Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (78 page)

The Irish Legionnaire, one of the old 13th DBLE men, recovered his rifle and made to defend himself against the new enemy, not realising they were friends.

Von Arnesen leapt up and shouted as loud as he could,
as
the blood-crazed man
seemed
intent on killing his whole party.

“A moi la L
é
gion!”

Words that burned through the legionnaire’s bloodlust and
brought
him back to reality, which was just as well as Fischer was about to drop him dead.

With a slap on the shoulder and a gesture,
the calmed man turned back to the fight and
Von Arnesen led his men into the bunker.

Durand was using a rifle to deadly effect, his own submachine gun discarded for the moment in favour of the
new
weapon’s longer reach and accuracy.

Soviet
soldiers were in view
through the bunkers openings
, retreating as fast as they could towards Grafenau, some dropping as Durand’s force open
ed
more fire upon them.

The hedgehog had been taken.

Von Arnesen looked at his watch as he beckoned the radioman forward.

‘0958. Time
flies
.’

He watched as Durand drop
ped another running figure, sil
ently impressed with the Frenchman’s skill.

Taking up the handset
,
he broadcast his success to Knocke,
happily noticing
more of his men popping up in positions to his left.

Turning to his right, he spotted more and, continuing his report, looked further on and saw the tanks of 1st and 4th Company in their defensive positions.

Some of them fired
,
and he looked
to see
what they were firing at.

“Mein Gott!
Julius-zero-one to Anton.
Russische panzers,
at least
two
regiment’s worth
, heavy and medium types, moving south from Magstadt towards Dagersheim, straight at our panzers over.”

“Roger Julius, Anton to Berta receiving over.”

Salut
ing an arriving USMC Lieutenant
Colonel, Kowalski strolled casually out of the Hotel Stephani
e and, as was his habit, turned to the right and walked up Schillerstraβe.

That was precisely what had been expected, but that didn’t mean that other eyes weren’t ready to follow him
,
had he turned the other way.

No chances were
being
taken with ‘Leopard’.

Crossing the road near the junction, Kowalski took a left into Bertholdstraβe, appreciating the fine lines of a classic Rolls-Royce that swept past.

He stopped to light a cigarette, turning back to the bin to deposit the spent match.

Kowalski
had a lighte
r of course, but the walk past the bin and back permitted him to reverse direction quickly, just in case he was being followed.

He wasn’t.

Satisfied
he was not under surveillance
, he drew in the rich smoke and watched a convoy of Military Police drive slowly by.

But h
e was, and numerous eyes feigned disinterest in his presence
,
but were keenly aware of his every move.

He passed the newspaper seller and repeated his u-turn exercise, again seeing nothing untoward.

Paying for the newspaper, more of a local news p
amphlet in reality, he folded it
neatly and resumed his stroll.

An obvious suspect for ‘Deux’, investigations had discovered that the newspaper seller had some interesting sexual preferences, something
that
they would revisit in less fraught times. But other than that, he was clean.

He crossed the junction of Ludwig-Wilhelm-Straβe, increasing his pace
,
before turning right
into Maria-Viktoria-Straβe. He entered a
small bakery.

Uhlmann
dispatched an IS-II that had slewed sideways, a single shell smashing the huge tank’s engine.

He keyed the mike as his gunner sought another victim.

“Berta engaging eighty plus tanks, IS-II and T34 type
,
to front. Approaching due south from Magstadt
,
over.”

The crack of 75mm and 88mm guns could be heard all over the battlefield, rising in frequency and urgency, punctuated by the replying 85mm and 122mm weapons of the fast approaching enemy.

“Anton to Berta. You must hold, repeat, you must hold. Help is on its way, over and out.”

Uhlmann already knew he had nowhere to go, for to withdraw would leave the hedgehog outflanked
,
and the rest of ‘Camerone’ exposed.

The first part of Knocke’s assistance became apparent as shells from the Brigade’s artillery started to fall.

“Anton to Berta over.”

The response was not immediate, Uhlmann having more pressing concerns as two T34’s drove hard straight at him.

‘Schiesse, you brave bastards!’

The first one was stopped dead by a direct hit, smoke
swiftly
building and pushing out of the sprung hatches before being replaced by urgent orange flames.

The second tank died within seconds, one of 4th Company’s Hetzer’s joining the action late.

Knocke understood his Tank Regiment commander was under pressure and so waited patiently.

“Berta to Anton receiving over.”

“
Anton here.
Passing Artillery to you. Further, over.”

Uhlmann looked at the shells landing and determined to alter the barrage a little, although Knocke had made a good attempt from distance.

“Berta here, roger, go ahead with further, over.”

“Anton here, deploying part of Emil to your right flank, securing against ‘Minsk’, remainder of Caesar to your position, further, over.”

Uhlmann processed that information. The rest of his First Company was coming to his rescue, and part of Third Company would seal any gap between his positions and Dagersheim.

“Berta here, roger, go ahead with further, over.”

“Anton to Berta, Julius will...”

The next part of the message was lost as a huge force struck the Panther tank, rocking it like it weighed no more than a kilo.

“Berta to Anton, message lost, say again, over.”

“Anton to Berta, Julius will hold in position and cover. Friedrich will move up through
Leningrad
and engage flank, over.”

Uhlmann acknowledged his leader’s information, pausing only to draw the gunner’s attention to a flank shot on an IS-II.

‘Excellent, that should do it. Now, the artillery.’

“Berta to
Nordpol,
over.”

The slight correction brought the artillery of ‘Camerone’ closer to his tank line, creating a beaten zone to prevent the enemy from closing further, as well as causing casualties amongst those foremost.

Braun was getting vexed.

“Die, you bastard, die!”

For the eighth time the gunner put a 75mm AP round on target
,
and yet again it failed to have an
y apparent effect
.

The IS-II seemed to have a charmed life.

“Again!”

The shell sped on its way, and struck, sticking hard in the gap between the turret and mantlet and jamming the gun in a raised position.

Another shell hit the nearside track
,
which came apart slowly, bringing
the huge tank to a halt.

Braun encouraged the hull gunner to help the abandoning crew on their way with a burst or two of machine-gun fire.

An exploding shell flipped a T34 onto its side, the crew popping the hatches and exiting slowly, injured and in shock. Braun’s machine-gunner had an easier target
,
and only two men made it safely to cover.

Seeking out another target
,
Braun spotted what looked like an ISU and ordered the gun laid on it. It burst into flames before he could fire, victim of one of 1st Company’s Panzer IV’s in Dagersheim.

This flanking fire drew the attention of a number of
Soviet
tanks
,
and the Panzer IV decided to retreat back into the town and relative safety.

Numerous enemy tan
ks lay smoking on the field. T
he
legion tankers had certainly slowed up the advance, but the
Soviet
s did not lack courage and still pressed on.

Their commanders got a grip
,
and the IS-II’s became a wedge, moving inexorably forward, shrugging off many hits.

The range was no
w
down to four hundred and fifty metres and
the situation was desper
ate, with
legion casualties mounting.

The lead IS-II, driven forward hard by the commanding Major, seemed to stagger, speed falling away and slewing off the direct path. A second shower of sparks betrayed a further hit, a solid shot boring into its flank and bringing havoc to the men inside.

The next IS-II in line required only one shot, its wrecked engine stoking up into a roaring fire within seconds, the stunned crew baling out
,
only to fall victim to vengeful machine-gunners in the Legion tanks.

The damage was being done by two anti-tank guns positioned in the hedgehog.

Von Arnesen controlled the
larger
gun’s fire
,
and directed the 100mm
anti-tank gun
to sh
oo
t into the flanks of the heavy tanks.
The other weapon, an ex-German 75mm Pak40 under the command of Lieutenant Duran
d, reach
ed out at the T34’s with equal success.

Some
Soviet
tanks turned to meet this new threat, exposing
their sides to the tank line and paying the price for their stupidity. Other
s
halted, trying to angle themselves to best effect against
the two threats. Some
lumbered on and some retreated.

Suddenly, the organised Soviet attack became a mess, o
ne crew even quit
ting their intact vehicle and ru
n
ning back towards their lines
.

The
Soviet
attack had
quickly transformed
from a serious threat to a shooting party, although the
‘
game
’
in question still packed a serious punch.

Taking advantage of the confusion, the
Legion
tanks repositioned
,
just in case
, although the normally excellent
Soviet
artillery was proving strangely ineffective.

Uhlmann popped his head out of the hatch and gulped in the fresh air. The Hetzer beside him burned brightly. He hadn’t even noticed that it had died
,
so intense had been the fight.

His gunner made his seventh kill, putting a solid shot into a reversing T34.

4th Company’s Sturmgeschutz
vehicles moved up and over the hedgehog, finding a choice of suitable
firing positions,
and
lashing out at the trapped
Soviet
armour.

Knocke’s experienced eye understood the field
,
and the fact that the enemy was on the verge of sheer panic.

However, mercy was not on his agenda.

He called the various elements, pushing them hard to finish the job, solely choosing to give his artillery the cease-fire order, and that
only
because his ammunition supplies were
strung out for some kilometres and
could not be up to t
he field
in good time
.