"Scramble! Soldiers ahead!" the radio suddenly called. The cracking of guns were heard as the Polish troops attempted to pummel our Panzers with rifle bullets. The bullets bounced harmlessly off the hulls of our moving Panzers.
"There aren't many of them, don't waste your ammunition." Another person chimed in through the radio. Soon, a Panzer IV, equipped with a 7.5cm howitzer, fired a shell at on the remaining standing buildings.
The city of Klobutzko had already been decimated by the Luftwaffe's Junkers Ju 87 Stuka Divebombers, and we had not expected any enemy troops left. However, the HE shell blew the building into smithereens, its rubble finishing off the last Polish men.
Klobutzko was thus taken quickly and easily. Our comrades, the 4. Panzer-Division hadn't had it easy, as we soon found out.
They had been beaten back to their original positions in Krippitz after being ambushed by the Polish in the forests, and failed their counteroffensives afterwards.
"They should be arrested for insubordination!" Friedrich shouted upon hearing so, Schmidt nodding furiously.
"Eh, don't blame them. The Polish would do anything to keep their independence. They fought off the Soviets in 1920 victoriously when they tried to invade." Friedrich's friend said.
We had found some seatings amongst the rubble and the six of us sat around, discussing about the 4. Panzer-Division's failure.
Friedrich didn't rebut on what his friend had said, but changed the topic to Jews.
"So, what d'you think about us cleansing the world from the Untermens--" Friedrich was cut off from the untimely arrival of Erik Vontreffer.
Erik notoriously known in our Panzer Division as a playboy, attempting to toy with almost every woman he meets. He was also a jerk who loved picking fights. Hans once joked that he would never be friends with Peter or Friedrich.
"What's about the Jews you guys are talking about?" Erik asked rudely.
"Excuse me? I'm not talking to you." Friedrich stood up, face-to-face with Erik. "Please mind your verdammt manners."
"Language, Wichser." Erik taunted.
Before the showdown could become a full-blown fight, Peter, Hans and I stood up and pulled Friedrich and Erik apart. Erik, looking pleased, walked away.
Peter quickly sat Friedrich down and said, "C'mon, don't pull yourself down to his level. You're a respectable person, not someone who should be in the camps." And that seemed to work to calm Friedrich down.
Notes:
Sorry for the long wait! I fell sick recently, and had to recuperate. Then I had to think of ideas for this part. The 1. Panzer-Division had only taken Kłobuck during the Battle of Mokra, and there wasn't much of a battle in Kłobuck, so I didn't have much of a battle to write about. Continue to enjoy the rest of the book! :)
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Der Unteroffizier
Historical FictionTensions rise in Europe as Nazi Germany grows bolder and bolder in its demands. As part of the remilitarization exercise, Brandt Muller joins the Wehrmacht Heer as a Panzer Kommandant, and sits through the entirety of the war in his tank with his tr...
