Chapter 512: The Ruins
Traveling by car at night has a certain danger to it, as anyone who has driven knows. But what about driving at night to a battle? Isn’t that even more dangerous? Tank 115 took the lead, followed by Rein’s tank 113, with Marcus’s tank 112 bringing up the rear. The three tanks, providing cover for four armored personnel carriers and seven trucks, advanced slowly towards their objective in a grand procession.
Soon, they had advanced several kilometers along the rugged road and had arrived at the outskirts of the small town, which was now a pile of ruins. The German infantry began to set up their mortars next to the tanks; this was the support weapon they had on hand.
After a brief assignment of tasks, the German infantry began to deploy into their combat formation. Two platoons of one company were responsible for entering the small town from one side, then sweeping the nearby buildings to establish a foothold for the attack. After this support point was established, the main German force of about 100 men would begin its attack.
Once ready, the German soldiers began to approach the houses near the small town. These soldiers climbed over fences, charged across the pitted lawns, and ran towards their targets under the faint moonlight. They held their rifles, hunched over, and occasionally had to move sideways for a couple of steps.
Soon, these soldiers had reached the buildings. They rested their backs against the cold walls, panting from the intense run. But one could see that the eyes of every soldier were filled with joy, because the process of approaching these targets had been extremely simple for them.
The bloody battle and frontal assault they had prepared for were not needed. The Soviet defenders here seemed not to have been reinforced. These inexperienced opponents seemed to be still asleep at this moment and had not discovered that the German soldiers had approached to such a close distance.
A German soldier, holding his rifle, went around the back of a house. This building had clearly not been destroyed in the bombing and was in very good condition. He cautiously approached the main door and, under the cover of a comrade nearby, charged into the seemingly empty house.
An old man was sitting in the master’s seat in the living room. He looked at the German soldier who had come in, and the two of them just stood there, in a standoff for a few seconds, before the old man spoke first. “Those Russians have already fled. It’s all Ukrainians here now.”
“Those Russians have withdrawn?” the German soldier who had rushed into the house was taken aback for a moment, then lowered his weapon. “When did they leave?”
The old man’s answer was also very direct, without any concealment. “After your planes bombed the place, the original company of troops here withdrew. They left in a great hurry and didn’t even have any explosives to destroy the bridge in the town.”
The bridge was still intact. It seemed that their luck today was indeed good. Everyone was visibly relieved. The first German soldier to enter the house slung his rifle over his back, looked at the impoverished, almost bare-walled room, and did not ask any more questions.
The Ukrainians here had been so miserably oppressed by the Russians. No wonder they did not even hate the German army that had just bombed this place. In their eyes, it seemed the Germans were here to liberate them.
“Platoon leader! This old man says those Red Army soldiers have retreated,” another German soldier behind him said, turning to the German officer who had followed him in.
“You and you! Take a few soldiers and check every area here,” the platoon leader immediately ordered the soldiers to search the entire small town. He then found another soldier and had him go out and find the radio, to tell the friendly forces who were waiting outside for the result that there was no longer an enemy here.
Soon, a dozen or so German soldiers entered the small town from the front. After deploying some cover along the road, a few German soldiers approached the center of the town. After confirming that there were no Soviet troops, the German trucks and armored cars entered the central square and stopped around the fountain in the middle.
Before long, the German army had completely searched the small town and found that there were indeed no Soviet troops. Then, under the cover of night, the German army set up its own defensive positions, arranging circular fortifications all around. They spent half the night digging a few trenches, and then they welcomed the morning sun of the next day.
No one had expected that a carefully prepared and risky attack would turn into a march that was thrilling but not dangerous. The next morning, the German army began to prepare breakfast for themselves. It was clear that both the tank units and the infantry were overjoyed that there had been no fighting the previous night.
“Good morning!” Alice said, emerging from a tent and rubbing her eyes as she greeted Rein, who was rinsing his mouth.
Spitting out the mouthwash, Rein yawned and replied, “Morning!”
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to sleep in the buildings last night. The problem was that there were too many grenadiers without tents. The tank crews, who were in a relatively better condition, had no choice but to give the few empty houses that the locals had vacated to the grenadiers who had toiled for most of the night.
They had only slept for a little over two hours, so most of them were still in dreamland. The early morning in April was still a bit cold. Alice felt the chill and couldn’t help but shiver.
Rein saw Alice hug her arms and shiver. He wanted to walk over, but then he realized he didn’t really have a coat or anything to give her. He couldn’t help but smile wryly and gave up the idea. Then he saw a motorcycle speeding from the distance; it seemed to be a reconnaissance unit from the battalion headquarters.
Soon, the distant motorcycle approached, and a German soldier, with the roar of its engine, came before Rein. “Sir! Soviet troops have been spotted 5 kilometers away, about 300 men, probably a battalion. There may be other Soviet troops behind them. We didn’t dare to get too close.”
“Have you reported this to battalion?” Rein asked with a frown, looking at this comrade who had come to “report a death” so early in the morning. Couldn’t you have discovered something better? Like a herd of pigs, or a mountain, or even a truck full of gold coins? Do you have to discover several hundred enemy soldiers?
“It has been reported to the battalion, but I was worried that the nearby units might not have their radios on, so I am responsible for passing on this important message!” the soldier on the motorcycle replied.
Rein sighed, had the soldier mark the enemy’s line of advance on the map, and then, after roughly calculating the time of contact, he let the soldier go on to warn the other units to remain vigilant. He himself, his drowsiness now completely gone, took Alice and found the two company commanders nearby to inform them of this astonishing news.
“Couldn’t it be routed Soviet troops? This sort of thing doesn’t necessarily mean the enemy is coming to retake the small town,” one of the company commanders said with a hint of wishful thinking. He just didn’t want his troops to face a tough battle; of course, he wasn’t really naive enough to think that the other side was just coming to surrender.
Rein shook his head and pointed to a location on the map. “The reconnaissance unit discovered this force here. Their formation was orderly, with no signs of being routed. And it is said that every soldier was armed. This is clearly not an ordinary army.”
“Are there tanks?” the other German company commander asked, staring at the area Rein was pointing to on the map. “They’re coming straight from the west. There’s a patch of woodland and a small open area there. If they have tanks, we’re in trouble.”
“Leave the tanks to us,” Rein said after thinking for a moment. “I will ambush any possible enemy tank units in the woods. But we also need cover. Arrange a squad of troops for us. This is the minimum requirement.”
The two company commanders nodded together and then gave their guarantee. “We’ll pick some good soldiers and send them to you, with two machine guns and an anti-tank team.”
Rein didn’t mince words either. He immediately took Alice back to his tank, woke up the still-sleeping Bruce and Baumann, found Andre who was taking a walk by the river, and began to prepare for the tank battle.
Before long, the entire small town was bustling. More than 50 German soldiers began to enter their defensive positions to the west. They deepened some of the trenches, laid the few mines they had in the open ground in front, and fired two shells to calibrate the angle and coordinates of their mortars.
These soldiers were all too familiar with the preparations before a battle. The complex and trivial matters were, in their eyes, orderly and extremely simple. They cleaned their rifles, lubricated some parts, and kept these killing tools in their hands in even better condition. They checked their bayonets and placed them in the most convenient position so that they could be used immediately in a crisis.
Ammunition boxes were distributed to the various units, opened, and emptied by the soldiers. Hand grenades were neatly stacked beside them. And in an open space not far away, a few smokers gathered, cherishing the beautiful moments of their last cigarette before a major battle.
Rein took his three tanks and a squad of infantry to the edge of the woods. There, they chose a relatively good position and set up their ambush. The three tanks were arranged in a triangle, with their three 88mm cannons aimed at the position where the Soviet tanks were likely to appear.
They also found some camouflage material and piled some dirt and branches in front of the tanks as cover. These German tanks themselves were already painted in a simple camouflage pattern, so now they blended in even more with their surroundings.
And the infantry squad was placed on a high slope behind the three tanks, responsible for dealing with any Soviet infantry or tanks that might circle around. Of course, they were only responsible for cover and warning; it was impossible for them to really stop any flanking Soviet tanks.
Soon, Rein spotted the advancing Soviet force with his binoculars. The dense formation of soldiers had already begun to slowly deploy. The reconnaissance unit had clearly underestimated the number of this enemy force. At a rough glance, there were at least 500 men.
Published: 2025-09-01T03:59:33.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2025-12-06T11:33:10.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c512-ruins-137832105
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