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No.4450
£1.50
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Fokker D XXIII
2/11/11
Normally if you put twin engines on an drag so much that aircraft, you increa you se the power. Unless, of cou don’t get the full benefit of the ext ra rse , you stick one behind clever idea but can the other. It’s a , as the designers of this Fokker found lead to cooling pro ble out, to sort those out, eithms for the rear engine. They didn’t get time Netherlands brough er, for the German invasion of the t work to a halt.
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LITZKRIEG WAS WHAT THEY CALLED IT, THE LIGHTNING FAST GERMAN ADVANCE THROUGH THE LOW COUNTRIES AND FRANCE IN 1940. SERVING WITH AN ENGINEER UNIT, PRIVATE FRANZ BAUER WAS WELL TO THE FORE WITH HIS SQUAD WHICH HAD JUST FINISHED CONSTRUCTING A BRIDGE OF DINGHIES AND PLANKS OVER A RIVER TO ALLOW THE FOLLOWING INFANTRY TO ADVANCE.
B
BAUER! DOUBLE BACK TO THE BRIDGE AND LOOK FOR MY MAP. I MUST HAVE LEFT IT THERE.
AT ONCE, SIR.
STORY MAC MACDONALD ART KEITH PAGE COVER KEITH PAGE
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4 THEY WERE A CLOSE GROUP OF FRIENDS BY NOW AND A CHORUS OF CATCALLS RANG OUT, ORCHESTRATED AS USUAL BY THE UNIT’S COMEDIAN, SIGI BLATTER, AS FRANZ FOLLOWED ORDERS AND THE OTHERS WAITED FOR HIM.
GET A MOVE ON, YOU CLODHOPPER, OR WE’LL LEAVE YOU!
I’LL GET MY OWN BACK ON THEM LATER!
THE TRUCK BEGAN TO PULL AWAY, SWITCHING TO OPEN GROUND TO ALLOW THE ADVANCING INFANTRY THE USE OF THE TRACK WHICH THE ENGINEERS HAD FOLLOWED TO THE SCENE EARLIER. FRANZ JOGGED TO CATCH UP.
THEY’D BETTER HALT SOON OR I’LL NEVER GET ON BOARD...
THAT’S A GOOD IDEA...
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5 THE WORLD FOR FRANZ WENT BLACK THEN AS THE VEHICLE STRUCK AND DETONATED A MINE. ALL HIS COMRADES DIED IN THAT BLAST AND HE HIMSELF WAS HIT BY A PIECE OF FLYING METAL.
AAGH!
THE ADVANCING INFANTRY CAME TO HIS ASSISTANCE. AN AMBULANCE WAS SOON SPEEDING THE UNCONSCIOUS CASUALTY TOWARDS THE REAR.
IT WOULD BE WEEKS BEFORE FRANZ WAS FULLY FIT AND WHEN HE FINALLY CAME TO...
HE’S STABLE BUT IN BAD WAY, KEEP YOUR FOOT DOWN.
...HE WAS BADLY HAUNTED BY THE MEMORY OF THE INCIDENT AND THE DEATHS OF HIS FRIENDS.
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6 IT DOGGED HIS WAKING MOMENTS AND HORRENDOUS NIGHTMARES OFTEN TURNED SLEEP INTO A TIME OF TERROR TOO. IT WAS AS IF HE COULD SEE AND HEAR THE FEARFUL EXPLOSION AGAIN AND AGAIN.
...I CAN FEEL THE HEAT OF THE EXPLOSION! MEIN GOTT, WILL THIS NEVER LEAVE ME?
IN THE SAME CAMPAIGN, PRIVATE JIM JEFFERS, THE GUNNER OF A BRITISH MARK VI LIGHT TANK, WAS LISTENING TO ORDERS FROM NED SHERWARD, HIS SERGEANT. THEIR TANK WAS THE ONLY ONE LEFT OF THE SQUADRON STILL MOBILE AND THEY WERE, TO PUT IT BLUNTLY, LOST. THERE’S SMOKE ALL AROUND FROM THE LORD KNOWS WHAT ACTION, AND THIS CANAL HAS NOTHING DISTINCTIVE ABOUT IT ON THIS STRETCH. GET SOME HEIGHT AND SEE WHAT YOU CAN SEE.
YOU SAID IT, MATE, NOT US!
ALL RIGHT, SARGE. NO AMMO LEFT SO I’M NOT MUCH USE MANNING THE GUNS, AM I?
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7 THE DRIVER, PRIVATE JOHN WIGGINS, COULD ALWAYS BE RELIED ON FOR A JOKE TO RELIEVE THE TENSION. JIM WAS NOT LAUGHING, THOUGH, WHEN HE SCANNED THE HORIZON FROM A RIDGE AND FOUND THE SITUATION VERY CONFUSING.
WHAT A MESS! I CAN SEE OUR INFANTRY FURTHER BACK AND BEHIND THE ADVANCING NAZIS, AND THERE’S SOME HECK OF A SKIRMISH GOING ON.
THE UNMISTAKEABLE GRUFF BARK OF A GERMAN TANK GUN INTERRUPTED JIM’S THOUGHTS. A PANZER MARK III WAS CLOSING IN ON THE LIGHTER AND MORE VULNERABLE TANK AND THE TWO-MAN CREW WERE RESPONDING FAST. GET US OUT OF HERE, WIGGINS...AND FAST! KEEP HEADING AT THEM!
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8 THE GERMANS HAD FIRED THEIR LAST SHELL AND THE HEAVY MACHINE BULLETS WOULD NOT STOP THE MARK VI, BUT LUCK WAS TURNING SOUR FOR THE BRITISH WHEN THE ENGINE STALLED AS IT SUCKED IN THE LAST FEW DROPS OF FUEL.
IT’S HAD IT, SARGE. WE’LL HAVE TO BAIL OUT.
WITH ALL THAT NAZI LEAD SPEWING AROUND?
THE ENEMY COULD NOT KNOW THE BRITISH TANK WAS DEFENCELESS, AND BATTLE LUST HAD TAKEN OVER ANYWAY. AS JIM WATCHED HELPLESSLY, THE PANZER, FOUR TIMES HEAVIER THAN ITS OPPONENT, SMASHED THE MARK VI TOWARDS THE DARK WATERS OF THE SLOW-MOVING CANAL.
AAGH!
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED... MARK UP ANOTHER KILL.
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9 JIM AND THE OTHER TWO CREWMEN HAD BEEN A GOOD TEAM AND HAD GOT ON WELL IN THE RECENT CLASHES. NOW NED AND JOHN WERE TRAPPED IN A SINKING TOMB AS THE CANAL WATERS CLOSED OVER THEM.
THEY’RE GONE! THEY DIDN’T STAND A CHANCE...EITHER OF ‘EM! HE WAS TOO NUMBED BY SHOCK TO MOVE FOR WHAT SEEMED LIKE HOURS. FINALLY HE FORCED HIMSELF TO SET OFF IN WHAT HE HOPED WAS THE RIGHT DIRECTION. WHEN NIGHT CAME HE WAS CLOSE TO AN ABANDONED, WRECKED VILLAGE. EXHAUSTION WAS GRIPPPING HIM NOW TOO.
SLEEP CAME BUT NOT FOR LONG. A NAUSEATING NIGHTMARE OF THE DEATH OF HIS FRIENDS SEARED HIM AWAKE WITH A DESPAIRING CRY ON HIS LIPS.
GOT TO REST UP...SEE WHAT THE DAWN BRINGS.
IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN AND I CAN’T HELP THEM...
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P
rivate Franz Bauer, a German Army engineer wounded during the invasion of France, was haunted by the deaths of his comrades in the same battle — wiped out by a mine. When he recovered he threw himself into his new job developing the remote-controlled Borgward IV demolition vehicle, hoping it might save other German lives. His chance to save thousands of lives would come, but he would be working alongside an unlikely ally — someone who had nightmares every bit as bad as Franz’s.
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