The surviving King Tiger shrugged off Molotovs and a panzerfaust hit, and pushed off the main road, meting out fire and destruction in the direction of anything that looked like a threat.
All along Osterbachstrasse, legionnaires were dying, as hidden pockets of resistance sprouted bullets and grenades.
But the ex-SS troopers reacted swiftly, and mounted assaults on the known and suspected positions, quickly reducing half of the resistance at the end of the bayonet or with a sharpened entrenching tool.
The physically weakened Russians stood little chance in a battle of strength, and very few of the Legion’s soldiers died in the swift hand-to-hand combats that ensued.
Surprisingly, some Soviet soldiers raised their hands, seeking life over sacrifice and, perhaps more surprisingly, the Legion soldiers, for the most part, accepted their surrender.
Some ex-SS soldiers, most often those with dead or wounded comrades lying around their feet, chose a quicker and more vengeful resolution.
At the rear of the column, the infantry platoon deployed and swept forward, supporting the aggressive moves of the trapped main force and the recon elements that had survived the ambush.
The soldiers of the 4e RACE, mainly unaffected by the attack, secured their own area and, under orders, waited for further developments.
The commander of the 1er BAS decided to remain where he was, set his unit for all round defence, and sent a messenger forward to establish what was going on, all as he struggled with finding his whereabouts on the map.
Casualties dictated that the Battle Group’s command had switched to the officer commanding the Second Company of 3e/1er RDM.
Captain Durand had grown in stature since the early days of the Legion Corps, when he had distinguished himself during the relief of Stuttgart, and had risen immediately to the challenges of his enhanced duties. It was he who was responsible for ordering the assaults and movements that saved the small battlegroup, and ensured victory in the brief but intense battle for Knickhagen.
The infantry of 3e/1er RDM overcame Stalia’s men in less than thirty minutes, enabling Durand to report Camerone’s right flank clear up to and including Knickhagen.
Rolf Uhlmann, temporarily thrust into the spotlight as Camerone’s senior surviving officer, pushed the rest of the division hard towards Wilhelmshausen and the bridge they needed to hold.
Things started to happen and, unusually for the Legion Corps, they started to go wrong.
The lead elements of the 7e RDM ran into more mines in unusual numbers as they moved north of Fuldatel, approaching their crossing point on the Osterbach.
Part of the way was marked by dead Soviet soldiers, men felled by their own mines in their haste to escape.
Uhlmann, aware that the 7e and its supporting elements would, at some time, move across his front, did not receive the report of their delay, neither did the divisional headquarters relay it back to him, as commander on the ground.
The 1er Bataillon Amphibie Spéciale came under fire from mortars across the river, causing the unit to scatter and lose cohesion.
Camerone’s artillery were tasked with plastering the area east of the Fulda River, keeping enemy reinforcements away from Wilhelmshausen and its vital bridge, denying their support to the under-pressure 1er BAS, the stalled 7e RDM, or the elements of Camerone advancing north of the Fulda.
Uhlmann ordered the 1er BAS to reform and prepare to force the Fulda east of Knickhagen.
As a stopgap measure, Uhlmann ordered the remaining heavy tanks of the 1er BCL to position themselves on the two hundred metre line, north of Knickhagen, and do what they could to support an assault crossing, should the commander of 1er BAS be able to mount one.
Acting both with and without orders, 4e RACE followed the heavy tank unit onto the height.
4e’s orders had been to accompany the tanks, so, in that regard, they were correct to move off in pursuit.
However, those orders had been issued under different circumstances, and divisional staff officers assumed that the anti-tank unit remained at Knickhagen, and marked their maps accordingly.
The men of 1er BCL and 4e RACE were also unaware that the 7e RDM had been stopped dead by mines to their southwest, their last orders simply stressing to avoid friendly fire against units coming up from Fuldatel.
In the defence of the staff personnel and leadership involved, Wilhelmshausen had started to develop into a major engagement, as considerable Soviet forces were well dug in on the outskirts and inside of the small town, calling more and more of Camerone’s limited assets into the fight.
Elements of the division, mainly based around the bulk of the 3e/1er RDM, sought out the tracks and paths on the southern slopes of Height 346, intent on crossing the Mühlbach to the north of Wilhelmshausen, to try and turn the right flank of the solid enemy resistance.
They, in turn, ran into more trouble, as more mines and well-sited defensive positions chewed up the advancing legionnaires until they were down to a yard-by-yard slugfest.
To the north, Alma had similar problems on the road to Reinhardshagen, where the main approach ran through a pass heavy with Soviet defenders intent on staying put.
The exchange and receipt of information almost collapsed under the strain, and many staff officers, normally proficient and professional, underachieved in their roles.
With devastating results.
Kon had waited on the reports from the group he had sent to check on Knickhagen.
They reported that the enemy force had come to a halt and was making no identifiable efforts to move on.
With an enemy formation halted and in the open in front of him, Kon had resisted the temptation to go at it hammer and tongs, remembering the responsibility the ATPAU tanks represented, although the commanding Major had been all for an immediate assault.
With the enemy force in Knickhagen stalled, an assault on the units to his front was possible.
Leaving two of the SPAA vehicles with the security element to watch their rear, safe in the woods in which they had been concealed, Kon led the two IS-IV variants into the attack, flanked by the deadly ZSU-12-6s.
Each IS had a grape of infantry on board, purely to watch out for any infantryman with an eye for glory and an anti-tank weapon in his hand.
The 1er BAS had moved to the river line but had yet to cross, as building Soviet fire stopped them dead.
Above them, the surviving tanks of the 1er BCL spotted forces moving up from the southwest.
“Hold your fire.”
The crews of the three tanks, concealed in over watch positions, expected to see the 7e RDM move north from Fuldatal, so saw exactly that.
The men of the 1er BAS expected to see the 7e RDM come up the road to the south from Fuldatal, so saw exactly that.
Except they weren’t the friendly troops of the 7e RDM, but the ATPAU moving down upon the stalled amphibious troops, tank guns silent in an effort to not attract attention and get in close enough for the ZSUs to do bloody work.
The senior man, a weary ex-Obersturmfuhrer from the Frundsberg Division and commander of the last surviving King Tiger, took an extra deep draw on his cigarette and exhaled as he spoke into the command net, informing them of the arrival of the lead elements of the 7th Legion Infantry Regiment.
“Ritter-one-four, out.”
He took another long draw, unaware that his report had triggered consternation in Camerone’s headquarters.