Crusader (A Novel of WWII Tank Warfare) by Jack Murray (important of reading books .TXT) 📗

later Basler was at Manfred’s tank. He looked annoyed. Butthen he always seemed irritated by something. Manfred stood up and looked atthe SS man. Up close Manfred was surprised at how young he seemed.Mid-twenties, at a guess. His skin had been darkened by the African sun and,with his dark hair he might have passed for a local were it not for the eyes.They were ice blue but there was a fire in there, too.

‘You men are to join me. We’ve had reports of a patrol of armouredcars to the south. They’re clearly doing reconnaissance. We can’t let them knowwhere we are and risk air attack or their guns targeting us. To the vehicles.We’re to follow Captain Kummel to engage. We march west back towards where wecame from. Follow me.’

Manfred and the rest of the crew immediately kicked over thetraces of their fire and made for the tank. Minutes later a party of aroundtwenty-five tanks headed towards the southern ridge where the armoured vehicleshad been sighted.

Overath sat on top of the tank and invited Manfred up top. Manfredlooked at the line of tanks throwing up the sand into the air. They would soonbe visible to the enemy. And the enemy would run. What else could they do? Hedoubted they’d give chase. It would be too much of a risk. At best they mightget close enough to hit a few. Job done then head home.

‘What do you think, Brehme?’ asked Overath.

Manfred looked at Overath and wondered what the hell was theanswer to a question like that. What did Overath want from him?

‘I think we’ve been fortunate so far. The enemy has not beenconcentrated. They don’t seem integrated, either. We fight alongside infantry,artillery and with an anti-tank screen. The Tommies all seem to be fightingtheir own war.’

Overath nodded but did not respond to Manfred’s point. Manfredtook this to mean agreement. Whether or not this was what he’d been asking wasanother matter altogether.

They rode together in silence. Manfred did not have binoculars socontented himself with looking around their flanks while Overath kept hisvision straight ahead. It made a pleasant change from the cramped cauldron ofthe tank. But up top had its own challenge. His hat could barely cast enoughshadow over his face. He felt his neck burning. The sky was no longer soovercast. The clouds had cleared. There were no birds or planes just stretchesof blue. The only sound was the rumble of tanks and clanking wheels. It wasdifficult to see too far ahead due to the heat haze which became more intenseas midday approached.

This was an issue. It would make it more difficult to pick out theBritish vehicles. The noise, the dust cloud and the size of their party wouldbe less difficult to spot by the Allies. Ten minutes later Overath askedManfred to send Kohler up.

‘Man the wireless,’ ordered the sergeant as Manfred stepped down.

Manfred took up Kohler’s position as the tank trundled forward.Fischer said nothing to him as he sat nearby. It could be feast or famine withFischer. When he was in the mood he wouldn’t shut up. At other times he wastaciturn. This was usually when he was tired. Or worried.

The wireless crackled suddenly. It was Basler, who was out infront along with the leader of the party, Captain Hummel.

‘Enemy spotted south west. Six zero zero meters.

Hummel came on the radio at this point.

‘Turn, march. Spread out and attack cars.’

Fischer nodded response. As he did so, Manfred heard the crump ofguns in the distance. Manfred’s ears had become more attuned now. They did notsound German.

‘My God,’ said Overath on the microphone.

‘What’s happened?’ shouted Kastner.

‘They’ve taken out Wult. Direct hit. Start firing.’

Manfred had already loaded the first cartridge. Seconds later, althoughit felt like an eternity, Kastner fired. Manfred had the second shell into thebreech by the time Kastner informed them he’d missed.

Shells were raining down around them. Manfred winced as theexplosions rocked the tank.

‘Why aren’t our eighty-eights shelling them?’ shouted Manfred openingthe breech for another cartridge.

‘We’ve driven out of range,’ responded Overath grimly. ‘We’re onour own.’ He added a few other choice words to describe his feelings on thewisdom of this march.

As he said this, another explosion burst in Manfred’s ears. Thepercussive force of the barrage made sent shockwaves through Manfred’s body.Nearby, another tank in the troop was destroyed causing all it shells toexplode also.

Basler came on the radio.

‘Stop. We’re going straight into their anti-tank guns. Reverse.’

Fischer responded immediately and began to reverse.

Overath had, by now, ducked into the turret. His presence steadiedthe nervousness Manfred had begun to feel. In a calm voice, Overath spoke toFischer.

‘Not too fast Fischer, we don’t want to crash into our tanks.’

‘Yes sir,’ replied Fischer. His voice betrayed no anxiety. Manfredglanced down at him. He had to admire his cool. The firestorm was intense, butthe Bavarian barely blinked with each explosion. The tank continued to beharassed as the radio revealed more tanks had been hit.

Then the tank was rocked by an enormous explosion. Manfred wassent crashing backwards by Kastner. His head cracked against some metalknocking him out momentarily. He came to and it seemed like the tank wasspinning. The noise he could hear was the beating of his heart. Two thingsdawned on him. The tank had been hit. He was alive.

Above he could see blood spilt like paint across the inside wallof the turret. There was blood on him also. And something else. There werebloodied clumps on his face and uniform. It felt like he was in a cavelistening to echoes.

He looked around. Fischer was shouting at him. He couldn’t hear anything,but Fischer seemed to be telling him to get out. Kohler was already escapingthrough a hatch and Fischer was motioning for him to follow. Manfred raised himselfup from the floor of the tank, aware of the extraordinary heat inside. For allthe blood soaking his uniform he could not detect any injury save for thethrobbing of his head. It felt like he was moving in sections.

Smoke filled the tank and the smell of petrol was nowoverpowering. Despite the smoke stinging his eyes, he managed to crawl over