{"id":175,"date":"2016-09-12T22:57:12","date_gmt":"2016-09-12T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/?p=175"},"modified":"2016-09-12T22:57:12","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T22:57:12","slug":"fangs-of-the-ss-chapter-14-enter-the-wehrmacht","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/fangs-of-the-ss\/fangs-of-the-ss-chapter-14-enter-the-wehrmacht\/","title":{"rendered":"(Fangs of the SS) CHAPTER 14: Enter The Wehrmacht"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"wehrmacht\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sergeant Augie Toffer has a rock in his boot and it\u2019s driving him insane. Which means that his mind isn\u2019t on his job. Not that it matters, in the end.<\/span><\/p>\n

The abandoned village up ahead is just a small cluster of buildings around a spot where the road widens into a stopping point. The American patrol is coming up the rutted dirt road. They\u2019ve been out since dawn, marching up the foothills of the mountains of central Tunisia. At least it\u2019s stopped raining, a soft drizzle that made everything miserable. Now the sun\u2019s out and the clouds have retreated to the tops of the mountains in the north. It\u2019s cold.<\/span><\/p>\n

Toffer and his lieutenant, John Munger, a guy from Akron who, six months ago was a mid level accountant in a bank, have stopped the patrol about a half a mile away from the village. The men in the patrol have taken the opportunity to find dry places to sit and are taking the opportunity to rest. Toffer\u2019s inspecting the buildings through binoculars and speaks to Munger who\u2019s standing next to him. \u201cLooks all clear, sir. The Ay-rabs have skedaddled and there ain\u2019t no Krauts.\u201d He spits to one side and wishes that there was time for him to take his boot off and get rid of whatever fucking thing it was that giving his foot the miseries.<\/span><\/p>\n

Munger nods. \u201cGood. Let\u2019s head in and, this time, keep the men together, Sergeant. Don\u2019t let anyone wander off and get lost. Remember what happened to Pendle, back at that last village.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstood, sir.\u201d He turns to the rest of the patrol. \u201cOk, all of you, on your feet!\u201d There\u2019s a general chorus of groans. \u201cDon\u2019t give me that shit! Get the fuck up and move out.\u201d His tone turns viciously sarcastic. \u201cAnd if it\u2019s not too much trouble, please don\u2019t wander off and fall down a crapper. I want to see a five foot interval between each man. That\u2019s five, not ten, if you don\u2019t fucking mind. Despite what it looks like, this ain\u2019t no Sunday school picnic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Eventually they get moving and positioned to Toffer\u2019s liking. And the patrol enters the village. They march past the abandoned buildings, alert and eyes moving to spot anything suspicious. Except for the two guys in the middle of the column who are talking about girls. And the guy who\u2019s worried that he\u2019s forgotten how to properly clean his gun. And Toffer, who\u2019s limping and thinking about his fucking foot.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first shot hits Munger in the face and drops him like that dead sack of meat that he\u2019s suddenly become. Bullets stitch Toffer across his chest. He dies thinking about how much his foot hurts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Screaming bloody confusion. The Americans try to find cover behind an abandoned cart and fountain. Firing at windows and roof tops. A heavy machine gun opens from a window and punches right through the cart, kills the soldiers crouching behind it. Three Americans who had been marching slowest in the rear are able to find the best cover and start to return fire. They actually manage to wound a German on one of the roofs. Then the heavy fire breaks their nerve and they make a run for it, firing blindly behind them. Two of them are shot down right after they break cover. But the last one makes it away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAmateurs.\u201d The judgement is dispassionate and rendered by the Wehrmacht Captain on the roof. \u201cAt least the British are real soldiers.\u201d Rickard Wetzel stands up on the roof where he\u2019d been directing the ambush. His machine gun dangles in one hand as he lifts his binoculars to his eyes. He speaks to Stossel, the sniper laying on the roof beside him. \u201cNo prisoners.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d The sniper fires once and the last American, running in the distance, crumples, dead before he hits the ground. Wetzel gives two long blasts on his whistle and his soldiers begin to emerge from their ambush points. The contrast between them and the Americans is clear. These are veterans. Seasoned killers, forged in the battlefields of the Reich of the last two years: Poland, Norway, France, Greece. None of them are distracted by the condition of their feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wetzel makes his way down off the roof, followed by the sniper. On the ground, he meets his Sergeant, a burly black haired man named Krober. \u201cLeave the bodies. Prepare to move out. Let\u2019s make the next supply dump by night.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d Krober turns away and starts to organize the men. A couple of jeeps, APCs, and trucks come out of hiding and Krober assigns soldiers to each one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSir?\u201d Wetzel turns and it\u2019s Bleick, his radioman, holding out the handpiece of the rig on his back. \u201cA major from Kesselring\u2019s HQ in Tunis wants to talk with you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Wetzel takes the handpiece. \u201cWetzel here. Yes, sir. Where\u2019s that?\u201d He snaps his fingers at Bleick who hands him a map. \u201cYes, sir, I\u2019ve found it. We can be there in 12 hours. Yes, sir.\u201d He gives the handset back to Bleick.<\/span><\/p>\n

Krober comes up. \u201cThe men are all ready to go, Sir. We just need a destination.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou ask and Headquarters provides. Which is the way it\u2019s supposed to work, so that\u2019s why I\u2019m so worried. HQ wants us to head to a small town, Sidi bou Zid. We\u2019ll get further orders there.\u201d Wetzel shows Krober the town on the map he\u2019s holding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Krober takes his time studying the map. \u201cShouldn\u2019t be a problem, Captain. It\u2019s rather far behind the current lines. I doubt that we\u2019ll run into any Americans in that direction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow are we for supplies?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be all right since we\u2019re heading away from the enemy. We\u2019re down to 3 belts on the 42, but that\u2019s the only worry. The men have enough ammo and the vehicles have enough fuel. But you never know. Do you think we\u2019ll be able to re-supply at this town? If not, then I\u2019ll start to worry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that we\u2019ll be able to resupply there. If not, we\u2019ll make visiting a supply dump a high priority afterwards, just to make sure.\u201d Wetzel folds up the map and hands it to Bleick. \u201cCarry on, Sergeant! Lead us out!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Krober salutes. \u201cYes, sir!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He runs to the lead vehicle and gets in. Wetzel turns, pulls up his goggles over his eyes and gets in the passenger side of a jeep. The small convoy pulls out.<\/span><\/p>\n

When it\u2019s finally quiet, the dogs come for the bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sergeant Augie Toffer has a rock in his boot and it\u2019s driving him insane. Which means that his mind isn\u2019t on his job. Not that it matters, in the end. The abandoned village up ahead is just a small cluster of buildings around a spot where the road widens into a stopping point. The American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jasonbrezinski.com\/novels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}