Personal Courage in the Battle of the Ardennes

Corporal Allen Heath had never expected this. Of course, none of the men under his command, or any of the men in the 28th Division had been prepared for the new offensive. The Germans had done unsettlingly well so far; able to cause quite a bit of confusion to the Allied forced. Even worse, here he was, stuck in the middle of it.
The 28th division had beaten a strategic retreat, to minimize casualties due to the German advance. However, sadly, he and roughly a company's worth of men, including a few tanks from the 707th Tank Battalion and a battery of guns from the 687th FAB were left at the small village of Wiltz to do their best to slow the German attack.

Orders were to hold the village for as long as possible, or, at least, to inflict some major damage on the advancing Germans. Cpl. Heath and the crew of his Anti-Tank gun were to destroy as many pieces of German armor as they could. The only question was how much of it would there be, and how much infantry would be supporting it. Any good commander knew, from their position in a small front yard in front of a large house was open ground. And support weaponry in open ground (especially field guns) took casualties easily. 

Watching the snowflakes fall upon the barrel of his gun, Heath kept his head low to the ground, those were the newest orders. The entire company was hiding, even the tanks, save for one TD he watched climb a hill to the south. It began to scale the slope, turning 3/4 of the way there to pull in-between a few trees, waiting. 
For a few moments, nothing happened. He could see no movement, hear no sounds, nothing but the occasional explosion far, far away and the sound of his own heart thumping in his chest. He dared not stand up, else reveal the position of the gun to any enemy units, which could prove fatal to him and the entire company. 
Five minutes passed, the only significant change being the movement of twin bazooka teams into patches of woods running along the road leading into Wiltz. He was sure he could have heard the silent sounds of an American platoon upon the southern hill, but did not look. If they were there they were there, and they would help the company however they could. 

Above them, Corporal Pierce adjusted the sights of his sniper rifle, squinting as he looked down the road. Everyone else had to be able to see the Puma; he was only the one who had to do something about it.

"Enemy Puma, coming down the road." Pierce called down to Heath, in a voice loud enough to be heard only by those around him. Heath looked up, nodding his head slowly at Pierce to indicate comprehension. Taking the brim of his helmet in one hand and pulling his head back down to the ground he sighed, saying a silent prayer.
"Here we go..." He muttered under his breath, signaling for his loader to get ready.
The sharp crack of Pierce's rifle split the air, the bullet racing to its target. While there was no audible scream, the clang of the hatch closing echoed throughout the town. From where he was Heath could see that the Puma was at least another 300 meters away, which meant he was not to fire yet. The urge to stand up and give the order to open fire was tempting indeed, but tactics came before impulse.

On the other side of town, a .50 cal roared to life, firing its massive shell at a target unseen to Heath. Somewhere, off in those woods someone was getting a first-hand education in the power of the .50 cal. Heath chuckled under his breath. He hadn't been around many .50 cal guns in his time in the army, but he knew how quickly they tore through German halftracks. 

"Sir! Sir! Look!" His loader tugged at his sleeve, pointing down the road, over a small rise and through some woods. The view was blocked, but the bits and pieces he could see were a dead giveaway. A Panther G was rumbling down the road. Its gun was more than powerful enough to take out him and his entire crew, probably more than enough to cause some major trouble for the rest of the company.

However, lady luck was a fickle mistress. The Panther G could not see them, and, as it turned off road, Pierce's sniper rifle having killed or scared the tank's commander, the M10 upon the hill rumbled to life. It didn't try to zoom down the hill and rush the Panther, there was most certainly other pieces of armor just waiting for the Americans to try a move that dumb. 

However, the M10 didn't try anything daring or stupid, it rolled out of its position slowly, stopping just behind a patch of woods. Its barrel turned slowly, lining up the suddenly exposed flank of the Panther G. A tongue of fire shot forth from the muzzle of the TD as it fired, its round slamming into the side of the Panther, eliminating it. Within the next two minutes the M10 methodically fired twice more, taking out the Puma that was sitting on the road and a StuH that had gone off road. Sadly, the cover it had did not prove to be quite effective enough, a round from another unseen piece of armor destroying it.

Heath smiled to himself. Based on the intelligence he had gotten, the M10 hadn't broken the back of the advancing armor column, but they surely would be more careful now.

The southernmost road into town was becoming a killing box now, or at least Heath figured that it was. Between the whistle of falling artillery shells, the near non-stop rattle of machine guns and the occasional shot from one of their two Sherman's, the Germans there were having one of the worst days of their lives. It seemed that on his side of town however, the loss of few pieces of armor and the constant sniping of Cpl. Pierce had made them quite cautious. 

"Do you see anything else?" Heath called up to the sniper over the din of gunfire and explosions. 

"I'm not sure..." Pierce called back, beginning to sight another target and then lowering his rifle. "I've got what looks to be another two pieces of armor, maybe three. But I have no idea what they are!"

He stopped speaking for a moment, raising his rifle and firing again. Heath could hear him curse; meaning the round must not have hit its preferred target. 
"Another Puma!" Pierce pointed to the road where the speeded armored car could be seen taking the turn quickly, barreling down the road at them. 

The decision had to be instant, Heath's mind working furiously. If they popped up they revealed their position, and that didn't even mean they'd be able to kill the Puma. There was more than a small chance it might fire first, and leave the (sometimes) woefully inaccurate bazookas to stop and further armored units from advancing. However, if they stayed hidden, they might be sighted anyway. Taking one last lingering glance at the Puma, Heath noticed that no commanders' head was poking out the top. If it was still buttoned, they could risk it.

"Everybody get down, stay hidden!" Heath yelled to his crew, silently praying that his judgment was good. 

Fortunately for Cpl. Heath, his judgment was sound. The Puma never unbuttoned, never even came very far down the road. In an apparent attempt to relieve the pressure being put upon the infantry to the south, it turned off road, climbing the hill directly in front of Heath and his gun. The Puma never came closer than 200 meters. Now, the only decision was, should he fire upon it?
No sooner had that thought passed through his mind than the sound of metal being penetrated by metal rang out, the crew piling out of its stricken vehicle. Almost instantly, Heath knew what had happened. From the view he could see, the Puma had made the mistake of turning its rear to the town. The .50 cal had pounced upon the opportunity, rendering the vehicle useless immediately. 

The battle raged on now, much of the fire now concentrated in the south or going over Heath's head, aimed towards a church on the south side of town where a few machine guns had been placed. In a certain way, he began to feel impatient. No one wanted to die in war, and the best strategy was to attempt to defeat the enemy without fighting at all. But, at the same time, he wanted some action.

Pierce's rifle cracked again, much to Heath's surprise. He though Pierce would have been out of ammo by this point. However, when Pierce called down to him, his voice was urgent, almost scared.

"You've got company Al! I see a Hetzer coming straight down the road, and this one doesn't look like she'll be going off road." Pierce pointed to the rumbling mass of metal approaching Heath and his gun. Pierce was right, this one showed no signs of turning, but, from what Heath could tell, it had no idea that he even existed, like the Puma. 

"There's a StuH and two halftracks coming around the corner also!" Pierce continued. "I've put the commanders down or scared them at least, you've got to finish it!"
Heath nodded, quickly relaying the information to his crew. His loader informed him that their job might be made moot if the three bazookas hiding in the forests could render the vehicles useless. Bolstered by this knowledge, Heath kept his men and his gun hidden, waiting for the Hetzer to move into a perfect firing position, or simply to be blown away.

The bazooka teams in the woods did pop up, and they did fire. However, their rounds hit only the ground, each one of the crews being pinned or killed by massed gunfire or HE rounds. The Hetzer continued its advance, seeming to disregard the bazookas entirely.

Finally, it stopped, no more than 50 meters away from Heath and his crew. Looking into the village, trying to find a firing spot with which to it could kill the machine gunners, the Hetzer turned its flank to the 57mm gun, lining up its gun for a shot. It still had not noticed Heath and his men. 

For what seemed like ages but was only a few seconds of what seemed like stunned silence, Heath and his men stared at the Hetzer, unbelieving. Here was a perfect shot on the Tank Hunter, the chances of missing pathetic at that range. 

Shaking his head, Heath immediately began to give out orders. Within seconds, the crew had unhidden from their position, loaded an AP round into the gun, and lined up a near perfect shot. Giving the firing cord a sharp tug, Heath watched with glee as the round rocketed into the side of the Hetzer. Immediately, its gun tilted downwards and the engine stopped running, a sure sign of a kill. 

Within seconds the gun was loaded again, and being wheeled to face the camouflaged hull of a StuH Assault Howitzer. It showed no knowledge of the guns existence either, continuing to attempt to pump rounds into the far off church. Thanks to Pierce, it had been buttoned, and had no idea of the fate that awaited it.

With a loud blast, the gun roared to life a second time, the AP round penetrating the front of the StuH's armor, destroying it also. Heath made a mental note to himself to thank Pierce profusely at the end of the battle for having made his job so much easier, and so much safer.

"Good shot sir!" His loader smiled to him, placing another round inside the barrel of the gun. "But we've got one more left."

The loader was right. For, just beyond the StuH was the hull of a Halftrack, also trying to suppress as many men as possible with its forward mounted machine gun. From engine noise alone, Heath could tell there was another Halftrack somewhere near it, one he couldn't see, but, for now, it didn't matter. The gun wheeled again, lining up its new target and firing again, shooting an AP round at the doomed halftrack at speeds in upwards of 800 meters per second. 

The round easily destroyed the halftrack, a bazooka hidden in the thick of the woods firing taking out the second halftrack invisible to Heath's eyes. 
Heath and his cheer let out a whoop, looking about for new targets to fire at but finding none. Heath could hear Pierce's voice calling down from above, happy and joyful.
"Good shooting Heath! That's the last of them. I don't see another single piece of armor coming this way." Pierce was visibly relieved, for, if found, as a sniper he would have been killed.

The Germans seemed to lose their edge after losing their last three most important pieces of armor. The final last push of their infantry was lackluster at best; men retreating quickly as two Sherman's unveiled themselves, putting extra pressure on the soldiers. Heath however, checking his watch realized that he and his crew had racked up their three critical kills in less then 40 seconds.

Of course, so had Lt. Falletti, the commander of the platoon Heath had been attached to. Because of the destruction of the M10, the Americans did not have nearly enough firepower to stop the remaining pieces of armor, and, had they advanced past the bazookas without damage, might have caused great casualties among the soldiers, since no men in the company had a single rifle grenade. Immediately after the battle of Wiltz, Falletti put in the paperwork for Heath to receive an immediate promotion to head up his own company of support weapons. 

Thanks for reading, I hope there will be more soon. 
Predator