Sergeant Demille did a quick headcount of the survivors. Nineteen men made it back to the rally point plus the medic; twenty people. They instinctively formed a linear defense along the woodline sighting in on the direction they just ran from. The remnants of what should have been a 57-man platoon that could only muster 34 on the first day of a war, hugged the ground waiting to see what would happen next.

Korporal Krebs tried fiercely to calm himself down. He checked on his squad, six survived first contact. They were now combat veterans. Hopefully things would be easier. He noticed none of the heavier machine guns, the MG04's made it back. Their gun crews considered dead or newly made guests of the Holtish military machine. At least they still had the MG24s and the ATR.

Thinking of their invaders, Manfred looked across at what they were doing. He counted four halftracks with dismounts forming a loose herringbone formation, focusing their attention outward. The sounds of engines humming in the distance could be heard behind them as well as in front. The dull, distant thump of artillery also made an impression on his ears. That tell-tale whistle of 105mm projectiles fired from a battery of Augstbergen [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10.5_cm_kanon_m/34]M34 Kanons[/url] screamed toward the farmhouse. Recognizing the sound as soon as he heard it and realizing how close they were to the enemy, Korporal Krebs yelled! "Incoming!" hoping everyone would attempt to make themselves one with the ground. Manfred tried to crawl into a depression praying that the men on the guns were good with their aim.

The impact was short. The first round landing about a hundred meters from where the second platoon gathered. Five more rounds impacted on line with the first, sending plumes of dirt and gray smoke flying about thirty or forty feet into the air. The rumble of artillery landing so close to the Jager Infantry sent shock waves like earthquakes rumbling through the ground. The heat from the blasts sending wave after wave of concussive hot air into their position. Six seconds later, another volley fell about a hundred meters closer to the farmhouse. 'Great, they are walking the rounds into them,' Manfred thought to himself. 'But who is adjusting rounds?' The only thing Manfred could gather was either there was a Forward Observer nearby watching or their very own Company Commander was not far away. Slowly the barrage of artillery walked into the farmhouse until 105mm rounds impacted upon the Holtish unit. The rounds stopped falling after roughly ninety seconds of explosions.

Shortly after the cessation of artillery, the survivors of 2nd platoon witnessed the arrival of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_38%28t%29]Augstbergen Panzers[/url]. Ten lightly armored vehicles moved up from the rear belching 37mm high explosive anti tank (HEAT) rounds and 7.92mm machine gun rounds at the Holtish infantry. 'This is the counter attack,' Sergent Demille thought to himself and then looked at his platoon. "Get ready to fall in behind these tanks. As they attack into the Holtish infantry, we will follow and support them. If you are too badly injured to go on the attack, stay here in the tree line with the medic!"

As the Panzers advanced, Sergeant Demille and Korporal Krebs stood to join them. They trotted forward about a hundred meters behind the tanks; expecting the rest of the platoon to follow. Manfred did not know what type of tanks these were. He'd seen them in an armor recognition card once, but forgotten about that years ago. He looked to his left and saw two more platoons of infantry, the rest of the company emerge from the trees. There could have been about seventy or eighty men trotting forward behind the tanks, up the hill towards where the Holtish halftracks had stopped.