Opening Moves

A moment’s pause was all he needed, triggering the Enfield and dropping the centre man with a round to the stomach. Rushing left, he caught the next man by surprise and bundled straight into him, sending him flying. Turning to the third man, he felt the sear of pain as a bullet flicked his thigh. The man worked the bolt on his rifle quickly but Ramsey ended his life with a powerful thrust through the throat.

Turning to the second man, he saw that no further action was needed. The force of Ramsey’s impact had propelled the Russian onto a wicked wooden spike that stuck out from the rubble. The man was face down on it, twitching and mumbling incoherently as his life drained out of him.

Re-chambering his own rifle, Ramsey shot down a Soviet Officer who was exhorting his men forward. The man was the III/215th’s Commander and the sight of their leader screaming his last few seconds away proved to be a turning point and the fight went out of the Russian troops in an instant.

Turning and running, they lost a number of soldiers shot in the back as they tried to regain friendly cover.

The Fallschirmjager pursued them relentlessly, recovering most of the ground previously lost in the process.

Ramsey organised his men, aghast at how few could still stand. He had led the sixty men forward and only twenty-eight could answer the call. Not all the rest were dead and some could fight again that day but precisely half would never move again.

At his feet lay a young Scot, James Munro, his belly ripped open by some unknown blade and a bayonet wound in his shoulder, in excruciating pain but resolutely silent, despite his approaching death.

Ramsey knelt at the young soldier’s side knowing that all he could do was share the boy’s final moments. Holding his right hand tightly he placed his left hand on Munro’s forehead, stroking the boy’s head and encouraging eye contact. The medic rammed home three doses of morphine and James Munro died pain free.

More Fallschirmjager arrived, released from their defence of Jungfernsteig after they and the Yeomanry had drubbed the attacking force. These set about evacuating their injured comrades and the wounded jocks, as well as setting a strong defensive position in place.

Four of the paratroopers reverently removed the insensible body of their commander, Perlmann having fallen unnoticed amongst a pile of dead, alive but bleeding from a dozen wounds.

The arrival of Russian small calibre mortar rounds ended the brief lull and Ramsey determined to reform his reserve and to find out what was going on across the front of Llewellyn Force.

In essence, Llewellyn Force was holding but only just.

The Rathaus was again more Soviet than British as extra troops pressed forward, exhorted by their officers.

The Soviet diversionary effort had run into an allied counter-attack to the south as 71st Infantry brigade sought to throw the Soviet moves off-balance. 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry, supported by more of the Yorkshire Yeomanry’s armour had struck back, threatening the Holzbrücke and Beloborodov had been forced to switch one of his reserve battalions to assist. This left solely the III/938th Rifles uncommitted.

II/259th Rifles had been ordered to probe the positions in front of them, not by the Army Commander but by the Regimental Commander who just couldn’t believe the British could be strong everywhere.

This was a huge mistake and his pinning force suffered huge casualties charging A Coy/RWF and the support platoon. He was only saved from the vengeance of his General by a Welsh bullet. It also meant that the dead Lieutenant Colonel would be an excellent scapegoat for what was to come.

‘A’ Company’s commander realised the tactical situation had changed in his favour and released the support platoon and one section from each of his own platoons, creating a reserve force, which he immediately sent to the aid of his Battalion Commander in the Rathaus.

‘C’ Company had held their own at great loss of life, helped by the arrival of armoured support in the shape of the rest of the Yeomanry’s headquarters troop which had forced into the Soviet flank at a crucial time. Not without loss, as was attested to by Acting Major Brown’s body half in, half out of his command tank, slowly being consumed by the lazy fire inside.

In the Rathaus there was a stalemate. Scelerov and his men had burned everything and everyone they could and had run out of usable flamethrowers. A fuming Scelerov has sent ten men back for more and contented himself with throwing phosphorous grenades as he waited to be rearmed. He was unaware that he would wait in vain, as the party had been vaporised by a 25-pdr HE shell as they were returned laden with cylinders.

The situation in the Rathaus was unclear to the Russians, and so the Commander of 1st Rifle Corps committed his final reserve where he could see there was an opportunity, and where they could be directly supported with tanks.