2 Chapter 2
May 28th, 1861
Rommels arrival two days earlier , though expected, caused the men's morale to explode. Almost every German soldier knew of the "Desert fox". His cunning and skill on the battlefield were legendary. Upon his arrival he threw himself into his duties and within a week knew the exact amount of total strength he had here right now. This included manpower, material, and infrastructure. The germans had been granted an impressive 2500 acre land tract outside the town of Petersburg, Virginia. It was now a busy sprawling ground of factories, troop training facilities, assembly and power production facilities, as well as the gate building. The entire area was surrounded by 15 foot high electrified fencing with guard towers every 300 feet.
May 30th, 1861
Citizens and visitors alike stood quietly still in the town of Grafton, Virginia. They stood and watched as a unit of the federal Army of the Potomac marched in to occupy the town. A few cheers rang out from a handful of pro-union supporters, breaking the stoney silence from the majority of pro-confederacy townspeople. This had been done with only a vague explanation from the federal Army that it was for their protection.
Captain John Travell rode his horse out in front of his brigade, the 13th Ohio volunteer infantry brigade. His orders had come directly from Secretary of War Staunton, and up until now the March had been unspectacular. Suddenly up ahead a multitude of gunshots were heard to ring out. From up the street in the direction the shots had been heard a group of blue clad soldiers came running. Captain Travell stared in disgust as his skirmishers began running past him and the rest of the brigade, some without rifles or packs on.
"Who could it be?" He thought to himself. He had no reports of any Reb units nearby. As his brigade reached the open field at the edge of town he ordered the brigade into battle line. While he had halted and his unit was forming he scanned the forest edge at the far end of the field, seeing nothing.
Thinking angrily of the fleeing skirmishers they had just past, he grunted to himself." Green troops. Probably ran into a few Reb sympathizers from town armed with squirrel guns." No troop commander Reb or union alike would let the enemy form up before firing a volley of musketfire into them. Drawing his sword he loudly gave his brigade the order to advance.
His lines of federal troops made it halfway across the field when the gates of hell opened wide. From the tree line directly ahead an intense barrage of lead erupted. The sounds of so many shots so quickly led the captain to believe that he had erroneously judged the enemies strength. Looking to his left and right he watched as his men were cut down like so many corn stalks. Without warning his horse suddenly took a bullet of unknown caliber, throwing him to the ground. He picked himself up, shaking his head a bit to clear out the cobwebs from striking the ground so hard. Raising his sword he turned back toward the forest edge and began to run with his troops. The last thought he had was of the men in strange uniforms wearing shiny hats. An 8 mm sniper bullet fired from a Mauser rifle split open the captains head like a ripe melon, killing him instantly.
Lieutenant Hans Murdlich gave the order to cease firing. In moments the smoke from thousands of rounds of machine gun fire began to dissipate on the quickening breeze. Slowly the lieutenant rose from his dug in position surveying the battlefield. The field seemed to be covered in a blue blanket. Over 400 men lay dead and dieing out in the heat of the sun. The German soldiers were amazed and disgusted at the same time. War tactics from their time rarely resulted in this much Carnage this quickly. He looked to his left and right where the other 3 MG42 machine gun nests were. He and his 16 men has decimated this enemy unit with over 400 soldiers. Getting back to business he went to see to his men to prepare of the union counterattacks that were sure to come.
Later that day the German controlled area outside Petersburg, now being called New Munich, was alive with activity. Throughout the day men, material, and tons of other items to wage war were coming through the gate. By 4 pm that evening Rommel had amassed a force roughly equal in size to the federal Army of the Potomac.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA: same day
President Jefferson Davis, leader of the Confederate States, looked across his desk at the three men sitting before him. The report he had just read fresh in his mind. "Field Marshal, i must complement your men on their actions at Grafton this morning." He said. Rommel nodded his head giving a small smile. " My pleasure Mr President. It will be sometime before they try to march into that town again. When they do I will have an even bigger suprise for them. We are preparing a special welcome for them next time." Rommel said. Both of the other men sitting by Rommel leaned forward a bit in interest, but neither spoke yet. The man to the right of Rommel wore a grey uniform with a red sash and wore a cavalry hat flamboyantly decorated with a large feather of the same color. This man was Confederate General Thomas Jackson, a recent replacement for General Beauregard who had become ill only a week before. He was definitely a man of airs, and a strict disciplinarian to his men. He was so brilliant in the field and loved by his troops that he had been an easy appointment. The other man was General Robert E. Lee, a special military adviser to the president. Before the war while still a commissioned officer in the us army, he had been offered command of the entire US Army. He had declined the offer stating that he would never be able to fight against his home and brothers. President Davis then spoke again. "Field Marshal, what were those machines we watched training today called again?" He asked.
"They are called Panzers, Mr. President." He answered. Davis nodded and smiled."Ahh that's right. It would seem that these creations will rapidly replace horses before long." Davis added.
"Oh they will Mr. President. Once my men have trained more of your troops in Operation, upkeep, tactics, and their property use in battle they will be unstoppable." Rommel added.
Davis continued, his curiosity growing. "How hard would it be to train one of our existing cavalry units in these Panzers?" He asked. " Not very Mr. President. Once the men become used to the noise of the machines they would then need the proper schooling in maintenance, upkeep, tactics. If I had the men and a year I could give you a completely trained Panzer Division along with their supporting infantry we call panzergrenadiers." He said. Davis smiled widely and slapped his hand down on his desk. " Very well Field Marshall Rommel. I am giving you permission to set up a proper training school for Panzer troops." He turned and glanced at his wall map for a moment. " You can have the town of Goldsboro NC. The town is right off of a main rail line so moving your men and Panzers should prove easier." Rommel nodded his thanks and promised to begin training as soon as possible." Meanwhile to give you some time General Jackson will harass the Federal troops as much as possible to give you time to complete tour trainings." Davis said nodding to Jackson. Davis then went silent and the men knew that this meeting had come to a close.
July 20th, 1861: Manassas Junction, Virginia
General Jackson stood smiling and returned the salute given to him. "It's about time you joined this party General Johnston." Jackson said still smiling. Johnston laughed and spoke." You didn't think my men and I would miss out giving those Yankees a good old-fashioned southern welcome, did you?" He then slapped Jackson on the back with a hearty laugh. Both men then turned to walk back the short way to camp. Within a few minutes both men were standing under a large canvass awning that hung over Jackson's camp table with maps spread out on it.
"So what is the situation?" Asked Johnston. General Jackson then took a deep breath, pointed at the map and began. " The Yankees are here around Centerville with about 55,000 men under McDowell. But he's flailing around like he's blind as a bat. General Stuart has seen to that. McDowell thinks our army is still somewhere around Winchester. So he's kept Patterson and his 18,000 men at Charleston to block you from flanking him, and cutting him off from supplies. I also have requested Holmes and his division from Aquia Landing, but wether they appear on the field in time for battle is yet uncertain.
11:30pm July 20-21, 1861 McDowell's Headquarters Centerville and Bull Run
General Irven McDowell smiled cleverly, his commanders surrounding the map table gaining confidence from their commanding general. " Tomorrow we will crush the enemy troops and put an end to this rebellion to be home in time for Thanksgiving." He said confidently. " I have discovered a weakness in the enemy lines and we will exploit it here." His finger pointing to a spot on the map where an old stone bridge crossed bull run Creek. McDowell hoping that a suprise strike at the Confederate flank would have the enemies defenses in, made a grievous error instead.
The next morning McDowell, at 0500 hours, gave the order for his massed artillery barrage. This alerts the already awake and prepared Confederate troops. Confederate General N.G. Evans quickly moves his troops to be in position to meet McDowell's oncoming attack from Sudley Ford. Evans troops, some of the first Confederate soldiers trained and armed by the Germans take up their positions.
The federal troops under generals Heintzelman, Burnside, and Hunter approach the Confederate positions and pause in some confusion. Where there should have been a line of Reb troops awaiting them, there was none. The attacking federal officers are puzzled and waste valuable time sending runners to their commanding officer asking for new orders. A few of the federal officers spot movement again just inside a treeline among rocks and temporary breastworks. This behavior is contrary to acceptable military tactics so the federals assume that the men they have spotted are a line of lightly defended pickets. Echoing along the long federal line the order to open fire is passed along. The us troops fire blindly into the thickening smoke but have few targets to hit. The musket volleys are thick and fierce and within a few moments the cease fire order is given. The thick powder smoke from the Savage firing slowly begins to dissipate, but the federal troops don't see anything to indicate anything has been hit.
Meanwhile behind those rocks and breastworks a deep trench had been carved our by the Confederate soldiers. Inside the trenches thousands of soldiers lay silent and still, awaiting orders.
Along the Confederate line the troops lay waiting, wearing their new uniforms and steel helmets instead of wool caps. Men were armed with kar98 rifles, and schmisser machine pistols. Every 100 to 200 yards a well concealed MG42 machine gun nest lay silently. It nose pointing out at the federal troops.
Above the silently waiting Confederate troops, the trees and rocks were pockmarked by the federal soldiers firing moments before. All along the line very few men had reported injuries. The men smiled and silently joked with one another their morale very high. These tactics would save many lives, something even the lowliest private could understand.
Confederate generals Evans, Bee, and Bartow stood in the large living room of the house they had chosen for their headquarters on top of the hill.
The Confederate commanding general Thomas Jackson had paid the Matthews family in gold for the use of their home. Being the Confederate commander he could have just as easily commandeered the use of the home, but being the God fearing man he was he chose to pay instead. The three generals stared intently at a large map laid out on the table before them. In the corner of the room another Confederate soldiers sat monitoring another invention from thw Germans. They had called the device a radio. It enabled the headquarters to stay in contact with the units in the field immediately removing the need for runners and signal flags.
Behind the hill that the Matthews house sat on, a long row of grey metal boxes with long tubes that stuck in the air sat silently. These metal boxes had steel wheels much like a locomotive, however they turned inside a band of bending metal. This in turn allowed the boxes to move. The Germans called them mechanized artillery. The Confederates couldn't remember all that and they became known as horseless cannon. These guns were all manned by German artillerymen with Confederate trainees.
At the command post for the artillery a German and rebel radio operator listened for any incoming artillery calls. They didn't have to wait long as the German operator took the call and quickly responded. they then sent the artillery coordinates to the guns.
