Benen, pausing after he heard a third tank round fired, realized that in moments the enemy would be right there in the middle of the rail yard itself. Knowing that it was useless to try to take on the enemy tank in the town, Benen decided to prepare to meet the Americans in the rail yard. There, the anti-tank guided missiles would have enough stand-off distance between the launcher and the target, for it took several meters for an anti-tank guided missile to arm itself after being fired, something that he couldn't count on in the narrow streets of the town. Leaving the first sergeant to take care of the vehicles at the front of the train, closest to where he expected the enemy tanks to come from, Benen ran to the end of the rail cars where he intended to deploy several of his Jaguars. Though it would be close, he was confident that they could do it.
Confidence, at that moment, was something that Second Lieutenant Tim Ellerbee could have used. Ordered to pick up his speed and get into the town of Dermbach as quickly as possible to protect the brigade command post from an enemy counterattack, Ellerbee and the rest of his platoon had left Captain Nancy Kozak and her slower Bradleys behind in the night in their efforts to reach the brigade command post before the Germans did.
The sudden burst of speed that allowed Ellerbee and his tanks to break free of the numbing convoy speed, heightened by the prospect of battle, shook any traces of sleep from Ellerbee's mind. They were going into battle again. This time he and his platoon would do everything right. The problems that he had experienced in the Ukraine would be washed away in a single smashing success. And he would be able to prove to the female captain who spoke to him like he was an idiot that he was as good a soldier, if not better, as she was. Of all the thoughts that ran through Ellerbee's mind as his platoon reached the southern outskirts of Dermbach, that was the most important one.
Which perhaps explains why Second Lieutenant Ellerbee missed the sign that indicated the main road, the one that would have taken his platoon to the center of town where the brigade command post was and where Scott Dixon and his crew were fighting for their lives. Instead Ellerbee found that he was rapidly leading his entire platoon down a blind alley instead of charging to the rescue. Not understanding what had happened, Ellerbee brought his tank to a screaming stop when he suddenly ran out of street and entered a factory complex. Pausing, he looked to his left, then to his right, then at his map while the sounds of Scott Dixon's lonely battle against Captain Albrecht Benen's Jaguar company reverberated through the empty streets.
While Ellerbee was trying to figure out what had gone wrong and what to do about it, Sergeant First Class Rourk, Ellerbee's platoon sergeant, came over the platoon's radio net. "Alpha Three One, this is Alpha Three Four. We missed a turn back there somewhere. Do you want me to get everyone turned around? Over."
Looking back down the line of tanks, Ellerbee realized that would take time, which the brigade command post might not have. Besides, if they missed the turn once, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't miss it again. Looking at his map again, Ellerbee noticed that there was a rail line that ran north to south. To his front, he could make out what he thought was a set of tracks in the factory's yard. Glancing back to his left, he followed the tracks toward the direction of the town center and the sounds of battle. It only made sense that the tracks in the factory yard had to be connected to the main rail line shown on his map.
Stuffing his map back down the open hatch he stood in, Ellerbee keyed the radio mike. "Negative, Three Four. We're going to follow these tracks here to my front and into the center of the town. When we get close enough to the action, we'll cut up a side street and find the brigade CP. Over."
Though Rourk wasn't too keen on Ellerbee's idea, Ellerbee was the platoon leader and they had to do something fast. So with a less than enthusiastic "Roger, we're right behind you," Rourk and the rest of 3rd Platoon made a sharp left and began to rumble along the railroad tracks toward the sound of the guns.
In headlong pursuit down the twisting streets after another, and what he hoped to be the last, Jaguar, Dixon didn't notice that he had run out of street and was entering the wide-open rail yard. Not that this helped the Jaguar that they were chasing. When the gunner thought he had enough time, he yelled, "ON THE WAY." Without waiting for Dixon to give the order to fire, he fired the main gun. As before, this HEAT round found its mark.
The sudden report of a tank cannon and the series of explosions caused by the destruction of one of his Jaguars right there in the middle of the rail yard caught Captain Albrecht Benen and the rest of his company by surprise. In an instant the dark rail yard was bathed in bright yellow and red light as flames from the burning propellant of ammunition stored in the latest Jaguar destroyed leaped into the black night sky. Every one of Benen's officers and soldiers turned and watched before the image of Dixon's tank, with its huge 120mm tank cannon turning toward them, caused them to redouble their efforts. This was it. Fight or flight.
The sudden image of a dozen enemy armored vehicles, some still on rail cars but all of them pointing toward them, startled Dixon, Vorishnov, and his gunner. They were in deep shit with no good choices. Dixon knew that he had pushed his luck too far and it was now time to beat a hasty retreat if they could. Even the driver, without being told, understood their plight, had realized what was coming and had already applied the brakes before Dixon gave the frantic order to back up, repeating it several times, even after his tank had begun its rearward motion.
Like Dixon, the explosion of the Jaguar in the rail yard and the sight of multiple targets less than one hundred meters to his front caught Ellerbee by surprise. He and the rest of his platoon, however, had an advantage. All the Germans were looking the other way. Somehow he realized they had come up behind the Germans and were in a perfect position to hit them from the rear before they had time to react. Without looking to see if there was room to properly deploy, Ellerbee keyed the platoon radio net and ordered his platoon to deploy on line to either side of his tank and begin to engage the enemy vehicles at will.
Not waiting for acknowledgment from any of his tank commanders, Ellerbee let the radio mike go and issued a quick if somewhat confused initial fire command to his own gunner. The content of the fire command, including the target Ellerbee wanted to engage, didn't matter. Ellerbee's gunner had already laid his sights onto the rear of a Jaguar that was sitting on top of a rail car with its missile launcher up and ready to fire. When Ellerbee screeched his command to fire, the gunner gave a quick "On the way" and pulled the trigger on his right gunner's control.
While the destruction of the Jaguar to their front had been a surprise, the firing of a tank and the explosion of another Jaguar behind the men of Benen's company was a shock. Captain Albrecht Benen turned around just in time to see a second American tank pull up next to the one that had just fired and turn its gun on the Jaguar that he was standing next to. Realizing what was coming Benen threw himself under the rail car to his left just as the second American tank fired, destroying another Jaguar.
Rolling over onto his stomach and propping himself up on his elbows, Benen looked at his latest loss. He realized that all hope of salvaging this one-sided battle was gone. Though Benen had no idea that his company outnumbered the Americans engaged, that didn't matter. He had been unable to bring the weapons of his company to bear and had never been able to recover from the initial shock. As he lay there, Benen saw his men abandon their efforts to bring their Jaguars into the fight and, like him, seek safety behind cover or in flight. All thoughts of duty, honor, and country were forgotten as Benen crawled over the concrete rail sleepers and through puddles of waste oil, mud, and slush that dotted the rail yard and his path to safety.