Scorched Steel

[MyLittleHellhound]

7. Panzer-Division

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel

Location:France 1940

The Panzer IIIs rumbled across the fields of France. They weighed 22 tons, a medium tank by standards. The crew of five operated the 37mm gun, two machine guns, and the 250 PS, 12-cylinder Maybach HL 108 TR engine. Armour was designed to combat tanks, a 30-15mm layer on all sides, 10-30mm on the top, and 5mm on the bottom. France was cut through like soft butter, the Blitzkrieg doctrine proving one of the most useful methods of the war so far. Towns and fields burned in wake of their rapid advancement into Allied territory, and soon they were at Arras.

The Allies needed to stop the rapid expansion of Nazi Germany into France. British Matilda tanks moved in to buy time for the British, 16 QF 2-pounder gun armed Matilda IIs, and a few lighter vehicles. Two columns of infantry were there as well, the 6th and 8th Battalions Durham Light Infantry supporting the 4th and 7th Royal Tank Regiment, totalling around 2,000 men, and reinforced by 74 tanks.

All hell broke loose.

Rommel ordered his Panzers and infantry forward to attack the both columns. Some charged the left column,tanks firing as soon as they could get in range. 37mm guns boomed, explosions shattering the dirt and exploding on the Matildas. British infantry clashed with the motorized SS regiment. Screams and the chatter of gunfire rang for miles around as the defenders tried to push the British back, but it was no use. The Matilda tanks moved up, blasting away the Germans with their machine guns and cannons as Rommel desperately tried to stop them. His 37mm guns couldn't penetrate the armor! He slammed his fist down, making a fast decision.

Under his command, 88 mm FlaK 18 AA guns and 105 mm field guns formed into a defensive line They rumbled and spat out HE rounds and anti-tank shells, catching the British advance. Matildas exploded in showers of sparks and hot metal, slewing to the sides as their crew tumbled out burning and screaming. Allied infantry were thrown to the ground and in the air by the massive explosions. Suddenly, the Luftwaffe swooped down, machine guns and bombs a-plenty. Men were cut down by the dozens and even more tanks went up in fiery explosions. The grass was red with blood and black with soot.

The right column was taking heavy losses from Rommel's infantry and the SS divisions. He smiled, a reassuring muscle movement to his troops. The British were retreating, covering their helmeted heads as planes strafed them and infantry shot at their backs. One plane swooped down, guns blazing as it peppered a dozen running men with bullets. They twirled around for a bit like ragdolls and fell, leaking blood from a dozen holes.

"Verfolgt sie!" Rommel ordered. He would destroy the BEF, right here and now. The Panzers and infantry lurched forward while the cannons pounded away. Much to his dismay, the French heavy armor stopped his own lighter tanks cold. He ordered a halt, and a retreat. In all, he wrote as he surveyed the battlefield later on, 89 men killed, 116 wounded and 173 missing and captured. 75 British and French tanks lay in smoking wrecks, steaming from their vicious battering by the Panzers. Rommel had underestimated them this time . . . but not in Africa. No, not then, and not ever again.

Later in the war, Rommel would become a legend, a renowned German respected by both his enemies and fellows. He would leave behind a multitude of dead, captured, and feared enemies. Tanks under his command would destroy everything that opposed it.

He would be known as "Desert Fox" for the rest of his career and well after.

[darkflareon]

I think this is great, and the more I read of you stories the more I begin to love your writing.

For longer stories I have always loved the attachment to the characters. In your short stories however that isnt needed as much and this one proves it.

It's short sweet and to the point.

The only improvments I would have made was to make it a little less facty, but thats somethink that will vary from person to person, and I did find the explination at the start as to what was happerning confused me a little so perhaps more detail or more structure (I'm not sure which) would be an idea.

-Flareon