Soon, the licking flames danced with a devilish light across the ancient stone streets and buildings. Ammunition within the tanks began to explode, muffled within. A few machine guns peppered the dawn, continuing to keep the eyes of the Americans on the town itself, even as they wondered what was going on.
Then the rear guard and demolition team slipped away in what remained of the darkness and ran across the open field, headed for the woods that had swallowed the rest of Kampfgruppe Friel.
Scharführer Breger was not among them.
Several hundred feet ahead of the main column, Von Stenger moved like a shadow. Dressed in winter white camouflage, he was nearly invisible. The woods and the creatures within it couldn't be fooled, even if the soldiers behind him moved quietly. They knew something else was in the woods, and hunkered down.
Von Stenger was cautious, but his confidence grew with the dawn. He did not see any signs that someone had gotten there ahead of them. No American force seemed to be waiting in ambush.
But he did not let his guard down, moving silently forward.
Dimly, his mind registered that it was Christmas Eve morning.
The forest stretched on for more than two miles, cloaking the Germans perfectly. The terrain grew more rugged and rocky, so they followed an old sunken road bed through the woods. It must have been used by the local people, going into the forest to cut wood, but it clearly had not been traveled in some time. Then Von Stenger saw a clearing ahead where the sunken road emerged from the trees. This was where the danger began. By the time they reached the clearing, what remained of Kampfgruppe Friel would be funneled into one area. Out in the open, they would be vulnerable to attack.
He moved carefully into the clearing. Once again, all was quiet. The sun promised to come out that day for the first time in weeks. Already, dawn light played over the snowy trees, tinging them in brilliant green and white. The snow on the ground looked like purity itself. Von Stenger knew a beautiful day when he saw one, but while he admired his surroundings, he was more interested in what they might be hiding.
Nothing.
Birds flitted here and there. A squirrel chattered high up in the trees.
There was supposed to be a scout, but there was no telling where the man had gotten to. Maybe he had fallen asleep. Maybe he had given up and gone on to Germany alone.
In addition to the fact that they were now in the open, this clearing was a danger zone because they would be passing very close to the American lines. The only sign that anyone had been there recently was a cluster of graves, marked with wooden crosses. He barely gave them more than a glance. Such graves were scattered everywhere throughout the Ardennes, signs of a deadly skirmish. No one wanted to carry a body through miles of rough terrain, so the bodies were buried in graves hacked from the frozen earth, then marked with crude crosses. In this case, the Americans must have been using this quiet spot as a burying ground for their dead from the battle for La Gleize. The footprints in the snow looked fresh.
Von Stenger felt terribly exposed in the clearing, so he moved into the makeshift graveyard. At least it offered some kind of cover. The remnants of Kampfgruppe Friel would not emerge from the woods for several minutes. No sign of the enemy appeared. In the winter quiet, he began to relax.
He glanced at the names of the dead around him. Someone had taken the trouble to paint or scratch names on the crude crosses. These were American graves with names like McNulty and Turner. Many of the names could easily be German, such as the one on the cross for a soldier named Rowe. The sight of the last cross made him pause.
On top of the crude cross was a helmet. One with a Confederate flag painted on it. And a bullet hole in the middle of the flag. A hole made by his bullet.
The name on the cross was Cole. So that was his name. This was the grave of the American sniper.
The American really was dead. He felt a sense of relief, but also of regret. The American had been a worthy adversary, but ultimately he had let his guard down and died in a careless moment.
Von Stenger reflected that he had been there waiting when the moment came. He had won their deadly game.
He slung his rifle and reached for the helmet. He was not above keeping trophies. It was how he had obtained his first Russian rifle, after all.
Hmm. Heavier than the German helmets. But not as deep, which left more of the head exposed.
He flipped the helmet over and looked inside. Much to his surprise, he saw a piece of paper tucked into the webbing there.
He took it out and unfolded the note. It was written in English, but he had no trouble understanding it.
Pine tree. Twelve o'clock. See you in hell, you Nazi son of a bitch.
He read the note in disbelief. Then he felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck, knowing he was in the American’s sights. He sighed. What else could he do? The American had been playing chess, after all, and this was checkmate. He took a deep breath, enjoying how the cold air filled his lungs. Let it out.
Then Von Stenger looked up.
EPILOGUE
A day and a half after slipping out of La Gleize, Kampfgruppe Friel arrived back in Germany.
Or what was left of Kampfgruppe Friel. On foot, Friel’s remaining eight hundred troops had avoided American forces as much as possible but still had been involved in a running battle or two. Yet they counted themselves lucky to live and fight another day.
Operation Watch on the Rhine had begun with so much hope, not to mention around two hundred thousand men and nearly two thousand tanks. In the days of fighting between December 15 and the official end of the offensive on January 25, the casualties were astounding on both sides. Only half of the Germans troops managed to return. Hitler had gambled everything on one last battle — and lost at tremendous cost. In the East, the Russian army approached.
American forces were also severe, with nearly ninety thousand casualties and missing — including nineteen thousand dead. It would go down in history as the biggest and bloodiest battle ever fought by the United States Army. It was the only major defensive battle fought by U.S. troops in Europe.
Among those who would never be coming home were the eighty-three Americans murdered by Friel’s men at Malmedy. In retaliation, angry Americans machine gunned sixty German prisoners of war on New Year’s Day at the town of Chenogne. Most of those lined up in rows and shot were eighteen or nineteen years old.
The fact that Friel had essentially disobeyed orders in abandoning La Gleize was overlooked. Germany needed soldiers and capable officers for the final defense of the Fatherland. After the years of war since 1939, so few remained.
Instead of a court martial, he received a hero’s welcome. Hitler personally ordered that Friel receive the addition of a sword to the Knight’s Cross he had won in Russia.
“Obersturmbannführer Friel, what are your orders?” one of his officer had asked, once they had rested and eaten on the German side of the Rhine. It was the day after Christmas. They had crossed more than twenty kilometers of frozen woods and snowy fields, dodging American forces most of the way.
Friel gazed in the direction of the distant hills of the Ardennes. Before long, the Americans would be following them. There would be planes, tanks, men—
“We will make camp here, then resupply and regroup,” Friel said. “The war is not over yet.”
When the end did come the next spring, Friel was a wanted war criminal for the massacre at Malmedy. Using false papers, he fled to Argentina, evading the Allies one last time, just as he had done at La Gleize.