here's my first post:
Corporal William Pierse looked across the Detroit River towards the fortifications on the American side. Everyone was tense and the suspense of the coming conflict loomed over the entire country. Pierse could see green-gray soldiers moving in Detroit between pillboxes and in the trenches that snaked across the shore in both directions. Both countries had been preparing for the fight since the Second-Mexican War. Well we won’t have to wait any longer he thought.
Joseph Rickards, a new private fresh from training, snapped William from his thoughts. “Look, there’s one of their battleships.” Sure enough, a large ship, large for the Great Lakes, was steaming up the river. Guns much larger than anything the Canadian Army had nearby gleamed deadly in the sun.
“We’re goin to have a hell of a time fightin with those poundin us, hopefully someone’s thought of that and has a solution.” With the knowledge that he didn’t have anything to hurt the battleship, Pearse sat back down in his trench and began to sharpen his bayonet.
Sure enough, two weeks later the American’s artillery opened up on the Canadian’s fortified positions. Pearse bent over as he ran to a dugout, and jumped in on top of three soldiers already taking cover inside. Sure enough, a much louder explosion nearby made William curse to himself, there’s the battleship makin itself known. The Lieutenant nearby blew his whistle, and everyone ran to the firing steps. Already barges filled the river, and Canadian machine guns opened up on them from pillboxes. A cheer went up as three of the barges hit mines in the river, pieces of men in green-gray flying into the air and into the river. Another round from the battleship roared by and crashed into a pillbox, which ceased to exist.
The barges wallowed up onto shore, soldiers piling out and many getting cut down by rifle and machine gun fire. Some jumped into shell holes on the beach and began to fire back at the defenders of Windsor. Pearse worked the bolt of his Ross rifle, firing over and over into the ever-growing mass of Americans on the beach. He took aim at the driver of a barge coming in and pulled the trigger. The sailor slumped to the side, pulling the boat’s wheel with him. Another sailor struggled to move the body, but it was too late. The boat spun to the left and hit ground on its starboard side, soldiers jumped out, but with the ramp pointing down river, not many got off.
Pearse had no time to cheer before a wave of Yanks rushed the trench, yelling and shooting. The Lewis gun to his right opened up, toppling many, but not enough. An American jumped down into the trench right next to Pearse who spun and lunged his bayonet at the Canadian. William parried and stabbed with his own bayonet, catching the Yank in the chest. He fell with a gurgle, and Pearse pulled his rifle from the corpse, but his bayonet stuck into the body. William spun to face another charging American in time to parry his attack and to end him with a rifle strike to the forehead.
Pearse grabbed his bayonet just as the order to fall back was called. Canadian soldiers streamed back down communication trenches back to their second line of defense. Pearse turned to watch as the battleship, that had caused so much pain to the defenders, hit a mine mid-ship and began to sink. Some sailors on deck managed to get away, but most went down with the quickly sinking ship. Another cheer went up from the retreating Canadians, Pearse almost smiled as he fell back. We may be retreating, but they haven’t won yet.
