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Tommy Cookers: Part II
By Specterx

Ages seemed to have passed before Tyler regained consciousness, although it had to have been only a few seconds, since the remainder of the company was barely thirty yards away. The first thing he noticed was the burning pain up and down his whole right side, and the apparent neutralization of his right arm. The affected areas of his body had been exposed to the few fragments of shrapnel that had been produced by the explosion, which fortunately didn't include any vital organs. Tyler rolled to his left, intending to use his left arm and leg to pull himself up, but was momentarily stunned by the sight that greeted him as he looked up towards… the sky. It took his dazed brain a few seconds to remember exactly what had happened and realize why he could see the sky from inside a tank. The turret, along with the gunner and the upper half of the loader, was gone. Pulling himself up and into the remains of his commanders seat, Tyler could see the battle going on without him and his vehicle. Smoke was rising from the charred and turret ring and the torn fragments of steel still attached, as if some massive hand had reached up from the depths of Hell itself and forcefully ripped the turret off. Inexplicably, the main cannon, although badly bent out of shape and leaning at an angle, was still attached to the tank. It was one of the oddities of combat that had to be catalogued for later reflection.

Tyler's first thought was one of survival. He forced himself to ignore the pain in his side, as well as his bleeding nose and right ear-the eardrum had been punctured by the blast-and revive the driver. He found that he couldn't remember the kids name, so he began shouting and kicking the side of the M4 with his foot. "Sergeant!"-Was he a sergeant?-"Get up! Get us the hell out of here before the Krauts try and finish the job!" The driver, apparently only slightly injured, responded immediately, and the tank quickly accelerated forward toward the eastern end of the ridge. The main road was probably being watched, so it was decided that they would use the ridge as cover until they could get into the forest.

Before they moved out of view, Tyler watched the American and German infantry fight it out on the slope. He had never witnessed a real infantry battle before, and found it fascinating. He also observed the destruction of three more Shermans from another company, and that triggered the memory of the Tiger that had killed two of his men and crippled his new Sherman. Hatred swelled up in him, and his thirst for revenge became insatiable. Perhaps it was nothing more than a crazy idea conceived in the midst of combat by a man who did not have all of his wits with him, but Tyler remembered a tactic used by his brother, a Destroyer captain, and believed that he had found a way to kill that Tiger. He recalled a small ravine next to the German tank, and the high amounts of rain they had had lately.

"Hand me the pistol!" he demanded. The hull gunner reached to his left and retrieved the Colt .45 automatic that Tyler kept in his vehicle, and handed it to his commander. Tyler held the weapon up in his good hand, and proceeded to work out the details of his scheme. He ordered the driver to turn ninety degrees to the left and move slowly up the slope of the ridge. The driver wanted to ask why, since safety was usually in the direction opposite the enemy, but had enough sense to hold his tongue.

The M4 came slowly over the crest of the rise, and immediately found itself pointing directly at the German vehicles. The Germans, however, were at a right angle to the Sherman, and the view afforded to crew members in World War Two tanks is not the best for tracking enemies to the right or left. The enemy tanks were concentrating on the destruction of the American formations in the field below, and so did not notice Tyler's tank come up to their left. They had not noticed the departure of Tyler's vehicle either, since it was believed destroyed and there were other targets that were of greater importance.

"Okay, listen carefully," Tyler said to his driver. "See that last German Tiger? The one by the ravine? Good. When I give the order, I want you to head full speed towards it, and ram it in the front, to knock it off course. "

The driver couldn't believe he was hearing this. He quickly decided that he had better comply with the said orders, since Tyler would probably shoot him with that pistol of his if he refused. Any man crazy enough to conceive a plan such as this would surely act irrationally.

The line of five German tanks-now reduced to three-Was slowly advancing, and periodically one vehicle would fall behind the others, probably to aim at an American. Tyler waited until the last Tiger fell slightly behind, just enough that its fellows wouldn't notice it vanishing.

"GO!" he shouted. The M4 lurched forward and raced towards the enormous, slow-moving Tiger. It took ten seconds for the tank to cover the distance.

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