Southern Kursk Front — July 1943
The roar of the engines was as familiar as a heartbeat. The air smelled of fuel, sweat, and nerves. From his post in the Tiger II, Falk kept his eyes fixed on the horizon. The artillery had stopped. Smoke still hung over the field like an artificial fog. And now it was their turn.
—"We move," he ordered over the radio. "Maintain formation, watch the flanks and possible minefields."
To his right, the Panther rolled like a sleek, feline beast. To his left, the two upgraded Panzer IVs flanked the line, guns ready. Behind them, Brunner in his own armored vehicle, silent and focused.
The ground trembled beneath the tracks.
The first impact came as a warning. About two hundred meters ahead, an anti-tank shell slammed into the earth, throwing up a column of dust and fire.
—"Contact!" Helmut shouted.
From a tree line ahead, the Soviets opened fire. ZIS-3 cannon shots. Then they saw them: infantry emerging from trenches, launching rifle grenades, taking cover behind log barricades and sandbags. And tanks: T-34s, concealed behind artificial hills, poking their guns forward like lurking serpents.
—"Fire at will!" Falk ordered, as Konrad fired with surgical precision.
The first T-34 exploded on the second shot. The Panther struck another from the flank. The Panzer IVs held back the infantry with machine guns and high-explosive rounds.
But the Soviets didn't retreat. They held firm as if they had foreseen every step. Some anti-tank guns relocated and reappeared like ghosts, firing again.
Lukas dodged craters, maneuvering through mud and blasts. The Tiger's armor held, but every jolt was a reminder of what was still to come.
—"Panzer IV, cover at two o'clock!" Falk shouted over the radio. One of them was hit, but only on the skirt. No injuries.
After nearly thirty minutes of combat, the first assault had stabilized. They hadn't lost a single tank. No one was injured.
—"No one fell today," Ernst said, in disbelief.
Falk didn't respond. He stared at the line ahead. Mines, traps, more nests of resistance—and behind that... the teeth of true hell.
—"This... has only just begun," he muttered.
And the roar of war echoed again ahead, as if the land itself breathed fire.