Some soldiers came walking along the road in column formation, single file. They came from the German rear lines. It was Lieutenant Dion with five men in tow. Three of them dragged an 8 cm mortar: a hand drawn trolley had the piece split into the outriggers, the support plate and the barrel. In yet another cart a man was hauling ammunition. The Lieutenant himself was a short and muscular figure. He stopped and said:
“We’re going after the retreating Russians! Come along! Orders from the Captain!”
“Will do!” Arno said, pleased that things were going according to plan. He stood up and called for his deputy. In the meantime, Dion didn’t halt but moved on.
“I’m joining you!” Arno cried. Dion disappeared along the way and Bauer appeared. Arno said:
“Detach ten men to follow me! Form them up here in the clearing!”
Bauer did as he said. Soon the men came: Corporal Karnow, Ebersen, Tauber, Rendulic, Lenoir, Langon, Mesurier and Venlo, the last three with an MG. Good. Furthermore, Corporal Deschner was there. Good.
Arno said:
“We will join a unit of 2nd Platoon, pursuing the enemy. The ones we didn’t catch up with here. Dion just passed with a mortar. We’re to follow him. Deschner leads his MG men, I lead the rest, with Karnow as deputy. Forward!”
They sped off along the way. Soon they came to another clearing. Just before reaching the open ground they turned off from the road. They soon ran into Dion. He had rigged up his mortar and showed Arno the field they had in front of them – a small meadow surrounded by woods. The road ran across the field. Half-way out on the field, on the left side of the road, was a two-storey barn, on the maps pompously called Grand Hall. The enemy was supposed to be positioned in the wood at the right hand edge of the field.
This was the last outpost before the main line of resistance. Dion and Arno got going, planning the attack. Once ready they hit the position with mortar fire and then sent forward the infantry. Arno led the attack, but when they broke into the wood they met no resistance. Nothing at all. The enemy had abandoned the position. It was something of an anti-climax after the sequence of night battles they just had been through.
They moved on. The platoon advanced to a wooded hill on the right wing. It had served as the emplacement for a field gun. The abandoned Russian gun had been destroyed by its crew, rendered useless by strategically placed charges destroying the mechanism and chamber. The whole position was littered with equipment, supplies and junk, indicating a hasty retreat.
Deschner came to Arno’s side.
“The whole position’s abandoned.”
“Indeed.”
Arno shouted to Karnow and got a reply after a while. The man, having been about to make a flanking movement, was told that the coast was clear. He appeared shortly after with Ebersen and Lenoir in tow.
Somewhat later Lieutenant Dion and a Private arrived. Dion said:
“I’ve just been in contact with the Company HQ. Apart from this position all resistance on this side of the main line is neutralised.”
“But this is also stormed.”
“I see.”
“But the crew managed to escape. At least up here on the hill.”
They advanced a bit further and took up defensive positions on the edge of yet another wood, overlooking a valley. The road they had followed went into the valley, crossing it. On the other side of the valley the hilltops were also covered with trees. And there, on the far side of the valley, ran the enemy’s main line. It could be discerned by lines of barbed wire, bunkers and by trees felled to open up a better field of fire.
This was the line that would be stormed later today by Battle Group Bäke. But Battalion Wolf wouldn’t have to assist Bäke in this. Bäke had both Panzers and Panzer Grenadiers, sufficient for the task. Instead, Battalion Wolf was to be held in reserve.
For the moment, the Platoon held its positions. At 0700 an orderly from Captain Wistinghausen arrived. He said that the Battalion had cleared the four routes it would take. All the outposts on this side of the main line had been taken out. The whole of Battalion Wolf was now grouped in defensive positions like Arno’s platoon. The orderly also said that the Battalion baggage train would arrive later today. After getting some hot food the Battalion would remain in reserve.
All this eventually happened. At 0730 a thunderous roar broke out; it was the German barrage to soften up the main line on the other side of the valley. The enemy was put under heavy fire. Under cover of the bombardment, tanks from one of Battle Group Bäke’s Battalions came rolling up, awe-inspiring Tigers with 88 mm guns. They were accompanied by Panzer Grenadiers in SdKfz 251s. The armoured vehicles passed Arno’s grouping on the road, burst out into the valley and headed for the forest on the other side.
Shortly before the line itself was reached by the armour, the artillery barrage ceased. At the same time soldiers dismounted from the Hanomags and made for the enemy’s positions, supported by the Tigers providing heavy suppressive fire. Some operational precision, some exemplary assault, Arno thought, watching everything from his forest edge.
The grenadiers were now busy neutralising the bunkers, taking out the anti-tank emplacements. The Tigers started to advance into the main line proper. Explosions were heard, flames were seen, automatic fire echoed across the valley. Soon some more Panzers drove on and crashed into the fray, disappearing into clouds of smoke and accompanied by increasing blasts and cracks, flames and flashes.
Bäke’s Battle Group forged ahead along this and the other roads that Battalion Wolf had cleared. Meanwhile, 100 km to the north-east, at the other spearhead, other Battalions of the Battle Group also advanced. On the whole the breakthrough succeeded. Before the day was over, three bridges over Zbruch were taken by the Germans.
But, of course, Arno knew nothing about this. When the breakthrough had been made, they were ordered off the ridge. The Battalion was pulled back as Hube’s private reserve, an Army reserve waiting by Grand Hall. Then the baggage train arrived and they got some hot pea soup. Meanwhile Battle Group Bäke’s armour moved up the road, followed by other units in this southern attacking column. Battalion Wolf stayed put all day. Arno’s platoon took quarters in Grand Hall.
Arno put a sentry at the building’s southern corner, a guarantee against any Russian stragglers. Anything could happen in a war. Otherwise, he could take it easy. They were in reserve, they were waiting for orders. At noon, after a meal of chicory and hardtack, he lay down and slept in a corner of Grand Hall. Just a short nap. And during this he dreamed that he was standing by a canal in a city with sienna-coloured houses. He stood by an iron railing and looked at the water’s flow. Waterweed bowed to the current, swayed by the stream in which it grew.
Next to Arno, in the dream, stood a tall man with an aquiline nose, a man dressed in a red and yellow silk hood, a green tunic, blue breeches and boots. He introduced himself as Ringo Badger, his spirit guide.
“What do you mean by that?” Arno said. “Are you a badger?”
“No, it’s just a name,” said Badger. “I’m your guide in this dream land, the astral world. Every man has a psychopompos like me.”
“Excellent. What can you do for me, then?”
“I can give you advice. Ask me anything and I’ll see if I can answer.”
Arno then asked if he, Arno, would die in this war. The Badger answered:
“You, Arno Greif, are participating in a war. But you will not die in battle during this war.”