Tiger Heat: German Panzers on the Eastern Front

As the Germany infantry entered the village, they immediately fanned out and began to search for any hidden Red Army soldiers. It was not too long before small arms fire could be heard as Red Amy soldiers were located and shot. There would be numerous Red Army soldiers hiding in cellars or in the shattered ruins of a building. Not wanting fight and much rather be captured by the Germans. Any that did surrender were captured and would be used as slave labour. The artillery bombardment had pretty much stopped for now. The odd shell still dropping close to the village. The Red Army seemed to almost be avoiding any further damage to their precious village.

It took a further hour for the infantry to sweep the village and root out all the Red Army, in the process taking around one hundred prisoners. Corpses of dead civilians still lay in the street in an advanced state of decomposition. Abandoned weapons and Red Army trucks were found in at the centre of the village. This almost seemed like the lull before the storm. Resistance had been far too light and not one piece of enemy armour in sight.

A pair of Ilyushins appeared at low level racing towards the village. As they got close, they fired their cannons their rounds bouncing off buildings in a flurry of small sparks. The Germans currently had no flak cover and all they could do was find cover and wait for the Ilyushins to run out of ammunition. The King Tigers moved themselves close to a couple of buildings after four passes and their ammunition spent the Ilyushins broke off and headed for home. Other than a few dead infantry soldiers, they had not hit a King tiger or caused any significant damage. The village had been taken had been a small but insignificant success for the Germans.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN – Last Stand

The commander stood up in his cupola to see better, as the column of King Tigers with two Panthers and a Jagdpanther following. The Jagdpanther was based on the chassis of the Panther tank with the powerful 8.8 cm PaK 43 cannon of the King Tiger. It entered service late in 1944 and saw service in both the Eastern and Western Fronts.

As the tank column got close, the town looked very peaceful. However, in the streets and in the gardens, was the bodies of soldiers and civilians. This town had seen some fierce fighting like so many others. Bodily fluids were leaching out and almost eating into the roughly paved streets and roads. The stench was horrific, almost bringing water to the crew’s eyes. The smell of rotting garbage was like a fine perfume in comparison.

The King Tigers positioned themselves on the main road through the town. German infantry was spreading through the town undertaking house by house clearance even if it meant burning a building down to the ground some unrecognisable as ever having been human. Any bodies of Red Army soldiers were turned over prodded. If there was any thought that, they were still alive. They were hit hard in the head a few times with their rifle butts in order to save precious ammunition. Many of the Town’s occupants were still trying to flee the raging war that had been brought to their doorstep. Carts were loaded up with belongings and people, others had their entire life on their backs.

The King Tigers continued to move cautiously up the road passing burning buildings and the odd body crunching underneath its wide tracks. The usual artillery bombardment erupted into life. Shells began to drop onto the street with pin point accuracy, the King Tigers picked up speed and the gap between them grew wider to aid in avowing one shell taking out several King Tigers in one go. Parts of the street and bodies were thrown high up into the air and rained back down on the Tanks with each explosion. German infantry was also caught up in the deadly blast killing and maiming many that had not been able to seek cover quick enough. The explosions shattered any glass remaining in the windows. The street was soon clear of any life other than the King Tigers. The two Panthers and the Jagdpanther had taken a different route around the perimeter and had been spared from the artillery bombardment for now. The flashes of light from the exploding shells was almost blinding for the driver as he peered out through his narrow slit trying to navigate around the craters left by the artillery shells.

Any cars that had remained intact on the street were now twisted burning metal. The King Tigers ploughed on through the explosions as they burst in multiples at the front rear and sides of the King Tigers. As the Tigers got towards the end of the main road through the Town – Kruger the Commander of the lead tank could see the Red Army infantry fleeing from the edge of the town as the artillery bombardment continued.