Upfall

Led by a veteran sergeant with Vogel but a few steps behind, the attacking Germans closed on Feldhandler‘s bunker and tossed grenades. One landed just meters in front of the aperture blowing dirt and dust inside, and shaking the three Jews. Norit rubbed her face to clear the cobwebs, ignored the smoke and dust, and grabbed the loaded MG 42. She pulled the trigger, spraying a dozen bullets from the rapid-fire weapon, killing the SS sergeant just before the overheated gun jammed. Vogel, stepping over his dead sergeant, rushed the defenseless bunker, his MP40 at the ready. Norit, now helpless, fell back inside with Feldhandler and De Jong, as the grim faced German officer filled the bunker's aperture.

Adam Chaimowitz, the guard who'd stopped the sayeret outside Biali had been put in charge of the bunkers on the reverse slope of the hill, and chafed as he and his men stood idle through the attack on the front slope. When he heard the nearby cries and yells of the attacking SS he could wait no more. Taking a Bren gun from his bunker he led a group of eight men to the top of the hill. There he watched as Vogel‘s group charged the hill, nearly reaching a bunker at the center of the position. Recognizing the crisis, and realizing that if the bunker line fell then all was finished, Chaimowitz charged down the hillock onto the advancing Germans, firing the Bren gun from his hip. His dumbfounded men followed. At the same time Bolander charged in alone from the right, German mortar barrage eased thanks to Podolsky's counter-battery fire.

Vogel was on the cusp of success when he was hit by a wild burst of fire from Chaimowitz's Bren. He fell just inches from the bunker entrance, close enough for Norit to smell his blood. Bolander watched the German officer fall, and though exposed on the forward slope, fired bursts from his Tavor at a pair of SS troopers following in Vogel's wake. The SS men toppled over and rolled back down the hill under the impact of the rounds. Bolander was about to shoot at another squad when Chaimowitz and his men leapt into his line of fire. The Jewish soldiers ran on, shooting wildly in front of them, and tossing grenades as they tumbled down the slope. Bolander knelt and adjusted his aim to support the madly disorganized charge, which resembled a wild grade school game, rather than a death struggle. But the feral attack confused and rattled the already exhausted and traumatized SS men, who leaderless, turned and fled back toward the base of the hill.

Kumm had spent the morning shuttling down the Lubin road, venturing within a kilometer the enemy positions, then returning to his regimental headquarters every few minutes to check for messages. Next to him in the half-track, Lieutenant Braun, Kumm's signal officer, worked feverishly through the morning to reestablish wireless communication with Captain Stadler. He worked helmetless, his earphones pressed down on his garrison cap, happy that the enemy seemed to lack artillery. Finally, after being out of communication for an hour, Braun managed to work around the jamming and found the battalion commander. Braun waived to Kumm who pushed his way through the cramped halftrack to the radio. The signal was weak but Kumm managed to exchange a few sentences with his subordinate.

The news from Stadler was mixed. Another Stug destroyed, and another half-track damaged. How the partisans were managing this wasn't clear—they possessed some kind of anti-tank grenades of unusual power and accuracy. The Stadler had only two operational half-tracks, including his own command vehicle. The central ridge remained firmly in enemy hands, but that was okay, it wasn't the objective. The flank was the objective, and there Stadler had committed the battalion's last intact company. They had attacked into the forester‘s settlement and were moving up a small ridge to the east, referenced on the map as Hoehe 18. Losses were heavy but... And the signal went out.

Kumm stepped out of the halftrack and found Captain Holzer, the operations officer, who sat hunched over a telephone switchboard at the regimental command post.

"Where is Vogel's company?" demanded Kumm.

"Not clear" stammered Holzer. "I have a report that Vogel is dead."

“Can you confirm it?”

Holzer paused and spoke into the handset. "Not yet. The report is from his communications sergeant at the base of Hoehe 28. Vogel led a direct assault on the hill and was hit."

At that moment a mortar shell landed with a crash meters behind Kumm's track. Kumm had faced plenty of artillery in Russia and didn't flinch but rather looked at the smoking impact site curiously.

"So they have some artillery after all." said Kumm as a second shell struck a little further away, very near the second 81mm mortar battery.

Holzer stood up to watch. "They already attacked Battery 1 several minutes ago—I tried to reach you. I ordered them to move."