“We are with you,” said another of the ORPOs.
They cast of their uniform caps as the first one had. Ray wasn’t going to argue with it.
We need all the help we can get, and if the Kriegsmarine could be turned, why not the ORPOs?
A shell struck the ground behind the car, and the glass was blown out over them. One side lifted into the air and crashed back down again. Another cannon shell struck a building off to their side, and shrapnel and debris from the blast showered over them. Ray felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and let out a cry of pain. He slowly pulled a shard of reinforced glass from his body.
“We can’t stay here!”
He nodded over to Lisa as he got to his feet. He rushed towards the nearest building, the Gulf & Western Tower, the one place left for them to fall back to. Almost fifty of them rushed for the foyer as shells landed all around them. One got a direct hit on the rebels, and four died instantly. Machine gun fire strafed them, and many more were cut down until at last they reached the shelter of the building. They rushed inside to find it empty. Whatever staff had been working there had long since fled, or perhaps many of them had made up the crowd fighting back against the SS.
A shell from a tank struck the entrance, throwing them off their feet, as smoke and debris wafted over them. Ray coughed to clear his throat and helped Weathers up.
“This isn’t quite the rescue you had in mind, I guess?”
“Yeah, how many of your missions have ever gone to plan?”
‘That’s a fair point.”
They heard a battle cry ring out from outside. Dozens of SS troops were rushing towards the entrance of the building in a frenzied and fanatical attack. The rebels took up positions in what cover they could behind desks and columns in the entrance to the tower and laid down fire. The SS were cut down one after another, but a second wave followed as if they would not stop until all were dead, on one side or the other.
Several around them were cut down under the enemy fire as they advanced. One ORPO fell, too, and Ray felt sorry for the man. He had given up and risked more than most to join the cause.
“Come on, let’s move!” Weathers called out.
They hit the stairs running, and gunfire rang out below as Woody and many others covered their retreat. A grenade exploded at the foot of the stairway entrance. Woody let out a cry in pain as a shred of shrapnel ripped through the door, hitting his back and arm. He was luckier than the two who had taken the full blast.
“I’m okay. Keep going!”
He fired a burst singlehandedly to give cover and then followed them up the stairs. They didn’t dare use the escalators, not with explosions ringing out from the heavy tanks laying waste to the area. They went on and on until Weathers burst out onto the fifth floor. It was line after line of open plan office space. He ran to the windows overlooking the Circle and began barking orders over the radio, as if he’d never been away.
Ray reached him so that he could see the battle unfold below. The vantage point was incredible. Fighting raged across the entire Columbus Circle. The New Yorkers were putting up a hell of a fight, as though releasing an aggression, a fight they’d held back for decades. But the tanks still continued to create havoc. Explosions rang out all over as they shelled the civilians, some of whom were still trying to flee, but many fought back. They were picking up weapons from the SS as they fell and using them against the rest, but it was not enough. The fighting was brutal, and the tanks seemed untouchable.
“You got any great ideas?”
“I came here to rescue you and the others, not launch a full scale battle.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what you got, and that is what we needed.”
“Here, give me that.” Ray took the radio from Weathers.
“Marcus, come in, over.”
No response came.
“Marcus? Eiserner Gott, anyone aboard! Come in, over.”
“What do you want, Ray? We’re a little busy, over,” replied Thaddeus Kyle.
“It’s hell over here. We need help. Can you get Marcus back here? Over.”
They could hear gunfire and explosions ring out over the radio as Thaddeus replied.
“We’ll do what we can, over and out.”
“Shit!” Ray shouted.
In the street below more civilians rushed to the fray, some equipped with handguns and captured weapons, others nothing at all. Some ORPOs were mixed among them to help. There were civilians carrying baseball bats and other improvised weapons, and they charged towards the SS in a bloodthirsty frenzy. But as a line was gunned down, many slowed. They helped drag the wounded away and into the nearby buildings. A brutal battle was raging on the streets. The SS were outnumbered, but their superior firepower meant casualties on both sides were high. The SS were starting to take the upper hand, the New Yorkers slowing up in the wake of the brutal onslaught they faced. The pause in the action was not a welcome one.
Gunfire rang out close by, and they heard the storm of boots on the stairs, some coming from another stairway they had not previously noticed. The doors were flung open, and SS troops stormed in, Standartenführer Müller leading the way. Ray fired a burst towards them but was forced to leap into cover. The gunfire blew out the window he’d been standing at moments before, showering him in glass. The hail of gunfire continued, and many of the rebels tried to return fire, but the relentless fire cut three down.
Ray got up and fired again, but bullets landed all around him, forcing him to again take cover. As he crouched behind a desk, several rounds went right through, narrowly missing his head. Weathers was trapped just like he was. The guns fell silent for a moment.
“This is Standartenführer Müller speaking. You have nowhere to run! Lay down your weapons!”
“And what? You’ll let us go?” Ray asked.
“No, but you will given a swift execution!”
“Great deal,” he muttered back.
He put a new magazine into his rifle, his last one. Bodies were all around him where his rebel comrades had fallen. A few still remained in the cubicles, but not enough to hold off another wave of the SS troops.
“What do you want to do?” Weathers asked.
Ray shrugged.
“Only thing we can do.”
They were preparing to go on fighting when a massive burst of gunfire ripped through the whole of the fifth floor. Ray ran from the blasts, losing the grip on his rifle as he leapt towards Weathers. He crashed to the floor. The windows beside them were ripped apart, and the volley hammered the SS men. Ray carefully looked out. Eiserner Gott was standing in the Circle and opening up a brutal salvo into the floor around them. From where he was sheltering, he watched the SS troops running for cover, and many were cut down.
Müller was running right at him, either out of the urge to kill him, or because it was the only safe place. A shot clipped his arm, and he lost his rifle and tumbled forwards. The salvo from Eiserner Gott had ended. Müller was up on one knee and cradling his wounded arm when he spotted Ray. He reached for the pistol in his belt holster. Ray had nothing to hand, but he grabbed the nearest thing, an office chair. He smashed the chair into the SS officer. It knocked the pistol from his hand as a shot rang out, narrowly missing Ray. He smashed the chair into him once more and threw it aside.
The German officer was cut deeply on the head, but he got up defiantly one more time and tried to swing for Ray. He punched into the Standartenführer’s stomach and then kicked him full force. He staggered back towards the shattered window ledge. He was about to fall when Ray grabbed hold of the collar of his coat and held him in place, dangling over the edge of the five-storey drop.
“You will never defeat the Reich,” he declared with disgust.
“I will, but you won’t be there to see it.”
* * *
Mickey watched in utter astonishment as Eiserner Gott marched down Broadway, her remaining howitzer and machine guns tearing at the SS soldiers. They moved slowly, with the right leg barely func
tional. Thick black smoke belched from the smoke stacks, and the diesel engines screamed as they were pushed to their limits. Tanks fired from the roads to the right, but even they moved cautiously. Bands of rebels struck from hidden positions. As many tanks were burning as were still moving, the Waffen SS were even more cautious. Smoke filled the street and obscured many of the corpses, casualties from both sides.
“My father needs us! He says the SS commander, a man called Müller, has him and the others pinned down. They have the tower surrounded.”
Marcus turned to Mickey and snapped back at him.
“We cannot do everything. Your father needs keep his head down. We are almost there.”
They reached the New York Institute of Technology and immediately came under fire. Many trucks were positioned around the tower, and other vehicles swept in from the right.
“All power to the engines. Get us through that cordon!”
Karl transferred every remaining ounce of power, and they pushed on. Infantry blasted them with rifle fire, and small rockets struck the armour of the old machine. Yet for all this, she kept on going. Large numbers of soldiers tried to drive them back, but were themselves hit by fire from turncoat ORPO policemen. The young men and women threw off their helmets and tunics and joined the attack against the SS.
“What?” Mickey asked, “The ORPO?”
Marcus shrugged.
“Most of them are New Yorkers as well. They have little love for the SS. Trust me.”
Eiserner Gott pushed on past the battle, joining in with her gun.
“Take us around the tower and back onto Central Park West. From there we can provide covering fire on three directions.”
“Got it,” said Karl.
They passed the tower and out into the smoke-filled Columbus Circle. The Nazi podium was gone. Groups of fighters from both sides jostled for position around the burning vehicles, and shattered apartment and hotel complexes. Mickey might have been stunned, but to Marcus it all brought him right back to London.
“Good work. Now we can give your father covering fire.”
“Not quite, look.”
Just behind the podium, where the last Nazi flags still flew, were scores of SS soldiers and men in other dark uniforms. A single E-200 super-heavy tank was protecting them, and its guns were pointing directly at Eiserner Gott. Marcus recognised the colours flying from the tank. The turret then turned away and pointed towards the building.
“Look!”
People were watching out of what remained of the outer windows.
“Magnify.”
Marcus and Mickey studied the enlarged image of the building. There were many rebels, as well as other familiar faces.
“Ray!” Mickey said.
At that moment, the SS man struggled, and then he fell. It didn’t take long for him to crash to the ground. A silence spread afterwards, followed by shouting from the tower. It was almost impossible to hear. But as the remaining SS men and their supporting tank lifted their weapons to point at the tower, their response was simple enough.
“It is time to finish this.”
Marcus settled back into his seat, and Karl turned them around. Thor was directly in front of them. By some cunning manoeuvring, the massive machine had worked its way around. It waited between the tower and the ruined podium. The SS men cheered at the sight of the great machine. It was almost untouched by the fighting and still carried its Nazi regalia. It aimed the 8 MJ railgun, and without warning, fired. The single shot slammed into the shoulder of Eiserner Gott, blasting off the left arm, part of the waist, and the remaining howitzer. The antiquated landship remained upright, yet with a single arm remaining, and black smoke pumping out from multiple fires. The external speakers on the Nazi machine blared loudly.
“The New York insurrection is over. Surrender, Eiserner Gott, and lay down your arms.”
The Deputy Führer and his henchmen rose from cover and moved to the flank of the massive E-200 tank. Amazingly, a Ministry of Information news team followed him, the large camera tracking his every move so that citizens inside the city and beyond could see what was happening.
“There are no second chances for traitors. Surrender at once, or on behalf of the Führer himself, I promise you Manhattan will be razed to the ground.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Columbus Circle, New York, NY
Thanksgiving Day, 23rd November 2017
The whole of Columbus Circle was quiet, each side waiting for the other to make a move. It was clear the SS troops expected surrender within moments. Eiserner Gott was standing alone against what seemed like impossible odds. The silence was broken by a great cry, like the great rebel cry of old. It echoed out from the lobby of a building and was soon answered by more from all the buildings around the Circle. The SS troops looked weary and uncertain. The cries crew louder and louder. Suddenly, dozens of rebels poured out from the Gulf & Western building. Weathers and Ray were leading from the front, and at first nobody fired a shot. Hundreds more New Yorkers poured out from every building and piece of cover.
The cry of the rebels was deafening, but the SS soon opened fire at the hundreds of rebels storming towards them. Eiserner Gott opened fire exactly the same time as Thor did. Once again they resumed the bombardment of one another, and the battle raged on the ground all around the huge machines. A burst of gunfire cut down a dozen at the front with Ray and Weathers. They fired on the move, eventually making it to the cover of an enemy Grizzly six-wheeled truck. The driver’s door of the cab was open, and the driver sprawled out where he had been shot, unable to take cover.
Ray peered around, fired several shots, and ducked back into cover. A mighty explosion rang out, and he saw Eiserner Gott stagger a few paces. It had taken the full brunt of a salvo from Thor.
“Looks like your new friends in are in a bad way!” Weathers said.
Woody was already on it as he guided two rebels equipped with panzerfausts. They took aim at Thor. The first fired, but the walker was in motion, and the rocket soared past. It hit a building behind, sending glass and debris out into the Circle. The second rocket fired a second later and smashed into the body of Thor. It impacted on the surface, doing little more than dent the great mechanical beast.
“How are we supposed to fight that?”
Ray looked around for some answer. There seemed to be nothing he could use to fight Thor, and to help Marcus and the others have a fighting chance. The SS were being overrun, but at a great cost. Men and women were dropping all around as they rushed the SS troops. Others picked up more weapons and were starting to get the upper hand. As he looked back up to the epic battle being fought between the two great machines, he knew he had to do something. Eiserner Gott was limping, and holes had been punched in all over its armour. Sparks flew from the hull, and that it was still standing was a miracle. If that machine fell, they would be at the mercy of Thor.
He reached up to the body of the driver slumped on the Grizzly and yanked him out. The body tumbled rather ungracefully to the ground.
“What are you doing?”
“Whatever I can, I have do something.”
He stuffed his rifle in to the cab and proceeded to climb inside.
“What, are you crazy? You can’t hope to join that fight!”
“And if I don’t, we are finished here. If Marcus fails, we are done, through!”
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Are you kidding me? What are we doing here if not something stupid?”
Weathers smiled in response, but it was a reserved smile, as if he didn’t expect to see Ray ever again. He slammed the heavy armoured door shut and hit the ignition button. The mighty oil burner beneath the hood fired to life. He gripped the steering wheel tightly and took aim at Thor. It was still unloading everything it had against Eiserner Gott. It was astonishing the machine was still standing.
What are you doing, Ray, what the fuck are you doing?
He didn’t want to go forward. He didn’t w
ant to do anything but turn in the opposite direction, but so many depended on him. This was the chance he never had in London. They were so close to a victory he could almost taste it. He pulled on the harnesses and clipped them tight around his body, though it seemed folly.
“Oh, what the hell!”
He pulled off the parking brake and put his foot to the floor. The torque surge was massive as the power went to all the wheels. The armoured truck roared and lurched forward. He couldn’t believe what he was about to do, but it had to be done. He headed right for Thor; his foot trod hard on the gas pedal as he accelerated forward.
“Come on, you bastard, come on!”
Thor’s crew was so busy taking the other walker apart they paid no heed to him.
“Ahh!” Ray roared as he guided the vehicle at full tilt towards Thor’s left leg.
Finally, he struck. The vehicle crashed into the leg, smashing it out of the way. Thor staggered. It twisted and fell forwards, crashing into an office block. Ray’s crippled truck veered off and smashed into another parked Grizzly. It came to an abrupt halt.
Ray’s head snapped forward and then back, but the harness kept him locked in his seat. The hood of the truck was forced up into the windshield and blocked his view. For a moment, he was so stunned he forgot where he was. He pulled the door latch, kicked open the door, and staggered out.
Eiserner Gott charged into Thor where he lay embedded in the building. Eiserner Gott struggled to move, but with its shattered leg and heavy damage, still managed to pin Thor to the building before it could recover. Ray rushed out of the way as more glass and debris crashed around him. He didn’t have a weapon to hand, but like many others, watched the titanic battle between the two machines.
Thor seemed stunned and unresponsive from the impact of what he had done, and the brutal charge from the machine. Eiserner Gott grabbed hold of its remaining weapon arm, smashing the weapons fitted to it with a hammer blow. The barrel of its railgun was prised off and fell to the ground ten metres from Ray. But Eiserner Gott’s work was not done. The battered hulk of a machine grabbed Thor and hurled it back first onto the street. The impact rocked the ground beneath Ray’s feet. The road cracked and gave way slightly from the weight of the impact.
Soldiers of Tomorrow: Iron Legions Page 23