A canopy of ponchos hid the white-blue light of the cutting torch as the men worked on the jammed track of Utah,. the Abrams of November India Squadron. The Bundesgrenzshutz platoon, with the exception of one engineer who was helping Adams, Ginsborough and Podini, were scattered on the lower slopes of the hill above the crippled tank. Master Sergeant Will Browning and the BGS lieutenant lay below the crest of the ridge and watched the activity on the three bridges now completed across the river.
The engines of the Soviet vehicles muffled the sound of gunfire, but distant fires were colouring the sky towards the west.
'There's one hell of a lot of supplies down there.'
The lieutenant nodded. 'Too many. It should not be so. They are holding them…waiting for something.'
'Reinforcements?'
'No. I do not think they need them yet. I think they wait because they have delay.'
'We're holding them?' It was a good thought, but Browning wasn't convinced.
'Maybe, yes. How far do you think it is to the combat zone?'
Browning studied the horizon. It was difficult to estimate distance at night, but the gunfire he could see was well below the rim of the night sky. 'Eight or nine kilometers.'
'Not much more than this afternoon. I think the American and German corps begin counter-offensive.'
'Counter-offensive? Jesus man, we don't have the strength. You've seen the amount of their armour.'
'We now have French armour…and French aircraft.'
'French? When the hell did we get the French?
'Yesterday morning. They join us.'
'Could they get their armour up this fast?'
'It is possible. The distance is not so great.' The German was lying on his stomach, his chin resting on his forearms. 'You know what we must do?'
'If I had any sense, I'd tell you we should get the hell out of here while we've got a chance.' Browning stared down at the bridgehead and supply dump. The loss of ammunition, fuel, food and vehicle supplies would be a serious blow to the Soviet division, and if it could be achieved at the expense of a single NATO tank, then it had to be justifiable. The trouble was, it was his tank, his crew and his life; and he had already made himself a few promises. He attempted to weigh up the odds.
The lieutenant misunderstood Browning's hesitation. 'How do you want to fight this war, American? From twenty kilometers the other side of the front line…firing shells at an enemy you can't see? In a tank, you fight close, like infantry. And sometimes it is necessary to die.'
'I know my job, Lieutenant, and I know about dying.' Browning was silent for a while. A lot of memories he had forgotten had been revived in the past hours, and almost as though it were Armageddon ghosts had risen from graves. He had called Adams 'Jackson' during the battle, but Jackson had died near Dong Ha; he had looked out through the episcope in the earlier minutes of the counterattack and for a few moments been unable to recognize the XM1s of the squadron, he had expected sand-coloured M48s. Dying? He was an expert. They had offered him a commission once…suggested he train to become an officer. He had refused, because he knew too much about death. As an officer you decided how a battle should be fought, and then you gave the orders to your men to fight it. As a sergeant you took the orders, but then made decisions to try to keep your men alive while you obeyed them. He preferred the latter responsibility.
'You have visited my village before, Sergeant?
'Gunthers?' Browning saw the German officer nod. 'I passed through it a couple of days ago. It was a nice place.'
'Yes, a good place. Small, but good. And my school was good, too. I took my last class three days ago.'
'Teacher?'
'Yes, I am a teacher, art. I took my class on Tuesday afternoon. Boys and girls, fourteen years old. And they painted the bridge across the Ulster, from memory. I should have taken them down there, and let them sit by it…by the bridge. Now, it has gone, and with it the old gasthof, many memories. Yesterday morning, I blew them to pieces.'
Adams had repaired the track; cut it loose, replaced the severed link, repositioned the track on the sprockets and adjusted the tension. The XM1 was operational. There would be no opportunity to warm up her engine; once it was started every Russian within a kilometer would know there was an armoured vehicle somewhere close by. For a while they might think it was one of their own, but it wouldn't be too long before someone decided to investigate. The sound of Utah's Avco Lycoming turbine was distinctive.
Podini and Ginsborough had cleared most of the rubble from behind the tracks and with luck the Abrams would be able to reverse straight out. The men were waiting now for Browning's orders, anxious to be moving.
The BGS lieutenant asked: 'Well, Sergeant?'
'How long will it take to get your men in position?
'Four minutes.'
'Will you be using your missiles?'
'It's not easy in the darkness…but yes, we will try.'
'Okay,' agreed Browning. 'You have exactly four minutes.'
Podini's voice was anxious in Browning's earphones. 'What's going on? How many minutes to what?'
Browning had pulled down the hatch and was settling himself in his seat. 'We're going back to war.'
'I thought we were going home…'
'Afterwards, Podini…'
'You had to mention a nuke,' interrupted Adams, wearily.
'It ain't no nuke…I made a mistake. You're kidding us, Sarge.'
'Two minutes,' warned Browning. 'When you get her out of here, Mike, go right. Keep her close to the wall below the hill. After three hundred meters the ground dips below another section of wall that runs towards the river. I want her hull-down there for three shots, all HE…you get that, Mike…just three shots? You with me, Podini? Okay! There's a fuel bowser this side of the bridge…that's your first target. The missile you saw is under net some three hundred meters further up the bank, in a grove of trees, that's your number two. I want that rocket taken out… so no mistakes. It may need a couple of shells…otherwise, we'll see what we've got afterwards. Mike, once you move, move fast. Head straight into them…Podini, you're on your own, I'll be using the point five; and keep it cool, guys.'
'Cool? Shit!'
Browning said, 'Okay…let's roll.'
Browning was watching the scene ahead of the XM1 through the light-intensifying lenses. They did not bring daylight, only dusk. There was no colour, soft shadows…the light of the minutes before nightfall.
The XM1's turbine had started with a roar that Browning knew must have been heard clear across the border. If anything was calculated to jerk the Soviet ground radar operators back into full alert, nothing much more suitable could have been invented. At any moment he expected shells to begin bursting around them.
Adams quickly settled the tank in the dip of the ground behind the low stone wall. Browning would have been happier if the hollow had been deeper, but it was the best cover available; the near three meters height of Utah didn't make her the easiest of armoured vehicles to conceal.
Podini hadn't wasted time. He wanted to get it over so they could leave the area. He was talking nervously to himself, running through the firing drill. 'Target…laser range-finder…firing-switch on…computer adjusts…fire!' The M68 gun roared, lifting the XM1's bow. A fraction of a second later the fuel bowser, a thousand meters away, exploded into a billowing wall of fire that turned the river into brilliant gold. 'Target…where the hell is the nuke…?'
'It ain't a nuke…' Adams' voice. 'Please God that ain't no nuke.'
'Left some,' advised Browning. He was thinking along much the same lines as Adams, but didn't think there would be a nuclear explosion even if the missile was armed with a nuclear warhead, which he doubted. Aircraft had crashed when they were carrying nuclear weapons, and hadn't exploded. 'Left more…eleven o'clock…yeah…'
Podini said: 'Countdown begun…ten…nine…'
'Very funny you Wop nut…'Adams wasn't amused.
The explosion of the bowser had stirred wild activity into the area; a group of infantrymen were hurrying across the open ground in front of the nearest of the bridges. A twin automatic anti-aircraft gun with a high rate of fire began loosing off indiscriminate bursts into the hillside above the XM1. It wouldn't take them too long to find their target…the Abrams had got off the first shot without being seen, but plenty of eyes would be scouring the darkness watching for the source of the second:
Podini fired. The explosion of the shell was unspectacular. 'Come on Gins…come on…move your ass…'
'Loaded…'
'Go you shit…' The XM1 surged as Podini fired again.
'Okay…move out, Adams,' shouted Browning.
Adams slammed the Allison transmission into reverse and spun the XM1 sideways, then ten meters back along the gulley into the open field. As he did so the hull vibrated to the rapid explosion of a dozen high explosive rounds in the hollow where they had been hull-down. Adams changed to forward gear and accelerated fast. He hit the low wall and the XM1 bucked wildly, the stone glancing off the hull like shrapnel and scattering into the darkness.
Browning hadn't seen the gun's third shell strike. Near the first bridge the fuel bowser was still blazing furiously. He thought he could make out the position of the anti-aircraft gun, and was bringing the.5 to bear when the entire strip of ground that was his night vision horizon burst upwards in a blinding flash of white fire. He saw trees blasted out of the ground, and huge pieces of unidentifiable debris hurled from the centre of the explosion. The tight was so fierce he was forced to cover his eyes with his hand, but the vision of the towering explosion remained. The XM1 hit the shock wave as though it were being driven into a deep snow drift.
'Christ!' Browning didn't know whether Podini was cursing or praying.
Adams had his feet on the brake and the XM1 was almost stationary.
'Keep her going, Adams…move the cowson…' Browning found that so long as he was looking directly towards the raging fires near the bridges he could see, but the remainder of the landscape which had formerly been twilight through his night-sight was now pitch-black.
The whole stretch of woodland beyond the dump where the missile launcher had been conceded was blazing, as though a hundred napalm bombs had been dropped within the small area.
'HE, I told you it was HE,' Podini was shouting joyfully. 'Boy, see that rocket go…Jesus Christ…'
A Russian truck was being driven furiously but blindly on a diagonal collision course towards Utah. Browning expected Adams to change direction; he didn't. Utah struck the truck a third of the way along the body, tore it apart and tossed the wreckage high into the air. The tank shuddered. Behind them the front end of the truck somersaulted across the field shedding bodies, and then burst into flames.
Browning began using the.5 machine gun, concentrating on the riverbank where some of the anti-aircraft defaces had been positioned. He could not see a clear target, but hoped his bullets were encouraging the AA gunners to keep their heads down. 'Adams…right a bit…Podini…go for the bridges…' As he spoke the nearest bridge erupted into a mass of fire and twisted metal. 'Forget it…leave them to the BGS…hit the transports.'
Podini was firing as fast as Ginsborough could get shells and charges into the breech, and Adams had cut the speed again, keeping Utah close to the cover below the hill. The first of the PG-7 anti-tank rockets exploded three meters ahead, followed by a second more to the right. Adams accelerated. He saw a group of infantry twenty meters ahead and drove for them; three chose the wrong direction and were pulped beneath the XM1's tracks.
Two shells fired by one of the twin 23mm anti-aircraft guns shrieked off Utah's Chobham armour, the third exploded on the turret ring, failed to penetrate, but jammed the Cadillac Cage turret drive.
Podini yelled, 'Let's get the fuck out of here…'
Utah rocked as an anti-tank grenade exploded close to the hull. Browning could see a platoon of enemy infantry charging towards the hill. 'Okay, Mike…let's go.'
Adams spun the tank, the violence of his action tossing Browning against the equipment which surrounded him. Adams, like Browning, had lost most of his night vision. Now that Utah was heading into the darkness he could see nothing, and they were closer to the river than he realized.
The NATO bar mine, ploughed into the riverbank the previous night by US Engineers, exploded under the rear of the tank, tearing off the track, rear bogeys and drive wheel, and rupturing the fuel tanks. The driving and fighting compartments were filled with a fine mist of diesel fuel. Utah stopped dead as the transmission locked solid.
Browning knew they had only seconds before the fuel would ignite and Utah burst into flame. He yelled: 'Bale out, guys…' He rammed the hatch open and climbed on to the hull. He could see Ginsborough pulling himself from the loader's hatch nearby. Podini's head and shoulders were close to him, he grabbed them and lifted the man dear of the turret, pushing him off the hull before jumping down beside him.
'Where's Mike?' Podini shouted the question wildly.
'Get down… she'll go any second.' Browning tried to drag Podini further away from Utah but Podini wrenched himself free and ran towards the front of the tank, pulling himself on to the sloping foredeck. He reached the driver's hatch and tried to open it. It was jammed. Browning heard a burst of machine gun fire and saw Podini spin back against the turret, his body jerking with the impact of the bullets before it folded over the barrel of the M68. Smoke billowed suddenly from the hatches, and ignited with a dull roar.
Browning was on his knees. He could see Ginsborough to his left, crouching, watching, his eyes wide and his mouth open as though he were screaming silently. Silhouetted against the fires of the supply dump the body of Podini hung across the Abrams' gun-barrel, his clothes burning. Four Soviet infantrymen were running towards the tank.
Browning stood up. There was nothing more to be done; it was all over. He raised his hands, saw that the Russians had stopped and were watching him in the light of the flames, and felt a strange sense of relief. He took a step forward, and as he did so the infantrymen began firing. Will Browning's second war had lasted his lifetime.