King Tiger Page 10

  Chapter 7

  Colonel Devine was angry. Major Dunne had not made it. He had been one of those burned alive in the Sherman. “God Damn! I feel so helpless.”

  “Colonel, it is night time. We won’t be helpless for much longer. Have you any PIATs?”

  “Of course but they can’t stop a Panther.”

  “Not from this range but get close and they can.”

  “How do you suggest we get close Major?”

  “It’s night time. We sneak close. We will have snow tonight. My men will lead your PIAT crews close enough to hit the Panther.” I pointed back down the road. The burning tanks were now just a glow a mile away. “Just beyond the Shermans are some demolished buildings. There is rough ground between there and the road block. If the Panther is still there then we hit it from the side. The armour there is not as thick. The glacis is five and half inches. The side is only a couple of inches. If we can get to within, say, fifty yards, then we can blow a hole in the side.”

  “What if they move it?”

  “Unlikely. They drink petrol. They get one mile per gallon. They are short of petrol. We have them cut off . They might have Panzer Grenadiers trying to get to the fuel dump but the tanks will move as little as possible.” I shrugged, “Of course they might have more tanks in the town and they will replace the Panther when we destroy it. You take it one tank at a time.”

  “General Hodges is keen to retake this town. He is sending in reinforcements.” I saw him chewing his lip. “Volunteers?”

  “Two teams; that is four men. We will go in first and make sure there are no booby traps and take out any sentries. We will keep watch while they do it.”

  He nodded, “We have little choice.”

  “Good. We’ll have a bite to eat and then get our heads down and take a nap. Could you have someone wake us at ten? That should give us time to get there while Jerry is having his sleep.”

  “You are going to sleep?”

  “Of course, sir. Tired men make mistakes. We’ll use the halftrack.”

  While we ate I went through my plan with Barker and Hewitt. “I can’t see that they will have had the opportunity to plant mines. We would see them. If there is snow then that means it is safe to cross it.”

  “Sir, these are S.S. I don’t like them but they are as good as we are. They will be ready.”

  “Corporal, we don’t take chances. We use the Colts. Shoot to kill. One man watches the other two move. We have just over a mile and a half to cover. We take our time and we go slowly and quietly. We take grenades. If things go pear shaped then we cover the Americans with grenades.”

  Lowering his voice Gordy said, “That’s what worries me, sir. These are damned good soldiers; they are amongst the best we have met. If they were Rangers, then I would be happy but these lads can’t move as quietly as we can. I would say the same if this was the Guards or even the Rifle Brigade. There are only the Marines, the Paratroopers and us who can do this.”

  “Give them a chance, Gordy. Besides they will be behind us. If Jerry hears them then we have the chance to do something about it.”

  “I suppose so, sir.”

  The four men were waiting for us when we were woken. They were not young men. All looked to have experience. We discovered that Miller, Morrison, Dexter and Cooper were amongst the most experienced of the Brigade.

  “The three of us will go ahead of you. We will be going through largely untouched snow. Follow our footprints.”

  Corporal Cooper said, “Follow sir?”

  “You need to give us a five minute head start.” I tapped my Colt. “Our job is to eliminate any of the S.S. who are watching. We will get you to a position where you can have a side shot at the tank. One takes the skirt and the other the turret. You will have one shot. As soon as the night is lit up by your rockets then all hell will break loose. As soon as you have fired then turn and run. Get back here as fast as you can. No matter what you hear do not stop. We will follow.”

  “Have you done this before sir?”

  “Exactly this, Morrison?” He nodded. “Not exactly but close enough so that we know what we are doing. We are not glory hunters. We want to survive this war and there are risks but they are acceptable ones.”

  Corporal Cooper was a thoughtful man. “The Sergeant Major said that if you are caught then you will be shot. Is that true, sir?”

  “Yes, I am afraid it is, Corporal.”

  “And us?”

  “Normally I would say you would be safe but yesterday we watched these chaps machine gun a hundred and fifty prisoners of war. Don’t give them that chance. If you have to shoot then shoot to kill. Right. Get your gear. We leave in ten minutes. I just need to pee.”

  “Pee sir?”

  “Yes Morrison, even the King of England has a pee now and again or so I am led to believe!”

  We donned our camouflage capes and I made sure that I had two spare magazines. I would need more ammunition soon. I turned to the Corporal, “Five minutes and then follow us. Keep it as quiet as you can. If you walk in each other’s footprints it should be easier. We will stop you when we are close enough for the attack.”

  As we set off a light flurry of snow began to fall. The night was icy and the wind swirled the snow around. Goggles would have been useful but we had none. I led the way and Gordy brought up the rear. I walked on the left of the road. The fires in the tanks had long gone. There was just the acrid smell of burning in the air. It was a mixture of petrol, cordite and human flesh. It was the smell of war. The wind came from the town and blew the smell in our faces. I would be glad when we were passed it. Ahead all was in darkness. Had the air force been able to fly they could have bombed the town and the bridge but they were still grounded.

  When I reached the ruined house where I had taken cover I put my hand up to stop the others. We could shelter in the lee of the three remaining walls. I could smell something. We smelled. It had been some days since water had touched my face let alone my body. The enemy smelled too. I had noticed that the Americans smelled of cinnamon and coffee beans. What I smelled as I peered across the broken sash of the window was stale sweat and cabbage. There were Germans out there.

  I made the sign for danger and the other two took cover. They hid so that the three of us had everything covered. With our white camouflage capes we were hard to see. The flaws in my plan now became apparent. We had no way of stopping the four men who were lugging their PIATs towards us and there were S.S. out there. Kneeling on the floor I held my gun in a two handed grip and I pressed my shoulder against the wall of the building to my left. The smell was growing closer.

  When the German voice said, “Shit!” It was almost in my ear and it was all I could do to stop from jumping. He was above me and had been attempting to climb through the window. He had caught his hand on a shard of glass. I raised my gun and looked up. He had his hand on the side wall and his foot on the sash. As he stepped on to the sash, he looked down and I pulled the trigger. The ‘phut’ seemed inordinately loud to me but no one seemed to react. He fell down and landed on me. There was no noise. My body absorbed the impact of the dying German.

  I heard a hiss, “Sven what happened?”

  I grunted and a face appeared in the door. He was less than three feet from me. He saw Sven’s body lying on mine and began to move. My bullet took the back of his head off. There were two more silenced bullets. I pushed the German from me. I pulled the other dead German towards me. Hewitt and Barker appeared and made the sign that it was secure.

  Just then the Corporal and the other three American soldiers arrived. They looked at the camouflage cape covered bodies. I held my finger to my lips and then took the camouflage cape from one of the dead Germans. I handed it to the Corporal. They cottoned on and soon they were dressed in the German’s camouflage capes. I took the grenades and pistols from the dead Germans. I found some plastic explosive and detonators on them. I jammed them in my battle jerkin. They were on the same mission as we were. They were he
ading to our lines to blow up our tanks. I spied a chance. I knew that one was called Sven. If I needed to then I had a name. I tapped my watch and held up my hand. The Corporal nodded.

  We left the cover of the demolished house. I saw the German prints in the snow. Had they gone a little further or if the wind had been in the opposite direction then the roles might have been reversed.

  There would be German sentries waiting for their saboteurs. They would not expect them yet. As we neared the road block I saw that the tank was still there. I found a depression in the snow and lay down to spy out the position. It was just a hundred yards away. They had replaced the machine guns. There was no sign of the Panzerfaust. I was patient and after a moment I saw the two sentries. They were leaning against the tank. Then I saw a third. When he moved I saw the glow of the brazier and that gave him away. I crept forward knowing that my two companions were right behind me. When we were just twenty yards away I pointed to the guard on the right and then Hewitt. I pointed to the second guard and then at Gordy. I levelled my Colt and squeezed the trigger twice in quick succession. He fell into the brazier. Soon the smell of burning flesh would fill the air. It could not be helped. I saw that the other two had killed their targets.

  The Americans were still three minutes behind us. I waved at my two men to cover me and I ran the twenty yards to the barbed wire. I took out the plastic explosive. I had no time for finesse. I saw that the detonator was a simple ten minute fuse. We had used them before. I jammed it into the explosive and then placed it next to the driving wheel on the tank. I hurried back to the others pausing only to pick up the MP 34 next to the dead sentry.

  The Americans were already aiming their rockets at the tank. I nodded. The flash and the noise always came as a surprise. Both rockets struck and there was a double explosion inside the tank. “Run!” As they ran away I saw by the fire in the tank that the turret had been damaged but would still function. I took out a grenade. Already the camp was coming to life as sleeping soldiers woke to the noise of the explosion. I hurled my grenade high into the air. Hewitt and Barker did the same and then we ran.

  The Americans had run in a straight line, we zig zagged. Bullets zipped through the air but they were firing blind. Then the three grenades went off. We had moved far enough away to be out of the danger zone but we felt the wall of air as it washed over us. We reached the demolished house and the three of us stopped. I saw that the Germans were putting out the fire in the tank. I sprayed the MP 34. I was barely in range but I wanted their heads down. Hewitt and Barker took the pistols from the dead Germans and began firing them too. We ducked behind the wall as they returned fire. The MG 42 was a vicious weapon and I felt the bullets smash into the wall behind which we sheltered. The bullets would soon break through. Just then we heard the explosion of the plastic explosive. It destroyed the machine guns and, as looked back I saw the tank had been lifted and moved. The track lay in ruins. We ran back. One tank had been destroyed. How many more were there?

  Our four companions were waiting for us by the halftrack as were the Colonel and the Sergeant Major. Colonel Devine clapped me on the back. “You delivered! God Damn you said what you would do and by God you did just that!”

  “They were sending men to sabotage your last tank too, sir. I would double the guards.”

  “In the morning we will try again. You guys get some sleep. You seem to do well after what did you call it? A nap!”

  That was war. You fought. You grabbed what sleep you could, you woke and, if you were lucky, ate and started all over again.

  Since we had radio communication again the picture was not quite so dark as it had been and, when I was woken and went to meet the Colonel, I heard good news and bad news. There was more bad than good. “Eighteen soldiers managed to hold up over five hundred Germans the other day! They are not having it all their own way, Major.”

  “If you are stubborn enough you can make life difficult for them Colonel. Just like you and your cavalry did.”

  “But they are still heading west. Your Field Marshal has sent some of his men south to block the northern advances. However we know that close to us they are driving forward to the west. We have to take Stavelot today. If we get to the southern road into Stavelot then we can cut the road south. We do that by blowing the bridge over the Wareche. We can stop their reinforcements.”

  “If they have Tigers and Panthers then that will be difficult. You are down to one Sherman.”

  He nodded, “We had more men arrive in the night. Some of them were from the massacre at Malmedy. They told us what you did. You should have a medal for what you have done, Major.”

  “I have enough medals, Colonel. Men’s lives are worth more than a piece of fruit salad on a chest.” I downed the coffee I had been given, “So what is the plan?”

  He gave me a wry smile, “It involves using you, Major, and your particular set of skills.” We had lost many officers. There were just five of us left and I was the next senior to the Colonel. It felt strange. He went to the map. “There is a thickly wooded area close to the river. If I gave you ten men could you get to the bridge and distract them while we make our attack up the road?”

  “Distract them, sir?”

  “It is a tall order but if you make them think the bridge is in danger then they might have to withdraw troops from the road.”

  I nodded, “I take it they will be volunteers?”

  “Yes, the men you took last night, Sergeant Major O’Rourke will be the officer and there are five others. They are all good men.”

  “I don’t doubt that sir. When do we attack?”

  “0900. That should give you time to get into position.”

  “Any news of the weather, sir?”

  “It looks like the aeroplanes will still be grounded if that is what you mean. Overcast with the chance of more snow.”

  I saw Sergeant Major O’Rourke behind the Colonel. “Have the men by the halftrack in ten minutes. They need grenades, whatever guns they have and ammo. No bags.”

  “Right sir.”

  I went back to Hewitt and Barker and found my Bergen. I took out what I would need while I told them what we would be doing. “It is up our street but I am not certain about the Americans. John, I want you as Tail End Charlie. If anything happens to Gordy and me then you pull them out.”

  “Right sir.”

  Corporal Cooper grinned when he arrived, “When I get home after this sir I’ll be able to tell my kids that I went on a raid with real Commandos.”

  Sergeant Major O’Rourke shook his head. “What is the plan then, sir?”

  “We head due south on a straight line to the river. There are woods to give us cover. Looking at the map there is a track of some sort by the river. We won’t use that just in case they have it defended. Instead we will go through the woods. It is my guess that the Germans are more worried about the road. If our tanks can get down it then we can retake the bridge. They don’t know that we only have the one. When we reach the German lines we use surprise. I don’t know how good you are with grenades but I want all of us to throw two grenades as far as we can before we open fire. It will disorientate the Germans and confuse them as to numbers. Our aim is to make them come after us. When I tell you to fall back then do so. You do it in pairs. One runs back while the other covers. We fall back a hundred yards and form a skirmish line. We keep falling back until we reach our starting point again. Of course if they stop following then we attack again. I want us to be like a dog worrying at a bone. Keep at it until they are forced to come for us.”

  They nodded.

  “One more thing, These are S.S. When you shoot, shoot to kill. A wounded S.S. is dangerous.”

  “You don’t mean kill the wounded, sir?”

  “Morrison, I mean that when I shoot I will make sure that it is a lethal shot.”

  “Don’t worry sir. We won’t let you down.”

  I pointed to the Sergeant Major’s Thompson. “If you have a machine gun then use short burst
s. It’s only in the movies where they never run out of bullets.” I tapped my Luger, then my Colt and my MP 34 before holding up my Mauser. “When I go into action I am armed and ready. Let’s go. Sergeant Barker and I will lead and Corporal Hewitt will be the rear guard.”

  It was virgin snow and it was deep. Gordy and I took it in turns to lead the patrol south. To the north I heard firing. A long way to the west there was the sound of tanks battling it out. The 88 mm and the 76 mm had distinctive sounds. When we reached the track down the river I saw that it too had no prints on it. That meant no one had been down the trail in the last twelve hours. I led them through the woods. Here the snow was less deep. The canopy of snow covered branches above us made it a dimly lit world we entered. By my estimate we had a mile to go before we reached the defences of the town. There was a small lane which led from the demolished houses we had used the previous night. It headed towards the river. That would be a way point for us. Once we reached there then we would be within range of the Germans.

  From the map there was a weir and an old fashioned leat which had created a defensible island. If I had been the Germans then I would have fortified that. We would be able to see it when we reached the road. I looked at my watch. It was 0830. We had time. As we approached the road I held up my hand and then, while Gordy covered me, I darted across the road. As I ran I looked north and saw no Germans. I made my way through the scrubland to the river. There was a sheen of ice on the water. Crouching behind a mound which was a snow covered bush I peered at the weir and then took out my binoculars to look at the spit of land protected on two sides by water. There were no Germans there. That told me much. They were overstretched.

  I went back to Gordy and waved the men into a line. We crossed the road and headed through the trees. The map had told me that the trees ended just before the town. In fact some of the trees appeared to be the boundary of some of the houses. I hoped we would be able to use that.

  When we reached the edge of the woods I saw a snow covered dry wall marking the boundary of the houses. This was the town. The bridge would be to our left. I pointed the ground and Sergeant O’Rourke waved his men down. Gordy and I slipped over the wall and headed towards the houses. I saw one with an open back door. We slipped over the low dividing boundary wall and headed for it. I stood on one side and Gordy on the other. I listened. I could hear nothing save the noise from the town itself. I heard an engine running. It sounded like a tank. There were distant voices but there was no noise in the house so far as I could tell.