Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (5 page)

None the less, the Red Army continues to make inroads into the Allied defences, and the rate of attrition is awful.

Whole divisions can be swallowed up in the smallest of battles for the most insignificant of locations.

The
Soviet
plan has allowed for a number of phases of attack
, with substantial reinforcements under central command, ready to be fed in when needed.

D
espite some serious setbacks, the Red Army launches its second phase on 13th August 1945.

Fig #
32

Ar
tillery is the god of war.

Iosef Stalin

Whilst not as big a bird
as the
Lancaster
, or
as potent a weapon in general, the Handley Page Halifax Bomber had seen its fair share of action and success up to May 1945.

NA-R was one of the newest Mark VII’s, in service with the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 426 Squadron, presently flying out of a base at Linton on
Ouse
,
England
.

Tonight
,
its
mission was to accompany
two hundred and forty-one
aircraft
and
their crews
to
area bomb woods to the south-east of Gardelegen.

The
Halifax
crew were relatively inexperienced, having completed only two operations
before the German War ended, ad
d
ed to
four
more
in the new one.

The night sky was dark, very dark, the only
illumination
provided by the glowing instrument panel or the navigators small lamp.

Until 030
0 hrs
arrived, at which time night became day
,
as beneath the bomber stream thousands of crews operated their weapons at the set time. Across a
five hundred
mile front
,
Soviet
artillery officers screamed their orders and instantly the air was filled with metal.

From their lofty perches
,
the Canadian flyers witnessed the delivery and arrival of tons of high explosive, all in total silence
,
save
for
the drone of their own Bristol Hercules engines.

They watched, eyes drawn to the spectacle, as the Russian guns fired salvo after salvo.

Their inexperience was the death of them, as it was for the crew of K-Kilo, a
Lancaster
from 626 Squadron RAF.

Both
aircraft
,
their crews
so intent on the
Soviet
display
,
drifted closer
,
until the mid-upper gunner in UM-K screamed in shock and fear as a riveted fuselage dropped
inexorably
towards hi
m.

Aboard the
Halifax
, the
crew was
oblivious to their peril, the
Lancaster
crew resigned to it
,
as contact was made with the tail plane and rudders, the belly of the
Halifax
bending and splitting the control surfaces.

The
Lancaster
bucked slightly, pushing the port fin further up into the
Halifax
where the ruined end caught fast, partly held by a bent stay and partially by control wires caught on debris.

The
Halifax
captain
, a
petrified
twenty-one
year old Pilot Officer
,
eased up on his stick, dragging the
Lancaster
into a nose down attitude and ruining its aerodynamic efficiency.
The
young
pilot
then
decided to try and move left, and at the same time
,
the
Lancaster
pilot lost control of his aircraft, the nose suddenly rising and causing the port inner propeller to smash into the nose of the Handley Page aircraft.

Fragments of
perspex
and sharp metal deluged the
Halifax
’s
pilot, blinding him. His inability to see caused more coming together and the tail plane of the Avro broke away, remaining embedded in the belly of the
Halifax
.

Both aircraft
stalled and
started to tumble from the sky. Inside the wrecked craft
,
aircrew struggled to escape, G forces building and condemning most to ride their charges into the ground.

NA-R hit the
earth
first, with all but two of its crew aboard. The resultant explosion illuminated the area enough for many Russian soldiers to watch fascinated as the ruined Lanc
aster
smashed into the ground some
five hundred
yards north, four parachutes easily discernable in the bright orange glow which bathed the area.

Fire licked greedily at o
ne of the NA-R crew’s white canopy
, taking hold and leaving only one man to witness his
comrade’s
fate, plunging earthwards, riding a silken candle into the German soil.

The Bomber stream tore the Gardelegen Woods to pieces, destroying acres of trees and occasionally being rewarded with a secondary explosion. Seventeen more bombers were lost but they reported success and the obliteration of the target.

Unfortunately for
them
and,
more importantly
,
the
British and Canadian units in the line at
Hannover
, the units of 6th Guards Tank Army
that
had occupied hidden positions in the target area had moved as soon as night descended on the countryside. Apart from a handful of supply trucks and lame duck
vehicle
s, nothing of consequence had been destroyed.

At
Ceska
Kubice
,
the results were far better, with the
Soviet
4th Guards Tank C
orps and
7th Guards
Cavalry Corps still laagering
,
hidden and believing themselves safe.
Medium
and
heavy bombers
bathed the area in
high explosives
, destroying tanks, horses and men in equal measure. It was an awful blood-letting and the survivors were in no mood to take prisoners when the
New Zealand
crew of a stricken
Lancaster
parachuted down nearby. Cavalry sabres flashed in the firelight, continuing on when life was long since extinct and
the victims no longer resembled
men.

On the ground
,
the results
of Soviet attacks
on the Allied units were quite devastating
,
as the
Soviet
Armies resorted to their normal tactic of concentrating their attacks
, focussing on
specific points.

Whole battalions were swept away in an avalanche of shells and rockets.

On each of the five chosen focal points breakthrough was achieved swiftly, the leading
Soviet
units passing through a desolate landscape
,
tainted by the detritus of what a few minutes beforehand had been human beings and the weapons they served.

Occasionally
,
a group of shell-shocked troops rallied and fought back
,
but in the main
,
only the odd desultory shot greeted the advancing Red Army.

The reports of advances were immediately sent back and within
twenty
minutes Zhukov knew he had all five breakthroughs ready to exploit, and ordered the operations to go ahead as planned.

Ten minutes
after Zhukov’s orders went out
,
a
bleary eyed
Eisenhower, woken from his much needed sleep to swiftly throw on his previous
day’s
shirt and trousers, learned that he no longer had an intact front line and that a disaster was in the making.

Swift
telephone
conversations with his Army Commanders took place, each man in turn receiving a simple order.

“Reform your line
,
General, reform your line.”

Each was different, for McCreery had problems
contrasting those of
Bradley, who had worse problems than Devers et al.

Eisenhower felt like Old Mother Hubbard. He already knew that he had probably just lost the best part of three divisions of good fighting troops and he sought replacements.
The cupboard was all but bare.

Some units were coming ashore in France, some in
England
. A few were already moving forward to their staging areas near the
Rhine
, ready for operational deployment.

Setting his staff to the problems of logistics
,
he let them take the strain whilst he sucked greedily on a cigarette and watched the
situation map as the
disaster unfold
ed
.

Report followed report, problem heaped on problem
,
as the Red Army moved relentlessly and surprisingly quickly forward.

Ike stubbed out number one having lit number two from its dying butt, spotting the normally dapper but now quite dishevelled Tedder approach, half an eye on his Commander in Chief and half a horrified eye on the situation map.

So shocked was the Air Chief Marshall that he stopped, mouth open wide, watching as blue lines were removed to be replaced by red arrows.

Eisenhower moved to the RAF officer
,
who seemed rooted to the spot.

“Art
hur, they’ve hit us bad and we’
re in pieces as you see.”

The Englishman managed a nod accompanied by a grimace as arrows, red in colour, appeared moving north of
München.

“I want maximum effort from you, maximum effort. Get everyone in the air that can carry a bomb or a machine-gun. I will get you my list of target priorities within the next hour. Send everyone
,
Arthur, even those who have been out tonight.”

That drew a
dismayed
look from Tedder, this time aimed at Ike.

The complaint grew on his lips but withered under
Eisenhower’s
unusually hard gaze.

“Arthur, I know your boys will be tired
,
and I know the casualties will reflect that. Send them in later if you must
,
but send them in, come what may. Are we clear?”