18th Jan. Defence of Grobbendonk

9thRTR stationed in Schilde for the defence of Antwerp. Axis forces pushed back in the south, we were just holding the line north. Oostmalle had fallen again to Jerry, and he was pushing hard on the outskirts of Grobbendonk.

Took an M10 from Schilde, and powered across the Belgian countryside to intercept enemy armour.

Initial reports were sketchy, but several large tanks had been spotted to the north of the town. As I moved into position, a jerry truck was spotted and summarily despatched with HE rounds.

Relocated across north road, enemy tanks moving into the town having already been neutralised by friendly french AT forces .

Enemy tank spotted (type Pz II) moving through open country north of our position. Several APHE shots later (not used to these french sights) resulted in his destruction. As we readied to relocate, another Jerry truck came through the bushes behind our M10, and was destroyed with the .50 cal MG.

moving closer to the enemy positions, an enemy halftrack appeared carrying what looked like an 88mm FlaK gun. Some careful timing resulted in two HE rounds destroying both the gun (was actually a 40mm bofors) and the HT.

Moved back into town as the enemy attack had died off, a third truck appeared and drove straight through the line of our .50 cal. These Jerries are certainly persistant!

Finally spotted a HT/enemy tank on a hill approx 2.5km away. no radio contact was made, and the tank was hit with several HE and APHE rounds before a french infantryman radioed to say it was another M10. Honestly, if these Frenchies don't bother with comms they'll lose us this war!

RTB'd at Grobb for a well deserved cup of tea, total kills 5 enemy vehicles (3 trucks, 1 Pz II and a HT) and a AA gun. not bad.