The Rhine in Sight!

(Source)

5th Company had spent the night on the road, Leutnant Manfred Sauer sat in the back of his Kübelwagen, desperately trying to stay awake. Grenadier Peter Meyer was driving, the Spieß, Hauptfeldwebel Klaus-Peter Keller, was sitting behind the driver, snoring loudly, and Grenadier Christof Schmidt, Sauer's radio man, was sitting up front, his newly issued Stg 44 at the ready.

Leading the column was a motorcycle-sidecar combination, behind that was one of the surviving Drillings, then Sauer's Kübelwagen. Behind them was a long column of halftracks and other combat vehicles. Twenty-three vehicles and 127 men, though the 5th had failed outside Kreuzau, the men were still game. Even the three men returned by the Feldgendarmerie, the grapevine had it that two of those men were sporting black eyes now, one had a split lip and a nasty bruise across his abdomen.

Their commander, Unteroffizier Michael Böhm, also had a split lip, it seemed that one of the miscreants had accused Böhm of hiding behind his rank. Grenadier Jochen Wagner, a big farm boy, had been the one doing the accusing. Böhm had taken Wagner out behind the vehicle park, sans epaulettes, and the two had beaten the stuffing out of each other. Wagner was the one with the abdominal bruising, seems Böhm had connected with a well-placed knee, ending the fight.

But that was in the past, the future lay before them and Sauer faced it with some trepidation. Those SS men may or may not have reported his actions to their command, if they had, he could expect repercussions. Keller had told him not to worry about it, but he had also advised, "Stay close to the unit, Sir. Don't go anywhere without an armed escort."

"You mean a babysitter, right Klaus-Peter?" Sauer had asked.

"If you want to view it that way fine, but you know damn well what I mean, Sir." Keller nearly snapped at his commander. The Spieß was more in tune with what was happening throughout Germany. The Sicherheitsdienst, the SS, and the Gestapo were on the prowl looking for deserters, defeatists, and those who were simply tired of the war. He had had a letter from an old friend in the East, drum head courts martial were roaming the land in front of the Russian advance. Many a disgruntled soldier (and civilian) were simply hung from the nearest tree with a placard hanging from their neck proclaiming them a traitor. One could not be too careful these days.

"Sir, some commotion up ahead!" Meyer announced from the driver's seat.

"Feldgendarmerie? A check point?" Sauer was trying to see ahead, but he was so tired that he was having trouble clearing his eyes.

Meyer turned around and said, "A checkpoint of sorts. Two Panther tanks, infantry in halftracks, not sure what's going on."

A moment later Schmidt, who had been monitoring the radio, noticed someone familiar up ahead. "Sir! Isn't that Major von Lüttwitz?"

(Source)

"These Kraut cigarettes are terrible." Sgt. Woodrow Sherman, Woody to his platoon mates, took one more drag from the German cigarette, then tossed it away into the snow.

"Yeah Sarge, only one thing worse than a Kraut cigarette," Pvt. Larry Kelley offered, "no cigarettes at all!"

Both men chuckled then looked up as their platoon sergeant walked up to them. "What are you jokers up to? Woody, are you teaching the new guys bad habits?"

"Yeah Top, killin' Krauts then smoking their cigarettes. Can't wait to get to a town, we'll take their women next!" Sherman chuckled.

"Be careful with that Woody. Command has issued no fraternization orders. So there will be no German women for us." S/Sgt Jack Wilson shook his finger at Sherman. "Besides which, you remember those guys who had leave in Paris?"

"Yeah, point taken, Top."

"What happened to the guys who had leave in Paris, Sgt. Sherman?" Kelley asked. He was an 18-year old ranch hand from Montana, joining the Army was the first time he'd ever left his home state. He was pretty naive.

"Let's just say, that it hurt them to piss for quite a while." Sherman half-explained.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kelley didn't get it.

"Venereal disease, Kelly, gonorrhea, the clap. You get it from having relations with women of low repute." Wilson explained.

"Well, dang, that just won't do, Top, I ain't never going to Paris then. My Daisy wouldn't like that no how!" Kelley said.

"Who's Daisy?" Sherman wanted to know.

"Well, she's my gal back home. We're gonna get married some day." Kelley explained.

Before anyone could continue on that topic, 2nd Lt. Stephen Hernandez, commander of 2nd Platoon, walked up with a stack of mail.

"Hey, Woody, pass these out to the headquarters section, there's a couple in there for you I saw. You too, Top." Before Pvt. Kelley could ask, Hernandez continued, "Sorry Private, didn't see your name on any of the letters. I'm sure you'll get something soon."

As Sherman and Kelley went off to distribute the mail, Hernandez held up a letter. "It's from Nate."

Wilson perked up at that, "Have you read it yet, Sir?"

"Yes, seems he's healing up very nicely. So nicely that he's staying in theater. He won't be returning to a combat unit anytime soon, but he's working at First Army HQ." Hernandez explained.

"Damn, too bad he can't go home. First Army, then he won't be far will he?" Wilson wanted to see his old lieutenant, now he might get that chance.

"Nate also says, off the record of course, that we're going back to VII Corps, probably next week." The 1st Infantry Division had been a part of VII Corps since July of '44, then they had been chopped to V Corps when the Germans had attacked in December.

"Geez, L.T., VII to V, back to VII, back to V, then to XVIII Airborne Corps, then to III, now back to VII Corps. Crazy! Probably keeps the paper pushers at HQ busy." Wilson scoffed.

"Well, they need a job too, can't expect them to come out here and fight Krauts, do ya?" Hernandez said with a grin.

"Yes Sir, nasty job shuffling all that paper, but someone's gotta do it!"

Bundesarchiv

Sauer couldn't believe his eyes, it was the Major. Immediately a big grin broke out on his face. The Major was dressed in his best uniform and was talking to an infantryman and one of the tank crewmen.

"Herr Major! How are you, Sir! 5th Company reporting for duty!" Sauer was out of the Kübelwagen even before it had stopped rolling.

Major Jürgen von Lüttwitz, arm no longer in a sling, turned and smiled at Sauer. "It's about time Leutnant, I was expecting you yesterday!"

The men von Lüttwitz had been talking to looked on in wonder as the two men shared a handshake and slapped each other on the shoulder. The tanker had never seen such a thing. Of course, he was a very young Leutnant, he had just turned 19, and this was his first field assignment. He commanded the two Panthers parked at the roadside.

"Manfred, I'd like you to meet Leutnant Ralf Heinrich and Oberfeldwebel Georg Eichmann. Ralf commands these two lovely machines you see behind me, Georg commands two platoons of the 6th Company. All, I might add, that is left of the 6th Company. One hundred good men in a collection of broken down halftracks which his men somehow managed to keep running."

Sauer shook hands with the two men, then the Oberfeldwebel's eyes took on a look of understanding, "Ah, you're that Sauer. The man who crossed France with the Major here."

Sauer blushed, "Well, yes, I am that Sauer. I just followed my leader, nothing more."

"Nonsense Manfred, we did it together, along with five other fine men, all dead now I'm afraid. But we have planning to do, we must be across the Rhine tonight and in Köln by morning. You haven't run afoul of any more Kopfjäger¹ have you Manfred?" How von Lüttwitz knew about that alarmed Sauer, he didn't think the word would spread so fast.

"No Sir, I've been behaving."

"Good, now follow me gentlemen, we have to figure out how to get where the Army wants us. Keller, you old bandit, have the 5th take this road," he pointed to the south, "you'll find a stand of trees where you can hide. Make sure you leave nothing in the open. The Jabos have been busy."

Keller waved to the Major and yelled back, "Very good Herr Major! Do the other pirates know where you are?"

"Most certainly not!"

As the 5th Company sought their bivouac area, the men of 6th Company with the two attached tanks began to cover their vehicles with netting to which they attached branches and other natural matter to break up the outline.

They had just finished when a flight of American B-26 Marauders boomed past over their heads. It was going to be a long day, the sun was shining, the clouds were few and far between.

Though it was beginning to feel like Spring, death still haunted the skies over the front.

¹ Headhunter, a German Army slang term for the SS Feldgendarmerie.

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