My journal of randomness and thoughts

Tank Story

The convoy emerged from a small forest, still in line following a path. Vast grasslands could be seen with light hills and scattered trees. Soon we would be approaching another town and then afterward finally be on route to our biggest destination.

"What do you think Berlin is like?"

"Well if you like mounds of rubble and blasted out buildings then you're gonna love Berlin."

"I meant defense wise, like how hard will the Germans fight us?"

I needed some fresh air, and something to listen to other than my two crew member's pointless conversations. But when your the gunner of a Sherman, you don't get a hatch for air, oh but the commander does, which there is a reason for it: so he can spot enemy troops and tanks.

"Hey you two shut up for a minute will ya?" I said. "Just ignore them Bigshot, it's no use trying to stop them." Said the commander of the tank, who is also my best friend, Benny. My nickname is bigshot if you can't already tell, the whole crew has their nicknames but mine comes from my accuracy with the big ol' gun of our tank.

"Bigshot your pants might be too tight, that might be why the attitude." Replied Freddy from up front. "No it's because I'm stuck in a damn hunk of metal that's carrying us to our death, and I'm stuck with your big mouth."

"Me? Big mouth? You're the one with the trash coming from your mouth."

Benny had enough, "will you guys just shut the fuck up please? We're almost to Berlin to end this war." I slumped back in my seat, giving a dirty look to Freddy, I had just one insult left though. "Alright, he's probably just jealous I get to fire a 76mm while he gets to fire a 30 cal."

"Clayton (my actual last name, not my nickname) you best shut your trap." Freddy replied scolding, "I'll come back there soon to beat the shit out of you-"

Suddenly, there was an explosion and aloud bang from outside. Everyone froze for a second, hell, our gun loader of the crew screamed like a girl. Benny looked out from his hatch, he looked to the rear of the tank and saw a Sherman body burning, the turret was nowhere to be seen. "Fucking Sherman was just shot!" He yelled into the tank. Benny then used his binoculars to try and find what shot the helpless Sherman and its crew. "PANZERS!! 3 OF EM'!! AND A PANTHER!!!" Benny shouted, " TURRET RIGHT TURRET RIGHT!!!" I frantically pulled the lever of the rotator to make the turret turn right, it whirred right. I looked into my gunsight, and there was a Panther G filling the view. "Driver! Traverse to the right but make sure to give that German a good angle!" The driver, Edmond, did just that. Dawson, the tank loader, shoves a round into the breach, "Armor piercing loaded!!" I measured the possible range of the shot, finding a suitable range. "FIRE!!!" Yelled Benny. "One away!!" I stomped the pedal and the huge gun fired. Ricochet. The round bounced off the Panther's mantlet and into the air, like a pebble. "Damn it! Bounced!" I re-adjusted the gunsight to have a shot at the lower plate. Dawson has another round in the breach already, he told the gun was ready. Benny then told Edmond to move the tank forward as the other Sherman's in the convoy started to push towards the German tanks. I was about to give the signal to fire but there was an extremely loud bang that rang through the whole tank. Everyone covered their ears and yelled. "We just bounced a 75mm!" Realized Benny, we were still alive. I fired at the Panther again, this time my shot penetrated it, destroying the German tanks transmission. "Pretty big hit on the Panther Bigshot! He can't move no more!" Benny said praising my shot. One of the commanders of the another tank in the convoy radioed us: "They just took out two more of our tanks! It's just three of us left!" Now adrenaline was getting the best of me, I was pouring sweat, we needed to stay alive and take as little damage as possible. Something satisfying happened: one of the smaller panzer tanks blew up in an inferno, the turret flew up in the air like a coin toss! "Hehe, one of ours hit their ammo." I said chuckling. The explosion was so huge another Panzer VI next to the destroyed panzer lost its left track because of it. Benny announced to the crew that the panzer was immobilized, so I cranked the turret around to aim the gun at it, gave my call and stomped the pedal; Have you ever seen a big bon fire? Not until you've seen that tank blow up!

"It's just the big cat left, the panzers are dead." Benny said. We needed to turn our attention to the Panther, which was now moving again. Edmond full throttled our Sherman forward becoming the leader of the two other Shermans. The monstrous Panther G fired at the Sherman to our left, I heard the whistle of the round and then the explosive impact into the Sherman tank; the tank came to a violent halt. "Fuck he's gone!" Benny scolded. Two of us left.

The chances of my crew were getting sanded down slowly by one Panther tank. But something inside me was telling me to keep hope in myself, my crew, and our fighting machine. I aimed the gun at the oncoming German machine and looked for weak points; I remembered that the lower down you aim at the front plate the weaker the armor gets. "One away!!" PSSHOWWWW!! The gun shot a round right at the weak point in the front plate of the Panther. The German tank stopped but the turret looked at us now. "Left! Turn left!!" Exclaimed Benny to Edmond who guided our tank to the left. The Panther fired at us, but the shell bounced off our front hull, but it had bounced and shredded through the other Sherman, and apparently hit ammo because the turret flew off from an internal explosion. "Oh dear fuck... it's just us." Benny said in disbelief, fear in his voice. I took action. "Freddy fire your 30 cal at the Germans track on the left." Freddy opened up on the spot, bullets whizzed at the track. It did not do much but it wouldn't matter because we were about to be right beside the Panther, exactly where I want to be. "Bigshot you know what to do, his side is weak!" Benny said to me. Dawson shoves an AP round in the breach. "Alright wait until I say to fire, Edmond you gotta outrun that Germans gun." Benny commanded. Edmond was working his ass off down in that driver seat trying to keep us away from that enemy gun, we trust him for that. "Clayton get ready to get revenge on these Nazi chumps!" Benny yelled, I whirred the turret to look where the side of the Panther Is when we pass by. My foot was ready on the pedal, the side of the rather stunning German tank was all I could see in my scope. "ONE AWAY!!" those words echoed in my head as I stomped the trigger pedal, and the gun screamed it's death threat as it hurled a big round into the side of the Panther. Ammo hit, you ever seen fireworks on independance day? Those don't compare to this explosion. I felt so close to it but we weren't too close thankfully, or we would've been engulfed as well. 5 minutes pass, 5 tired, terrified, and trembling men all sit in silence. "I want to go home, not Berlin."

Edmond had to follow his orders, same as me and everyone else, we were too close to Berlin to turn back. We sat, waiting for allied tanks. Benny radioed an allied base: "We just escaped certain death, it's only us left."

Wow Lambo what's the cussing for? A realistic touch child.

-Lambo