Opening Moves (The Red Gambit Series) (79 page)

Stopping to recover the body of their dead commander, a few gunners found time to loot trophies of pistols and medals from the dead Soviet tank crew. ‘B’ Battery then swept past the fire-savaged lend-lease Sherman’s, leaving the junction to the dead men, destroyed tanks and the engineer platoon from 15th Combat Engineer Battalion who had ambushed the over-confident advance guard of the 65th Soviet Army.

0800 hrs Thursday 9th August 1945, The Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.

At 0800 hrs precisely, Beria placed before Stalin his plan for reacting to the intended German mobilisation. In truth, he admitted to the General Secretary, most of the legwork had been done some time before. There would definitely be some small delay before the plan would start to bear fruit but with the assets available, numbers which silently impressed Stalin with the foresight and diligence exhibited by his NKVD Chairman, he had no doubt that the plan would be very effective.

Beria, as usual, maximised his presentation to take the kudos, not informing his leader that the assets had not been placed for this task but another completely different one.

The plan was approved and within a few hours messages had been sent to sympathisers within the International Red Cross from where it would slowly reach the assets.

As with many things devised by Beria’s mind, the plan was simple but the dividends could be huge. Time would tell.

0830 hrs Thursday 9th August 1945, Headquarters of SHAEF, Trianon Hotel, Versailles, France.

It had been hoped that SHAEF would be able to retake control at approx 0400 hrs but the disruption caused by the air attacks on both the airfield and the I.G.Farben building played havoc with the timetable.

Valuable personnel had been killed or wounded and it took extra time for Eisenhower to get his headquarters online.

It was not until 0830 hrs that SHAEF again took control and commenced the normal everyday processes associated with controlling a shrinking army in a losing war.

Towns and cities that yesterday had lain in friendly territory were now behind a line that was relentlessly marching westwards, occasionally checked, occasionally blooded, but presently unstoppable and inexorable.

The first concept of a halt line had never got off the ground, vital sections already having fallen to Soviet advances.

Whilst some new formations were coming online there were still not enough assets in place to be able to do anything meaningful to, in some way, wrest the initiative from the Russian armies.

Clearly Hamburg was vital and McCreery would hold it against whatever the Russians threw at him.

One British Corps commander had stated that it would be a second Stalingrad, and was reminded very succinctly by McCreery that the Russians had won the first rather convincingly.

Canadian and Polish divisions had moved up and stiffened resistance on the North German plain and Eisenhower was sure the Soviet timetable was being wrecked there, which it was. British engineers had developed a penchant for destruction, dropping most of the bridges behind them as they retreated, slowing the Russian advances.

For now, the German divisions in Denmark, complete and ready for battle, were tasked with defending the coastline and probing the landings in Lolland in the east.

Eisenhower left his political masters to soothe the ruffled Swedish feathers, feathers agitated by the thought of armed Germans and armed Russians a few kilometres from their border. A fair portion of the Swedish Army stood to watching events and ready to lash out if anyone should forget national boundaries.

Allied airpower was concentrating on protecting for now, ensuring moving units were not seriously attacked, watching air bases being reconstructed although, where possible, belligerent commanders undertook aggressive incursions to harry the enemy formations with surviving ground attack assets. In basic terms, exchange rates were pretty much one for one, although many allied pilots were recovered as the air war was mainly fought over allied territory.

Plans to use the bomber force had been decided upon but it was felt important that sufficient fighter escorts were available before they were fully implemented.

However, Tedder had put forward one or two low-risk ideas that whetted the appetite for things to come.

At sea, things were not looking so good, with a troop transport mined as it slipped into Cherbourg and the liner Queen Mary torpedoed within sight of the Statue of Liberty. Whilst loss of life on her was much less than at Cherbourg, her loss to the reinforcement machine was immeasurable and certainly counted as a huge success to the Soviet navy.

On the plus side, two Soviet submarines had been sunk off Norway and a Soviet minesweeper destroyed when discovered hiding in a small bay near Savannah, South Carolina. Apparently masquerading as an American vessel, the Russian ship had been there for days quite openly.

On land, the Russians were winning, and winning convincingly, although Eisenhower remained equally convinced that resistance was more than they had anticipated and that it was having an effect upon their plans.

Ike drained another coffee and drew down another cigarette, all the time taking in the situation map as it was updated with newly arrived information.

The loss of Lubeck was grave indeed, placing more pressure on Hamburg’s defenders and opening up Southern Denmark.

Soviet forces had immediately pushed forward and taken a bloody nose. British 11th Armoured Division had manhandled the Soviet 22nd Army at Timmendorfer Strand, taking considerable numbers of prisoners for the first time.

For now it seemed that the Soviet advance into Southern Denmark had been stopped but Eisenhower did not celebrate too much as he watched red markings outflanking Timmendorfer, and worryingly being placed on the eastern and southern suburbs of Hamburg, indicating small but important inroads by Russian forces.

The 82nd US Airborne had all but ceased to exist in bloody defensive battles north and south of the Elbe.

Ike’s attention was drawn back north of Hamburg as a Corporal placed new red markings at Bad Segeberg, heading west from Lubeck. That they went through an area apparently held by the British Guards was a concern and he beckoned a Major forward to send off a message to McCreery for more information.

Once done, he returned to his observations, noting that the advances into the southern environs of Hamburg appeared stalled for now.

Elements of the famous 51st Highland Division had been moved up and were engaged in fierce fighting south of the Elbe around Harburg. Lighting a cigarette, Eisenhower smiled to himself as he also noted the steady progress of 1st Polish Armoured Division, crossing the Weser and assembling at Bremervorde and Stade. Ike gave himself a moment’s pause and wondered if it was a smile or a grimace, for the move was not without risk if Bremen came under direct attack. He liked McCreery’s style though, and it looked like the British General was planning to hit back, driving the enemy back from below Hamburg, and relieving the pressure on the city.

In fact, the more Ike looked at the northern sector the more he felt that a stabilised line was possible in short order, provided no more huge surprises came his way.

Braunschweig had fallen and enemy units were heading to Hannover but were presently stalled at Peine where 405th RCT of the 102nd US Infantry, receiving timely assistance from elements of the British 8th Armoured Brigade, defeated, and bloodied a strong force of the Soviet 69th Army.

Eisenhower remembered reading a report of that action, where the US Commander described the Soviet artillery as incredibly powerful, a string that was repeated across the front. What the Soviets lacked in technology and finesse they made up for with weight of shell and dealing with the massed artillery assaults was a problem for which no immediate solution was apparent.

Making a mental note to find out what progress had been made on that issue, another cigarette armed him for the mental journey down the front line.

Hildesheim.

Still holding.

An RCT from 30th US Infantry Division, part of 2nd US Armored and stragglers from a number of units battling against the Soviet 3rd Army and doing exceptionally well.

‘
Need to know more,
’ accompanying the thought with a gesture to Colonel Samuel V. Rossiter USMC, officially a USMC officer attached to Ike’s staff to fly the flag for the Corps, which he did ably, but in reality a member of OSS who briefed Eisenhower in on special ops when needed.

“What’s the situation at Hildesheim Sam?”

“Very strange Sir. Nothing happening at all except nuisance artillery fire. It seems the boys handled them very roughly yesterday and they are licking their wounds. We have recon working on it but no reports back as of yet.”

Moreover, neither would there be today. The photo-recce spitfire had long since been struck from the skies.

“2nd Armored has got set on the Hameln-Springe line, but we have confirmed sightings of Soviet vehicles at Blomberg. Not sure what numbers or type, and it could just be a small recon force. General Collier has switched some 2nd Armored assets to cover his southern approaches, just in case.

“Excellent.”

Rossiter was looking directly at his commander and noted the pained look that suddenly developed.

“We still have a huge issue with Göttingen. General Bradley has ordered them out I understand?”

“Yes Sir. There is a difficulty with the route of escape.”

Rossiter tapped the Weser River line, which ran across the path the trapped units needed to use.

“I believe the Soviets have managed to trap most of the 83rd Infantry and part of the 8th Armored east of the Weser.”

Fishing in the sheaf of papers he held in his left hand, he extracted the report he was looking for.

“Major General Macon of the 83rd states he cannot disengage as he is pressed on all fronts and fighting every foot backwards. Recon elements of the 8th are trying to find a way across the Weser. Unusually, the Reds are bombing the bridges, something they have singularly avoided doing thus far. Options for withdrawal over the Weser are becoming less by the hour. General Bradley has ordered a stand on the west bank of the river opposite these forces to try and give them the best chance of escape, and engineers are putting extra bridges across.”

Eisenhower had recently discussed this with Bradley and whilst he was content to let the old warhorse do his work, the risk to both the trapped units and those ordered to hold the Weser line was great.

Gesturing with his smoking right hand, Ike pointed out a Soviet drive that was moving north-west from Fritzlar.

“Actually Sir, we have garbled reports of enemy activity just south of Istha.”

“Where’s that?”

Rossiter walked to the map and his finger pointed out a small town positioned west of Kassel.

Eisenhower’s face was a mask of horror.

Returning, the Marine Colonel hastily continued.

“We are trying hard to firm that up but we have no contact with the unit from the 79th that gave us the heads up.

“OK,” an angry finger waved in the general direction of the map, a voice slightly raised, “But we do need to stay on top of that one, Sam.”

“Yes Sir.”

Coffee arrived on cue and gave a natural break, permitting one man to retire feeling chastened and the other to drink, feeling that he just displayed a little too much emotion for a Commander-in Chief. A word of apology later would be needed. The Colonel was good at what he did and did not deserve his boss’s anger, leastways not for that.

It was not getting any better by the time he resumed his observations. Kassel was holding and holding tough, but the Soviets looked like they were trying to bypass to the south. Frankenberg had stopped them, or rather the Eder River through it had, 75th Infantry Commanding officer reporting the bridges down and his front stabilised in a very recent report.