Chapter Eighteen - Cocytus
Chapter Eighteen Cocytus Operation Autumn Mist, Ardennes December 1944 In this chapter, the new replacement troops of the 12th Panzers arrive at their staging area for the Ardennes offinsive. Sepp is against the whole enterprise and has had a battle of wills with Wolf and the generals of OKW. Wolf has insisted on micromanaging everything, and set them an impossible task. Rudi's Company arrives without incident but many do not. The main offensive commences on 15 December and an early success gives Rudi and his men a great boost, but the next day is a long and brutal battle, which ends in Rudi staving off a group of American POWs being murdered due to miscommunications, and discovering Oskar's burning tank. They make a stealth reconnaisance of the Elsenborn Camp, after meeting up with Major Siegfried Müller, commander of the panzergrenadiers attached to the Division, and a harrowing journey through mined woods under sniper fire. The next day there is a large engagement at the ...