The Panzers will Roll...

Fire raged from the burnt hulls of Soviet Tanks, littered across the battlefield. Their smoke rose high into the air, sometimes blocking the sun, much to the relief of the weary soldiers, who could not bear the heat. However, a new sight had given their weary legs an extra boosts. The eagle-eyed amongst the troops had spotted a black mark on the horizon. It was soon confirmed as Kiev.

But it was at this point that the strong union between the soldiers and panzers was split. The Panzers, under Kleist, were to move around the city and link up with Guderian to encirlce it. The troops, under von Stülpnagel, were to advance on Kiev, tying up Soviet troops and otherwise keeping them unawares about the encirlcement. However, the parting took sometime with the massive number of forces.

But eventually, order reigned and the Seventeenth German Army honed in on it's target.


The company marched down the path. More Russian countryside, more of the same. It was as if they were in a desert, you never seemed to be getting anywhere no matter how far you walked. It was ridiculous! How could something supposedly called "A swift offensive attack" take so long. It made no sense to the men, though they kept being reassured by the officers that it was.

Christensen and Michael were marching side by side. They had been so for hours, and had no idea how the next phase of the assualt would turn out.

"Are your legs tired or what?" Christensen asked
"Mine are killing me." Michael replied "This is like the truck journey, it took far too long."
"When do you think we will fight the enemy?"
"Soon, I hope."
"I haven't seen an alive Russian since Uman."
"Really? I could swear I have."
"Not me, it's just been constant moving. Nothing Russian, apart from the blown-apart tanks."
"Well, none have fought us, so you're right...I suppose."
"Can't actually remember the war being this boring."
"Neither can I," Michael agreed, "Neither can I."

Eventually, an order arrived. Joseph said that the company was to stop in ten minutes. Then they could have a rest, for a while, from marching. The soldiers met this with cheers and praise. And tried to carry on through the heat. Still, Kiev didn't seem any closer, at all, from when they last set out. But, the soldiers reasoned, as long as they got a rest, nothing else really mattered.


So, the soldiers stopped marching, and stopped. There were a few trees on their left and right, the blue sky above them, and a small hill just infront of them. Most of the soldiers just fell onto the grass with relief. Even the officers were taking a break from war work. Many weapons had been dumped on the grass in the haste to have a rest. Some would regret that mistake dearly.

For, though they were recuperating from fatigue; they were oblivious to the enemy that was marching on them. A Soviet force, around the same size as Joseph's company, was marching towards them, Trying to be quiet. It wouldn't have made a lot of difference though, none of the Germans were alert or aware, and the advance went totally unnoticed until the Russians were only a few hundred metres away.

Then one a the Germans, perhaps a few, saw the danger. They shouted out, picked up the nearest weapon, and fired. This was really to alert there fellows as much to attack the enemy. But it had the desired effect, and the Germans rushed for their weapons, and started firing en masse at the oncoming Soviets. The Communists, seeing the danger, had split into a skirmish formation, and were returning fire.

Karl was running up and down the line.

"You fools! You're a rabble! This is not right! We are Germans, we are in the Wehrmacht! Get into your platoons now! I don't want to see a single man on his own! Organise yourselves dammit!"

Through these "inspired" words, the troops formed into their platoons. Max took one, Karl took another, and Joseph the last. They spread out to rain maximum fire upon the Soviets, but they themselves were suffering losses. The troops could see that a stalemate that crippled both sides would bring no winners. Something had to be done about it, and fast. Otherwise, things would get a whole lot worse.

Infact, it was actually the Soviets who broke the deadlock. Their commander, seeing the same danger, decided to close the hundred remaining metres; instead of just standing and firing. Instead, the Soviet troops started into a mass assault. Running and Screaming, firing (but they were very innacurate) in fact, doing anything to take attention away from the Germans, but that didn't work that well. Many were mown down.

But they were going to reach the Germans.

"Men!" Joseph roared "Find Knives, or Bayonets, or anything useful you have for close combat. If not, use your guns as clubs, but fight them nonetheless!"

But barely had that order gone out, then the two forces clashed.

Enemies stared each other in the face, in the grinding fight that they were in. Some were stabbing, or cutting. Some nin his pocket, and launched himself at a Russian. He had stabbed the man in the arm, and he let out a cry of pain. Someone else hit him over the head with the butt of their rifle, and knocked him out, or killed him.

Christensen was using his rifle as aclub, at the other end of the line. He hit a Russian with it, and continued hitting him as he tried to get up. He then turned, and assaulted the next enemy nearest to him. Someone hit him on the arm; a knife slashed through his uniform, but did no damage. He swung his rifle, and hit the a Soviet on the head with the butt. The man immeditaley fell to the floor.

But noone worked as hard as Gerwald. He didn't need a weapon, he just punched his enemies, lifted them up, threw them. Russians around him feared for themselves, hoping he did not turn their way. Germans around him took up new hope and launched themselves with renewed vigour at their opponents. He was bursting through the Russian line, and they were powerless to stop him.

However, something else had caught the eye of Joseph. He was fighting, firing his MP40 at closing range, cutting down the enemy next to him. But he saw Benedicht calmly walking around the rear of the Russian Line. He stopped, as if he was judging something, and then pulled out a pair of MP40's, and started firing round after round at the back of the Soviet's line. The enemy saw their line thining by the second.

It was at that point they broke, and ran. They didn't get very far. The Germans infront of them firing at them as they retreated, and Benedicht waiting for them as they turned. It was a slaughter, a massacre, a total annihaltion. Only three Russians made it past Benedicht. He turned a shot them all. And that was it. All the Soviet troops were dead, or dying on the battlefield.

It was over.


The Germans decided to stay at there position for the night. But none of them could really get a moments peace. Joseph especially. Perhaps he had been harsh on Max, Benedicht did seem to be incredibly strange. Not really someone who you would want to know at all, let alone get on the wrong side of. But, in war, strange types of people are found. But Joseph had something far more important to worry about.

The injury in his leg, from Lvov, had started hurting again.

1,500 VIEWS! 1,500 VIEWS! 1,500 VIEWS! 1,500 VIEWS!



Thank you to all the continued support for this AAR. It was made for you!

Indeed, I have an idea for it, but suggestions from the readers would be most welcome!

Lt . Joseph kicked down the door. He sprayed the room with a few bullets, but there were no Soviets in there. To his left there were two doors. He decided to open them at the same time. Some men taking one door, the rest the other door. They found three Soviet troops in one room, and took them as prisoners. This was taking a very long time, too long for Joseph's liking, they had gone through three buildings since getting stuck in the outskirts of Kiev.

The troops had been deceived by how far away the city was. From the Urban Centre of the City, to where they had been, was quite a distance. Many miles. And in between, there were the outskirts. A few houses dotted around here and there. Villages about to be assimilated into Kiev, and eventually the startings of a proper Urban city. And there were enemy troops everywhere.

So they were assigned, by higher powers, to go through a section of the houses. They had objectives to take at certain times, places to get to before a certain time. It was all very rushed, and, at the same time, took a lot of effort and patience. But it was something that had to be done. They were soldiers in the German Army. Doing this was just part and parcel of being signed into the Armed Forces.

Joseph looked around at the desolation in these streets. He looked at his sheet of orders.

"Karl."
The Sergeant looked over
"Yes sir."
"We are supposed to be at the Southern Market place in approximately..."
he looked at his watch
"Three minutes ago."
"Really sir! How far is it from here?"
"I think," Joseph said "I think that it just through those buildings there."

Karl looked upwards.

"Those large ones that are probably crawling with Russians."

Now Joseph looked up. He mulled the thought over in his mind.

"Yep. Those ones. Get the Men ready. Split the company. 100 men go through one building with you, and 100 men go into the other with Max and me."
"Yes sir."

The men were rounded together, and split. They set about loading their weapons, and getting grenades ready. Some excited, some were cautious. If the building was crawling with Soviets, then were they? Surely they would have opened fire on them by now? But all of them were afraid. That was something that battle always gave to a man. And something that the soldier just had to deal with.

"Alright men, good luck." Joseph said "Ok, go."

The men ran towards the buidings, but silently, ducking into cover. Trying to avoid being seen. Soon, they were right up to the buildings, apparently, without detection. So, the troops unleashed a last salvo of fire at the windows, and burst through the doors. Into an empty house. There was nothing there. A few posters were littered here and there, but apart from that, there was nothing.

Joseph shook his head, what was going on.

"This isn't right, the should be fighting us right now."
"Well sir," Max replied, "Perhaps they retreated, perhaps they knew that their situation was impossible to defend."
"I don't know Max, they don't think like that. They defend every last inch of ground, no matter what the cost."
"Perhaps this time is different."
"I hope not. We haven't fought 'different' yet."

At that moment, a German soldier, who was at the top level of the house, was looking around. He was as confused as the rest of them. But, as he glanced out of the window, something had caught his eye. Something in the empty market place was flashing, catching the glow of the sun. He leaned forward, trying to see what it was, until half of him was outside the window. From this far out, it looked like the barrel of a rifle-

Before he could actually process that thought, he soldier had been shot, and fell all the way down to ground level. Hitting it with a thump, dull red poured from him. All the troops were shocked, only Lt . Joseph could bring some order to the chaos.

"They're in the marketplace! Load your weapons, get into cover! Use these buildings effectively! We can beat them!" he roared. Men scurried around to get into cover next to the windows. They loaded, turned and fired; and leaned back to load again. They had no idea how many Soviets were in that Marketplace, but then again, the Soviets had no idea how many Germans were in the buildings.

The dividing wall between the two buildings had been knocked down, so Joseph consulted with Karl as to what was the best action. Going out to meet the enemy was suicide, they decided. It was much better to use the cover and the terrain to their advantage. Joseph sent out Gerwald and Christensen to find anything useful in the houses, anything they could use to beat there enemy.

"Allright men! Use your cover! It'll be a slow victory, don't rush-"

The words stopped coming out of Joseph's mouth as he saw Benedicht standing up and firing out the window, spraying the marketplace with bullets, in full view of the enemy. Joseph could hear Soviet bullets pinging off the outside wall next to Benedicht from down here. He rushed upstairs. "Bendicht! What the hell are you doing. Get down" The other German smiled, and then followed orders without saying a word.

And so the stalemate went like this, troops firing at each other. Not knowing who had the upper hand in the battle. Bullets tore through the air in both directions, hitting and killing on both sides. Noone looked like they were going to break. But Joseph was confident that his troops could pull through. Anyway, they hadn't really lost a fight yet since the start of Operation Barbarossa. Now that was an achievement.

But soon Joseph's heart lifted. Michael had run back, saying Gerwald had found some very useful equipment. Machine Guns that the Soviets had left behind. Soon the big man himself was up there, setting the Guns up on the left building and the right. Joseph gave an order to stop firing, to feign defeat, or to get the Russians to come out of there cover while they loaded the machine guns.

And it worked. There were a few questioning calls across the marketplace, and Soviet soldiers came out of their cover, look around, firing at the buildings to see if there was still anyone there. And that was the cue that Joseph was waiting for.

"Fire men! Fire!"

The machine guns chattered, spelling death for most of the Russians. They tore through their ranks, and then the cover that they had tried to find. Nothing was safe now, and the Germans kept firing until nothing else moved. Until all was silent. Had they won? Or were the Russians just playing the trick the they themselves had just played. You couldn't be too sure, but they were right. Five Soviet soldiers, the only survivors, came out. Hands up.

"They've surrended men! We've cleared the objective!" Joseph shouted

There were cheers of joy and jubilation throughout the company. Perhaps the battle for Kiev would go better than they had thought. The Panzer groups were gunning flat out to encircle the Kiev Bulge, and the Soviets had been unawares of the massive trap so far. They rounded up the prisoners, and soon recieved an escort to take them behind the lines to meet their fellow comrades who had also been defeated in battle.


Joseph looked at his sheet. It had been a hard day, but they had cleared their objectives. And looking at the radio reports the rest of the division had as well. The Outer defenses of Kiev had been breached and broken. The Soviets were now fighting on their own, in the Ukraine's capital. That would be a much harder fight, but for now his men could celebrate. They had done all they could, and the war just brought in success after success.

Roman_legion said:

Aouch, isnt this the first time we met surrendering russians?

Click to expand...

For this company, yes. But may we meet Surrendering Russians aplenty.

Note on the AAR:

I will write both Chapters on Kiev in one block before I post them here, so expect a little lull on the Updating front for the next week, but don't worry, good things are worth the wait.

And after the next week, I have a well earned break from everyday life which stretches over two weeks, so I shall expect the AAR to rush ahead in progress, I'm aiming (In 21 Days - Three Weeks) To have finished Part 1 of this AAR (Duh Duh Duh!!! what surprises lie in store...)

Cpt Rossi said:

I must say this is one of the most well written stories I have ever read.

Click to expand...

Thank you, I appreciate that

and update to keep you all on your toes...


Lt . Joseph Herbreighter lifted up the debris of the scattered building. There was a body somewhere in this rubble, but he could not bring himself to actually look at the charred remains of the soldier. He could have been fighting for either side. But this city, Kiev, was far worse than most of what Lvov had thrown at him. The Soviets seemed partially resigned to loosing the city, but they had no intentions of loosing Kiev!

Joseph wondered how many reinforcements OKW had, his company was taking heavy beatings almost every single day. He knew that this wasn't a problem for the Russians. They had millions and millions of men as military reserves, and partisan forces after that as well. This was why Panzers, and fast manoeuvres were so important to the Barbarossa campaign; because in a slow war of attrition the Soviet Union would surely win.

Still, his company had made some good advances since yesterday. The Soviets seemed to be falling back to more highly defended positions, so it was time to clear out the outskirts of the city of any stranded Soviet Troops. Of course, this task had been complicated due to Luftwaffe actions. They bombings had damage enemy strength, of course, but they had also given them lots of ruined buildings to use as cover. And once Soviets were dug in took a damn hard effort to remove them.

Joseph didn't count the amount of buildings he had cleared today - or the bodies he had found. He just carried on with his duty.

Erich however, had been given a very rude awakening into the world of a proper soldier. Though he was young and reckless (and self proclaimed to be "fearless") there were a few hints that the continual fighting in and amongst the streets, right up to the face of the enemy until you kill him, was beginning to have it's toll on his young mind. Bodies were one thing, if someone was hurt they would recover in days. But if the mind is hurt, it takes years.

But at this time, the young German was doing his best to hide his fear, and get on with the task at hand. The company had settled on a large building that had collapsed, either due to the Luftwaffe or the Artillery Strikes. In any case, there was plenty of nooks and crannies in the rubble to be provide good cover for hidden Soviet Troops. You could never be too careful, overconfidence causes so many deaths in warfare.

Erich looked around. Today was a dull day. Despite the sunny weather that the company had been enjoying recently, today was very much an overcast exception. And it was windy too, something else that hadn't visited them recently.

"Erich!" Joseph cried "Stop looking at the sky and get on with work!"

The young man turned

"Yes sir."

He bent his head to look at the ground, and at that moment, a bullet smashed into the debris next to him. Erich didn't look around, but just dived into cover. He could hear frantic shouts of other soldiers, trying to hide from the unseen enemy. Then two swift shots, and two complimenting screams of pain. They were under attack! And what was worse, they had no idea who was attacking them. None of the men in the company was safe at all.

Meanwhile, Karl was trying to rally the nearest men, and to get them into cover. A bullet had skimmed his ear, but he didn't think that was intended for him. But he also thought that there maybe some more to this. Once the trouble died down, he decided to think. Everyone was in cover. At some point some idiot would slip, and be open and then be reminded of that fact, but apart from that there was on odd peace. But now Karl happened on something.

There can't be a lot of Soviets, otherwise there would be more fire. And they would've taken up more positions.

There seems to be a gap between the shots, so either their guns are rubbish, or there's an even smaller amount of them.

Karl bent down, and picked up a loose bullet.

And this bullet belongs to a sniper.

Sniper!

"Everyone! Spread the word around! It's a sniper!" he cried

There were a few mumbled noises around the company as the message spread around. Michael ran up to Karl, his MP40 hanging by his side.

"Then where is the sniper?" he asked
"Well," Karl replied "I think, inside this house."
"How do you know?"
"I'm going in. If he's in that house, and keep next the wall he won't see me, but if he is…"
"Then…"
"I tell you what Michael. If I go next to that wall, and I'm shot into tiny little pieces, you can have my five Reichmarks."
"Well, I'll go in with you, then."
"Really? You sure?"
"Absolutely. A chance to get shot? Why not."


Karl smiled.

"Ok, let's go."

And so, the two men crept round the wall, hoping, and praying….

Karl opened his eyes.

There was silence, they were still alive. And the sniper was directly above them. He signalled Michael over, and the crept closer and closer to the door. The answer to the problems, where the sniper's only advantage over them would be gone, and another obstacle standing in the way of the Wehrmacht would be gone. Karl actually found it embarrassing that one man could tie down an entire company, but, this way, the company would avoid unnecessary death.

Then, he was at the door.

"Sir." Michael whispered "How do we get in."
"The door's already open." Karl replied

Michael breathed a sigh of relief. If they had to bust it open, then the element of surprise would be gone.

Karl carefully stretched out his arm, and patted the door so that it slowly swung open without making a sound. He then quietly stepped inside, beckoning the young private to follow. Soon, the two men were inside the house, and the tension so thick that it could almost be seen. Michael was about to whisper something when Karl suddenly covered his mouth with a hand, and pointed upwards. Michael's eyes followed the finger.

There, through a gap in the boards, they saw a silhouette with a long rifle, looking around. It then muttered something in Russian, and reached for some ammunition. The two Germans heard empty bullets landed on the floor a few inches above them. Karl quietly stalked towards the stairs, again leading Michael on. The two men made slow progress, but, as far as they could tell, their prey still had no idea at all that they were there.

Karl pulled Michael close, and whispered into his ear.

"Right, listen."
"I'm listening sir."
"You will kick open the door, and I will shoot him."
"Yes sir."
"Nothing too complicated?"
"No sir."
"Gut. Are you ready?"
"Yes sir."
"Great, let's go."

Karl slowly placed one foot ontop of the other. It was infuriating business this, something that should only have taken a few seconds was taking an incredibly long time. He just wanted to get this over and done with now, but he knew that he couldn't rush anything, that would be a fatal mistake. Still, every careful step brought him closer to his unsuspecting victim. The tides would have been turned. Karl was very nearly there…

Michael slipped, or lost his footing somehow. He fell, with a massive thud, onto the stairs.

Karl rushed forward to the door which was slightly ajar. There was no point in disguising his presence. All the men in the company would probably have heard Michael's slip. Clumsy fool! Karl was at the door when it swung open, and the Russian, sniper rifle in hand, was there. But Karl was unafraid, he put out his leg and caught his foe cleanly on the side of the face. The Russian was sent flying back, and his rifle to the other side of the room.

The Sergeant regained his bearings, and advanced on the Soviet.

The sniper was edging further and further from the German, his fear was visible and plastered across his face. Karl smiled, and brought his MP40 out. He stopped when the Soviet was right up against the wall, with nowhere else to go.

"Well then, decided you would try to ambush our company." Karl said

The Soviet shook his head and shouted something in Russian.

"Oh, do be quiet, it wont hurt that much."

Karl pointed his gun towards the Russian, and pulled hard on the trigger.

He was greeted by the click of the ammunition catch, and the empty bullet cartridge falling out of his gun. He was out of ammo, and had forgotten to check how many bullets he had! The sniper, who looked up through fearful eyes, let out a smirk, sensing that he still had a chance at life, and dived for his rifle. But Karl had seen it too. It was the only piece of live weaponry in the whole room, there could only be one survivor.

Karl hit the Soviet on the back of the head with his gun as he went passed, but the Russian kicked back, tripping Karl up. He seemed to have a hand on the gun when Karl pulled on his legs and sent him back across the room. He got up, and was ready to fight. The Soviet gave a feint punch and then threw himself at Karl. Karl gave a punch, and was returned one. It hit him on the jaw. Another punch in the stomach and a kick in the shins.

But Karl came back. He jumped onto the Soviet, sending them both crashing to the floor. He started hammering down with his fists as his foe tried to get up from under him. But the Russian's kicking foot hit Karl in the face, and he got up, ready to fight another round. He rushed at the German, and hit Karl in the neck. The German was winded, and the Soviet rained blow after blow down upon him. But Karl threw one last punch, which disrupted the Russian's concentration, and leapt for the gun.

But the Soviet grabbed him, and pulled him back. Karl's arm was only inches from the rifle barrel, but he couldn't reach it. Next thing he knew, the Soviet had him in a headlock, trying to choke him. Karl tried to force he Soviet's arm off, but it was no use. Karl couldn't breathe, he had nothing left in his lungs, and he couldn't get air down his neck. He made a desperate reach for the rifle. He managed to touch it but it didn't come to his fingers.

Only centimetres away

Only a few seconds breath left

The edges of Karl's vision turned black, and started to eat into his centre of focus…



Suddenly the door burst open, there was a horrified shout, and a burst of MP40 fire. Karl was dropped to the floor, he was free! Alive! He could breathe. He looked up at the man, it was Michael. He looked back at the sniper. Then he just looked away. Despite when you thought you'd seen everything, war kept finding ways to disgust you even further. Eventually, Karl picked himself up off the floor, and looked a Michael.

"You nearly hit me! You tripped! What the hell do you think you were doing!" he screamed

A gloomy look descended on Michael's face.

"Nah, just kidding. Forget the five Reichmarks, I owe you my life now."

The troops had settled down in an open area, slightly to the north from where the sniper fiasco had taken place. It had been an incredibly hard day. Casualties had been quite high, but not excessive in comparison to the other days in Kiev. But at the moment, they had reason to be slightly happy. Over the field radio they had heard that the encirclement by the Panzer Divisions had been completed, and that Kiev had been cut off. With six whole armies!

Some men were jubilant at the thought, and started saying that this blow would knock down the last legs of the dying Russian Bear. But others were less optimistic, pointing out that fact that the enemy had the entire Siberia to hide in, and had millions of men to call in as reserves. But morale in the camp was generally high, the soldiers were in a good mood, and most of the were quite happy. Lt . Joseph reasoned, "what the hell, the deserve it."

The men had also decided on a new name for the company, there were some suggestion which were helpful, some not helpful, but in the end it was decided that the new name for the company would be der Speerspitze Militärfirma (the Spearhead Military company), but the nickname amongst the troops was now Spitze. Of course, the new penchant that the company had found for nicknaming did not just apply to finding a new name the company.

Men talked openly about nicknames for themselves and each other. Some of these were complimentary, most just described the character of that person. However, some were just plain insults. Such as Schleimig (Slimy) for Benedicht and Dänisches Kind (the Danish Kid) for Christensen. Joseph tried to get the men to stop using these, but they had already spread around 100 or so, and he couldn't stop the troops using them, much to his displeasure.

Some of the men had even made a list of Nicknames for the men in the company, Joseph had found one, and it read like this:

Lt . Joseph - Kommandant (Commander)
Karl - Stinken Stiefel (Stink Boots)
Max - Gewehr (Rifle)
Erich - Kleiner Mann (Little Man)
Gerwald - Ochsen (Ox)
e.t.c

And by the next morning, the names had become stuck to the company, and nobody could remove them. Much to the chagrin of Karl, especially. But all the men, deep down, respected each other for the soldiers they were. Nothing could move that, and no-one had tried to. So the business of the day carried out as usual, after the night positions were taken up, and everyone was organised. But all the men were happier than usual.

It was the same thing, go down a street, clear it of Russians, turn the corner. Make sure it's safe. Go down it, fight some Russians, clear some buildings. But there were two things that Joseph couldn't help noticing. Firstly, there were fewer Soviet Troops than ever before? Where had they gone? Secondly, there was less and less Luftwaffe cover, so what had happened to them? And where had they been sent too?

These questions danced around in Joseph's mind, and nagged at his confidence - only ever so slightly, but it was there. Still, all of these thoughts were nothing compared to what he was going to find - and find out. For Joseph was just about losing concentration; because Urban fighting was a strange beast. It grabbed you with fighting, for your very life, let alone your country's, but in between them you could almost be walking round a ghost town with nothing to do.

But as he turned another corner, he saw it.

Lt . Joseph, who was ahead of the company at the time, let off a few shots with his MP40, and rushed back around the corner, reloaded, and signalled for his company to do the same. They did, and rushed to his side, but at that point Joseph knew something was wrong. The expected hail of deathly gunfire was not there. So he ran around the corner of the street again, and then realised the situation that he was really in.

He had long known that the inner circle of Kiev had been fortified, with barricades, and buildings used as pillboxes.

He had just expected them to be filled with Russian soldiers, that was all.

Joseph took a few tentative steps forward, looking across every single angle, to see if the soldiers were hidden, but it was as it seemed. It was empty, there were no enemy soldiers there, at all.

"Lieutenant!" Karl shouted "What is it?"
"The defences," Joseph replied, "They're empty."

Karl walked around the side of the street, and saw it for himself. It took him a few seconds to actually realise what it was, like it took Joseph, but easily returned to normal.

"Should a bring the men round sir?" he asked
"Yes Karl."

The Sergeant turned

"It's clear men, come round."

"What has Kommandant seen, Stinken?" a soldier shouted out

At that point, Karl lost his cool. He took out his MP40 and fired into the air. All the other men in the company ducked, and looked up horrified. Joseph turned around, and there was anger in his eyes. Joseph viewed himself as a lenient commander, as commanders went in the Wehrmacht, but there were certain lines that could not be crossed, boundaries breached; and at some point he had to make his presence shown.

"Karl! Damnit what the hell are you doing!"he roared

Karl turned, his expression signifantly changed.

"If you can't keep your cool, you shouldn't be in the Wehrmacht! I ought to BUST YOU DOWN TO CORPORAL, PERHAPS EVEN TO PRIVATE! I WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS! UNDERSTOOD!"

Karl nodded.


Soon afterwards, they heard a radio report. Soviet forces where aware of their situation. Semyon Budenny had been removed for his position by Stalin, but no replacement had been found. Troops were under their own orders, and the enemy was trying a desperate breakout all across the Kiev pocket. Timoshenko's troops from the north were also expected to move against Guderian's Panzers in the North East stretch of the encirclement.

Joseph announced the news to his men, breakouts were being attempted all across Kiev. They had to prepare the abandoned Soviet defences, because there would be a lot of men heading their way.