Chapter Eighty-Five
By the end of September 1944, the Germans had completely abandoned Cherbourg in southern Normandy and Calais in the north. They retreated to the line of Belgium in the north, organized a defensive line around the Somme River and Amiens; established a defensive line with Rouen as the core in the middle, preparing to turn Paris into a sea of fire at any time; abandoned the peninsula in the south and concentrated on defending the Agen-Toulouse line. At the same time, they intensified the deployment of troops, dispatching one after another domestically reorganized divisions to reinforce the defensive lines along the Franco-German border.
The strategic posture of the Germans has become a mess, and they have once again fallen into the nightmare of fighting on two fronts. On the eastern front, the Soviet Red Army launched a powerful offensive, with the fifth wave of attacks causing the German Central Group to teeter on the brink of collapse, suffering heavy losses, and many units being annihilated, on the verge of being driven out of Belarus and Lithuania. Fortunately, the Germans have managed to hold on to the front line for now, but the next powerful offensive by the Soviet Red Army is imminent, and it's uncertain whether they can hold their ground this time. Fafnir received orders in October to return to the 503rd regiment and join the Belarusian front, accompanied by tanks that had been upgraded to E50 ausf B type - all surviving E50s from the first batch of production and those from the second batch were upgraded to ausf B type, replacing the 88mm L71 gun with a 105mm L52 gun, improving transmission and suspension systems, increasing highway speed to 55km, off-road speed to 38km, range remaining at 150km, body weight increased to 48 tons, side skirts armor all changed to fixed, codename still "lynx". Some mysterious big guys were also loaded onto heavy trains, rushing to the Soviet Belarusian front under the cover of night, avoiding Allied air raids. The skies above Germany are no longer a safe place...
Fawzi gave the Allies an unforgettable lesson before leaving France. "Alber Road Massacre" was what the Allies called it, "Alber Road Hunting Battle" was what the German troops called it.
On September 28, the U.S. First Infantry Division launched a main attack on the German defensive line in northern France, attempting to cut off the German army's retreat route to Belgium and encircle them between Calais and Picardy for annihilation later. Meanwhile, Fawley's 223rd E50B "Lynx" had just been modified and was defending the German position outside Albert with another "Jagdtiger" assault gun and a "Jagdpanther" assault gun. The Jagdtiger and Jagdpanther both had familiar faces inside.
That afternoon, they received intelligence that an American convoy seemed to have appeared on the Abel Road. Favre decided to go out in a tank to reconnoitre and give the Americans a lesson if possible, with both Jagdtigers and Jagdpanthers moving out together.
At noon, the three cars arrived at a point 4 kilometers from Abel Road. The Tiger Hunter found a low-lying area to camouflage itself with bushes, and the Pursuer drove closer to the road and hid as well. Only Favniel's No. 223 "Lynx" drove directly towards the road, but he didn't see any signs of Americans along the way, thinking it might just be an erroneous piece of intelligence. "Let's wait for another hour before heading back," Favniel thought to himself, ordering the two accompanying cars to stop and wait while he drove his own car to a spot not far from the road to camouflage, forming an isosceles triangle with the three cars, quietly waiting with their muzzles pointing towards the road.
It's almost an hour now, the Allied planes in the sky are coming and going, but they haven't seen any signs of these three German tanks, nor have Fafnir and his men seen any traces of American ground troops. However, with the frequent flights of Allied planes today, it's also difficult for them to leave for the time being. They decided to prepare to wait until it gets a bit darker before returning, and after contacting their unit via radio, their superiors approved their actions.
At 4 pm, the sound of engines came from afar on the highway. The people on the three tanks immediately lifted their spirits. Favniel took advantage of the opportunity to jump out of the tank and climb up a nearby small slope to observe with binoculars - there were more than twenty American tanks and over a hundred trucks advancing along the highway in an imposing manner. He quickly returned to the tank, asking the two assault guns to get ready, waiting for his tank to launch a surprise attack before opening fire, prioritizing the US lead and tail tanks.
Another half hour passed, and the US vanguard finally arrived within sight. They advanced with a swagger, their vehicle markings indicating they were troops from the US 1st Infantry Division, who had just broken through the German defensive line in front a few days ago.
The nearest Favniel was two kilometers away from the highway, and it was a small forest that had been burned to ashes. E50 was hidden among the scattered wood and was hard to spot at once, while the hunting tiger and the pursuer were even farther away, and the Americans did not discover them at all.
"Launch! Start the assault!" Fafnir gave a low command! The sound of American engines on the road covered up the sound of E50's engine, but couldn't hide its shadow - the Americans immediately discovered the German tank starting to attack. Just then, Jagdtiger began firing at the right moment, and the first shot hit the leading American M4 tank, destroying it. The American M26 hastily rotated its turret to aim at E50, when Jagdpanther also opened fire, shelling a truck into pieces. However, being the "Big Red One" of the Americans, the soldiers didn't panic, but instead unfolded their combat formation and began counterattacking. More than 20 American tanks couldn't turn around in time to attack Fafnir's assault, and an M26 on one side of Fafnir's charge started turning to fire first. Fafnir was a veteran, making an emergency stop to avoid the Americans' cannon fire, while his short pause shot turned an M26 into scrap metal. Jagdtiger had a faster firing rate than Fafnir's 105mm gun after loading its autoloader, and in just a few minutes it turned three American tanks into scrap metal. Fafnir fully played to his strengths, using his predictive abilities to dodge the Americans' cannon fire, while counterattacking with deadly precision - every shot hit an American vehicle. Jagdpanther focused on attacking American trucks and infantry, soon even Jagdtiger approached the highway to attack. After just thirty minutes, Fafnir and its companion retreated to avoid retaliation from the Allied air force...
Abel Road turned into a hell of flames and flesh, littered with destroyed tanks and trucks, wounded but not dead American soldiers groaning among the wreckage. Everything was recorded by the cameras of American war correspondents. Olson was a war correspondent who jumped off his car to take pictures as soon as the battle began, this bold reporter even took pictures without regard for his life when Favre's tank approached - his photos faithfully recorded three German killers, facing him less than 50 meters away, the E50 tank with its turret turned 90 degrees to fire; the side of the turret and the clear Tiger head bone pattern on No. 223; the distant Panther showing its side and large fighting compartment; the small and blurry Jagdpanther.
The battle was over, the Americans had lost 21 tanks and 45 trucks, and the reputation of "Tiger" spread among the Americans. After the war, Fawneil set foot on the road to Belarus, while Dornberger and O'Brien continued to fight on the French front line. It was just seven days later that during a battle in the Belgian border area, Dornberger's Tiger was destroying Allied tanks one by one when the Allied armored vehicles used their numerical superiority to surround other German tanks. A British Firefly rushed to within 400 meters of the Tiger, exposing its side, and fired a shot from its 17-pounder gun at the Tiger's flank. Although the Firefly was immediately destroyed by an approaching Black Panther, the 17-pound shell hit its target.
The Tiger was hit, the loader was killed instantly, and the gunner and commander were both wounded and lost consciousness. Fortunately, the ammunition did not explode, and the driver immediately began to retreat. The nearby Panthers and other German tanks also started to rescue the Tiger after repelling the Allied attack. Dornberger was lucky enough to survive, but he was seriously injured - a testicle was cut off by shrapnel, and he fell into a coma for 3 days before waking up. After spending 3 months recovering from his injuries, he retired and returned home to marry his childhood sweetheart.
