The Spider and the Rats
By:AliasCWN
Chapter 6
Captain Dietrich directed the attack on the American camp. It couldn't really be called a base, it was small and undermanned. His hopes of starving them out had been delayed, but he hoped that he would get another chance.
Having fled the battlefield after losing the element of surprise and then the encounter; Dietrich had met up with his other column. Not strong enough to take on the relief column, he had contented himself with hitting the camp and doing as much damage as possible before the Americans could launch a counterattack.
Now, having struck the base, he was once again retreating, hoping that the Americans would get overconfident and only send a small force after him. Most of his column had stayed hidden, kept out of sight until the right moment. He held them back, planning to use them against the forces that chased him after the attack. If the Americans were foolish enough to believe that his force was small, maybe he could still score a victory, if only a small one.
His halftrack led the way across the sand, leaving a trail of dust hanging in the air that made it easy to follow. Keeping an eye on the sky behind him, he could make out a small trail of dust following him. He ran on for another mile before he stopped to climb a dune and look behind him. He smiled as he counted one truck, most likely carrying troops, and two tanks following him.
Leading them toward his hidden backup, he prepared to close his latest trap, sealing the small party inside.
The dreaded rattle of 50 caliber machine guns shattered his sense of anticipation. Spinning around to search for the two jeeps he knew were close by, he shouted orders over his radio.
The trucks and the tanks had stopped at the first sound of gunfire. They were now retreating toward the camp, avoiding a fight altogether. Dietrich ground his teeth in frustration and reluctantly let his anticipated prizes slip away.
His entire focus was centered on the two fast moving jeeps that had already destroyed two of his trucks and damaged another halftrack. They were hardly a match for his tanks but they were also a hard target for those same tanks. They darted among his column like bats after bugs, seeming to have their own radar to avoid the shells.
He watched, torn between frustration and admiration as they skillfully avoided being hit while they systematically dismantled his carefully planned ambush.
One last pass and without any obvious signal, both jeeps broke away in opposite directions and abandoned the attack. All he could do was fume helplessly as they regrouped and disappeared in a cloud of dust and smoke, leaving his column in shambles.