EF short stories

[Killar]

1 versus 43

On 18 August 1941, an alone KV-1 (the number 864, the commander was lt.Kolobanov) was dug in and camouflaged near Krasnogvardeysk town (Leningrad area). The tank had an order to defend the road from Kinigsep. Four more KVs were ordered to defense two other roads. All tanks got double ammoloads, 2/3 of rounds were armor piercing. An offensive of 8th German panzer division was expected. Kolobanaov's KV had great hidden position in the woods on the hill, the crossroad located down there between swamps.
In the next day German motorcycle recon troops, the halftrack and one light track passed by road. Five minutes later the expected big tank column appeared and filled the road. The 1st Soviet round flamed the head tank, after two more shots the 2nd tank was flamed too. Then Kolobanov opened fire on column's tail and flamed the last tank: the Germans were locked. They even couldn't note Soviet tank and opened no-target-fire. Tried to run, some tanks were immobilized in the swamp. The chaos established on the road. Soviet tankers killed 22 German tanks during 30 minutes. Then the KV was spotted by the Germans and they opened aimed fire. In spite of impossibility of German tank guns to penetrate thick KV's armor, knocking rounds made terrible working conditions for Soviet crew. One of German rounds struck the turret ring and the KV was forced to leave its trench and maneuver by whole hull for aim a target. Then the Soviets noted two German towed guns appeared on the crossroad. The first shell disabled one gun, but another gun managed to do one shot and damaged KV's periscope (the loader Kiselkov replaced it nevetherless the enemy fire). Than that gun was destroyed too. Also ammo was almost out, and Kolobanov got congratulations via the radio and an order to go back. Already three another KVs were on the way to the battlefield.

There were destroyed 43 German tanks, 19 guns, 11 halftracks. Kolobanov's tank got 135 hits, but no one penetration.
Kolobanov was awarded with the Order of Lenin, Usov (gunner) with the Order of the Red Banner.

[Otto Halfhand]

My Story is not about the Eastern Front. It is about my Father-in-Law Captain Ed Slonaker. Eddie Served in a two-man Forward Observer squad In the 30/231 artillery battalion. The 30th was a green division that landed on Omaha Beach D+5 to D+20. During his stay in England, Eddie found the English girls to be very friendly. He was less complimentary of the Officers of the Royal Navy. During the channel crossing he messed with the RN officers, Wine,fresh meat and fruit etc. He told me that when he asked why his men received powdered eggs, hardtack and coffee; he was told to "shut his yap". He messed with his men thereafter!
The 30th was deployed to Mortain, a "quiet sector", in July to support Operation Cobra. On August 7, 1944 the Germans mounted Operation Luttich. Four Panzer divisions isolated the 30th for a period of six nights. The 30th, with only "one radio with dying batteries" broke up the attack. The artillery components of the "Lost Battalion" were given much of the credit for this.
During the race through Belgium Eddie fondly recalled liberating fresh eggs from a farmhouse. He also spoke enthusiastically of the friendliness of the Belgian girls. He crossed into Germany and was engaged in operations around Aachen. He hated the rain. The 30th went into R&R before being Rushed to the St Vith sector of The Bulge. He crossed the Rhine at Remagen. He was one of the first Americans to visit Bergen-Belson. He also passed through Malmedy ~ 12/19/1944. He was not forthcoming about either incident.
Eddie's saddest day of the war was during the Aachen operations. He and his radio operator, Corporal "Brownie" were operating a Forward Observation Post when hit by German counter-battery fire. They dove into adjacent foxholes. Brownie was disemboweled by a direct mortar hit on his foxhole. As Company Commander Ed was responsible for writing home to the families of the slain. He said it was the worst part of the job. Over 65,000 replacements were sent to the 30th Division during the eleven months it was engaged in operations. Ed received the Bronze Star for Valor.

[Jeff 'Robotnik' W.]

a story of an M10 vs a Ferdinand and some tigers

3d Plat Co B was interdicting the Cisterna Road. The destroyers of Sgts. H. J. Ritchie and J. C. Christian were behind buildings in Isola Bella. A Ferdinand (88-mm assault gun) and a PzKw VI tank attacked directly toward Sgt. Ritchie's building and reached a point on the road about 300 yards from him. They were being supported by the fire of three PzKw VI tanks 250 yards up the road behind them and another Ferdinand and a "VI" in a farmyard about 250 yards east of the position. As Cpl. J. P. Goldsmith, the gunner, tells the tale:

"Sgt. Ritchie ordered me to pull into open view around the corner of the building, and from this exposed position directed three hits onto the most exposed tank, it being about 550 yards up the road at that time, and knocked it out. We drew heavy AP and HE fire from the other tanks, shells barely missing our destroyer by a few feet and fragments hitting us. We were exposed for about five minutes. Then Sgt. Ritchie ducked his head and shoulders below the turret and pulled back behind the house. When enemy fire had ceased, Sgt. Ritchie had me pull out again, and from the same exposed position directed two rounds of AP shell that hit and bounced off the front armor of the Ferdinand 250 yards east of us. We again received intensive fire from the enemy tanks and shells were landing so close that fragments were coming through the open turret, one slightly wounding our gunner in the head when it hit our tank and damaging the counter-balance and .50-cal. machine gun mounted on the edge of the turret. We were again exposed to enemy fire for about five minutes. He ducked into the tank and we pulled behind the house again. We continued to fight throughout the day with our damaged gun." Sgt. Ritchie continues the story: "The second time we fired, Sgt. Christian radioed me to cover him and pulled out behind the house that he was using for defilade and directed the fire or five rounds, scoring two hits on the PzKw VI and two hits on the Ferdinand that were pinning us down. He definitely knocked them out: only two men got out of those two armored vehicles. Direct fire from the supporting enemy tanks was so intense that I saw two rounds hit the house around which he had moved to fire and another hit the corner of the building directly above his tank. If any of these shells had scored a hit, it would probably have put destroyer and crew out of action.

"A few minutes later Sgt. Christian again pulled out and fired on another supporting VI on the main road, scoring a direct hit and neutralizing that tank. He was exposed to intense enemy direct fire for about 15 minutes. By his coordinating the fire of our two weapons, diverting the attention of the enemy, that attack on our position was stopped. Prior to this action the sight extension bar on Sgt. Christian's gun had been bent, and the only means he had to adjust fire was to stand completely exposed above the turret with field glasses. Two teeth were broken off the turret worm gear, and throughout the engagement the gun was traversed by jolting against the gun housing and jerking the traverse handle until the gears would mesh."

[Otto Halfhand]

Wow! sounds like heavy duty micro to me. Do you have any info on which German unit was equipped with Ferdinands on the Italian Front? Maybe Herman Goering Pzr Division? I was unaware of any being deployed in the West.

[Jeff 'Robotnik' W.]

^ It says in the article that s.Pz.Abt. 653 had them

here is the full article, tells on the use of M10's at anzio

http://www.lonesentry.com/brassingoff/index.html

[Mass Killer DL]

"Pavlov's House" The name of a fortified apartment during the battle of Stalingrad named after Sergeant Yakov Pavlov, who commanded the platoon that seized the building and defended it during the battle.

The house was a four-story building in the center of Stalingrad, built parallel to the embankment of the river Volga and overseeing the "9th January Square", a large square named for Bloody Sunday. In September 1942, the house was attacked by German soldiers, and a platoon of the Soviet 13th Guards Rifle Division was ordered to seize and defend it. The platoon was led by Junior Sgt. Yakov Pavlov, a low-level noncommissioned officer serving as acting platoon commander since the unit's lieutenant and senior sergeants had all been wounded or killed. The attack on the building was successful, although the fighting was brutal, with only four men in the 30-man platoon surviving the assault.

The strategic benefit of the house was its position on a cross-street giving the defenders a 1 km line of sight to the north, south and west. After several days, reinforcements and resupply arrived for Pavlov's men, bringing the unit up to a 25-man understrength platoon and equipping the defenders with machine guns, anti-tank rifles, and mortars. In keeping with Stalin's Order No. 227 - "not one step back", Sgt. Pavlov was ordered to fortify the building and defend it to the last bullet and the last man. Taking this advice to heart, Pavlov ordered the building to be surrounded with four layers of barbed wire and minefields, and set up machine-gun posts in every available window facing the square. In the early stages of the defense, Pavlov discovered that a PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle he had mounted on the roof was particularly effective when used to ambush unsuspecting German tanks; once the tanks had approached to within 25 meters of the building, their thin turret-roof armor became exposed to AT rifle fire from above, but they were unable to elevate their weapons enough to retaliate. Pavlov had reportedly destroyed nearly a dozen tanks personally using this tactic.

For better internal communication, they breached the walls in the basement and upper floors, and dug a communications trench to Soviet positions outside. Supplies were brought in via the trench or by boats crossing the river, defying German air raids and shelling. Nevertheless, food and especially water was in short supply. Lacking beds, the soldiers tried to sleep on insulation wool torn off pipes, yet usually the Germans kept shooting at the house with deafening machine-gun fire day and night.

The Germans attacked the building several times a day. Each time German infantry or tanks tried to cross the square and to close in on the house, Pavlov's men laid down a withering barrage of machine gun and AT rifle fire from the basement, the windows and from the roof top, devastating the German attackers and forcing them to retreat. By mid-November, Pavlov's men reportedly had to use lulls in the fighting to run out and kick over the heaped piles of German corpses so they could not be used as cover for the next round of attackers.

Eventually the defenders, as well as the Soviet civilians who kept living in the basement all that time, held out during intensive fighting from 23 September until 25 November 1942, when they were relieved by the counter-attacking Soviet forces.

Sorry it wasn't so short, In addition the House still stands to this day with a War Memorial on the side built from bricks from the battle of Stalingrad, With the  following inscription: "In this building were united heroic feats of warfare and labor. We will defend / rebuild you, dear Stalingrad!"

Link to wikipedia where I saw this page, Also shows the House during WW2 and how it looks today with the Memorial on the side.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlov%27s_house

[stealthattack1]

cool story bro
naw, these stories are super cool, keep it up!

[Sommarkatze]

Nice one! If i remember right this map is playable in the RO2 ? : D

I dont have any story sadly. Well, small ones and noway I can put them out like an article or something ;/

[Pac-Fish]

Nice story Mass Killer DL. Whats a lull .

And its one of EF's playable maps

[conscript900]

there was was that one Finnish sniper the white death, he has 505 confirmed kills, not much more i can add, sorry. my writing field is for creative story's not reciting   facts.

[Pac-Fish]

Is there at least an article on it . Sounds interesting enough

[neosdark]

He is talking about the White Death; Simo Häyhä. He has on record 505 confirmed sniper kills and over 200 more Suomi KP 31 (Finnish SMG) making him the top Sniper Ace of all time.

[conscript900]

He is talking about the White Death; Simo Häyhä. He has on record 505 confirmed sniper kills and over 200 more Suomi KP 31 (Finnish SMG) making him the top Sniper Ace of all time.

thats him!, embodied sisu of finns this song helps explain the reason i placed sisu of finns

[neosdark]

Indeed, White Death by Sabaton is a great song. I was just listening to it this morning

[Jeff 'Robotnik' W.]

a somewhat funny story

"During the siege of Sevastopol the Maxim Gorky battery (305mm guns) was used against tanks, both indirect and direct.

As a last resort battery opened fire with open sights, assuming unusual role of the frontline artillery. One of the defenders, D. Piskunov remembered later: "With German tanks shelling the command center from the distance just 300 meters situation became inconvenient enough. But then earth trembled and we heard enormous explosion. I climbed out from the trench and couldn't see a German tank, which stood in front of us just moments before, Now nothing was there. Only earth and unrecognizable debris were still falling down. Soon we were told that Alexander's battery opened fire". "

poor tank never stood a chance