llowing the success of Operation Dragoon, the US VI Corps was hard on the march north as the Germans retreated
up the Rhone Valley. The fight to interdict and cut off the Germans resulted in the Battle for Montelimar.The US 36th
Texan Division and 45th Thunderbirds Division were leading the American effort. For their part, the Germans threw
various Kampfgruppes in a desperate rear guard effort. (Hypothetical now follows.) In the vanguard of the American
advance was Easy Company of the 143rd RCT, 36th Infantry Division. And at the point of this vanguard was a platoon
led by Sgt. Rock. Rock’s platoon had entered a French village near Loriol. A command element of the German 198th
Infantry Division was under attackby French resistance fighters, who were joined by Rock’s men. A German colonel
and several other German staff officers would be killed. The German colonel, though mortally wounded spoke briefly
to Rock before succumbing to his wounds. He told Rock about the blood red battle flag attached to his command car.
He told Rock that no German would allow him to keep that flag. Rock, liking his odds, tucked the flag into his web
belt and ordered his men to advance into the forests beyond the village. Time to clear out the Krauts.
Attacker: American (Easy Company, 143rd RCT, 36th Infantry Division)
