Breathing in the crisp autumn air, I relaxed next to the pintle mounted M1949. It almost felt like we weren’t in a war. Looking back towards the earth, our convoy of Sherman Jumbos rolled on through. Supposedly, we were supposed to link up with the 2nd Armored Brigade, but they didn’t show up at the rally point. Our orders were to reinforce the 18th Infantry Division, who were encountering fierce resistance from entrenched German units. Rumors of a new German MBT were going around, saying that even they were more mobile than a Centurion, and shrugged off HEAT rounds like nothing. Honestly, this sounded exaggerated, so me and my crew thought nothing of it. Some new Kraut super-weapon rumor appeared every week. Last month they were talking about how the Krauts shot down B-47s with guided rockets from Me 262s, and some rumors claimed guided Anti-Tank missiles from a portable launcher. Ridiculous. There’s no such thing. If there was, the combined American and British research team would’ve made it by now. These new 105mm Centurions will change the tide of the war! Coming to a sharp left turn in the road, the lead Centurion stopped. Ken, our commander, radioed to the lead Centurion. >“Oi! What’s the hold-up?” The radio crackled as they responded. >“We’ve found the 2nd Armored Brigade. Or what’s left of them. Let’s-” Their call was cut short by a 88mm shell tearing through their side armor, flames engulfing the turret of their tank. Another shell whistled past the entire column, and a third ricocheted off the turret of the Jumbo directly in front of our Centurion. A line of green tracers raked across the front of the shermans, catching a few crew members who didn’t button up fast enough. >‘Loader! Load HE! Gunner, target those AT guns, 12 o’clock!, Driver, take us right, out of the column!’ the TC ordered. Lining up the sight on where I thought the AT guns were, I unleashed a burst of .303 loose from the coax. The lead Jumbo was hit in the turret, the 88mm HVAP shell penetrating through the front and rear armor of the turret, including the Sherman’s gunner. It then bounced harmlessly off the turret of the next Jumbo in line. Firing our turret-mounted smoke launchers, we attempted to cover the rest of the tank column from the 88s. The 88s fired blindly into the smoke, wisps of smoke following the contrails of the HVAP rounds. A white tracer flew into rearmost Jumbo from the left flank, detonating, easily penetrating the thinner side armor of the Jumbo. Smoke poured from the muzzle of the Jumbo, as the commander’s cupola bursts into flames. Through the gunsight, I saw 2 of the crew crawl out from the rear emergency hatch, and the commander, on fire, exited through the driver’s cupola, who was then cut down with green tracers. The tank column was now trapped, lined up like a shooting gallery for the tanks on their flank. Tank after tank was knocked out before they could return fire. Once there was only a single Jumbo left, the German tanks revealed themselves from the brush, advancing on the trapped tank. Covered in what appeared to be bricks, they accelerated and fired in sync, all 4 rounds impacting simultaneously on the last remaining Sherman, popping the turret off. >‘Loader, Load HEAT. Gunner, Hold fire. We’ll hit them in the ass once they turn.’ TC said, unconfidently. Nervously, I drummed my fingers against the armor plating next to the trigger. As the 4 German tanks turned, showing us their thin side armor, I lined up them up in my sights. >‘Gunner, Fire!’ >‘On The Way!” I shout. The cannon breech rocked back, sending the spent casing to the floor. I watch as the HEAT round travel to the target, a direct hit. A large explosion typical of a HEAT shell caused plume of dark smoke. In seconds, James had loaded another HEAT round. > “Gunner, Target left! Fire!” >“On The Way!” Again, the round flew true, striking the tank in the side of the turret. As the smoke cleared from the first target, I could see that it was unharmed! >‘What the devil?’ I muttered under my breath. >“Loader, Load AP! Gunner, same target!” the TC orders frantically. >“On The Way!” Firing once again, I accidentally jerked the trigger, sending the AP round whistling through the air over the top of the German tank. >“Gunner, Same target! Adjust down and left!” >“On The Way!” This time, the round penetrated the side armor of the tank, sending sparks flying off. I watched as the crew bailed. >‘Gunner! Target right, Fire!’ TC said with more confidence As I rotated the the turret to engage the rightmost tank, a white tracer skipped off of the mantlet, narrowly avoiding penetration. >“Gunner, Fire! Now damn it!” >“On The Way!” I shout. 2 down, 2 to go. The remaining tanks charged our position, hoping to outflank us. Annihilating one, I traversed the turret to engage the last remaining German tank. As I aligned the final tank in with sights, the second tank sprayed our turret with 7.92mm rounds from it’s coax. A lucky 7.92mm cracked my gunner’s optic. >“My optic’s down! I’m blind!” I shout. >“Driver! Reverse!” TC orders. We start reversing out of our hull-down position, exposing our hull to the enemy tank. The German tank took advantage of that fact. James was tiring, and loading slow. Unable to fire first, the German tank fired. The German HEAT round flew inches from the cheek of the turret, detonating on James’ toolkit, obliterating it, along with the pintle-mounted M1949. >“GUNNER, FIRE! FIRE!” the TC shouted. >‘ON THE WAY!’ I yelled back, as the breech rocked back again. The AP round left a red hot hole in the hull of the German MBT. Exhaling heavily, I realized how stressful the situation was. I looked toward the commander, and saw him reach into a bag, and pull out a cheese sandwich. I caught a fragment of what he muttered. >“Africa all over again.”