Robert Miller
Master Sergeant Robert Miller was covered in mud and blood, his hands were shaking and he felt the adrenaline wearing off. His unit had stormed the second trench which was full of SS troops; they had fought at close quarters and a lot of his men had been killed by assault rifle fire when they had entered the trench.
“I want you to check ammo then pick supplies off of these dead krauts. We are going to need them.” He ordered his surviving platoon.
“What are we waiting for sir?”
“The plan is to meet up with First Sergeant Jackson and his squad then we can push over to the next trench together.”
“Yeah if Jackson and his squad aren’t dog food by now.”
Robert Miller shot the young private a deadly glare.
“Look here you they are going to be here then we are going over the top of that trench to kick some kraut ass, do you get me private!?”
“I get you sir!”
“You better do.”
Gunfire rang out from behind Miller’s squad; Private John Curtis Lewis turned and popped his head over the top of the trench to see a small group of SS soldiers firing while they advanced forward.
“Sir SS on our ass, advancing.”
“Defensive positions lads, we have to defend this position until the support gets here.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Three men propped themselves on the top of the trench to lay down suppressing fire, their M1 semi-automatic rifles firing rapidly. In response an SS man threw down a smoke grenade to cover their advance, the Germans held their fire.
“Get a machine gun up there and pound that area!” Master Sergeant Robert Miller shouted.
Private Tony Baird set up the captured MG42 on its bipod. The MG 42 had its iron sights trained on the rapidly thinning smoke.
The American’s waited in nervous anticipation, something dropped into the trench and landed next to Robert Miller’s feet, he glanced down and time seemed to stand still as he realized what the object was. With quick reactions he reached down and picked up the object by its wooden handle and threw it back in the direction it had come from.
The SS soldier it hit had no time to react, no time to even scream as the stick grenade detonated, the shrapnel from the grenade peppered the legs of the two SS men directly adjacent to him but that was not what killed them, the shockwave of the blast burst their lungs and they drowned in the oxygen-saturated air.
The smoke had nearly completely dissipated which revealed the sinister black outlines of the German soldiers; they were getting ready to throw more grenades. Private Tony Baird opened up with the MG 42 and its distinctive buzz saw sound rang out, sending 1200 rounds per minute down on its targets.
The two lead SS men were ripped to pieces as the others dived to the floor; they kept their heads down as the deadly hail of bullets danced all around them.
“Take that you Kraut scum!” Baird shouted in defiance.
A large explosion launched a hail of soil onto the American troops taking shelter in the trench. Robert Miller shook the mud from his head and peeked over the top of the trench to see a Panther medium tank bearing down on their trench. The tank opened up with both of it’s 7.92 mm MG34 machine guns.
“Everybody get down… Incoming Panther!” Robert Miller shouted.
Private Baird could not move fast enough and his was struck in the back, he slumped down over the edge of the trench and the MG 42 ceased firing.
This was the break in fire the SS men were waiting for; they jumped up to their feet and sprinted towards the edge of the trench. When they reached the edge they opened fire with their StG 44 assault rifles, they hit Private Smith in the head and he slumped over, he had no chance to reload his M1.
Robert Miller rolled over and laid down suppressive fire from his Tommy gun, this guns rate of fire was deadly at close quarters, the SS man in front was much too eager and the rounds sliced through both of his kneecaps, he screamed as he fell into the trench. Sergeant Bradie Jones jumped onto of the fallen SS man and sunk his knife deep into the chest of the German.
The Advancing Panther was ready to fire another round from its main gun but it did not get the chance as a streak of light raced into the side of the Panther, it penetrated and killed most of the crew. The tank smoked heavily but did not catch fire.
“What the hell was that?” Robert Miller said.
Machine gun and semi-automatic rifle fire came out from the left of the trench, the SS men returned fire but they were outgunned and were soon taken out.
Robert Miller pushed his back up to the right-hand wall of the trench and trained his Tommy gun over the opposite side.
The six-foot-two-inch frame of the lanky First Sergeant William James Jackson appeared over the top of the trench. Robert Miller let out a sigh of relief and gingerly lowered his weapon.
“Nice of you to point your gun at me like that Sir, especially after we saved your lazy ass, what you doing sat down there on your backside anyway?” Jackson said with a huge grin etched all over his face.
Robert Miller smiled, “I’ll let that insubordination slide, this time… Good to see you boy, help me up will ya!”
Jackson and his squad jumped down into the trench and restocked their ammunition. Jackson’s squad had fought their way across through the second trench from the left-hand side and had met heavy resistance.
“Is this all that made it?” Miller asked as he cast his eye over the remnants of Jackson’s squad.
Jackson’s head dropped a little. “The SS put up a tough defense; they were fighting to the last man with a crazy look in their eyes.”
Miller placed his hand on Jackson’s shoulder, “Amen to that, we better get moving. Our armor has advanced pretty far but has taken a beating.”
Jackson looked up, “We picked up a couple of those damn Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons, maybe we can lend them support?”
Miller smiled, “That’s how you took that bastard out then.”
They needed to meet up with Staff Sergeant Tom Smith and his squad if they had survived, they had to storm the final two trenches at the same time otherwise they could get bogged down into a prolonged battle which just could not happen. This was especially true as unbeknown to the Americans; the Wehrmacht defense against the Red army had collapsed and was they were now in full retreat. It would not be long until the Soviets swarmed over the area, instinctively following the sound of battle.
Project Riese
The fighting had not let up for the last couple of hours, now just after midday the soldiers of the 7th Ranger Battalion were gathering for another assault; they had been stopped in their tracks by a determined and resolute defense from the 5th SS mountain corps.
The 5th Panzer army had lost all of their Tiger II and Tiger I heavy battle tanks; the brief lull in battle meant they could regroup their remaining armor. The Panther medium tanks lined up on the edge of the third trench. They quickly planned a strategy with the Elefant tank destroyers then waited for the final confirmation from Gruppenführer Jakob Sporrenberg.
Hauptsturmführer Berndt Krause was giving his commanding officer an update on the situation. It was not good, they had only one hundred and eighty-eight men left alive and that was the good news. They had thirteen operational Panthers, five Elefant tank destroyers, the four experimental Sturer Emil and eight 8.8 cm anti-tank guns.
It was estimated that the Americans still had forty plus, working Sherman’s and at least three hundred infantry left. As they had not attacked for the last twenty minutes they Germans correctly surmised that they were pooling their resources for a final assault.