Part 100, Chapter 1602
Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Two
4th November 1963
Wunsdorf-Zosen
The SPz-4 was charging forward over rough ground and Doug was wedged in just behind the driver’s seat with a squad of Dragoons filling the remainder of the tight space. He was wearing a helmet and flak vest that had been lent to him, the word PRESSE had been stenciled on the front and back of the vest in large yellow letters. An MG-42/48 was in the middle of the floor along with several boxes of ammunition. The arrangement was that the driver sat on the left side of the hull just behind the transmission in the bow and the steel box that contained engine was on the right. He could see the feet of the armored vehicle’s Commander and Gunner as they sat in the turret above the main compartment. Unlike an actual Panzer, there was no turret basket. They sat with their feet on rests or on the peddles that controlled the 20mm cannon and coaxial 8mm machine gun. He had grown used to the constant and violent motion of the APCs decades earlier, otherwise spending his time looking through the viewfinder of his camera would have made him sick. Soren Yount and other senior Noncoms of the Panzer Dragoons had greeted him as if he was an old friend, basically one of them.
“You came with us all the way from Poland to Moscow, then went to Manchuria” Soren said, “The only difference between us was that you could gone home at any time. Hell, you were even the one who got the girl too.”
That wasn’t quite true. If Doug had ever called it quits during that time, he would have found himself sent right back to Europe with the Canadian Army. As for getting the girl, Kat would probably have quite a few things to say about that. Especially regarding Soren’s inability to knock on doors before he opened them and just how he had gotten his nose broken. It was the same incident that had prompted Kat to do that photo session that Doug would certainly never forget. Soren did not need to know any of that though.
The reason why Doug found himself in an APC was that he was photographing a Platoon of Heavy Infantry as they went through a live fire training exercise was because Hans wanted him to help create a new advertising campaign for the Panzer Corps. Glossy, full color adverts with lots of action depicting how fun and exciting the Dragoons were was what he had asked for. However, just getting those photographs was proving to be a bit of a challenge. Doug’s insider/outsider status was made clear when the machine gun started firing, the spent cartridges and loose belt links that missed the chute started landing on him. No one had wanted to sit where Doug was because they knew that this would happen. The smirk that most of the others in the red light that filled the interior of the APC revealed as much. These were Soren’s “men” though Doug had a hard time thinking of them that way. Most of them were still teenagers with the fire team leaders being in their twenties. Though Doug knew that they were more or less the same age that Hans, Soren and Jost had been when Doug had met them, they still looked like schoolboys playing at being soldiers to him.
The soldier sitting across from Doug was holding the 40mm grenade launcher that this outfit was supposed to be evaluating. According to Doug’s source, the Heer had stumbled across examples of the American M-79 Korea. Thinking of it as an enlarged version of a break-action shotgun, Procurement in Wunsdorf had turned to Merkel in Suhl to help with reverse engineering it. While the gunsmiths at Merkel had certainly recreated a version of the M-79, the examples of what they had produced was simply too beautiful to be a weapon of war, rust-blued and with a walnut stock. They had even engraved the receivers, but instead of things like ivy, trees, boars or stags they had added things that reflected what they thought were part of the mission of a Grenadier. This had been a big hit with the men, though no one thought for an instant that any production versions would look like that if it was adopted by the Heer. The one that Doug was looking at had an engraving of a Lynx Panzer and curlicues that looked like barbed wire.
“Keep low Herr Blackwood” The Unteroffizer in charge of this Squad yelled, “And try to keep out of fields of fire!”
“Not the first time I’ve done this” Doug yelled back, “Unlike the cardboard targets you’ll be dealing with, the Russians and Japanese tend to shoot back!”
That got Doug several wide-eyed looks. These young men were in awe of their elders from the Second World War, the ones who had thrown themselves into the gears a machine that should have ground them to paste and broke it.
With that the light in the interior of the APC changed from red to blinking amber, letting them know that they were nearing the sector that they had been ordered to attack. Then the light went back to red. Everyone grabbed the gear that was assigned to them and Doug took a quick snapshot, hoping that the photograph would come out despite the dim light.
Seconds later, the ramp dropped, and the Dragoons stormed out the back of the APC. Doug hung back and took photographs. More than a few times he was showered in debris and he kept as close to the action as he could. Finally, the exercise ended and when Soren saw Doug he laughed.
“Some things never change I see” Soren said, leaving Doug wondering what he was talking about. Then he noticed that a piece of shrapnel had cut a hole in the sleeve of his coat without him noticing or hitting him.
“I would appreciate it if you could avoid telling my wife how that happened” Doug replied.
4th November 1963
Wunsdorf-Zosen
The SPz-4 was charging forward over rough ground and Doug was wedged in just behind the driver’s seat with a squad of Dragoons filling the remainder of the tight space. He was wearing a helmet and flak vest that had been lent to him, the word PRESSE had been stenciled on the front and back of the vest in large yellow letters. An MG-42/48 was in the middle of the floor along with several boxes of ammunition. The arrangement was that the driver sat on the left side of the hull just behind the transmission in the bow and the steel box that contained engine was on the right. He could see the feet of the armored vehicle’s Commander and Gunner as they sat in the turret above the main compartment. Unlike an actual Panzer, there was no turret basket. They sat with their feet on rests or on the peddles that controlled the 20mm cannon and coaxial 8mm machine gun. He had grown used to the constant and violent motion of the APCs decades earlier, otherwise spending his time looking through the viewfinder of his camera would have made him sick. Soren Yount and other senior Noncoms of the Panzer Dragoons had greeted him as if he was an old friend, basically one of them.
“You came with us all the way from Poland to Moscow, then went to Manchuria” Soren said, “The only difference between us was that you could gone home at any time. Hell, you were even the one who got the girl too.”
That wasn’t quite true. If Doug had ever called it quits during that time, he would have found himself sent right back to Europe with the Canadian Army. As for getting the girl, Kat would probably have quite a few things to say about that. Especially regarding Soren’s inability to knock on doors before he opened them and just how he had gotten his nose broken. It was the same incident that had prompted Kat to do that photo session that Doug would certainly never forget. Soren did not need to know any of that though.
The reason why Doug found himself in an APC was that he was photographing a Platoon of Heavy Infantry as they went through a live fire training exercise was because Hans wanted him to help create a new advertising campaign for the Panzer Corps. Glossy, full color adverts with lots of action depicting how fun and exciting the Dragoons were was what he had asked for. However, just getting those photographs was proving to be a bit of a challenge. Doug’s insider/outsider status was made clear when the machine gun started firing, the spent cartridges and loose belt links that missed the chute started landing on him. No one had wanted to sit where Doug was because they knew that this would happen. The smirk that most of the others in the red light that filled the interior of the APC revealed as much. These were Soren’s “men” though Doug had a hard time thinking of them that way. Most of them were still teenagers with the fire team leaders being in their twenties. Though Doug knew that they were more or less the same age that Hans, Soren and Jost had been when Doug had met them, they still looked like schoolboys playing at being soldiers to him.
The soldier sitting across from Doug was holding the 40mm grenade launcher that this outfit was supposed to be evaluating. According to Doug’s source, the Heer had stumbled across examples of the American M-79 Korea. Thinking of it as an enlarged version of a break-action shotgun, Procurement in Wunsdorf had turned to Merkel in Suhl to help with reverse engineering it. While the gunsmiths at Merkel had certainly recreated a version of the M-79, the examples of what they had produced was simply too beautiful to be a weapon of war, rust-blued and with a walnut stock. They had even engraved the receivers, but instead of things like ivy, trees, boars or stags they had added things that reflected what they thought were part of the mission of a Grenadier. This had been a big hit with the men, though no one thought for an instant that any production versions would look like that if it was adopted by the Heer. The one that Doug was looking at had an engraving of a Lynx Panzer and curlicues that looked like barbed wire.
“Keep low Herr Blackwood” The Unteroffizer in charge of this Squad yelled, “And try to keep out of fields of fire!”
“Not the first time I’ve done this” Doug yelled back, “Unlike the cardboard targets you’ll be dealing with, the Russians and Japanese tend to shoot back!”
That got Doug several wide-eyed looks. These young men were in awe of their elders from the Second World War, the ones who had thrown themselves into the gears a machine that should have ground them to paste and broke it.
With that the light in the interior of the APC changed from red to blinking amber, letting them know that they were nearing the sector that they had been ordered to attack. Then the light went back to red. Everyone grabbed the gear that was assigned to them and Doug took a quick snapshot, hoping that the photograph would come out despite the dim light.
Seconds later, the ramp dropped, and the Dragoons stormed out the back of the APC. Doug hung back and took photographs. More than a few times he was showered in debris and he kept as close to the action as he could. Finally, the exercise ended and when Soren saw Doug he laughed.
“Some things never change I see” Soren said, leaving Doug wondering what he was talking about. Then he noticed that a piece of shrapnel had cut a hole in the sleeve of his coat without him noticing or hitting him.
“I would appreciate it if you could avoid telling my wife how that happened” Doug replied.
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