahead.

Sergeant Riley notes to himself that they both knew it, in fact, that he thought they all knew it. Jerry was on the run but they had the advantage, they had the cities, the towns, the woods, the forests and the country, an advantage they couldn't let them have. End of part 1.

Special thanks: TH89, Unknownguy, Egevened, Kendo, Werewolf, Hamberglar and the 29th Infantry Division History sites and sites dedicated to the memory of the 29th Infantry Division and to all those who supported and anticipated the release of this comic. A Jim_Riley and Uberslug Production.

Next comic:

II: Quoth the Raven

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