Opening Moves (The Red Gambit Series) (87 page)

Fig#15 - Reichenberg/Rottenbauer battleground.

As the 76.2mm shells continued to rain down on the churned ground in front of Goßmannsdorf, radar tracked as best it could. Artillery shells had a different type of trajectory, one not dealt with easily by the radar.

However, it did offer up enough information to get a flight direction and so the artillery officer waited for some input with a map and ruler.

Chambers carefully recorded the details and double-checked the results, not that he didn’t trust his Corporal.

Moving over to the Captain’s map table, he annotated it with a single line. Commencing at the point of shell arrival and departing in the direction indicated by the radar.

He then stood back and let Maynard do his part.

It took a few seconds before the Captain found what he looked for and he marked a simple X on Chambers contribution, in an area just off road north-east of Reichenberg.

Calling in the coordinates to his battalion, he could not help himself but check and recheck the possibilities.

The battery of guns he controlled fired four salvoes and a very satisfied Maynard noted the reduction and then cessation of shellfire on the now silent approaches to Goßmannsdorf.

The arrival of 105mm shells was a very unpleasant experience for the Soviet gunners. However, only a few fell close enough to do harm, killing four artillerymen and wounding two more.

None the less, the unit seemingly panicked and started to hitch up guns without proper orders, hence the lessening in incoming fire witnessed by Maynard and Chambers.

Losing only one gun and two prime movers, the battery withdrew in ragtag order, finally coming to a halt on the southern approaches to Würzburg, where the young Junior Lieutenant in charge was summarily executed by the NKVD officer who intercepted the withdrawing unit.

The Junior Lieutenant had, without his knowledge, been instantly promoted to battery commander by the arrival of a 105mm shell on the previous incumbent and his second in command, neither of whom were recovered from the field.

0858 hrs 10th August 1945, American Counter-attack, Vicinity of Rottenbauer, Germany.

Allied Forces – 23rd Tank Battalion and 17th Armored Infantry Battalion and C Company, 92nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion, all of Combat Command ‘B’, 12th US Armored Division and 2nd Battery, 573rd AAA Btn, all of US Fifteenth Army, US Twelfth Army Group.

Soviet Forces – 2nd Battalion, 179th Guards Rifle Regiment of 59th Guards Rifle Division of 34th Guards Rifle Corps of 5th Guards Army of 2nd Red Banner Central European Front.

Fig#16 - Rottenbauer,US Counter attack.

Over three hours had passed since the first shots had been fired and the 12th had made excellent progress. Plunging on nearly five miles into Soviet lines, fighting steadily and with purpose, roughly handling the 906th Rifle Regiment of 243rd Rifle Division.

Initially, the advance had been slowed by dogged resistance from 3rd/912th in Goßmannsdorf but they had been forced to withdraw to the south-west, leaving Combat Command ‘B’ to plunge further towards Würzburg.

Arriving in a blaze of fire at Winterhausen-Sommerhausen, the lead elements of the 92nd Cav, supported by a platoon of M4A3[76mm] tanks from A/23rd, made short work of a retreating mortar platoon, as well as a bridging engineer unit that was striving to make good the damage to the bridges.

Pausing only to destroy the engineers good work, CC’B’ moved forward, only to be taken under fire by Soviet anti-tank guns positioned on the east bank, losing one half-track from the 92nd and one Sherman from A/23rd.

CC ‘B’ s commander quickly switched his artillery to suppress the enemy guns whilst redirecting his forward elements temporarily away from the river line and west towards Fuchsstadt, ready to drive north on the parallel roads between Eibelstadt and Reichenberg.

Fuchsstadt was swiftly overcome, but at the cost of the cavalry company commander and his vehicle [A], victims of a panzerfaust hit as the Captain drew his vehicle to a halt, turning his back on the modest firefight behind him to concentrate on his next leap forward to Rottenbauer.

Again, the lead platoon of A/23rd swept forward, reducing some of the buildings on the edge of the town to rubble and flames with their HE shells and allowing a dismounted platoon from the 17th Armored Infantry to move into Rottenbauer and start clearing it completely.

The rest of A/23rd’s lead platoon then moved through the position, preceded by a platoon of the cavalry, immediately receiving fire from positions at the rear of the town.

C/23rd continued through towards Albertshausen before swinging north once more, running into no resistance until taken under fire from their left flank near Lindflur.

A platoon of cavalry reached the crossroads between Rottenbauer and Lindflur without any problems, as did another to the end of a cut northeast of the disputed town.

CC’B’’s commander intended nothing to escape from Rottenbauer.

As both sides sought each other out at long distance the 12th’s luck started to run out.

The limited fighter cover given them for the attack had been hugely successful and nothing had got through to harm them, until ten Shturmoviks finally arrived over the battlefield and received orders from a ground director.

Each of them carried four RS-132 rockets and four delivered them onto the tanks of C/23rd.

Two Sherman’s were destroyed in the attack [B], both burning fiercely, living up to their reputation as burners despite the new ammo stowage and fire precautions.

One commander stuck rigidly to his .50cal MG and was rewarded with noticeable hits on one of the aircraft, which limped away trailing smoke.

His joy was short-lived and he provided a lesson to all his fellow commanders on vulnerability in the turret when a rifle bullet took him in the head, fired from a hidden position around Lindflur.

The other six aircraft fell upon C Coy of the armored infantry and the juicy target of three platoons of 57mm AT guns, one from each of the 17th’s companies, waiting together under the supposed protective watch of B Coy.

The armored-infantry, well disposed and taking advantage of trees and buildings on the outskirts of Albertshausen, suffered few casualties.

The AT platoons were ravaged by rocket fire and most guns were knocked out, along with many of their trained servants.

Return fire from a pair of half-track mounted machine guns was ineffectual, encouraging the Shturmoviks to return for a strafing run.

More casualties accrued and still no rounds hit the attackers.

Two M-16’s from the 573rd had more joy and knocked an Ilyushin from the sky, causing it to crashland south of Fuchsstadt, where the crew fell victim to vengeful civilians before soldiers of the armored-infantry managed to get to them.

While C/23rd sorted themselves out the CC’B’ Commander plunged his troopers on into Rottenbauer, where sudden stiff resistance caused the set-piece deployment of a full company of armored infantrymen, complete with mortar support from the M21’s in the support company.

The rest of A/23rd put down fire on the town as they moved forward and past Rottenbauer, deploying halfway between the crossroads and the village, approximately two hundred yards north of the fighting. Professionally, they partially oriented to their rear in case Soviet forces tried to withdraw with the rest of the unit watching their front, using small but adequate hillocks as hull down cover, paying specific attention to likely ambush spots ahead.

Occasional rounds from Soviet PTRD anti-tank rifles hit home from the village they had passed, having little real effect but excellent as a distraction and for nuisance value.

Resistance in Rottenbauer was unexpectedly fierce and a platoon of tanks from B/23rd was sent forward to assist, the remainder of B Company sitting in reserve at Fuchsstadt.

Most of D/23rd’s light tanks remained at Winterhausen keeping well hidden from the anti-tank guns across the river, whilst a platoon pushed up half a mile to act as an early-warning if the Russians returned, happily screened from the same anti-tank guns by trees.

Casualties amongst the armored infantrymen were mounting as they battled house to house against quality Russian fighting men, experienced soldiers of the 59th Guards Rifle Division, or to give it the full honorific’s due, the 59th ‘Order of the Red Banner, Order of Suvurov, Order of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy’ Guards Rifle Division, named for ‘Kramatorsk’, ‘Nikopol’, ‘Budapest’ and ‘Lower Dneistr’.

They had been in almost constant combat since March 1942 and were veterans of a thousand battles against a competent and deadly foe.

Levering them out of Rottenbauer’s quaint houses was time consuming and costly, both in lives and the necessary chattels of war, as huge quantities of grenades, bazooka rounds, mortar shells, and small arms ammunition were being expended.

In open combat, the American units had a real advantage with the M1 Garand but in close combat fighting, they were rapidly acquiring a healthy respect for the capabilities of the PPSH sub-machine gun.

4th
and 6th Companies of 2nd Btn, 179th Guards Rifles had quite a lot of them, accompanied by the skill and bravery to use them to full advantage.

The armored infantry push started to grind to a halt as casualties ate up their effectiveness and resolve, requiring closer support from the tankers of B/23rd, which exposure cost two more tanks knocked out by hand thrown anti-tank grenades.

In an effort to kick-start his advance again, the Colonel sent in ‘C’ Company of his armored-infantry.

A vicious fight took place in the Schloss itself, and an armored-infantry platoon seeking to establish itself there was forcefully ejected from the main building, seeking refuge in the stable block to the west side.

Before they could properly set themselves, the guardsmen threw themselves forward, taking casualties as they charged across the open yard.

Hand to hand combat ensued, at which the Soviets excelled, and the Americans were displaced as much by the extreme shock of the assault and violence of the gutter fight visited upon them as by the casualties they started to sustain. Many of the Russians employed sharpened spades as cleavers, slashing down in the manner of a chopper, aiming for vulnerable neck flesh where head met torso. More than one blow went the full distance, separating the parts.