Crusader (A Novel of WWII Tank Warfare), Jack Murray [top romance novels .txt] 📗

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The sound of gunfire grew louder. Aston looked through hisbinoculars and could see dust in the very far distance. He put the binocularsdown and looked at the forty millimetre gun of the Crusader tank. Right now itfelt like they were going into battle armed with a pop gun. His guts churned atthe prospect of encountering the big eighty-eight millimetre guns and possiblyeven Panzer Mark IIIs. He felt like praying. He tried to remember somelong-forgotten prayers.

Then he heard a voice from below.

‘Getting closer, sir.’

Damn right they were getting closer. How he wished he could join Longworthat the squadron headquarters a mile back. At least Lister was with them at thefront. He’d give the colonel that. Just as this thought entered his head, heheard Lister’ voice crackle on the radio.

The damn fool was urging them to go forward. He felt like pointingout that certain death lay ahead. A glance down to the driver. He didn’t haveto tell his driver to slow down and make sure they weren’t leading the charge.Best to let some other damn fool do that. Then he could come charging in at theend roaring his head off and waving his proverbial sword about. That kind ofbluff nonsense had become his stock-in-trade. A few near-the-knuckle jokes andkick a nearby dead Nazi. Always worked.

The thought of  Operation Battleaxe in early summer, the previousfailed attempt at relieving Tobruk, was now on Aston’s mind. It was the firsttime they’d had to deal with Rommel rather than a bunch of untrained andill-equipped Italians. Rommel had kicked their arse then and there was noreason to think him incapable of doing so again. He’d survived that lot but sawa lot of men die in agony.

On the other side of the escarpment was the Sidi Rezegh mosque,the tomb of an Arab saint. Age and war had heavily damaged the structure.Edmund Aston was sure of one thing. He would not be a martyr and he wascertainly no saint.

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The lead tanks were now nearing the top of the ridge leading downto a valley which would give them control of the Trigh Capuzzo road. However,it was plain that the Germans were dug in. The prize lay behind this screen, ElDuda. Once they took El Duda it was but a matter of miles to Tobruk. Just aheadof the tanks, the British infantry were attempting to overrun these positions.The tanks at the front seemed to halt, slowing everything down behind.

Turner’s voice came over the radio loud and clear. His tank wasout in front and had a view of the one hundred yard wide slope that led downinto the valley.

‘I’m through the smoke screen. Lots of enemy positions front and left.Small arms. All dug in by the looks of things.’

Danny watched as the 7th Support group infantry inchedcloser to the German positions. The tanks moved forward with them in leapfrogfashion. The German weapons were doing no damage to the tank, but Dannysuspected it was a different story outside the safety of his metal cocoon. Atmidday Danny heard the voice of Lister on the wireless.

‘Campbell and the 7th Support Group have taken theescarpment. We’re to go over and down into the valley.’ The anxiety in hisvoice clear. He knew that his men were probably going to face an anti-tank barrage;probably from eight-eights. Danny recognised the sound all too well. It hauntedhim. It probably haunted all of them.

Reed picked up his microphone and waited for Aston or Laing torespond. Silence.

‘Hello all stations,’ responded Lister. ‘Drivers advance.’

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Captain Arthur Crickmay stood with Brigadier Davy observing thescene. Crickmay wondered what must be going through his commander’s mind. He’dgiven the order to push ahead towards the meeting point at el Duda. It wouldrequire them to race across an open plain for a couple of miles in the face ofintense enemy gunfire. He didn’t envy his comrades in the 6th RTR.

Accompanying the tanks, Crickmay could see the infantry trucks andartillery. It was magnificent and terrifying. He didn’t know how many guns theyfaced, but the enemy had time to get their sights and distance. Surely such aconcentration of armour and men could break through. And they had Jock Campbellleading them. Crickmay dared to hope.

A flurry of explosions crunched around the advancing armour. The sickeningrealisation hit Crickmay that the big guns of the Germans were beginning tofind their range. And then he saw one tank stop suddenly. He saw the smokebillowing from its hatches. Then another.

And then another.

Yet still they drove forward. Mad. Courage indescribable,unquantifiable. He felt a sense of wonder at the unfolding nobility revealed inthe red-raw rush towards the enemy. One by one he saw the tanks give themselvesup to the unforgiving cruelty of the desert.

 20

Forty Kilometres south east of Sidi Rezegh airfield, Libya, November 21st,1941

The 15th and the 21st Panzer divisions swepttowards the Sidi Rezegh airfield at twenty kilometres per hour. Manfred feltenergised despite the lack of sleep. The first day had gone well and he wasalmost jubilant that he’d performed well. Tougher days would follow. That wasfor the future. Now, he felt closer to being accepted by the tank crew aroundhim.

Another reason for his air of confidence was the realisation thatthey were going to attack the airfield in force. They had infantry, artillery,anti-tank guns and around two hundred tanks. Superior tanks. Everything he had heardfrom the others suggested they were better inside a Panzer III than any Alliedtank. The enemy would be caught between the Axis forces on the perimeter ofTobruk and the Panzer groups, moving towards them from the south east.

What was happening behind did not worry him although he could hearfrom Overath’s brief conversations on the radio that he was worried about thepresence of the British they had beaten back the previous day coming back tore-engage them on their flank. This would present a major problem if they wereattacking the army holding the Sidi Rezegh airfield. At best, it would become somethingof a jumble. At worst, it could inflict untold damage to the tanks which were afinite resource for the Axis forces. An hour after their departure from GabrSaleh, Overath’s voice came over the