Heroes of World War II 05.The Bloody Flag by Eric Meyer

Author:Eric Meyer [Eric Meyer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Swordworks
Published: 2022-10-27T23:00:00+00:00

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General Earl Shriver’s 27th Division was in trouble. German troops and armor had come out of nowhere, not giving them a chance to make an orderly retreat to a stronger position. They’d had to run for their lives, throwing everything they could into trucks and jeeps and hooking up artillery to their towing vehicles. He led his division west from the relative comfort of his Dodge Command Car. He called a halt after the first three miles on top of a low ridge on the edge of the forest where they had a commanding view, and ordered his men to dig in. He’d chosen to defend the position for good reason. Two miles further west was a secondary Allied fuel dump, and if the Germans managed to secure the vital gasoline, U.S. tanks and supply vehicles would run short. Besides, he’d heard the Krauts had limited fuel, and the last thing he wanted to do was give away a vital advantage.

At first, there was no sign of them, and he wasn’t sure if he’d called it wrong. Should he have stayed and attempted to fight them, but after sober reflection, he was certain he’d made the right decision. He glanced along the ridge at the line of his troops. The artillery had unlimbered, and the gunners were still hastily preparing low earthworks to protect them from incoming fire. Twenty-two 105mm M2A1 howitzers, capable of pouring a devastating rate of fire on the approaching enemy.

His troops were still hastily digging trenches, but it was slow going in the iron-hard ground. When the first German tanks appeared four hundred yards away, they hadn’t dug down more than a few inches, and he knew they’d be badly exposed when the shooting started. He had a total of nine Browning .50 calibers and more than twenty .30.06 M1919s. Not much use against tanks, but they’d issued every bazooka in the armory, and he had eighteen ready to fire as soon as they got close enough.

The lead tank was joined by six more, then ten more, with Panzergrenadiers darting across open ground, moving from cover to cover, anticipating the Americans dug in on the ridge opening fire.

Shriver hesitated to give the order. The tanks were in artillery range, but he wanted to draw them closer, within range of his bazookas, and he waited. He should’ve given the order, but the Panzers fired first, and their shooting was accurate. High-explosive shells began landing over his position, and he heard screams as his men began to die.

“Open fire! Kill those tanks!”

His guns roared, flinging their forty-pound shells over the battlefield. He expected results. Weeks before, following direct intervention from General Eisenhower, they’d received the latest shells developed by the U.S. armaments manufacturers. At first, the U.S. Army had refused to issue the shells to troops fighting in Northern France, due to fears the newly developed weapon could fall into enemy hands. Eisenhower insisted, and the Army grudgingly acceded to his demand. Fitted with proximity fuses,

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