Stug Turklopfer- its a little bit funny......

[tigercat]

The rocket one is "Doorknocker"

[tigercat]

Feldwebel Otto Baecker  , leaned against his Stug chewing a bit of black sausage and drinking better coffee than he'd have gotten on a German ship. The gentle rocking of the Italian Landing craft bothered him not at all. Hailing from Hamburg he'd been around all his life . Finishing the last bite of sausage he scrambled on board Lotti as they's named the strange beast to which they'd been assigned. As it was quiet he thought he'd finish the letter he was writing to his sweetheart . Dropping into the Stug he noted Franz the driver lolling in his seat reading Signal.

Just as he was bending down to collect the pen and paper from where he'd tucked it. An alarm sounded and he straightened hitting his shoulder on the breech of the Stug's gun.

Scrambling up to the commanders hatch he was just in time to see the first in a line of aircraft passing in front of him as they fired rockets at the assembled barges.

The Stug started to vibrate slightly as the Rubicon's engines fired up.

The ship started to swing and as he saw it's movement  and the blue grey verdamnt Britischer aircraft starting to wheel round an idea occured to him a crazy , insane idea , a one in a million shot .

"Drive Franz damn you."

"what are you crazy there's nothing in front of us but the sea."

"just drive and stop exactly when i tell you"

The Stug drove forward elevating the armoured vehicle just enough

Otto did 3 thing almost simultaneously shouted "Halte" dropped down into the Stug and slammed the hatch above him and jabbed the firing tit for the 2 banks of 4 rockets mounted on the rear of the armoured beast.

The rockets fired just as a Skua attracted by the juicy target of the larger Italian Landing craft it's rockets exhausted decided to strafe the length of the craft.

There was a whoomph as the rockets fired.

and a crash that shook the Stug which in a position never envisioned by the designers of either the landing craft or the armoured vehicle started to skid sideways as the latch holding one side of the bow door shut failed unde rstrain it was never designed to cope with.

[Captain Canada]

Nice little story ! Must have made a mess that !

[tigercat]

There's a third bit on the Woodpecker thread...