“Capt. Wallace quickly placed his men to advantage on the captured ground, but he could still see little chance of surviving a serious tank attack. The panzers were now defiantly in view, as if knowing they were immune. They were less than 400 yards away, as Charlie tried to contrive a tank defence.
Captains Wallace and Whitelaw began looking speculatively at the anti-aircraft gun. It was only 20-mm., and not a tank killer. To use it might throw a scare into the panzer crews. Or it might invite trouble. What to do? They worriedly debated it.
“We might knock one off with their own gun before they get us, and the rest might leave,” argued Capt. Whitelaw, and won agreement. A show of tank defence might forestall a serious assault by armour.
They went to work—Capt. Whitelaw, Snipers Evenden (my Grandad) and Male and Pte. Fred Metcalfe, the company clerk. The gun was in a pit, facing the wrong way. While Capt. Wallace watched the tanks through his binoculars, they slewed the tripod about to let” “the gun face the panzers. This exposed them in the open cut to the Germans, but the big cartridge clip was loaded, ready for the tanks’ next firing sortie. The gun had a seat, and a foot trigger, and because Pte. Tom Evenden was a sniper he was elected to do the firing.
The panzers appeared again. One tank commander was standing up in his turret, and they soon knew why. He had spotted the 20-mm. in the open-faced pit, and the barrel of his long 75-mm. was being ominously depressed, aiming dead-on for the converted Aac Aac weapon.
“They can’t hit us,” said Capt. Whitelaw confidently, and shouted: “Fire!”
The 20-mm. let go one burst, but they never knew if its heavy bullets made a hit. The fatal come-back was too fast. The first tank-gun’s shell went over their heads, but the second struck 5 feet from the gun, the blast blowing part of Capt. Whitelaw’s clothes from him, and killing him instantly.
Shell after shell smashed at them; the tripod was struck; Sniper Evenden” “lost a piece of his trigger finger; Pte. Metcalfe was hit in the arm and face, and lost an eye. Capt. Wallace, 10 feet away, could never understand why he remained unscathed, and Cpl. Male’s escape was not short of a miracle.”
Excerpt From – Regalbuto et Finito – Charlie Company and the panzers
Dileas
Kim Beattie
https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=0
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