Dixon, the tank, and the 14th Armored Division had been in Europe for only a few months and had missed much of the heavy fighting after Normandy, something that didn’t bother Dixon one little bit. They had played a minor part in the first assault on the German positions in the Brenner Pass and had taken some casualties. That attack had cost the division dearly when the Nazis fought tooth and nail. They were preparing to launch a second attack and Archie wondered if their luck would still hold. He and his crew considered themselves a band of brothers and he wouldn’t want anything to happen to his brothers.
But now the Nazis did not appear to have any armored capabilities. Those splendid Panther and Tiger tanks had almost all been destroyed or captured. What remained were a relatively few enemy tanks in the Alpine Redoubt. As a result, the battalion Dixon belonged to had been broken off from the division and attached to the 105th Infantry as support when they attacked through the Brenner Pass.
“Piss break,” said Dixon as he jumped off the tank and stretched. The Sherman was consistently uncomfortable. In the winter it was too cold and in the summer it was too hot. The rest of the four tank column had pulled off to the side of the two lane paved road the treads of the tanks were chewing to pieces. Their crews were also savoring the moment.
As he relieved himself, Dixon had to admit that the land around him was beautiful, heavily forested, and hilly. A city boy from the Bronx, he’d never had the chance to be in the woods, and this part of southern Germany had some incredible scenery. On the other hand, the hills were getting higher and more foreboding as they drew closer to the Alps.
“At least we won’t have to fight in the mountains,” Archie said as he buttoned up his fly. He hoped he was right. He’d been a buck sergeant for only two weeks and then only because his predecessor as commander of Mimi had gotten himself shot in the face by a sniper. It was a hideous wound and the man had still been alive when an ambulance carted him off. He had been trying to scream but the blood gurgling up from his mouth kept cutting off any real sound he’d been attempting to make. They’d been in an area they thought was safe and was proof that the Nazis, while defeated, were still able to kill.
It further pointed out that the 14th Division, known as the “Liberators,” was through liberating. Now they were conquering and sometimes having a good time of it. It gave them some pleasure to see German civilians weeping and groveling and begging. Fuck them, was the consensus. They had started the war and now they could suffer the consequences. And so what if some buildings got destroyed or some silverware went missing. If anybody resisted, they might get shot. They drew the line at raping frauleins. The brass was hell on that and anyone who did rape a German woman could count on decades at hard labor.
Not that the tankers cared, but being attached to the 105th wasn’t all that bad. The infantry had managed to make themselves fairly comfortable while waiting for the big attack to take place.
A jeep pulled up next to Mimi and a captain got out. Dixon successfully fought the urge to salute and simply nodded in recognition. “How can I help you, Captain Tanner?”
“First, you can give me the name of the woman who modeled for Mimi.”
Dixon grinned. “You’d have to kill me first, sir.”
“Well then, maybe you can tell me where the rest of your tanks are. The division was expecting twenty and it looks like we’re short sixteen.”
“Sir, I understand that the rest will be along shortly. There were some issues that the colonel wanted to iron out with the men before we came up here.”
Aw, crap, Tanner thought. “Let me guess, Sergeant. A number of the men were less than enthusiastic about coming up here to fight in the Pass.”
“That’s about the size of it, sir,” Dixon said. The rest of the men in the small column had left their tanks but were staying out of hearing range. “We got to go because I was the most junior sergeant and the least likely to piss and bitch about the situation.”
“Did anybody actually refuse orders?”
“No, sir. The colonel’s just letting them sound off about how they felt. We were in the first attack and the division got chewed up badly, which is how I got this last stripe. My guess is that they’ll be along in about an hour or so.”
Tanner forced a smile. “I guess the war can wait that long.”
He had to wonder, though, if the army was getting close to actually refusing to go back into the battle. It had happened before, but not with any large force of Americans. In the First World War, however, a number of French divisions had refused to go on the attack after suffering appalling losses in a number of battles ordered by incompetent French generals. A number of historians felt that the French infantry had been pushed beyond endurance by making a number of futile and bloody attacks on strong German defenses. As a result, the French refused to attack. They would stand on the defensive but not waste men in further slaughters. A number of the mutineers had been hanged, but the French hierarchy became more aware of the anger of their men. They didn’t want a revolution like the Russians had. Was this what was going to happen to the American army? Good lord.
“Sergeant, are the men aware that the attacks will be preceded by very heavy bombing?”
Dixon started to laugh but caught himself. Captain Tanner seemed like a decent guy, but he knew he shouldn’t push it by being a smartass. “Sorry sir, but most of the guys think that’s just so much bullshit, if you’ll forgive my language. There are a lot of guys who don’t think the bombers can hit the ground, much less a target.”
There was a faint rumble and they instinctively looked skyward. “Speak of the devil,” Tanner said. A long line of bombers was high overhead and headed down the pass. Another rumble told them that the remaining sixteen tanks were heading into the area.
“Sir, I sure as hell hope you’re right about the bombers, sir. It would give me a great thrill to put Mimi in gear and simply cruise through Germany without any incident and not put the brakes on until we hit Switzerland.”
CHAPTER 13
The air raid system had failed. Again. There were supposed to be radar stations letting the German infantry know that the American planes were en route. So what had happened? It didn’t matter. Hummel and Schuster just wanted to survive the horror that was exploding all around them and threatening to blow out their lives.
The two men were in their strong little bunker but far from safe. Bombs exploding nearby were sending shock waves that threatened to collapse their fort and even suck the life from their lungs. Hummel had lost his hearing again, but that seemed to be it. Schuster, on the other hand, was clutching his knees to his chest and screaming silently. At least Hummel thought Schubert was silent. He wouldn’t know for certain until his hearing came back. Or if it came back. If he was deaf, would the army discharge him? Fat chance.
Schuster started to rock back and forth and Hummel could see that he’d wet himself. There was a pause in the bombing and, even though his hearing still wasn’t working right, Hummel could detect Schuster making loud, keening, screeching noises, lunatic noises.
Hummel reached out and grabbed his friend’s arm. “Calm down. It’ll be all over in a minute.”
It wasn’t. Schuster shook off Hummel’s hand. More bombers came and dropped still more bombs. The world was turning to dust and it felt like the earth was disintegrating. Hummel looked into Schuster’s eyes and saw nothing but madness. Schuster pushed Hummel away and tried to climb out of the bunker.