Lieutenant Flick peered nervously into the darkness ahead, his first mission in charge and at last a chance to show his men and himself what he was made of. Lt. Gruber had been covering himself in glory but had been captured attempting the very same mission that lay in front of Flick. With Sgft. Klinkerhoffen injured Flick had chosen Sgt Strohm to accompany him along with the experienced Schafer, Geerhart & Grosse.
The position looked lightly defended so the enemy had surely lowered his guard after the failed attack by Gruber, this bodied well for Flick. His plan was to make a bold advance with Strohm advancing from a different direction whilst the rest of the men provided covering fire. Once the firing started he would make straight for the gun whatever the risk.
He crept forwards and had reached the edge of the enemy lines undetected when Strohm encountered an enemy dog patrol. Strohm did not hesitate to open fire and two quick bursts of fire cut the enemy down. As Flick took cover behind some boxes the enemy started to respond to the automatic gun fire and actively look for targets.
Tense moments passed and Strohm was joined by the machine gun fire of Geerhart in engaging the enemy as they appeared near the target gun. This had the effect of drawing the enemy across Flick's position and eyes off of him. Schafer also joined in the fun with a single shot ringing out in the darkness to fell the defenders leading officer.
Spotting his chance Flick leapt forwards and in one well practiced motion placed the timed charge and kept moving. His actions drew some fire from the enemy but darting from cover to cover he evaded their attentions and kept moving back towards safety.
Flush with success Flick signalled his men to retreat and with a few shots fired to keep the defenders heads down they retreated into the night just as the charge detonated and the A/T gun was put out of action.
With this mission complete the road to Benghazi became less defended and the attack more likely to succeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment