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Losqualo -> (6/23/2003 8:54:50 PM)
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OLt Losqualo was getting nervous, very nervous to tell the truth.
First the trouble with the radio and that Col. Housley and now the gunner went seemingly crazy.
He didn't realize, but his lack in combat experience was taking it's toll. While he was always the best in Ohrdruf, the proving ground where he made his first step with his then brand new Tiger, he hadn't had a firefight against an enemy tank since he arrived in Tunisia 4 years ago.
He hadn't told his platoon commander, but the ring on his barrel was more an accident than an act of bravery. It happend that he came across a sherman that was badly hit after an artillery barrage. The Sherman had lost a track and a twist in his barrel, so that enemy was more or less a sitting duck.
But that lack of experience wasn't his fault. Most of the time his Tiger was in maintanence because of problems with the transmission and the engine.
Surely OLt Losqualo would not admit such things. He was in command of the best tank the world has ever seen and had to fight an american sissy. Suddenly, he heard a voice in his headphones: " Herr Kommandant, the smoke screen is lif...".
OLt Losqualo couldn't understand the rest of the sentence because someone knocked at the side of the turret. "Come in!" he shouted, as he had forgotten that he had to open the cupola from the inside.
"Herr Kommandant, we've been hit!" the radio operator yelled.
Great, just great, OLt Losqualo said to himself, another week in the workshop, and only because this american ***** had to make a scratch in the Tiger's beautyful, handpainted camouflage scheme.
"Fire at will" he shouted in his microphone. But since the smoke screen has lifted, the gunner had already began to laugh again because of that funny vehicle. ´Luckily the first shot had the same result as last time and the Sherman crew went hysterical. Only that this time the Sherman fired a smoke shell to end the fruitless shooting.
The enemy out of sight, OLt Losqualo was shaken. The enemy commander was obviously a hero. An American that defended himself without even thinking about running away had to be a General. Or even more. Surely not a normal Sherman driver.
So he decided that he had to change position to rethink his situation. He ordered his Crew to fire a smoke shell near his new position and slowly moved forward.
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