The Finns, on the other hand, were young men, battle-hardened to endure anything and at the peak of their physical fitness. He really didn't stand a chance — had not done from the beginning.
He langlaufed across the small plateau that tilted gently upwards and paused on the ridge. On the other side the snow slope was almost vertical, dropping into grey mist, no means of knowing what was down there at all.
He turned and saw the first of the Finns appear from the trees on the other side of the plateau no more than thirty yards away. Gestrin was number three and the big Finn waved his hand to bring the patrol to a halt.
He pushed up his goggles. 'All right, Doctor. You've put up a wonderful show and we admire you for it, but enough of this foolishness. Now we go home.'
There were two more violent explosions somewhere in the mist below. The rattle of small-arms fire persisting. Gaillard thought of his friends; of Claudine Chevalier and of Claire de Beauville and what had happened to her.
He was filled with a fierce, sudden anger and shouted down at the Finns, 'All right, you bastards! Let's see what you're made of.'
He went straight over the edge of that near-vertical drop, crouching, skis nailed together, and plunged into the mist. The Finns, as they reached the edge, followed, one after the other, without hesitation.
Canning, Birr and Hesser were in the tunnel, Howard on the wall, when the engine's roar first shattered the morning calm. A few moments later, the half-tracks emerged into view and took up position. The Finns spilled out and started to deploy. Hoffer and the men under his personal command took up position to the left.
Howard trained his glasses on them, trying to make out what they were doing. In the moment of realization there came a tongue of orange flame; a second later, a violent explosion as the first Panzerfaust projectile struck the wall beside the drawbridge.
Everyone crouched. 'What in the hell was that?' Birr demanded.
'Panzerfaust,' Hesser replied. 'It's an antitank weapon rather like your bazooka.'
'So I see,' Canning said grimly, ducking as another violent explosion rocked the drawbridge — a direct hit this time.
'Obviously it's the chains they're after,' Birr said. 'I wonder how long it will take?'
Heavy machine-gun fire raked the top of the wall, bullets ricocheting into space. 'Give them everything we've got,' Canning cried. 'Really pour it on.'
Schneider opened up with the MG34 and the rest of the Germans backed him with their Mauser rifles, sniping from the embrasures in the wall. The Finns took refuge behind the half-tracks, one of which moved position slightly to cover the Panzerfaust group.
The fourth projectile, fired by Hoffer personally, scored a direct hit on the drawbridge just below the chain-mounting on the left-hand side. The woodwork disintegrated, the chain coupling tore free, the drawbridge sagged.
'Strike one,' Howard said. 'Not long now.'
Two more projectiles homed in, a third landing just below the top of the wall above the gate, its shrapnel killing Schneider and the other two men in the machine-gun crew instantly, hurling the MG34 on its side, battered and useless.
Canning crawled across to Howard, blood on his face.
'Not long now.' He turned to Birr and Hesser. 'Justin, you and Howard stay up here as long as you can with half a dozen men. Max, you drop back on the tower.'
'And what about you?' Birr demanded.
'Big Bertha and I have business together. You make things as hot for those bastards as you can on the way in, then get off the wall and join Max in the tower.'
Birr started to argue, but in the same moment there was another frightful explosion just below them. The remaining chain disintegrated, the drawbridge fell down across the moat with a resounding crash.
There was a general cheer from the Finns, and Ritter jumped from the half-track to join Hoffer.
'How many have you left?'
'Two, Sturmbannfuhrer.'
'Make them count, Erich. The gate this time.' He ran to the other half-track and Sorsa leaned down.
'Hoffer is going to blast the gate,' Ritter said. 'You make your move as soon as you like. Smash straight in and we'll cover you. Good luck.'
Sorsa smiled, waved a gloved hand and pulled down his Panzer goggles. He shouted an order in Finnish and a dozen men scrambled over the side and joined him in the halftrack. He clapped his driver on the shoulder and, as they started to move forward, took over the machine gun himself.
The first of Hoffer's last two projectiles punched a hole through the massive gate and exploded at the end of the tunnel. The blast knocked Canning, standing beside Big Bertha, clean off his feet, showering him with dirt and tiny fragments of shrapnel.
There was more blood on his face, his own this time, and as he started to get up, Hoffer fired the remaining Panzerfaust. The left-hand side of the gate sagged and fell in.
The lead half-track was half-way there, Sorsa firing the machine gun furiously, his men backing him up, and Ritter followed in the second half-track, spraying the top of the wall with such a volume of fire that it was virtually impossible for the handful of defenders to reply.
Howard tossed a couple of stick grenades over at random as the lead half-track got close and Birr grabbed his arm. 'Let's get out of here!'
Of the German soldiers who had stayed on the wall with them, only three were left on their feet. Howard beckoned to them now, and they all went down the steps on the run and started across the courtyard to where Hesser and seven of his men waited on the steps of the tower entrance.
Canning leaned heavily on the cannon, blood running into his eyes, and Howard swerved towards him. The general sagged to one knee, groping for the length of smouldering fuse he had dropped as Howard joined him.
'Get the hell out of here!' Canning ordered.
But by then it was too late, for, as Howard handed him the fuse, the lead half-track smashed what was left of the gates from their hinges. It emerged from the tunnel, Sorsa firing the machine gun, and Canning touched the end of his fuse to the powder charge.
Big Bertha belched fire and smoke in a thunderous roar, rocking back on her solid wheels, disgorging her improvised charge of assorted metal fragments and chain at point-blank range, killing Sorsa and every man in the half-track instantly, hurling the vehicle over to one side and back against the wall.
Both Canning and Howard were thrown down by the force of the explosion. As the roar of Ritter's half-track filled the tunnel, Howard grabbed the general by the arm, hauled him to his feet and urged him into a stumbling run.
Hesser and his men were firing furiously now, retreating up the steps and back through the door at the foot of the north tower, but continuing to give them covering fire. As Howard and Canning made it to the steps, the half-track emerged from the tunnel across the courtyard and its machine gun tracked them across the cobbles.
Hesser's men were already getting the doors closed when, as Howard urged Canning up the steps, the general stumbled and fell. Hesser and Birr ducked out through the narrowing opening and hurried down the steps to help.
Howard and Birr got Canning between them and dragged him up the steps. Behind them, Hesser turned, firing a Schmeisser one-handed across the courtyard, catching a full burst from the machine gun in reply that drove him across the steps, hurling him over the edge into the snow.
A second later, Howard and Birr staggered in through the narrowing gap with Canning and the massive doors closed.
Gaillard's speed was tremendous as he hurtled down into the grey mist, yet he was entirely without fear. What lay ahead it was impossible to say. He could be rushing straight to his death, his only consolation the knowledge that his pursuers would follow him.