Der Unteroffizier

First Encounters

In the 4 months we were in Spain, although we did not usually come in contact with the enemy, we did see some skirmishes.

This time, we were driving around a barren field to scout for enemy tanks when all of a sudden, a shot rang out followed by an explosion. Shocked, I looked at our left flank and saw smoke shooting out from one of our Panzer I As. Looking foward, an entire group of Russian T-26 light tanks were charging towards us.

"Scramble! Scramble!" I heard Hartt shouting from the radio. Armor Piercing (AP) shells whizzed by as the 29 Panzer Is left swerved right and left.

I noticed a Panzer I on my right swerve to the left a little too much and because of the turret being on the right and not centralized, the entire tank flipped. I ducked my head down, narrowly missing a AP shell, and shouted, "Peter, don't left turn too hard!"

"Ja!" Peter shouted back, trying very hard to do evasive maneuvers. I popped my head back up and notice the Kommandant of the flipped Panzer I pulling himself out of his tank. A wave of realization washed over me and I tapped Peter with my foot, and then told him to drive over to the flipped tank.

"What, are you mad?" was the annoyed reply.

"Just do it, man!"

Peter sighed and the tank swerved to the right. I witnessed a couple of Panzer Is being blown up, but saw no T-26 being destroyed. Only a few T-26 had lost their tracks, but they were still operational. I turned my tank's turret around at the enemy and fired the 2 MG-13 machine guns at the T-26, but all the shells bounced upon impact.

"Oi! We're at the flipped tank!" Peter yelled up.

I crawled out of my commander's hatch to help Hans out of his hatch. Hans noticed what was happening and grapped my hand, and I successfully pulled him out.

"Operate my tank's gun! " I told him as we climbed into my tank's turret.

"Hey, it's Hans!" Peter yelled, jerking the tank foward. I resumed my commander's job and noticed that there were 19 Panzer Is left operational, while there were still about 23 T-26s rushing at us.

I heard Hartt on the radio screaming, "RETREAT! RETREAT!"

I told my crew otherwise, "We can't penetrate the enemy's front! We need to get up close and personal!"

Peter nodded vigorously, and pushed the tank to its limits. Shells zipped past our tank, something I could only count as dumb luck. Soon we were in the middle of the enemy group.

"Target the tank on 6 o' clock. Ready? Fire!"

The MG-13s were fired, and a loud satisfying BOOM was heard.

"Virkungstreffer!" Hans shouted. Confused by our Panzer I in the midst of their column, the T-26s spread in different directions, panicking. I heard the crews shouting in Spanish or in Russian, and they started to disperse.

Hans turned his sights on a target I had pointed out and fired on the poor enemy tank, and flames erupted from the commander's hatch as the T-26 slowly ground to a halt. Dodging a stray shell, Peter stopped the tank to allow Hans to get a more accurate shot on the foolish T-26 who thought they could stop us.

"Got 'em!" I shouted, looking through my binoculars. By now, the remaining T-26s had already escaped. 6 abandoned T-26s stood under the sun for our capture, while 3 write-offs continued to burn.