Opening Moves (The Red Gambit Series) (90 page)

It did not emerge into sight again; instead, the view became clouded with a rich oily smoke, marking the loss of more sons of Mother Russia.

Vengeful comrades hurled shell after shell at the brave Americans, occasionally hitting but not causing terminal damage.

Another T34 shuddered to a halt, this time one from the outflanking force descending from Rottenbauer in the north. No fire, no smoke, no life.

An American half-track [D] burst from the village behind them, bouncing along in their wake, unseen by those closest, recognised by others more distant but immune from harm because of the nearness of their comrades.

Against all the odds it escaped, dropping into a small cut that took it northeast towards the river.

An M-16 ran from Albertshausen, its quad .50 mount lashing out at anything in range [E].

It died, victim of the fog of war, in this case smashed by a friendly bazooka round, hastily aimed by a terrified infantryman virtually blinded by smoke. Three men escaped, two more ran around, thrashing in their agony as flames slowly consumed them.

The Soviet Artillery Officer switched his radio to a different channel and sent information to the tanks, which started to perceptibly slow.

122mm shells started to arrive, accurately dispatched onto the point of dogged resistance.

Neither Sherman was hit but no further shells came from them. They were later recovered for use as spare parts by Soviet tank maintenance crews. The Americans who rode the Sherman’s into battle either died from blast or concussion within their chargers, or perished in a sea of metal and explosives trying to escape them.

Soviet casualties amongst the 242nd Battalion’s armoured units were evenly spread, with each of the three medium companies losing four tanks, some of which were salvageable. Other gaps were made up with three Sherman’s salvaged from the field. 4th Company lost only one vehicle and crew, inexplicably driven over a ridgeline and turning over, killing all inside.

The most notable Soviet tank casualty was the commanding Colonel, victim of an excellent shot from Belinda’s Bus.

One of the 100mm guns had been hit, losing a wheel, and a jury rig was in place to keep it operational.

No Zis-3’s had been hit and none of the gunners touched during the exchange.

Losses in 45mm AT guns were much worse, with seven destroyed with nearly all their crewmembers.

Anti-tank riflemen had also sustained large casualties, and over thirty lay dead on the field, with as many bleeding in the aid stations set up in Reichenberg.

1st and 3rd Battalions of the 179th Guards counted less than forty casualties between them, mainly because they had not been heavily targeted during the battle.

The 4th and 6th Companies that had fought in Rottenbauer were finished as effective formations. Of the two hundred and eleven officers and men alive that morning, barely a third responded to roll call that afternoon, and those seventy-two shattered men and women included walking wounded and those upon whom the deeper wounds were not apparent.

2nd Battalion of 179th Guards Rifle Regiment was effectively finished as a fighting force, given that 5th Company, already badly handled in fighting north of Würzburg on the 8th August, had been dealt heavy blows by the US cavalry troopers in the wood line skirmish, adding just another fifty-eight effectives to the roster. They were formed into some sort of order as a single entity, albeit unusable for the foreseeable future.

Fig#20 - Reichenberg - The End

Artem’yev gathered the living in Rottenbauer where the medics had converted the Schloss into a hospital. He moved amongst his men, tears falling for their pain and sacrifice, not caring to celebrate his complete victory bought at the cost of their blood.

For the Americans, the reaper’s bill was immense.

Whole tactical units had disappeared from the order of battle.

Of the four tank companies comprising 23rd Tank Battalion, only D Company, the light tanks, existed as a useful fighting force, having lost only one of their number during the days combat, and that being an M8HMC abandoned due to engine failure on the retreat back to Goßmannsdorf.

Each of the medium companies had been at decent strength, with 12 M4A3 [76]’s and 1 M4A3 [105] close-support tank. Four C Company tanks escaped the field, as did one each from A and B, although the B Company vehicle broke down south of Sommershausen and was abandoned.

Astonished US staff officers assembling as news of possible tragedy spread firstly refused to believe and then surrendered to despair as a tank battalion that had mustered forty-one running tanks at the start of the day now could bring just five to the field, and those manned by men who were exhausted and shocked beyond measure.

17th Armoured Infantry Battalion, support elements and all, had gone into action with precisely one thousand and one personnel to its name.

It now could muster only two hundred and twelve equally exhausted and shocked men, although that number swelled to three hundred and two in the night, as stragglers made their way back to the relative safety of the front line.

C Company, 92nd Cavalry was gone, its sole living representatives occupying six beds in the divisional aid station. Three men survived the night and by the next time the sun rose, one more had succumbed.

573rd’s Battery had lost all its vehicles but eighteen men had escaped the Devil’s cauldron that had been created in the fields before Reichenberg.

As a fuller picture of events was assembled, it rapidly became convenient to blame a long dead Colonel for the defeat, much to the disgust of those who fought in the action.

Amidst the horror and the suffering, tales surfaced of the two tanks ‘Belinda’s Bus’ and ‘The Berlin Express’ and their valiant stand in the face of overwhelming odds. Reliable information from the AAA Lieutenant and a Captain from the armored-infantry filled in most of the blanks. Both men had escaped because the brave tankers had sacrificed themselves. Other witness testimony embellished the submission to the Army Commander.

The family of eight crewmembers from the two tanks, both ‘B’ Company, 23rd Tank Battalion, attended the White House in November 1945 to receive posthumous DSC’s for their loved ones. Alongside them were the proud but emotionally wrecked parents of 2nd Lieutenant Jurgen Knapp, German-American commander of ‘The Berlin Express’, and Belinda Montoya, grieving wife of Tech5 Antonio Montoya and mother of the young son he never saw, and for whom the Medal of Honor was a poor substitute for a loving son, husband and father.

The tank regiment, supported by rider infantry supplied by Artem’yev closed on Winterhausen, securing the town and taking up defensive positions whilst replenishment of fuel and ammunition was organised.

Artem’yev received orders to form a line starting on Winterhausen west to Maisenbach as the 12th’s Combat Command ‘A’ had been considerably more successful, dealing heavily with his comrades from the 243rd Rifle Division, who had had neither the benefit of tanks and heavy anti-tank support nor of favourable terrain.

The Colonel smiled to himself, only just now noticing the bloodstain where a wood splinter had slashed his left thigh.

It also helped that the Americans had been overconfident and inexperienced; a very bad combination.

However, he had seen enough to know that they would learn, and when they got it right, there would be a bill to pay.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

Sun Tzu, the Art of War

1355 hrs 10th August 1945, Headquarters, US Forces in Europe, Trianon Palace Hotel, Versailles, France.

“Dear God.”

Apart from the normal analysis post-battle, there was little else to be said that made sense that afternoon.

It would be necessary to know what went wrong so that there were no repeats and early reports suggested some leadership and support failings.

Combat Command ‘B’, 12th Armored had ceased to exist in all but name and regardless of where the blame lay, the loss of life was appalling. As usual, Ike took the weight fully on his own shoulders.

The proposed counter-attack at Fritzlar had gone forward as planned and blunted Soviet efforts, retaking Fritzlar, or more accurately, what was left of the town. However, the drive had only gained one mile beyond the ruins before being halted in turn.

He had spent some of his morning chewing out his officers over the failure of the new 15th Armored to move forward and attack.

Now in his hand he held a report detailing what had happened to one of his formations that had discharged its orders that morning, and it made appalling reading.

‘
Perhaps the Almighty had shown his hand and stopped the green division from receiving similar treatment?
’

In the main, the air support promised by the USAAF and RAF had proven excellent. Allied fighters had protected the armored columns well, inflicting palpable losses on the Russian air regiments who tried to get through them. This enabled Combat Command’s ‘A’ and ‘R’ of the 12th Armoured to discharge their function and inflict great damage on enemy forces south of Wurzburg, all at a small cost in lives and equipment.

9th US Armored’s more modest attack had also achieved all it set out to do, and at even lower cost in lives, the most valuable of a General’s assets.

The air attacks slated for the cancelled Göttingen operation went ahead, and resulted in modest casualties for Eisenhower’s valuable ground-attack assets as fair exchange for huge disruption to the Soviet drive on and around Göttingen. An overnight RAF bomber raid on Northeim had been confirmed as having wrecked every crossing point on the Rhume River, including the two recently constructed by enemy engineers.

Running north and west from Northeim, every crossing point on the Rhume and Ilme Rivers had now been dropped in an effort to hinder movement and logistics on the northern side of the pocket.

The Russians were doing the same to the bridges to the west of the trapped troops, destroying or damaging every bridge on the River Weser between Reinhardshagen and Gieselwerder.