Battron: Against the Chariots

Battron #3

by Wayne Vansant

The military action/adventures of French Legionnaire Battron continues as he battles German Panzer units in the Belgium forest during World War II !

December 1944. In Belgium’s Ardennes forest, Hitler’s last gamble on the western front is playing out as his German Panzer units and SS Shock Troops are assaulting the long, ragged thin line of the U.S. 1st Army. An engagement that will later be called the Battle of the Bulge. Cold, worn out veterans and green G.I.s are hanging on in their foxholes, and sometimes dying in them. But can they hold out? Or will the Wehrmacht crack the line and drive the Americans back to Paris?

In the remote village of Aufenscheidt, a mixed rag-tag group of Allied soldiers are persevering against increasing attacks from numerous German units, which seem to be intensifying hour-by-hour. Why the Germans want the seemingly unimportant town is a mystery. But every individual feels the physical and emotional pressure, including Sergeant Battron. Separated on the battlefield from his French Foreign Legion group, Battron struggles to support both his old friend Esclaviar who wishes to return to his family, while still keeping faith that these Americans fighting by his side will hold out against the German onslaught.

But as the Germans gradually crack the outer walls of Aufenscheidt, and tighten the noose around the town, the cost of these assaults and defense will be handed out to each individual in direct relation to personal effort. And that final cost may be exorbitant to everyone on all sides...

119 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2022

About the author

I was born and raised near Atlanta, GA, and served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. I graduated from the Atlanta College of Art in 1975 and have had many jobs, including being a salesman, security guard, milk delivery man, and the Director of Security for a large art museum.

I began my writing and illustration career in 1986 with Marvel Comics' "Savage Tales" and "The 'Nam." Since then I have written and/or illustrated many books and comics on historical/military subjects such as Battle Group Peiper, Days of Darkness, Antietam: The Fiery Trial (commissioned by the National Park Service), Blockade: The Civil War at Sea, The War in Korea, The Hammer and the Anvil (profiling Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass), Normandy (profiling D-Day and the entire Normandy Campaign), Gettysburg (profiling the Battle of Gettysburg), and many others.

I am currently working on graphic histories of the Battle of the Bulge, Manfred von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron, and and am finishing up my Russian Front trilogy entitled Katusha: Girl Soldier of the Patriotic War, which is currently available as an eBook on Comics Plus, a leading comics book app.