Hermann Bix – Alone Against an Enemy Battalion

 

Source: Franz Kurowski – Panzer aces: German tank commanders of World War II

 

It was raining on 6 September 1941 as the motorized infantry and tanks of the 4th Panzer Division assembled in Korop under the command of Colonel Eberbach. Battle Group Eberbach—consisting of elements of the 35th Panzer Regiment, 34th Motorcycle Battalion, and elements of the 49th Antitank Battalion and the 103rd Artillery Regiment—had been given the mission of advancing through Korylskoje and Attjuscha and forcing a crossing of the Ssejm River near Baturin. To the left of the battle group, the 33rd Rifle Regiment was to advance through Altynowka and support the river crossing.

 

The fighting began with an artillery duel at a range of 800 meters. The first enemy positions on the low, extended heights near Korylskoje were taken by the motorcycle troops and the motorized infantry. The 1st Battalion of the 35th Panzer Regiment under Major von Lauchert pushed through this gap, advancing through Attjuscha towards Baturin. However, the motorcycle troops and the motorized infantry were unable to follow the tanks because enemy resistance unexpectedly flared up again deep in the enemy positions. The tanks roared on alone. On the main road to Baturin, they came upon a large enemy column consisting of wheeled and tracked vehicles. The fighting began.

 

“Be careful, Schwartz,” Lance Sergeant Bix warned as the driver raced the tank uphill, its motor roaring. “The Russians might be in the village ahead of us.” They reached the crest of the ridge at the same time as five other tanks. In front of them was the village. Suddenly, there were flashes from huts and hedges and from behind fences. Armor-piercing rounds howled towards the tanks.

 

There were several hard crashes as the antitank rounds smashed into the tank on Bix’s right. The sergeant watched as the turret cupola was torn away, taking the tank’s commander with it. Then a second and a third tank were hit. Captain Lekschat’s voice crackled over the radio: “Pull back to the reverse slope!” The tanks withdrew and reached safety. “What now, sergeant?” Corporal Krause, the gunner, asked. “We won’t get through unless we get some air support,” Bix replied. “As soon as we reach the top of the hill, we’re in their sights.”

 

The Lekschat Company was on the battalion’s left wing. The Panzer III commanded by Sergeant Bix was on the extreme left. At that point, the fire from the village shifted onto the tanks on the right wing. Muzzle flashes from the tanks showed they were answering the Russian fire. Bix scrutinized the area around him. His gaze fell on a gully that extended to his left as far as the village gardens. After considering for a moment Bix said, “We’re going to sneak into the village.”

 

“That will just cause more trouble, sir,” warned Lance Corporal Fink, the radio operator.

 

“Get going, Schwartz. Move down the slope and turn left into the gully.”

 

The driver backed up a short distance, turned and reached the gully. The tank disappeared inside and rolled off in the direction of the village. Tensely, Bix waited for the enemy to open fire, but nothing happened. Apparently the Russians in the village couldn’t see them. Bix encouraged his driver as the tank emerged into the first garden of sunflowers: “Keep going, Schwartz!”

 

Suddenly, a pair of Russian soldiers jumped up and ran back towards the village. The gunner and driver shouted almost simultaneously: “Enemy antitank gun ahead and to the left!”

 

“Straight towards it…move past it quickly…don’t stop!”

 

With a glance, Bix saw that he had no time to fire. A high wooden fence appeared ahead. With a mighty crash the tank moved through it. Bix ducked instinctively. Then the Panzer III ploughed sideways into a bank and stopped. The tank leaned dangerously to one side, threatening to tip over. Again the driver and gunner shouted as one: “On the road ahead! A long column!” Bix also saw the vehicles. “Straighten out the tank, Schwartz, and then move towards the road!”

 

The corporal succeeded in freeing the tank from the bank. The Panzer III reached the road that led through the center of the village. More than a kilometer to the rear, the rest of the battalion was trying in vain to break through the Russian antitank belt. Theirs was the only tank that had got through. “We won’t get any farther here,” called Fink, as he surveyed the enemy column through his sight. Hermann Bix knew that he couldn’t go back, as the Russian antitank guns were behind them. The only chance lay ahead. When Bix turned around he saw that there were also enemy vehicles behind him. Fink kept up a steady flow of target information over the intercom. Russian troops jumped from their vehicles and fled, seeking cover in the village houses. A Soviet machine gun began to rattle. The burst of machine gun fire smacked into the thin metal of the stowage bin on the rear of the turret.

 

“High explosive…open fire, when ready!” Bix shouted. There was a crash as the tank fired its first round. The main-gun rounds crashed into the Soviet trucks, smashing them into heaps of twisted metal. Seconds later they burst into flames. The commander and Lance Corporal Fink opened fire on the column with the tank’s two machine guns, while the loader ducked whenever enemy fire smacked against the tank’s armor. The straw roofs of the houses began to burn. Thick clouds of smoke obscured Bix’s view, but at the same time also shrouded the tank, hiding it from view from behind. The sea of flames above the column grew ever larger. An ammunition truck blew up with a tremendous explosion. The crash of the tank’s cannon mingled with hectic bursts of machine-gun fire. In between could be heard the sound of the heavy Maxim machine guns.

 

“Harpoon to commander: Stuck in the enemy column!”

 

In vein Bix tried to get through to the company to request help. But radio operator Fink had not yet turned off the intercom, so that communications with the company was impossible. Then Bix heard the voice of Captain Lekschat: “Harpoon, what the Hell are you doing? You’re confusing the whole battalion!” Finally, the radio operator realized that he had to switch over to external communications. Sergeant Bix was then able to report: “I am located in the center of the village. Stuck in the Russian column, which is crammed with guns. Please follow me at once.” Lekschat swore: “Who the hell sent you in there anyway?” But Bix had no time to answer, because the members of his crew were calling him, drawing his attention to a gun that had opened fire on them. The gunner swung the turret in the direction of the muzzle flash. As the antitank gun fired its second round, the tank’s cannon roared in reply. The exploding round killed the crew of the antitank gun.

 

Bix heard the voice of Captain Lekschat: “All stations: Move out!” They were coming! Their comrades were coming to free them from the spot they were in. The sergeant breathed a sigh of relief. The lone German tank reached the far end of the extended village. A pair of horse-drawn wagons blocked the street. “Hang on!” warned Schwartz. There was a splintering and cracking noise as the Panzer III rolled over the first wagon, crushing it beneath its tracks. In front of them, a panje wagon exploded in a ball of fire. “If we overrun a cart like that and it’s loaded with mines, then we’ll see each other in heaven,” shouted the loader, Petermann, through the din of gunfire and bursting rounds.

 

“Harpoon, Harpoon, this is the commander: Where are you?” Captain Lekschat radioed. “We can’t find you. Fire a signal flare.” “Harpoon to commander: Will fire a green-white signal to mark my position.”

 

Bix fired the two flares. Seconds later he again heard the voice of his commander: “Is that where you are…on the other side of the village? That’s impossible.”

 

Bix replied, “I’ll fire the green-white signal again.” He fired two more flares.

 

Seconds later he again heard the voice of his commander, who had recognized the opportunity at hand: “All stations: Move out! Bix is up there all alone! Infantry forward!”

 

Bix’s tank rolled down from the street and into the gardens, firing only when he was recognized by the enemy. “When are the others going to get here?” gunner Krause asked. “It shouldn’t have taken this long!” “Listen!” shouted Bix. There was a pause in the firing, and they could hear the sound of tank cannon and the lighter crack of antitank guns. “They’re engaging the antitank guns we left behind.” What Bix and his comrades didn’t know was that the motorized infantry and motorcycle troops were also advancing on the village. Finally, the first tank approached. Captain Lekschat drove up and Bix, who had opened his hatch, made his report. The captain shook his head as he gazed at the shot-up trucks and burning houses. “Actually, I wanted to give you a dressing down, Bix. But what I see here changes everything.”

 

The captain subsequently reported to the battalion that all was well. The tanks rolled back the way they had come. At their next halt, Bix and his comrades learned that the infantry had taken 800 prisoners and captured 60 undamaged vehicles. Twelve antitank guns and sixteen heavy guns had been destroyed. Acting on its own, a single German tank had destroyed all of the vehicles and equipment of a Russian motorized battalion.

 

Major von Lauchert recommended Lance Sergeant Bix for the Iron Cross, First Class. His entire crew was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class. Bix received his decoration on 20 October 1941, twenty days after being promoted to company sergeant-major.

 

On 1 October 1941, as Bix was being promoted, Battle Group Eberbach was located just outside Dimitrowsk. Its objective was Orel. Panzer Company Lekschat was moving as the lead element and Bix’s tank was the first of the entire battalion. “The enemy cannot be given any breathing space. We’ll move by night as well!” That was the order given by Colonel Eberbach.

 

It was beginning to get dark when Hermann Bix spotted enemy troops ahead. He had just reached one of the many wooden bridges, which were so narrow that there was just room for a single tank to get across. A Russian sentry stood on the bridge giving the tank directions so that it wouldn’t go over the side. Bix sent back a message: “Don’t fire on the sentry!” If no one fired then no one would recognize the tanks as German. A little later Captain Lekschat called: “Bix, I was just directed across the bridge by Ivan.”

 

“When are they going to realize we’re coming?” asked Schwartz.

 

The first houses of Dimitrowsk appeared out of the darkness. Hermann Bix experienced the strange, oppressive feeling brought on by uncertainty. He saw the massive buildings and then, suddenly, the first Russian vehicles, which were dispersed and camouflaged. Most of the vehicles were trucks with trailers, but also some with limbered guns. Bix stuck his head just far enough out of the turret to get a good view.

 

“Commander to Bix: Hold your fire and gain as much ground as possible!”

 

Captain Lekschat’s order was unnecessary, because the lead tank worked its way forward at half speed until it had reached the cobblestone marketplace. Finally Bix had a better view. The tank halted. Farther back, the company’s vehicles rumbled through the night.

 

“Harpoon to commander: Increase the interval so that if we open fire we won’t run into each other or possibly hit one of our own.”

 

A column of trucks came towards Bix. In the moonlight he could see mounted infantry holding their rifles vertically between their legs. The trucks drove slowly past the German tank. Bix saw Red Army troops running about excitedly at a building surrounded by a long wall; they had been spotted! Bix sent a message to the following vehicles: “The Russians are onto us, but don’t open fire yet.”

 

It was an eerie, dangerous situation.

 

“Commander to Harpoon: Push on ahead with two other tanks, I will secure around the marketplace with the company.”

 

Bix then heard the commander summon a platoon of motorcycle troops that moved forward to the marketplace and took over the close-in protection of the tanks. Bix’s tank rolled onward. The Staff sergeant breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the outskirts of the city without being fired upon. The other two Panzer IIIs arrived and Bix secured the site with the three tanks.

 

All at once there was a crash behind them in the city. Within a matter of a few seconds the gunfire intensified greatly. Tracer ammunition flashed in flat trajectories through the night sky. Hand grenades exploded, followed by the crash of tank cannon. Detonations rang out as high-explosive rounds burst as they were fired into houses.

 

“What’s that, sir? Should we go back and see?” asked Sergeant Keibauer, commander of the second Panzer III. He had just come over to Bix’s tank on foot.

 

“There’s nothing we can do. It looks like enough of a mix-up over there without us,” replied Bix. He could imagine all too well what might happen if they appeared suddenly from the direction of the enemy. Every tank in the battalion would open fire and then God help them. Several vehicles came moving from the east towards the city, undoubtedly Soviet reinforcements.

 

“Load high explosive! Open fire!”

 

The three German tanks opened fire simultaneously. Rounds smashed into the approaching trucks and set them on fire. Soviet soldiers ran about in the flickering light of the flames, seeking cover in ditches and behind bushes. Bursts of machine-gun fire flitted among them.

 

Staff Sergeant Bix then called his commander: “Harpoon to commander: Request an update on what is going on in the city?”

 

The sonorous voice of the Captain came back: “Our infantry is here and is taking care of the enemy. Everything is in order.” “Should I help out? Our tanks aren’t much needed here any more.”

 

“Remain where you are, Bix!” Lekschat ordered.

 

“Everything is in order, men,” Bix reassured his comrades. The three tanks were positioned in a semi-circle in their screening position. The exhausted crews, who had already spent the entire day in combat, then had to take turns standing watch. When Bix’s turn came he found he had difficulty keeping his eyes open. But he didn’t dare close them. If the Russians came during the instant he wasn’t watching, it would be all over for them.

 

It was 0700 hours on 2 October when the three tanks were summoned back to the marketplace. Infantry took over the security role. A new mission was awaiting Bix and his crew. He was to carry out a reconnaissance into no-man’s-land in his Panzer III together with 1st Lieutenant von Kartell and his light tank. As dawn broke, the two vehicles drove off in the direction of Orel. It was vital that they stay close on the enemy’s heels.

 

Halfway to Kromy, Bix came upon a Russian fuel dump. There were five giant fuel tanks spaced at intervals on the ground. Suddenly, Bix spotted a group of Russian soldiers. They were holding antitank rifles and firing at the fuel tanks in an apparent effort to set them on fire. The tank’s gunner and loader, who until then had been sitting in the turret hatches, dropped into their places. The tank’s cannon roared and a high-explosive round burst in the midst of the Red Army soldiers. The radio operator fired a few bursts of machine-gun fire, whereupon the Russians abandoned their plans.

 

First Lieutenant von Kartell and an accompanying section of motorcycle troops stayed behind and guarded the vital fuel dump which would be so valuable to Battle Group Eberbach. Bix moved on alone. He advanced thirty-five kilometers past Dimitrowsk, then his fuel situation forced him to turn back. Because he knew that the battalion was already on its way, he fired green and white recognition flares on the way back. Bix ran out of fuel just as he reached the battalion. First Lieutenant Wollschläger took over the lead position.

 

At about midday Wollschläger and his company reached Kromy and took the town by surprise. For this feat he was recommended for the Knight’s Cross by Colonel Eberbach. Wollschläger received the decoration on 23 January 1942. The next day’s objective was Orel.

 

THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE T-34

 

Battle Group Eberbach stormed into the Russian Thirteenth Army and outflanked it. On the morning of 3 October, 1st Lieutenant Wollschläger took the lead. The tanks rolled forward at high speed. Bix found himself in one of the six tanks that were advancing on orders of Eberbach. The order had been a brief one: “On to Orel!” A bridge appeared ahead. Wollschläger knew as did every other tank commander that it would be here that the enemy placed his strongest defenses. Standing in the turret cupola, Bix watched as Wollschläger’s tank disappeared behind a railway underpass. The first rounds rang out. Two or three antitank guns opened fire and were immediately answered by the tank cannon. “Follow him, Schwartz.”

 

The driver shifted into the next gear and the tank picked up speed. The underpass appeared. For a few seconds it was dark; then it became bright again. But that was not all! Ahead blazed a dazzling muzzle flash, about four hundred meters away! “Open fire!” Krause fired the first round. Petermann was already loading the next one. The tank fired almost at the same time as the antitank gun. The Panzer III jerked backwards from the recoil. The antitank round whizzed past the left side of the turret. The tank round hit the antitank position. There was a crash and a cloud of thick smoke rose up, mixed with flashes of fire.

 

“Move out!”

 

As they moved out, the crew saw the remaining five tanks reach the gardens and crash through the fences. Wollschläger rolled straight down the center of the road towards Orel, and Bix followed. There were enemy columns in the city. Machine-gun fire whipped towards the six German tanks. These six were mounting a frontal assault while Colonel Eberbach and the main body of the battalion tried to outflank the city. The tanks opened fire with their cannon and machine guns. Russian trucks were soon blazing. Escaping gasoline generated sizzling clouds of flame. Soviet troops appeared from behind the wall of smoke.

 

“Here come some, sir,” warned the gunner.

 

The radio operator’s machine gun opened up and the group of Red Army soldiers that had been attempting to approach the tank from the flank disappeared behind the wall of a house. As the Bix’s tank became involved in the fight with the enemy infantry, Wollschläger called over the radio: “Don’t let yourself get separated, Bix!”

 

Schwartz stepped on the gas and set out after the other tanks at high speed. A panje wagon lay in their path. The Panzer III struck the wagon, pushed it ahead for a few meters and then crushed it beneath its tracks. The tank came under fire from a house at the side of the road.

 

“Load high explosive!”

 

The round ripped open the wall of the house beneath the windowsill in which the machine gun was positioned. The weapon was put out of action.

 

The drive to Orel went on. The tanks passed more vehicles. Whenever the trucks made a break for it and tried to escape down side streets, the tank cannon went into action. Soon they had pushed their way into Orel, but Wollschläger knew how dangerous a halt would be. What was more, there was still an enemy column fleeing towards the east to be pursued. The tanks rolled on at high speed for another six kilometers when they were forced to halt for lack of fuel.

 

“See to it that you siphon fuel from the Russian trucks, Bix, in case we have to move out again.” Wollschläger advised. They soon found a truck with full tanks. Driver Schwartz took a siphon hose from his tool kit and sucked until the gasoline began to flow.

 

The tanks were then ordered to secure the eastern outskirts of Orel. The motorized infantry were already attacking. As they advanced, they came under attack from enemy aircraft, which strafed and dropped bombs. The grenadiers looked up as each new wave of aircraft approached. As soon as the machines came into sight it was into the ditches. Rifles, machine guns and antiaircraft guns fired on the attackers.

 

It was not until nightfall that the regiment reached the assembly area for the attack on Orel. No one knew at that time that the advance guard had already moved through the city. Throughout the night the tanks stood guard east of Orel. A group of Russians trying to sneak past the Bix tank was taken prisoner. From the prisoners Bix learned that a freight train had just arrived at the Orel station carrying a load of heavy tanks.

 

A frustrated Bix said: “Damn it! We don’t have contact with the battalion!”

 

“Perhaps the Russians were lying, sir,” radio operator Krause said.

 

“Possibly, Krause, but we’d better halt here.”

 

During the night they heard a freight train steam off in the direction of Mzensk.

 

“If the tanks were on that one, they’ll be down our throats soon, sir,” Petermann offered. He was soon to be proved wrong.

 

At dawn on 4 October, the 12th Motorized Rifle Regiment launched the attack against Orel. At the edge of the forest, on the city’s flank, the 35th Panzer Regiment’s 1st Battalion captured five 3.7 cm antiaircraft guns. The battalion commander had his men man the guns to provide a defense against air attack. Orel airfield was reached just as a Russian fighter was landing. The pilot was taken prisoner. At about 1000 hours, the regiment crossed the airfield and reached the hangars and barracks on the far side. The troops subsequently combed the streets and houses as far as the train station. Straggling Soviet troops gave themselves up. Workers were caught by surprise in the tank and tractor works as they ate their lunch. Orel was captured. Battle Group Eberbach had reached the objective set for it by General Guderian.

 

After getting a good night’s sleep, Bix and his comrades set out once more in the direction of Mzensk on the morning of 5 October. The long-range objective was Tula. Together with 2nd Lieutenant Bökle, the platoon leader, Bix moved on the battalion’s left wing. At first everything went well. The advance made rapid progress and the tanks reached Rokawaja Brook. Enemy machine guns raked the entire width of the advancing wedge, and Bix suddenly heard tank cannon firing. Shortly thereafter, Captain Lekschat reported: “Under heavy fire from Russian heavy tanks!” Lekschat saw flame spurt from the muzzles of the long gun barrels of the Soviet tanks. He recognized two types. One was massive, one could almost say gigantic. The other was sleeker, but also carried a large-caliber gun.

 

“Watch out!” Lekschat radioed a warning to one of his platoon leaders, 2nd Lieutenant Küspert, who had rolled on a short distance. But it was already too late. Three Russian T-34s—which were making their first appearance at this part of the front—opened fire almost simultaneously on the platoon leader’s tank. The armor-piercing rounds from the T-34s struck the German tank with a crash. A terrific blow shook the platoon leader’s Panzer III. Soon after came the report: “We have been hit, the turret will no longer move, sir.”

 

“Pull back, Küspert!” ordered Captain Lekschat, while his gunner opened fire on the enemy.

 

“Damn it, the shells don’t penetrate,” shouted Sergeant Henrichs, when he saw that his rounds were having no effect on the Russian giants. A heavy blow shook the company commander’s tank. Second Lieutenant Küspert called again: “Tank immobilized!” “Bail out, Küspert, bail out!”

 

In the midst of the engagement, the men of Küspert’s crew climbed out of their stricken tank. Machine-gun fire whipped towards them, but they were soon under cover behind their tank. The lieutenant watched as several rounds struck the company commander’s tank. Damaged and unable to continue the fight, it was forced to pull back. A quick look around revealed to the lieutenant that there were approximately twenty enemy tanks, including several T-34s and others of the KV-I type. It was obvious that the short 7.5-cm guns of the German tanks could not penetrate the thick armor of these giants.

 

The regimental commander’s tank rolled up. Rieger, Colonel Eberbach’s driver, saw that Panzer Company Lekschat had suffered losses. As they moved forward, he saw several tank crews moving towards the rear.

 

“Artillery and flak forward!” ordered Colonel Eberbach. The colonel scanned the battlefield through his scissors telescope. He saw the mass of enemy tanks that was attempting to overrun the battalion.

 

Eberbach called a warning to the battalion commander: “Watch out Lauchert, you’re being outflanked!”

 

Major Lauchert ordered his tanks to pull back 100 meters. Meanwhile, the tanks on the left wing had not yet joined the fight. Bix heard over the radio that someone on the right flank was engaging the enemy. The tank commander involved called back: “I’m firing and firing but the AP isn’t getting through! Use extreme caution!”

 

“Man, Bix, those are T-34s and K-VIs!” called Lieutenant Bökle as the first enemy tanks came into sight. Suddenly Bix, too, saw the armored giants. They were about 600 meters away, rolling towards him along the tracks of the Orel-Tula railway line. Bix called back: “They don’t look that big, and they can’t be that dangerous, sir.”

 

Bökle, a specialist in tank recognition, was of a different opinion. He warned the Staff sergeant: “Be careful, Bix, those are T-34s!”

 

“AP!” shouted Bix.

 

The T-34s came ever nearer. They were still 300 meters away when, suddenly, they veered to the left. Their new course took them straight across the front of Bix.

 

“Open fire!”

 

Offering their broadsides to the German tanks, the T-34s were a good target for gunner Krause. He fired and Bix saw the round strike home.

 

“Well done, Krause!”

 

The second round struck the turret of the T-34 but did not penetrate.

 

“They’re not paying any attention to us at all,” cried Schwartz. Indeed, it did seem as if the T-34s were ignoring the seemingly insignificant effect from the main guns of the German tanks.

 

“Here comes our battalion, sir!”

 

For the first time in the Russian campaign, Bix saw German tanks in retreat. The tanks on the forward right flank pulled back and turned around. They were pursued by the rounds from the T-34s and KV-Is and withdrew at high speed.

 

“Commander to everyone!” called Captain Lekschat. “The battalion is pulling back. We can’t handle these beasts! Losses on the right flank are too high!”

 

At that moment Bix saw the tanks of the 35th Panzer Regiment’s 2nd Battalion under Major von Lauchert disappear. They had done all they could, but they were forced to withdraw to avoid being destroyed.

 

“Let’s go, Bix!” ordered 2nd Lieutenant Bökle, “Pull back and get out of here as fast you can!” Bix followed the order and turned round. His tank rolled back along the road at high speed. A lone tank was sitting at the right side of the road. Bix recognized Colonel Eberbach’s command tank. A 7.6-cm round that had failed to penetrate was sticking out of its side armor. A little farther to the rear Bix came upon a tracked vehicle of the armored engineers. Flames licked from the vehicle. Next to it he saw a combat engineer whose leg had been almost torn from his trunk. The flames were coming nearer and nearer to the wounded man. “Halt!” shouted Bix.

 

Schwartz brought the tank to a halt. Bix jumped down and ran towards the injured engineer. He felt the flames and the heat that were increasing by the minute. A thought went through his mind: What if the mines in the vehicle go up! Nevertheless, he kept running. For a few seconds, Bix stared into the wide eyes of the wounded man. Then he was beside him and dragged him into the ditch. They were not yet safe, however. He still had to pull him farther away from the flames. Just as Bix felt his strength leaving him, two men appeared who had likewise left their tank to help. In the flickering light from the burning vehicle Bix first recognized medical corps Captain Dr. Mühlkühner and then, hastening along behind him, Colonel Eberbach. Both men helped carry the wounded man out of the danger zone of the burning vehicle, which was loaded with mines. At that very moment, the mines detonated. The earth seemed to open up with a terrific roar. The shock wave threw Bix on his face; he felt as if his lungs would burst.

 

Afterwards Dr. Mühlkühner gave the wounded man an injection for his pain and dressed his wounds, while the Colonel directed a flatbed trailer into position with which to evacuate the man and the other wounded. It was only then that Bix realized that the other tanks had already pulled back. Their pursuers were coming ever nearer and were already lobbing shells in their direction.

 

Bix later said, “I will never forget this encounter with the battle group commander on the battlefield at Rokowaja Brook. The commander and the doctor remained on the battlefield until the last of the wounded had been recovered. After this tremendous example by my commander I never dared leave a wounded man on the battlefield during the later course of the war, because I had seen here how the commander fought to save the last of his soldiers.”

 

The wounded engineer survived. He lost a leg, but thanks to a pair of courageous men he still had his life.

 

A little later Bix and his men reached the spot where Colonel Eberbach had instructed the 8.8-cm flak and 10.5-cm field guns to establish a blocking position. Those batteries then took up the fight with the onrushing tanks. The deadly “eighty-eights” did the job. The gunners fired round after round. One after another, the T-34s and KV-Is were hit and caught fire. The armor-piercing rounds of the 8.8-cm flak could pierce the thickest armor plate. Ten KV-Is and seven T-34s were knocked out during the engagement. The Russian breakthrough had been foiled.

 

This engagement proved that the Russians were determined to defend the approaches to Mzensk. A surprise crossing of the Susha was therefore out of the question. It would require a time-consuming, deliberate attack. For Hermann Bix and his fellow tank commanders the important thing was to find an effective way to deal with the T-34 and KV-I with their small-caliber guns. They also had to find a way to recover from the shock the Russians had administered in this battle.

 

Cautiously, the Germans resumed their advance. On 8 October the rain came down in torrents. It was on that day that the order arrived to attack Mzensk. The date specified for the attack was 9 October. While the bulk of the 4th Panzer Division—with the 35th Panzer Regiment, the divisional bridging column, and the 12th Rifle Regiment’s 2nd Battalion—advanced to the right of the main supply route, the regimental headquarters and the 1st Battalion of the 12th Rifle Regiment were to attack along the rail line.

 

On the morning of 9 October, the roads were covered with thick mud. Progress by the tanks was slow. Night came and the men around Bix dug a sleeping trench between the tank’s tracks. They were happy that the day’s efforts were at an end. They had advanced to within ten kilometers of Mzensk.

 

Bix awoke on the morning of 10 October and threw back the shelter half under which he had been sleeping. He rubbed his eyes in surprise, because, as far as the eye could see, the landscape was completely covered with snow.

 

“Get up! It has snowed. Get up for a snowball fight!” he shouted with a grim sense of humor.

 

Schwartz peeled himself out of his blankets. “First things first. Congratulations on your birthday, sir!” he said with a grin.

 

“Thank you, Schwartz. I can’t believe that I’m to celebrate my 27th birthday in Russia.”

 

The rest of the crew came up and congratulated its commander.

 

Second Lieutenant Küspert appeared beside “Harpoon,” Bix’s tank. “Let’s go, Bix. You’re conducting reconnaissance with me!”

 

Five minutes later the two tanks rolled off in the direction of Mzensk. Bix reached the outskirts of the city just as it was becoming light. So far there had been no enemy fire. Lieutenant Küspert’s tank had broken down three kilometers from the city. He then acted as a radio-relay station, as his tank was equipped with a medium wave transmitter. In that way he could pass Bix’s observations back to the battle group.

 

“Russian field position ahead of us,” reported Bix. “I’m moving towards it. It looks as if the Russians haven’t spotted us yet.” Several Russians, warmly wrapped, crawled out of their foxholes. They waved to Bix as if to say: It’s good that we’ve received some tank support. It apparently never occurred to them that this might be a German tank.

 

Bix spotted signs of life at the outskirts of the city: “It looks as if they’re awake here.” He saw a pair of tanks projecting beyond the walls of some houses as well as some Russian soldiers. The soldiers crossed the street carrying steaming pots of coffee and disappeared into the houses.

 

“If only we had the whole battalion here,” mused Krause.

 

“We can’t do any more than observe,” explained Bix. “As soon as we make a move the Russians will know where we are and hand us our ass on a platter.”

 

It was an eerie situation, because the Russians could come over to the tank at any minute. Then all hell would break loose for sure. Bix continued passing along his observations. Once, when he looked back, he realized that there was a steep slope behind him. A little while ago they had moved down it quickly. But how could he—if it became necessary, and this was only a matter of time—get up the slope again in a hurry? What was more, Schwartz had shut off the engine. The moment of their discovery came sooner than Bix expected. A trumpet signal rang out and suddenly the Russians were running about wildly.

 

“The tanks are coming, sir,” warned the radio operator. Bix had already heard the noise of the Russian tanks firing up their engines. The T-34s rolled out of their well-camouflaged positions.

 

“Start up!” Bix shouted to his driver.

 

The tank’s motor roared to life. Carefully Schwartz rolled back up the slope. To Bix the maneuver seemed to take an eternity. Finally they made it.

 

“Turn around and get us out of here!” he ordered.

 

The driver swung the tank around; its tracks throwing snow and slush high into the air. Then he shifted into the next highest gear and rumbled towards the rear. The Russians fired a few rounds after them but were unable to inflict any damage. Moments later Bix reached Lieutenant Küspert’s tank. There he learned that the entire battalion had already been committed elsewhere. First Lieutenant Wollschläger was moving in the lead and was about to attempt to take Mzensk from the north. Blowing snow then reduced the visibility. A short while later the battalion’s tanks appeared. Wollschläger swung his tank to the right and disappeared into the snowstorm.

 

“After them, Schwartz. We mustn’t lose them!” Bix called to his driver. The corporal turned. Now and then through the snow he could see the red flames from the exhausts of the tanks ahead and thus was able to orient himself. They remained in contact and rolled behind Wollschläger towards the bridge at the northern outskirts of Mzensk. As they approached, they could see the bridge now and then through the blowing snow. Aided by the swirling clouds of snowflakes, the tankers were able to overpower the Russian sentries and remove the demolition charges from the bridge.

 

The tanks rolled into Mzensk almost from the rear. The first antitank gun was overrun and several others put out of action as the tanks raced into the city. Salvoes of rockets from truck-mounted “Stalin Organs” roared overhead towards the following infantry. An antitank barricade held up the tanks of the 2nd Battalion of the 35th Panzer Regiment. Four were knocked out before 1st Lieutenant Wollschläger was able to attack the obstacle from the rear. As Bix came round a corner he saw an antitank gun not fifty meters ahead. It was firing down a side street. There was no need for him to issue any orders; Krause had targeted the antitank gun and his first round was a direct hit. The gun’s ammunition supply went up in a brilliant explosion. A machine gun turned its fire onto the tank. A shower of bullets spattered against the armor plate.

 

“Overrun it!” shouted Bix, and the tank lurched forwards. It crashed through a fence, reached the enemy machine gun and crushed it into the ground.

 

The machine gun’s crew ran away to the left and right. A hand grenade landed on the rear deck of the tank. There was a dull thump as it exploded.

 

“Turn right, towards the ‘Stalin Organs,’” Bix ordered.

 

The tank rolled towards the din of the whizzing, howling rocket salvoes, reached the position of the four “Katuschas” and opened fire with all guns. It was not long before all four rocket launchers had been destroyed.

 

Soon afterwards the northwest section of Mzensk—the Podmonastyrskaja Sloboda district—was in the hands of the following infantry. The southeast quarter—the Streletskaja Sloboda district—was also captured. A short while later a rapid advance by tanks and mounted infantry resulted in the capture of the undamaged Susha Road Bridge. A few T-34s were still holding out in the northern section of the city. As darkness fell they were being pushed back across the railroad bridge. The crews of the Russian tanks blew up the bridge. During the night the German infantry combed the city for stragglers and took the remaining groups of Russians prisoner.

 

Battle Group Eberbach defended its bridgehead in the Mzensk area from 11 to 22 October. How the unit had suffered during the advance and the battles of the past few weeks was described by General Guderian in his book Erinnerungen eines Soldaten:

 

I met Colonel Eberbach, who described to me the course of the latest battles. For the first time during this strenuous campaign Eberbach gave the impression of exhaustion, and it was not only the physical, but the mental fatigue, which one noticed about him. It was startling to see that our best officers had been so seriously affected by this latest fighting.

 

On 22 October the 6th Panzer Regiment and a battalion of the 18th Panzer Regiment were placed under Colonel Eberbach’s command. With his newly-formed battle group he was to advance through Chern and capture the city of Tula. Once again the utmost was demanded of every tank commander. Chern fell on 25 October and General Guderian repeated his order: “Continue without delay and take Tula!”

 

Not far from Tula, Bix and Lieutenant Bökle assembled an advance platoon from the tanks that still had full fuel tanks. They were to roll into Tula as the leading spearhead of the German attack. At the periphery of the city German-speaking women met them.

 

“Hurry!” they called to Bix and Bökle. “Quick, the Russians in the city are in a state of panic!”

 

At that moment a bus appeared, driving directly towards Bix’s tank. It was filled with soldiers.

 

“Don’t fire!” shouted Bix. He saw there were also civilians on board. The driver stopped the bus and jumped out just as it pulled alongside the tank. As he did so he struck the left side of the tank and was flung to the ground.

 

Bökle issued an order and a warning to Bix at the same time: “Feel your way forward, Bix. But be careful.”

 

Bix was convinced that there would be no serious resistance in the city. He rolled through the suburbs at high speed. To his left Bix saw a motorized column driving into the city along a parallel street. The Russians recognized the Germans and opened fire with antiaircraft guns. The range was so great, however, that all of the rounds exploded far ahead of the tanks of Bökle’s platoon. Suddenly, an order came through that neither Bix nor Bökle could understand: “Stop immediately!”

 

Desperately, Bix shouted: “That can’t be true, sir!”

 

“We’ll continue to operate on our own,” said the lieutenant. In his mind they were as good as in the city already. He was soon forced to change his mind, however, when he learned that the following tanks and other vehicles had no more fuel and that all of the supply vehicles of the battle group were bogged down in the mud along the avenue of advance. Some of the vehicles had even become frozen in the mud during the night.

 

When they attacked the next morning a powerful antitank belt halted the tanks. Soviet T-34s launched a counterattack and, in the ensuing tank-versus-tank fighting, the German units suffered heavy losses. On 31 October Battle Group Eberbach was forced to go over to the defensive.

 

THE TANK FIGHT AT VENEW

 

On 13 November Brigade Eberbach was called on by General Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg for an attack in the direction of Venew. Colonel Eberbach had exactly fifty tanks left; at full strength he would have had three hundred. The cold wave that had set in was making life difficult for the tank crews. By early morning on 13 November the temperature had fallen to 22 degrees below zero (Celsius). Optics became misted and oil thickened. There was no winter clothing or antifreeze. Nevertheless, Brigade Eberbach set out full of confidence.

 

The armored unit pushed past Tula on the right and moved—this time without infantry—towards the north. It rolled through Stalinogorsk unopposed. The next objective was Oslawaja.

 

“Colder than a well digger’s ass!” moaned Bix as he stared from the turret cupola. The wind, which was blowing out of the north, threatened to freeze his breath.

 

“If we only had some winter things,” offered Schwartz.

 

“That’s for sure!” murmured the Staff sergeant.

 

Ahead, Bix saw a tank stop at the side of the road. The leading group rolled past and Bix realized that the figure standing in the commander’s cupola in the black jacket was Colonel Eberbach.

 

“If the old man can stand it, then we can too,” said Krause. Knowing that their commander was in the same situation as they did not ease the situation, but it did make it somewhat easier to bear.

 

The advance continued and, next morning, the tanks found themselves at the outskirts of a village that was not far from Oslawaja. Suddenly an entire regiment of Russian infantry appeared from out of the morning mist, advancing towards the tanks. The first bursts of machine-gun fire were already whipping towards the waiting tanks.

 

“All stations: Counterattack!” crackled through the headphones.

 

The motors of the tanks roared as they moved off towards the enemy in a widely dispersed wedge. Lances of flame spurted from cannon and machine guns. High-explosive rounds exploded in the enemy formations. Many of the Red Army soldiers were overrun by the tanks. It was a grisly scene: Russian infantry charging German tanks. But the situation was also dangerous enough for the tank crews. As soon as a commander raised his head from the turret hatch to get a better view of the terrain, he immediately came under fire from machine guns or enemy snipers. Some of the rounds whizzed close past their targets; others found the mark. Bix kept looking outside in an attempt to assist his driver. Once, a burst of machine-gun fire whizzed just past his left ear. Bullets cracked against the steel of the armored cupola and ricocheted to the side. After the light snowfall, the rather hilly terrain was so slippery that the tanks occasionally slid down the icy slopes like sleighs.

 

Bix’s tank slid to the side and landed in a gully. It slid into an outcropping with a jolt.

 

“Hopefully we can get out of here again,” sighed Bix.

 

Corporal Schwartz, an auto mechanic by trade, just grinned. “We’ll get out all right! Just hang on!”

 

Engaging first gear, he steered the tank diagonally up the towering slope—and it worked! Slowly, the tank crawled higher, until it was again on level ground. Once again the tanks fired high-explosive rounds into the masses of Russians storming towards the gully. The Red Army soldiers dug into the snow and disappeared within a few seconds.

 

Captain Lekschat radioed a warning: “Be careful, Bix. Rieger has been killed by a sniper.”

 

Rieger had been the regimental commander’s driver. Everyone in the unit knew him. Just recently Colonel Eberbach had granted his wish and made him a tank commander. In the meantime a large part of the Russian regiment had been wiped out. Only a small number of soldiers escaped to the northeast.

 

The advance was resumed at about midday. Once again Hermann Bix assumed the lead position. The tank rolled forwards almost unmolested. Bix had no idea where he was. He had no maps of the area, but since there was only one major road there, he assumed it must be the right way. It was already early afternoon when Bix saw the first houses of Oslawaja in front of him. Bix was wearing a Russian fur-lined cap. This camouflage was so effective that the drivers of the Russian trucks that came towards him showed no inclination to flee. On the contrary, the Russian soldiers riding in the trucks even waved to him.

 

Bix radioed Captain Lekschat: “Have passed some Russians; they haven’t recognized me.”

 

“Good, Bix! Carry on along the same road. The first vehicles are just arriving here now and are getting a polite reception. We won’t fire unless absolutely necessary. Out.”

 

The tank rolled slowly through the city until it came to the marketplace, where there was a fork in the road. Bix was uncertain for a few seconds.

 

He called back: “Which road should I take?”

 

“Take the one to the right, Bix,” radioed his company commander, “according to my information it leads to the train station.”

 

Bix had his driver swing the tank to the right. Soon afterwards a Russian truck loaded with soldiers came towards them. The Russian crew recognized the tank as an enemy vehicle. Red Army soldiers jumped down and disappeared into the surrounding houses and gardens. A second, following truck likewise stopped.

 

“HE!” ordered Bix.

 

The loader and gunner functioned like clockwork. The first round crashed into the wall of a house. An antitank rifle appeared over the side of one of the trucks. The tank’s second round was a direct hit. The effect was tremendous.

 

“Continue to move forward, Bix!” The order crackled through the headphones. “The company will follow!”

 

The tank rolled past the burning truck and, turning behind a house, moved into a garden. Bix emerged cautiously from the turret hatch and scanned his surroundings. At that point he could hear the noise of the following tanks as they advanced as far as the marketplace. Captain Lekschat arranged each tank carefully so that it had a clear line of sight and an open field of fire. At that moment Bix saw a KV-I fire its gun, but the round was apparently not meant for him, as it whizzed past behind the corner of a house farther to the right.

 

“That was aimed at me!” reported Lieutenant Bökle. “Enemy tank is on the road facing in my direction. Take him in the flank!”

 

“Through that fence, Schwartz,” Bix bellowed. The tank approached the fence and crashed through. When Bix’s view was clear, he recognized the outline of the mighty Russian tank about thirty meters away.

 

“KV-I. He hasn’t seen us yet. Load special AP round. Perhaps we’ll be able to penetrate his turret with it!”

 

Petermann rammed the round into the chamber just as the giant fired again at Bökle’s tank. Then the first round left the barrel of their own cannon. The shell struck the turret of the enemy tank and glanced off. The second stuck in the KV-I’s armor plate. The Russian tank showed no ill effects after the third direct hit. It continued firing at the platoon leader’s tank. Bix realized that he would not be able to destroy this tank with gunfire. He called back: “Main gun has no effect on the KV-I! None of the rounds are getting through, sir! Send some engineers with satchel charges!”

 

Bäkle’s reply, passed along by the radio operator, was not long in coming: “Bix, if nothing else works, try to destroy his main gun, otherwise he’ll knock you out as soon as he sees you!”

 

At first Bix thought the lieutenant must be pulling his leg.

 

“I’ll try it,” murmured the gunner, “but…”

 

“Well try then, Krause,” shouted Bix, even though he considered the attempt to be hopeless. Something had to be done before they were spotted and knocked out.

 

Krause targeted the cannon of the enemy tank as near to the gun mantlet as possible. A normal armor-piercing round was loaded. The barrel of the KV-I’s cannon was thickest at the mantlet. Perhaps he would be lucky.

 

“Open fire!” Bix ordered.

 

The armor-piercing round struck steel, but because of the short range the entire area between the German and Russian tanks was shrouded in thick smoke. Bix could not see the results of the round.

 

“Re-engage, Krause!”

 

The gunner fired a second and then a third round. At that point, the KV-I began to rotate its turret, and the long cannon swung in the direction of the German tank. With a crunching sound, the KV-I’s gun barrel cracked against the trunk of a small tree. The tank’s turret stopped and that exact moment Lieutenant Bökle opened fire on the giant.

 

“There, he’s smoking!” shouted Schwartz. A dark cloud of smoke whirled out of the stricken KV-I’s gun barrel and from within the body of the tank. Before that there had been a muffled explosion. On firing its cannon, the round must have detonated inside the tank, as indicated by the smoke coming from within.

 

The radio operator reported: “His barrel has burst, sir!”

 

Bix peered through his field glasses and saw with amazement that the gun barrel of the Russian tank had been pierced three times. It had been no burst barrel. The staff sergeant couldn’t believe his eyes, but there it was: Krause had put all three rounds through the gun barrel of the enemy tank and rendered it useless. Suddenly, the hatch of the Russian tank flipped open. The commander tried to climb out. A round rang out and the Russian was left hanging in the opening. This experience taught Bix that from short range, even with the small-caliber gun, he could engage and destroy the heaviest tank.

 

There were explosions all over the city as the satchel charges of the engineers went off. The combat engineers had moved forward and were blowing up the heavy enemy tanks one after another. Later the infantry and the engineers silenced the last remaining nests of resistance. Oslawaja had fallen.

 

The tanks rolled onward in the evening hours. They moved on throughout the entire night. Venew was reached on the morning of 24 November. The battalion reformed and rumbled towards the city in a broad wedge. The tanks came under fire from enemy tanks when they reached the railway line that ran south of the city. Once again Panzer Company Lekschat was positioned on the right wing and “Harpoon” was on the extreme right flank.

 

“We can’t get across here, sir,” radioed Lieutenant Bökle. “We will probably throw our tracks on the embankment and the railroad tracks. We’d be sitting ducks for the Russians. We must find another place.”

 

Lekschat immediately agreed: “Good, Bökle, that would be best.” Then he called “Harpoon”.

 

“Commander to Harpoon: Go farther to the right and look for a favorable crossing. Report as soon as you find something, Bix!” Bix’s tank began to move. Schwartz turned it around and then, moving slowly, set off parallel to the railway embankment. After several hundred meters the embankment became lower, and Bix discovered a level crossing.

 

“Take it easy when you approach it, Schwartz…Krause, load AP and stand by to engage!”

 

The tank worked its way forward slowly. The front slope of the tank was over the edge of the crossing and still there was no enemy fire.

 

“Move across, Schwartz!” shouted Bix. The tank accelerated and rolled forward, reached a firm field road on the other side and then moved on a few hundred meters more. Bix called in his report. At once Lekschat sent the company’s tanks to follow. Not until the last was moving across the tracks did the Russians open fire.

 

“Step on it, Bix!”

 

Bix was familiar with this order, because he had heard it often enough during the past weeks. The tank moved out and when Bix looked round he saw that the rest of the company’s tanks were lagging behind. The last Panzer III, which had come under fire from the Soviets, was stopped on the level crossing and was returning fire in an effort to keep the enemy’s attention fixed to the front.

 

Left on his own, Bix came to the northern arterial road from Venew a little later. The enemy vehicles were bunched up, moving one behind the other. The lone German tank did not appear to be recognized as such. After receiving Bix’s report, Captain Lekschat ordered him to turn around and move into the city.

 

“Just like Mzensk, Bix. Into the city from behind, the last place they’d expect us from,” added the commander.

 

A light antiaircraft gun appeared in front of the Panzer III. Tracks rattling, the tank overran the gun while its crew ran to the side. A heavy machine gun was also overrun. The attack by the German tank had been too much of a surprise. Bix spotted some high ground to his right front. Beneath it lay a frozen pond, along whose left side ran a road. It was covered with tank tracks, leading Bix to be cautious. It was therefore no surprise when a KV-I suddenly rolled out of a side street from behind one of the larger houses. Not realizing that the other tank was an enemy, the KV-I rolled straight past in front of Bix. The tank’s commander even waved to the rear, urging Bix to follow. What should he do? Stop…fire…turn around?

 

While he was still deliberating, two Russian T-38 reconnaissance tanks came rattling down the hill.

 

“They’ve recognized us!” shouted the radio operator.

 

Just then the first tank began to slide on the icy slope. The driver of the following tank tried desperately to turn hard right and miss the ice, but it also slid straight down the slope and thundered against an outcropping, which straightened the tank out and sent it down the hill behind the first like a bobsled. The first T-38 crashed through the ice at the foot of the hill. The second rumbled onto the ice and attempted to gain ground, but its tracks simply spun in place. Schwartz immediately turned the Panzer III around. The gunner soon had the enemy in his sights. There was a flash as he fired and the round hammered into the enemy tank between its turret and hull.

 

“Target!” roared Schwartz, as flames burst forth from the stricken tank.

 

Bix shouted to his gunner: “On to the second one…quick…before he can fire!”

 

The second T-38 was then turning on the spot. Just as it came face to face with the Panzer III, it hesitated somewhat. Krause pressed the firing button and the round struck the tank to the side on its front slope. The force of the blow caused the T-38 to spin about its axis several times on the slippery ice. Both enemy tanks had been put out of action. Still ahead of them, however, was their “big brother.” If it were to open fire, all hell would break loose. Bix was relieved to discover that the KV-I had meanwhile moved out of sight around a bend in the road.

 

“After him!” shouted Bix. As the tank moved off Bix thought of the numbers he was likely to meet as soon as he entered the city. They passed the first houses. Then they were in a large square, probably a type of marketplace. Russians ran in all directions when the German tank appeared.

 

“More heavy tanks, sir,” reported Schwartz, but Bix had already spotted the giants. Strangely, the tanks did not attack the lone German tank, but disappeared at high speed down a side street.

 

“What’s going on?” Bix asked, half to himself. This was unusual for the Soviets. Their tanks usually attacked at once. Were these planning a trick of some sort? The Russian tank drivers were definitely not cowards; they had proved this more than once in the past weeks.

 

“We must find some good cover, sir,” warned Schwartz. “We’re sitting ducks here. If they move up an antitank gun it will be able to fire on us as it pleases.”

 

After a quick look around, Bix ordered: “Behind that wooden building, Schwartz!”

 

When they reached the building, Bix made sure that they were out of sight to both sides. The company was coming from the rear and they had a good field of view to the front. Nothing was coming from that direction, however. A little later the first of their own tanks appeared. The company’s leading tank stopped at the edge of the square and the rest held their positions in the street behind it. Apparently Captain Lekschat first wanted to hear what his reconnaissance tank had to tell him. Bix emerged from his turret and listened. All at once he heard a tank motor being fired up about one hundred meters to his left. Then the sound of the motor came nearer.

 

“Move to the end of the barracks!” he called to his driver.

 

Schwartz moved forward until the front slope and forward edge of the turret came around and the commander could see. Bix at once spotted the heavy KV-I, which was heading straight for him. Bix tried to duck into the turret, but his jacket caught on something on the edge of the turret. He might be hit at any moment.

 

“AP round at the mantlet!” he managed to get out.

 

Krause reacted at once. The first round clouded the area between the two tanks with smoke. There was a crack as the second round was fired. There was still no movement from the KV-I. Then there was a flash from the muzzle of the long barrel of the Russian tank. The Russian gunner had fired blind, however, and the shell whizzed by several meters from the German tank.

 

“Back up!” Bix called over the intercom. The Russian giant was going to ram them.

 

In his previous attempts to get into the turret, Bix had inadvertently ripped the communications cable from its connector and, amid the noise of the approaching enemy tank, none of the men in the fighting compartment could hear him. As he saw no other alternative, Bix then crawled all the way out the turret hatch and took cover behind the right side of the turret away from the direction of the approaching KV-I.

 

Voices rang out from the fighting compartment. The men inside then had no idea whatsoever what was going on. Without orders to do so, Schwartz had not backed the tank up. That left Bix only one choice. He knew the dangerous situation he would be placing himself in by leaving the protection of the turret and crawling forward to signal the driver through his vision block to back up. There were only seconds left, because the enemy tank was then only a few dozen meters away. There was no longer any doubt: the KV-I intended to ram the side of the German tank! This maneuver had been tried often by the Russian heavy tanks lately, often with success. At this critical moment a thought occurred to Bix: Why didn’t the Russians simply fire on them? At any moment he expected the round that would end it all. Then he saw the driver’s face through the bulletproof glass of the vision block and gave him the signal to back up. Schwartz reacted instantly. The tank abruptly jerked backwards a few meters.

 

At the same instant the front slope of the Russian tank raced past barely two meters in front of Bix and the corner of the barracks. The tank’s tracks screeched and the air stank of diesel exhaust fumes. Seconds later the KV-I smashed into a massive stone wall. When the tank had rammed halfway through the brick wall, the entire facade collapsed on top of it. There was a crashing, rumbling and screeching and the motor of the KV-I died. The dangerous foe had been immobilized. Bix had his gunner fire two armor-piercing rounds at the disabled KV-I’s turret from barely ten meters. Both failed to penetrate. Panting, Bix forced himself back into the hatch. He saw how the driver of the KV-I was then attempting to back his way out of the rubble. Brickwork was already tumbling down.

 

Bix heard the Captain call: “Commander to Harpoon: We’re coming!”

 

The first round from the approaching German tanks struck the turret of the KV-I. This, too, failed to penetrate the thick armor of the Russian tank. The KV-I’s driver was gradually succeeding in freeing the big tank from the wall. Suddenly, Bix remembered the battle at Oslawaja, when they had put several rounds through the cannon barrel of a Russian tank.

 

“Listen, Krause, do the same thing you did as Oslawaja!”

 

Krause had anticipated the order. He cranked the turret around until the thickest part of the KV-I’s gun barrel was in his sight and fired the first armor-piercing round. The second followed soon afterwards. At the same time, armor-piercing rounds from the other tanks began to strike the KV-I. Suddenly, glowing fragments of steel, which shot out in thin fountains from the armored sides of the Russian tank as the rounds struck, were whizzing towards Bix. The armor-piercing rounds, which bored into the thick armor plate and stuck there, had blasted out the glowing fragments. After firing for the third time, Bix directed the gunner to cease fire. Peering through his binoculars, he could see that it had worked again. The gun barrel of the KV-I had been hit three times and had definitely been rendered useless.

 

“Now in the running gear!” he called to his gunner.

 

Krause fired four rounds into the KV-I’s running gear in short order. The giant was immobilized.

 

“The Russians are climbing out!” Schwartz reported.

 

Bix watched as the Russian crew climbed out of a hatch and then disappeared into the neighboring houses.

 

“The battalion thought that our company had been wiped out,” Captain Lekschat said to Bix after answering the battalion commander’s anxious questions.

 

“It’s no wonder, what with all the firing,” responded the Staff sergeant. Several more KV-Is had been abandoned by their crews and were captured undamaged by the battalion when it arrived on the scene. Bix and his crew would not soon forget the fighting in Venew. The fighting there had been some of the most dangerous they had ever been involved in.

 

The advance by Panzer Brigade Eberbach continued. The tanks were then moving northwards. The first Moscow signposts appeared along the way. On the last night of the advance the tanks moved towards Kashira in the freezing cold. Russian aircraft bombed the armored columns. That night the vehicles covered only ten kilometers, as the deep ruts left by Soviet tanks had frozen, creating a significant hindrance. Whenever one of the tanks drove into one of these ruts it was practically locked in. The track pins, which had become as brittle as glass in the cold, sheared off on the walls of the ruts. When a track change was necessary, the men had to carry it out in minus 40 degree Celsius temperatures. Attempts to drive in the pins with hammers resulted in flying splinters of steel, which often inflicted painful injuries.

 

When the tanks reached their objective, a small market town, they were met by fire from Soviet antitank guns. Once again Bix’s tank was involved in the attack. He put two antitank guns out of action and then moved into the town. The Russian soldiers still holding out in the houses were overcome by the following German infantry in house-to-house fighting. The Red Army soldiers defended desperately, because only in the houses was there shelter from the frightful cold. Whoever was driven outside faced death by freezing. The tank crews and the infantry had scarcely settled into the huts when there was another alert: “Everyone back to the jump-off position at once!”

 

Captain Lekschat had no idea what that meant. Moscow was only sixty kilometers ahead of the tanks and they were to pull back? For Bix and his men, for Panzer Company Lekschat, and for all of Panzer Brigade Eberbach the order was unfathomable.

 

“This is the end of our dream,” said Petermann. “The blitzkrieg to Moscow has been called off.”

 

Petermann was right. Never again did German tanks get so close to the Soviet capital as in the terrible winter of 1941.

 

FIVE TIMES OVER ENEMY MINES

 

Staff Sergeant Bix survived the battles of retreat of December 1941, as one tank after another broke down. The crews fought shoulder to shoulder with the infantry in the trenches. There was bitter fighting and the cold punished everyone. Somehow they survived, although Petermann was killed during a night attack.

 

The 35th Panzer Regiment was reorganized in early 1942, and its 2nd Battalion was attached to the 11th Panzer Division for approximately one year. As a result, Panzer Company Lekschat became the 8th Company of the 15th Panzer Regiment. The company’s new commander was 1st Lieutenant Schöpe. Schöpe had been a tank destroyer, but he quickly caught on to the different rules of engagement in his new branch of the service.

 

On 28 June 1942 the 8th Company once again rolled east. Objective of the attack was Voronezh, an important city on the east bank of the Don. Operation Blue, as the proposed battle of encirclement had been named, failed to materialize, because Marshall Timoshenko refused to accept battle. Instead, he quickly withdrew to the Don.

 

On 30 June Staff Sergeant Bix was wounded by shrapnel in his upper and lower leg and upper arm. He remained with the unit’s trains and reappeared a few days later, ready for action (the attack on Voronezh had meanwhile been called off). The regiment then became involved in fighting in the Shisdra and Suchinitshi areas. Promoted to sergeant first class on 1 August, Bix participated in the attack on Shisdra as a platoon leader.

 

The assault began on 17 August. The tanks rolled cautiously across the countryside. Sergeant First Class Bix led the spearhead. Sergeant Schwartz, also promoted and still Bix’s driver, reacted instantly to every order. Bix stood in his turret and scanned the approaches to the town.

 

“I don’t like that slope beyond the stream,” he reported to his men inside the tank. “If I were a Russian, that’s where I would set up my antitank guns.”

 

Glancing to the side, Bix saw the battalion’s tanks rolling forward in wedge formation. Behind them were the armored personnel carriers carrying the mechanized infantry. Seconds later several antitank guns opened fire from the slope, followed soon afterwards by tank fire. Within a matter of seconds, the sector was alive with the sounds of battle. Rounds crashed into the German tanks. A carrier blew up with a harsh crack.

 

“All stations: Withdraw to the reverse slope!”

 

The armored vehicles rolled back 300 meters, where they were safe from the rounds of the Russian antitank guns and tank cannon.

 

First Lieutenant Schöpe called his platoon leaders by radio: “Platoon leaders report to me!”

 

When the three sergeant first class arrived at the company commander’s tank, Schöpe said: “All right, everyone listen: We will move out by darkness. Division wants a small bridgehead captured so the entire unit can cross the river in the morning.”

 

“And we’re the advance-guard company, sir?” asked Master Sergeant Hain.

 

“Correct, Hain! As soon as darkness falls the company will move out, cross the river and establish the bridgehead.”

 

“It’s a good two kilometers to the river, sir,” interjected the leader of the 3rd Platoon.

 

“Yes, it’s a critical situation,” replied the company commander. He glanced briefly at the slope on the far side of the stream, which was just discernable in the evening twilight. Harsh muzzle flashes from the guns of Russian tanks flared up on the heights.

 

“The slope is studded with guns.” Schöpe then turned to Sergeant First Class Bix, who had given rise to much comment in the past few days: “Do you want to lead the advance platoon?”

 

“Gladly, sir!” answered the platoon leader.

 

Master Sergeant Hain had something on his mind.

 

“Hermann, can you let me go along with your platoon this time?” he asked.

 

“You would be better off staying behind with your files, Ernst,” replied Bix.

 

But the senior noncommissioned officer was not going to be discouraged so easily.

 

“I’d rather go with you.”

 

“Come now!” replied Bix. “With you and me gone, I’d only have Sergeant First Class Nowack and two staff sergeants to leave in charge. That’s not exactly an all-star cast!”

 

The attack plan was discussed in great detail. The objective was to enable the division to cross the river with minimal casualties. Preparations were finally completed and Bix made his way back to his platoon to brief his men.

 

“The most important thing for us is to ensure that the bridge is kept passable for the wheeled vehicles. No one is to move onto it. If you do you’ll end up taking a bath with the bridge for sure!” he warned.

 

One of the men spoke up: “We’ve seen that often enough already. It wouldn’t be the first bridge that turned out to be a deathtrap for tanks.”

 

First Lieutenant Schöpe came up. “It’s going to be a ticklish piece of work,” he declared. “But if we pull it off, they’ll certainly have to chalk up the success to us.”

 

Bix was rather unconcerned about that aspect of the operation. All that he knew for sure was that there would be no peace in the next few days. The whole thing stunk, that was for sure. He turned once again to his company commander: “Sir, I suggest that my platoon move with a fixed interval of 100 meters. Complete radio silence is very important, because experience has shown that radio communications can be heard over a great distance during the night.”

 

The lieutenant agreed at once. “Good, Bix! You alone have permission to use your radio. All following tanks have a strict ban on radio communications.”

 

In the meantime darkness had fallen. The crews were already in their tanks; the commanders were standing in the turret hatches. Behind him, Bix, whose eyes had become accustomed to the low light, recognized the master sergeant. He gave him a brief wave, then raised his arm three times. That was the signal to move out. The motors roared to life. When the leading tank had covered fifty meters the second moved off. This was necessary in the event that the first tank came under fire. By leaving an interval between vehicles, each was assured sufficient freedom of movement should evasive maneuvers become necessary. The drivers drove at a low throttle setting. The sound of the tracks could scarcely be heard as the tanks were driving along a sandy road.

 

From his position in the lead, the sergeant first class ordered: “No abrupt speed changes.”

 

Schwartz steered the tank forward, calling on all his skills as a driver. He was the only member of Bix’s old crew still left. To Bix the whole thing felt rather strange. With every meter they were drawing nearer to the enemy-occupied village. Every track revolution might bring them over an enemy mine. Mines were a specialty of the Soviets. At any moment antitank guns could also open up from concealed positions.

 

But nothing like that took place. The tanks reached the outskirts of the village before the small stream without incident. They came to the road that turned off to the right just before the bridge and led into the village.

 

“Nowack, turn off at the fork to the right a few meters and screen towards the village!”

 

Turning round, Bix saw that the tank of the sergeant first class had already turned away. The Russians could come out of the village. Nowack would be in position to head them off. The outline of the bridge emerged from the darkness. It was hard to make out in the moonlight. Bix recognized one of the four wooden pilings, none of which could support a tank. Under no circumstances could he permit any attempts to move across the bridge, as it would certainly collapse.

 

“I’m going to look for a level spot in the stream,” Bix advised his commander.

 

“Good luck, Bix.”

 

Bix worked his way along the stream bank. If only he had X-ray eyes to see where the Russians had laid their mines. He felt certain that the bank had been mined. Should he trust in luck and move across it? That was too risky. Moreover, the other side of the stream might be marshy. Was it not too steep here? It took only a few seconds for Bix to reach a decision. His gaze fell upon a bomb crater close to the bank. There could be no mines there. What was more, the sides of the crater didn’t appear to be too steep. He had moved across similar craters several times.

 

“Harpoon to commander: I’m in front of the bridge and I’m going to move through a bomb crater into the river.”

 

The Captain called back: “Good, do that! I leave it to your judgement!”

 

“All right, Schwartz, in we go! Move as carefully as possible…no sudden movements. It would be best if you avoid any turns.”

 

Bix knew that if the tank began to slide on the bank, it would be all over. The tank moved slowly down into the bomb crater. Soon it would reach the point of tipping over. But it reached the bottom safely, and Schwartz began pushing the tank by centimeters up the other side of the crater. The tracks ground deep into the mud, splashing and smacking.

 

“How does it look, Schwartz?” asked the sergeant first class.

 

“We’ll see,” he murmured.

 

“Will we make it, or will we tip over backwards?”

 

“We’ll make it. The tracks are gripping well.”

 

Bix breathed a sigh of relief. Seconds later the front slope of the tank pushed its way above the lip of the crater. It rose higher and higher and then tipped forwards. They had done it.

 

“These must be the positions we ran into this morning,” Bix said a little later. “Move over to the left and make room for the tanks behind us to follow.”

 

The tank advanced slowly to the left.

 

The next orders came over the radio: “Hain, follow me. Then Staff Sergeant Reich and finally Staff Sergeant Gerlach. Once you reach the top make way for the next. Nowack, remain at the fork and continue to screen there.”

 

One after another the tanks rattled through the crater. Bix directed two to the right and the last to the left to join him. “Hopefully, the Ivans haven’t seen us,” remarked the driver.

 

“They can’t see us, Schwartz. There’s a tall stand of alders behind us with thick tops. It swallows us up, so to speak.”

 

A moment later Bix again called his commanders: “No Morse-code transmissions. Everyone stand by!”

 

Bix strained to hear or see something of the enemy, but all he could hear was the noise made by the rest of the company, which was following slowly under the command of the lieutenant. Soon the lieutenant’s Panzer IV was rolling into the bomb crater. When he was halfway through, the night was torn by a multitude of brilliant muzzle flashes. Sergeant First Class Bix suddenly found himself in the line of fire of at least ten guns. The crash of gunfire was ear shattering. The flashes from the muzzles of the guns were blinding. The impacting rounds nearly deafened the men in the tanks. Behind the tanks, the treetops were shattered as the rounds smashed into them. The enemy guns were firing over the tanks on their side of the stream. Bix targeted the muzzle flashes.

 

His order went out to the other tanks: “Stand by to engage! At my command! Aim at the muzzle flashes!”

 

The remaining three commanders reported that they had each targeted the muzzle flashes.

 

“All stations: Open fire!”

 

Four cannon and eight machine guns opened fire almost simultaneously. There was a terrific crash and Bix heard a pair of rounds ricochet off something very near. They must have struck steel. Ricochets whistled about. The Russian fire ceased abruptly. Bix reached for the flare pistol that hung beside him. He fired a white illumination flare towards the slope containing the enemy firing position. In the chalky light he could see the enemy guns twenty to thirty meters ahead and Russians running away. Bursts of yellow tracer from the German machine guns pursued the fleeing gun crews.

 

Another gun opened fire from farther back. Once again, rounds crashed into the trees and several branches fell on 1st Lieutenant Schöpf’s head. There was a resounding crash and the enemy’s last gun was silenced. Soon afterwards the order came from behind: “Platoon move forward to make way for the others to cross!” The four tanks rolled forward as far as the enemy gun position and the tension of the last hour quickly evaporated. After the Panzer IV had made its way through the crater and moved up to that of the sergeant first class, Schöpf shouted: “Man, Bix, where did you get the nerve?”

 

“One has to be lucky,” said Bix in reply.

 

The bridgehead had been established for the division. Bix and his platoon had played a vital role in overcoming the Russian antitank belt. The day before, the entire tank battalion had been unable to break through the antitank barricade. That night the four tanks of the Bix’s platoon had done it alone.

 

The following day Bix and his Panzer IV moved into the Shisdra forest. Several hundred meters into the woods, the tank struck a mine. There was a tremendous crash and Schwartz reported that he could no longer steer the tank. Everyone climbed out to repair the track. A half-hour later the platoon leader’s tank set off again after the rest of the platoon, arriving just in time to help engage an enemy bunker position on the far side of the woods. Bix’s tank ran over more mines during the next two days. Sergeant Schwartz lost a foot in the explosion of the third mine. The radio operator was wounded in the arm, but miraculously, Bix was unhurt.

 

Bix’s luck finally ran out on 22 August. One of the division’s rifle battalions was pinned down in the Shisdra forest. Surrounded by Russian units, the battalion sent out a call for help.

 

The company commander said: “Bix, there’s a job for your platoon.”

 

Three tanks were still combat ready. Led by Sergeant First Class Bix, the three set off. They had not gone far when a pair of concealed T-34s opened fire. The three tanks split up and returned the enemy fire. The Panzer IVs were equipped with the new “long” 7.5-cm gun which could penetrate the armor of any enemy tank. Staff Sergeant Reich destroyed two of the T-34s, while Staff Sergeant Gerlach disposed of a third. The way was clear.

 

“Step on it!” Bix ordered.

 

They raced on, became stuck in a thicket and then fought their way free. The tanks then reached a road that led through the forest. Fire from antitank rifles clattered against the armor.

 

“Load HE!”

 

A group of Russian soldiers appeared. Rounds exploded in the bushes, sending shattered branches whirling through the air. The tanks’ machine guns hammered away and the enemy disappeared back into the forest. A little later Bix spotted the clearing in which the battalion had been surrounded. Suddenly, a mighty blow shook the tank. There was an immense pressure against his lungs and at the same instant Bix felt a stab of pain in his legs.

 

The tank had stopped. A hole in the hull and torn tracks were the result of the fifth mine. His comrades recovered the severely wounded sergeant first class and took him back to the main dressing station.

 

A few days later Bix took leave of his comrades, whom he was never to see again. Finally, Bix ended up in a military hospital in Germany. When he was released and went home on leave, he learned from his mother that his brother had been killed in Russia. Some time later Bix received a Teletype informing him that he had been awarded the German Cross in Gold on 5 November 1942. A medical examination revealed that it would be some time before he was fit to return to action at the front. As a result, Bix was sent to the Army Non-Commissioned Officer School to become a platoon leader and instructor there. At the conclusion of his period of duty at the school, he was sent to a training battalion in France, where he was retrained on the new Panther tank. Because of its 7.5-cm L-70 main gun and its great speed, the Panther was the best German tank at that time. Despite its good armor protection, it was faster than the Panzer IV that Bix had commanded earlier.

 

In June 1944 Sergeant First Class Bix set out for the Eastern Front with his comrades and the new tanks. They disembarked in the Slutsk-Baranowichi area and made their way to the 35th Panzer Regiment’s 1st Battalion, which was engaged in heavy defensive fighting in that sector. Finally, Bix had returned to his old regiment.

 

ARMORED FIGHTING NEAR WARSAW

 

Shortly before the trains rolled into the small station, the station had been attacked by Russian bombers and completely destroyed. There were no loading ramps available.

 

“We should turn to the right at once and exit the cars that way,” suggested Sergeant First Class Bix to the young Bavarian officer.

 

“Damn!” The young officer scratched his neck. “All right! Turn to the right on the cars and then off through the center before the fire reaches us!”

 

Flames were already licking from the station buildings. The Panthers turned and rolled down from the flatcars. They formed up on the street and moved off into the countryside to get away from the station as quickly as possible. It might be bombed again at any minute. It took exactly ten minutes for the tanks to form up into a column and roll off in the direction of their area of operations.

 

They reached the 1st Battalion, which was soon to face a severe test. A few hours later Bix learned the extent of the threat. The Soviets had attacked the 34 German divisions that Field Marshal Busch had available in this sector with 200 divisions and 6,000 tanks and assault guns. Five Soviet Air Armies had committed thousands of aircraft of all types into the offensive.

 

The 4th Panzer Division was fighting a delaying action west of Slutsk between Stolpce and Baranowichi. It was impossible to attempt anything else. To the north was the 12th Panzer Division and to the south the 28th Destroyer Division. Bobruisk fell to the Soviets on 29 June. Of the 100,000 German soldiers there, only 30,000 could be saved. The area around Stolpce had to be held at all costs to keep open the crossings over the Beresina for the 4th Army, which was still on the east side of the river. On 5 July 1944 General Völckers gave the order for the 4th Army to break through to the West. Slutsk had been in Soviet hands since 1 July. Their armored spearheads were thirty kilometers east of Baranowichi. The 4th Panzer Division was ordered to hold up the Soviets east of Baranowichi for as long as possible.

 

The 1st Battalion rolled east in three attack formations. Panzer Company Goldhammer led the way and Sergeant First Class Bix and his company were at the front. As he turned in his open turret hatch, Bix saw the face of the diminutive Lieutenant Görum. The lieutenant waved to him and motioned forward. The houses of the village then came into sight from behind several large trees. “That’s the village, Bix,” said 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer over the radio.

 

“Hopefully our people are still there, sir,” replied Bix.

 

They rolled through the village and came to a brook. The grenadiers had dug in on the near side of the stream. Several were still busy digging. About four hundred meters to the right Bix saw a single 7.5-cm antitank gun.

 

“Where is the bridge I’m supposed to secure?” asked Lieutenant Görum.

 

“Nothing here!” offered the commander.

 

A 1st lieutenant of the grenadiers came running up to Bix’s Panther.

 

“Where is the bridge?” asked Bix.

 

“You’re looking too far to the left. It’s over there!” The 1st lieutenant gestured in the direction they would have to take. Bix passed on the information to Lieutenant Görum, using a pair of willows standing next to the bridge as points of reference.

 

“How are things here?” Bix asked the infantry officer.

 

“Damned poor! The Russians are on the other side of the stream and are keeping our positions under fire. I have heavy casualties from mortar and machine-gun fire.”

 

“Have you fixed their positions?” asked the tank commander.

 

“Naturally! If you only had a few minutes you could make short work of them.”

 

“I can arrange that, sir,” said Bix. “Fill me in.”

 

The company commander was overjoyed: “Man, that would be great! Follow me to the command post!”

 

While Corporal Willrich steered the Panther along behind the infantry officer, Bix called his company commander.

 

“The bridge is ahead of me and slightly to my right. Görum is too far to the right.”

 

“Görum reports fire; is engaging enemy antitank guns. You take the bridge, Bix!”

 

Meanwhile, the tank had reached the infantry command post. Mortar rounds were bursting on the west bank of the small stream. A pair of enemy machine guns was firing long bursts at the grenadiers. Bix observed the enemy through his field glasses. The 1st lieutenant called out the first target: “One thousand meters. The small gap to the left of the round bush. Enemy antitank gun.”

 

Bix scanned the described area through his glasses. Just then he spotted a muzzle flash. “Do you have him, Hennemann?”

 

The gunner had already targeted the enemy. The round cracked and the Panther rocked slightly from the recoil. The high-explosive round burst in the middle of the antitank gun position. Steel and wood whirled through the air.

 

“Got him!” shouted the 1st lieutenant enthusiastically. “Now the heavy machine gun that’s raking the right sector.”

 

The next HE round smashed into the machine gun position, a direct hit. A wheel from the machine gun cart flew through the air. It took exactly six minutes for Bix to eliminate the entire enemy position in front of the village.

 

“Commander to Bix: Proceed directly to the bridge!” came the order from 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer, who, with the company, was engaged at that point.

 

“Let’s go, Willrich. Turn half-right and then straight ahead.”

 

After a hundred meters the bridge came into sight. Bix had to get out of the hatch to get a better look at the bridge. Would it support his Panther? It looked as if it would.

 

“Move across carefully!” he ordered.

 

The planks sagged under the weight of the Panther, but held. Beyond the bridge the road made a slight turn. Wheat fields were to the right and left. Suddenly, the 1st lieutenant appeared behind the tank with a few grenadiers.

 

“Stay back a bit,” Bix called to him. “You’ll be in great danger if we’re fired upon!”

 

He had scarcely spoken the words when antitank guns opened fire. There was a tremendous crash and seconds later Willrich reported that he could no longer steer the Panther. The antitank gun had presumably wrecked both tracks. Soon afterwards enemy mortars began to fire on them. Mortar rounds burst all around, leaving black smudges in the fields of wheat. As the infantry 1st lieutenant leapt to the side, he ran straight into a bursting mortar round. When the smoke cleared Bix saw that the 1st lieutenant had been killed.

 

“Fire!” Bix shouted to his gunner.

 

“Where, sir?” the gunner called back. “I don’t see any muzzle flashes.”

 

“It doesn’t matter where. Just fire!”

 

Hit after hit then shook the stationary Panther. At any minute a direct hit might penetrate a vulnerable spot and then they would be lost. Willrich attempted to move the tank forward. Not until then did it become apparent that it was not the tracks, but one of the tank’s roadwheels that had been damaged. The Panther began to move. There was an ungodly crashing and cracking from the tracks, but they were moving. A round hammered against the turret. It rang like a tremendous bell stroke. The tank shook as if it were in terrible pain. Suddenly, the crew could see again, and they saw the muzzle flash of an antitank gun firing from a village approximately 1,000 meters away. At almost the same instant Bix spotted an antitank gun about thirty meters farther to the left in a recently-mown wheat field. More guns were behind it.

 

“HE!” he shouted.

 

Hennemann and Krüger worked like mad. The first round burst in the wheat field. The force of the exploding rounds cleared away more and more of the Russian camouflage. Three, then four rounds smashed into the enemy position. The Russian gunners abandoned their guns and ran for their lives. The shock of the tank’s assault had put them to flight. It was no small matter to stand up to such an armored giant at close range. The last figures vanished into a wheat field farther to the rear that extended as far as the village.

 

“Bix to commander: Am east of the bridge. Enemy antitank guns are out of action!”

 

“We’re coming!” replied 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer.

 

Soon afterwards the tanks of the company approached, rolled across the bridge and stopped about fifty meters from the Panther of the Sergeant first class. Bix had his driver back the damaged tank into a ravine a few dozen meters to the rear.

 

“Dismount!” he ordered.

 

The crew then saw for the first time what their Panther had withstood. Hermann Bix counted no less than seventeen hits. “Some mess!” the radio operator, Dedekind, said in amazement. “Looks like it’s done for.”

 

“I’ll have to get into another tank, sir,” reported Bix when the small Bavarian appeared.

 

“All right, take Cordes’ vehicle.”

 

After Bix and his crew had changed tanks, the order came from 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer they had all been expecting: “We’re going to move into the village. If we’re in the village, it will be easier to hold the stream bed.”

 

The company’s twelve tanks moved out and headed for the village at high speed. The first rounds from enemy antitank guns showed that it was not going to be so simple. Twelve tank cannon opened fire on the enemy. The first houses caught fire and then the Panthers roared down the main street, firing to both sides. All resistance soon collapsed. 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer reported this to the battalion and was ordered to secure the village. The Panthers were staged around the village and their crews had to take turns standing guard throughout the night. In the meantime, 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer had established contact with the battalion, which had moved up and gone into position behind the spearhead company.

 

Heavy tank fire began at dawn on both sides of Panzer Company Goldhammer.

 

“There are the rest of our tanks,” declared Hennemann.

 

“But they’re a long way back,” said Krüger, shaking his head with concern. “If the Ivans roar through, we’ll really be stuck in it out here.”

 

An hour later the concerns of the Senior corporal became a reality. On making an inquiry, 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer received orders to pull back. The last sentence of the order was of special significance. It read: “Russian tanks have reached the west side of the stream; you are to break through their front.” A little later Goldhammer advised his platoon leaders: “We’re caught in a trap.”

 

Lieutenant Görum began to curse in his Bavarian dialect. First Lieutenant Goldhammer was tempted to join him, but forced himself to remain calm.

 

“The bridge is in the shitter, sir. How are we supposed to get across the damned brook?” interjected Sergeant First Class Schratte.

 

Russian artillery then opened fire on the village. There was a hellish racket. Fresh fires began to blaze. Mortar rounds burst among the houses. For a few minutes the men couldn’t hear a word, then it became somewhat quieter. First Lieutenant Goldhammer closed the orders conference: “We’re going to have to fight our way through the Russian lines a few kilometers to the side. Everyone move as fast as you can. Don’t get decisively engaged. Stay together no matter what and avoid breakdowns. This time Görum’s Platoon will take the lead.”

 

The tank company began to move. The tanks moved off with hatches closed. Bix saw rounds bursting to the left and right. Earth, stones and steel shrapnel cracked against the flanks of the Panther. The enemy fire intensified when 1st Lieutenant Görum reached the outskirts of the village. The voice of 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer came over the radio: “Speed up! Stay together!”

 

The tanks picked up speed. Corporal Willrich shifted gears. The speedometer showed thirty kilometers per hour, then thirty-five, then forty. Willrich spotted a trench running across their path. “Watch out!” he shouted. The men hung on for dear life. Every joint in the tank creaked as it tilted hard to one side. The loader was thrown against the wall.

 

A Sherman opened fire from the right. American tanks, which were delivered by the Murmansk convoys, had been in action on the battlefields of the Eastern Front for some time. Bix saw Lieutenant Görum pull out of the line and halt. Seconds later, after two tanks had passed by, the lieutenant opened fire. His first round blew the turret off the Sherman. A few seconds later Görum’s tank moved off and, moving along the side of the road at high speed, overtook the other tanks and regained its position at the head of the column.

 

A heavy blow shook Bix’s Panther, but the round failed to penetrate. Seconds later there was a renewed crashing and roaring. Russian infantry were firing machine guns and automatic rifles from the edge of the forest as the tanks roared past. It was a completely senseless undertaking, because the bullets were unlikely to cause any harm to the Panthers.

 

The tanks were then driving parallel to the front lines. A village appeared ahead. The order went out: “Step on it through the village! Maximum speed!”

 

The Panthers closed up and raced towards the village at fifty kilometers per hour. Russian soldiers fled the street seeking safety from the onrushing armor. It was a wild ride. The tanks roared through the Russian positions like a ghost train. The Russians apparently had no idea that German tanks might still be in the area. They were so surprised by the appearance of the Panthers that they had no chance to effect any countermeasures. Its motor thundering, Bix’s tank raced along behind the Panther in front. Long flames flew from the exhausts and mighty clouds of dust whirled up from its tracks. The hot, summer sun caused the temperature inside the tank to jump to over fifty degrees Celsius.

 

All at once lances of flame flashed from guns in the cornfields on both sides of the road close to the village. Lieutenant Goldhammer called his commanders: “Guns to three and nine o’clock respectively; fire on the move; no stopping!” The armored turrets began to move. That of the tank ahead of Bix swung to the left, so the sergeant first class ordered his gunner to rotate their Panther’s turret to the right. The tanks opened fire with high-explosive rounds. To halt would have been suicide.

 

Loader Krüger rammed rounds into the chamber. Hennemann, the gunner, aimed and fired. He saw that the rounds were on target. An antitank gun’s ammunition went up in the cornfield with a mighty blast. The Soviets were returning the German fire. Hard blows shook the Panther of the sergeant first class, but it rolled on. Striking the tank in a flash of flames, some of which were sucked into the fighting compartment, the armor-piercing round glanced off and howled away to the side.

 

The Russian antitank guns were lined up practically wheel to wheel. There would be no getting through the front here. But the surprising dash by the German tanks parallel to the antitank belt, sometimes only fifty or sixty meters in front of it, gave the Russians little time to fire accurately. The movements of the Panthers were so swift that they did not have time to fully comprehend what was going on.

 

For the Germans it was a hellish drive. Bix expected the end to come at any minute. Rounds whistled past his vision slit and crashed against the armor of the tank ahead. It looked as if a lightning storm were breaking over the tanks. Evasive maneuvers were impossible. They had to drive on. Finally, the long antitank belt came to an end.

 

All other sounds were drowned out by the deafening roar of the fighting and of the engines and tracks. The only interruption was the voice of 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer calling his commanders. “Keep moving, keep moving! Another 100 meters!” joked Goldhammer with a touch of gallows humor.

 

The panzer grenadiers manning the front-line positions a good three kilometers to the west heard the sound of fighting and asked themselves what was going on. The few who knew that a German tank company was stuck out there gave the unit little chance of getting through. The cessation of the din of battle must mean that the German tanks were then no more than wreckage on the battlefield.

 

When the leading tank came to the right point, Goldhammer ordered: “Left turn!”

 

The German tanks veered left and moved towards the German lines. War correspondent Robert Poensgen, who was with the grenadiers in the front lines, described the approach of the tanks:

 

Suddenly, in the distance, the men in the front lines saw a tank roll out of the enemy-occupied village trailing a giant cloud of dust. Then came a second, then a third and a fourth. There were more and more of them. One behind the other they approached the front at high speed.

 

The call went from foxhole to foxhole: “The Russians are attacking with tanks!—Tanks to the front!—Send the assault guns forward!” The close-range antitank weapons were readied. Suddenly, a lieutenant who had been observing the attack through his field glasses roared: “Those are Panthers.” He jumped up, waving his fur cap. The first tank turned and moved directly towards him. It was an uncomfortable feeling for the lieutenant. Were there Russians in those tanks?

 

But then a signal flare was fired from the turret of the leading tank. Following that, the black cap of a tank commander appeared. The commanders of the remaining tanks also emerged.

 

The first tank halted. The others moved alongside. The hatches of the last tank flipped open. The tankers blinked in the bright sunlight. Exhausted, they climbed out of their stations, gasping for air. Then they lit cigarettes and, walking bow-legged like sailors, went round their vehicles and inspected the numerous gashes on the turret, flanks and rear. The tank crews looked toward the village that was then burning fiercely. They were filled with a tremendous sense of happiness, the joy of having survived this great danger.

 

This brings Poensgen’s report to an end. It remains to be said that the company did not lose a single tank during the breakthrough. When Hermann Bix saw the hits on his Panther he was amazed that it could still move at all.

 

“Nothing can happen to us with this tank!” he said, and the four comrades who had shared the closed quarters of the steel box with him were in full agreement.

 

The 4th Panzer Division carried out a gradual withdrawal. The retreat gained momentum. In five weeks the Red Army covered 700 kilometers. Army Group Center was destroyed by this lightning advance made by Soviet forces possessing a tenfold superiority in numbers. Of the total of thirty-eight German divisions, twenty-eight had been smashed. The bravery of the individual soldier and the fighting spirit of the tank units were of little use against the avalanche of war machines and men that the Soviets had mobilized.

 

The offensive rolled west like a steamroller. The three hundred fifty thousand soldiers of Army Group Center disappeared from the battlefields. According to Soviet statements, German casualties included 200,000 killed and 85,000 captured. In response to the oft-repeated criticism of the “cowardly generals,” it should be pointed out that of the forty-seven generals involved in the fighting as commanding generals or division commanders, no fewer than thirty-one were killed or taken prisoner.

 

In the suburbs of Warsaw the tanks of the 4th Panzer Division once again joined the battle. The crews of the Tigers and Panthers fought a tremendous tank battle. Sergeant First Class Bix and his men faced a greatly superior force of Soviet armor. Many Russian tanks fell victim to the long-range tank cannon. The 19th Panzer Division joined the fight and the Soviet force was smashed. However, fresh units were already advancing from the Russian rear areas. Nevertheless, the tanks of the 4th Panzer Division succeeded in capturing the bridge over the Bug near Wyschkow in a surprise attack. As a result of this advance, the tanks were able to drive into the northern flank of a Soviet tank corps that was engaged in outflanking the forces of the XXXIX Army Corps to the north.

 

A short time later XXXIX Army Corps (Major General von Sauken) was transferred to Army Group North (General Schörner). Its mission was to close the gap that had been created between Schörner and General Rauss. For Sergeant First Class Bix, there then began a tank war such as he could never have dreamt of.

 

It was 18 August and the first serious fighting in the new area of operations already lay behind the battalion and its Panthers. The 4th Panzer Division had failed to reach its objective of Mitau and was located in Shagarew. On that day the 1st Battalion, 35th Panzer Regiment, received orders to overrun and push back the Russian front line, which bulged westwards at that point. Sergeant First Class Bix moved at the head of the company. As the most experienced tank commander, 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer had selected him to lead the company and find the best location to break into the Soviet lines. Enemy guns opened fire.

 

“Button up! Stand by to engage!” Bix ordered.

 

The commanders disappeared into their turrets. The gunners reported that their weapons were up. Through his scissors telescope Bix saw the muzzle flash of a Ratschbum.

 

“Enemy gun position. Range eight-zero-zero. Fire when ready.”

 

Hennemann fired the first round. A round struck the turret at an angle and shot howling upwards. Then a second round smacked into the ground to the right of the Panther. Smoke and the harsh glare of flames were forced into the fighting compartment. “Move, Willrich, move!”

 

The driver shifted. The tank moved out, but suddenly there was a crashing and groaning from the reduction gears as teeth were sheared off. There was a grinding sound, a jolt went through the tank and then the Panther stood still.

 

“Reduction gear has been hit,” Willrich called in dismay.

 

Bix’s tank had become disabled in front of the Russian main line of resistance. The remaining tanks rolled on, took up the battle and tried to cover the disabled tank.

 

“Fire, Hennemann!” Bix ordered.

 

The Senior corporal targeted the Ratschbum. The second round silenced the enemy gun. Others joined the fight. Two rounds struck the Panther, jolting it backwards. The noise of the impacting rounds was tremendous, but fortunately they failed to penetrate the tank’s armor. The tank’s machine guns then opened up on a group of Russians that was moving through the surrounding terrain towards the Panther. Suddenly, there was a tremendous crash. Everything happened in an instant. A chance hit had penetrated the hatch cover above the radio operator. The round had ricocheted downwards off the gun mantlet, but still had enough force to pierce the hatch cover. A steel fragment torn from the hatch cover ripped off one of Dedekind’s arms. It was a horrible sight.

 

“Dismount. Get moving and lend a hand.”

 

Together they lifted the seriously wounded radio operator from his station. The seemingly impossible succeeded. Despite the enemy fire, they all managed to get out of the tank and reach cover in a shell-hole. While Hennemann and Krüger applied emergency dressings to stop the heavy bleeding, Bix tried to fetch help. He never left a comrade in the lurch, even when leaving comparatively safe cover was tantamount to suicide, as in this case.

 

The Russians had seen the crew abandon its tank and ten or more of their mortars were then firing on its general location. The cough of the mortars, the bursting of shells and the howling of dropping mortar rounds mingled with the fire of tank cannon and Soviet antitank guns in an infernal orgy of noise.

 

Hermann Bix got to his feet. He must find a medic. He had gone scarcely three meters when more mortar rounds came howling down. He threw himself to the ground, but as he fell he knew that it was too late. The mortar rounds landed only a few meters away. The crash of the exploding shells nearly deafened him. At the same instant he felt a stabbing pain in his hip and thigh. His first thought was: Now it’s all over! But then his will to live took over. He could not and would not give up. His comrades fetched a medical unit. Fortunately, the attack by the German tanks was a success and the Soviets were pushed out of their salient. Bix and radio operator Dedekind were evacuated to the rear and taken to the main dressing station. The shell fragments were removed and the next day the two were on a hospital train for Germany. In the hospital Bix received the Wound Badge in Silver and the Panzer Assault Badge, Second Grade. The weeks passed. Bix was happy to be home again, to be at peace and not have to be ready to face combat—and death—every day and every hour.

 

Soon, however, he reported back to the front, even though the wound in his thigh had not completely healed. When he arrived in Obrin, near Libau, he immediately received a repaired Panther and a crew from the division maintenance facility there. With his four new comrades he rolled off in the direction of Schrundin-Preekuln, where his battalion was once again involved in heavy defensive fighting. He had arrived just in time to experience the beginning of the First Battle of Kurland.

 

TANKS!—TANKS!—TANKS!

 

The First Battle of Kurland began on 27 October 1944 with a Soviet artillery bombardment which began at about 0630 hours. Two-thousand guns of all calibers opened fire along the entire front between Preekuln and the Venta. A little later, under the protection of this mighty barrage, which shifted slowly to the north, Soviet tank and infantry brigades went to the attack. The main blow was directed against the 30th Infantry Division, but soon the 4th and 14th Panzer Divisions were also under attack. This was the situation when Bix arrived in Obrin.

 

“Here’s a mule for you that’s just been made ready, Bix,” said the weapons master, pointing to a Panther that had just been loaded with a basic load of ammunition. The sergeant first class nodded. He went round the tank, inspecting it closely.

 

“And the crew?” he asked, finally.

 

“You can select them yourself, Bix,” replied Captain Völkmann, who was in command there.

 

“Good, then I would like to get out of here in half an hour. If I could see the men now.”

 

Soon Bix was surrounded by tank crews awaiting new missions, and the sergeant first class selected several men. A little later they climbed aboard the Panther and the tank rolled off in the direction of Schrunden-Preekuln. The battalion’s area of operations was located somewhere near there. Bix asked his way. Then they could hear the sound of the fighting. When Bix had almost reached his company he heard a comrade calling for help.

 

“Sergeant First Class Borkmann is surrounded by Russian tanks,” he informed his crew. “We’re going in to get him out!”

 

“Where are you, Borkmann? Say something, we’re coming!”

 

The sergeant first class replied: “We’re in the middle of the woods near Valdoni. Two tanks are stuck in a deep ravine.”

 

“Your exact location, Borkmann!” Bix called back. Finally he received the information.

 

Bix turned to his driver, an experienced tank crewman: “Exactly as on the map, Schädelbauer!”

 

They moved out. The company still knew nothing of Bix’s return even though he was already almost in their midst. The Panther worked its way along field roads and through shallow valleys. Night fell but Bix didn’t wait, because the increasing strength of the radio transmissions convinced him that they were very close to their trapped comrades.

 

“Continue to move, but slow it down!” he called to the Senior corporal.

 

Schädelbauer moved the tank across an open field towards the edge of the woods, which stood dark like a brush mark in front of them them.

 

They halted so Bix could listen. “They must be in there,” he said. “That sounds like machine-gun fire.”

 

“Yes, the Ivans are shooting into the hole again for sure,” confirmed gunner Kruck.

 

“Move out!” ordered Bix.

 

The Panther again rolled towards the woods, moved along a field road and found the ravine where their comrades were trapped.

 

“Defensive fire on the enemy machine guns; we’ll pull you out one at a time!”

 

A burst of machine-gun fire caused Bix to duck quickly into his turret.

 

“Send a few bursts up there, Berghaus,” he called to the radio operator.

 

Senior Corporal Berghaus took aim at the muzzle flashes on the far side of the gully and pressed the trigger. Tracers flitted through the darkness and disappeared into the far slope. The second burst coincided with the next salvo from the Maxim machine gun. Berghaus adjusted his aim slightly and fired again. A red, glowing rosette of flame sprang up from the enemy position and, with the crash of the explosion, the “Maxie” fell silent.

 

“Well done, Berghaus!”

 

Sergeant First Class Borkmann and his gunner then attempted to attach a tow cable, while his radio operator and that of the other tank added the weight of their fire to Berghaus’ in an attempt to drive the Soviets from the edge of the ravine. Schädelbauer backed the Panther up slowly. The cable tightened until it was taut, quivering like a violin string. But it held. Schädelbauer carefully stepped on the gas and towed the other tank up the slope meter by meter, assisted by its driver. It was more than half an hour before Sergeant First Class Borkmann’s Panther reached the top. The second towing operation went somewhat faster.

 

The maneuver had taken a total of one hour. The three Panthers were then on the high ground on a field road. Bix and his tank were in the rear, facing the enemy. Suddenly, Bix saw the glowing thread of a tracer round, and it was heading straight for him. He wanted to get to cover but there was no time. One of the Russian explosive rounds detonated. Harsh flames flashed in front of his face, half blinding him. Instinctively, he closed his eyes. Miraculously, Bix was unhurt. Furious, he thought to himself: That was slick work!

 

Bix called to his driver: “Forward, Schädelbauer! We have to get out of these woods before the Russians close in for the kill.”

 

“I can’t go any faster. The tank was damaged by going into the gully,” replied the sergeant first class.

 

Behind Bix, whose vision had improved somewhat by then, appeared two Russians. He ordered his gunner to open fire. With the tank’s cannon in the six o’clock position, he fired a couple of high-explosive rounds at the Russians, who disappeared into the woods and were not seen again. Dawn was already breaking by the time they reached the edge of the wood line.

 

When they could breathe a little easier, Sergeant First Class Borkmann said: “It’s about time that I said thank you, Hermann.”

 

“No need to. But it’s time for me to report to the company commander.”

 

Bix gave the signal to move on. He had no interest in being the center of attention and was slightly uncomfortable at the thought of having his praises sung. Soon afterwards Bix reported back from Germany. First Lieutenant Goldhammer was overjoyed to have such an experienced platoon leader and tank commander back with the company.

 

“Report to me right away, Bix,” called the Bavarian 1st lieutenant over the radio.

 

Just then gunner Kruck shouted excitedly: “The Ivans are coming out of the woods, sergeant!”

 

After a quick look towards the edge of the wood line Bix reported: “Sir, I must stay here until the Russians have been beaten back.”

 

“Good, do that! Good luck, Bix!”

 

“Here come the tanks!” reported Sergeant Mündelein, who was commanding the third Panther.

 

To the right, about 800 meters distant, a group of T-34s emerged from the woods. Beside them and somewhat to the rear were several super-heavy Joseph Stalin tanks. One of the giants turned directly towards Bix’s Panther.

 

“The big one first, Kruck! “ shouted Bix.

 

The gunner swung the long gun around. The shape of the Russian giant crept into his sight. Kruck pressed the firing button. The Panther rocked from the recoil as the armor-piercing round whipped towards the enemy. A thought flashed through Bix’s mind: Just back and I’m going to get it again! But then he realized that this crew, none of whom he knew, was working well together. Kruck’s second round struck the Stalin between its turret and hull. The heavy tank’s cannon pointed downwards. The next round pierced the Stalin’s armor. Flames shot out of the open turret hatch and then the Soviet tank blew up with a mighty explosion.

 

The other two Panthers had engaged the T-34s. Four were destroyed and the rest veered away and rolled parallel to the three Panthers for a few seconds. Kruck swung the turret around. The first T-34 came into his sight and he fired. A long tongue of flame shot up from the rear deck of the enemy tank. The T-34 halted. The crew was trying to get out, but then there was a mighty explosion as the tank’s fuel went up. The Russian crew met a terrible end.

 

Bix, who had taken command, ordered: “Change position to the left!”

 

The three Panthers rolled around, reached a shallow depression and moved into cover behind some bushes.

 

“We’ll let them come to within 500 meters. As soon as they’re in the open we’ll fire. But together!”

 

They waited. From the noise they could tell that the enemy tanks had regrouped.

 

“Here they come,” Bix called to his two comrades. They could not yet see the T-34s as they were in a blind spot. Then he instructed his gunner: “Target the one farthest back on the right flank.”

 

Kruck traversed the long gun towards the flanking T-34.

 

“I see them, Bix!” called Borkmann.

 

A few seconds later the Sergeant reported: “I have them in sight too.”

 

“Let them come closer!” warned Bix.

 

They could then see the Soviet tanks clearly. When they were in the center of the open field the sergeant first class cleared his throat. Then his voice resounded clearly through the other commanders’ headphones: “Open fire!” Kruck’s first round tore the right forward roadwheel off one of the enemy tanks. The T-34 turned suddenly on the spot and opened fire. It had no time to fire a second time, because within a few seconds Kruck’s next round had set it ablaze. All of the T-34s had then stopped and were firing on the muzzle flashes, which were visible from behind the bushes in the shallow depression. Four of the Soviet tanks were already in flames.

 

“Move out, Schädelbauer. Move to the right and forward. The rest of you remain here!”

 

The driver shifted into gear and the Panther nosed its way rapidly out of the bushes. The big tank moved faster and faster, and before the T-34s had a clear view of it, the Panther had arrived on the flank of the mass of enemy tanks.

 

“Firing halt, Schädelbauer!”

 

The Panther halted and swung around. Kruck opened fire. The gunner fired several more times. Then the Panther again went into motion and rattled towards the forest from where the Russian tanks had come. Its motor howling, the tank rumbled over the young trees and crushed them into the earth.

 

“Follow the wood line!” shouted Bix.

 

Schädelbauer moved round a thick, old birch trunk, skirted a shell hole, grazed an oak—sending all of the men flying from their seats—and came into another stand of young trees.

 

“Everything all right, Sattler?” Bix asked his loader. The Senior corporal nodded, already holding the next round ready.

 

“Move forward another fifty meters and then halt!”

 

The Panther left the protection of the woods. With one look Bix saw the burning and crippled enemy tanks and also spotted the two T-34s which were trying to outflank the Germans on the right.

 

“Keep going. Don’t fire yet!”

 

At high speed the Panther rolled farther into the rear of the shattered enemy tank formation. A round from Sergeant First Class Borkmann’s tank hissed past the Panther’s front slope. Schädelbauer veered out of his line of fire. In the meantime, the silhouettes of the two T-34s were growing ever larger.

 

The Soviet tanks halted. The Panther did likewise. Just as the T-34s were about to engage the other two Panthers, Bix opened fire on the enemy from the rear. The first round set one of the T-34s on fire. The next round struck the second T-34 in the tracks and, after two more rounds, the Russian tankers gave up. What was left of the mass of Russian tanks turned and disappeared into the forest barely a kilometer from Bix’s tank. The Panther fired several rounds after them without, however, scoring any hits.

 

Bix returned to the other tanks in the hollow.

 

Borkmann called: “You did it, Bix! Everything went well!”

 

Bix nodded and then said, “We must get out of here as quickly as possible. If I know Ivan, he’ll soon be pouring fire in here.”

 

The German tanks pulled back several hundred meters and went into cover behind a line of pines. The Russian bombardment was not long in coming. Heavy mortars and “Stalin Organs” began to pour fire into the hollow that the three Panthers had just left. During the course of the day Bix’s crew accounted for a sixth enemy tank.

 

When Bix reported to 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer, the latter said: “You made quite an entrance, Bix. I hope it’s a good omen for you and for us!”

 

The next day the Russians achieved a penetration into the German main line of resistance. The grenadiers were pushed out of their positions. By 29 October the Russians had advanced across the Priezukrogs-Dzezgaleskrogs road and were storming northwards.

 

“We’re to counterattack with the 108th Grenadier Regiment,” explained 1st Lieutenant Goldhammer to his platoon leaders. He had assembled the men at the company command post. “The entire battalion is to spearhead the attack. We are to force the enemy back towards the Letila Heights.”

 

“When does it begin, sir?” one of the platoon leaders asked.

 

The company commander looked at his watch.

 

“It’s time we got going. The grenadiers will already be waiting.”

 

A short while later the tanks rumbled off. It was not long before they made contact with Soviet forces. Mixed tank units with T-34s and Stalins attempted to parry the German counterattack. The fighting began. The German tanks succeeded in forcing back the Soviet tanks during a seven-hour engagement. Sergeant First Class Bix’s Panther was hit several times. The tanks armored sideskirts were torn to pieces, the storage compartments were holed and there was much damage to the tank’s armor plates. Nevertheless, the Panther remained in the fight.

 

In the first hour Bix and his crew destroyed three enemy tanks. He and his crew intervened when a wave of Russian armor seemed about to overrun the grenadiers. Bix knocked out three more tanks and forced the rest to withdraw. During the course of a two-hour duel in the forest in front the heights, it appeared as if the Russians would overwhelm the German Panthers. Sergeant First Class Borkmann’s crew was rescued practically at the last second.

 

As he moved forward, Bix came upon a T-34 that had backed into a wide trench. Well-camouflaged, it lay there in ambush. Bix was not aware of the tank’s presence until flame spurted from the T-34’s gun. Fire flashed into the fighting compartment. Kruck fired as well. The round was slightly high and whizzed over the T-34’s turret. The Russian’s next round struck the turret of the Panther and bounced off, but the second round from the German tank blew off the T-34’s turret.

 

The advance continued. Suddenly, a heavy blow shook the Panther. The tank’s right track had been hit. Before the second T-34 could finish off the Panther, Kruck took aim and fired. His first round was a direct hit. The T-34 blew up with a terrific explosion. The engagement came to an end. Sergeant First Class Bix had destroyed eight enemy tanks. His Panther had also been hit, but apart from the damage to the track, he had been lucky. The damage was repaired in an hour.

 

On 2 November the German defensive front ran just south of a line Svimpli-Dzelzgaleskrogs-Metraine-Vartaja. In the vicinity of Striki it veered ninety degrees in the direction of Preekuln. Despite the destruction of both of the Dzelzda Bridges, the Soviets had managed to reach the north bank of the river. Red Army soldiers defended bitterly near the Mazdzelda farm and in the village of Matraine against a counterattack by German units. Bix and his Panther were in action again at the woods at Glaznieki and at the Dzelzgaleskrogs crossroads. It was to be a noteworthy day of fighting. In a life-or-death engagement, Bix destroyed twelve Soviet tanks. The battle was about as grim as could be imagined. Nevertheless, Bix was able to decide the outcome in his favor. His success in the face of such odds was assured by the speed of his Panther, his own quick reactions and the readiness and ability of his crew. Halting, firing and moving again, Bix employed the most daring maneuvers in this engagement. He was forced to call on all his experience in order to emerge victorious against the numerically far superior enemy forces.

 

When evening came the Soviets called off their attack, because the majority of their tanks were then burning and smoldering on the battlefield. Hermann Bix and his crew were at the end of their strength. They crawled from their tank and threw themselves onto piles of straw in one of the peasant huts and—despite their exhaustion—could not sleep. Over and over again they saw the flickering fires, the Russian tankers shrouded in flames as they attempted to escape their burning tanks. Over and over again they heard the hard crashes of the enemy’s armor-piercing rounds as death knocked on their own steel box. There was still no end to this gigantic struggle in sight. Tomorrow would be another day and tomorrow they would have to set out again.

 

The fate of Bix’s tank crew was decided on 4 November. Near the major road crossing near Dzelzgaleskrogs the Soviets once again attacked with massive forces. Bix and his Panther rolled forward. Followed by the other two tanks of his platoon, he reached the positions of the grenadiers. Russian tanks that were feeling their way forward there were stopped by several well-aimed rounds. The Soviets then opened fire with multiple rocket launchers, which they had hastily moved forward. Swarms of rockets roared through the air and exploded in the positions of the grenadiers. The ear-shattering din came closer and closer to the tanks. Then the full force of sixteen rockets hammered down on the platoon. Fire and smoke poured down and one of the fireballs fell directly on the platoon leader’s Panther. There was a shattering crash and flames raced through the fighting compartment. Schädelbauer’s cry rang out above the din and everyone in the tank was struck by the concussion like a hammer-blow.

 

Half deaf, and unable to hear his own voice, Bix shouted over the radio: “We have taken a direct hit from a Stalin Organ!” Red-hot metal seemed to be boring into his brain. It felt as if a terrible pressure was trying to burst his skull, and yet, he knew that he was uninjured. The survivors bailed out, taking Schädelbauer’s body with them. He had apparently been killed immediately after the impact.

 

The Panther of Staff sergeant Haase brought the men back. Their tank, whose tracks had been torn off, was towed away. Following an examination of the sergeant first class, the battalion medical officer said, “You must go to hospital Bix.”

 

This was a chance to get out in one piece. Bix knew that he might never again get such a chance. However, the physically small tank commander, who had proved his elan and cleverness in so many battles, didn’t want it that way. He stayed! Once again he went not to hospital, but to the battalion’s rear-echelon. Following a brief recovery period, he was back in action leading counterattacks and relief attacks. At the end of 1944 the 4th Panzer Division was transferred from Kurland to Danzig.

 

SIXTEEN TANKS DESTROYED

 

The following days saw the 4th Panzer Division involved in heavy defensive fighting north of Dirschau. The enemy attacked relentlessly with a tenfold superiority in tanks. From his defensive position Bix could often see the Russians massing their forces for another attack.

 

On the German side cohesive companies and battalions no longer existed. The non-stop nature of the fighting no longer allowed the Germans the luxury of sending whole units into action. Tanks were needed everywhere to back up the hard-pressed grenadiers. While one battalion of the 35th Panzer Regiment was in action on the Tucheler Heath—holding positions against superior enemy forces—the other tank battalion, which included the company led by Lieutenant Tautorus, had been split up into small battle groups and placed under the command of the various grenadier units in the areas of Dirschau and Prussian Stargard. Almost all of the company’s Panthers had been knocked out of action. Among the replacements were six new Jagdpanthers, which had been destined for an assault gun company.

 

“Bix, you will take over the Jagdpanther for your platoon,” the battalion commander ordered by radio.

 

The new tank destroyer was built on the chassis of the Panther and was armed with an 8.8-cm Pak L-71. The fact that the gun had only a limited range of vertical and horizontal movement in the fixed superstructure of the vehicle caused some difficulties at first. Nevertheless, the men of Bix’s platoon, who had been assigned five of the Jagdpanther, soon became accustomed to their new vehicles. Before long they would swear by the new tank destroyer and its powerful gun, which possessed great penetrative capability and was extremely accurate.

 

“Bix, the Russians have just taken Prussian Stargard. You and your five vehicles secure east of the town against a further advance. The infantry has been ordered to pull back. You are to cover their withdrawal. Any questions?”

 

“No questions, sir!” replied the sergeant first class.

 

Bix went back to his tank. Even though he was then commanding tank destroyers, he still thought and spoke of them as tanks. Bix had taken up a position with his Jagdpanther at the edge of the village behind a steaming compost heap. From there he could see the field positions which had just been abandoned by the grenadiers.

 

The infantry had been defending from behind the dark hillocks in the terrain in front of him. From there they had opened fire on the Soviets whenever their tanks and infantry tried to advance but had been forced to withdraw to avoid being overrun. “How does it look, Dehm?” Bix asked the sergeant first class, whose vehicle was positioned to the left of and behind his own. Sergeant First Class Dehm cleared his throat before answering:

 

“I’m almost out of ammunition. Only six HE and four AP left.”

 

“And you, Poller?” Bix asked the commander of the other tank destroyer in position there.

 

“It’s the same with me,” replied the Staff sergeant. “Nine HE and three AP rounds. “

 

“Very well! Poller and Dehm, pull back and intervene only in an extreme emergency.”

 

Poller began to argue: “But we can…”

 

“Pull back one kilometer and observe. Don’t intervene until I call you.”

 

Bix knew that with so little ammunition the two Jagdpanthers would be a liability if the Soviets attacked. He watched the two tank destroyers roll back. Then he concentrated all his attention on the low hills over which the Soviets must come. The flat roof of the Jagdpanther projected only slightly above the frozen compost heap.

 

It became lighter and suddenly, through his glasses, Bix saw two enemy tanks appear cautiously at the top of the hill. “Those are not T-34s or KV-Is; they appear to be American tanks,” Bix reported to his comrades. “They are about 1,200 meters away. We’ll take them. Do you have them both in sight, Rollmann?”

 

The gunner nodded.

 

“A great sight picture, sergeant!”

 

“Then open fire!”

 

The first round struck the tracks of the right tank, which immediately stopped. The second round set the tank on fire. Bright flames shot from the hatches and, within a few seconds, the vehicle was enveloped in a red, molten cloud. The second tank halted and fired. An armor-piercing round raced by, two meters above the compost heap. Then the Soviet tank was struck by the first round from the “eighty-eight.” Loader Schulz loaded a new armor-piercing round and Rollmann adjusted his aim a little. The second tank was also in flames.

 

“That took care of them,” observed Becker, the driver, laconically.

 

Bix nodded, then came a message.

 

“Sergeant, we’ll give you close cover so the Russians don’t get at you with Molotov Cocktails,” reported Sergeant Wegener, a tank commander whose vehicle had been destroyed the night before. He had assembled ten tank crewmen around him who were without vehicles. They then established a defensive perimeter around Bix’s Jagdpanther.

 

Bix called back to the Sergeant, “Good, Wegener, thank you!” Wegener crawled back to the cover of the houses.

 

“Now we can’t be taken by surprise,” Bix informed his crew.

 

A half-hour had passed since the destruction of the two enemy tanks when Bix again heard tanks approaching. He scanned the terrain through his field glasses and suddenly saw two Russian tanks about 100 meters away attempting to outflank the village.

 

“Achtung, Rollmann!”

 

“Turn to the right, Becker!”

 

The driver swung the Jagdpanther around.

 

“Good, I’ve got them,” Rollmann called out as both tanks appeared in his sight. From this range it would be nearly impossible to miss.

 

The first round pierced the flank of one of the tanks, which had not yet spotted the tank destroyer lurking behind the compost heap. It began to burn at once. The second Soviet tank turned on the spot. Its gun swung toward the deadly enemy but, before it could fire, the 8.8-cm gun crashed again. There was a hard, dry crash. The second enemy tank caught fire and stopped. Machine guns began to rattle as the security force opened fire on the fleeing Russian tank crews.

 

Bix reported back to company: “The Russians are seeking a weak spot!”

 

“Be especially careful, Bix!” warned Lieutenant Tautorus.

 

“Will do, sir!” Then he turned to his crew.

 

“How is our ammunition, Schulz?”

 

The loader counted the remaining rounds.

 

“Five HE and twenty AP left, sergeant!” he reported a moment later.

 

“Not counting the one that’s in the breech,” added Rollmann with a grimace.

 

Another enemy tank attempted to break through but fled into a valley after the first round from the Jagdpanther.

 

“I have twenty AP rounds left, sir, and am being attacked repeatedly by enemy tanks,” reported Bix.

 

“What about Dehm and Poller?” came the reply from the lieutenant, who was tied down in another sector.

 

“Dehm is out of ammunition. Poller has engine damage and is trying to get his mule back.”

 

“You have to hold, Bix,” replied the lieutenant after a brief pause. “The infantry hasn’t pulled back far enough yet.”

 

Bix closed the conversation: “We’ll hold until our ammunition is gone, sir.”

 

Meanwhile, the security force also had been forced to withdraw as Russian patrols had pushed into the village from several sides. At that point, Bix could no longer know what was going on in the village next to him on the right. The Russians could do what they wanted there without hindrance. Suddenly Bix spotted movement on the facing slope. He raised his binoculars and saw that the Russians had placed two antitank guns there, apparently in an effort to smoke him out.

 

“Rollmann! Antitank guns on the front slope next to the two round bushes.”

 

“Identified!” reported the gunner.

 

“Load HE! Fire when ready!”

 

With the first round fragments of wood and other material flew through the air near the position of the antitank guns. “Stop!” shouted Bix. “The bastards have tricked us!”

 

The Russians had placed dummy guns on the slope so as to draw the German fire and reveal the position of the tank destroyer. Apparently, however, the Russians had failed to spot the hiding place behind the compost heap, because they then moved two more dummy guns into position.

 

“We’re not falling for it this time,” said Bix, grinning. “We’ll save our ammunition for a better target.”

 

To be on the safe side he ordered the driver to back up a few meters. The Jagdpanther rumbled backwards. At that point, the enemy wouldn’t be able to spot the tank hunter until they were in the village, but Bix could still see across to the low hill. Soon the Russians came rolling towards the village at full speed. They appeared on the hill in a long column about 1,200 meters away. In front were tanks, followed by supply trucks and radio vehicles. There were also several personnel carriers. In the meantime, Bix had taken the ranges of prominent features in the terrain in front of him.

 

“AP at the lead tank!” he ordered. “But not until he’s within 800 meters, Rollmann.”

 

The Senior corporal waited. He tracked the leading T-34. When it had approached to 800 meters he pressed the firing button. The tank destroyer’s cannon gave a dull crack. The Jagdpanther jerked backwards and the armor-piercing round whistled towards the enemy tank. It missed, however, and instead sawed off the top of a tree just in front of the leading T-34. The crown of the tree crashed down on top of the Russian tank. To Bix, it looked as if the T-34 had taken the treetop like a bull on its horns. “He’s been blinded by the tree, Rollmann. Target the others!” called the commander to his gunner.

 

At that moment the leading Russian tank rolled into a ditch. It plunged nose-first down the bank and was stuck fast. The following tanks were close behind. Their guns were trained not to the left towards the tank destroyer’s position, but to the right, where the mounds of earth from the grenadiers’ positions projected dark against the sky. The first Russian tank cannon roared. The shell flitted into the abandoned German positions.

 

“Let’s go, Rollmann, first the tank in the middle. Aim between the turret and hull.”

 

They then had the Russian broadside in their sights. Nothing could go wrong. The first round from the “eighty-eight” struck the enemy tank, which was in the middle of the column firing the other way, and set it on fire.

 

“Now the one on the end!” shouted Bix.

 

The Jagdpanther turned slightly. Rollmann took up a new sight picture and fired. The second tank also went up in flames. This was the signal for the beginning of a wild mix-up among the Soviet tank commanders. Several tried to traverse their turrets to engage their attacker. Others attempted to leave the road, but the tanks were too close together in the column and there was no room to maneuver. Still others drove into the ditches and became stuck there.

 

“Make every round count!” warned Bix.

 

Rollmann fired and Schulz reloaded. The noise of battle raged like a hurricane. The Soviets, taken completely by surprise, still didn’t see the lone tank destroyer. Rollmann fired round after round at the Soviet tanks, which had then turned their turrets towards him. The scene was one of fires, explosions, running tankers and the repeated flashes of flame as the Jagdpanther fired. A Russian round struck the front slope of the Jagdpanther and howled skywards. Rollmann fired and his round smashed the Russian tank’s tracks. He then aimed a little higher and the next round blew off the tank’s turret. For ten minutes the “eighty-eight” roared; soon the road was enveloped in flames. The tanks that were wedged tight in the column were also caught by the flames. Eleven enemy tanks were knocked out and burning on the road. Four others had been knocked out earlier. The lone Jagdpanther had destroyed a total of fifteen Russian tanks without receiving a scratch.

 

“Now the trucks with HE rounds!” ordered Bix. The men leaned against the steel walls of the tank destroyer, drenched in sweat.

 

“We have only two rounds”’ shouted the gunner. And after a brief pause: “The machine gun ammunition is also gone!” That was the alarm signal to get out fast. Bix knew as well as the others that without ammunition they were in trouble. “Head back, Becker!” he ordered.

 

As the Jagdpanther moved back, Bix suddenly saw an enemy tank in the village to his right. It must have been scouting ahead of the others. Not finding the German tank, the commander of the T-34 had apparently sent back an “all clear” message. The rest of the column had come moving towards the village right into an ambush. This was the only explanation Bix could think of for the unguarded and careless advance by the Russian tank and truck column.

 

Bix’s next order rang out above the roar of the motor: “Towards the tank!”

 

The Jagdpanther moved ahead a short distance and turned on the spot; the T-34 appeared in the gunner’s sight. From a range of eighty meters the T-34 was struck by an armor-piercing round and began to burn. This T-34 raised Bix’s total for the day to sixteen enemy tanks destroyed. When he finally returned to the company, Bix was surrounded by his comrades. On this day he had become the most successful tank destroyer in the entire battalion. While the Jagdpanther was refueled and rearmed, Bix reported to the battalion commander. Lieutenant Tautorus was also present. He, too, had destroyed a number of Russian tanks.

 

THE KNIGHT’S CROSS FOR SERGEANT FIRST CLASS BIX

 

“Kleschkau has fallen, comrades. It’s our job to prevent any further advance by the Russians and support a counterattack on Kleschkau by the grenadiers this afternoon.”

 

Lieutenant Tautorus looked down the line of tank commanders. Then he continued: “We must form small battle groups, each with two or three tanks under a platoon leader. We no longer have platoons.”

 

A little later Sergeant First Class Bix and his three tank hunters took their leave of the company commander. The lieutenant bade the three tank commanders farewell: “Good luck, Bix! You too Igel and Schwaffert!”

 

Then they set off towards the enemy. Bix knew the terrain from which the enemy must come, because he had driven back over the same route. He therefore knew where the enemy tank column would appear. Bix deployed his crews accordingly. During the course of the afternoon, they turned back the leading Soviet tanks that were hesitantly feeling their way forward.

 

“We have a good field of fire and we know where they’re coming from, Schwaffert. That should give us a slight advantage.”

 

“Yes, sergeant, if we stay alert, we’ll stop them,” confirmed Sergeant Schwaffert who, together with Igel, had gone forward to the commander’s tank for a discussion of the situation. Soon afterwards they went back to their tank destroyers. Then the grenadiers arrived. The commander of the assault battalion came over to Hermann Bix.

 

“Can’t you give us support until my grenadiers and I reach the outskirts of the village?” he asked the sergeant first class.

 

“I’m supposed to remain here and see to it that no enemy tanks roll through, sir,” replied Bix.

 

The major’s mouth tightened into a thin line. Bix saw the surprised expression on his face, which had been marked by stress and responsibility. To hell with orders, thought Bix.

 

“Wait, sir!” he called to the officer, who had already turned to go.

 

The major stopped. His expression suddenly changed.

 

“You mean you’ll really…?”

 

Instead of an answer, Bix said, “Assemble your men and follow close behind me, sir!”

 

The grenadiers assembled. When Bix saw that they were all ready and waiting on both sides in the ditches and bushes, he had his driver move out. They moved forward quickly. The village appeared before the grenadiers. Machine guns and rifles opened fire on the advancing infantry from houses and behind hedges.

 

“The heavy machine gun to the right of the house!” Bix alerted his gunner.

 

“Identified!” Rollmann confirmed. There was a crash as the big gun fired. The high-explosive round hammered into the wall of the house, shattering all the windows. Firing from the heavy machine gun ceased abruptly.

 

“Keep moving, Becker, onwards!”

 

They reached the village and behind the Jagdpanther, which kept nests of enemy resistance under fire, the grenadiers cleared the houses of the enemy. A round from an antitank rifle struck the side armor of the tank destroyer. “Antitank rifle, sergeant!” shouted the radio operator, as he opened fire on the Russians with his machine gun. Again there was an impact, this time close to the gun mantlet. The flash of the impact was a warning signal for Bix, because antitank rifles were damned accurate and represented a danger, even for the tank destroyer.

 

“We’re moving through them!” ordered Bix. “Advance as far as the center of the village!”

 

He had to blast a path clear for the grenadiers. The Jagdpanther rattled forward and overran a machine-gun position. An antitank rifleman was grasped by the right track. A wall collapsed as the front slope of the tank destroyer rammed into it. A round from the “eighty-eight” silenced another nest of resistance and then they were at the center of the village. At that moment a message came from battalion: “Net control to Bix’s Platoon: Have a special mission for you! Report to the company commander.”

 

Bix called in and heard the voice of Lieutenant Tautorus: “Commander to Bix’s Platoon: Return immediately. Enemy is attacking the main road to Danzig with tanks. We must stop them or Danzig is lost.”

 

“Sir, we have to stay here a few minutes longer. The grenadiers have just cleared the village. If we withdraw now…”

 

“You must withdraw, Bix. Twenty enemy tanks are advancing on Danzig. There are no other antitank weapons in their path. Regardless of your present situation you must turn around and return! Out!”

 

There was a crack. Bix called twice but contact had been broken.

 

“Back up, Becker!” ordered Bix. When they turned and left the village along the main street, Bix saw that the grenadiers were withdrawing with them. A 1st lieutenant came running towards the Jagdpanther in long strides.

 

“What’s going on up front? Are the Ivans coming with tanks?” he cried.

 

“I have orders to head back. Everything in your sector is in order!” he shouted to the 1st lieutenant. From the latter’s disbelieving expression, Bix realized that he thought he was making excuses. He swore bitterly to himself as he saw the grenadiers hanging onto his tank like grapes in their haste to escape the supposed danger zone. But exactly the opposite was true. By hanging on to the outside of the tank they were actually placing themselves in danger. Mortars opened up on the Jagdpanther as it backed up slowly. The exploding mortar rounds knocked the grenadiers off the tank, throwing them dead or wounded to the ground.

 

“Faster, Becker. Damn it, faster.”

 

“But then we’ll leave them behind and…”

 

“Faster!” roared Bix.

 

Becker obeyed and the grenadiers were left behind. In this situation they realized that they would find better cover in the houses and gardens than out in the open on a tank destroyer moving along the road.

 

“Damn, damn,” swore Becker. Bix’s conscience also bothered him after having to leave his comrades to their fate in order to carry out an order.

 

Lieutenant Tautorus was quite excited when he received Bix. “Take your three tank destroyers in the direction of the ‘Death’s Head,’” he said. “Below the hill is a large estate which must be held.” The “Death’s Head” was a cone-shaped piece of high ground projecting from an area of otherwise flat terrain.

 

“What are we to do there, sir?”

 

Lieutenant Tautorus looked at the sergeant first class. The small officer had calmed down somewhat and this in turn had a calming effect on Bix.

 

“The Russians have surrounded a Volksgrenadier battalion on the estate. They are attacking with tanks and, if they’ve eliminated the Volksgrenadiers, then they’ll drive on towards Danzig and push into the city unhindered. That must be prevented at all costs.”

 

“I’ll leave at once, sir, hopefully I’ll get through.”

 

“You must, Bix. You must reach the estate before midnight and destroy the enemy tanks by dawn, or at least prevent them breaking through towards Danzig.”

 

It was already getting dark. As if that were not enough, it also began to snow as Bix pencilled in the march route on his map. Looking at his map he saw that it was fifteen kilometers to the “Death’s Head.” In the darkness and blowing snow he would have to move slowly to avoid getting lost.

 

“Igel and Schwaffert, report to me!” He called the two gun commanders over and gave them a precise briefing on the situation. Closing the briefing he said: “We will be met by two guides from the Volksgrenadiers about two kilometers from the estate. We will halt there at first, and I will go ahead on foot, contact the commander of the grenadiers and have him fill me in on the situation. Then I’ll come back and the dance can begin. Now to your tanks and mount up.”

 

The Jagdpanther moved out into the blowing snow. Their progress was slowed by the columns of refugees heading west. They came towards them in dense clusters. More than once Bix had to leave the road to get past the masses of people fleeing the Russians. Finally, he couldn’t wait any longer. He moved through the columns and the refugees’ vehicles had to pull off into the ditch to let the tank destroyer pass. The refugees cursed Bix. They simply didn’t understand that this man and his three tank destroyers were there to save them too. If he and his comrades failed to halt the Soviets and save the Volksgrenadier battalion, then the Russians would break through and none of the refugees would have a chance. Despite everything, they arrived on time at the place where the guides were to meet them. The fact that they had made it despite the darkness left them in an optimistic mood.

 

“All right, comrades, wait here until I come back, understood?”

 

With these words the sergeant first class took his leave of the others. “We’ll wait for you, sergeant!” Igel shouted after him. The three figures were then swallowed up by the darkness.

 

At that moment a message came from battalion: “Bix Platoon. Have special mission for you! Report to company commander.”

 

The three walked in single file through a park. All around the Russians were firing into the farmhouse. Finally they reached a long, flat building and climbed in through a cellar window. It was the main room of the distillery and there Bix saw a mass of haggard, tired soldiers sitting on the floor. The major stood up and came towards the tank commander.

 

“This is my fighting force, sergeant first class. Early in the morning I will go into battle with these men and you are to help me. How many tanks do you have?”

 

“Three Jagdpanther, sir,” replied Bix.

 

“That is not many, but at least it’s something. Pay attention and I will explain the situation and describe the terrain as best I can.”

 

The major tersely briefed the sergeant first class on the situation. He showed him the general situation on the map. A sketch of the estate was used to show the positions of the enemy tanks. The commander of the grenadiers indicated to Bix where the tanks had been when darkness fell. When he had finished, Bix nodded to the veteran officer.

 

“Yes, we can do it, sir. Where can I swing wide and get close to the enemy tanks during the night and where will I have a good target when it gets light?”

 

The major unfolded the map again. “Here, Bix, this hill called the ‘Skull.’ One of our quad Flak is still in position on the hill. I haven’t heard anything from them since the previous afternoon.”

 

“Hmm, that would be about 1,200 to 1,500 meters from the Russian tank position. Exactly the right range from which to open fire,” commented Bix. “I’ll try to get my tank destroyers up there tonight, sir.”

 

“Good, and how can I assist you?”

 

“It would be best if your grenadiers remained here in the cellar until they didn’t hear any more tank gunfire. I wouldn’t want them to walk into my line of fire during the battle,” explained Bix. “When the tank fire dies down, you and your grenadiers attack the Russian infantry.”

 

“Good, Bix! I hope for all our sakes that you and your three tank destroyers do it.”

 

They parted with a handshake and the major knew that he could depend on this man. Bix returned to his tanks, where he was met with relief. Briefly and factually he explained the situation to the two commanders and three crews. Everyone had to know what was at stake here.

 

“All right, into the tanks and follow me towards the ‘Skull.’”

 

They climbed aboard and moved out. The tanks rolled along the edge of a wood line and up a path that led up to the “Skull” that was quite passable. It was already starting to get light. The shapes of the estate buildings were emerging slowly from the darkness, when they were halted just below the ridgeline. It was a sentry from the light Flak. It was, in fact, still in position on top of the hill. A lieutenant explained the situation to Bix as he saw it. The sergeant first class then learned how many tanks were in the farmhouse garden and received precise information on his targets.

 

“Drivers, gunners and commanders dismount and gather round,” Bix called to his men. He then assigned each commander a position. At that point, they could make out the whole outline of the farmhouse and each commander received a sector to keep under observation.

 

Then Bix ordered: “Back to the tanks and roll up to the crest so that your main guns project slightly beyond it.”

 

He and his tank destroyer were then at the foot of the “Skull” and completely screened to the right. To the left and ahead he had a good field of view. When it had become somewhat lighter, he tried to scan the area of the garden through his field glasses. In the morning twilight he spotted groups of white figures which could only be the turret numbers of Russian tanks. Then he saw several Russian tanks moving towards the estate from the right at high speed.

 

“Igel,” called Bix to the his left tank, “do you see the Russians?”

 

“I see them. The approaching tanks must be bringing supplies to the Ivans because their wheeled vehicles aren’t close enough, sergeant.”

 

“That could be it.”

 

As it grew lighter more enemy tanks were spotted in the estate garden. “Do you have them all in sight?” asked Bix.

 

“Up here, sir,” answered his two comrades.

 

“Fire when ready!”

 

Gunner Rollmann had targeted the white numbers on one of the tank turrets. The first round smashed into the enemy tank, which immediately began to burn. The other two tank destroyers likewise opened fire. Panic broke out on the estate. The Russians had been taken completely by surprise. The shouts and commands of the Russians could be heard as far as the positions of the three Jagdpanthers. Just as Rollmann was about to fire for the second time, another spurt of flame shot up from behind the burning Russian tank. A second tank, positioned dose behind the first, had also caught fire. “We’ve scored a double!” shouted the gunner excitedly. He had every reason to be excited, as such a feat was extremely rare. The Russians then had to get their remaining tanks out of cover if they were not to be engulfed by the flames too. Tanks moved in all directions; there was chaos everywhere.

 

Schwaffert and Igel each knocked out a Russian tank. The two had just turned and were traversing their guns in the direction of the incoming fire. Four T-34s rolled out of the garden and into the open. They were then completely without cover. Rollmann destroyed three, one after another. The crews jumped clear and ran across the snow-covered fields, their forms clearly visible.

 

“We’re firing on the approach road!” reported Igel and Schwaffert. A little later Bix saw sheets of flame and dark smoke clouds from that direction, marking the locations of burning tanks.

 

In the meantime it had become bright as day. The milling Soviet tanks rammed trees in the park, knocking them down. Bix then had an even better view. A few T-34s and KV-Is attempted to escape down the back slope, but Rollmann had the range. He hit one of the T-34s in the rear. The enemy tank began to smoke, but it nevertheless reached the slope and disappeared. Rollmann began to say that the enemy tank had got away, when a twenty-meter-high spurt of flame shot up from the far side of the slope where the T-34 had disappeared. There was the crash of an explosion. The T-34 had blown up. Igel reported four Soviet tanks destroyed; Schwaffert initially reported three, then another.

 

Bix scanned the area of the garden through his binoculars. Suddenly, he saw an antenna moving behind a barn. That could only be a tank. “A tank behind the barn with the windows, Rollmann. He is moving directly towards the right corner.”

 

“Identified! I’m aiming at the next window!” shouted the gunner. He moved the gun slightly to the right. Rollmann targeted the window frame. The enemy tank must appear there. There he was! Rollmann adjusted his aim a little higher. The white number appeared in the window and there was a crash as the “eighty-eight” fired. The round smashed into the turret of the Soviet tank with a mighty crash. It halted, and smoke billowed from the hatches.

 

Soon there were no enemy tanks to be seen that were not burning or smoldering. The three Jagdpanthers ceased fire. Jubilantly, the grenadiers came storming out of the cellar. They had witnessed the surprise attack by their three tanks from their holes in the cellar and from the windows. They had heard the explosions and seen the fires. The release from fear and the certainty that they had been saved moved the high-spirited young soldiers to throw their helmets into the air. Then they came running up to the three tank destroyers, led by the major. When they reached Bix’s Jagdpanther, he was standing in his turret hatch and scanning the terrain.

 

“I thank you,” shouted the major. He reached for his Iron Cross, First Class and was about to remove it from his service coat.

 

“I would like to decorate one of your commanders with this, Bix,” he said, seeing the questioning look in the face of the sergeant first class.

 

“They’re well provided for in that respect, sir,” replied Bix, smiling.

 

They counted nineteen knocked-out enemy tanks. In Sergeant First Class Bix’s field of fire were eleven destroyed T-34s and KV-Is. The rest had been accounted for by Igel and Schwaffert. The men took a break. They climbed down from their steel crates and lit cigarettes, some turning their thoughts to the destruction they had wrought on the Russians and the enemy soldiers sitting burned and shattered in the destroyed tanks. In the following days the German forces were forced to withdraw to Danzig. After the city fell, the tanks of the 4th Panzer Division continued to fight on the Frische Nehrung, a peninsula jutting out from the Danzig area.

 

Hermann Bix awoke on the morning of 22 March 1945 and washed. As he was about to leave the small, shell-battered house, the door opened and Lieutenant Tautorus walked in.

 

“Good morning, Bix!”

 

“Good morning, sir! Is something special up?” asked the sergeant, as he could think of no other explanation for Tautorus’ appearance.

 

“Actually no, Bix. I’m just bringing an order from Captain Kästner that you’re to rest today and remain at the company command post.”

 

“Then can I stand down my entire crew?” Bix asked at once.

 

“Certainly. They’re not going anywhere without their commander, Bix.”

 

Long weeks of great stress lay behind him. In the past few weeks he had destroyed seventy-five enemy tanks and received the Third Grade of the Panzer Assault Badge, a decoration which was awarded only for taking part in 100 or more armored engagements. Danzig had fallen, but the grenadiers and tank crews were still holding out at the edge of the city. What did this order mean? Bix couldn’t explain it. Perhaps the battalion commander had a special mission for him.

 

The day passed. It was evening before Captain Kästner arrived with the battalion adjutant, 1st Lieutenant Grigat, and Lieutenant Pintelmann, the battalion executive officer. Lieutenant Tautorus reported to the commander. A little later the men sat together in a small room. Several noncommissioned officers who had destroyed enemy tanks were also there. A round of cognac was passed out, but Bix still didn’t know what they were celebrating. Then Major Kästner stood up.

 

“Comrades, we have not gathered here without a special reason. I have the great joy and honor to present to one of our most experienced tank commanders the Knight’s Cross, which has just been awarded him. Sergeant First Class Bix, I hereby present you with the Knight’s Cross in the name of the Führer!”

 

Lieutenant Pintelmann had taken the box from his briefcase and the battalion commander then placed the high decoration around Bix’s neck. For Hermann Bix the surprise was complete. He had no idea this was to happen. Certainly he had often been named and praised in the front-line newspaper as a “tank killer,” but he had not expected this.

 

The sergeant first class from the small village in Silesia was then wearing Germany’s highest decoration for bravery. What would his mother say when she heard the news? What about his teacher, his comrades? But his mother had already begun the trek towards the west. Then Bix thought about his comrades who had always stood by him in the many, many operations. The faces came and went. Several were buried somewhere in the vastness of Russia, others had been wounded and evacuated. They were bitter thoughts that moved him in this hour.

 

The war was moving toward its end. The troops fighting on the spit of land called the Frische Nehrung were squeezed together more and more. Only Nickelswalde and Schiefenhorst were still in German hands. Feverish efforts were under way there to evacuate women and children to the west by boat. Wherever the tanks went there were civilians, tattered and exhausted, a cargo of misery and tears.

 

The soldiers who no longer had weapons built loading ramps and helped the civilians. But there were still 180,000 people on the Frische Nehrung, and it would take a long time to get them all away. It was the job of Hermann Bix and his tank destroyers to enable this giant escape action to succeed by defending the surrounding area. There, where the Russians were trying to break through, were the tanks of the 4th Panzer Division. They were on the beach along the bay and in the dunes of the Danzig Bight.

 

One of the Jagdpanther was commanded by Sergeant First Class Bix who, on 20 April 1945, had been named an officer cadet.

 

Ten defensive positions were planned. On 4 May Bix was in position nine. Bix was given the job of fighting delaying actions back to position six with the company’s last four tank destroyers. They were to provide cover until the last civilians and soldiers had been evacuated from the Frische Nehrung via Hela. This was to last until 12 May. The last tank-destroyer crews were then to blow up their Jagdpanther and be picked up by a motor launch, which was to take them to a U-Boat on the high seas. A light cruiser of the navy was still in the Danzig Bight and was to provide covering fire during the critical final minutes.

 

The Russians were pressing hard. They attempted to push into Nickelswalde, but all of their leading tanks were knocked out. The enemy then moved his heaviest tanks forward. In Position 7, the four German tank destroyers were outflanked by Russian infantry; nevertheless, they succeeded in beating back the Soviets. It had just become light on the morning of 6 May, when Sergeant First Class Bix saw through his binoculars that the Russians were felling trees for a barricade.

 

“What are they planning now?” he asked Schwaffert.

 

“Surely they don’t intend to dig in now,” replied Schwaffert.

 

Suddenly they heard engine noise. Then a cloud of blue smoke rose into the air behind the barricade. A pair of Russians appeared and pulled the branches of the fallen trees to the side, and Bix saw the muzzle of a giant gun with a muzzle brake. “That can’t be a tank,” he observed. “Load AP. Range four hundred.”

 

His gunner had the target in sight. Bix checked his sight once more to ensure it was adjusted properly. Then he gave the order to fire. As it fired, the area around the Jagdpanther, which had gone into cover behind some fir trees, was shrouded in fumes and smoke. Needles showered down on the tank and blocked the crew’s view of the target. Also, there was no spurt of flame that would have indicated a direct hit.

 

When Bix could see again, he saw that the enemy was still there. They fired a second and a third time, but the enemy gun showed no ill effects. The Soviets then opened fire. The first round struck the ground about three meters in front of the Jagdpanther. Smoke and flames were forced into the fighting compartment.

 

The second round from the enemy’s giant cannon raced past a few meters above the roof of the tank destroyer, but the third was on target. Bix noticed that the recoil guard of his own cannon rose backwards. He then felt the blow of the impacting round. The fearful crash of the impact left him deaf. Thus he did not hear the gunner report that he could no longer see, as the optics port had been shattered.

 

Bix tried to open the cannon’s breech in order to peer down the barrel and aim in that way. But he found that the recoil guard was up at the edge of the turret on the inner armor. Then he knew that the gun mantlet had been sprung from its trunnions and that the end was near for them.

 

“Back up! “ he ordered the driver, and the tank destroyer roared to life and began to move.

 

“Commander to Hofknecht,” Bix called to the Staff sergeant commanding the second tank in the dunes. He had heard the order and likewise began to back up. Bix then called battalion. Lieutenant Pintelmann, who had been at the bay, came roaring up just in time to see Bix backing away.

 

“Careful, careful!” Bix warned the Lieutenant. But it was already too late.

 

The mighty cannon again spat a tongue of flame. The tank of the lieutenant was also hit on the gun mantlet and disabled. He was forced to give the order to withdraw. Staff Sergeant Hofknecht reached a side-road and saw that the “Battering Ram,” as they had named the heavy assault gun, had begun to roll forward slowly. When he had the entire broadside of the newest and heaviest Russian assault gun in his sight he fired two armor-piercing rounds into its flank. The crew climbed out and surrendered to the Hofknecht. He saw that the three rounds from Bix’s main gun had struck the center of the bow of the assault gun and had penetrated about 10 centimeters. They had been unable, however, to pierce the twenty-centimeter-thick, sloped frontal armor.

 

Sergeant First Class Bix had finished second-best this day. Two days later he received orders from the battalion commander to withdraw towards Nickelswalde with his crew. On the way he heard from civilians that Germany had already surrendered. During the night, they sailed for Hela aboard a navy vessel. Just before reaching their destination they were picked up by two minesweepers, which was fortunate, as otherwise they would never have escaped from Hela. On 14 May they reached Kiel and entered British captivity. The war was over for them.

---

IMPORTANT DATES IN THE LIFE OF HERMANN BIX

 

10 October 1914: Born in Silesia.

 

1 October 1941: Promoted to Staff sergeant.

 

20 October 1941: Awarded the Iron Cross, First Class for single-handedly destroying a Russian motorized battalion.

 

1 August 1942: Promoted to sergeant first class.

 

22 August 1942: Wounded by mine. Evacuated to Germany and, after convalescing, is sent to a noncommissioned officer academy to act as instructor and platoon leader.

 

5 November 1942: Awarded the German Cross in Gold.

 

Spring 1944: Returns to Eastern Front (Army Group Center).

 

22 June 1944: Soviet offensive against Army Group Center begins.

 

August 1944: Division transferred to Army Group North.

 

18 August 1944: Wounded again and awarded the Wound Badge in Silver and Panzer Assault Badge, Second Class. First Battle of Kurland begins.

 

27 October 1944: 4th Panzer Division transferred from Kurland to Danzig.

 

December 1944: Platoon is equipped with Jagdpanther tank destroyers.

 

Early 1945: Bix destroys seventy-five enemy tanks in three weeks, including sixteen in one day.

 

22 March 1945: Awarded the Knight’s Cross.

 

May 1945: Evacuated from the Frische Nehrung by sea. Surrenders to British forces in Kiel.