Tanks? We Have Tanks?

Panzerspähwagen II "Luchs"
(Source)

"Herr Major, there are two officers waiting outside. They say that they have been assigned to our Kampfgruppe." Hauptfeldwebel Klaus-Peter Keller, the Sergeant Major, or Spieß, for Kampfgruppe von Lüttwitz, looked somewhat nervous, which was out of character for the man.

"I'm not sure what I need with two new officers Spieß, but send them in." Major Jürgen von Lüttwitz, the eponymous leader of the Kampfgruppe waited a moment.

Sighing, he put his pen down and sat back in his chair, "There's more to this than just two new officers, isn't there, Klaus-Peter?"

"Yes Sir, both men are tankers, black tunics and all. What's more, they seem to have brought tanks with them."

"What?! Show them in, I would love to have tanks, but we step off in two days. This is insane." von Lüttwitz got up from behind his 'desk' (a table in a small Gasthaus) and put his cap on, if he was greeting new officers for his unit, best to make it formal.

Hauptfeldwebel Keller entered the building, holding the door for the two Panzer officers. Von Lüttwitz had always thought the black panzer uniform with it's skull and crossbones on the collar looked rather foreboding. Not as bad as the SS dress uniforms, which he also thought were rather garish. At least the Panzer uniform had a basis in German history with the Death's Head Hussars, and the tankers did consider themselves the spiritual descendants of the old Prussian cavalry.

The taller of the two officers snapped his heels together and saluted in the old way, "Guten morgen Herr Major, Hauptmann Norbert Sauer from the Panzerschüle. We would have been here sooner but moving tanks by rail isn't as easy as it was in the old days. We had to drive here from the railhead and the roads aren't that great. At least the overcast keeps the Ami Jabos at home. My unit has 87 men and 14 PzKw III Ausf Ms."

Von Lüttwitz returned the captain's salute then offered his hand, which the man took. "Panzer IIIs? A pleasant surprise to have any tanks at all I suppose."

"We know how to use them Herr Major, many of the men were instructors at the Panzerschüle, the others worked there in many roles. We haven't been together long, but we're experienced. I think there are perhaps two or three recruits in the company, even they have been with me for two months."

Von Lüttwitz nodded then looked at the junior of the two tankers, who snapped to attention and also saluted in the old way. "Herr Major, Oberleutnant Ludwig Köhler at your service. I command 63 men and we are equipped with 7 Panzerspähwagen II "Luchs" reconnaissance vehicles. Quite honestly, I think we were lost in the shuffle when this operation was put together. I complained to my uncle at OKH, he sent us to you." Köhler paused for a moment.

"Sir, if I may ask, when do we move?"

"Day after tomorrow if the plan holds, there has been some rumbling from higher up for us to stay out of the way of the Leibstandarte as they push for the Maas and eternal glory. I would prefer to jump off on the 16th, but as my Spieß is fond of saying, I only work here."

"So gentlemen, see to your men, Keller will assist with that, then report back here at 1500. We are having an orders group at that time. Questions for me?"

Both of the tankers answered in the negative, then left to see to their men and vehicles. Before Keller left to assist them, he said to von Lüttwitz, "I'll have full rosters to you before 1500. But just guessing, we now have over 500 men and close to one hundred vehicles."

"Now I just need to figure out what to do with this excess of good fortune, thank you Spieß."

Unteroffizier Karl-Heinz Köhler was walking down a street in the small town of Kronenburg and noticed something as he turned the corner, tanks. They looked like PzKw IIs from where he was, then he saw the road wheels, these were the "Luchs" variant of that vehicle, used for reconnaissance. Then he saw someone he recognized, his son.

Coming up behind the young man, he was surprised to see that his youngest was now an officer. He spoke, as gruffly as he could, "Excuse me Herr Oberleutnant, but you can't park that thing here!"

Whirling around, furious, the young officer caught himself when he saw who had addressed him, "Vati! What are you doing here, I thought you were home with Mutti!"

"No Bubi, the Army decided they needed my vast experience and recalled me to the colors some time ago, didn't you get our letters?"

"No, mail in the East is sporadic at best, then I was wounded..."

The look on Köhler's face startled the young Panzer officer, "No Papa, I'm fine, just a scratch really." Young Köhler took off his cap so his father could see the nasty scar just below his son's hairline.

"Ouch!" Köhler the elder exclaimed. Though nasty looking, and no doubt he had bled like a stuck pig, the wound was not dangerous, another millimeter lower though... "Does your mother know?"

"Yes sir, I got to spend two weeks at home convalescing. She knows and yes, she was very mad at me for getting wounded."

"What happened? How were you wounded?" Unteroffizier Köhler wasn't a soldier at the moment, he was a father.

"We were hit on the gun mantlet by a Russian anti-tank shell, a piece of it sheared off and gave me a new haircut. Rather closer a shave than I cared for Papa." While the young officer was grinning when he said that, something in his eyes betrayed just how close it had been.

"So Ludwig, why are you here?"

"Ah yes, my men and I were reassigned to this unit. As we had no job, I wrote to Uncle Fritz..."

"You wrote to your grandmother's brother at OKH?"

"Yes sir, I had to do something, our unit was still forming. Most of the Luchs are in Russia, but Uncle Fritz thought we might be useful here. He knows that you are here by the way, he's always liked you, you know that, right?"

"Really, I thought the old colonel didn't think much of his granddaughter's husband. He's never really spoken to me, officers and enlisted weren't as friendly in the Great War you know."

"Yes, I know. But it's also the reason you have a company of PzKw IIIs assigned to you as well."

"Really? I didn't know. Your Uncle did that as well?"

"Yes Vati, he's been following the adventures of Kampfgruppe von Lüttwitz, very impressed he is."

"Huh, impressed is he? Well, he should be, our Major is something of a warrior you know."

"Yes Vati, I know that, Knight's Cross for leading the remnants of his company across France after the collapse at the Falaise Cauldron."

"Seven men Ludwig, only six made it."

"Yes sir, but it impressed the Führer. So..."

"I see. Anyways, it's good to see you Bubi. You know the rumor is that we're attacking soon."

"Why do you think I'm here Vati? I know that. My Panzerspähwagens will be leading the way!"

"That's all well and good laddie-boy. Just make sure you keep your head down this time."

"Yes Papa. Oh!" Oberleutnant Köhler checked his watch, "I have to go, orders group in 15 minutes."

"Alright, run along, ahem, Herr Oberleutnant."

Unteroffizier Köhler was waiting outside the Gasthaus waiting for the orders group to break up, which it did shortly after he got there. The first man out was Leutnant Manfred Sauer of whom the men joked that if he kept getting promoted at his current rate, he'd be a field marshal by next spring. Köhler wondered if any of them would still be alive in the spring of 1945.

"Leutnant Sauer, they must have emptied the jails in Saxony, I see at least six Sauers on the new roster."

"You know Opa, I'm an officer now, you need to show me more respect."

"Ah, of course Sir, they emptied the jails Sir, more Sauers Sir!"

Both men were grinning at this point, Leutnant Sauer then told Köhler, "Theodor Sauer is actually my cousin, I heard from his commander that he's in that Panzerspähwagen outfit. By the way, the commander of that unit..."

"My son actually, I ran into him shortly before this meeting you just got out of. Any word?"

Leutnant Sauer looked around before leaning in and whispering, "Sunday. Sunday we march into Belgium. The leading elements of the attacking force hits the Amis on Saturday. We have our work cut out for us. Oh, one other thing, we are now officially a motorized unit. I guess that goes hand in hand with all the vehicles we have now."

"Pray for bad weather Manfred, if it clears..."

"I know Opa, we'll be bombed and strafed into oblivion. So, that's all I can tell you now. Platoon meeting with all the squad leaders will be at 1900, in my quarters. All right?"

"Certainly, I'll tell Wolf and Hans. Are you sure Hans isn't a relative as well? I mean he shows up and 'bang,' he's a squad leader."

"I think the Nahkampfspange has more to do with that then his last name, Opa."

"I know Manfred, just kidding. Ya know, my son outranks you, so be nice to me, okay."

"I hear you also have an Uncle at OKH?"

"My wife's grandmother's brother, a colonel. Lost a leg in the Argonne Forest in the last war, but he can still command a desk I suppose. He's never liked me, wanted his granddaughter to marry some fool of a artillery officer. He died at Stalingrad."

"Still, with that kind of connection..."

"Wouldn't think of it Manfred, my duty is here."

"I know, hey, you watch yourself over the next few weeks, do you hear me?"

"I do Sir, but I'll be pretty busy watching your back, so..."

"Hahaha! Hey, there's your son, I'll leave you to it then."

Köhler nodded and called out to his son, from there the two went to get food. Ludwig had always been hungry growing up, Köhler remembered. Nothing had changed.

And yet, everything had changed. Would they both survive the coming fight?

Köhler thought of the motto on his belt buckle¹, he certainly hoped that was the case. Though he had his doubts.

¹ German Army belt buckles were inscribed with the Nazi eagle topped by the words "GOTT MIT UNS" - "God is with us." The same motto adorned the belt buckles of German troops in the First World War.

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