The Donetz River crossing had gone well despite stiff resistance from the Ivans. Even the counter-attack by the Ivans had been repulsed in spite of the fury of the Soviet attacks. Now the KG was in the process of expanding the bridgehead so the panzers would have plenty of room to maneuver when they came through.
Sgt. Kukko's squad had been assigned the duty of providing security for the KG's artillery and mortar units. This was the first time that Sgt. Kukko's squad had not been a point unit for the KG, and the Sgt. looked forward to giving his troopers a little rest from the almost constant rain.
Unlike France or Poland, there was no rest from the 'front'. In this campaign, there was no 'front' in the classic sense. Ivan had a nasty habit of hiding out in burned out buildings, wrecked vehicles, or any place else where they could not be seen. After the vangaurd of the KG had passed by, the hidden Ivans would pop out and open fire on units in the 'rear area'.
Thus Sgt. Kukko's squad took up a position in what passed for a farmhouse in this region to keep an eye on the area directly West of the KG's atty and mortars to prevent any hanky-panky by Ivan.
The men began to cut view-ports in the walls of the small wooden structure to keep an eye out for Ivans. The Sgt. removed his helmet and placed it on the small table in the middle of the main room of the farmhouse. Corporal Hartmann approached, "Seargent, perhaps if we are here long enough, we could plant some potatoes and onions!" Sgt. Kukko chuckled at the joke. "Ja! And perhaps we could use the landmines to plow the field with. Just lay them around the field, and take pot shots at them. It would save a lot of time with a plow!" Hartmann and Kukko shared a good laugh at this.
While they laughed, Private Baran rushed over, "I think I can hear a tank approaching from the direction of the river!"
Sgt. Kukko's expression changed instantly from joviality to intense concern. "Probably one of Ivan's playing dead until our panzers had gone by. Let's hope it's one of the small Ivans!"
The room fell deathly silent as the Sgt. listened. "Yep! We have a guest. Let's give Ivan a warm welcome!"
Taking his field glasses out, Sgt Kukko looked out a view-port on the Western side of the structure. To his chagrin, he saw a T-34 emerging from a copse of trees not 200 yards from his squad's position.
"Hartmann! Gather all the squad's grenades and tie them in bundles of five! You and I will sneak around behind the Ivan while the rest of the unit keeps his attenion by firing their weapons at him. With luck, we can get close enough to lob these onto that beast's turret ring and knock him out before he knocks us out."
The rest of the squad took up positions along the Western wall of the structure. "Open fire in two minutes after Hartmann and I go out. After synchronizing there watches, and a couple of deep breaths, Kukko and Hartmann scrambled out the Eastern door and ran through a small gully that ran North and South of the farmhouse.
After running for two minutes, Sgt. Kukko and Corporal Hartmann reached a small copse of trees and the remaining men of the squad opened up on the T-34 from the farmhouse. Rifle shots, MG bursts, and riccochets could be heard by the two men as they scurried, crouching low, around the Soviet beast.
It seemed that the T-34 crew was concentrating on the source of the shots coming at them from the farmhouse. Good!
Reaching the copse of trees the Ivans had emerged from, the T-34 was a scant 30 yards away. Deciding to take a chance, Sgt. Kukko took two bundles of grenades, and crawled up behind the stationary T-34. Amazed at his good luck, Kukko reached the back of the Soviet AFV. As silently as possible, he lept up on the back of the T-34 and placed the two bundles of grenades on the rear turret ring of the tank, released the safety on one of the grenades, and lept back off the tank, in one fluid motion. Just after landing in the muck that passed for a trail, a loud pair of bangs and a shock-wave hit him. Shaking his head to recover his senses, he looked up and saw smoke pouring out of the back of the T-34. It's turret was now tilted forward leaving a gap through which the dead or stunned crew of the Soviet tank could be seen. Corporal Hartmann lept on the back of the AFV and threw a grenade into the tank through the gap, and lept off again. Following the detonation of the grenade and the ammo inside the Soviet giant's turret, they headed back to the farmhouse. At least this was one Ivan who wouldn't be making trouble for the KG today!
"You'll probably get a medal for this, Sgt!" Hartmann observed. "I'd rather they gave us a week in Paris!" Both men shared a good laugh as they returned to the squad.
Eric Maietta
