Harrison C. Summers

Harrison C. Summers was a United States Army soldier and a decorated war veteran. He served with the 1st Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division in World War II. On June 6, 1944, Summers landed as part of the first night drop of troops during the American airborne landings in Normandy. His unit had captured Saint-Germain-de-Varreville, France, near Exit 4 off Utah Beach. Summers and 15 soldiers were ordered by 1st Battalion commander, Lt Col. Patrick Cassidy, to capture a building complex nearby designated "WXYZ" on the field order map.

The buildings turned out to be a well-defended series of barracks for 100 or more German soldiers. Summers led the attack, charging inside with his Thompson submachine gun. He had ordered the others to follow, however only Private William Burt and Private John Camien followed him while the other soldiers stayed behind. He and the two others cleared out the buildings. Five hours later, the position was clear, and Summers personally killed more than 30 German soldiers. Summers received an honorable discharge on November 30, 1945, as a 1st Lieutenant. Summers was twice nominated for the Medal of Honor for his efforts that day, however was instead awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He is also the basis for the main character of the Brothers in Arms series Matthew Baker.

Battle vs. Yakov Pavlov (by Elgb333)
The Harz Mountains

30 APR 1945, 2200 HRS

It was a cold evening as seven American soldiers trudge through the Harz’s godforsaken woodlands. Howling winds kept blowing through the whole forest, and large clouds covered the moon and darkened the sky. This was no sunny mountain hike for young happy boy scouts, but they were perfect conditions for these grizzled soldiers prowling through the mountainside. Luck was on their side as the dark and noisy forest helped hide their movements. But they’re even made more lucky that famed war hero Lt. Harrison C. Summers was leading them in this mission.

In the army being a normal soldier is easy, but being a leader is a new level of hard. The whole squad has kept silent ever since they were dropped by a lone Skytrain almost half an hour ago. The mission they were at, and the dark scary woods they are walking through, made even these tough soldiers anxious. Harrison himself kept his hands wrapped firm and tight to his rifle as the cold crept through his skin. “Cold,” he kept thinking to himself ever since he arrived in these mountains. He’s not nervous at all, it’s just the cold that’s making him shake like this. He can pretend all night long that he’s not scared but he knows how vital and dangerous his mission is. It wasn’t the ordinary grunt assignments and raids the Airbornes are accustomed to. Tonight he and his men are in a lone covert operation behind neutral grounds with no help and no backup, and they’ll need all the skills and luck they’ll get.

Their mission: find a secret German facility that was used to create V2 rockets, retrieve every documents they can find and officially make them the properties of the United States of America. The facility belonged to a scientist by the name of Wernher von Braun, who has defected to Harrison’s country after participating in probably the most wrong and unlawful job recruitment ever done by the government called Operation Paperclip. The only problem is that intelligence say that they’re probably not alone in these mountains. Other countries, possibly the Soviet states, are also doing their own scavenger hunt for these Nazi technology, and like the U.S. they’re also not too keen to share.

Their radio operator suddenly picks up a call from the main camp in Elbe. “Brer Fox? Come in Brer Fox? This is Brer Rabbit asking. Have you found the facility yet?” the man on the phone said.

Harrison quickly deduces the identity of the bastard behind the phone call. “Cut the chatter Groves. I told you a million times already we’ll find those damn papers,” Harrison said annoyed. “Stop calling us like this goddammit. Stop being a whiny mom and just shut up.”

The man who called was Leslie Groves, the guy who oversaw the atomic bomb mission, and the bastard who sent the 101st Airborne Division in this secret mission. “You’re a terrific asshole Summers,” Groves said. “I counted 20 minutes of you loitering around after you landed. For all we know the Russians have probably beaten you to it. I shoulda known that you Airborne guys don’t can’t handle this mission and I shoulda just sent the Rangers instead.”

Angered by what he heard, Harrison had enough of this and said, “Listen here Groves, and you listen to me carefully. Me and my men will get those documents, and when I get back… which I will… I’m gonna personally shove those papers up your ass. The more you try to call us like this, the more chances that my platoon will be discovered by the Russians. So Groves please just shut the fuck up and suck a thumb.” Harrison then turns the radio off and dislodges the wires, temporarily cutting off their communication with Groves.

Although the platoon can only frown at how Harrison handled his superior, he was right on one thing. They need the element of stealth to get those documents fast and get out alive. For all they know is that the whole Red Army might be here as well searching for those papers. Even the tiniest radio frequencies are enough to signal the Russians of their presence. With a stoic nod, Harrison tells them to continue their mission as quiet as they possible can.

To the relief of the Americans they finally arrived at their destination. It was a 2-floor building with a large garage and a mining tunnel besides it. So far the place was dead quiet, with no lights and any signs of life in the building. Harrison acted quickly and divided his team into two, before giving them the go signal to search the place.

What they didn’t know however, was a platoon of Russian soldiers was already in the building. Comprising of seven men armed to the teeth, they were led by Yakov Pavlov; hero of Stalingrad and an icon in Russia. Like the Americans, the Russians were also there looking for what was left of the technologies from the Third Reich. They were busy searching the whole place, not knowing of the American soldiers just outside of the building.

After the War, Pavlov was living a life of luxury as the Grand Hero of the Soviet People. Even so, he didn’t like the celebrity life and he misses his time as a soldier. He missed the atmosphere of war; being shot at in gunfights, fighting and killing other people, as well as rescuing those who’re in need. He’s been craving for these ever since the War supposedly ended.

When he heard about this covert operations during one of his visits in the Kremlin, Pavlov happily volunteered himself to take part n it. He risked his already peaceful and luxurious life to get back in the field of battle; back to the Hell he already left and back to the life he was born to be.

Chechov’s eyes widen. Pavlov was right, no one can describe how Stalin is when he is disappointed, for no one has ever lived to tell the tale. If they don’t get those papers soon they too will suffer his wrath. Silently, he turns away from Pavlov and heads out towards some cabinets to continue his search.

The thing about the mission is that, even though Germany had already surrendered, the evil of the Fascist Reich is still here ready to infect other countries with its destruction. It infects through the technologies the Germans created, and both Allies and the Soviets are out there looking for it. As Chechov digs through some papers, he knows for sure that whoever gets this accursed technology will be able to bring the same havoc the Nazi has unleashed. A new war is brewing in, and new players and superpowers are taking their seats from different ends of the chessboard.

Then suddenly, a loud bang was heard that echoed throughout the building. It was followed by another and another, until it became a series of loud banging. This alarmed the Russians and they grabbed their weapons in surprise. A Russian lookout runs towards Yakov Pavlov and said, “Sir I see five men trying to open the doors on the left side of the building and they’re not Russians. Do you think they’re after the blueprints too?”

Yakov looks below the windows and see this silhouette of men violently bashing the doors. He then pats the soldier’s shoulder and replies, “Yes they are comrade. Now ready your weapons and take defensive positions. Three men will guard the door while Chechov and the others will stay with me. We get those blueprints at all cost, and we will kill everyone that dare come near us.”

The Russians did so as Pavlov ordered them. He, Chechov and the others took cover in the windows above the door, and they instantly locked their weapons on the men outside trying to breach through the building. The door was located in the middle of the first story of the building, and Pavlov, who was at the second floor with his men, had his soldiers hunker up on both the left and right side windows, surrounding the door below them at both sides. They waited for Pavlov’s order and readied themselves to open fire. The War is about to start all over again.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck this DOOR!” Harrison said as he and his men tried to open the door. They may have found the facility, but a new obstacle in the form of this invincible door that barricaded from the inside, stopped their mission in its tracks.

“God I hope the other team found an entrance,” Harrison remarked.

“Why are we even trying to open it? I got a bazooka here, why can’t we just blow it?” one of his soldiers asked.

“Later soldier. We can’t afford to notify any hostiles of our presence here yet,” Harrison replied. “Now somebody gimme my mace?”

Then suddenly, spotlights above the building turned on the American soldiers, surprising and blinding them. They saw the Russians in the windows with their weapons already aimed at them. “Uhm sir, I think they already know we’re here,” the soldier said as the Russians finally opened fire.

The Soviet’s PPsh-41 machine guns and Mosin Nagant rifles desecrated the Americans with fury. Harrison and his men took the whole brunt of the assault as the Russians happily sprayed them with lead. Two Americans quickly went down completely riddled by bullets like a pincushion.

“FALL BACK!!!” Harrison said as he personally grabbed his men and tried to get them out of this meat grinder. The Russians continued shooting; injuring and maiming many of them. Pavlov himself hits one American multiple times at the back with his PPsh-41.

Harrison and his men managed to escape towards the right side of the building. They were lucky that they didn’t got completely wiped out. Pavlov saw the Americans disappear away from their gunsights. Quickly, Pavlov ordered his men to move towards the building’s side. “These svolochs think that they can escape us? Durachit! They are stupid for even trying!” Pavlov said as he rallies his men.

The Americans arrived at the right side of the building where the broken down garage is located. They met up with the other group Harrison sent to locate other possible entrances. The other team looked at in shock at their bleeding and injured teammates. Things have gotten from bad to utterly fucking worse for Harrison, and this mission is now officially a disaster.

“Christ what happened?” One of the soldiers asked.

“Russians…,” Harrison said while panting. “They’re fucking here.”

The Americans can hear them trudging on the second floor and approaching the windows. Fortunately for Harrison, he noticed that garage was filled with armored cars and trucks that they can use for cover. “Quickly use the vehicles for cover. The Russians will be firing at us from the windows of the second floor so concentrate your fire there.” And with that the soldiers quickly followed his order and took cover behind the armored vehicles.

When the Americans saw the Russians in the windows, they wasted no time in opening fire on them. The Russians were surprised by the sudden ambush, and they quickly took cover behind the interior walls. Window glasses shattered and sprinkled their faces while bullets flew all over the place. One of the Americans then set up his BAR light machine gun and started to fire, hitting one Russian and ripping him in half. The Russians props up their own machine gun in retaliation.

Soon, both teams were locked in an intense stalemate. The darkness provided protection for the two armies as they try to find each other while blindly firing their weapons. Bullets continuously flew back and forth and the muzzle flashes from their guns looked like fireflies as they illuminated the night. The three Russians who were tasked to guard the door below, left their post to check up on their fellow comrades fighting in the second floor. Although they were not in the battle yet, their worry for their fellow soldiers was too much and they ended up climbing the stairs to check them out.

“Do you need our help, Sgt. Pavlov?!”

“No comrade. Get back to your post. We can handle this,” Pavlov said as he continued firing his submachine gun while bullets whizzed above him. “For the meantime, go and increase the barricade on the door and find cover for your position. If anyone gets inside, make sure you regret the day they were ever born.”

Neither party showed any signs of backing down, but Harrison knows that his team were at a disadvantage since the Russians were in high ground. It would be a matter of time before their snipers track them down and kill them all one by one.

Silently, Harrison leaves his cover and grabs the American soldier carrying a bazooka. “You be quiet now solider,” Harrison whisphered. “You have the bazooka? Good. Now come with me. Were gonna fire that thing someplace where the Russians won’t expect.” The two then leaves the battlefield to find a good cover to set up their bazooka.

They were too late however, as the sniper Chechov finally makes his mark, shooting one of the American soldier in the chest with his anti-tank rifle. The soldier besides him fled back towards an armored half-track for better protection, but Chechov’s anti-tank rifle still penetrated through the armor and hits the American in the abdomen, leaving him helplessly crying and bleeding on the floor. Pavlov then finishes him by drilling bullets straight into his back with his submachine gun.

The Russians cheered Chechov as he snipes these Americans like little doe. Pavlov himself shakes his hare and proudly says, “Good job boy.”

“Should I leave some of them to you my comrades?!” Chechov joked.

“No thanks. Though finish them all quickly for us Chechov.”

The place where the Americans at fell silent, and it seems that the Russians have won the battle. The deadly and accurate rifle fire from the Russians finally neutralized the American threat. The Russians now started to pack up; confident that they were no longer in danger.

Then suddenly, a rocket flies from the darkness and hits the Russians in the second building. Harrison and his soldier has successfully fired their bazooka, and the explosion threw Pavlov and his men away from the windows. Another missile flew towards them, creating a much bugger explosion of fire and burning debris. A Russian who was caught in the blast was now on fire, and he screamed at the top of his lungs as he accidentally jumps over the side of the building. Though disoriented and dazed Pavlov managed to survive the explosion. The whole second floor was now burning, and the red fire lights up the place just enough for Harrison to shoot at the confused and dazed Pavlov as he tried to get back up. Pavlov went down on the floor fast, having taken three bullets throughout his body.

“Ch-chechov?!” Pavlov yelled as he crawls away from the windows in pain.

“Chechov? Chechov?! Where are you?!”

As he crawls on the floor, he stumbles upon the corpse of one of his men. The body was completely torn in half from the stomach, spilling guts, blood and bones everywhere. As he tries to identify the man, he finds out that the mangled body was none other than young Anatoly Chechov; his dead blank eyes staring down the eyes of the horrified Pavlov.

Having lost his best man, Pavlov tearfully tried to gather the remaining strength and courage he has left. Pavlov now knows that he made a huge mistake accepting this mission. Chechov was like a son to him, and his death finally broke the once unbreakable Hero of Stalingrad. The kid had a whole life ahead of him, and now Russia has lost another of her sons to the war.

Harrison and his soldier on the other hand, had no time to mourn their own losses. They quickly rush towards the door of the facility, and with the bazooka, blew up the whole entrance. But before the two can enter, the Russians who were guarding the door, though disoriented by the blast, quickly opened fire on them. Harrison manage to jump away from the firefight, but his only remaining soldier took a ton of rifle and machine gun fire all over his body before a Mosin Nagant round hits him in the forehead and everything else went black.

“Nooooo!!!!!” Harrison yells as the Russians continued shooting at the corpse of his former friend. He quickly charges inside the building guns blazing as the Russians turn their attention towards him. Like what happened in Operation XYZ, Harrison suddenly became a one-man army ready to fight a whole battalion of soldiers by himself. The Russians themselves were surprised of the amount of balls Harrison had as he meets them up close and personal. Harrison pumps one Russian in the chest with half his Tommy gun’s magazine, before emptying the rest of it on another Russian in the face.

The remaining Russian, terrified and paralyzed at seeing a real bukavac destroys his comrades right in front of him, tried to aim his rifle with his shaking hands but Harrison came up to him and bludgeoned him multiple times with his empty Tommy gun; opening up his skull and spilling his brain on the floor.

After killing the Russian, Harrison took the time to kneel down, catch his breath and calm his adrenaline. He then loads up a fresh mag on his Tommy gun and proceeds towards the second floor to kill any Russians that remained. As he finally arrived at the second floor, he finally meets his adversary Yakov Pavlov: the guy who’s been killing his friends all throughout the night. Pavlov can only look at him with a pair of pissed-off red hot eyes while standing right in the middle of the burning floor with a PPsh-41.

The two eyed each other for some time, sizing up their opponents, before commencing the fight. Harrison opened fire first with his tommy gun while yelling on top of his lungs. Unfortunately for him, Pavlov managed to roll away before shooting at Harrison with his own submachine gun. Harrison crashed into the floor after taking a couple of bullets into his hip. He yells in pain and retaliated by spraying his submachine gun everywhere. Pavlov then takes cover behind a steel cabinet as Harrison tries to crawl away to a safe position. Pavlov then fires his submachine gun at Harrison.

The sheer rate of fire of the PPsh-41 was too much for Harrison as he yells for Pavlov to stop. Several bullets managed to graze his helmet, knocking it away and wounding him severely in the scalp. Feeling a searing pain run on his head as blood flows from his scalp, Harrison can only yell it pain as Pavlov continued emptying his gun. Harrison knows that he’s severely outgunned, and he tries to crawl away back to the stairs and into the ground floor.

Pavlov’s machine gun then went empty and he grabs another drum mag to reload. However, he notices that Harrison was not in his cover anymore and sees a trail of blood leading to the stairs. Pavlov carefully follows, and when he arrives at the ground floor, he sees the three dismembered Russians laying dead on the floor like butchered animals.

Anger then sizes Pavlov as he sees the corpses of his comrades. He then storms towards the outside and shouts in rage at what Harrison did. “You DEVIL! You’ll pay for this! I swear to God that I will give every fiber of my being to find you…”

“Congratulations…,” Harrison shouted from out of nowhere. Pavlov turns around and sees Harrison standing several meters away from behind with a bazooka. “You found me. Now’s your end of the bargain Russkie…”

Before Pavlov can react, Harrison fires the bazooka and the missile flew towards the Russian. Pavlov gets hit straight to the abdomen, and he blew up in one large fiery explosion. The warm wave of the blast breezed through Harrison’s face as he watched.

After finally killing the last Russian, only Harrison was left standing in the battlefield. He slowly dragged his body towards where his soldiers lied dead. He picks off the field phone of one of his soldiers, while trying to hold back the tears in his eyes.

He then takes shelter in an abandoned mines near the burning facility and finally rests. As he calls in headquarters for an evac, he notices a large black steel box besides him, hidden in the rubble and rocks. He opens the box, and to his surprise, finds 20 well-preserved blueprints of Nazi rocket technology.

“Mission fucking accomplished,” Harrison said with satisfaction.

Expert’s Opinion
While some believed that Pavlov’s better submachine gun and long-range weapons would help him win, many still gave the edge to Harrison for his better and faster-firing weapons. But what really gave the American the win is that Pavlov still needed a lot of organization during his last stand, while Harrison relied with only less preparation and still won. If this two ever met in a random battle, Harrison’s quick thinking will oust Pavlov’s preparations.

To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.