Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (14 page)

In almost slow motion
,
he watched as the Tiger’s
turret was propelled up
and left
by the internal explosion
,
gently rotating
, barrel over turret
. Through his binoculars he watched as it crashed to the earth,
coming to rest upside
down on an animal
pen.
He swore he saw a face appear at the moment of impact.

American artillery continued to mask the withdrawal
for some time
,
but
failed to secure any more kills and the battle was over within twenty
-four
hectic and bloody minutes.

Hamuda called for his supply vehicles and withdrew to a safer place to replenish, using the opportunity to discover the facts of the battle.

To his chagrin
,
he learned that many of his gunners had failed to score hits
,
let alone kills
,
and that most of the damage had been done by five of his tanks.

Kagamutsu had enjoyed success four times whereas Hirohata had
five
kills to his name,
four
of which were American Shermans. Two others of Hamuda’s Panther unit had a brace each, leaving the other successes to the
ir
comrades in 2nd Company.

None the less,
Rainbow’s war had got off to an excellent start.

"One minute can decide the outcome of the battle
,
one hour - the outcome of the campaign
,
and one day - the fate of the country."

- Russian Field Marshal Prince Aleksandr Vasilyevich Suvorov

             
All morning the reports had flooded in, a village lost, a unit overrun
,
and a myriad of information from hard-pressed commanders desperately trying to salvage their units from the maelstrom.

             
Some units stood and fought, others simply withdrew under pressure. Some ceased to exist
in defiant defence,
whilst yet others ran away.

             
The staff of SHAEF were desperately trying to bring together the big picture so that their General could make informed choices, rather than trying to
fire fight
each individual report that arrived from his senior commanders.

Rather surprisingly for Eisenhower, it was Bradley that was least forthcoming with information, the normally genial and calm general clearly rattled by what was happening to his units.

It had taken all morning to establish that 12th Army Group’s frontline had been
badly broken
,
Soviet
units
seemingly
pouring through and driving hard into the heart of the Allied Occupation Zone.

Having just got off the phone with General McCreery
,
Eisenhower savoured the positives of the call.
Soviet
attacks had taken place
,
but not at the heavy level of
Central Germany
,
and not with the same effectiveness. Leastways
,
not in and around
Hamburg
.
Hannover
was under heavy pressure and the British General did not expect to hold beyond that evening. But still McCreery’s report was better than any of the others Eisenhower had endured so far that day.

Opening his third pac
k of cigarettes
,
the commanding G
eneral
examined the situation map, seeing the front sundered at
Kassel
, Frankfurt,
Geissen,
Heilbronn
and
Ingolstadt
, the red markers seemingly breeding on the map before his eyes
,
as tired staff placed up the markers of processed reports.

A red-eyed staff Major attracted Ike’s attention and gestured towards the telephone, mouthing the word ‘Bradley’

“Eisenhower.”

“Ike, this is Omar. We can’t stop them.”

‘Well that is pretty unequivocal’
,
thought Ike.

“Go on
,
Brad.”

“If my brief is still to preserve my force
,
I have no choice but to conduct a controlled
and rapid
withdrawal, and to be frank, for some of my units it may be too late already Ike.”

“You must preserve your force, that order still stands Omar. You’ve been updated about
Ingolstadt
I hope?”

“Yes Sir. Depending on where they go
,
I don’t believe they will be a problem for me just now.”

Drawing quickly on his cigarette
,
Eisenhower focussed on the map to his front.

“So, what do you propose
,
Brad?”

“The
Rhine
.”

“The
Rhine
?”

“Has to be
,
Ike
.”

Eisenhower’s eyes took in the situation, assessing distances from enemy forces to the Rhine, new units arriving at French ports, others available in
France
, bringing everything together in his mind.

“No good for the British
,
Brad,
no good for the Germans,” Eisenhower shook his head at the inanimate object in his hand, “N
o good at all.”

“I
understand
,
Ike.
We have to hold the Ruhr in any case, that is a must, so we can establish a defensible line from there up to
Bremen
, I hope.”

“There’s not as much going on with McCreery at the moment. He should hold for now.”

“Regardless
,
I need to
start
pull
ing
back
now
,
and to cut the orders
,
now
,” Eisenhower didn’t care for the school teacher emphasis his General used but let it go, “
It means abandoning large areas of Germany to the Russians and the Council ain’t gonna like it
,
Ike, but if
I’m
gonna
have enough Army to kick them back again then it has to be done...”

“…And done now?
” Eisenhower completed
the sentence.

“Yes
,
Sir, it surely does.”

A few staff officers had stopped what they were doing and were looking at Eisenhower, aware from his posture and expression that the day was about to take a different turn.

“No.”

Bradley was actually physically shocked.

“Sorry Brad, but I cannot give up that much ground without a fight. There are other natural lines of defence we can dig our heels into.”

“
Yes Sir, but none with
the worth of the
Rhine
.”

“But none the less of worth
,
General.”

Eisenhower consulted a small map on the table in front of him.

“Too much ground. We can hold them for some time on other lines
,
Brad.
Dropping back to the
Rhine
in one hit removes other options. I can’t sanction that.
”

“I’m not proposing a mass bug out
,
Ike. A controlled and fighting withdrawal back to the
Rhine
, to give myself time to beef up the defences.”

“I can buy
into that, General
, but ceding the ground only when absolutely necessary
.
There will be other lines to hold, before the Rhine, and I will tell the Council that we will hold them as best we can whilst we prepare the
Rhine
.
Combat engineers have been working hard
,
but we are light on mines from the reports I see.”

Bradley clearly wanted to make certain of his remit
, ignoring the point to ensure he understood fully
.

“So can I look to drop back on the
Rhine
?”

Eisenhower wanted to make sure his man understood his orders.

“A fighting withdrawal,
establishing more defensive lines and
holding
on to them for
as long as is possible, pulling out only to preserve your force
. Not a general bug-
out to
the
Rhine
. Am I clear,
Brad?”

“Yes Sir.”

“How long can you keep the Reds
away from
the
Rhine
river line for?”

“
Mainz
worries me. It’
s
the shortest route
,
and we seem to have half the Red Army committed around Frankfurt and
Giessen
. I think a minimum of three days
for them to get there
, but I can hold
Mainz
for now,
Sir.”

“Right
. Make s
ure you tie in on your flanks, l
iaise with
McCreery
and Devers, particularly work out the plans with Devers
,
as the join between you is crucial
,
Brad.”

A swift look at the sheet of paper on his coffee table and Ike continued.

“I will cut three of the newly arrived
infantry
divisions to your command immediately. Details to follow.”

“Thank you for that
,
G
eneral, but twenty-three would be
needed
right
now
.”

“Would that I had them to send you, Brad.”

“The Germans?”

Eisenhower overcame an automatic
reluctance.

“I am speaking with the Council this afternoon.”

“Good,
cos
I’m sorry to say we need those sonsofbitches right now.
Put some of them in the field soon and we can free up some assets and start
thinking about
hitting back.
”

Something stirred in Eisenhower’s memory as he sought more tobacco. Lighting up
,
his mind
suddenly
clicked.

“Did you see that report on th
os
e unusual attacks in the Pacific
,
Brad?”

Momentarily confused by the
curve ball
his commander had thrown, Bradley
switched his
train of thought.

“Yes
,
Sir
,
I did. Anthrax bombs and
infected
fleas that carry Bubonic Plague; n
asty business
,
Ike.”

“Just thinking out loud here but
,
as
the Japs and Russians are
allies;
do you think that there could be a possibility that they might have given the Reds something in return for the tanks and guns?”

A pause suggested that the
ramifications
were
being swiftly processed.

“Possibly so, but I can’t see it. The
Soviet
s are advancing
into our areas,
whereas the Japs used the
nasties
to mess up areas under our control. But it will pay to consider the possibility
,
Ike.”