Keith Bond was very proud of his ancestor, great-grandfather Charlie Bond, a sergeant in the Royal Tank Regiment, killed in the Reichwald in Germany on 8 February 1945 during the Second Great War. So it came as no surprise when, in the year 2045 on the 100th anniversary of the old mans death, Keith booked:1 ticket on a 'Back to the Past - Pick Your Place and Period' Tour, a time-travel journey to the Reichwald, to see just what had happened. Documented and processed before dawn on 8th February at the vast Time Capsule Station, he was soon comfortably seated; he did not know what to expect as it was his first trip, but he had heard all about these time journeys from mates who regularly travelled back - Trevor Haswell had become a real fan of the chariot races in the Coliseum in Rome, while the Egertons had seen the Crucifixion and President Kennedy's assassination. There was nothing to it, one minute he was sitting in the capsule then, without any awareness of the transformation, he was huddled under the dripping trees of a dark and misty forest, along with half-a-dozen more shivering men. The dim light of dawn was brightened by gun-flashes and tracers passing overhead; the noise was deafening and involuntarily they shrank down, seeking cover amid the dense undergrowth and massive tree trunks around them. Passing from man to man, the Courier reassured them, "don't worry nothing can hurt you… there's no danger" through the trees could be seen a forest ride intersecting the phalanxes of trees, with a sandbagged gun emplacement alive with grey clad soldiers, feverishly working a big, long-barrelled gun. The Courier explained: "That is a German 88mm gun position...a weapon much feared by the primitive tanks 100 years ago...they are fighting off…" He consulted his notes "Oh yes, Churchill tanks of the 9th. Royal Tank Regiment, who are supporting infantry of 71st Brigade of the 53rd. Division. A shiver ran down Keith's spine… yes, this is the place... Sergeant Charlie Bond commanded, Achilles - one of three Churchill tanks in Three Troop of A Squadron, 9 RTR. He stared intently through the gloom of dawn, saw a movement amid the trees and then a crawling metal monster edged into view; its turret traversed and its muzzle-braked six-pounder roared out a challenge. A few yards to Keith's front the gun emplacement vanished in a turmoil of smoke, dust and flame, slowly settling to reveal a stark tableau of huddled bodies around the silent weapon. The tank clanked cautiously forward, pushing its nose out onto the open path in front of the gun position; half sideways-on to Keith, he could see the white lettering of its name... A... C... H - could it be Charlie Bond's Churchill? The boy rushed forward, seeking a better view, into the sandbag emplacement, tripping over a body on the ground causing him to be thrown forward towards the breech of the gun, which bruisingly halted his fall. In some inexplicable manner, the impact caused the gun to fire. In a shocking ear-splitting complaint, the 88 roared defiantly and bounded back in a triumphant recoil. In the turret of Achilles, Sergeant Charlie Bond gazed intently at the emplacement they had just knocked out; saw a sudden movement behind the gun, but before he could take any action the world erupted around him. [Digitised by Kris Constable]. Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #126 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com