I've been a student of World War II since my high school days.
This story is based on an actual event that occurred during the "Battle of the Bulge"

"Rhyme or Reason"

In the room of a house in small village in the European theater a male anthro gray squirrel seats himself at a table. The windows of the house are covered with thick blankets to keep the light in the room from escaping. He wears the uniform of the US Army with the rank of 1st Lt. Setting his personal journal on the table he take out a pen and begins to write.


"18 December, 1944 Ardennes Area"

"Today I have been witness to something that I do not understand. Though I saw it with my own eyes I have yet to come to grips with it."

On 16 Dec. the Germans launched a massive attack into the Ardennes Forest area. To put it bluntly, they caught us with our pants down! No one was expecting this and, so, the complete surprise that resulted cause all kinds of havoc and confusion. Thinly held front lines crumpled and the Jerry units cut deep into the our rear areas. The Germans have several armored forces on the move and today my unit of engineers were given the task of destroying a bridge that one of those columns was heading for. We headed out and arrived at the bridge little bit before noon. As we had no supporting infantry and no way to call for artillery we were understandably anxious to get done and get out of there.
Sgt. Collins sent a scout jeep down the road with two guys to watch for any enemy units if they came up the road while I got my guys working on wiring up the bridge and setting the charges. As that was going on I saw an Army truck towing an anti-tank gun pull up and stop at back of our vehicles. Guess they were lost and looking for someone to join up with. Things were under way when the scouts came barreling around the curve of the road and sped up to me.
"Lt.! There's a German armored column coming up the road!" the driver yelled. "Be here in eight, maybe nine minutes!"
Crap!!
"Collins! How much more time we need?!" I hollered at my coyote sgt.
"Fifteen to sixteen minutes!" he called back.
"We don't have fifteen or sixteen minutes!" I yelled.
"It's that or nothing, Lt.!" he replied.
Right then, we heard a truck fire up. Next thing we knew the gun truck drove up to the bridge, over it, and stopped short of the curve in the road. Seven guys, four rabbits, a fox, and two pumas bailed out of the vehicle. Four of them unhooked the gun, ran it into the trees by the road, and set it up. The others brought out ammo and set it up by the gun. They were fast! In less than three minutes they were set up and firing! We worked like hell to get that damned bridge wired! The gunners were buying us time and we had to make the most of that!
"We're set" Collins finally yelled at me.
Thank God!
"Get that jeep down to the gunners and get them out of there!" I ordered.
"Yes, sir!
Sgt. Collins was giving the order when I looked over just in time to see gun and crew take several very closely spaced cannon hits. The Germans had found them! And the column was going to be on us very soon!
"Clear everyone out, Sgt.!" I ordered. "Move it!!"
No one needed any further encouragement! Vehicles started up and men moved out, the two guys paying out the detonator wires bringing up the rear. I raised my binoculars and looked where the gunners had been and saw several bodies. There was no movement from any of them. I moved off to where my guys had set up the plunger.
"You men get out of here," I told them. "I blow the bridge."
They left. Sgt. Collins brought up my jeep and parked it. The lead tank of the column had made the curve and was heading for the bridge. Through my glasses I could see the tank commander talking into a mike. There was such look of relief on the deer's face! It was going to be a real satisfaction to wipe it off in a few seconds! Truly, I wanted to blow that bridge with a tank on it but there was so much wire lying all over and around it that that commander would have seen it and stopped anywhere. So, I settled for detonating the charges when he was a about a 100 yards away. After the blast I took one last look at that cervid commander and reveled at the expression of angry frustration on his face. After unhooking the wires from the plunger I took it to the jeep, tossed it in the back, and climbed into the shotgun seat. Sgt. Collins put it in gear and we drove off.
As we moved along the road I tried to answer the question that so puzzled me. Why? Why did they do it? We hadn't asked them to. Hell, we'd even forgotten that they were there! So, why?
"Don't even try, Lt." I heard Collins say.
"Don't try what?" I asked.
"To figure out why they did it." he said. "When they went over that bridge they knew they weren't going to come back. But they went anyway. There's no understanding it, no rhyme or reason for it!"
He got this sad, haunted look on his face.
"It just is," he said.