HOLD YOUR FIRE
Turnbull stares at the dark shape, focused and ready to fire. The figures shift slightly. Then one of them cries out.
"Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...."
The two Germans are actually one large cow, sleepily munching grass. Turnbull allows himself a smile.
"I almost killed Bessie," he thinks. "Not sure I could have lived that down."
Turnbull moves quickly back to his mission and takes in his surroundings. He stands in a small field, about 500 square feet with tall hedgerows on every side.
Small breaks on the north and southwest lead out of the field but the hedgerows will make moving around very difficult.
The standard operating procedure is that the lead paratrooper, in this case Turnbull, stays where he lands.
The men who jump next move in the opposite direction as the plane was flying when they jumped.
That way they will "roll up the stick" to meet up with the lead man.
"That might not work here," Turnbull thinks. "The hedgerows in Normandy are too tight. My men won't be able to simply walk a straight line to find me."
Instead of staying put, Turnbull could recon to the southwest to find his men. Turnbull guesses that they all landed in that direction.
On the other hand, the battalion rally point is to the north. Maybe he should stay put and let his men find him.
What do you do now, Lieutenant? Stay put or recon to the southwest?
