Chapter 8: Blood and Steel collide.
5th July, 1943. 0900 hours.
"So much for 'all in a day's work' Erwin…" Maho muttered, downing the rest of her coffee quickly, watching Karla climb down and run back to her Tiger, before climbing up onto the turret and dropping into her commander's chair, putting on her headphones and throat mic again. "Radio check. Everyone can hear me?" She asked as Erika and the rest of her crew quickly climbed inside.
"Loud and clear." Erwin replied. "Right. B and C Company, listen up. We're to stop the counterattack at all costs. We, and one regiment of the 6th Infantry will be setting up a makeshift defensive line around 8 miles from the village. I want us to get there as fast as possible, and find an ambush point. The infantry regiment is mostly for support, but they'll be good in helping us out anyhow. Alright. Let's move out!"
"Jawohl Hauptmann!"
Maho's Tiger shuddered as the engine rumbled into life, and began steadily moving out into the Russian steppe quickly. Maho opened the commander's hatch and looked behind her. The infantry regiment were quickly setting off, jumping into their personnel trucks and the occasional half-tracks.
"How did they know we've taken the village so quickly?" Karla asked over the radio.
"They must've been the strategic reserves for this part of the front." Maho answered quietly. "Once their command knew that the 15th Infantry division had collapsed, they would naturally send in their reserves to plug the gap made in the line."
The Tigers spread out into a single line formation, with the infantry trailing close by behind them. Maho looked through her binoculars for any tell-tale sign of enemy tanks: dust being thrown up on the horizon. "No sight of them yet." Maho spoke. "But keep an eye on the horizon. If there is any smoke or dust rising on the horizon, it has to be them." She frowned and gritted her teeth. "We can't afford them to slip by us and attack the village."
"Aye, Leutnant."
About 10 minutes passed with no sign of the enemy. Maho was growing increasingly nervous; every minute that passed and the Soviets would be a minute closer to reaching Podoliani. And since only one infantry regiment was holding it; the arrival of two Soviet tank brigades and an infantry regiment would be a total massacre. And soon enough, another problem soon arose.
"Hauptmann! Two of C Company's Tiger report they're running low on fuel!" A voice crackled in the radio.
"What?! Did they not get a chance to refuel?" Erwin shouted in reply.
"Aye Hauptmann. They only started refuelling when we had to set off." The voice spoke slowly. Erwin sighed.
"Dammit. Okay. Tell them to cut their speed. If they do start to run low, they can withdraw back to Podoliani." She muttered.
Maho sighed, looking into the field with her binoculars. She suddenly spotted movement in the dense grass. "Christian! Target directly in front of us! Hit it with the coaxial machine gun!" She screamed.
The coaxial machine gun burst into life, lighting up the spot Maho told to shoot at with tracer rounds. Two men stood up, only to be nearly cut in half by the hail of bullets; both bodies crumpling to the ground.
"All units, Halt! Halt! Halt! I repeat, All units Halt!" Erwin shouted into the mic, as all the tanks screeched to a stop.
Once the tank had stopped, Maho grabbed her StG 44, and loaded a magazine in; for safety. She then slowly stood up on the turret and jumped down, heading towards the spot where the two men were. She held her assault rifle aloft, ready to shoot if anything moved.
"Leutnant… What are you doing?" Erwin began, but was silenced by Maho who turned round and put a finger to her lips. She was a few meters away from the two bodies when a man suddenly rose up from the grass; his rifle aimed at Maho. Maho blinked, and instantly pressed the trigger. Several bullets found its mark, and the man fell to his knees; red spreading across his front.
"фашистского зверя…" The man whispered, before he was ended with a shot to the head. Maho walked over, and inspected his uniform, before walking back towards the tank.
"These men are from the reconnaissance unit. It means the main forces are not far behind. We should be able to catch them." She muttered, climbing back into her tank.
"Okay. Let's move then." Erwin replied, and the Tiger's and infantry soon resumed their advance.
Another 10 minutes passed, still nothing. Erwin was becoming edgy too, the same for all of the commanders. 'They have to show up soon enough. They have to.' She thought.
"I've got something!" Karla shouted out suddenly. "There are dust trails heading towards us! I'm guessing they're 4 to 5 miles ahead! They're directly at us!"
Erwin grinned. "Finally. Okay. All units, listen up! There are quite a lot of bushes around 500m, at our 10 o'clock. It gives us excellent coverage of this road and the empty grassland next to it, as well as perfect camouflage. C Company, you take that position, B Company will go and use the tall grass in this field here to wait. Right. 1st Platoon, so Leutnant Ketler and Oberfeldwebel Brun. You are with me. 2nd and 3rd platoon space yourselves out in the small bushes in the field at your 3 o'clock. We'll be right in front of them, whilst C Company will hit their flank." Erwin grinned. "They'll be hit on two sides. They won't even know what hit them." She then radioed the regiment accompanying them. "Is it possible for you to set up a mortar team. We need to get rid of their infantry regiment and provide firing support. So I want your squads up where C Company is, on the left side. I want the machine gun and infantry there. Keep the mortar teams where we are. Clear?"
"Aye, Hauptmann." They all replied.
"Good. Let's move out! We've haven't got a moment to lose."
5th July, 1943. 0950 hours.
Soon, all of the tanks and men were in position for the ambush. Now it was just waiting for the ambush to be sprung. Maho was nervously tapping the top of the turret with her right hand, whilst holding a pair of binoculars to her eyes with the other. "They're closing in… around approximately 2 miles." She muttered. "When should we engage?"
Erwin paused for a minute, then spoke. "Engage at around 800m, then drive out to force them back. Clear?"
"Aye, Hauptmann." They all replied.
"Good. Now… we wait." She whispered.
For a short while they waited, the tension in the air was palpable. Everyone was silent. They could even hear the birds tweeting in the trees. "Everyone load an Amour Piercing round." Maho whispered, breaking the silence momentarily. "Be ready…"
"Shell loaded." Felix whispered back, closing the locking mechanism as quietly as he could.
Maho looked around, watching the dust trail get bigger and bigger. Soon, the top of the tanks could be seen. Then the entire chassis of the tank, and the infantry keeping close by to them as cover. "They're not in a convoy. They're arriving on-masse. Can everyone see them?" She asked, continuing when both B and C Company stated they could see the tanks clearly. "At least 100 T-34s sighted. All units, pick a target and track them. Don't fire." She stated quietly, as Erika traversed the turret to track one of the T-34s. "Wait on my command. On the count of three. One…"
"Distance, 1000m and closing." Karla whispered.
"Hold your fire…" Erwin ordered. "Not yet…"
"Two…"
"Distance, 900m and closing." Karla whispered again.
Erika gritted her teeth and her hand closed around the massive trigger. "Come-on… Come-on…" She whispered.
"Hold it…" Erwin whispered.
"Distance, 800m." Karla stated. "Shall I engage."
Erwin smirked. "All units! Fire at will!" She shouted.
The sudden calmness of the area was suddenly blown away by a volley of explosions, smoke, and small arms fire. Each Tiger shot, and their deadly shells found their mark. One shell entered through the turret, and instantly detonated the ammo, causing a massive fireball to erupt in the tank, blowing the turret clean off. Other shots entered through the hull, the shrapnel slicing and cutting up the inhabitants inside. The coaxial machine guns chattered away, cutting down the infantry trying to take cover. All around the field, there were tanks burning, men crumpling to the ground, and corpses littered everywhere. The remaining infantrymen instantly started returning fire wildly, whilst the T-34s shot blindly at their positions. Explosions erupted around the Soviet infantry as mortar shells landed on their positions, the shrapnel and explosion cutting troops down horrifically. The screams of pain from injured men could be heard from where Maho was.
Erika targeted another T-34, and fired; the round entering through the front. The tank shuddered to a halt, and the commander's hatch opened. A man dragged himself out, only to be nearly decapitated by a machine gun burst by Christian. A second man toppled out of the front hatch, missing an arm and part of his face. He fell on the floor screaming in agony, just as a bullet hit him and silenced him forever.
"Let's go! Forward! Fire at anything that moves!" Maho shouted into the radio, and they started advancing at the once strong tank brigades. But the remaining T-34s had regrouped, and were now laying down an impressive fire as they advanced towards them. Tank shells whizzed overhead, and one hit the turret but shattered, shrapnel flying towards Maho. She ducked down, but felt a searing hotness across the side of her head, then a pulsing pain shot through that side of her head. "Shit!" She screamed, her hand going to touch her wound. It was bleeding slightly, but not a lot.
"You okay Leutnant?!" Erika shouted, turning round to see Maho have blood dribbling down her head.
"I'm fine Erika! Just carry on firing! We've got a T-34 attempting to flank us! At your 3 o'clock!" Maho shouted, ignoring the cut on her head for the time being; she had more important matters to look out for right now.
Erika traversed the turret as fast as she could. "Target sighted!"
"Fire!"
The cannon fired, and the shell flew towards its target. Moments later, it impacted, shredding a massive hole in the hull. A massive fireball erupted as the turret was blown clean off; the once proud looking T-34 now nothing but a smouldering heap of burning metal.
Maho looked round. There was a group of soldiers frantically trying to set up an anti-tank gun. "Erika. Anti-tank gun on your 3 o'clock. Distance. Less than 100m. Felix. High Explosive shell, now!"
Felix grabbed a High Explosive shell and rammed it into the cannon breech. "Shell loaded!"
Erika traversed the turret and saw them. "Target sighted!"
"Fire!"
The shell hit the anti-tank gun, causing a massive explosion. Once the smoke cleared, all that was left was broken body parts and scrap metal from what was the anti-tank gun.
"Target destroyed." Erika stated.
As the Tiger tanks slowly advanced, they were continually getting hit by tank shells, but most just ricocheted or shattered on impact; the frontal armour was holding up quite well. But they had a problem.
"We've got some soldiers running towards the tank! They've got Anti-tank grenades." One voice shouted into the radio. Seconds later, they could hear an explosion. "Shit! That was close! But they got our tracks! We're stuck!"
Erwin swore under her breath. "Cut the infantry down! Make sure they don't have a chance to get close!" She shouted into her mic.
Soon, the coaxial machine guns on most of the Tigers were firing away, cutting down any soldiers that got close. But Maho didn't notice two sneak up to the side of her tank. One climbed up to the turret, with a grenade held aloft in his hand. Maho didn't realise his presence till she saw the man's boots in the corner of her eye.
"Для Советской России!" The man shouted, and threw the grenade at Maho.
Time seemed to slow as Maho reached out and grabbed the falling grenade, but fumbled with it for a millisecond. But she held it tightly before throwing it away as far as she could. As the grenade exploded meters away from the tank, the man raised his submachine gun to shoot, Maho swiftly took out her Luger and shot the man in the chest. He toppled over and fell off the tank. She smirked, but her eyes widened in horror as she saw the second man raise his rifle directly at her. She saw the flash of the muzzle as he pressed the trigger.
She ducked down as quickly as she could; but she felt an intense, agonising pain suddenly explode in her left shoulder. She screamed in pain, and through the rush of it all, managed to empty the remaining bullets in her Luger on the second man, who fell to the floor, never to rise again. "Fuck…" She whispered, her breathing speeding up as she put her right hand onto her wounded shoulder. When she looked at her hand, it was covered in blood. Everything was playing in slow motion, her hearing was distorted; everything echoed several times. Through her tears, she could see Erika instantly turn round and grab the first aid kit that was stowed on the ammo rack.
"Leutnant Ketler has been wounded. I repeat, Leutnant Ketler has been wounded." She could barely hear Christian shout into the radio, let alone Erwin's response a few moments later.
A few seconds passed, and everything began to speed back up again, the sounds of the battle resumed again. The loud explosions and gunfire was deafening. Maho weakly closed the commander's hatch as Erika took one side of Maho's jacket and shirt off to put pressure on the wound, stopping the bleeding.
"How bad is it?" Maho mumbled.
Erika forced a smile, and produced a sterilised dressing and bandage. "It isn't that bad Leutnant. The bullet just grazed your shoulder. This might hurt a bit. " Maho gritted her teeth in pain as she put the dressing on the wound, then wrapped a bandage on her shoulder. "All done."
Maho smiled slightly. "Thanks Erika." She opened the commander's hatch and looked again. The field was now just carnage. Dozens of destroyed T-34s littered the empty grassland, and corpses lay everywhere. The fighting was still going on, but as each minute passed, more and more T-34s were getting destroyed. But they'd inflicted a good amount of damage on their own Tigers, with reports coming in about tanks being immobilized, or engines being damaged. One had their turret drive jammed by a shell that hit their turret ring, but shattered on impact.
"Leutnant! Tank coming at your right flank!" Erwin screamed into the radio. Maho turned to her left. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw the T-34 close in, it's gun baring down on the Tiger's relatively thin side amour. Even in the condition she was in, she had to take charge and destroy the tank. Otherwise they could be the ones getting killed.
"Ernst! Traverse the tank left! Now!" She screamed into her mic. The Tiger lurched to the left as Ernst traversed the tank as hard as he could. "Erika, target at 9 o'clock. Once you see him, shoot him!"
"Aye Leutnant!" Erika shouted back, seeing the T-34 in her sights, but could barely line it in her gun sights, because at the tight angle the tank was turning at. "Target sighted!"
"Hit him! Hit him now!" Maho yelled desperately.
Erika pressed the trigger and the cannon fired, but she missed by a mere inch. "Shit!"
The T-34 fired, the shell impacting the side armour but ricocheted off towards Maho, who instinctively ducked down when the tank fired. "Hit him again! We've got to outrun his gun!"
"Shell loaded!" Felix shouted. "Erika, hit the bastard!"
"I'm trying I'm trying!" Erika replied frantically, traversing as the turret as quickly as she could. "Target sighted!"
"Shoot him!" Maho shouted again.
The tank shuddered again as the cannon shot, only to ricochet of the top of the engine block.
"Dammit! I missed again!" Erika shouted.
"We're gonna be the next ones dead at this rate!" Christian shouted, as Felix rammed the next round into the cannon breech.
"Shell loaded!" Felix shouted again. "Come-on, Erika!"
"Ernst, on my mark, reverse when I tell you to!" Maho commanded.
"Aye Leutnant!" He replied.
The T-34 shot again, but the round ricocheted off the turret, sending sparks and bits of metal flying.
"Shit!" Maho ducked down just in time, before standing back up again. "Shoot him when I tell you to, Erika!" She yelled.
"Aye Leutnant!" Erika shouted back. The Tiger had traversed again so it was just in front of the T-34, it's side armour in full view. "Target sighted!"
"Ernst, now!" Maho screamed.
Ernst reversed the Tiger with all his might. The tank stopped, then began to reverse steadily. Soon, they were about 4m away from the T-34.
"Erika! Hit him!" She commanded.
"Shoot the bastard!" Felix cried.
Erika traversed the turret a few inches to the left then fired. The T-34 also fired. Smoke from both shots obscuring the aftermath. A fireball erupted through the smoke and sparks flew off the Tiger's turret. "Did I get him?" She asked quietly.
"Yes." Maho replied, breathing a massive sigh of relief.
As the smoke cleared, a burning T-34 wreck was clearly seen. One man climbed through the commander's hatch, and jumped down, and put his arms up, and began walking towards their Tiger.
"What should we do?" Erika muttered. "We could always interrogate him."
Maho's hand was slowly sliding towards her holster again, but this time, she stopped herself. She thought for a moment, then decided on what to do. "Hauptmann, we've got a Soviet tank crewman surrendering. We're taking him in for questioning. Is that okay?"
"That's okay Leutnant. In fact, some infantry are picking him up to transport him back to HQ." Erwin replied.
Maho looked over and saw several troops escorting him under armed guard. She then suddenly realised that everyone had stopped firing. "Have we destroyed them all?" She muttered quietly. She looked across the field. For hundreds of meters, there were the remains of dozens of T-34s lay destroyed or burning, some with the burnt out corpses of their occupants. On the grass lay loads of corpses of soldiers, Soviet and German alike.
"No, Leutnant. The rest are withdrawing. They've suffered too heavy casualties to continue the attack."
"Overall casualty report, Hauptmann?" Maho questioned.
"5 Tigers from our company suffered track damage, 2 are immobilised. Recovery vehicles are on their way. 3 other Tigers have various damage from shells hitting optics, engines and so on. Otherwise, 8 Tigers are damaged from our company. C Company has 2 Tigers damaged due to near misses on the engine block. The infantry regiment suffered rather light casualties. 60 men killed, about 200 wounded." Erwin stated. "Could have gone better, but those two tank brigades sure had a very bad day."
"Make that nine Tigers from our company damaged." Erika muttered. "The last shell that hit us has damaged the turret traversing system. It's really hard to traverse it electronically. I have to hand crank it…"
"Don't worry Erika. We'll work on it once we get back. And nice work against that T-34 back there, Leutnant." Erwin spoke.
There was tense silence in Maho's tank, then her crew started laughing.
"That was probably the closest encounter to death we've been!" Felix joked. "I thought we were going to die after we missed the second time! Thanks to you Erika, we could've been killed!"
"Don't blame me! I was under pressure!" Erika retorted playfully. "I would like to see you to have done better!"
Maho couldn't help but smile as she watched her crew bicker about, letting off the tension they were in a few minutes ago. Moments later, Erwin's voice crackled over the radio again.
"Leutnant, are you okay? I heard you had a bullet wound." Erwin asked, rather concerned for her friend.
Maho smiled and nodded, before replying. "The bullet grazed my shoulder, Hauptmann. Erika put a temporary dressing and bandage on it. We just need to change the dressing and bandage when we get back."
"Alright. That's good to hear." Erwin smiled. "All units, let's get back to Podoliani. I've radioed HQ that the counterattack has been repulsed. Orders again are to hold our positions at the village of Podoliani. We've done enough work for the day. Let's get back, get some food and repairs done."
"Aye Hauptmann!" They all responded, as they slowly reversed course and began driving back to Podoliani.
"Hauptmann. Good work back there." A voice sounded over Erwin's mic again. It was the commander again. "You did well against those T-34s."
"And your men did well too." Erwin replied, smiling. "They did a fine job stopping the Soviets planting anti-tank grenades under our Tigers."
"Ah. That was nothing. I had to repay your company for saving us against that machine gun nest and sniper." He stated. "Anyways, I'll meet you back at the village."
Erwin nodded. "Of course."
5th July, 1943. 1200 hours.
When they finally arrived back in the village, Maho was exhausted. She stopped her Tiger next to Erwin's and sighed. Events of that day replayed in her eyes; the man stumbling around with a missing arm and partially destroyed face. The burnt remains of crewmembers that couldn't get out of their tanks in time. She knew all those memories will stay in her mind. She then thought about her promise to Miho.
'Can I really commit such a promise?' She thought. 'I just don't want her to worry about me.' Another part of her mind responded.
'Of course you can't. You nearly died then. Shows how close you are to death, Maho. Just admit it to her. You won't be coming back. You're going to die here.'
She shook her head to clear the thoughts, then climbed out through the commander's hatch and onto the turret. Surprisingly, Erika was waiting for her; she was standing on the turret.
"Do you need some help getting down, Leutnant?" She asked. "Due to your wound." She jumped down onto the ground and held her arm up for Maho to grab onto. Maho smiled and grabbed onto Erika's hand, and carefully jumped down.
"Thanks, Erika." She spoke quietly, before walking off to meet Erwin, who was standing beside Karla's tank, smoking a cigarette. Karla was sitting on the turret, eating some of the bread they'd received as rations.
"Nice work you did back there, Maho." Erwin spoke between breaths, before handing a cigarette to Maho, who quickly took it.
"It was all Erika's work. Don't praise me. Praise her." She muttered, lighting the cigarette with her lighter, before taking in a deep breath, exhaling the smoke moments later.
"You're really humble, aren't you? You don't take praise when you deserve it, and give it to others who've also worked equally as hard for you." Erwin questioned slowly.
Maho inhaled deeply, and exhaled the smoke before answering. "It's my nature to be humble. It was how I was brought up. I feel that my achievements wouldn't have been achieved without significant contribution from others. In this case, Erika did most of the work. She was the one who destroyed the tank. I only gave orders."
"Still. You don't always have to be so harsh on yourself…" Erwin began, but her attention was taken elsewhere. "Oh. Looks like Erika wants us to have some lunch with them." She threw her cigarette onto the floor and stubbed it out with her foot. "You coming, Karla?" She asked, as they waited for her to respond.
Karla smiled, standing up and jumping down from the turret to the ground, still holding her bread and now also a tinned beef can and fork with her other hand. Walking towards Maho and Erwin, she smiled cutely, before she responded and walked with them towards the little group that was standing around Maho's tank, eating their lunch.
"Of course, Hauptmann."
Notes:
Oh well. Forget about what I've said in the last chapter about writing Chapter 8 over the holidays. Because that's done now. BUT, I won't be able to write Chapter 9 as quickly like this time, because I'll be on holiday from this Sunday till... roughly the end of August. So. Until then, I'll try and write bits and pieces of chapter 9 here and now, but don't expect an official update for now. We'll see... :D
UPDATE: CHAPTER 9 IS LIVE.
I hope you like the depiction of the tank battle. If you didn't, please tell me in a review on how I can structure battles better. That will always been useful.
As always, any reviews with constructive critisism would be welcome.
If you've enjoyed what you've read, and want to know what happens next, or if you're just interested in my writing, don't hesitate to favourite and follow! It also helps me know what I'm writing you find enjoyable.
Anyways, it's time for me to put fanfiction writing into a locker (metaphorically) for now, and hopefully have a relaxing holiday! Thank you for those who have followed and favourited the story, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far, and till then, see ya and have a good day!
Poiii~~