Free Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) by Colin Gee

from beyond a group of huts , which quickly turned into the traditional fireball that t ended to mark the demise of a Sherman tank.
    His professional eye swept the field, counting out the pyres and concluding that the two companies engaged had destroyed twenty- five enemy vehicles in total. Only two of the four tigers of 2nd Company had engaged , whereas all of 1st Company’s Panthers had taken the America n unit under fire. Hamuda’s own tally amounted to two tanks destroyed and another hit. He had already decided to employ the German system for recording tank kills , and was looking forward to displaying two kill rings on his gun barrel. Some of his unit ’ s tanks had possessed rings earned by their previous owners , but his own late production Ausf G had apparently been a virgin until this day.
    Across the river , the Allied artillery made a spectacular kill.
    During 1944 , the top armour of the Tiger I was increased to 40mm. The tank struck by the shell was a pre-44 model, whose armour was still the 25mm production standard thickness, which yielded easily to the force of the strike.
    The whole crew were killed instantly and Hamuda knew he had just watched the 2nd Company commander die.
    In almost slow motion , he watched as the Tiger’s turret was propelled up and left by the internal explosion , gently rotating , barrel over turret . Through his binoculars he watched as it crashed to the earth, coming to rest upside down on an animal pen. He swore he saw a face appear at the moment of impact.
    American artillery continued to mask the withdrawal for some time , but failed to secure any more kills and the battle was over within twenty -four hectic and bloody minutes.
     
     
    Hamuda called for his supply vehicles and withdrew to a safer place to replenish, using the opportunity to discover the facts of the battle.
    To his chagrin , he learned that many of his gunners had failed to score hits , let alone kills , and that most of the damage had been done by five of his tanks.
    Kagamutsu had enjoyed success four times whereas Hirohata had five kills to his name, four of which were American Shermans. Two others of Hamuda’s Panther unit had a brace each, leaving the other successes to the ir comrades in 2nd Company.
    None the less, Rainbow’s war had got off to an excellent start.
                 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    "One minute can decide the outcome of the battle ,
one hour - the outcome of the campaign ,
and one day - the fate of the country."
    - Russian Field Marshal Prince Aleksandr Vasilyevich Suvorov

Chapter 59 – THE WITHDRAWAL
     
145 5 hrs Monday, 13th August 1945 , SHAEF Headquarters, Versailles , France .
 
                  All morning the reports had flooded in, a village lost, a unit overrun , and a myriad of information from hard-pressed commanders desperately trying to salvage their units from the maelstrom.
                  Some units stood and fought, others simply withdrew under pressure. Some ceased to exist in defiant defence, whilst yet others ran away.
                  The staff of SHAEF were desperately trying to bring together the big picture so that their General could make informed choices, rather than trying to fire fight each individual report that arrived from his senior commanders.
    Rather surprisingly for Eisenhower, it was Bradley that was least forthcoming with information, the normally genial and calm general clearly rattled by what was happening to his units.
    It had taken all morning to establish that 12th Army Group’s frontline had been badly broken , Soviet units seemingly pouring through and driving hard into the heart of the Allied Occupation Zone.
    Having just got off the phone with General McCreery , Eisenhower savoured the positives of the call. Soviet attacks had taken place , but not at the heavy level of Central Germany , and not with the same effectiveness. Leastways , not in and