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

tothe hatch. His hands felt sticky and there was some sort of soft material allover the bottom of the tank. Ducking his head through the hatch he fell forwardonto the sand. Moments later he felt arms grab his chest and drag him away fromthe tank.

It was Fischer. Soon they were ten metres away as the tank brewed up.Small explosions were detonating inside as the ammunition went off. Fischerreleased Manfred onto the sand.

‘Can you move?’

‘Yes, I think so,’ replied Manfred.

He got gingerly to his feet and followed Fischer and Kohler. Theyfell into to a depression in the sand which provided some cover from the crackof gunfire around them. Manfred looked at Fischer. He was a bloody mess butseemed unhurt. So too Kohler.

‘The sergeant?’ asked Manfred. Fischer shook his head. ThenManfred looked down at his hands. The stickiness was blood and there wassomething else. It was all over his uniform. A scream formed in his throat, buthe managed to control himself.

All over his hair, his face and uniform were the remains ofOverath and Kastner. Fischer and Kohler were looking at him. Then Kohler turnedaway and began to retch. Manfred felt like weeping but the sight of Fischerstaring at him stiffened his resolve. Slowly he began to wipe his face and bodyof the blood and tissue.

Behind them they heard the sound of the tanks receding into thedistance. None felt like giving chase. The impact of the explosion had beendelayed but Manfred realised his body was aching all over. He could barely movehis legs.

‘What do we do now?’ asked Kohler, who’d recovered sufficiently bythis time.

Manfred pointed in the direction of the tanks and Fischeranswered.

‘We walk.’

They waited until the gunfire had subsided then helped each otherup like old men. Around them lay the burnt out wrecks of some tanks. Althoughnone wanted to look at their old tank, they realised they needed water. Slowlythey trudged over to the tank and took whatever water and food they could. Fischerbathed Manfred in some water to remove blood and tissue. Manfred nodded to himas the grim assignment was completed.

They spent the next ten minutes taking whatever they could salvagefor the march ahead of them. The cans would weigh heavily on fatigued arms. Manfredand Fischer said nothing as they contemplated this but Kohler by now was in amood to grumble. He complained about all the things that his two companionswere feeling.

‘How far do you think?’

Fischer replied with a figure clutched from the air, ‘Five, maybeten, kilometres at least. We went out of the range of our guns. I don’t knowwhat we were thinking.’

Kohler let out a string of oaths as they passed the destroyed tanks.In the pitiless heat of the mid afternoon sun this seemed a suitable eulogy formen who’d ordered them to march into deadly fire.

‘My God, five kilometres in this heat,’ continued Kohler. ‘This isterrible.’

Then they heard the sound of a vehicle. It was a low hum at firstand then it became louder. They looked around them but could see nothing. Theirhopes were up though. Kohler began to shout.

‘Help! Help!’

‘Shut up you fool,’ snarled Fischer.

Kohler looked at him askance.

‘What do you mean?’

‘He means,’ replied Manfred, ‘that they could be Tommies.’

In this Manfred was wrong. A vehicle eventually appeared over theridge and made straight for them. On the side of the vehicle was a flag.Manfred recognised the colours. It was South African. Within a few minutesManfred and his tank mates were staring at a number of guns trained on them.

‘Any of you speak English?’ asked a sergeant.

 21

Sidi Rezegh Airfield, Libya, November 21st, 1941

Danny fought back a rising tide of fear. His breath grew shallowerand shallower. He glanced around the tank. Aside from Felton and himself, theother members of the tank crew were highly experienced. He thought of hisfriends. Phil Lawrence was probably nearby. Arthur, meanwhile, was part of Asquadron, so not involved.

The crump of guns in the distance was followed by the scream ofshells. The air seemed to rupture around them. Within seconds the tank wasrocked by explosions. The shockwaves shook the men inside the tank.

‘Welcome to the War, son,’ shouted Craig over to Danny.

Danny offered a smile and hoped he didn’t look as white as Felton.The tank was moving fast. He was tossed against the side. A swift glance up atHolmes revealed the gunner’s eyes fixed on his gun sights. Danny grabbed ashell. The weight stopped his hands shaking.

The tanks advanced down the reverse side of the escarpment. Forthe first hundred yards it seemed the shells could have been landing in anothercountry. Then Danny heard a different sound. The sound of shells hitting tanksand the appalling realisation that the series of shattering blasts followingthis was the sound of the tank’s shells exploding. Soon, he saw sand eruptingjust in front and then all around.

The German batteries spat angrily at the cavalry charge. The steelrain rent the earth. Tanks shuddered as explosions threw up sand and rock.Danny willed himself to look through the periscope. The sight was hell itself.Fire, smoke and death. Ahead he could see a tank in flames. Two tanks. Three.

Lieutenant Turner spoke again.

‘I can see enemy. Figures two zero, zero, zero yards away on farridge there are guns,’ said Turner before adding almost unnecessarily, ’anti-tankguns.’

Lister responded seconds later.

‘Hello all stations. Lister here. We must keep going. Ourobjective is two thousand yards ahead.

Aston let out an oath which came over loud and clear on hismicrophone. This was followed by several more when he realised that he had beencaught out. To cover himself he urged Turner to keep advancing.

‘Driver advance,’ ordered Aston deliberately so that every tankcould hear him. He didn’t have to add, stay behind Turner. The lead troop movedforward onto the plain. Behind them, British anti-tank guns opened up, somestray shells landing near their own tanks.

-

Danny felt his body shake. He wasn’t sure if it was terror or theshock waves made by the gun fire rupturing the air around them. They were wellwithin the killing range of these monster guns. They were spoken off in tonesof hushed awe by the men that had faced them before.