Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (75 page)

The battle with the ISU’s had distracted him momentarily
,
but he saw the
fight
going in the Allies favour and returned to his own more immediate issues.

It was easy to see what was happening, house to house fighting going on in front of his eyes.

He pushed the Panzer IV platoons closer up, with orders to support the infantry
using
high-explosives
and machine-guns
, retaining his Panther units on the flanks to increase their killing zones.

The Panzer IV’s were shelling furiously, some directed by infantrymen
, NCO’s and officers
sheltering behind their turrets, pointing out a tough pocket here, a suspected position there.

Dagersheim seemed to be slowly melting before his eyes, the edge of the town
crumbling
under the assault.

To avoid artillery, Uhlmann
mo
ved his command group once more
, favouring the southern side
again
.

His gunner spotted an ISU and sought permission to engage
,
but the SP gun was knocked out by another tank before he could fire.

Uhlmann spared a
nother
look at the ‘
Alma
’ units and saw them closing, much as his own infantry force, closer combat taking place in the woods and outskirts of Boblingen.

Numerous ISU’s were knocked out within his field of vision, yet more marked only by a pall of smoke from somewhere in the distance.

He grunted with satisfaction as he dwelt on one of his Bergepanther’s
,
rushing up to a disabled JagdPanther,
the self-propelled guns’
heavy
track unravelled after a direct hit.

His ears became aware of the distinctive crack of
a
Panther’s 75mm, and then the reports from his
2nd Company commander positioned on
the North side, reporting a sally by
Soviet
tanks.

Between the Hedgehog and Dagersheim
,
the g
round had been shorn of trees by the
artillery
of
both sides, both
from this conflict and the last.
Uhlmann’s Panthers used the field of fire to its fullest extent.

A second report quickly followed.

“Dora-zero-one to Berta over.”

Uhlmann faced north, watching his Panthers urgently redeploying.

“Berta receiving. Go ahead.”

“Dora-zero-one, we have numerous IS
heavy
tanks to our front,
supported by
...”

The transmission cut short, coinciding with
the appearance of
a
n immense fireball
topped by a slowly-rolling tank turret, tons of metal thrown skywards by the force of the explosion.

Uhlmann could
imagine
Schneider’s baby face
as
the turret
tumbled
back to earth.

“Berta to Dora-one-one, report.”

The first platoon’s second in line responded professionally.

“Dora-one-one to Berta, zero-one is destroyed. Heavy and medium tanks in brigade strength to our front, range two thousand metres. Dora is engaging, over.”

“Berta acknowledged. I will order Friedrich to support. Take care. Ende.”

Braun,
call sign Dora-one-one,
now the commander of first platoon, switched quickly to his own net, more to encourage his troopers than to issue orders, his eyes glued to the command sight.

Fig #49
- Relief of Stuttgart - Soviet attack

“Target, heavy tank at 12 o’clock.”

“On.” The gunner had anticipated Braun’s selection and was tracking the leviathan’s progress.

“Feuer!”

The 75mm spat its high-velocity shell as the IS-II fired back.

The moving IS had little chance of success
,
and its shell passed the 75mm and disappeared beyond the target.

The Panther
’s
shell struck the front armour and ricocheted skywards in a shower of sparks.

Braun could comfortably expect to fire off three shells to every
one from the IS-II.

Their second shell
totally
missed the
Soviet
vehicle, much to the surprise of commander and gunner, although not so much as a grunt passed between them.

The loader rammed home a third shell and the gunner sent it on its way, striking the enemy tank on the join between turret and hull, jamming
the turret
in place but not penetrating.

Another 75mm struck the IS, fired from a different angle, the solid shot penetrating between the front idler and the hull.

Hatches flew open
,
and the tank crew fled in all directions.

Braun ordered another target as the other Panther finished the tank off.

The T-7
0’s
were buzzing around like flies but had no place in the tank engagement, their guns and armour insignificant in the confrontation between
main
battle tanks.

It was almost as if the Soviet commander had left them on the battlefield to distract the legion gunners, and to soak up shells that could have taken out the battle tanks.

If so, the tactic was successful.

Many of them were destroyed.

The T34’s understood that their best chance of survival lay with closing, and they split into two wedges
,
flanking the heavy tanks and driving hard for the legion tank line.

The eight surviving Panther’s followed standar
d doctrine, working from the edg
e inwards, but in this instance the doctrine was flawed.

The T34’s were closing fast.

Braun hit the transmit.

“One-One calling. First platoon concentrate on the
left hand group of
T34
’s, second platoon on the heavies.”

Braun’s gunner traversed and selected the nearest T34.

“T34 target. On.”

Braun gave the order and the tank jumped.

Satisfied that his target was destroyed, the gunner moved on.

With half an eye to his own tank and the other half on the larger battle, Braun noticed the IS’s stopping.

‘Verdamnt normal!’

He counted twelve IS-II’s intact upon the field
,
and each one put a 122mm shell in the air.

An express train went past his turret, the whoosh discernable, a sound well-remembered from battles on the Eastern Front.

Another passed on the other side.

All in all, ten shells sailed past. Two hit.

The two shells arrived simultaneously, striking the hull front of a second platoon tank as it moved locations.

Braun knew better than to expect survivors.

Another two IS-II’s succumbed to direct fire, joining four more T34’s added to the total since Braun had claimed his
last kill
.

However, the tide of tanks was still flowing closer
,
and Braun was tempted to relocate backwards.

However, such a
withdrawal would leave the forces at the Hedgehog dangerously exposed, and open up
the rear of Dagersheim.

A Panther tank
from another unit
dropped into a position just forward and to his right, the markings clearly that of
his
regimental commander
and future brother-in-law
.

Uhlmann also saw the T34’s as the
greater threat and joined with F
irst platoon in engaging them. His gunner was a fresh-faced young corporal, once of the Hitler Jugend Divisi
on. I
t was accepted that he was an uncanny
marksman
,
without equal in ‘Camerone’, an ability
he ably demonstrated by firing three quick shots, each of which hit home, stopping his two targets and sending the crews to a fiery death.

The HJ gunner was already the proud holder of the Ir
on Cross First and S
econd class
,
and Braun suspected he would receive more jewellery in the days ahead.

Another shell from his own tank struck a T34 on the gun barr
el, bending it dramatically,
rendering it useless.

However, the
Soviet
gunner fired in his panic and the
shell detonated in the barrel.

The crew abandoned but did not make friendly cover as an MG42 lashed out from the hedgehog area.

A Panther took a hit on its turret side with spectacular results. The 122mm shell bounced away, ploughing into a small farmhouse and bringing down the gable end.

The welding on the Panther
’
s turret
had con
c
eded to the kinetic shock and co
me apart, opening the side of the turret to sunlight. Not that it bothered the gunner or loader
,
as both were killed by the shockwave.

The commander, his face bashed and bloody when his head
was dashed
against the cupola, groggily ordered a withdrawal and the damaged second platoon tank pulled back, pursued by fire from the
rapidly
closing T34’s.

Braun took the opportunity of a side shot on a manoeuvring T34 and wrecked its engine
,
leaving it side on and unable to move. The crew decided to evacuate, escaping before second shell destroyed the vehicle.

Uhlmann had organised a
n air
strike
,
and three USAAF Thunderbolts swept the battlefield, sending twenty-four rockets into the stationary IS-II’s, two more being instantly transformed into expensive scrap metal.

Soviet
artillery was falling more heavily around the tank line
,
and Uhlmann ordered an
immediate
adjustment of one hundred and fifty metres backwards, tanks leapfrogging to rear positions.

The company’s most venerable Panther tank, an Ausf D captured in Normandy, broke down as it left cover, suddenly attracting the attention of both IS-II’s and T34’s.

No shots struck the lame duck.

But an immobile
vehicle
is no place to be on a battlefield so the crew abandoned their smoking tank, a small fire having started in the engine compartment. It burned lazily for the rest of the battle.

On the edge nearest the hedgehog
,
the T34’s were up to two hundred metres, although over half had been knocked out as they charged forward.

An 85mm pinged off th
e Panther
’
s gun mantlet, a white-hot
trail rising straight up into the sky; a second clipped the top of the turret, the metal glowing a dull red momentarily.

2nd Platoon’s northernmost tank was forced to rotate its turret, determined to stop its flank being turned, but in so doing exposed the side to a solid shot.

To the inexperienced eye
,
there was little more than a hole the size of a tea cup, precisely central on the side plate. Those that had experienced the horrors of tank warfare understood that the solid shot had transformed the turret into a charnel house of pieces that even a mother wouldn’t recognise.