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

At least half a dozen of the remaining tanks of the regiment hadbeen destroyed. It had taken the Germans less than a few minutes to wreak thishavoc.

Danny got to his feet and sprinted behind one tank and dodgedtowards another. The other men had disappeared now. Glancing to his right hesaw an explosion take out soldiers manning a twenty-five pounder. He ran overtowards the gun to see if he could help any of the wounded men to safety.

Arriving at the gun he saw that the two men were, in fact, dead.He collapsed to his knees and retched at the sight of the injuries. The barragecontinued. Shells whistled overhead. He ignored them. He looked up into the skyand saw the black smoke blotting out the sunlight.

Explosions erupted across the airfield. He turned around andlooked at the burning misshapen hulks dotted around the airfield.  He heardshouts in the distance, but Danny was past caring. A wordless acceptance thatdeath was near.

A car pulled up near Danny. He turned around and saw an officerstride over towards him.

‘Artillery?’

‘Tank’

‘Do you know how to operate one of these?’

Danny looked at the tall officer and then the twenty-five poundergun. He nodded and then jumped to his feet. The officer was already on his waytowards the gun. Danny made straight for the shells.

‘Load,’ ordered the officer.

Danny levered the breech open and heaved the cartridge into the jacketof the barrel. He closed the block quickly. Meanwhile, the officer was adjustingthe aim.

‘Have you pushed the crank forward? We don’t want the shell comingback out.’ asked the officer, still considering his aim.

‘Yes, sir. Crank is locked.’

Seconds later the officer fired off a shell towards the tanks inthe distance. This ranging shell gave the officer an idea of the adjustmentsneeded. The empty chamber fell backwards from the gun. Moments later theofficer nodded to Danny. At this point Danny already had a fresh cartridge readyto load. The officer adjusted the aim.

‘Name?’

‘Shaw, sir. Sixth Tanks.’

This was met with a curt nod then the officer fired again. Itlanded just in front of one of the oncoming tanks. This led to a stream ofun-officer-like dismay at his rotten luck. As Danny loaded the next cartridgethe officer noticed some stragglers taking evasive action from a gun that hadbeen hit.

‘Over here,’ shouted the officer. The officer turned again toDanny, ‘This fires five rounds a minute. Keep firing at those bastards overthere.’

The group of soldiers were now racing over. The officer pointed atthe two men.

‘Help Shaw fire this. Keep firing until you run out of ammo. Thenthrow sticks at them if you have to; just stop them reaching the airfield.’

The tall officer grinned and strode off back to the staff car. Hetook off holding up a blue and white scarf.

A sergeant stepped forward. He was in his early thirties coveredwith sweat-streaked dust. His arm was bandaged. The other man seemed like he’dbeen beaten up in a fight after pub closing time. They looked at Danny holdingthe cartridge.

‘What are you waiting for, son? You heard what the Brigadiersaid.’

There was no time for conversation or greetings. In a moment Dannywas loading another shell. Then another. And they were doing damage. Danny sawone tank  shattered and then another. Another gun was in action nearby. Dannyglanced over and saw an officer pulling a dead body off the portee to get thegun firing again.

Bullets punched the bank in front of the gun while Danny and thetwo men blazed away. When Danny glanced back at the other gun, he saw theofficer lying dead. The other two men continued firing. Behind him he heard agrunt and saw the sergeant collapse. He’d been hit by shrapnel. Death had beeninstantaneous.

The other soldier stared in speechless horror at the fallensergeant.

‘Get down,’ shouted Danny. He leapt forward to rugby tackle thesoldier just as an explosion hit the gun. Stinging shards of steel rippedthrough the air. Danny felt pain in his leg as his body collided with thesecond soldier. When he raised himself up and looked down, sightless eyesstared back at him.

Tears of frustration stung Danny’s eyes. He turned to the gun. Itwas now disabled. He glanced over towards the other gun. The two remaining menhad withdrawn. Their gun had been turned into a twisted, smoking heap of metal.

Bullets tore into the sand around Danny. He had to find cover. Hespotted a destroyed tank further back. Slowly, he crawled towards it. Overheadhe heard the Allied twenty-five pounders firing on the approaching tanks. This,at least, was giving the Germans something to think about. The hail of bulletsaround his gun subsided.

Danny, sensing the attention of the tanks was now divertedelsewhere, pulled himself up from the ground and sprinted towards the rear ofthe tank. Circling around to the side he saw that the hatch was open. Heglanced inside to see if there were any survivors. Shock and nausea overcamehim. He fell backwards immediately from the hatch and began to throw up.

It was not the sight of the burnt blackened bodies nor the sharpsmell of smoke and charred flesh. On one of the burned stumps there was theunmistakable shape and metallic colour of a watch. Despite the damage he couldstill make out the cracked, dust-covered watch face a small cartoon figure onits face with the big black ears, the white gloves, the big red shorts and thetwo white buttons.

 26

Sidi Rezegh Airfield, Libya, November 21st, 1941

Danny looked up to the skies and was surprised to see it was raininglightly. As the action had proceeded, he’d not been aware of this. Stomach-soreand legs stinging from the piece of shrapnel, Danny got to his feet again. Theattack seemed to have abated. The guns, if not silent, were not beating outshell after shell as they had earlier. Danny weaved in and out of the destroyedvehicles in the direction of the guns that were still in operation.

He heard someone calling his name. A look to his left revealed thegunner, Stone, motioning for him to come over. Danny jogged towards the spotwhere he and the rest of the tank crew were sitting. Captain Aston heldbinoculars up to his eyes. His gaze