Winters has a squad from 1st Platoon with him, running through a ditch. They're trying to pinpoint enemy fire, but when an MG-42 fires near their location, the men dive to the ground. "They're shooting down the road at regimental headquarters. But that's three miles away," Winters says. "Why are they giving away their position?" Talbert doesn't know, not being clairvoyant or on the enemy side, or even awake. Winters tells him to await his signal; the word passes down the line that everyone is to hold his position until further notice. Leaping over a high bank, Winters slides down a slope, bolts across a dirt road, scales a fence, and hides again. This gives him a different vantage point, whereby he can see the German soldiers. Darting back over the fence and across the dirt road, Winters pokes his head over the grassy hill and signals to Talbert; looks like they're supposed to run across the field, pirouette three times, draw the Germans offside, and then thrust ahead to find the G-spot. Talbert nods, then gives the signal; the squad scampers over the hill, across the dirt road and over the fence. Now, everyone's with Winters. Phew. I'm out of breath.

Winters, at his desk, furrows his brow.

Back in battle, Easy's squad fans out along its new ditch. "This is the fallback position, here," Winters whispers. "Mortars, deploy here. First squad, on me. Go!" Fanning out in right angles, some men set up the mortar gun, while the others follow Winters, looking tired, dirty, sweaty, and ready to whoop some Nazi ass. Winters halts the run and studies the Germans from this new position.

Sitting at his desk, Winters furrows his brow.

Swiftly Winters counts the number of Germans manning the MG-42s and decides to fire upon them. He approaches six gunners and tells them to aim at a specific man, following him, ready to kill him on Winters's signal. Winters himself covers a seventh target. We see each man squint and take aim. One guy who doesn't have a weapon narrows his eyes just to share in the killing spirit. Winters shoots, and six other shots follow a second later; seven Germans drop, and the others run around squawking and trying to mount a counterattack. The mortar fire begins, and the gunners keep firing as well, in what looks like an even fight. Winters yells that it's time to fall back, and the mortar fire continues until Easy is safely back where it started. The ploy worked; the Germans' attention is away from annihilating battalion HQ and toward its new threat. Winters screams for someone to try to apprehend the Germans at the base of the dike. He also wants Boyle and Perconte to do...hell, something. Bullets whiz through the night, little neon sparks of danger. Winters gets on the radio and screams for Welsh to bring up Lt. Peacock with the rest of 1st Platoon and a backup machine-gun squad. "Dukeman," he screams, and someone who apparently answers to that name appears. Winters orders him toward the right flank, but as he goes, he's felled by an enemy bullet. Aw, Dukeman, we never knew ye.