Episode 9: The Battle of Arras (2)
The sudden barrage fortunately fell wide of the mark, failing to inflict any significant damage on our forces.
Orders came down to leave the handling of the prisoners to the infantry and for the armored column to continue advancing.
As we advanced beyond the village, a wide-open plain soon came into view.
"Company, forward!"
Soon, the tanks rumbled ahead, leaving long, caterpillar-shaped tracks on the ground.
Dozens of tanks advancing in formation was truly a sight to behold.
But my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it would burst at any moment.
I looked around for somewhere to take cover in an emergency.
Fortunately, a small forest was visible not too far away.
If things turned south, I would have to bolt for that place immediately.
Just in case, I informed Adam of my plan as well.
"Hey, Adam! You listening?"
"Yes, Lieutenant! I'm listening."
"Listen carefully to what I'm about to say. You see that forest to the left?"
"Yes, I see it!"
"Good. When I give the order later, you go straight there! Got it?"
"Sir? But isn't that a different direction from where we're headed?"
"You bastard, when I tell you to do something, you say 'Yes, sir!' This is all so we can survive—"
Before I could even finish, the German attack began.
German tanks appeared roughly 500 meters away, spotted our forces, and began charging while firing.
The German tanks that appeared were Panzer IIs, Panzer IIIs, and Czech-made Panzer 35(t) and 38(t) tanks—opponents that the machine-gun-armed Matilda Is and Mk.VIs stood no chance against.
Soon, the lead Matilda II tanks responded to the enemy attack and launched their counterattack.
The Germans had opened fire first and attacked with great momentum, but none of their attacks could penetrate the heavy armor of the Matildas.
Deflecting the German shells one after another as they advanced, the Matilda tanks calmly rotated their turrets and engaged the enemies one by one.
A Matilda that had just been fired upon by a 37mm shell immediately counterattacked, slamming a solid 40mm armor-piercing round into the front of a Panzer III.
As steel clashed with steel, a thunderous explosion roared out amidst the deafening din.
Sparks seemed to fly from the engine of the tank whose front armor had been penetrated, and soon fierce flames erupted.
"That's a kill!"
"I know, damn it!"
Every time an enemy tank burst into flames, Adam would shout as if he himself had destroyed it, overjoyed.
I remained still aside from occasionally firing at enemy tankers escaping from the burning wrecks.
It wasn't really our place to intervene, and I needed to conserve ammunition in preparation for close-quarters combat with enemy infantry.
Thanks to the heroic performance of the Matilda II tanks, nearly half of the German tanks were destroyed within ten-odd minutes.
Realizing they were at a disadvantage, the German tanks broke off combat and began withdrawing en masse.
Seeing this, our tanks sensed victory and began pursuing the retreating enemy.
"They're running! Forward! Company, advance!"
"Damn it, forward!"
At the company commander's order, I gritted my teeth and gave the order to advance.
However, I told Adam not to get too far ahead and to move at a moderate, slow pace.
I had absolutely no desire to be at the very front of the formation and be the first to take enemy fire.
"Don't stop, the enemy is right in front of us!"
On the other hand, Captain Harrison—who knew nothing of my feelings, though it wouldn't have changed anything even if he had—shouted repeatedly for us to advance.
His own tank was at the head of the company.
One brave Panzer 35(t) hid behind a destroyed tank, approached a nearby Matilda II, and slammed a shell into its side.
But despite scoring a precise hit on the side, the Matilda was unharmed.
Then, in astonishment, it drove an armor-piercing round into the retreating 35(t)'s turret.
The turret shook, and black smoke gushed from the hatch.
Then another German tank took a shell to its side and burst into flames.
German tankers leaping from the burning tank were busy fleeing, trying to avoid the machine-gun fire from our tanks.
The Germans were busy escaping, leaving behind dozens of wrecks, and our forces, hot on their heels so as not to let them get away, soon found themselves confronting the German defensive line.
The first thing to greet our tanks was the PaK 36, with its pathetic penetrating power.
The PaK 36 could penetrate 64mm at best from 100 meters—it was nearly impossible for it to stop the charging Matilda IIs at the head of our column.
Over ten shells flew almost simultaneously, but not a single one penetrated our tanks' armor; they all bounced off.
The deflected shells buried themselves in the ground or sliced through the air, flying off somewhere.
The radio net was filled with voices mocking the Germans' wretched anti-tank gun.
"Those idiots, trying to fight us with such weapons."
"You bastards. Are they knocking?"
But it took less than ten minutes for the laughter and mockery to turn into terror and screams.
***
Ignoring the incoming shells, our charging forces reached the German anti-tank gun positions.
As our tanks approached, the Germans abandoned their anti-tank guns and fled.
Seeing the fleeing enemy, our troops cheered and gleefully raked them with coaxial machine guns.
Just when everyone was certain of victory, one Matilda that had been rotating in place to crush a PaK 36 suddenly stopped dead with a thunderous roar.
Soon, a sound like a torch igniting was heard, and a pillar of fire shot out of the hatch.
Then another Matilda was hit by an enemy shell and turned into a ball of fire.
Tankers with flames on their bodies screamed as they jumped from the tanks.
They rolled on the ground trying to extinguish the flames engulfing their bodies, but the fire would not go out easily.
"Adam! Reverse! Right now! Hurry!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
So they've finally shown up, damn it.
I instinctively knew what had taken out the two Matildas.
Sure enough, obscured by trees in the distance, I could faintly make out long gun barrels and square gun shields.
The famous all-purpose gun that anyone who knew anything knew about—the German 88mm anti-aircraft gun.
Having seen the Matildas, which had been effortlessly deflecting enemy shells until now, destroyed in a single hit, our forces panicked.
Even as that happened, the 88mm relentlessly spat fire.
Every time the 88mm fired, our tanks were smashed to pieces.
Our radio net plunged into chaos instantly.
"What the hell is that monster?"
"Retreat, retreat!"
"You bastards, the enemy's right in front of us, where do you think you're retreating to? Advance!"
Voices screaming to retreat in panic tangled with orders shouting to advance.
In the meantime, another Matilda stopped as its turret split in half.
The driver opened the hatch and tried to get out, only to be engulfed in flames and scream.
"Adam! Left! Move right now!"
Putting the screams and chaos of our forces behind me, I drove the tank straight toward the woods I had marked in advance.
First, I had to get out of the enemy's kill zone.
Then I radioed the tanks under my command and ordered them to take cover.
But...
"Stork 2, Stork 4, respond immediately!"
There was no answer from the radio.
"Stork 2, Stork 4! Respond!"
Flustered, I wondered if there was something wrong with the radio and checked it.
There was nothing wrong with the radio.
Which meant...
"Don't tell me they're already dead?"
With no word from my platoon members, I switched the radio channel.
Soon, Captain Harrison's urgent cry came through.
"Company, withdraw! Withdraw!"
The retreat order came down belatedly.
But at this snail's pace, it would take quite some time to reach the forest.
The battle had already transformed into a one-sided massacre by the 88mm, and the radio net was filled with screams.
From tank commanders urgently shouting to reverse, to someone's desperate, harrowing screams.
I couldn't bear to keep listening and turned off the radio.
To make matters worse, a "true reaper" appeared above our forces, who were being one-sidedly slaughtered like rabbits caught in a trap under the furious barrage of the 88mm.
"It's a Stuka!"
It was the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber, the pride of the German Luftwaffe.
Its unique, eerie siren immediately revealed its presence.
Soon, the sight of two Matilda Is to the right being thrown into the air and blown to pieces came into view.
They had been hit by bombs dropped by the Stuka.
Having blasted two tanks with a single attack, the Stuka climbed back into the air and looked around for its next target.
"Adam! Hide behind our tanks' wrecks!"
I immediately ordered Adam to take cover behind destroyed tanks.
First and foremost, it was important to deceive that monster's eyes.
With the flames and smoke billowing from the wrecks, one might mistake our tank for another wreck if they didn't look closely.
As a bonus, it would also keep us safe from the 88mm's fire coming from the front.
Fortunately, the German pilot didn't seem to notice my shallow trick.
After confirming the Stuka had flown off to find other prey, I gave the order to advance again.
Now, only about 100 meters remained to the targeted woods.
"Hey, can't you go any faster?"
"It's impossible! This is top speed!"
Even though we were moving at full speed, this damned tank was terribly slow.
I was starting to think it would be better to abandon the tank and run for it.
"Fuck, moving this slow... whoa!"
*Bam!*
As if the slowness alone wasn't enough to make my blood boil, to top it off, I collided with another tank that was reversing in a hurry.
It was absolutely maddening.
"Ugh!"
The sound of the chunks of metal colliding was terrible, but the impact caused me to hit my temple against the edge of the hatch.
Fortunately, I wasn't bleeding, but my head hurt like hell.
It felt like my skull might have cracked.
"Damn it... check your surroundings before you move...!"
The other tank involved in the collision also belatedly realized there was a friendly behind it and tried to pull forward slightly.
"Uwaah!"
Just then, a shell flew in and struck the turret directly.
The tank, hit directly in the turret by an 88mm armor-piercing round, was blown to pieces with a thunderous roar, scattering fragments in all directions.
Some of them poured into the hatch; if I hadn't been wearing a beret, I would have been in serious trouble if I'd been bare-headed.
Fortunately, aside from a few scrapes and some fine dust getting inside my uniform, I was unharmed.
"Lieutenant, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, so just drive the damn tank properly!"
Passing the burning tank, we finally entered the woods.
"Fucking bastards. Would it kill them to just let us go?"
In truth, they were just doing their jobs, but from where I stood, I didn't have the luxury to worry about such things.
At that moment, a shell grazed past the side of our tank.
Instinctively, I knew the shell had been aimed at the tank I was riding in.
It felt like every hair on my body was standing on end.
"Keep going, keep going!"
I urged Adam deeper into the woods.
Fortunately, no more shells came flying.
The enemy must have judged that hunting the tanks strewn across the open field was better than targeting a tank hidden among the trees of the forest.
Even after quite some time had passed since entering the woods, the sound of artillery fire continued unabated.
I turned my head and saw dozens of black columns of smoke rising from the plain.
In my eyes, they looked like crosses densely packed in a communal graveyard.