Taking one more glance at the skies, out of habit, since he was sure there would be little flying today, Seydlitz was about to turn around and check on the progress of the tanks behind him when the blazing trail of a star cluster to his front right caught his attention. Standing up as far as he could in the open hatch, Seydlitz watched as the star cluster reached the highest point of its flight, then burst into a sudden flash of green. This star was no sooner beginning to fade when a second star cluster, this one red, followed the first and burst. Judging the distance to be not more than fifteen hundred meters due west, Seydlitz keyed his radio and issued a warning to all the tanks in his column to stand by for action. Switching the radio to the battalion net, Seydlitz began to report his sighting but stopped in midsentence when from the south he saw a green and white star cluster fired as if in response to the first. Correcting his initial report, Seydlitz updated his battalion commander with his latest observation and then dropped back to the company radio net as he prepared to close with the enemy.
From across the open expanse to his front, Dixon could see a tank move out of the tree line three thousand meters north of his position and head straight down the hard-surfaced road for the farm even before the green and white star clusters Major Harold Cerro fired in return went off. Though he couldn't see it, he had no doubt that Big Al's personnel carrier was following close behind the tank. For a moment, Dixon wondered if the tank was his own tank carrying Vorishnov out to greet him. That would be a bit foolish. He already felt a little uncomfortable at allowing Big Al to come out like that before the area was secure. Senior commanders, after all, just didn't do things like that. Not even brigade commanders. But in this case he could understand why Malin was doing this. For even if, after all was said and done, Big Al was allowed to retire gracefully, this would be the last time he would ever ride into battle in the service of his country.
Ready, Dixon took one more look around to make sure that everything and everyone at his end were set. Captain Kozak and her small company were just about in place. She had her one remaining tank deployed to the left of the road, while the two infantry squads of her one infantry platoon were deployed in the woods to the right. Kozak's Bradley sat on the right side of the road keeping a watch to the northeast while Cerro sat on the left side of the road watching the farm and road itself from his Bradley. Satisfied that all was ready, Dixon ordered his driver to move out and head for the farmhouse.
Just as the Leopard tank to Seydlitz's front was about to break out of the tree line, the tank commander of that tank stiffened upright in the open hatch. He stood there for only a second before he disappeared into the turret of the tank with such speed that it looked as if someone inside had pulled him down. Immediately after that the turret of the lead tank made a quick, short jerk to the right, or northwest. For a moment it stopped and then slowly began to move back to the left, as if it were tracking something moving south. Seydlitz, guessing what was going on, was about to call to that tank commander when he heard the tank commander report in. There was great excitement in his voice as the tank commander of the lead tank reported that he was about to engage an American tank moving south along the road.
Not sure that he wanted to initiate such an engagement before he had deployed at least some of the company out of the column formation, Seydlitz was about to order the lead tank commander to hold his fire when that tank fired its main gun, shattering the cold winter air with a sharp crack.
Ordering the commander of his personnel carrier to pull over to one side of the road, Malin stood up as high as he dared and leaned over the side in an effort to see around the damned tank that Vorishnov had insisted come along. Suddenly, without any warning, the tank to his front was engulfed in a huge shower of sparks, flame, and black smoke. The terrible screeching noise of metal tearing metal cut through Malin like a knife. Even before he had time to twist his head the fraction of an inch necessary to look from Dixon's personnel carrier to the tank less than fifty meters to their front, the first of the tank's large metal blow-off panels that covered the ammo storage area had already been torn free. Like a dead leaf, the blow-off panel was flipped off the turret and sent flying straight up, followed by a solid sheet of flame. Allowing himself to fall back into the personnel carrier, Malin continued to rotate his head to the left in the direction from which he thought the attack had come.
When he finally was facing the east tree line, Malin saw the sinister form of a Leopard II tank, its main gun still smoking as it emerged from a clump of trees. They were, he realized, in trouble.
His personnel carrier, moving as fast as it could roll, was about to reach the tank leading Malin's personnel carrier when out of the corner of his eye Dixon saw a flash. Instinctively his head cut over in that direction, but then, when the tank on the road to their front began to tear itself apart, he twisted his head back in that direction. Not needing long to assess what was happening, Dixon jumped up, hit the sergeant that was serving as the commander of his personnel carrier on the left shoulder, and yelled, "Get behind the burning tank. Go left and get behind the burning tank on the left. Ambush from the woods."
The sergeant, having seen the same thing, was already preparing to do that, since he knew that it would have taken longer to turn around and run back to the woods they had just left. The driver, on the other hand, who had been shocked by what had just happened, immediately let his foot off the accelerator. The sergeant commanding the vehicle heard the engine change pitch and yelled, while Dixon was yelling to him, "NO! DON'T STOP! DON'T STOP. GO! GO!"
When he heard both the sergeant and Dixon, the driver quickly overcame his initial panic and stomped his foot down till it couldn't go down anymore. With a sudden jerk, Dixon's personnel carrier lurched forward and went screaming toward the burning tank, still being racked by secondary explosions, and the farmhouse.
Unable to get the commander of the tank in front of him to acknowledge his calls, Seydlitz watched helplessly as that tank commander allowed his tank to continue to roll west, out of the tree line and into the open. Though Seydlitz still couldn't see around the lead tank, it was obvious that he was preparing to engage another target. Seydlitz watched the turret of the lead tank jerk to the right a little and then as before begin to drift back slowly to the left. Not waiting any longer, Seydlitz ordered his own driver to move off the trail to the left and then instructed his company to commence deploying.
From where she sat, Kozak had only seen a faint muzzle blast from the tank to the northeast that had fired. At that moment it was still too far in the woods and masked by trees. Still, as she had on many occasions before, she dropped into her seat, issuing her initial fire command to Sergeant Wolf, her gunner, as she did so. "GUNNER! MISSILE! TANK!"
Wolf, who had not seen the telltale muzzle blast, yelled back, "Cannot identify!"
Once she was settled in her seat and had her eye pressed against her sight, Kozak grabbed the control handles and slewed the turret to the right until the sight was sitting at the edge of the tree line to the northeast some two thousand meters away. Believing his commander had made a mistake, Wolf yelled again, "Cannot identify!"