Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (87 page)

The frontline officers in the room had all met the man’s
type
before, and all dreaded being under the control of one so obviously useless and dangerously incompetent.

“Well.
This time I will let it go. But, understand this!”

Molyneux turned around, scoping every man in turn.

“
I will now be giving the orders around here.”

Stout hearts sank all around the room
,
as the possibility became the reality.

“I
,
Acting
Général de Corps D’Armée Albert Roland Molyneux,
am here to take command of the Legion Corps with immediate effect. I require a briefing from you and your unit commanders, with full details on all streng
ths and logistical stocks.”

Calling on
all
the arrogance of
a member of
France
’s ruling class,
bred in
to him
with
in
his mother’s womb, through to the tolerance of his bullying
all the way from
Aspirant to the rank of
Général
, he added, “I will take coffee in my suite now and return here in thirty minutes precisely. Be ready
or I will replace you with more capable officers
.”

Molyneux turned and strode out, satisfied that he had curbed the Legion officers for the moment, and determined to show them exactly who was boss, starting in thirty minutes.

Another officer arrived in the silence
that held sway in the main staff room
, the
remaining
presence of some of Molyneux’s officers preventin
g the outburst that most needed
to clear their minds.

Unpeturbed, t
he American General strode up to Lavalle and saluted.

“General Lavalle?”

“Yes, I am Lavalle,
Général
. How may I help?”

“John L. Pierce, 16th Armored
Group
, Sir.”

The smartly turned out officer produced a sealed letter and passed it over with little ceremony.

“Coffee
,
Général
Pierce?”

“That would be most welcome, Sir.”

A cup a
ppeared in front of Pierce,
small
er in size than his normal brew. His disappointment lasted until he realised that
the hot liquid
was of the finest quality.

The staff had started to pull together all information needed for the briefing.

Lavalle handed the envelope and contents to Bittrich.

“Well
,
Général
Pierce, it seems you have arrived at an opportune moment. The
Corps has just received a new G
eneral and I am no longer in command.”

Pierce had known about the change, part of which was brought on by his presence within the unit
,
and the need for a more senior rank.

He also knew a little of the new man, and did not like what he knew.

Molyneux had pestered De Gaulle constantly, his previous commands having been of lowly nature and experiencing little combat.
De Gaulle saw the opportunity to rid himself of the anno
yance and sent the man to D
e Lattre
,
with orders that the Commander of First Army could not ignore.

Pierce was a fair man
,
so decided to stay
nothing of his inside knowledge, in order to
give
Molyneux
every chance.

“
As you will see, t
hat may be our fault
,
General Lavalle.”

“Never mind, it is of no import
Général
. Now, where is your
command
?”

Moving to a map already surrounded by Lavalle’s staff, Pierce traced a route before stopping the other side of the
Rhine
.

“My lead elements were at Soufflenheim forty minutes ago. The rest of my unit is either debussing at Hagenau or en route to Hagenau from Landau
,
where we reconstituted.”

“Reconstituted?”

“We were hit very hard in the opening days
,
General. My unit was still quite green
,
and we lost more than our
innocence
when the Russians attacked.”

“And now, General Pierce?”

“Now?”

A look swept quickly across Pierce’s face, carrying pain, hurt and anger in equal measure. It was quickly replaced with resolve.

“Now,
we’re light on everything, but
m
y boys are itching for a scrap
,
General Lavalle.
It's payback time for us, and from what I hear, this is just the right unit to
go in
harm’s way
with
.”

Lavalle accepted the compliment on behalf of his legionnaires.

“Apologies, I am at error. Let us meet those who do the soldiering in this Corps.”

Introductions were made between the Legion unit commanders and the American
s
,
Pierce
himself beckoning forward his previous
ly
hesitant seniors.

As the handshakes fell away, Bittrich informed Lavalle that the briefing was ready.

To a man
,
the ensemble checked either the wall clock or their watches, the fact that fourteen minutes had passed indicative of the w
ay that the Legion Corps did it
s business.

“Excellent work, Willi!
That leaves time for soldiers talk and more coffee.”

Which talk and coffee occupied the intervening period before
Général
Molyneux descended the stairs and all was formality once more.

Bittrich’s briefing, he insisted
on doing it
himself
, was masterly, leaving no loophole for criticism, even from a man trying
desperately
hard to find one.

None the l
ess, Molyneux managed to trash a lot of
the staff
work by producing the new order of battle, one of his aides taping it to the wall of the operations room.

Of course, at the head
of the Corps and
in bold letters was Molyneux’s name and rank.

Beneath that there were now three comman
d
s,
A and B discarded,
now named formally as ‘Normandie’, ‘
Lorraine
’, and ‘
Aquitaine
’.

Each senior officer was naturally drawn to his
own particular
section.

Knocke noted that ‘Camerone’ was now partnered by ‘
Alma
’ and the newly-arrived 16th Armored. And that Lavalle and Bittrich were at the head of Command Group ‘Normandie.’

Demarais’ command group, ‘
Lorraine
’, was headed up by a General Leroy-Bessette, the name a faint memory for no known reason of
he could recall
. ‘Amilakvari’ had been renamed as ‘
Sevastopol
’
,
but was still his running mate.

‘
Aquitaine
’ was presently unformed, awaiting the new units from Sassy before taking the field proper.

Some in the room started to notice a difference in atmosphere and became aware of another powerful presence.

Général d’Armée de Lattre de Tassigny stood silently, reading the body language in the room like a bo
ok and immediately understanding
that Molyneux’s arrival had not gone well.

“Attention!”

Salutes were thrown everywhere as
total
silence descended.

“Gentlemen, good afternoon.”

De Lattre strode forward and offered his hand to the senior man, checking his surprise
d reaction
when it seemed that instead of a hand in return, someone had slapped a wet fish into his palm.

“
Général
Molyneux.”

“
Général
De Lattre.”

Ever the politician, he prevented himself from recoiling, although
he
did clandestinely wipe it as he turned to Lavalle
, catching si
ght of Pierce, and observed prot
ocol for fear of upsetting the American.

“General Pierce, good to see you again.”

“And you too
,
Sir.”

Salute and handshake followed, both respectful, and the Frenchman noted the difference as his hand was held firmly.

De Lattre smiled and moved on.

“
Général
Lavalle.”

H
is hand was
again
rewarded with a firm grip
, the wet fish now a fading memory
.

“Congratulations on ‘Camerone’s
’
recent achievement.”

“Thank you Sir.
May...
”

The senior man interrupted before Lavalle could continue.

“Your sentries are formidable
,
Lavalle.”

More than one man in the room cringed
in anticipation
. Only one man looked
on in triumph
at what he expected was to come.

“They wouldn’t let me in without seeing my papers! Excellent fellows
,
stood their ground. Promote them both immediately.”

More than one in the room shared the same thought.

‘Does he know?’

Ever the politician, De Lattre’s face
continued to hide
his prior knowledge.

The triumphant look departed Molyneux’s face as quickly as it had appeared.

“Now, my apologies for not
properly
informing you of the change
of command
. Apparently, one of my Major’s made an error in
signal
routing and then lied to cover it up. He is on his way here f
or you to use as you see fit, should
you have room for another 2nd Lieutenant around here?”

It was posed as a question but De Lattre was sending the demoted man to serve in the unit he had wronged
,
and that was that.

“Before I am introduced to your officers
,
I notice that the order of battle is incorrect.”

He strode to the
wall and took a moment to take it in,
absorbing
the grandiose lettering of Molyneux’s name, reading much into it that was wholly accurate.

‘I must watch this man closely.’

Holding out his hand in expectation, one of his
Captaine’s pushed
a grease pencil into it.

De Lattre went to work, turning to look at Lavalle and then crossing out the rank of ‘Normandie’s’ commander.

“We can do better than that.
Général
de Division Lavalle it is.”

Bittrich was next.

“For you,
you a
re confirmed as
the Corps’ senior
Général
de Brigade
. Y
our contribution has been invaluable.
Thank you
,
General.
”

De Lattre then found the
last
man he sought, nodding at him in recognition.

‘How long ago did we meet Colonel?’

“And finally we have G
é
n
é
ral de Brigade Knocke.”

He completed his alterations and
proffered
the pencil to the Capitaine
,
who magically
re
appeared in place.

“
Général
Guillaume has done nothing but sing your praises ever since you
got
his Algerians out of
Stuttgart
.”

Knocke, ever modest, shrugged slightly.

“My men did all the work, and my report on the conduct of certain individuals has been sent forward. Many men
did their duty and more
that day, Sir.”