Across the Weser

Crossing the Weser River at Beverungen
(Source)

1st Lt. Stephen Hernandez' 2nd Platoon was once again riding the tanks of S/Sgt Woodstock's 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 745th Tank Battalion. They'd volunteered to give up their halftracks as Hernandez and his men liked working with Woodstock's tankers. Cpt. Tony Palminteri approved it immediately because, as he told their battalion commander, Maj.  Alphonse Josephson, "The two groups work really well together."

Sgt. Otto Walls' tank, 'The Wall,' was in the lead as the column rolled onto the pontoon bridge. Standing behind Walls' turret, Sgt. Enrique Cruz pointed to the tank ahead of them, "What the Hell is that? Some captured Kraut tank, thing looks as big as a Tiger."

"Nah, that's one of the new M26s, they call 'em 'Pershings' after that World War I general. Thing's got a long 90 mm gun and it weighs 46 tons. Look how low the bridge is under that beast. Love to face the Krauts in one of those."

Cruz looked around at his squad, riding the back deck of The Wall. The weather was beautiful and they hadn't seen a Kraut since Rüthen. VII Corps had redirected them from pressing against the eastern side of the Ruhr Pocket to pursuing the retreating Germans to the east. Another pocket was starting to form around the Harz Mountain region. Which didn't please anyone in the outfit. Earlier that day, when they'd been briefed on their destination, some of the men immediately began complaining.

"Wonderful, more f**king mountains, more f**king trees." Pfc. Chris McWhorter had joined the unit just before the bloodbath in the Hürtgen. He'd been a green kid back then, now after all he'd seen, he was ready to have the war end. He actually had hopes of making it home.

"Don't sweat it Chris," Sgt. Gammell remembered when McWhorter had joined the unit. The guy had actually introduced himself and Gammell had essentially told him to piss off. They'd both been privates back then, now Gammell was a sergeant.

"Krauts are on the run, that SS guy we killed in Rüthen was one of the diehards, now we're chasing down boys and old men. Keep your head down, listen to Sgt. Katz and you'll live. But yeah, I grew up in the mountains and the forest and I'd rather avoid fighting in those again for the rest of my life."

Now the unit was crossing the Weser River just to the east of the German town of Beverungen. The sun was shining, the birds were singing (not that you could hear them over the sound of the tank engines), and the water reflected the sun in a pleasing way. The men could sense that the war was almost over, they now had hopes of surviving, which made their leaders nervous.

Yellow dot indicates where 2nd Platoon met the sniper,
now the division (yellow square) had moved roughly 30 miles to the east.
(Source)

Before the move Cpt. Palminteri had warned his platoon leaders and their sergeants about letting the men get too cautious. "While being careful is good, taking cover every time they hear a shot is going to prolong the war. Emphasize to your men that the quickest way to finish this war is to defeat the Germans, most of the Krauts want to quit, but there will be some, like we saw in Rüthen, who'll fight to the death. Kill them, if we're playing duck and cover, that diehard will, sure as shit, kill one of our guys. Can't let up now. Press the sumbitches!"

1st Lt. Hernandez, riding S/Sgt Woodstock's tank, had his map out and was comparing it to the surrounding terrain, looking up, he saw the vista of the Harz Mountains spread before him.

"Damn, I sure hope the Krauts don't plan on fighting for that." He had to shout so that Woodstock could hear him.

"I get that L.T., tankers don't like mountains, and those trees will hide a Hell of a lotta Krauts. Let's hope the f**kers quit when we show up."

"Amen."

Looking towards the Harz Mountains, east of Beverungen
(Source)

There are 31 days remaining until the official surrender of the Third Reich.¹

¹ In reality, the Germans signed an instrument of surrender in Rheims, France on the 7th of May. The Germans surrendered unconditionally and the surrender applied to those German forces fighting on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. However, as the Soviets weren't represented, the Germans surrendered again, on the 8th of May in Berlin. Worth noting is that German forces in Bavaria and Southwestern Germany surrendered on the 5th of May.

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