Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (11 page)

Vassilevsky, warmed by the fresh coffee he was consuming, observed his
CoS
and frowned. Colonel-General
Lomov
, his briefings
normally
easy and pain free,
was preparing the daily delivery but seemed unduly
concerned
for the first time. The normally calm officer was in animated discussion with the senior Japanese Liaison officer,
Major General Yamaoka.

The
Marshall
cleared his throat to attract their attention, and both men advanced, one holding a map, the other a newly arrived report from General Yasuji Okamura, commander of the China Expeditionary Army.

“Well
,
Nikolai Andreevich, what’s causing you such concern?”

“Comrade Marshall, General Yamaoka has received information regarding the
US
tank force that went missing.”

The map was spread on the large table, the corners held down with pencils, and, in the absence of anything more suitable, Vassilevsky’s pipe and cap.

The area of concern lay in one of the
most
important areas entrusted to the Japanese Army; the southern assault towards
Nanning
and Qinzhou, subsequently angled towards the Indo-Chinese border.

Up to now, progress had been spectacularly good, but that had changed.

Lomov’s morning report would have indicated that the enemy resistance had stiffened
,
and that the advance had come to an abrupt halt.

With the arrival of the new information, it seemed clear that there was a definite possibility of an enemy counter-attack, supported by the US Tank brigade that had so mysteriously dropped out of sight a few days beforehand.

“So, what does Okamura propose to do about it?”

Whilst he mused openly, the question was really a challenge to
him
, a spur to read the situation and the response.

Yamaoka grabbed a pencil.

“Sir, the 63rd Special Army is now further forward than
indicated
on the main map,” he gesticulated at the wall behind him, both Soviet officers checking out the last recorded position of the newly-formed and extremely powerful 63rd.

The sound of a pencil on paper drew them back, Yamaoka circling the general area of concern before notating the map with ‘Suwabe’ and ‘Minamori’, the two sub-commands of the 63rd.

“Oh that’s good. T
hat’s very, very good.”

Vassilevsky could see that the enemy would, most likely, run straight into ‘Suwabe’
.

‘Unless?
’

Standing up straight and loading his pipe, the
Marshall
descended into silent thought, a
process
his senior men knew well not to interrupt.

Striking a match, Vassilevsky pulled on the pipe, puffing out the rich smoke that still bothered Yamaoka’s eyes to the point of tears.

“They will come there I think, to the north of the assault forces and the 63rd.”

The tapping finger drew both Generals down again, taking in the details that had stimulated their commander, finding the same reasons that had made him convinced.

‘Wuzhou?’

Yamaoka turned and clicked his fingers to an aide, the folder he required made immediately available.

“Sir, at Wuzhou are...”

He tailed off as the shaking head indicated he had missed something vital, the tapping finger returning, this time to a more specific point where the finger waited, ready to describe a route
east
and then south, bringing the enemy into the flank of the attacking bottleneck.

“I would
concern myself
more
about
who is at Gulping than
Wuzhou,
General Yamaoka, for I think it is they who will have to fight like the devil.”

Both officers could see it clearly now.

The blocking force, causing the attackers to build-up in one area, the mobile tank force smashing hard into the flank of the stacked-up formations.

Add probable enemy aircraft attacks into the mix
,
and there was a serious problem for the 6th Area Army.

“Do you have anything that can stop them apart from,” Vassilevsky looked at the notations, “The 85th Infantry brigade?”

‘Not that one of your infantry brigades would stop a determined armoured force at any time!’

“Sir, the 85th Brigade has not progressed beyond Tianpingzhen, there being a high sickness rate,
some sort of stomach problem,
hospitalising many of the men.”

Keen to show that the Japanese Army had its own house in order
,
Yamaoka quickly spoke again.

“Kempai-tai units are already with the 85th resolving the problem.”

No-one needed any
illumination
on how the problem was being solved.

“However, Major-General Suwabe sent part of his detachment
ahead
to the area as a cover, which will now prove very useful to us.”

‘I suppose Gulping is too much to hope for?’

Both Russians shared
identical
thoughts.

“
Here, from
Gulping
to Mulezhen. Suwabe has positioned his 3rd Brigade.”

Neither Soviet officer was any the wiser.

“3rd Special Obligation Brigade is partially armoured Sir.”

Something broke through the haze in Lomov’s mind.

“They are a new formation
,
aren’t they
,
General?”

The nod was full and unequivocal, as was the broad smile that accompanied it.

‘Ah, one of
those
new formations.’

Vassilevsky relit his pipe.

“Then it seems we have no problem of note there.
Proceed, Comrade Lomov.”

Captain Nomori Hamuda stood silently in front
of
his tank, his cre
w lined respectfully behind him.
T
he five of them stood in silence as the Shinto priest performed
the
Harai
ritual of
purification, a small array of fruits and vegetables placed on the vehicles hot armour plate.

Despite the fact that the metal beast had been their virtual home for the last month
,
it was only now, on the verge of action, that Hamuda had permitted them time to conduct the important ceremony.

Like most of the men of
the
‘Rainbow’
Brigade,
Hamuda had been a member of 3rd Japanese Tank Division
,
fighting a long and bitter war against the two distinct armies of
China
. Communist and Republican
forces
had
cooperated and come
together to oppose the Japanese occupation in a little known war that claimed millions of lives since its start in 1937.

When volunteers were called for to train with a secret unit
,
Hamuda immediately put himself and his crew forward for the mission, plucking them from the 17th Tank Regiment and into the
unexpected delights of getting to grip
s
with the new presents their covert allies had bestowed upon them.

The five men dutifully bowed on cue, honouring their own particular vehicle as the Harai drew towards its close.

Hamuda appreciate its beauty, but knew nothing of its history.

First
,
it ha
d been known simply as the VK30
02, the product of design work with
in
MAN, or Maschinenfabrik Augsberg-Nürnburg AG as it was more properly known.
This particular vehicle had been salvaged from the ruins of the 6th August 1944
Allied Bombing
raid on the MAN production line and had been sent off for operational duties
on the Russian Front
. It was
assigned to the
commander of 2nd Platoon, 1st Company
of Panzer Regiment ‘GD’ of the
elite
Großdeutschland Panzer-Grenadiere Division. It was lost in its first action during the counter-attack on
Wilkowischken in the autumn of 1944.
The
new
Soviet
owners used it against the former owners, claiming five kills before the
vehicle found its way into the hands
of new masters once more.
Bulgarian tankers
employed her in limited action
before
she was
again sent east on
a
railway
flatbed
, but thi
s time
,
further than even those G
erman engineers who had designed and built her
could have
envisaged.

To Hamuda and his men
,
she was
affectionately called
'Masami’, the 'Elegant Beauty’
, and in the
Rainbow Brigades
’
 
1st Tank
 
Company
she had
thirteen
sisters
, all
equally loved and equally deadly.

To the G
erman
s
,
she was officially known as the Sonderkraftfahrzug 171, Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf. G.

To any allied serviceman who had encountered her or her sisters before
,
she was
simply known as
the Panther
Tank
, and she was
very much to be
feared.

             
The 3rd S.O. Brigade 'Rainbow’
was the right flank of a Japanese attack intended to cause consternation in Allied circles, aiming as it was for
Nanning
and points westwards. It was intended to
reinforce
the excursion
that
had previously secured a route to the Ind
o-Chinese border
,
and
to
threaten
US-Chinese supply routes from
India
into the vast hinterland of
China
itself.

The main strike unit had been the Japanese 3rd Tank Division
,
but
concern over the disappearance of an American
armoured unit had
resulted in
the Rainbow Soldier
’
s
tem
p
orary reassignment
from the Suwabe Detachment to provide strength if a stand-up fight took place.

Leading the 3rd
Division
’s drive on
Nanning
was the 6th
Japanese
Tank Brigade
,
and it had
successfully
overwhelmed every impediment posed by the Chinese Nationalist forces, inflicting huge casualties.

This brought cries for help
,
which prompted the swift redeployment of the
1st Provisional Tank Group, a mixed Chinese and American armoured force.

The Japanese armour was not capable of holding its own in a stand-up fight with modern enemy
tanks
, and 1st Provisional sported many Shermans and a handful of Hellcat Tank-destroyers
,
which were all capable of dealing with the standard Type 97 with ease.

Nationalist officers assured the
US
officer commanding 1st
PTG that the Chinese 22nd Division would hold north
and south of Xingye, where more favourable terrain meant that the Japanese armour advantage was greatly reduced.
A fu
r
ther division of
Chinese
troops was promised to
reinforce
the position, especially as the Japanese tank force had been successfully halted and it was likely that a different approach would shortly be made.