So first, I want to thank everyone who helped me with this. My beta Athena, especially, for giving up so much of her free time to help me out with edits and research. I've never used a beta before, and it was really excellent to have someone to bounce ideas off of.
But there were several other people who gave me tips and suggestions, and I appreciate that more than I can say. This is the longest thing I've ever written, and it was quite a process. I went through a lot of personal things in the last few months, and the love and encouragement I got from everyone, not just on the subject of this fic, kept me going.
In January my grandfather, who practically raised me, was put in the hospital for a myriad of health problems. It became clear, as the weeks wore on, that he would not be going home again. He passed away on February 19, and it was the first time that someone I really loved had ever died. It was a lot to deal with, on top of work, school, and trying to write this monster.
I'm dedicating this story to him. Maybe it seems weird to dedicate a fanfiction with a bunch of ass fucking in it to my late grandfather, but I actually think he'd be happy with that.
The last time I saw him was two years ago, over the holidays. The very last conversation I can remember having with him was about a gay WWII vet. He'd seen the man's obituary in the paper, and he was upset that it only vaguely alluded to the fact that the vet had been gay, and had been with the same man his entire life. This was before DADT was repealed, and he told me how wrong he thought it was that the men and women in the army had to hide who they were, and that here was a man who'd served our country, and been with the same person for decades, and it was still treated like some kind of dirty secret. He said the whole thing made him sick.
I had never been more proud to be his granddaughter.
So here's to you, grandpa. Thank you for everything.
OK, so now that that sappiness is out of the way, I wanted to tell you guys about some of the references I used for this fic. I seriously took out about 12 books from the library (and even bought a few), but only ended up using a handful of them.
The best two were My Queer War by James Lord, and Maquis by George Millar.
Also, one of the best sources that I found was this website. It's all photographs of Rouen from the week it was liberated. I hope my writing did the destruction some justice, because look at that. Seriously.
Um, and it's not really related, but if you're at all interested in WWII memoirs, Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster is my personal favorite. It was used heavily as source material for Band of Brothers, and the guy who wrote it was an English major at Harvard before he joined the army. It's very well-written, and very human.
So, that's it I guess. Thanks to everyone for reading this!