Tom Harsker V.C. and his men think that, after taking Walcheren and securing Antwerp, they will be due a leave. When three of them are sent to train other soldiers they think that it will be an easy assignment. Their break from war is rudely interrupted when Adolf Hitler launches Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein (“Operation Watch on the Rhine”), they are thrown back into the maelstrom of war. They are caught up in the retreat of the cavalry from St. Vith and they, and their American allies have to fight to defend every inch of the snow covered forests of the Ardennes. It will be a test of all their skills as they face the new German tanks, the King Tiger and the Jagdpanther. The fast moving novel reflects the actual events of December 1944.
This book sends Tom Harsker and his men towards the front to help train the British and American troops in the Ardennes. When Adolf Hitler launches his offensive Tom is caught up in the battle. Fighting S.S. and King Tigers as well as Panthers he, and his two men, need all their experience just to stay alive.
I have used first hand accounts of the events in the Battle of the Bulge; referencing both the massacre at Malmedy and the massacre at Wereth. The war is drawing to a close but the Germans are not giving in without a fight.
Excerpt
We headed up through the forest. I squatted down just fifty yards from the PIAT. I could see it but only because I knew where to look. Gordy had done a good job of disguising it. I laid two of my grenades on the ground. I had my Mauser and the MP 34. With only one magazine left for the MP 34 I would have to save that for any infantry who were with the tank. I took the Mauser and adjusted the sight. I made a pile of snow before me and laid the barrel on it. I then piled snow over the barrel making sure that the sight was unobscured. My head was exposed and so I pulled the hood of the camouflage cape over my head. Gordy had his Thompson with the last of my ammunition and his. It gave him two magazines. He, too, laid out two grenades.
I peered down the trail. I saw the barrel of the tank rising above the snow. “Bugger!”
“What is it sir?”
“It is a long barrelled 88. This is a King Tiger or a Panther.”
“Well you and the Colonel got one of those up the backside with an armoured car, sir. We know they are weak there.”
I laughed, “Gordy Barker becoming the optimist!”
“Of course sir, it is almost New Year!”
I peered through the sights as the tank came into view. As it turned the corner, a hundred and fifty yards from me I saw that it was not a King Tiger. It was the tank destroyer version of the Panther. It was a Jagdpanther. With a steeply sloping front they were almost impossible to be destroyed from the front as the shells bounced off them. I had never seen one before but I had seen the Panzer IV version. Colonel Devine had told me of these new tank destroyers. I was glad that this was the first one we had seen.
The sloping sides meant that the Panzer Grenadiers who normally rode on the tanks were having to cling on to the spare barrel and track just behind the immobile turret. There were six of them. Their white camouflage capes made them stand out against the camouflage paint of the tank destroyer. We would have to take them out. I glanced to my left. Gordy had hidden himself too. The tank destroyer lumbered up towards us. What I did not know was the thickness of the armour on this one. However, as the gun could not traverse if the PIAT failed to penetrate the armour Gordy and I could disable it through the hatch or the visor. The tank destroyer was level with the PIAT when disaster struck. One of the Panzer Grenadiers glanced down and he must have seen the barrel of the PIAT.
I saw him point down and shout. As they were clinging on to the hull they had to release one hand to bring their weapons around. I fired the Mauser and shot the sergeant who had spotted the gun. Gordy let rip with the Thompson. Two men fell and the other three leapt from the back and took cover on the far side of the Jagdpanther. The tank destroyer kept coming up the slope and the machine gun in the sponson began to fire. We were lucky that it could not depress very far. The trees above our head were shredded. It began to turn to give a better angle. That would not do. The PIAT needed a square on shot to stand a chance.
We had to draw the Jagdpanther back on track. “Keep watch on the grenadiers.” I rolled to my right and rose. I fired the rifle from the hip and the bullet clanged off the huge steel behemoth. It was just thirty yards from me. The machine gun and the tank both tried to turn to follow me. I knew that I would soon be under fire from the Panzer Grenadiers as well as any others who were heading up the track.
