Troops of the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich on the march
Oct. 21, 1939
Just before dawn on the morning of the twenty-first of October, the German ambassador to the Netherlands handed a formal declaration of war to the Dutch government. One hour later, the calm that had settled over Europe after the fall Poland was shattered as German artillery opened up on the Dutch border positions. Caught unaware, Dutch troops were routed all along the border as German panzers raced deep into the country.
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Oct. 21, 1939
Near Eindhoven, Netherlands
1300 hours
Helmut Wolf stood behind the front line surrounded by his group leaders. In only a few hours, the Das Reich division had smashed through the Dutch troops facing them at the border and were in reach of the city of Eindhoven. Just outside the city of Helmond they had run into Dutch resistance, the first since crossing the border, and his regiment had been deployed to secure an important crossroads near the city that had been fortified by an at least company-sized force of Dutch troops. The orders that had been relayed to the platoon commanders by Hauptsturmfuhrer Bayer seemed basic. While the rest of the regiment's companies pushed into Helmond, C and D companies were to secure the crossroads to prevent the disruption of the supply line for the final push to Eindhoven. There would be no panzer support as they were not judged to be necessary and the higher ups also feared that the Dutch had the entire crossroad covered by anti-tank weapons. As Helmut explained the platoon's individual responsibility to his group leaders, he scanned their faces for sign of any misgivings about following him into battle. He found none, but he knew that didn't necessarily mean anything. These men were professionals and would probably follow him to their deaths without flinching whether they thought his orders made sense or not. After he had finished with them, Helmut walked over to his mortar team and described the course of fire that he wanted them to follow both before and during the advance. That done, he moved to join his men on the front line.
As he was about to reach the line, Dutch artillery began fall around him and he was forced to run and fling himself into a ditch where his first group was taking cover. As the shells landed all around, Helmut pressed himself to the ground and resisted the urge to claw at the ground so that he could press himself down lower still. Looking up, he saw that the group commander, Unterscharführer Keller, was calmly looking out over the edge of the ditch. Every once in awhile he would cock his head to the side and then go prone, only to rise immediately afterward and continue gazing across to the Dutch position. Helmut wasn't certain if the man was crazy or extremely brave, but he didn't want to shown up by him in front of the men so Helmut rose as well. The barrage was apparently only harassing fire, as it moved on shortly afterward. The silence that settled around Helmut was startling after the thunder of the artillery as he signaled for his mortar team to begin to open up on the Dutch. Helmut watched the effect of the mortar attack for several minutes before raising a hand to signal that his men should make ready. As all eyes turned to him he was seized by a sudden apprehension. His knees began to tremble slightly and a sense of foreboding seized him. This was for real. Those men over there were going to do everything in their power to cut him and his men to pieces as soon as they broke cover and Helmut felt the strength begin to go out of his body. Glancing to his waiting men, his eyes fell on Max who was leaning against the side of the ditch only a few feet away. Max smiled at him and nodded while raising a fist into the air and Helmut somehow felt his resolve harden just a little. Setting his jaw, he swung his arm down and jumped up out of the ditch and began to run toward the Dutch position without looking back to see if he was being followed.
He had run several yards when he began to notice that bits of dirt seemed to be erupting from the ground in front of him. It took a moment for his brain to make the connection that he was being shot at, but he only bent himself low to present a smaller target and continued to run forward. After what seemed to him like hours, he had reached the enemy's first line. Helmut dropped to the ground and squeezed off a few shots with his machine pistol and was gratified to see that his men were still with him. They opened fire with their rifles and tossed grenades into the trench line before Helmut once again lead them forward into the trench. Those Dutchmen who had not already fled or been killed put up their hands and Helmut sent them to the rear under guard.
Looking over the edge of the trench, Helmut inspected the rest of what the Dutch had waiting for him and barely ducked back down in time to avoid fire from a Dutch machine gun squad that had suddenly began firing on his men. As his own machine gun squad reached the trench Helmut ordered them to set up their MG34 and put suppressing fire on the Dutch line. Crawling down the trench, Helmut ordered his second and third groups to swing left and right respectively while he took first group forward to knock out the machine gun nest that was centered on the next enemy defense line. As they moved forward out of the trench, it was to be occupied by fourth group who would be acting in reserve. Grabbing a couple of grenades from a nearby soldier, Helmut flung them in the general direction of the Dutch machine gun and once again took his men forward. An unmistakable ripping sound told Helmut that the Dutch machine gunners were still at their post and he saw several of his men twitch violently before falling to the ground. Helmut and his men dove for cover and began to fire toward their tormentors. Seeing that Unterscharführer Keller was lying beside him, Helmut ordered him to grab three men and prepare to rush the machine gun. Then, not believing what he was about to do, Helmut stood completely erect and emptied the clip of his MP38 into the area around the gun emplacement. He could actually see the barrel swing toward him and begin to spit death in his direction. As Helmut dove for cover, Keller and three others raced forward tossing grenades in front of them as they did so. In short order, the machine gun was silenced and the Dutch were in full retreat away from Helmut and his men.
Not pausing to rest, Helmut deployed his men in a position to defend what they had fought to take from any Dutch counterattack and sent a runner back to report that the crossroads were safe for the panzers to travel along. That done, he sent his platoon's Scharfuhrer, a big man named Kuefer, to compile a casualty report. Only when he had received that report, and orders to hold his position for the time being did he go in search of Max. He found him sitting where the Dutch machine gun had been located examining his rifle which had apparently been damaged in some way. Helmut smiled to see his friend unharmed and asked, "What's wrong with it?"
Max glanced up and shrugged, "They shot it right out of my hands. Useless now."
Helmut smiled,"Looks like you're a lucky man then. They could have easily missed the rifle and hit you."
Max shrugged again, "Yeah, but they didn't. Not this time anyway." Looking Helmut up and down he continued, "Looks like you were pretty lucky yourself."
Helmut frowned, not knowing what Max was talking about. Looking down, he was startled to see that his uniform jacket was torn in several places where bullets had come all to close to finding flesh. As Helmut continued to finger the bullet holes in wonderment, Max looked up and said, "You did well today boss, real well."
Helmut sat down next to Max and briefly put his hand on his friend's shoulder. He wasn't sure why, but that little bit of praise seemed worth more than an Iron Cross right at that moment.
