But now, safety would probably lie closer to the enemy, which removed some of his advantage and could reasonably expose him to the attentions of enemy infantry with AT weapons.
Instinctively he sought relief in the topography of the battlefield, and elected to move to the left, bringing his force further south.
An urgent message from his headquarters advising that the smoke support would be lost after the new three salvoes made his decision all the more wise.
As Stelmakh ordered his regiment to change the axis of their advance, the presence of the friendly northern force became apparent, making his switch all the more reasonable and actually tactically advantageous.
Or at least so it seemed, for as his closeness might inhibit the artillery, it also brought the X-7 Rotkäppchen missiles of the 4e RACE into play.
And the X-7, not that he knew what it was, was more than capable of killing any of his tanks, as he was about to find out.
Once the fire order was given, 4e RACE’s gunners released their X-7s and tracked the deadly little missiles as they swept downrange towards the advancing enemy tanks, their job made slightly easier by the size of the leviathans.
With a range of roughly a thousand metres, the flight time to target was just a fraction over four seconds, which was why a competent and highly trained rocket gunner was only produced by many weeks of teaching and, first and foremost, considered an extremely valuable asset.
Peters was the best of the best, and to observers, his four seconds of flying time always seemed to be stretched well beyond comprehension.
He even had time to understand that another X-7 was headed for his target and the wit to understand that a gentle change could bring him a fresh victim without loss of hit probability.
His missile struck home just after the one he had spotted and both target vehicles were enveloped in explosions as the hollow-charge warheads detonated.
X-7s were deadly weapons, capable of defeating armour in excess of 200mm thickness.
The missile that hit the other tank penetrated the 160mm thick hull armour and killed the tank and crew in the blink of an eye, assisted by the explosion of the propellant charge that the tank’s loader was handling at the time.
The turret rose into the air and came back down on the rear of the still moving IS-IV.
Peters’ rocket struck the turret of his target and, although it did not destroy the tank, the main gun was rendered useless unless it could find a target in the sky, jammed into a raised position by scarred metal.
From their safe position behind the ridgeline, Peters’ support crew were already rearming the launcher with another Rotkäppchen missile.
At the start of the battle there were only six for each launcher, and they were the very last available until the French or German industries decided that more production was worth the effort.
The ‘powers that be’ had tried to convince the procurers of the importance of the weapon, but always met with resistance based around other effective alternatives and the time and cost of training operatives.
Just in case the 4e RACE got seriously in harm’s way, it had been issued with a large number of panzerfausts, a few captured Soviet rocket grenades, and a pair of the new US M20 bazookas; the so-called Super Bazooka.
That the Legion had the weapon before many of the US forces was only down to the successful scavenging by her forage parties, much to the puzzlement of a number of quartermasters up and down the Allied front, whose inventories came up short no matter how many times they counted.
However, yet again, ammunition was short for both rocket weapon systems.
One advantage of the Rotkäppchen launcher system was that it was generally deployed out of the line of sight, and so the need to relocate was less than normal.
Peters decided to fire from the same position himself, safe in the knowledge that the smoke trail of the first rocket would not identify his hiding place.
He guided his X-7 into the tank he had previously damaged.
The tank came to a lazy halt and belched smoke as her crew abandoned her.
This time he elected to move.
The IS tanks might not be able to see him or fire at the launcher, but they had mortars and artillery who could do a good job trying to locate him regardless.
No mortar fire came initially, and the enemy artillery response fell more to their front; a mistake, he thought.
‘Scheisse! Smoke!’
The IS force commander had asked for smoke to mask his tanks, an extremely successful counter to the X-7 troops, because even if it didn’t fully obscure a target, the smoke could simply make for a difficult perspective, something that was vital to the wire-controlled missile when guided by eyes nearly a kilometre away.
Some gunners still fired, but there was only one tangible result from their expenditure, so the RACE commander called for a ceasefire, and relocated his men further back.
Peters had a last look at the enemy and decided that they might be changing the axis of their advance.
The arrival of enemy mortar shells prevented him from confirming his suspicions and he ran as fast as his legs could manage and his equipment would allow him.
The Felixes and Jaguars of 4e/1er RCDA were still engaging, but not yet employing their limited HESH, as per an order issued by the unit commander… an order not wholly agreed with.
None the less, the Legion tankers were disciplined, and engaged the enemy heavy tanks with APDS and HEAT.
Back with the RACE, Peters and his nearest comrades received orders to relocate, orders that were either brilliant in conception, or incredibly stupid, depending on how well the IS tanks were supported.
The Kätzchen were brought forward and the small force loaded up.
The three small fully-tracked APCs sped off to relocate on the flank of the advancing enemy tank force to ambush them from the side, something that would require speed of reaction, skill, and above all, luck.
Peters clung to the MG-42 mount as he tried to see the enemy’s movements and, with the occasional glimpse, understood that they were switching from a straight advance and were already angling towards the area he had just vacated.
His map was less than helpful, one of a number of inferior quality ones made available to the rear line units when stocks of the better ones ran out, but he found a long thin stand of trees that would provide him with enough cover to position and shoot.
Another bonus of the X-7 system was its swiftness to deploy in trained hands.
The three Kätzchen bounced along the muddy track and swept into the rear of the stand of trees, still possessing most of their foliage, unlike the majority of woods in the area.
The gunners pulled their launchers clear and were already dragging them forward before Peters could even get his FuG 510 set and its associated paraphernalia clear of the locker.
He ran forward through the light undergrowth and found his own crew establishing the launcher in a prime position.
Hooking up, he moved forward and found a perfect observation point, an almost table-like affair where a fallen trunk lay against a severed tree, providing a seat for him and a place to put his control system, whilst providing excellent physical cover for both him and his kit.
Concentrating on the battlefield, he quickly realised that he could now see less than when in the position he had vacated.
None the less, he knew they were coming, so he patiently held his fire.