Bob Carruthers - Tiger Command!

They now waited in tense silence. Soon, the first unsuspecting trucks began to cross the bridge. At last, Korsak gave the order to his anxious crew. “Fire!”

A high-explosive round hurtled into the first truck, which immediately exploded in a violent eruption.

“Ammunition truck. Our lucky day!” exclaimed Korsak.

The rest of the column was soon shot afire by the accurate fire of the KV-1. The few escapees from truck crews were ruthlessly machine-gunned. By swivelling the turret, Korsak was able to take the ambulances under fire, and he had no qualms in sending a stream of high-explosive shells crashing into the column.

As Korsak had expected, the noise of combat and the resulting explosions soon drew an infantry detachment. Korsak calmly directed his crew to engage the infantry with the machine guns. Without heavy weapons, there was simply no possibility of the infantry eliminating the monster. The infantry detachment blazed away at the KV-1, aiming for the vision ports.

Korsak ordered his crew to stop firing, as if the tank had been knocked out. Eventually his ruse worked and, assuming that the tank had been disabled, a landser ran at the tank, carrying a flaming bottle. Korsak calmly allowed him to approach, then cut him down in a flurry of machine gun bullets. The body provided an interesting diversion as it burned brightly, lit by its own Molotov cocktail.

Soon there was a long jam of vehicles stretching in either direction. Korsak knew it was impossible for the Germans to bypass his KV-1 because of the swampy surrounding terrain. Neither supplies nor ammunition could be brought up, and the severely wounded could not be removed to the hospital.

Korsak’s crew felt they had achieved a success, and were understandably anxious to leave the scene. Their none-too-subtle hints mounted, but their attitude changed as a Panzer III began to cross the bridge. They obviously felt themselves equal to the next attempt to put the KV-1 out of action. The Panzer III, returning to the front, now attempted to engage the KV-1 with its 50 mm cannon. Knowing he held all the aces, Korsak calmly allowed the Panzer III to close to a range of 600 metres.

“Do you want me to open fire, Comrade Korsak?” asked the gunner.

“No, let him come nearer.”

The Panzer III rumbled over the bridge and halted at 500 metres before opening fire and sending a stream of accurate armour-piercing rounds crashing against the steel hide of the KV-1. The Russian tank remained undamaged, in spite of the fact that the crew inside the KV-1 felt the impact of nineteen direct hits. Between shots, Korsak calmly dismounted and took his gunner on a tour of the impacts. The gunner was amazed, but gratified, to see that all of these violent strikes had merely produced blue spots on the impermeable armour of the KV-1.

To the terror of the gunner, Korsak did not allow him to climb back into the tank, but instead drew him aside, into the trees, where they watched as an armour-piercing round flew from the German tank, hit the sloped armour of the KV-1, and ricocheted skywards. Despite the violence of the impact and the shock wave which flooded over them, the gunner seemed to grow in confidence under Korsak’s calming influence.

“Now you see why you should have confidence, comrade,” said Korsak.

“I understand, Comrade Korsak, but should we not destroy the fascist?”

“The time will come… but we must first let our comrades see that there is nothing to fear.”

Each of the crew in turn was required to dismount and observe the effect of the German gunner’s efforts. Eventually, Korsak decided that his men had learned the lesson that the KV-1 was a veritable fortress compared to the puny fascist tanks. At last he gave the order to fire, and the armour-piercing round which flew from the KV-1 blew the Panzer III apart. Its armour, at such a murderously short range, seemed to offer little more protection than the thin metal of the trucks which lay smoking on the Rollbahn Nord.

Eventually, common sense prevailed in the disorientated German forces, and, amidst a screen of leaves and branches, what was obviously a camouflaged 88 mm gun was trundled up towards the stationary tank.

To the terror of his crew, Korsak calmly permitted it to be put into position at a distance of 1,000 metres. “Load with high-explosive. Fire when ready,” was his only command.

Growing in confidence in the presence of the icy Korsak, the KV-1 gunner took the proper time to allow for careful aim, and, with a single high-explosive round, smashed the gun to pieces before its crew was even ready to fire.

For the rest of the long summer’s day, all was quiet. By cover of night came the anticipated attempt by German engineers to blow up the KV-1 by the light of the full moon. The crew watched in horror as Korsak allowed two German combat engineers to approach right up to the tank.

“Patience, comrades. They will require a far bigger charge to cause us discomfort… Have courage and learn.”

In the midst of their terrified silence, the crew could discern soft voices talking in German as the engineers laid the prescribed demolition charge on the caterpillar tracks.

The engineers sprinted for cover in the opposite ditch, and the charge exploded according to plan. To the surprise of the crew, a series of shots rang out from the trees opposite and the two German engineers slumped lifelessly to the ground.

“Ah, that must be our visitors,” said Korsak, opening his hatch. “Come, comrades, let’s meet our guests.”

As the bemused crew dismounted from the KV-1, they could see that the charge laid by the German engineers was insufficient for the oversized tracks. Pieces were broken off the tracks, but the tank remained mobile and could expect to make the journey home.

It was now that the crew was able to discern a series of shadowy figures in civilian clothing emerging from the trees opposite.

“Comrade Korsak? Everything OK?” came an inquisitive voice.

“Never better. Comrade Stankov, I presume?”

“The very same. We brought you some dinner.”

Boiled eggs and hard sausage were handed round, and Korsak’s crew watched in amazement as Korsak and Stankov smoked and talked casually, as if they were in a Leningrad cafe.

“So, you are a new group?” asked Korsak.

“Yes, Comrade Korsak. It’s our first mission.”

“Then you have done well◦– two fascists killed, and a significant contribution to our mission. I’ll make it my business to ensure that Moscow gets to hear about this,” replied Korsak.

“Thank you, Comrade Korsak. Do you have any further orders for us?”

“You must act on your own initiative, Comrade Stankov… but that bridge looks like a target which would be worthy of your next effort…”

“Consider it done, Comrade Korsak.”

“Good! I wish you success. Our work here is over, for now.”

To the delight of his crew, Korsak ordered the driver to start up the engine and follow their tracks back to the Russian lines. Soon the KV-1 was gone, and Stankov and his team quietly slipped back into the trees.

The Henschel und Sonne engineering works at Kassel had begun as a locomotive manufacturing business, but had long since diversified into supporting the German war effort, and had played a key role in providing heavy armaments in both wars.

As the train pulled into the railhead, the weather had still not lifted, and it was not possible to fully appreciate the size of this massive operation. There were three huge complexes: Werk 1, which was devoted to locomotive work, the giant foundry which comprised Werk 2, and, finally, Werk 3, the panzer plant, to which they were now headed. It dominated the entire area.