"Early on a winter’s morning, at 07:00, the Soviets commenced an
unprecedented artillery drum fire that would last for hours as a
preparation for a major attack. Behind the bataillon command post, atop
of a bleak and snow-covered hill near the road, stood a 7.5 cm Pak gun whose gunner was Obergefreiter Albust. The entire gun crew hid in a
bunker just 15 meters from the gun, bracing themselves against the
dugout’s soft walls as the earth shook around them. It was impossible to
see the gun from this position. At 08:00 the fire subsided for just a
moment. The Obergefreiter found his gun intact, stood in the trench and
observed. But then the artillery shells once again approached over the
rises and dips in the terrain, a crescendo that was both endless and
terrifying. However the gunner stayed in his trench and waited.
They came. ‘Tanks, tanks!’ cried the Obergefreiter to the bunker. But
they continued to roll forward as black shapes across the hills, which
themselves had been darkened by fire and earth. Behind them came the
infantry, great masses of men that moved behind their tanks and over the
positions of our Grenadiers. But then he had the first T-34 in his
sights. He fired… and the tank burned. One of the tanks turned its gun
barrel towards him. ‘Wait a moment, tanks!’ came the excited cry from a
heavy machine-gun position just behind him as the second tank burst into
flames. It lasted 20 minutes, but eventually all 6 tanks (5 T-34s and 1
KV-1) lay knocked out behind the rear position of our battalion. The
enemy infantry then fled, and Obergefreiter Albust poured high explosive
shells into them from his firing position. This single gun had
delivered an imaginable amount of support for the Grenadiers… One gun? No, just one man behind the cannon, the gunner…!
On this day the Soviets had hoped to break through the road with a
violently launched attack. But, instead, by the evening of this day the regiment had succeeded in pushing the enemy infantry back past their
burning tanks, past the holes made by their own drum fire and beyond the
first line of defense. The frontline disposition was thus the exact same
in the evening as it was on the morning of this day.
The commander in chief judged this deed favorably and without
reservation. Then he presented this Thuringian bricklayer (who was born
in a Saxon town near Zwickau) with the high award, tied the ribbon
around his collar, shook his hand and took off his own hat to him.
Obergefreiter Albust had served at his gun at a critical point along the
frontline, one which the enemy had sought to break through by advancing
across the torn-apart earth with their masses of men and materiel. Many
awards have been given to this well-deserved Panzerjäger-Abteilung. But
their Knight’s Cross Holder is just an Obergefreiter!”
Albust was also recognized for having brought his total of destroyed
enemy tanks to 24 by his actions on the 13.12.1943." from his Knight's Cross to the Iron Cross citation, awarded on December 19th, 1943 as Obergefreiter from Panzerjäger-Abteilung 129 in the 129th Infantry Division.
Another deadly enemy elite,
Brian
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