Richter sat atop a Tiger tank as it slowly made its way along the narrow Russian roads, the butt of an MP40 submachine gun rested against his leg as he scanned the terrain for threats. The village was in sight now, it hadn't been much before the German invasion of Russia and Luftwaffe air raids hadn't helped it much. He raised a pair of binoculars and scanned the last bastion of Russian resistance in this sector. He felt someone tap him on the shoulder and he looked to his left, his friend Karl, the companies sniper, pointed to the roof of a three story building that appeared to be a shop of some sort, he couldn't tell by the sign, Russian was little more than gibberish to him. What did you see? glancing back at the structure. "Russians, five of them from what I could see" Richter nodded and banged on the tanks hatch with his fist. The hatch opened a moment later and the tank commander appeared. "What is it Sergeant?" Richter pointed to the building Russians on the roof of that building Lieutenant. Give them a good old fashioned SS greeting... The Lieutenant grinned and closed the hatch, The tank pulled to the side of the road and zeroed in on the building as the Convoy spread out and infantry disembarked. Other tanks began to take up positions around town while the infantry men surged forward, Richter leapt from the tank and took up a position in a ditch to protect the tank, Karl stayed atop the tank while Rolf, another of his squad mates loaded a Panzershreck. Everything became eerily silent for a moment. Then he looked to his left and saw Colonel Kepler make a gesture with his fist from his location atop a tank and the calm was shattered by booming of the Tiger's 8.8 cm guns and the screams of the Russians trapped in the town.
Everything was going according to plan. The Tiger's ceased their bombardment of the town and the SS grenadiers stormed forward, slaughtering those Red Army forces that rushed out to face them.
Suddenly everything changed. Russian T-34's came crashing out of homes, having been placed their and the walls repaired to trick the SS forces. The grenadiers did as they had been trained and moved to where the T-34's couldn't fire on them. Some with Flamethrowers bravely climbed the tanks and unleashed torrents of burning tar down on the men inside. Richter watched the spectacle from his position. Suddenly an immense roar began to emanate from behind him. He turned to see hundreds of Red Army Soldiers climbing out of concealed Trenches and Bunkers. It was an Ambush... and they had walked right into it...
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