Chapter 666: Frenzy
“Relay my orders! All artillery, open fire immediately! I want every last shell fired into Damanhur! Troops, assemble immediately and attack! You must take Damanhur for me! Don’t let a single German paratrooper escape. Level this damn place!” Patton said through clenched teeth, his fists tight with shame and anger.
“General, if we continue to get bogged down with these paratroopers, we might not be able to get away,” the staff officer said anxiously. The intelligence he held proved that the enemy was not far away. If they continued this pointless attrition, the entire 8th Army Group would be buried here. This was a responsibility that not only he, but also Patton, could not afford to bear.
Patton waved his hand, cutting off the staff officer. He explained as he stepped out of his armored command vehicle, “I haven’t lost my mind. I’m just trying to wear down the Germans as much as possible… To just leave like this, I’m just not willing. If, if the German paratroopers can’t hold on first, then our defeat won’t look so bad, will it?”
As he spoke these words, Patton was somewhat dispirited. He stepped out of the vehicle and onto the yellow sand, feeling the slight heat coming from under the soles of his shoes. He was only a short distance from Cairo, but now it felt as if it were thousands of miles away. All of Egypt would probably no longer belong to the British, nor to the Americans.
For the German paratroopers, the final test had finally arrived. But this test was even more difficult and brutal than what had come before. Rommel’s telegram had reached Student an hour earlier. When he received it, he had almost wept with joy. The German paratroopers he treasured would not have to shed their last drop of blood in a place called Damanhur. In the end, it was he, Student, who had won this battle.
The telegram was passed around to almost every German soldier. Everyone knew that the American soldiers surrounding them would not be rampant for much longer. But unfortunately, before everyone could let out a cheer of victory, American artillery shells began to rain down on their heads. At first, the staff at division headquarters had used spent shell casings to count the number of shells fired by the American army. Every time they heard a cannon fire, they would toss a used casing into a woven bag. But now, they simply couldn’t keep up with the sound of the explosions. They had no choice but to grab a handful of casings and stuff them into the bag to estimate the number of shells the Americans were firing.
Only today did Borol realize that although the battles he had experienced before were fierce, they were nothing compared to what he was about to go through. He held his rifle tightly, clutched his helmet, and curled up in the trench, waiting for this intense round of shelling to pass. But time seemed to have frozen for him. He had never felt time pass so slowly.
If the usual shelling made a day feel like a year, then the current American bombardment made it feel as if he were already in hell. From time to time, people around him would scream as they were hit by shrapnel. The screams were blood-curdling but were instantly drowned out by the dense roar of the cannons. Borol felt that if he were ordered to attack the American positions now, he would carry it out without hesitation, just to get out of this constantly exploding and burning hell.
New recruits fear shelling; veterans fear light machine guns more. But when faced with an endless bombardment, everyone feels a sense of dread. Borol knew that after this shelling, the Americans would likely turn tail and run. But he still couldn’t stop praying, praying for all of this to end quickly.
“My God, are the Americans crazy? Do they have to drop all their shells on us?” Behind Borol, Donner, also huddled in a corner, muttered helplessly. A shell had just landed not far from him, and the sand kicked up had buried half his leg.
“Americans! They’re starting to attack! Everyone, prepare for battle!” a German paratrooper at the front position shouted, having seen the American tanks and infantry advancing under the cover of the artillery. Unlike before, when they were scattered, this time they were as dense as ants moving house. Everyone knew the Americans were making their final struggle, but for the German paratroopers, the force of this final struggle was a bit too much for them to bear.
“You tried to persuade us to surrender, but why don’t you just surrender yourselves? A bunch of bastards!” Borol worked the bolt of his rifle. After hearing the clatter, he cautiously poked his head out of the foxhole. Not far away, the American army was indeed attacking with tanks. It looked like there was at least a battalion.
“Our battalion commander was hit by a machine gun. We couldn’t hold on after fighting for just a dozen minutes. We ran out of ammunition, and the resupply couldn’t keep up. The whole battalion lost more than 200 men,” a paratrooper who had retreated from the front said with a very dejected expression. He had fallen back to Borol’s position with a hundred other German soldiers. The Americans had lost at least 500 men, but they still showed no intention of retreating a single step.
“Form a new defensive line behind us. Send someone to division headquarters to get ammunition. Be quick! Get some for us too. I estimate we can only hold on for half an hour,” Borol said, patting the young German soldier’s shoulder seriously. “Go!”
“Fire!” From a machine gun position not far away, the German command was heard very clearly. A machine gun suddenly opened fire, cutting down a large swath of American soldiers. But the American army also returned fire, and the two sides engaged in a close-range firepower duel. An American machine gunner was immediately turned into a sieve by the sweeping German bullets.
But the machine guns on the tanks soon joined the battle as well. The German machine gun position was easily suppressed. Bullets kicked up a white mist in the sand and dirt. The machine gun was quickly shot to pieces, and the gunner and assistant gunner inside were both hit, collapsing in a bloody heap in their foxhole.
“Damn it! Have the anti-tank teams prepare to attack!” Borol ordered Donner beside him. “Go and notify the men of the 3rd Company, prepare a circular defense. The enemy tanks are coming up!”
As he spoke, he picked up the walkie-talkie next to him. “2nd Company? Hello? Hello? Speak up, is this 2nd Company? This is Borol. Take your men and move to the left. Make way and prepare for a flanking attack! What? Your company commander is dead? Then who’s in command over there? Relay my order! Immediately!”
Furious, Borol threw down the phone. When he turned to look for Donner, he found he hadn’t returned yet. So he had no choice but to raise the binoculars hanging on his chest and carefully watch what was happening on the position in front of him. The American tanks had already rolled over the trenches. Some American soldiers were firing their weapons into the trenches. And on the position that should have been the core of the 2nd Company, an American tank was burning and exploding.
“Even if we all die in battle, Germany will still exist!” A German soldier, perhaps having run out of ammunition, charged towards the American troops with a trenching shovel, shouting this slogan. He was soon shot through the chest and knelt on the ground. The Americans continued to fire, bullets hitting the corpse until it finally fell.
“Heil Führer!” A German paratrooper suddenly leaped up from beside an American tank and threw three or four hand grenades into its crevices. After a series of continuous explosions, the tank in the smoke gradually came to a halt. A cloud of black smoke rose from the engine position. As the flames grew, the Americans inside the tank finally fled in panic. Soon after, the tank exploded.
Borol had to pick up the walkie-talkie again, and with tears in his eyes, he choked out, “Is anyone from the 2nd Company still listening? Speak! This is Borol. I’m ordering you to retreat. I’m ordering you to retreat! Is anyone there?”
“Commander! There are still men in the 2nd Company! But we are the 2nd Company here, and the 2nd Company’s position is here. They didn’t run, so I don’t want to run either. There are no cowards in the 2nd Company, right?” On the other end of the walkie-talkie, a young voice said, choking with tears.
“Which idiot said this is running? I’m the battalion commander, and I’m ordering you to retreat! Hello? Hello hello?” Borol shouted into the walkie-talkie over and over again.
“I don’t know who else is here. I’m a communications runner from the 2nd Company. I was ordered by the company commander to hold this position. Now I will fight for the Führer to the last moment. God is with Germany!” After this was said, there was no more sound from the other end. The gunfire on the position continued, and it seemed that every minute, a German soldier fell.
Suddenly, a soldier slid into the foxhole where Borol was, startling him. “Don’t shoot, it’s me, Donner!” The battalion commander’s communications runner clearly had not had an easy time finding the 3rd Company. His once-clean uniform was now no different from a rag.
“3rd Company is ready. 2nd Company can move out of the way now,” he said, panting, staring at Borol.
“There’s no need to move. We just lost contact with the 2nd Company…” Borol said to Donner with some dejection. “Go and find a weapon. Get ready to fight. Since there are no cowards in the 2nd Company, as their battalion commander, I should probably fight to the last moment too, shouldn’t I?”
Suddenly, the gunfire became denser. A 13mm heavy machine gun, deployed in a concealed position, suddenly opened fire. They had been in ambush on the flank of the entire German position. Now they had found their moment to open fire, and the sound of gunfire bravely rang out from the side. Bullets swept densely towards the American armored cars and infantry. In an instant, two American armored cars were pierced and caught fire. At close range, such reckless fire from a large-caliber machine gun could indeed threaten the thin rear armor of many armored vehicles.
Published: 2025-09-16T09:37:51.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-02-14T17:02:58.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c666-frenzy-139012820
Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com