Don Region — 12 kilometers from the outer encirclement of StalingradJanuary 28, 1943
The wind slipped through the gaps in the Tiger's armor plates. Snow hit in fine bursts, like needles. Visibility was poor, but the route was clear.
Falk stood in the hatch, eyes forward. The Panther and the Panzer IVs remained in formation, but something wasn't right.
The engine's roar began to stutter.
—"Lukas?" Falk asked, lowering his voice.
—"There's drag in the transmission," the driver replied from below. "It's not the terrain."
—"Do we stop?"
—"If we don't, it'll stop on its own."
—
They halted the Tiger in a clearing between two hills. The hatch opened with effort. The cold hit like a wall.
The other tanks formed a protective semicircle. Falk, Konrad, and Helmut jumped down immediately. Lukas emerged, eyes fixed on the side of the engine.
—"What is it?" Konrad asked.
—"The secondary pressure valve is frozen… or shot. Flow isn't stable. The engine's under strain."
—"How long?"
—"If we keep going—thirty minutes, max. If we stop now—two hours of repairs. Minimum."
Falk didn't hesitate.
—"We stop."
—
During the repairs, time seemed to freeze too. Ernst kept watch while the others worked with numbed fingers. Helmut muttered curses under his breath while handing tools.
—"You realize," Konrad said while checking a joint, "the Reich's best tank… freezes like a cheap watch."
—"It's a beast," Falk replied. "But it bleeds. Like us."
Lukas nodded from inside the engine bay.
—"Sometimes I forget this thing's just metal. Until it breaks."
—
Hands stained with grease, Falk leaned against the Tiger's hull. He looked up at the gray sky. Wind howled between dead trees.
—"We're twelve kilometers out," Helmut whispered. "Just twelve."
—"Feels like a hundred," Ernst added.
Silence. Just the creak of cooling steel.
—"When it starts again," Falk said, "we don't stop. Whatever's waiting for us… we face it without looking back."
Konrad stared at him.
—"And if it doesn't start?"
Falk answered without looking.
—"Then we push it."
A spark snapped inside the engine. Lukas called out:
—"She's alive!"
—
The roar returned.And with it, the advance.Now truly, into hell.