PRING 1945 SAW THE RED ARMY’S LAST AND GREATEST ONSLAUGHT AGAINST THE TOTTERING EDIFICE OF THE THIRD REICH AS THOUSANDS OF TANKS AND MILLIONS OF MEN SWEPT ACROSS EASTERN GERMANY LIKE AN UNSTOPPABLE JUGGERNAUT.
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SOON BERLIN WILL BE OURS AND THE NAZI EMPIRE WILL LIE IN RUINS!
STORY ALAN HEBDEN ART VILA COVER JANEK MATYSIAK
4 THROWN INTO THIS MAELSTROM WAS A VERY YOUNG AND RATHER SCARED PANZERGRENADIER CALLED OTTO FELDMAN. NOT YET HAVING SEEN ANY ACTION HE TRIED TO TAKE HEART FROM THE COLUMN OF PANTHER TANKS ROLLING PAST HIS UNIT ON THEIR WAY TO THE FRONT.
THEY ARE THE FINEST TANKS IN THE WORLD. SURELY THEY CAN STOP THE RUSSIAN HORDES.
OTTO WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE PANTHER BEING ONE OF THE BEST TANKS IN THE WORLD, MORE THAN ABLE TO HOLD ITS OWN AGAINST THE LEGENDARY RUSSIAN T34. AAARGH! FEUER!
THE IVAN’S HAD IT!
5 THERE WAS ONLY ONE PROBLEM, THERE WERE NOWHERE ENOUGH TO MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE. IN OTTO’S SECTOR ALONE THERE WERE ALMOST TEN TIMES AS MANY T34s AS THERE WERE PANTHERS, AND WHEN THREE OR FOUR OF THEM ACTED AS A TEAM NOT EVEN THE BEST TANK IN THE WORLD COULD HOPE TO SURVIVE.
HIMMEL, THOSE RUSSKIES… I’VE GOT TO DO SOMETHING!
WHATEVER FEARS OTTO MAY HAVE HARBOURED SEEMED TO EVAPORATE AS HE TURNED HIS PANZERFAUST ON THE NEAREST T34 AND FIRED WITH COOL CONTROLLED ANGER.
EAT THAT, RUSSIAN PIG!
6 WITH THE SAME ICY CONTROL HE FIRED AT A SECOND TANK, CAUSING EVEN MORE DAMAGE. TRY THAT FOR SIZE! PANZERFAUST OVER THERE! PUT HIM OUT OF BUSINESS... PERMANENTLY!
OTTO WAS SO CAUGHT UP HE FAILED TO SEE THE APPROACHING DANGER. FORTUNATELY FOR HIM HIS SERGEANT DID. MOVE IT, LAD! IVAN DOESN’T LIKE PANZERFAUSTS SHOOTING AT HIS TANKS!
BUT, FELDWEBEL...
7 THE SERGEANT HAS BEEN AROUND LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT THE RUSSIANS HAD A PARTICULARLY EFFECTIVE WAY OF DEALING WITH TROUBLESOME PANZERFAUSTS AND THEIR OPERATORS. FLAMETHROWER... UURF!
DOWN!
THE TRENCH THAT HAD SAVED THEM ALSO SERVED AS AN ANTI-TANK DITCH. ONCE THEY SCRAMBLED CLEAR ON THE OTHER SIDE THEY WERE OUT OF DANGER FOR THE TIME BEING, THOUGH OTTO WAS STILL RATHER SHOCKED. A FLAMETHROWER TANK! THEY SENT A FLAMETHROWER TANK AFTER ME!
BECAUSE YOU ALREADY CLOBBERED TWO OF THEIR COMRADES. JUST DON’T PUSH YOUR LUCK AND GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN. OH, AND BY THE WAY, WELL DONE!
8 BY THE END OF THE DAY THE COLUMN OF TANKS WHICH HAD PASSED OTTO IN THE MORNING NO LONGER EXISTED. HIS UNIT WAS PULLED BACK TO HASTILY-BUILT POSITIONS DEFENDING A MAKESHIFT FIELD HOSPITAL.
THERE MUST BE MORE WOUNDED THAN UNWOUNDED BY NOW, AND THEY KEEP ON COMING. AT LEAST THE RUSSIANS SEEM TO HAVE RUN OUT OF STEAM AS WELL.
BUT THE RUSSIAN PAUSE WAS DECEPTIVE. EVER SINCE STALINGRAD THE TACTIC OF ENCIRCLEMENT HAD BECOME THE RED ARMY’S FIRM FAVOURITE. THAT NIGHT A RETURNING PATROL BROUGHT THE BAD NEWS.
ANYTHING OUT THERE?
‘FRAID SO, MATE. RUSSIAN FORCES ARE BY-PASSING US TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH. BY MORNING THEY’LL HAVE CUT US OFF.
9 THE FOLLOWING MORNING DAWNED DAMP AND MISTY, BUT INSTEAD OF THE EXPECTED RUSSIAN ATTACK A PAIR OF FIGURES LOOMED OUT OF THE MIST AND A VOICE CALLED OUT IN GERMAN. WE HAVE A FLAG OF TRUCE. WE WISH TO SPEAK TO YOUR COMMANDING OFFICER.
HMM. DON’T SHOOT! SOMEBODY GO AND FETCH THE MAJOR!
AS OTTO’S C.O., MAJOR HARALD RAMSDORFF, ADVANCED CAUTIOUSLY, OTTO GOT A PROPER LOOK AT THE TWO MEN WHO HAD COME FORWARD. MEIN GOTT, THAT RUSSIAN OFFICER REALLY IS AS LARGE AS ONE OF THEIR BEARS. AND THE ONE WITH HIM, IT LOOKS LIKE A WEHRMACHT OFFICER.
GREETINGS, COMRADE MAJOR. I AM MAJOR FEDOR DOSTOVITCH OF THE FIFTH REGIMENT OF THE FOURTEENTH DIVISION OF THE SECOND SHOCK ARMY. YOUR POSITION IS HOPELESS. IF YOU SURRENDER YOUR MEN WILL BE PROPERLY TREATED AND YOUR WOUNDED CARED FOR, AND MUCH NEEDLESS BLOODSHED WILL BE AVOIDED.
WHY SHOULD I TRUST THE WORD OF A RED ARMY OFFICER?
10 DOSTOVITCH REPLIED BY INTRODUCING THE GERMAN OFFICER. THIS IS HAUPTMANN KLEIN, WHO SURRENDERED WITH HIS UNIT A FEW DAYS AGO. HE CAN TELL YOU.
AS THE MIST CLEARED DOSTOVITCH PLAYED HIS TRUMP CARD, A COLUMN OF FIELD AMBULANCES WHICH HAD COME FORWARD RIGHT TO THE FRONT LINE.
MAJOR DOSTOVITCH MADE US THE SAME OFFER, HERR MAJOR, AND HE HAS STUCK BY HIS WORD. MY MEN HAVE BEEN PROPERLY TREATED, MY WOUNDED LOOKED AFTER. I BELIEVE HE CAN BE TRUSTED.
THE RUSSIAN LOOKS FRIENDLY ENOUGH, BUT EVEN CUDDLY BEARS STILL HAVE TEETH AND CLAWS.
THEY WILL COME FOR YOUR WOUNDED AS SOON AS YOU AGREE.
THE WAR IS ALREADY LOST. MY MEN DESERVE THE CHANCE TO SURVIVE IT. I ACCEPT YOUR OFFER.
SO THAT’S IT. WE’RE TO BECOME PRISONERS OF THE RUSSIANS.
BEFORE LONG THE FIELD HOSPITAL HAD BEEN EMPTIED AS THE CASUALTIES WERE BROUGHT OUT TO AWAIT THE ARRIVAL OF THE AMBULANCES.
ACH, MY PAYBOOK’S BEEN LEFT BEHIND.
DON’T WORRY, I’LL GO AND FETCH IT.