Major Mix-up
By:AliasCWN
Chapter 10
The morning came and the entire base went on high alert. Captain Kaufman had asked Troy and Moffitt to come to his office bright and early. They hadn't gotten in until nearly dawn and the little sleep they had managed to catch hadn't done much for their energy levels. Both of them were hollow eyed and sluggish when they knocked on the captain's door.
"Sorry to chase you out of bed after the night you had but I need your services again." The captain explained as he stood behind his desk. "You come highly recommended as a recon team and we need to know what Jerry is going to do now that they have lost the element of surprise."
"Were you able to get a spotter plane up to see how much of the armor survived?" Troy asked around a yawn.
"There isn't one available right now." The captain answered. "Jerry has a large convoy coming in by ship and all available planes are being sent to bomb it. The fighters are providing cover for the bombers."
"You don't need a fighter Captain, just a scout plane."
"The German fighter will be out in force and it's too dangerous for an unarmed spotter plane."
Troy nodded. "Some of those fighter pilots are good."
"So are our pilots but they can't take on a fighter without armament."
Troy nodded again. "Okay, so where do you want us to look? We can check on that armored unit, see what survived."
"Do that first." The captain agreed. "Then I want you to do a recon of the surrounding area and see if the Germans are moving anything in our direction. Lieutenant Todd will give you the codes for today so you can radio in if you find anything."
"May we borrow the jeeps again? Those patrol cars are too slow."
"Of course Sergeant."
"Do we have time to eat breakfast before we leave?"
"Take all the time you want, as long as it's not too long. Something tells me that Jerry was up early this morning."
"At least they go to bed." Troy grumbled under his breath.
Moffitt smiled and Captain Kaufman pretended not to hear him.
"We'll pick up the jeeps, stock them with the basics, and leave within the hour." Troy promised.
"God enough Sergeant, and I promise you can sleep once this is over." Captain Kaufman smiled at Troy's contrite expression.
"All right." Troy began as they left the captain's office. "Why don't you go wake Tully and Hitch and tell them to pick up the jeeps? I'll arrange for the supplies. We'll meet over at the mess hall. We can drive over and pick up the supplies after we eat. They should be ready by then."
It was a quiet breakfast except for the yawning that seemed contagious. One of them would yawn and within seconds the others would have to yawn too. Troy decided they should walk to supply to pick up their order, just to wake them up.
"We'll have to keep an eye on those two or we could end up in Timbuktu." Moffitt laughed as Tully tried to hide another yawn.
Troy frowned. "It's funny now, but it won't be if we need their sharp reflexes to get us out of trouble."
"In a case like that the adrenaline will kick in and wake them up." Moffitt replied.
"I hope so. Jerry's crawling all over the area and we're all exhausted."
Troy blamed it on lack of sleep. They nearly ran into the surviving armor from the wadi. The two jeeps crested a hill only to find themselves nose to nose with two tanks climbing up the other side. The noise alone should have alerted them even though the sounds were muffled by the walls of sand.
The Germans were as surprised as the Allies. For precious seconds they sat atop the tank hatches and stared at the small vehicles facing them. It wasn't until Hitch yelled and put his jeep in reverse that the Germans reacted. They dropped into their tanks and pulled the hatches closed after them.
The turret gunners couldn't get the barrels low enough to find the jeeps in their sights until the tanks crested the hill. Once the tanks leveled out the rapidly departing American vehicles fit into the crosshairs of the iron sights. The crews worked frantically to lower the barrels before the jeeps could escape.
The guns boomed and the first shells missed the racing jeeps by yards. Tully and Hitch immediately changed course to force the gunners to adjust their aim.
The second round of shells landed in front of the jeeps throwing sand onto their occupants as the vehicles raced through the dust cloud. Troy gave a shout just before the tanks fired again. The drivers reacted by separating and driving off in different directions. That round of shells landed between the jeeps, adding more dust to the haze that already clouded the vision of the gun crew. Both jeeps burst out of the dust and left the slower moving armor behind.
Troy didn't call a halt until they had covered several miles. As the jeeps rolled to a stop he grabbed his binoculars and ran to a high point to check behind them.
"They aren't yawning now." Moffitt told Troy as he joined him on the hill.
"That was too close!"
"I guess we found what we were looking for though. Now we know at least some of the tanks survived."
"Yeah." Troy grunted. "I guess it was too much to hope that we'd get them all."
"Every one we get is one less to attack the base."
Troy nodded but didn't look away as he watched the tanks climb out of the wadi followed by three halftracks. Some of the halftracks appeared to be damaged and they were only a small fraction of what the Troy had seen parked in the wadi before he detonated the charges.
"I count four tanks, six halftracks, and a few patrol cars."
"I agree." Moffitt nodded after looking through his own glasses. "The base may have to deal with the tanks and halftracks but they should be able to handle such a small number."
"We'd better call it in." Troy decided. "Keep your eye on them."
Troy coded the message to the base with the numbers and location of the armor. He warned the base that they were headed their way. Shutting the radio off he checked on his men. Moffitt was still watching the armor while Tully and Hitch were standing on the hoods of their jeeps watching the desert around them.
"Moffitt." When the Brit turned to look at him Troy waved him down. "We found the armor, now we can concentrate on the recon." He tapped Hitch on the leg to get his attention. "Go up on the hill and keep watch. Once we map out the next part of the assignment I'll call you." Turning back to Moffitt he pulled the maps out of their gear.
"It's a good thing you thought to bring the maps. This entire area is unfamiliar to me."
"It's definitely easier in our usual haunts. We know the terrain and the enemy there." Troy admitted. "But our orders are to recon this area."
"Where should we start?" Moffitt bent over the map that Troy held on the hood of the jeep.
Troy shrugged. "Any ideas?"
"This area here looks familiar." Moffitt drew a circle on the map with his finger.
"I thought you said you didn't know this area." Troy frowned as he tried to remember what Moffitt had told him.
"I don't know the area." Moffitt replied. "But I did get plenty of chances to look at the maps that were in the packet we brought back. It seems to me that this was a staging area for something, but I didn't get that far in the translation before I was pulled off to go with you."
"Would Captain Kaufman know?"
"I have no idea how far his men have gotten in the translations. There were quite a few pages to translate, plus maps and diagrams."
"Okay, so we'll check that area first. If they haven't got that far in the translations maybe we can save them the trouble."
Troy called Hitch back and they started off across the desert to locate the area Moffitt had circled with his finger.
"Sarge!" Tully called. When Troy looked the private pointed to some dust on their right.
Troy nodded and Tully angled his jeep that way. He alerted Moffitt to the dust as they drove. They found a hill to hide behind and Troy and Moffitt again took their binoculars to search the desert ahead of them.
"Just a patrol." Moffitt stated as they watched the two patrol cars in the distance.
"Just a patrol," Troy repeated, "in American held territory the day the Germans planned to launch a major offensive in the area."
"Scouting the area perhaps." Moffitt suggested. "They know we took the plans and by now they know we destroyed most of the armor in that wadi. It would make sense to scout the area before they run into a trap."
"But they're circling." Troy pointed out. "Scouts would be scouting ahead, not circling."
"True, but perhaps this is as far as they were told to go."
"Maybe." Troy answered. "But it doesn't feel right."
"Do you want to follow them?"
Troy nodded. "Let's see where they're going."
They returned to the jeeps and followed the tracks of the patrol cars, being careful about stirring up any dust in their wake. As the jeeps stayed near cover Troy wished they had their 50's. The borrowed jeeps were more nimble than the patrol cars but the patrol cars carried a larger crew. The 50's were the perfect equalizers. It was Moffitt who spotted the patrol cars coming back.
The jeeps took cover and watched to see where the cars were going. Troy was concerned that the Germans would spot their tracks but the cars turned before they reached the jeeps. Moffitt and Troy exchanged relieved looks. The patrol cars didn't seem to be looking for anything, rather, they seemed to be guarding something.
"They're up to something." Troy growled.
"I believe you may be correct." Moffitt answered. He turned toward Troy and pointed at eh Germans, only he was pointing at something beyond the patrol cars.
Troy refocused his glasses and found the column of dust rising from the desert behind the patrol cars. It took a minute for him to realize what he was seeing. "Let's go!" He hissed as he headed for the jeeps.