Scarlet Fields: The Combat Memoir of a World War I Medal of Honor Hero

15. Scarlet Fields

15 Scarlet Fields The surprise seemed to paralyze the Germans for a moment.They huddled together, and looked desperately about in every direction . They couldn’t understand where machine-gun bullets, at such short range,could be coming from.Then they saw the tank and started ducking for cover. But there was no cover in the open field for most of them, and they were some distance from the woods. I took advantage of their surprise and confusion. As fast as I could relay the gun I fired burst after burst of ten to fifteen shots. I finished one belt, and jammed in the one I had on my shoulder. I finished the second belt with long bursts. The German who had carried that gun had her beautifully adjusted. She fairly purred. As I inserted the third belt I heard the gun gurgle; I knew that I’d have to go a little slower. Rifle bullets were beating a steady tattoo on the tank now.They couldn’t do the tank any harm,but they could come in through the opening around the gun. And my ears were catching hell. It’s calculated that each one of those bullets strikes almost a ton blow. Before I went into action I’d located a group of officers. I found them again after a moment’s search. There was no cover where they were, and they’d thrown themselves on the ground. If my gun had been on a line with them they’d have been pretty safe where they were. But the gun port was five feet above the level of the ground. I trained the gun on the ones in the center and gave them a long burst.I got two.The rest scrambled up and started running for the 172 chapter fifteen woods. On the next burst I bobbled. By the time I was lined up again they were close to the woods. I gave them a burst for good-by and got the slowest. He was a big fat fellow.One of the others stopped to try to drag him in,and a bullet got him too. While this was going on, the Germans left on the slope of the hill had had time to get machine-guns, light and heavy, pointed in my direction.The fire upon the tank was so heavy it seemed to me as if it must melt. Tanks are cone-shaped, and made so that bullets can only bounce off or shatter into fragments. But it sounded as if a thousand triphammers were battering against the metal. And when I swung the turret back to return the fire from the hill, I wished that hole in the turret hadn’t been so big. I didn’t dare to fire as fast now as I had at first. My gun was getting pretty hot. I had used up the better part of two belts, and seen a number of German guns go out of commission, when the rattle against my tank redoubled.The Germans back in the woods on the hill to my right had set some guns and opened up on me. I hoped they didn’t have any tank rifles.54 A tank rifle shoots a long bronze-colored bullet.This doesn’t glance off or shatter into fragments; it goes right through the tank. Even without a tank rifle things were getting a little uncertain. Several bullets came in through the port. I stopped every few minutes to let my gun cool off and to open up boxes of ammunition. But the gun was beginning to boil and smoke. I poured all the water from my canteen into the jacket.The water boiled back in my face and over my hands. It nearly scalded me. But I kept swinging from the Germans on the hill back to those in the woods. This way neither crowd had much time for thinking. One fellow in the woods was getting pretty accurate aim on me. Once he landed a burst squarely around my port opening, and two of his bullets came in. He was under cover of the woods where I couldn’t get back at him. I shifted my attention to Hill 253. Ever since I’d started firing from scarlet fields 173 the tank, I’d noticed a queer thing. There was no machine-gun...