On the Run

Pzkw III in North Arica
(Source)

Panzer 413 was stopped, taking on fuel. Willi Hoffmeister watched as the Sanitäter cleaned, then bandaged Neuhäuser's wound, a long gash on his right forearm. Apparently the hit from the attacking British aircraft had been a one in a million shot. The round had found the seam of the radio operator's side vision port, forced it open and drove a long splinter of steel from that port into Neuhäuser's forearm.

At first Hoffmeister had been livid, this was why he had his crew buttoned up so that stray crap from outside of the vehicle would stay outside of the vehicle. Then he had checked that vision port, it had been closed and he saw where a round from the Blenheim had scored a semi-lucky hit. Semi-lucky because a lucky hit could have done more damage to the Panzer than just gashing Neuhäuser's arm open.

Neuhäuser shook his head as the Sani finished up, "Sorry, Willi, I thought the damn thing was closed."

"It was Junge, bad luck, that's all. A round forced the port open and you caught a splinter from it."

Looking at the Sani, Willi asked, "Is he going to be okay?"

The Sani nodded, then said, "The gash is fairly deep, I'd say go see the battalion surgeon, but ..."

"Ja, we're on the move, there will be time enough to get it checked when, and if, the British decide to make a stand somewhere between here and Tobruk."

"All right, let's mount up, no ammo on this stop but I think we're okay." Willi said, glancing at Krebs and Schumacher.

"We're good, I think. I'd like to grab a few more armor-piercing rounds, but we have enough for now." Krebs answered, a nod from Schumacher indicated that the loader was good with what they had, for now.

As they mounted up, the company commander's Panzer moved out. Time to chase the Brits all the way back to Cairo. So Willi hoped.

O'Connell was concerned, the odd rattling noise from their left track was getting worse. They'd noticed it shortly after falling back from the ridge some hours ago. At first it had been nearly indiscernible from the regular noise the tracks made, but Caddick, the driver, said it felt odd to him, the left side of the tank felt "wobbly," as he put it.

Eventually O'Connell decide to have Caddick pull over to the side of the rough desert track thy were following. He got on the company net and informed their C.O. that he needed to stop, the tank was, as he put it, acting "wonky." If possible he would repair whatever was wrong and continue on when he could.

Captain Gordon came back immediately, "Make if quick Teddy, the Huns aren't that far behind us. Have the remainder of your platoon carry on. Sorry to leave you alone old chap, but needs of the service and all that."

O'Connell acknowledged, then the crew dismounted. Caddick immediately found the problem, one of the road wheels had somehow become loose, one of the bolts holding it on was sheered off, another was missing the nut, a third was loose.

Crusader road wheels
(Source)

O'Connell began to speak, "How the Hell ..." then he remembered. They had had an artillery shell land very close by, it had shaken the vehicle like a terrier shakes a rat. Apparently it had damaged the bolts on this one wheel, the second one from the bow.

Fitzhugh went back to the toolbox and grabbed a wrench, speaking to Caddick, he said, "I'll pull a nut from two of the other wheels. At least then we'll have most of that wheel tightened down. Missing one shouldn't bother the other two, at least until we can get to the repair gang."

O'Connell nodded, things could have been worse, could've busted a track pin, or an entire link. Pins they had, spare links as well, but that repair would have taken time, they expected the Germans to come up the track any minute. Then they'd go into the bag.

"Get it done, we need to scarper.¹" O'Connell ordered.

Hoffmeister swore loudly after listening to the battalion commander finish what he had to say over the net.

"Was ist los?²" Krebs asked, looking back at Hoffmeister from his gunner's position.³

"The f**king Italians have stopped, they refuse to go forward until they get new orders from Rome. Rommel wants to push forward, so ..."

"We keep rolling." Weber called from is driver's position.

"Ja, weiter machen!⁴"

"Shit, shit, shit." Caddick was screaming in frustration as he tried to get the engine to start. It would turn over, then stop. Eventually it wouldn't even turn over.

O'Connell said, "Calm yourself, laddie. Let it settle, you might have flooded it."

As they waited, O'Connell looked back down the track, towards the enemy. Damn it, a dust cloud, the buggers were coming on quickly.

"Let's get the turret around to the rear, something's coming. Make sure we've got one up the spout, Fitzie."

"AP is loaded, Will has another in hand."

"Fire when the bastards come into view, odds are better than even that it'll be Jerries in the lead."

Panzer 413 came up over a slight rise and Hoffmeister looked past the vehicle ahead of them, and there was a Panzer sitting beside the track. It was a Brit, it had to be, and the turret was slewed in their direction.

"Halt, target front, Panzer, range fifty meters!"

Krebs got the shot off, but it went high. At nearly the same instant 413 fired, the British Crusader fired as well. It's shot was true, the Panzer to their front, Hans Becker and crew, slewed to the left and halted. Hoffmeister dropped down into his hatch, a sick feeling deep in the pit of his stomach, he could see Becker draped over the side of his turret. Then his view was obscured as the turret of Becker's vehicle blew skyward as the ammunition cooked off.

O'Connell try to stay calm over the intercom when he saw another German tank behind the one they had just killed. "Fitzie, do you have him?"

"On him, shot out!" The gun fired at the same time as the engine roared to life as Caddick finally got the engine started. Unfortunately, the tank had lurched forward at the same time as the gun fired, Caddick's foot wasn't really holding the clutch down. Fitzhugh saw that his shot had gone low as the barrel had dropped.

"Shit, I think I hit him in the track! Willie are we back up?"

"Round up!" O'Shea called out.

"Alan, get us the hell out of here, keep to your right, I want to keep that dead tank between us and the live one!" O'Connell ordered.

"Target obscured!" Fitzhugh bellowed.

"I know, I know, keep the gun laid in that direction, if you can see the enemy crate, fire at will!"

"Gottverdammt!" Weber yelled over the intercom, "We're not moving, I think we lost a track."

Hoffmeister was watching through his periscope, Becker's burning tank obscured him from the Brit. "Hold here, if the Brit shows himself, kill him."

"Jawohl!"

O'Connell and his crew made it to the British night position outside of Beda Finn shortly after dusk. Hoffmeister and his crew spent the remainder of the daylight hours fixing their broken track. They were able to cannibalize the wreck of Becker's Panzer after the fires had died down. Track repaired, they were ready to roll about the same time as O'Connell returned to friendly lines.

Just another day in the North African desert.

¹ Flee, run away, British slang.

² What's going on?

³ Which is on the left side of the turret in this model of tank. Loader sits on the right, which is opposite from the crew positions in a Sherman. For those who watched the movie "Fury." And if you haven't, why not?

⁴ Yes, we keep going.