by Griff Hosker
I slipped inside, my gun at the ready. Of course if I had to use the gun then we had failed. We needed surprise. I checked the two downstairs rooms and they were both empty. Perhaps the Germans were using this as a billet. I headed up the stairs. I walked on the side of the treads to avoid making any creaking noises. There were two rooms. Gordy followed me. I nodded to one bedroom. I went into the one on the left. A German was asleep. Behind me I heard a phut. Gordy had shot someone. The noise woke the German. In two strides I was on him. I swung the butt of the gun and it smacked onto his head. His eyes rolled up and he lay unconscious.
I used his belt to bind his feet. Taking some cord from my battle jerkin I fastened his hands behind his back and to the belt. Finally, I balled his socks and pressed them into his mouth and tied his vest around his mouth as a gag. I saw that he was an officer. I grabbed his pistol and spare magazines and then went to the window. I peered through the blackout curtain. I saw the bridge. It was a hundred yards away. There was a German machine gun just eighty yards away. I saw an anti-tank gun in a sandbagged emplacement. There were two halftracks and the Kubelwagen. I was guessing that the Kubelwagen belonged to the officer I had incapacitated. I had seen enough.
“Gordy!”
We made our way back to the others. “We can use the houses to get close to the Germans. Cooper, go into the house with the open door. Take your three men with you. There is a German officer tied up upstairs. Keep your eye on him. You can enfilade the Germans. Pick off the officers and the gunners.”
“When do we fire sir?”
“As soon as you hear the first grenade go off. Can you do this?”
“Of course sir.”
I handed him the German Walther, “Here’s a souvenir to show your son.”
They headed over the wall and I led the others, “Follow me. We are going to become a whole regiment. Once we throw the grenades fire with everything you have and shout.”
“Shout what, sir?”
“It doesn’t matter, Harris, just so long as they are confused by the noise and the numbers. Then listen for my shout.”
We clambered over the walls and reached the end of the houses. This time there was a high wall next to the track but there was a gate. It had not been opened for some time. I eased it open and peered down the track. There were Germans at the end but they were looking up the road. We had to get across the track and into the woods.
“I want you to get across the track without Jerry seeing you. I will go first. Then form up in the woods.” I looked at my watch. We have five minutes before we are due to attack. This is the last command I give before I shout, ‘fall back’!” I stood in the doorway and then darted across. I reached the trees and knelt, gun at the ready. Gordy followed me. As soon as Sergeant Major O’Rourke joined us Gordy and I made our way closer to the bridge.
I had seen, from the upstairs window, that they had sandbags and a half track on either side of the bridge. Their defences were all within thirty yards of the bridge. That suited us. I crawled forward until I could actually hear the Germans. They were laughing and joking. As the rest of the men approached to join me behind the small wooden fence I listened in. They had, it seems, found a great deal of food in the town. With Christmas approaching and the townsfolk feeling that their war was over, they had gathered in much food. The Germans were reaping the benefit. I looked at my watch as the last man joined us. There was one minute to go. I already had my grenades out. I was using German ones. The sight of them would confuse the enemy. I banged the porcelain on one of the grenades. The sound of chatter from the Germans thirty feet away drowned the slightest of cracks.
I held my right hand behind me and prepared to stand. I stood and hurled my first grenade. Even as it was in the air I was throwing my second. The Germans saw us and seemed stunned as we rose from the ground. We threw ourselves down behind the wooden fence. I cocked my MP 34 as the twelve grenades scythed through the air. Then I heard the sound of a Thompson and American carbines as Corporal Cooper began to fire.
I stood and sprayed my MP 34 in short bursts. I aimed at the machine gunners. Gordy was up with me in an instant and he aimed at the anti-tank gunners.
I began shouting, “At them! Charge!!
The American cavalrymen joined in with whoops and cheers and shouts! I heard a couple of rebel yells too. The four men in the house were having a devastating effect for they were firing down at the German defenders. In the distance I heard the sound of the Sherman tank as it belched death. I could not hear the sound of German guns firing in retaliation. I was about to tell the men to fall back when I saw that some of the German infantry were scurrying away from our deadly fire. They had no heavy machine guns to bring to bear and we had four sub machine guns. When my MP 34 clicked empty I dropped it and took out my Luger. I emptied that magazine. The aim was to keep their heads down with a veritable hailstorm of bullets. I took a Mills bomb from my battle jerkin. I stepped over the wooden fence, ignoring the bullets zipping around me and I hurled the grenade as far and as high as I could.
“Grenade!”
I dived back over the fence as the others took cover. When I stood I saw that we had the bridge. All that were left were the dead and the dying.
“Sergeant Major O’Rourke, secure the bridge.”
“You two, with me. The others, stay with the Major.”
“Corporal Hewitt, join Corporal Cooper and watch the top end of the street.”
I stepped over the wooden fence. As I walked I reloaded the MP 34. I was watching for movement, I had just cocked it when a German S.S. sergeant, who had been playing dead, rose with a Mauser pistol in his hand. It was instinctive. I turned and fired a burst. His head disappeared.
Cooper and the others were shooting from the upper floor of the house at the Germans who were fleeing up the road in the direct of Stourmont.
“Make sure no one is playing dead. Take the guns away from them.”
While the bodies were searched I headed for the bridge. Sergeant Major O’Rourke had two men watching the eastern end of the bridge. “That was easier than I thought it would be, sir.”
“I was pleasantly surprised too. You had better tell your two men at the end of the bridge not to be heroes. They hear tanks and they run back to this end. We have nothing here to stop heavy German tanks. With luck we can find some explosive and blow the bridge.”
“I wonder where the Colonel is?”
“I wonder too. Sergeant Major O’Rourke if you take charge here with Sergeant Barker then I will go and find him. Turn the anti-tank guns to face south and see if the machine guns can be salvaged. I’ll head up into the town.”
Even as I walked north I reloaded my guns and I scanned the road to identify any danger. The front was obviously very fluid. I guessed that this river formed part of the front line. That meant we were vulnerable until reinforcements could be rushed to us.
I heard firing ahead. I ran and found Corporal Cooper and Corporal Hewitt sheltering behind a wrecked German lorry. They pointed at Miller and Dexter. They lay dead. Both had been hit by a heavy machine gun.
“Where is Morrison?”
“He is over there, sir.” Cooper pointed to a wrecked house. Morrison waved.
“Where is the machine gun?”
“On the other side of the square.”
Stavelot was like many small Belgium towns. There was a central square with a small town hall. It was normally surrounded by cafes and shops. This one also had an enormous abbey just behind the square. I could see it, towering over the buildings of the town. That was where they had the spotter for the artillery. The Colonel would have to get beyond that tower before he would reach the square. I could see that this one had been devastated when the Germans had attacked and the rubble helped them to make it a fortress. I handed my MP 34 to Cooper and took my sniper rifle. I crawled under the truck. The snow had been turned to slush and mush by the firing and the feet. I pushed some before me to make a small wall. I was able to hide behind it. I sl
id the barrel of the gun slowly through the slush and hoped that it would not be noticed. When nothing happened I looked through the sights. I scanned the buildings from left to right.
They had used the partly demolished window of a boulangerie and packed sandbags around it. They had an MG 42 and around it were the snouts of MP 34s. It looked to be a section defending that point. As I lay there I could hear, to the east, the sound of the Sherman. The Germans were replying with anti-tank guns. I was thankful that it was not an 88. There had to be more Germans in the town than we had seen. Where were they? I forced myself to concentrate on one problem at a time. We had to eliminate this machine gun post before the Colonel arrived. The emplacement would be able to fire on the flank of the advancing Americans. Then I remembered the map I had studied. Trois Ponts lay to the west of us and Stourmont to the north. There was a crossroads to my left, about a hundred yards up the road. They would have that guarded. There was a fuel dump north of Stourmont and Trois Ponts also had bridges. That was where the bulk of the enemy were; they were guarding the crossroads. The soldiers fighting the Colonel were just trying to delay the Americans while they made a strongpoint even stronger.
I looked through the sight. I could not yet see the gunner. The machine gun obscured it. I could hit the loader but the gunner was the one with more skills. I did not want them to know we had a sniper. I shouted, “Morrison, fire a clip of bullets at the machine gun.”
“I won’t be able to hit it.”
“I know. Count to five and then fire. As soon as you have fired take cover.”
I aimed at the loader and as soon as I heard Morrison’s bullets I fired. The loader fell. They would think that Morrison had somehow hit them. He was slightly to their left. The sub machine guns and rifles opened up. They brought another loader and moved the machine gun around. I now had a better shot.
I shouted, “Corporal Cooper, use the front tyre for protection and fire five bullets at the machine gun. You should be safe there. You are behind the engine block.”
“Yes sir.” He had seen what I had already done and he waited for five beats before he fired. This time I fired two bullets. One took the machine gunner and the other the loader. All hell broke loose and the already damaged lorry was riddled with bullets.
Every head disappeared as they began to work out how to deal with us. We could not rush them for the distance was too great. I kept watch. Now it did not matter if they knew there was a sniper. A head appeared and I shot at it. Then bullets were fired from my left. The petrol tank was above my head and they hit it. Fuel began to drip down on me. I was beginning to move when I saw the snout of a Panzerfaust, “Morrison! Another clip! Hewitt and Cooper, head towards Morrison!”
I wriggled backwards as Morrison’s bullets bought the other two the time to reach the building. Even as I stood I heard the whoosh of the rocket. I ran. I almost made it. The rocket hit the truck and ignited the petrol. I was thrown bodily and crashed into the wall. Everything went black.
Chapter 8
“Sir! Sir!”
I heard Hewitt’s voice. It seemed to be coming from a long way away. I could almost hear Colonel Devine berating me for not wearing a helmet. I forced open my eyes. I looked up into the anxious face of John Hewitt.
“You had us worried there, sir. You were spark out!” I started to rise. “You ought to rest, sir. You might have concussion.”
“I am fine, Corporal. What has happened?”
“Nowt much, sir. The wall protects us here and now that they have blown up the lorry they don’t seem that bothered about us.”
“Morrison, do you think you could make it back to the bridge without being seen?”
“Yes sir. I can give it a try.”
“Good man. Ask Sergeant Barker to join us. I am loath to weaken the bridge any more but we need more firepower if we are to dislodge those chaps across the square.”
He scurried off. “You two keep watch here. I am going to see if the upstairs of this building is sound. If it is, we can enfilade the boulangerie.”
The building Morrison had used for shelter had been an old building but it had been badly damaged. The back of it had been hit and there was daylight where parts had collapsed. I could see an over grown garden. I went in through the opening which had been the front door. I crawled in and then stood. The wall facing the boulangerie was still sound but there were no windows. I went into what had been the kitchen. There was a rack of wine bottles. They were empty. There was also a number of oil lamps. They had no electricity! I saw a paraffin heater. My gran had one of those. Mum thought it was a death trap. There was no food.
The stairs had been almost demolished but I managed to clamber up them and reach the next floor. Once again there was no window on to the square. Then I spied a loft. Some of these old houses had a transom in the attic. It was worth a try. I found a chest of drawers in one of the bedrooms. I dragged it out and climbed up on it. I was able to punch open the hatch and then drag myself in. There was a covering of snow. Most of the roof had been taken off. Part of it remained at the front but the gable end had been hit. I crawled along. The back half of the gable end had collapsed into the square. I peered around the end. Not only could I see the German position, I had the angle to fire down into it.
I clambered back down and returned to the others. Gordy and Hewitt were talking, “Sir, you ought to lie down. Hewitt is the medic and he is worried about concussion.”
“John, you are a good man but you read too many books. I will be fine. I want all of us in the attic of this building. We can do some serious damage to the Germans from up here.”
I led the way. When they emerged into the loft they were less than enthusiastic. “Sir, this is a death trap! If this was back home it would be condemned!”
“Don’t worry, Gordy. We are not going to live here. As soon as we have cleared the square for the Colonel we will leave it.” I glanced to the east. I could see the Sherman; it was less than half a mile from the edge of the town but the German defenders were dug in and the Americans still had only one tank. I was just grateful that the Germans had committed their tanks to their drive north and west.
“Now crawl with me to the gable end. I want us to make that a death trap for them. Don’t show yourselves and keep your weapons hidden.” When we reached the gable end I stood next to the remains of the wall to allow the others to lie down. They all kept far enough from the end so that the barrels of their guns would not be seen. There were twenty men in the emplacement. In the short time since they had destroyed the lorry they had added more protection. They had commandeered some tables, presumably from the nearby café. It would avail them nothing for we were above them.
“Gordy, you begin to fire from the left and Corporal Cooper from the right. Hewitt and Morrison concentrate on the middle. Keep firing until there is no one left alive down there. It will be hard for them to hit us because of the angle. We will have some protection from the bricks.”
I levelled the Mauser by resting it on a brick which jutted out. I aimed at the machine gunner again. He was a replacement. “Now!”
Even as I said the word I squeezed the trigger and then worked the bolt. I fired a second at the loader. I fired a third at the gun itself. I was rewarded by sparks as my bullet knocked it over. The MP 34s and Thompsons deafened me as they hurled their bullets down on the German defenders. I saw that they had a Panzerfaust. Even as the rocketeer aimed it at me I shot him and, as he fell backwards his dying fingers squeezed the trigger and the rocket flew into the ceiling. The building collapsed on them. Any wounded would not have lasted long.
The two Americans cheered and Gordy shook his head but he was smiling. It was a good victory. Hewitt was on the end and he not only had good eyes but he knew how to be alert at all times. “Sir, trouble! There is a German tank heading along the road from Trois Ponts. It is a big ‘un. It looks like a Tiger.”
I risked a look around the gable end. Hewitt was right. It was a Tiger and not only that, it wa
s a King Tiger. The Sherman was about to be demolished. I cursed. If we had brought a PIAT we would have had the simplest of shots down into the soft top of the turret. We would have to improvise. “Morrison, Cooper, Hewitt, get down into the kitchen. There is a paraffin heater, some oil lamps and some bottles. Bring the fuel from the paraffin heater, bottles, oil lamps and any spare fuel. Oh and any old cloths, tea towels and the like.”
As they went down Gordy said, “Petrol bombs?”
I nodded, “These Tigers carry tons of fuel. With luck we can ignite it. You never know they may oblige us with an open turret.”
Gordy nodded, “Of course, sir, you realise that once they know we are here then we are dead meat.”
“That goes without saying but there are five of us. If that Tiger makes it down the road then the whole of Colonel Devine’s Command will be destroyed. It is worth the gamble.”
I took out the binoculars. The King Tiger had Panzer Grenadiers behind. They were not in vehicles. They were walking. That told me that the Germans were short of fuel. There were, however, more than forty of them. They were all well-armed. The Colonel would struggle to hold them unless they had been reinforced. Hewitt was the first up and he had the bottles and the cloths.
“Gordy get the wicks made and soaked.”
Corporal Cooper had the oil lamps and the paraffin. He also brandished a funnel. “I found this sir. A bit rusty but it will do.”
“Sergeant Barker and Corporal Hewitt will show you how to make the petrol bombs. I will keep watch on the tank. We don’t have long.”