Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (10 page)

The enemy had paid a heavy price, with five of the Lavochkins felled and over a dozen
of the Yak
s destroyed.
The numbers were in his favour but he knew the overall balance of forces was not
,
and Pyrrhic victories were
of
no use to a hard-pressed allied
air force
.

The raid’s objectives were to destroy the railway junction at Winsen and to take out the crossing points over the
Luhe
River
. In the former case
,
the results were disappointing, with only a moderate amount of damage done. However, in the latter case
s, save Luhdorf,
the
results were excellent. Both the recently repaired road and rail bridges at Winsen were obliterated; similar
ly the two bridges at Bahlburg.

The crossing points at Roydorf were damaged
,
but not badly so, and with swift efforts by
Soviet
engineers the bridges were taking traffic within two hours.
At Luhdorf
,
the Halifax Mk VI’s of
347 (French) Squadron FFAF missed the target and dropped their bombs into the centre of the town
,
killing Russian soldiers and German civilians in equal measure.

Slowly
,
Vladimir Stelmakh became aware of his surroundings. The
external
noises had stopped now but the hammering inside his head continued. By the
modest
interior light he could see the gunner and loader collapsed over each other, still out for the count.

Stretching out
,
he kicked the gunne
rs hand and received a reaction, repeating the blow on the loaders dangling leg. Both were alive.

‘
Good.
’

Extending his arm
,
he undid the hatch and pushed upwards, not hearing the bricks slide off it but aware of the extra weight.

He cautiously stuck his head out of the hatch and examined his tank.

The IS-III was half buried in rubble and wood from the building it had parked beside,
a gay and pleasant G
asthaus on
Luhdorf’s
Radbrucher Stra
β
e.

‘Was’
,
he corrected himself, assessing the ruins.

He could see fire and smoke. He could see soldiers and civilians rushing round. He watched as an old house slowly collapsed. He realised he could hear nothing, the bombing having robbe
d
him of that sens
e
. He waggled his finger in his ear and withdrew it, the blood from a burst eardrum apparent on the tip.

He examined the scene
further
, noting the huge crater to his front
,
and the ruined carcass of the Regimental C
ommander
’
s tank decorating the rim.

Stelmakh stiffened and saluted whatever was left of a man he had admired.

He slowly took in the rest of the surroundings, noting with relief
at the obvious closeness of his own demise,
the
bomb
crater to the rear of his tank, this bomb having flipped another of his unit’s tanks on its roof.
Again
,
no-one would have survived
,
although this tank at least could be recognised for what it once was.

Slowly
,
Stelmakh climbed out of the turret, becoming aware that his bladder had let go at sometime during the ordeal.

Sat at the front of the IS-III was Stepanov, Corporal, and driver of ‘Krasny Suka’.
Vladimir
didn’t like the name but it had been the choice of the crew’s previous commander
. He had been a popular officer and had died of some medical condition. To change it could undermine crew efficiency
,
so he was stuck with ‘Red Bitch’ and had to like it.

Stepanov’s mouth moved and he offered up a pack of cigarettes. Stelmakh tapped his ears, and spoke words he could not hear above a
n
internal
resonant buzz.
Stepanov laughed and indicated his own lack of hearing.
Joined by both
the
gun crew
,
and s
itting on the front of ‘Suka’
,
Stelmakh
drew in the rich smoke and
simply enjoyed living the life he thought
he had lost an hour beforehand
.

Medics found
the four
there
twenty
minutes later
.
A Doctor
swiftly examined them
and g
ave each a clean bill of health. The tankers grinned and thanked the doctor,
despite the fact that none of the men could hear a word she said.

The medical team moved on and left the crew to themselves.

Stelmakh, gradually recovering his wits
,
if not his hearing, organised the crew to start removing the rubble from on and around their tank.

By the time they had finished no hand was free from laceration or bruise, each man having sworn as fingers were crushed,
his comrades
all
buoyed
by the fact that the cursing was
now
apparent
,
as sound gradually began to filter back into
their lives.

It took over two hours to free ‘Suka’ and drive her to the rally point, as designated by the temporary commander of the regiment
,
who had done the rounds of his surviving troopers.

The IS-I
I
I’s were not renowned for their mechanical reliability but Stepanov was a wizard
,
and the Red Bitch showed her class by starting first time and moving off without problems.

6th [Independent] Guards Breakthrough Tank Regiment had been detached from 12th Guards Tank Corps but had not been incorporated into the new attack, being held back in reserve yet again.

Having not fired a shot in anger in this war
,
the Regiment now found itself in pieces, leaderless and savaged, casualties particularly heavy amongst the motor riflemen and support troops.
Five of twenty-one IS-III’s were total write-offs; another two would need a lot of attention before being declared fit for service.

As ‘Suka’ made her way through rubble strewn streets and past shattered houses
,
Vladimir Stelmakh examined his thoughts. Without firing a sh
ot
,
he was now an acting Senior L
ieutenant
,
and commander of the 3rd Company.

The red-faced Colonel was apoplectic with rage.

“No, no, no, no, that’s wrong
, Comrade May
or.”

“I have my orders
,
Polkovnik
.”

“Your orders are incorrect
,
Comrade. This is all incorrect!”

The hard-faced Major
remained outwardly impassive but
eased the
PPS
submachine gun at his side
to demonstrate
his annoyance.

“Don’
t ma
ke this worse than it already is, Polkovnik
. You will accompany me now.”

“How the fucking hell could I have known t
hey had jet fighters, Comrade May
or, tell me that?”

As no answer came from the
poker-faced
NKVD officer
,
the Colonel kept going.

“The plan was perfect, executed well
,
and the regiments pushed hard
.”

The deadpan face revealed nothing.

“Even then, with the enemy advantage, we have downed three heavy bombers and savaged their jet force for fuck’s sake!”

Silence carries its own menace, especially when accompanied by grim purpose.

“You cannot b
e serious C
omrade.
General
Sakovnin
simply cannot be serious!”

Tu
r
ning around to the large window looking out over the former Luftwaffe airfield of
Wittenberg
,
he watched as the remnants of his
three
savaged regiments were put back together by harassed ground staff.
The La-5’s had lost five of their number, the two regiments of Yak’s had
returned with only fifteen of thirty-one that took off, and four of them were probably write-offs according to first reports.

Turning to his accuser
,
he went on the offensive.

“The Division needs my attention as you may notice.
Tell Comrade
General
Sakovnin that I will send my report as quickly as I can
,
but I must get my regiments reorganised.”

The NKVD officer remained unmoved.

“
You are dismissed
,
Comrade May
or
,
and I want no more of your nonsense.”

He sat down
,
making great play of reading a sketchy report on the engagement, all the time concentrating on every sound from the man on the other side of the desk.

He never heard the shot
s
that killed him,
dying instantly,
executed on the orders of the
Chief of Staff
of
the
15th
Air Army. His plan had been good, anticipating an enemy bomber attack
and
utilising the strengths of his aircraft
,
but
intelligence had failed to notify him of the possibility of enemy jet fighters.
A simple
,
but costly
,
error.
None the less, a scapegoat was needed and Colonel Garinov, Commander of the decimated 315th Fighter Division
,
was an appropriate choice to save General
Sakovnin’s
neck.

By the Way of the warrior is meant death. The Way of the warrior is death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. It means nothing more than this. It means to see things through, being resolved.”

Yamamoto Tsunetomo.

Marshall Vassilevsky was in high spirits. The plan was proceeding
pretty much
as planned, with the newly strengthened Japanese Army making big inroads
into the Chinese defences centrally and to the south.

His own ground forces
were
driving deep into
Northern China
, courtesy of an agreement with the Chinese Communist forces, who stepped adroitly aside, exposing the National
ist forces to a series of light
ning flank attacks.

However, the planned paratrooper deployments had been cancelled. The heavy losses in valuable aircraft were only partially
to blame, the success of the ground offensives actually meaning that the majority of the airborne operations were made redundant.

The Chinese and American
air forces
, possibly lulled into a sense of false security by the decline in Japanese air power, h
ad been dealt significant blows.
Main amongst these being
the wholesale destruction
of the
base at Chengtu, along with heavy losses
inflicted on
the 58th Bomb Wing, recently returned from the Marianas, the 312th Fighter Wing and the 426th Night Fighter Squadron, all of which
had
called
Chengdu
home.