Rise of the Bloodied Phoenix

by Andrew McGregor

  A frantic shout from near the burning Marder as the soldiers squirmed away through the snow, ‘Rauchgranate!’ Smoke grenades began to puff across the iced surface, the billowing mass expanding as two Stugs accelerated across the snow, bullets clanking across their sides as they zig-zagged, their armoured hulls shuddering as HE shells swept towards the buildings.

  Huber smacked another full ammunition canister down next to Hausser, the muzzle flashes lighting up his face, his eyes widening as he glimpsed the smouldering and burnt figures lying in the snow before them, his lips pursing as he shouted, ‘Keep firing…the artillery will hit them shortly!’

  Leutnant Hausser squeezed the trigger, bullets spewing from the barrel as explosions rocked the hamlet, smoke billowing upwards as shattered wood and stones flew into the air. Flames shot upwards, fuel igniting as a hidden tanker erupted, fire surging through the buildings in a wide fireball swept outwards, engulfing some of the defenders.

  Two Bf110s swept overhead, the engine roar deafening as small black objects dropped from the underneath of their fuselages, the flames racing upwards as the shells exploded, tearing through the few buildings and obliterating the hamlet. Torn bodies and shattered field guns rose upwards, two machine gun positions becoming buried under debris, their crews crushed or lacerated under falling walls or flying shrapnel. The two twin engine fighter bombers banked sharply away towards the north before levelling, their forward machine guns blazing as they strafed enemy positions in the distance.

  The smoke billowed across Hausser’s view, his eyes straining as artillery shells crumped around the shattered buildings, high calibre explosions shattering any remaining positions, the debris tossed upwards once more.

  He stared mesmerised as the Stug IIIs stopped short of the artillery barrage, their hulls rocking as they fired high explosive shells into the hamlet, further shock waves and detonations shattering any remaining ruins as thick black smoke began to obscure the building remains.

  Huber rose up next to the Leutnant, his expression warming in satisfaction as he ducked back down, shouting into the driver’s compartment, ‘Forward!’ Hausser stared as more artillery shells rained down into the burning smoke shroud, the Hanomag lurching forward as he grasped the front protective armoured shield, the tracks squealing as they sped through the billowing smoke cover.

  The carrier rumbled onwards, bumping over hidden roots and obstructions, Hausser firing at the defensive lines ahead, the slit trenches scorched and broken. Sporadic rifle fire cracked against the armoured plate, the Stugs turning to resume their advance, plumes of exhaust rising into the air as their tracks gathered speed and engines roared.

  Hausser grimaced as he saw the distant running bodies fall, the remaining Russian defenders cut down as they started to flee from their trenches, powerful forward machine guns blazing as the SPGs advanced, FW190 fighters streaming low overhead, bursts of fire tearing across the frozen snow in rows.

  Dark smoke filled the horizon, the drone of twenty-five HE111 medium bombers overhead as the aircraft headed for Dobropillya, their fighter escorts flying to either side as the pilots surveyed the destroyed defences below.

  The Hanomag clattered north, the carrier grinding shrapnel and discarded equipment below its tracks as it drove into the day. Hausser stared out over the destroyed defences and bodies, blood staining the pure white snow as they progressed, ‘Hase’ gritting his teeth below at the sheer scale of destruction and dead bodies that lay across the expanse.

  The Stugs ahead were joined by the remaining Marder, their hulls shuddering as they fired into distant defensive positions, Hausser covering their advance along with the other Hanomags as machine gun fire peppered any resistance that did not run or retreat.

  They passed broken supply convoys, burning American lorries and lend lease halftracks, the smoke billowing around the carcasses of vehicles as they smouldered across the snow. Gun positions lay abandoned or destroyed, bodies lying bloodied and still around their abandoned weapons as the tracked vehicles lumbered past, infantry now jogging to keep up as the advance gained momentum.

  Hausser recognised several of the abandoned and destroyed personnel carriers, his platoon having used one similar several months earlier, most of the crews lying dead beside their transports, the Luftwaffe fighters clearing their route with merciless efficiency as they machine gunned the lines of vehicles.

  Glimpsing a main road moving across their front, Hausser turned back to face the rear compartment, grinning as he realised most of the occupants were eating, nodding to the captain, ‘Main road ahead, do we join it Herr Hauptmann?’

  The captain lowered his bread, grinning with his cheeks full as he realised the man had not been offered any food that was available as he rose, Udet blushing in embarrassment. Huber struggled towards the front of the carrier, his hands grasping the right side to steady himself as it lurched, his eyes staring into the white terrain ahead.

  Powdered snow was billowing into the air from the SPGs ahead, the infantry struggling to keep up behind as Hausser spoke cautiously, a gradual slope rising before them, ‘We need to slow the armour…they will be isolated without infantry support…’

  Captain Huber nodded, glancing upwards, ‘Good observation…the gap is widening and the Luftwaffe seem to be somewhat absent…’ He pursed his lips, raising his voice, ‘Too eager…they want to re-create the Blitzkrieg days…they are long gone now in Russia.’ The captain dropped down, shouting into the driver’s compartment, ‘Langsam! Langsam! We need the infantry close to clear the town ahead!’

  He spun round, glancing across at the advancing Panzer IVs and IIIs to the west before beckoning to Udet, ‘Get me the Panzer radio signal or Rear Command as before, we need to slow the armour…’ The young German nodding obediently and lifting the microphone, speaking into it determinedly.

  The Hanomag began to slowly rise up the incline, ‘Hase’ dropping through the gears as they neared the summit, the Stugs and Marder grinding to a halt as their commanders began to receive radio messages instructing them to wait for infantry support.

  Arriving just below the SPGs, the engine slowed, ‘Hase’ dropping through the gears as the carrier lurched to a halt, Huber and Hausser staring out over the scene ahead, both raising binoculars slowly to their eyes.

  The town in the distance was burning heavily, wide dark smoke and dust clouds rising into the heavens as the outer more wooden workers houses burned out of control. The higher, more central structures were pock marked and shattered, a number half-collapsed with the four or five storey buildings still standing now open to the elements, some of their smoke filled frontal brick or cement work having been dislodged by blast waves and explosions, the HE111 medium bombers banking away high to the east.

  The soldiers in the back of the carrier glanced upwards as more medium bombers droned overhead, the fighters beginning to swoop down towards the large town, the familiar sound of mechanical screaming filling the air in the distance as another Stuka wing dived upon the buildings below from the east.

  Udet rose slowly from his bench, his eyes following the bombers across the sky as small black dots began to fall from their holds, the bombs seeming to waver in the sky as they fell to earth, spinning and spiralling as they neared the ground, a wave of fire rising in a line from the buildings as the ordinance impacted one by one, wide shock waves shattering the wooden structures near the detonations as debris and dust soared upwards.

  Smoke and dust hung heavily over the buildings, seeming to shroud the devastation below, fires raging throughout the workers districts and central section as the surviving defenders struggled through flying embers and bloodshot eyes to stare out towards the south. Defending officers and commissars ran along the lines, shouting desperately at their startled and frightened soldiers, the surviving men ducked in their slit trenches, gasping for air through the smoke and swirling dust.

  Captain Huber stared in awe, his hands clenching around the armoured plate in front of them as he gritted his
teeth, pointing to the west, ‘Go around…it will take too long to get through…’

  The Panzers and SPGs shuddered as they fired in unison, shells zipping towards the buildings ahead and erupting in the outskirts, wood and debris shooting upwards as fires burned behind, the sky darkening further. German infantry dropping into the snow along the ridge line, their rifles and sub machine guns rising as lorries and the second line if troops began to approach from the south.

  Huber turned, indicating to the radio, ‘Get me rear command…we need to move with the Panzers west of Dobropillya!’

  Chapter Eighteen: Further North

  The Hanomag lumbered past the western edge of Dobropillya, acrid smoke and dust filling the occupants’ nostrils as the carrier lumbered forward, keeping a distance from the buildings. Infantry from the west beginning to merge with the Panzers IV and IIIs as they came nearer, the Hanomag leading the Stugs and Marder as their tracks squealed across the snow behind.

  Having reversed and followed the line of the ridge before the town, the armoured vehicles had broken through or driven around a small wood, emerging back above the ridge to the west and joining with other armour and infantry there.

  Stray bullets clanked against the right armoured plate, the carrier now some five hundred metres from the town outskirts. The occupants sat on the benches of the Hanomag as they drank warm coffee substitute, Udet handing rye bread slices laced with the last of the rationed marmalade, distant explosions and machine gun fire eerily echoing into the rear of the carrier.

  After a journey lasting some twenty minutes, they began to clear the northern smouldering buildings of Dobropillya, ‘Hase’ following the Stugs and lead Panzers as they cut across the flat fields back towards the road. Turning as they passed the end of the burning houses, Huber raised himself cautiously, staring across the smoking town, ‘Infantry are moving round to the east…we will cut them off and shell them into submission…’ He raised his binoculars, panning the round to view the landscape to the north, the Hanomag bouncing towards the main road leading from the town as the carrier accelerated.

  Hamlets lay straggling the main road north, several farms dotting the open fields and broken with small few copses and woods, the terrain relatively flat, Huber’s voice rising, ‘The railway is further north, after that Slavyansk, then Isyum…’

  Leutnant Hausser slowly rose next to him, grasping the machine gun and moving it to face the first hamlet on the right in the distance, his head lowering to stare down the barrel as Huber dropped onto a bench, accepting a slice of bread and drink from Udet. Explosions echoed from the rear, the distant scream of Stuka sirens filling the terrain once more as heavy artillery shells smashed into the town, fireballs shooting upwards as the last of the Russian lorries and fuel supplies ignited.

  The occupants of the rear compartment stared back towards the south as more planes dived on the buildings, dust and smoke beginning to obscure the town completely as explosions shattered dwellings and defensive positions alike, the Hanomag jolting as the front wheels spun across a narrow ditch, the carrier lurching before rising onto the main northern road, four Panzer IVs and three Stugs joining the thoroughfare ahead, the Marder II drawing in behind as soldiers jogged across the western field, the armoured vehicles slowing to permit their infantry support to catch up.

  Tracers suddenly poured from the hamlet ahead, Hausser ducking back as the bullets clanked and sparked against the armoured vehicles, his hand squeezing the trigger as he fired out blindly, then moved his helmeted head behind the armoured shield. The Stugs ahead spun on their tracks, their guns turning to fire as the Panzer IV electric motors whirred, their turrets rotating to meet the new threat. Infantry dropped into the ditches on the side of the road, a couple falling, their comrades dragging the wounded into cover as the armoured vehicles ground forward slowly.

  Two flashes in the hamlet, Hausser ducking instinctively as the shells swept past, the puffs of smoke from the rear of the buildings, the Leutnant’s screamed words echoing around the soldiers, ‘Mortars incoming!’ More infantry dropped into the snow, many crawling forward as the armoured vehicles began to manoeuvre off the road, their tracks spinning as they made contact with the iced snow.

  The shells burst across the road, dirt flying across the armoured vehicles as flashes erupted between the farm buildings to the left, Russian pak guns opening fire from both north east and west. Huber thrust his body upwards, shouting over the clatter of machine gun fire against the plate, ‘Get me rear command…we need more artillery!’

  Explosions ripped across the tarmac and snow, debris and frozen earth falling into the carrier as ‘Hase’ weaved, Hausser shouting hoarsely, ‘Smoke! Lay smoke! We are easy targets here!’

  Tatu slung the grenades over the side, pre-empting the commander’s idea, his head shaking as the others scrambled for the Rauchgranate, Huber shouting into the radio microphone next to him before rising up once more.

  The captain screamed, ‘Full speed…towards the buildings!’ He spun round, ‘Get ready to disembark…’ He indicated to a shaken Petru near the rear doors with Tatu, ‘Get the infantry to follow!’ A Panzer IV jolted and erupted ahead, flames shooting skywards through the hatch as the ammunition inside ignited, the crew killed instantly as red hot shrapnel seared around the inside of the hull.

  A projectile zipped past, Hausser ducking instinctively as the searing hot light lit up the smoke, the shell missing them by only five metres. Thrusting his body back up, he slammed the fresh ammunition magazine into place, snatching at the bolt of the machine gun once more, his teeth grinding as another burst of fire swept through the smoke, the carrier lurching forward once more.

  Udet nudged the captain with the radio microphone, his voice shrill with excitement, ‘Rear command on the radio again, Herr Hauptmann…’

  Huber snatched the mouthpiece, shouting into it, ‘Artillerie! Target these coordinates…fire one salvo…we are attacking!’ He thrust the map into Udet’s hands, jabbing at the buildings on the drawn terrain, shouting demandingly, ‘There…get it right!’ Udet’s eyes widened as he nodded, his hands shaking as he raised the microphone to his lips, the earphones crackling as an irate senior officer demanded to know who had shouted at him.

  Bullets cracked against the front of the Hanomag again, Hausser firing short bursts blindly through the smoke. The carrier shot forward, emerging from the shroud as the machine gun shook once more, bullets flying towards the buildings less than three hundred metres away, Udet shouting desperately, ‘Slow! The artillery will fire!’

  One of the buildings was burning furiously, the Stug shells having smashed the structure. Bullets poured across the armoured vehicles from north and east, Hausser swearing loudly and helmet lowering as the clatter of projectiles ricocheted off the sides and front of the carrier. Hearing the loud crack against one of the Stug hulls, he grimaced, ‘Anti-tank rifles…keep your heads down in the front!’

  The Hanomag engine coughed, then died, black smoke billowing from the crumpled bonnet as oil sprayed across the viewing slits. The armoured vehicle jolted to a halt, Tatu prising the rear doors open as Hausser shouted frantically, ‘Alle Aus! We are sitting targets here!’ Explosions erupted in one of the buildings ahead, the Stugs moving round to fire again, wood and fire pouring upwards as the shells detonated. The machine gun shuddered again, bullets pouring forward as Moretti and ‘Hase’ scrambled upwards, half blinded by smoke and the oil smeared across their faces. Lunging either side of the commander, they stumbled towards the open doors at the back of the carrier, Huber pushing them along roughly as Tatu grabbed their rifles.

  Mortar rounds detonated behind the carrier, three infantrymen thrown into the air, their muffled screams cut short as the bodies crashed back into the snow. The rest of the soldiers dropped into the white expanse, raising their rifles as Petru heaved ‘Hase’ from the back of the carrier, his eyes widening momentarily at the Hiwi’s blackened shining face and upper jacket.

  Leutnant Hausser gla
nced back to ensure all the men were out of the carrier, his head then lowering back onto the machine gun as two flashes came from the hamlet once more, the smoke discharges from the guns rising into the crisp air. He ducked, a deep dread filling his frame as the first explosion rocked the front of the carrier, heat sweeping past his legs as the shock wave swept through the viewing slits. The second shell zipped past a Stug III, the SPG commander swearing loudly in response as he stared through his own viewer, realising just how close the miss was.

  Hausser struggled upwards, biting his lip and depressing the trigger again, bullets sweeping out towards the buildings, the puffs of smoke from mortars just visible through the rising thick black smoke. Then shells roared down, the eruptions throwing snow and debris all around the dwellings, plumes of fire shooting into the air as the artillery found its mark. Broken wood and stone shot upwards, torn bodies and artillery pieces thrown to either side as the heavy ordinance detonated amongst the buildings and barns.

  The commander kept firing, the mortar shells detonating either side of the carrier’s front, the armoured sides shaking as his body was thrown from the machine gun, his frame crashing against the right side as he yelped in pain. Frozen dirt and snow showered down upon him as his hands rose over his helmet, loud ringing in his ears as he gasped for breath. Acrid smoke filled his nostrils, his chest heaving as he struggled for oxygen, the light above seeming to dim and swirl as smoke billowed across the top of the carrier.

  Rough hands grabbed him, dragging his body as his legs and boots bounced painfully across the benches and dislodged equipment boxes. His mind struggled to comprehend what was occurring, then reality swept back into his senses, Udet and ‘Hase’ clawing their way back towards the open rear doors, Huber shouting frantically outside, ‘Forward men!’

  Bullets clanked against the armoured sides, the explosions echoing around as he felt the exposed cold air, his back bouncing on the snow as his chest wheezed, his body dragged round to the side of the carrier for cover. Attempting to struggle upwards, ‘Hase’ knelt on his shoulder knowingly, the pain seeping through his heaving chest as Tatu shouted, ‘Follow the officer…we take the buildings…’