Devils with Wings by Harvey Black Read Free Book Online

trees there. I think I can see a sentry at the edge of the clearing!”
    The platoon took to the ground, hugging it closely, trying to become a part of the foliage that was beneath them and around them.
    “You must have eyes like a hawk Fessman, well done.”
    He turned to Leeb who had moved closer to his side, “Send a runner to Unterfeldwebel Grun, and tell him and Unteroffizier Kienitz to get over here now.”
    “Right sir.”
    He turned towards his troop, “Herzog, get Unterfeldwebel Grun and Unteroffizier Kienitz now,” he hissed to the paratrooper to his immediate left.
    “Shall I get Fischer as well sir?”
    “Yes, but whoever you send tell them to go carefully, Fischer’s men will have itchy trigger fingers.”
    Leeb had dispatched two troopers for the task and within ten minutes there was a platoon conference.
    “Right Max, Fischer, what is the situation to your front?”
    “We have spotted the clearing too sir, but there are no sentries to our front.”
    “I sent a scout forward sir,” informed Kienitz, “and he has reported back saying there is a battery of guns in the clearing.”
    “Are they unlimbered?” asked Paul.
    “No sir,” replied Kienitz, “they look as if they’ve either just got here or are about to leave.”
    “How many men?”
    “About sixty sir, typical for an artillery battery I would’ve thought.”
    “Was there any activity?”
    “They seem pretty relaxed, they only have a few sentries and we can only see two in front of our platoon line.”
    “Ok, listen in,” commanded Paul.
    “We can’t move forward and the rest of the Battalion should now have finished manoeuvring into position on the edges of the wood. They will be expecting us to kick things off and panic the enemy into withdrawing directly into the blocking force. This is what we are going to do.”
    Paul briefed the troop Commanders and informed company Head Quarters of the action he was taking.
    He had decided to bring the reserve troop forward for the attack on the Polish troops and had been told by company command that third platoon would move forward to act as their reserve should they need it.
    Just as Paul had finished briefing his platoon Commanders they heard gunfire off to the West. First the sound of a light machine gun, clearly not a German weapon so likely to be Polish, followed by Polish small arms fire. Then they could hear the response from an MG34, the distinctive buzz saw sound could not be mistaken.
    The sounds came from the West, from Hill 172, the location of the platoon from second company, tasked to secure the hill and act as high cover for the Battalion. Bier obviously had his hands full; soon it would be Paul’s turn.
    “Keep the men moving Leeb,” hissed Paul.
    Now that the action had well and truly started, the men became even more alert than they were before the firefight on hill 172 had started. The tension was self-evident. They were all hyped and ready to go.
    The first thing that needed to be done, to effect Paul’s plan, was to take out the sentries. With them in place, he wouldn’t be able to get his platoon close enough to catch the enemy unawares without being discovered.
    The two paratroopers crept forwards quietly; their target, the two sentries spotted to the platoon’s front, on the edge of the clearing. Fessman, with a knife in his right hand, leopard crawled to within twenty paces of the Polish sentry.
    He had removed his Fallschirmhelme, his jump helmet, left his rifle and ammunition bandoliers and his stick grenades behind. All he had was his model S84/98 bayonet and his 7.65mm sauer model 38 pistol. He would shortly be using his bayonet in anger, for the first time. The sentry was looking towards the West, away from the direction of first platoon, obviously focusing on the firefight that was in progress on hill 172. It sounded as if second company was in the thick of it; soon it would be first platoon, first company’s turn. Fessman crept closer and closer to the