Howling Commandos

The Howling Commandos are a squad of American soldiers led by Nick Fury who fought in World War II. Their actions are overseen by Captain Happy Sam Sawyer.

History

The Howling Commandos' first mission of note was a rescue mission to save a Frenchman with knowledge of the pending D-Day invasion who had been taken prisoner by the Nazis. They flew into Normandy, fighting occupying German forces on the ground. The Nazis soon overpowered them, but the odds were evened by defending French-underground forces. The groups cooperated to rescue LaBrave from a German outpost in Louviers, fighting valiantly through more forces and successfully escaping with LaBrave, keeping the D-Day intel safe. The Commandos were then tasked with destroying the Nazi supply of "heavy water," an essential component in their construction of a nuclear weapon, in Heinemund. Through a series of misadventures, the seven men deliberately had themselves taken to a concentration camp in Heinemund, from which they proceeded to escape and reach the German weapons-research lab nearby. The Commandos laid waste to the supplies equipment in the lab before destroying a train containing their supply of heavy water. As the Commandos escaped onto an Allied vessel on the shore, the damage to the Nazi lab combined with the sensitive materials inside resulted in a catastrophic explosion; it is speculated that this incident is the reason that Adolf Hitler called off research into atomic weapons. They were next assigned to a rescue mission in Italy, where a platoon of allied soldiers had gotten trapped in a valley surrounded by Nazi forces. This mission was particularly emotional for Dino Manelli, who fretted over his wartorn homeland and killed Hans Schmidt, a Nazi spy who had accompanied the Commandos posing as a journalist. The Commandos' mission was successful, as they met with Major Reed Richards of the Office of Strategic Services to obtain the necessary information, reaching and evacuating the embattled soldiers with zero casualties.

The Commandos had their first taste of failure and tragedy when they were asked by a British lord to bring his son home. His son was Percy Hawley, a former newspaper reporter stationed in Berlin who had been supposedly brainwashed into broadcasting Nazi propaganda as Lord Ha-Ha. Fury also became properly acquainted with Percy's sister Pamela Hawley, a medic who had recently been impressed by his bravery during an air raid. Percy's father believed that he could be swayed back to the side of the Allies, and Captain Sawyer believed they could use him as their own propagandist. The Commandos abducted Ha-Ha while he was at a dinner with Nazi officials in Berlin, and held him in an abandoned house on the coast awaiting their submarine getaway. Ha-Ha was adamant that he believed in the Nazi cause and had no interest in returning to England. The Commandos were soon assaulted by Nazi forces as they waited, and Ha-Ha ran out screaming for assistance, but was shot dead by Nazi soldiers assuming he was an American. Junior Juniper was also shot and killed in the battle. The rest of the Commandos escaped safely, having tragically lost their comrade and the man they had been tasked with rescuing.

The Commandos' base camp was shocked into action one day when a Nazi plane flying overhead bizarrely dropped a letter to them. It was from Baron Strucker, who challenged Fury to one-on-one combat. The excitable Fury requested leave from Captain Sawyer to accept the invitation, but Sawyer categorically refused. Fury instead got a ride from a P.T. boat captain who owed him a favor, arriving on the isle of Norsehaven where the duel was to occur. Strucker met Fury as planned, with several Nazi soldiers backing him, and challenged him to an honorable swordfight. The two shared a toast as customs dictated, and each downed their chalice. Unbeknownst to Fury, one of Strucker's men had slipped a pill into his drink, and the otherwise even duel was brought to an ignoble end as Fury gradually slipped into unconsciousness. Strucker and his men took photos with Fury's downed body and unceremoniously dropped him in the swamps outside the American base camp. Fury apparently didn't understand why he had suddenly become so weak. Troops found him and returned him to camp, where Sawyer dressed him down and demoted him to private not just for disobeying orders, but for the German propaganda which had surfaced from Strucker's photos. Dum Dum Dugan took over the leadership role in the Commandos, as Fury respectfully accepted his punishment. The Howling Commandos were sent on a mission to Dortstadt to disable a German rocket base and allow other infantry to enter safely. To their surprise, Strucker was the commander of their base, and upon finding him there, Fury laid into him with punches. Strucker was thoroughly knocked out, allowing the Commandos to take some counter-propaganda photos with Fury standing tall. This dramatic display of victory gave Captain Sawyer no choice but to restore Fury's rank.

As the war raged across Europe, Nazi forces also made their presence felt in North Africa, particularly through General Erwin Rommel, also known as the Desert Fox. Captain Sawyer assigned the Howling Commandos to take on Rommel's men, realizing that a small group of stealthy soldiers would do better than a full-fledged assault. The Commandos underwent extensive training to prepare for this dangerous mission: while practicing their skydives, Dino Manelli injured his leg, putting him on reserve. He was replaced by George Stonewell, who filled a critical role that Manelli had vacated as a passable speaker of German. Stonewell quickly revealed himself to be a racist, reacting with discomfort or flat-out revulsion to Dino for being Italian or Gabriel Jones for being black. Fury dressed him down, demanding that he leave his prejudices at the door and fight like a good soldier. When their stealth mission in Libya began, Stonewell's bigotry came to a head, as he and Jones began to get in the way of each other, even becoming outwardly hostile. Later, upon discovering Rommel's colossal camp packed with Nazi forces, Fury assigned Stonewell and Cohen—a Jewish soldier—to stealthily get close to Rommel using Stonewell's aptitude for German. Stonewell utterly bungled the mission, letting his prejudice against Cohen get in the way of doing his duty and causing them to get caught. The Commandos made a hasty getaway, during which Stonewell was penetrated by shrapnel and knocked unconscious. They brought him to a nearby German medic, who told them that he required a transfusion but had the rare blood type AB. Jones volunteered his blood, and the operation was a success, but this was much to Stonewell's chagrin. Soon after, British forces took over the area, and informed Fury that they had arrived (late) in an attempt to stop the Commandos from killing Rommel. They had just learned that Rommel was integral to a planned assassination of Hitler within the Nazi hierarchy, and wished to see this plan play out. Later, Stonewell was transferred to another division, but left behind a note for Cohen and Jones with his address, apparently wishing to keep in contact with them.

The Commandos were next assigned to destroy a German ammo dump in France. They met with Lieutenant Spencer Parker, whom Fury remembered as an acquaintance from his childhood that he called Skinny. Parker led them to the ammo dump and ordered them to attack, but Fury remembered something important and insisted that the mission had to be stopped. Confused, Parker continued the order, but Fury knocked him out with a punch moments before a Nazi plane came and dropped a bomb near their location. Fury was put into a coma for several days, awaking in a hospital bed in England not remembering anything that had occurred. Captain Sawyer informed Fury that he had been court-martialed for his actions, and would stand trial when he was able to do so. As part of not remembering what had happened, Fury couldn't remember why he punched Lieutenant Parker. Sawyer acquired the services of judge advocate Colonel William Ballinger for Fury's defense. The trial began the following week, with several people testifying as to Fury's character but doing little to counteract the fact that he had disobeyed and assaulted a superior officer. Meanwhile, Sgt. Bull McGiveney, a regular rival of Fury's, made a Soon, the trial was forced to cease when German planes began an air raid in the area. Fury was again jostled by a bomb, and remembered why he had punched Parker. When the trial resumed, Fury called Otto Schmidt to the stand. Schmidt, a Nazi corporal, had told Fury that the ammo dump in question was a deliberate trap, in exchange for sparing his life. This information proved that Fury's actions had saved the lives of all involved, and all charges were dropped.

After quite some time down one man, the Commandos were assigned a full-time replacement for Junior Juniper, the British soldier Percival Pinkerton. Though foppish and polite, Pinkerton proved himself to be more than capable in hand-to-hand combat. The Commandos were assigned to capture Nazi scientist Dr. Zemo, who was believed to be developing a death ray. Soon after arriving in Germany, the Commandos hit a snag when Jones risked his life throwing a grenade into a Nazi tank. Jones survived, but took a chunk of shrapnel in his leg. The Commandos coerced a nearby doctor loyal to the Nazis to operate on him successfully. They used the doctor and several doctor disguises to get closer to Dr. Zemo's castle, and were able to infiltrate inside. Though Zemo used his advanced technology to track them through his fortress, the Commandos were able to take advantage of his overconfidence to disarm him and force him to retreat by plane. The death ray itself exploded by Zemo's remote control, blowing up the castle along with it after the Commandos had safely escaped. His first mission complete, Pinkerton was welcomed into the squad with open arms, proving his valor and dutiful humility.

The Howling Commandos were next assigned their most daunting task yet: to abduct Adolf Hitler himself. Doing so would naturally cripple the Nazi establishment and potentially end the war altogether. The team disguised themselves and infiltrated the crowd at a speech that Hitler was giving in Germany, but their plan quickly ran into a snag. Fury inadvertently caught the eye of Baron Strucker, and a brawl broke out between the Commandos and Nazi troops in attendance. Much of the team was overpowered and captured, but Fury and Izzy Cohen managed to escape. Several hours later, the two managed to break into Strucker's private quarters and hold him at gunpoint, forcing him to cooperate with their ensuing plan. Fury disguised himself as a chauffeur as Strucker convinced Hitler to attend the pending execution of the captured Commandos personally. Cohen teamed with an agent from the German underground to disguise as soldiers at the execution itself. When the time came, Hitler observed the planned execution, anxious at the fact that there were two Commandos still at large. Fury, Cohen, and the agent sprung the trap at the critical moment, freeing the Commandos and shuffling Hitler into a car in the confusion. They drove off in a hail of gunfire, crashing in their scheduled rendezvous field. The agent was killed in the escape, but the team returned to base with their bounty in tow. But their prisoner pulled off a small amount of prosthetics on his face, revealing it to be a disguise. He explained that he was one of Hitler's many doubles used for his protection. Captain Sawyer nonetheless considered the mission a success, as the existence of such doubles had long been suspected but couldn't be proven until now.

The Commandos were next assigned to a rescue mission in the Japanese-controlled island of Okinawa. Colonel Phil "Pillbox" Parker had been captured during a reconnaissance mission, and the island was to be bombed by American forces within 72 hours. The Commandos landed in Okinawa and ambushed a passing Japanese officer to disguise Cohen in his uniform. Cohen donned glasses and a mouth bandage both to conceal his face and give him a reason for not speaking Japanese. Cohen took the rest of the team as "prisoners" to the camp where Parker was being held. With Parker's aptitude in the Japanese language, Cohen arranged for the Commandos, Parker, and other prisoners to be taken aboard a Japanese destroyer for supposed transferral. Once at sea, the Allied soldiers took over the ship and piloted it back to Europe.

Members

• Nick Fury
• Rebel Ralston
• Dum Dum Dugan
• Gabriel Jones
• Izzy Cohen
• Dino Manelli
• Percival Pinkerton

Former members

• Junior Juniper (deceased)
• George Stonewell