Firestorm: Stripes

Upon arriving at Berga, Strauss noticed, to his amazement, that it appeared to be undefended. He quickly ordered Schaffer to take up positions along a small ridge overlooking two bridge heads. From there Schaffer could see Berga proper and two smaller villages to the north and south. Relaying that information back to Strauss. Seizing the moment, Strauss ordered Hauptman Wilfred Falke’s infantry company to push the southernmost bridge head using his BMP’s to cross the river, not to jam up the bridge. At the same time, Meyer moved his tanks into a tree line north of the Friedmannsdorf to keep any enemy movement in check.

“…….Enemy……..hillt…..” That is all Strauss heard over the radio. He turned his head to the sound of explosions. Looking through his bino’s he saw that Falke had come under attack. He could see a faint smoke trail coming from the hill top just to the east of Clodra. “Enemy missile team, Direction 0952, Range 800 meters.” Schaffer was on the ball, his tanks letting loose with a volley of 125mm guns. About a half of second later, Strauss saw two plums of smoke rise for the clops of trees on the hill, good kill. But to his dismay he saw Falke’s company retreating from the river, in the background he could see the water puff up as if there were explosives in the water. “The river is mined, I say again the river is mined!!!”

The enemy had sprung an unforeseen ambush on the small village. Most of Falke’s BMP’s were smoldering hulks. But to his relief, most of his men were still alive, and they were angry. While Falke was regrouping his men, “Enemy missile team, direct front, range 750 meters.” Meyer had spotted another enemy scout team in the woods north of Berga, granted it was after one his tanks blew up, but he did spot them.

Over head there was a whole other battle raging. The Hind helicopters that had been attached to Strauss’s battalion came screaming overhead when the fighting started. They had spotted their pray, two enemy Cobra’s. Rushing in with cannons blazing, seeing all those tracers it looked like the Cobra’s had met their demise. But some, how, some way the Cobra’s made it out of the hailstorm of lead. Strauss thought to himself, “I would hate to be the maintenance crew to clean out that cockpit.”
Just as the Cobra’s pealed off from the Hinds, Strauss saw two little dust trails behind Berga. He just caught a glimpse of two Humvee’s that seemed to be racing in the Le Mans. They disappeared behind some buildings just as quickly as they had come into sight. Then an explosion, a whine of an engine, and a large splash of water from the river, they had taken out a Hind.

“Here we go boys, here we go. For all of Germany, lets take back our land from the Capitalist dogs.” Hearing this over the radio, inspired the men of Falke’s company. As if it were from a scene from a Russian propaganda film, they rushed across the bridge straight into Berga. Intense fighting occurred, grenades exploding, rifles firing, men screaming.
“Keep pushing”, Strauss said over and over to his men. After what seemed to be an eternity, Falke’s men had taken part of Berga. But the enemy was not done. As Falke’s men were reorganizing for a defense, American tanks came onto the field. Strauss ordered Hauptman Josef Tabbart to storm the bridge and provide cover for our men.
As Tabbart’s tanks were crossing the bridge, they came under heavy fire. Two of his tanks were destroyed on the bridge. Strauss could see more American infantry closing in on what remained of Falke. Strauss waited to hear anything from the village, but nothing came. Looking through his binos he saw his men walking out of their positions holding white flags, and hands in the air.
Seeing that his attack had stalled and losing the only asset he had to secure an effective bridge head, Oberstleutnant Erik Strauss had failed. He decided to save what men and material he had left, and surrendered the field to the Americans.
Strauss vowed to be back with more men, and he would take that town.