Read Opening Moves (The Red Gambit Series) Online
Authors: Colin Gee
Opening Moves (The Red Gambit Series) (64 page)
At Enns, the Russians had crossed the river and were fighting their way through the 317th Regt, 80th US Infantry Division, who were slowly giving ground as they fell back towards Asten. Elements of the 305th Engineers had blown the bridge at Enns as the attack started but the enemy had crossed in boats and, unknown to the briefing officer, had already started work on a permanent structure capable of carrying tanks.
Other units of the 305th Engineer had been overrun near Sterninghofen, and 318th Infantry Regt was falling back in front of a huge armoured assault, seemingly aimed at outflanking Linz to the south.
South of that, there were no reports of any activity whatsoever.
As the Brigadier-General finished and the next officer stood to speak more reports arrived, condemning part of his outline to the bin as the situation changed yet again.
That would be the way of it for some time to come.
At Schloss Schönefeld similar activity was taking place, although everyone was a lot more relaxed as the attacks were going extremely well in the main.
Zhukov received reports of the success of Operation Kurgan sceptically, encouraging Malinin to harry the air commander into firming up the figures his regiments were claiming.
None the less, he was pleased, for if the Kurgan reports from air and ground attack were only half-right then severe blows had been dealt to the allied tactical air forces throughout Europe, with relatively light casualties themselves.
The destruction of the British warships had caused much celebration amongst his naval liaison team but that was pretty much a sideshow to the Marshall. As long as they kept the allies off the North German shoreline that was all he worried about.
It was the reports of ground successes that interested him, particularly the low levels of resistance encountered, particularly in the southern part of Germany.
The feedback from the raids aimed at command and control was limited and there were few indications as to their success, save for the obvious disorganisation in some allied units.
Nowhere on the map or in the reports were there indications of retaliatory air strikes or counter-attacks so it was probable that the Allied command structure was paralysed by either incompetence, fear or injury.
‘
Well whatever it is, is fine by me,
’ mused Zhukov.
The plan ensured that the pressure would be kept on at all points of attack and that the Soviet air regiments would keep attacking the allied air forces, not permitting them time to recover, although new units arriving would be a problem in time.
Timed perfectly to the thought, Malinin appeared with the latest estimates of the destruction wrought upon allied air power.
The figures were larger than before.
Malinin replied to the question in Zhukov’s eyes.
“Yes Comrade Marshall, I think we can trust these to be a reasonable set of figures. The regiments have confirmed their submissions and understand the need for accuracy, and the projections of success from the ground assaults are wholly reasonable, certainly not over-optimistic.”
Zhukov studied the list again.
“In which case Malinin, we have been extremely lucky today.”
Handing the paper back to his deputy, Zhukov cast his professional eye over the map once more. Pointing at one place where things had not gone well he gave Malinin instructions.
“Tell Rokossovsky to sort out his attack north of Linz or he will be counting trees.”
Shifting his point of focus Zhukov continued.
“And tell Bagramyan to get 43rd Army moving or he won’t get his Marshall’s stars!”
Whilst the words were spoken with the normal bark of command Malinin knew that the bite was not present, for the day was going very well indeed and his boss was a very happy man.
0530 hrs Monday, 6th August 1945, Rittmanhausen, Germany.
Allied Forces - ‘A’ Troop, 4th Cavalry Recon Sqdn, 4th Cavalry Group, US 19 Corps, 9th US Army, US 12th Army Group.
Soviet Forces – 55th Rifle Division of 89th Rifle Corps, 189th Tank Regiment of 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps all of 61st Army, and 5th Guards Rocket Barrage Division, all of 1st Red Banner Central European Front.
Nothing the doughboys had experienced came close to the hell that was visited upon them that morning.
Veterans of D-Day and a score of actions on the drive across Europe, the troopers of 4th Cav rightly considered themselves veterans and solid soldiers.
From concealed positions two and a half miles to the east, two Guards Rocket battalions from 5th GRBD employed ninety-six BM13-16 Katyusha mounts to deluge the American positions in Rittmannshausen and Luterbach.
That amounted to fourteen hundred and thirty-six rockets in the air at the same time, each with forty-eight pounds of high explosive at the business end.
Their arrival on target was devastating and many young men died without even knowing what had killed them.
German civilians also died as their houses were swept aside in a wave of high explosive.
Divisional artillery guns from units of 89th RC also joined in, initially firing a mixture of fragmentation and smoke, adding to the confusion.
Tanks of the 2nd GCC started forward with tank riding infantry clinging to their sides, aiming straight down the road.
Infantry from 89th RC moved forward in the open to threaten Luterbach and Altefeld, as well as others who slipped clandestinely through the woods between Rittmannshausen and Rambach.
Staff Sergeant Joshua Ravens was a tank commander, and exceptionally proud of his M24 Chafee light tank, ‘Lady Lucy’, named for his fiancée back in New York.
On hearing the rocket strikes on the positions to his southeast, he immediately got his tank moving to support his colleagues in ‘A’ Troop who were clearly under attack.
As ‘Lady Lucy’ moved cautiously forward, Ravens’ attempts to bring up anyone else on the radio net failed.
Artillery was falling in front of them in what looked like a combination of explosive and smoke rounds so he commanded his driver to seek a position of cover off the road.
Immediately the driver swung the vehicle left and drew up adjacent to a small copse of trees just off the road about two hundred yards short of the village.
In between new explosions and burst of smoke shells, the crew could see the destruction being wrought to the buildings and people in front of them.
Emerging out of that destruction were a number of shell-shocked and dazed survivors, both military and civilian.
The nearest man was very obviously staggering around oblivious to the fact that he had no arms but he soon succumbed to his wounds and fell silent to the earth.
The falling artillery seemed now to be all smoke.
One or two unwounded men emerged from the village, gathering up the injured and creating a casualty station at the side of the road.
An M3 half-track drew up alongside the Chafee and Ravens went to seek orders and information in equal measure.
The young 2nd Lieutenant, so recent an arrival that Ravens could not recall his name, was no wiser than he, and certainly less experienced in the arts of war.
Against Ravens advice, he ordered the Chafee and his own vehicle forward into the village, the half-track immediately surging forward.
Ravens climbed aboard ‘Lucy’ and watched the M3 disappear into the smoke and then blossom into a fireball.
With eyes fixed on the death pyre of the young officer and his men Ravens tried the radio again but stopped as he became aware that the half-track appeared to be backing slowly out of the smoke towards him.
It took a moment for him to realise that the destroyed vehicle was being pushed along by a tank coming out of the village.
Ravens, shocked into inactivity for a short time, watched as the half-track refused to be pushed in a straight line and started to swing its burning body off to the right as he looked. The tank pushing it helped it on its way and, in a scream of anguished metal, broke loose.
The tank’s hull machine-gun hammered out and the casualty station was no more.
“Tank action front!” he yelled, dropping into the turret as fast as he could.
The gunner, another veteran, was on the ball, already tracking his target as the loader drove home a solid shot shell. Their target, actually a T34/85 of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps, was equally competent and experienced.
Both fired together and both hit.
The Chafee’s 75mm main gun was not noted for its armour piercing performance and the gunner tried for a turret ring shot. The shell struck the T34 on the right side of the turret and sped away to bury itself in the village beyond. On its journey, it wiped three tank riding infantry off the vehicle, leaving only bloody spray marks where men had once clung.
The Russian 85mm shell struck the front glacis plate and easily penetrated the thin armour in front of the driver’s position. The rest of the crew were covered with the drivers remains as the shell carved its way through, moving on to remove both of Ravens legs at the hips before it buried itself in the engine compartment at the rear and the vehicle started to burn.
By the time the shocked and dazed crew started to exit the vehicle, Ravens was dead.
The three survivors dropped to the ground and in their shocked state were unaware of the approaching Soviet tank.
It swept on by as the riding infantry exacted revenge for their three dead comrades, killing the helpless American survivors as they passed.
With their deaths, ‘A’Troop ceased to exist.
Allied Forces – 63rd Arm.Inf.Btn and 41st Tnk.Btn of 11th US Armored Division, US XI Corps, US Third Army.
Soviet Forces – 2nd
& 3rd Btns of 440th Rifle Regt of 64th Rifle Division of 70th Rifle Corps of 49th Army of 3rd Red Banner Central European Front.
The two companies of the 63rd Armored Infantry had been there all night, as directed by the divisional exercise schedule. Set up on a east-facing line commencing on the Pernau side of Neumarkt, running along the heights all the way down until it curved to the east passing to the south of Wittinghof and terminating on the heights adjacent to the river Feldaist, with a strong reserve in Rudersdorf and a smaller force just to the north-east of Neumarkt.
The brief was for a narrow front dawn attack mounted by elements of the 41st Tank battalion, namely C & D companies who, along with C/63rd had laagered overnight in the fields south of Lasberg.
This was the enemy force that was to attack and breakthrough the defence, needing to enter Matzeldorf to triumph in the exercise.
Languishing around Netzberg were the Sherman’s of A/41st, presently untasked but slated to conduct a tank assault during the second exercise later.
B/41st was still on the northern outskirts of Linz unneeded in the exercise and conducting maintenance prior to the whole division being shipped back to the States for demobilisation.
None the less, in and around the exercise site nearly one and a half thousand experienced US troops were wide-awake and loaded for bear.
Umpires from Corps Headquarters, who had quartered overnight in Lasberg , had been rudely awakened by the distant sound of artillery and shortly after by the arrival of a jeep containing soldiers with incredible news.