Once on the south side of the river, the lieutenant and the KGB captain found the company commander charged with defending the bridge yelling into a radio mike. When he saw them, he turned to the engineer. “The Americans are only a few kilometers away,” he shouted. “They will be there any minute. You must blow up the bridge.”
When the KGB captain heard this, he asked the infantry officer if he’d received orders to do so. The commander replied that he couldn’t receive any orders because his radio was being jammed. The KGB captain responded that they couldn’t drop the bridge until they received permission.
Again the commander told the KGB captain that the radio was being jammed and that he could not contact anyone before repeating his demand that the bridge had to be dropped.
The engineer officer joined in, siding with the infantry officer. “The bridge must be destroyed at once,” he insisted. “If you don’t give the order, I will.”
Flummoxed, the KGB captain simply stood there, staring at the engineer officer. Taking the initiative in such an important matter went against everything he had been taught. He had been trained from childhood to obey orders. Now, when he needed to make a decision that he alone had to make, he found himself unable to. There was no superior to decide for him. There was no one who could share the blame with if something went wrong. It was only him.
Just as the engineer officer and the commander began to yell at the KGB captain at the same time, imploring that he give them permission to drop the bridge, an American 155mm artillery shell ended their debate.
As Alpha 11 crested a small rise, Weiss caught sight of the Saale. In the clear night air, the light from the half-moon reflected from its smooth surface. They had made it. In a few more minutes, their role in the attack to the Saale would be at an end.
Bring his tank to a full stop for the first time since passing through 2nd of the 94th, Weiss focused his full attention on the far river bank, searching for any telltale sign of the enemy Captain Bannon expect would be deployed there. All appeared to be calm save for friendly artillery landing the main road leading to the bridge off to his left. Turning his attention in that direction, he watched as a volley hit right in the middle of a cluster of vehicles attempting to reach the bridge the Team had been heading for. That there were still Soviets on the south side of the river came as no surprise to Weiss. What did was the sudden realization that they were attempting to cross a bridge Captain Bannon told him and the other platoon leaders would be long gone before they got there.
Finding this to be too good to believe, Weiss slew Alpha 11’s turret around until the main gun was pointed at the bridge, then dropped down to his sight extension in order to take a closer look. It was still there, whole and complete. It suddenly occurred to him that they had a chance to seize the bridge intact.
“ALPHA 66, THIS IS ALPHA 11. THE BRIDGE IS STILL UP AND I’M GOING FOR IT!”
Ignoring Weiss’ use of vehicle bumper numbers over the radio instead of proper radio call signs was forgotten in the heat of the moment. Like him, Bannon found the news that the Team had not only caught some Russians on the wrong side of the river, but had the chance to seize a bridge intact was more than stunning. Suddenly the need to make a decision that could have a monumental impact on the course of the entire campaign, one he expected he and he alone could make, had been dumped in his lap. Did he let Weiss try for the bridge and risk having it blown up in their face or even worse, with some of his tanks on it? Or did he simply stop on the south bank and let the Russians blow it up? Whatever he decided, it had to be now. The 1st Platoon was well on its way and would, in a few minutes, decide the issue for him.
The Team had been ordered to divert the Soviets’ attention from the battalion’s main effort. Capturing a bridge intact and establishing a bridgehead here would certainly do that. With that thought in mind, without bothering to inform battalion, he ordered 1st Platoon to go for the bridge. The scouts, coming up fast after clearing the town, were ordered to follow 1st Platoon across. The Mech Platoon was instructed to drop one squad on the south side to clear any charges on the bridge and send the rest of the Platoon across on foot, stopping along the way to clear any and all charges or cut any wires they happened upon. Bannon next ordered Uleski to get up to the bridge as soon as possible and send the 2nd Platoon across to join 1st Platoon and the scouts, then take charge of the south side of the bridge with the 3rd Platoon and the Mech squad there. He concluded his rapid string of orders by instructing Weiss to have his tanks hold their fire until they were on top of the Russians. The way he figured, if his description of the confusion he was witnessing was as bad as he was reporting, the Russians responsible for dropping the bridge might not notice the Team was about to capture it until it was too late.
With nothing more to do, as far as issuing orders, Bannon called out to Kelp. “Kick it in the ass driver and get down there.” He needed to be there, with his Team, whatever did happen at the bridge.
Alpha 11 closed to within point-blank range before Weiss finally gave his gunner the order to fire. Falling in behind 11, the other tanks in his platoon followed, blazing away with machineguns at the fleeing Russians before them. With their sudden appearance, all semblance of order disappeared as Alpha 11 pushed onto the bridge.
Going was slow as vehicles of every description that could not be bypassed were pushed aside or simply crushed, igniting fires that spread as spilt fuel from destroyed or disabled Russian vehicles lit up the night, adding a new dimension of horror to an already terrifying ordeal for Russians soldiers still on the bridge. Those who found themselves trapped and unable to reach the safety of the far side of the bridge ahead of the rampaging tanks behind them tried to surrender. Few succeeded. Even if Murray Weiss had wished to take prisoners, tanks in the attack have neither the ability nor the means to collect, disarm, and keep an eye on them. This is particularly true of tanks advancing with a singular, bloody minded purpose.
The men belonging to the Mech Platoon weren’t in much of a mood to take any prisoners either. As soon as Sergeant Polgar’s track reached the south side of the bridge, he stopped and dismounted. The next track in line did likewise, dropping its ramp and disgorging its infantry squad. As the troops came piling out, Polgar yelled to the squad leader to find and cut every wires they came across. Never having done anything like this before, they began to rip away at every wire they found. In the heat of the moment, one infantryman tried to cut an electric power line with his bayonet, nearly electrocuting himself. Despite this, sporadic small-arms fire from die-hard Russians, and working with nothing but the flickering glow of fires, the infantry managed to keep the bridge from being blown.
Once Uleski had closed up on the south side, the Team went about the task of securing the bridge in a more methodical manner, dealing with whatever resistance remained, and rounding up those Russians who’d had enough, wanted to surrender, and could be accommodated. To provide early warning, Bannon sent the Scout Platoon out as far as he dared to establish a combat outpost line, spreading as much panic and chaos among the fleeing Soviet rear area personnel as they could as they went. The 1st Platoon was deployed to the left of the main road on the north side of the river in a quarter arc extending back to the river. The 2nd Platoon took up positions to the right, also in an arc from the road to the river. One Mech squad was left at the bridge’s north entrance, one at the south, and a third sent forward midway between where the scouts were and the bridge to set up a road block. Uleski, still with the 3rd Platoon, remained south side of the river, spreading it in a shallow semicircle to cover an approach from that direction.