Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (59 page)

Three of the Bostons were hammered into the water by fighters, a fourth
manoeuvred
violently and drove itself into the waves without receiving a hit.

One of the original air patrol
Seafires
received a full burst from a
dorsal turret
weapon
, turning the fighter into a funeral pyre that swiftly extinguished itself in the cool waters of the
North Sea
.

HMS Trafalgar, a
Battle
class destroyer, was a design specifically created for anti-aircraft work, from her stabilisers to provide a
suitable gun
platform, through to her enhanced AA
armament
of 4.5” and 40mm Bofors.

Two of the escaping Bostons flew too close and were knocked from the sky simultaneously, their wreckage mingling as they disintegrated on contact with the water.

The remaining four
Boston
’s sped away as fast as their Wright Cyclone engines could power them, their turret gunners all shouting joyously as their torpedoes bore fruit behind them.

The fire
caused by the crash
on HMS Argus had been all but extinguished but it was of little concern now, as
three
torpedoes ripped the starboard side open, allowing water to ent
er and explore the ships vitals,
the carrier
soon to be
betrayed by her origins as a civilian vessel.

HMS Queen evaded all but two, but they were enough. Her main engine room flooded within minutes and power for
fire fighting
was lost. Some escorts tried to close and supply water
,
and HMS Magpie, one of the Black Swan class sloops succeeded.

The explosion that followed sunk both HMS Queen and HMS Magpie in seconds, bombs and other explosives falling victim to unchecked fires within the carrier’s hull.

There were fatal casualties on a number of other vessels,
with blast effect,
pieces of metal, wood and other matter claiming lives up to
a thousand
yards from the explosion
, both at sea level and in the air
.

Nine hundred and sixty-three men
had
died in a heartbeat.

The shock wave rocked the Argus too, hastening her end
, although her crew were able to escape in numbers, only sixty-four succumbing as the ex-ocean liner swiftly sank beneath the surface.

Some of the aircraft expecting to land started to ditch, others made for nearby Heligoland or for some other safe haven, eventually adding another twenty-one aircrew to the list of dead.

Two of the Bostons returned to friendly airspace where one was
shot at by friendly flak, killing the turret gunner.

51st Mine-Torpedo Regiment had been virtually wiped out
,
but had exacted a huge price on the Royal Navy, sinking two small carriers and a sloop, killing a thousand men and
potentially
removing four squadrons of enemy aircraft from the Allied inventory.

Soviet
Naval Aviation had indeed announced its presence.

Allied forces - HQ, E, F, & G Companies of 2nd Battalion, of 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, of 101st US A
irborne Division, and I & K Compa
nies of 3rd Battalion, 370th Infantry Regiment, of
92nd Colored Infantry Division,  all temporarily attached to French 1st Army, US 6th Army Group.

Soviet
Forces -
Mobile Group Virnok, of
4th Guards Mechanised Corps, temporarily attached to 5th Guards Tank Army, of
3rd Red Banner Central European Front
.

The artillery was incr
edible, accurate and relentless.
Eggenthal
was
already transformed into a wasteland of rubble and shattered wood.

And yet, every time the
Soviet
infantry charged forward, troopers from Crisp’s battalion rose up and sent them back, bloodied and torn.

Seven hundred and one
paratroopers
had started the campaign. Eggenthal now contained less than four hundred and fifty, the remainder split in equal measure between evacuations to aid stations or left dead upon the field.

An unexpected boost was received when two companies from the 92nd Colored Division’s 370th Regiment arrived with ammu
nition just before chow time. T
he
Buffalo
soldiers were quickly directed to defensive positions,
Item Company to the north, arraigned around Route 12
,
and King Company in a blocking position approximately
half a
mile south-west of Eggenthal.

A line of T34’s took position facing west towards Crisp’s positions and proceeded to batter the village with direct fire, all the time supported by the relentless artillery of the
4th Guards Mechanised Corps
.

Major
General
Turbin
sent
orders to Colonel Virnok,
dispatching his
formations to the north and south, intending to surround and reduce the pocket and preventing escape.

Now Crisp’s 2nd B
attalion could not evacuate its casualties, the approach roads also being bathed in high-explosives. The aid station, established in the church and appropriately marked,
overflowed with damaged bodies, spilling
its contents out into the grounds, bringing those close to death alongside those long departed.

However, red cross markings were notoriously unreliable
protection
when fighting the Red Army, and such was the case today as shells had already struck the ancient building, partially demolishing the square tower.

At 160
0 hrs
,
a further attack was repulsed, but the momentum of the
Soviet
advance had carried it all the way to the American foxholes, and in two cases, beyond.

Major Crisp called an officers group and passed on
his decision to bug out,
received with
universal relief.

The first unit out was Crisp’s own George Company, a fast moving point party supported by a business-like support group, the rest of the troopers assisting wounded men to move back.

The point party came under fire and went to ground, three of its members never to rise again.

The Russians had closed around behind Crisp’s positions, cutting off the six companies.

Soviet
artillery
redoubled
its efforts and Eggenthal sank lower into the maelstrom.

Fig #46
- Relief of Eggenthal - the battlefield.

Paratrooper Generals are like no other military commander, for the very nature of their command places them in harm’s way in order to be effective, dropping
into enemy territory
with their men.

It made for a particular breed of commander, derived from a very particular
breed
of man.

Maxwell Davenport Taylor had returned to
Europe
to resume command of the 101st, only to be pitched headlong into the defensive operations that were currently bleeding his division dry.

Reports of the encirclement at Eggenthal filtered through from 501st’s commander.

One look at the map showed the experienced Major General that his cupboard was nearly bare.

He had amassed bits and pieces of the fractured and virtually destroyed 80th US Infantry Division
under his command
, but they were not enough to punch through to
relieve the 501st by themselves. Looking at the assets available, he factored in
the recent arrival of the ravaged A Company and virtually intact B Company of the 702nd Tank Battalion. Add
ing
to the mix some of the 80th’
s divisional artillery elements,
all
Taylor
was light was infantry.

Unfortunately, very few of the 80th’s doughboys had escaped
,
and what had made it through to US lines would need some time to
recover and
shake out.

Taylor
examined the map closely. Drawing his
CoS
in close
,
he spoke quietly.

“
Route 12 is important to them
,
quite clearly
.”

Brigadier General
Gerry
Higgins
only
nodded, knowing his G
eneral was in decision making mode.

“I could order to hightail it back to Bayersri
ed
,
or Obermelden...”

Higgins didn’t think that
Taylor
intended anything of the sort. Such a manouveure would probably result in the loss of the force.

“Or I could break him out and
give Ivan a bloody nose into the bargain.”

As if
Taylor
could read Higgins’ thoughts
,
he tapped the map in irritation.

“Light on rifles though
,
Gerry.”

Closely examining the area around Obermelden,
Taylor
could see the untasked
support
elements of the 80th
that
would be itching to hit back, but he could not see doughboys anywhere, leastways none he could free up to counter-attack Eggenthal.

Higgins consulted his notes at length, referring to the map to get his bearings.

“When do you want to go
,
Sir?”

Taylor
, sitting on a stool, finished his coffee before replying.

“Ideally
,
by 190
0 hrs
at the very latest. That will give the boys two hours of daylight to do the job, and offer up the night to get Crisp’s
boy
s
outta the hole.”

Higgins nodded, doing some swift maths before floating his idea.

“Our air is good at the moment, so we have no worries about movement. We can firm that up with Penguin Pete of course,” the
CoS
referring to Major Peter George of the USAAF, the 101st’s air liaison officer, by his accepted nickname.

“Here we have the 100th, less a company. Solid troops with halftracks. If we send them now
,
they can be to the line here,” Higgins used a pencil to propose a start line for the counter-attack, receiving an instant nod from
Taylor
, “
B
y 1830 latest, giving time for a brief.”

Taylor
ran his finger down the roads from Attenhausen to the start line north-east of Obermelden, calculating the difficulties as he went.

“OK. Give me more
,
Gerry.”

“We have a platoon of the Brazilian cavalry here at Unteregg
,
and a company of their engineers somewhere south of Sontheim.”

To the informed listener, such a conversation would be a sure sign of the disarray of the Allied defences, bits and pieces from all units scattered everywhere.

None the less, the line had held so far and the two officers had started to develop a plan to counter-attack and rescue the cut-off force.