by Colin Gee
Chapter 134 – THE CIRCUS
1000 hrs, Friday, 22nd February 1946, Chateau de Versailles, France.
1430 hrs, Friday, 22nd February 1946, Chateau de Versailles, France.
2030 hrs, Friday, 22nd February 1946, Chateau de Versailles, France.
0939 hrs, Friday 1st March 1946, Headquarters of 3rd Red Banner Central European Front, Hotel Stephanie, Baden-Baden, Germany.
Chapter 135 - THE PREPARATIONS
0942 hrs, Tuesday 5th March 1946, SHAEF Headquarters, Hotel Trianon, Versailles, France.
1122 hrs, Tuesday 5th March 1946, Wittensee, Bünsdorf, Germany.
1442 hrs, Tuesday 5th March 1946, Headquarters, 1st Guards Mechanised Rifle Division, Torgelow, Germany.
1102 hrs, Wednesday 6th March 1946, Disembarkation point 1192, east of Rullstorf, Germany.
2042 hrs, Thursday, 7th March 1946, Den Gyldene Freden, Österlånggatan 51, Stockholm, Sweden.
Friday, 8th March 1946, 1843 hrs, GRU Commander’s office, Western Europe Headquarters, the Mühlberg, Germany.
0840 hrs, Saturday, 9th March 1946, Castello di Susans, Majano, Italy.
0905 hrs, Saturday, 9th March 1946, Rivoli, Italy.
0909 hrs, Saturday, 9th March 1946, Castello di Susans, Majano, Italy.
0910 hrs, Saturday, 9th March 1946, Rivoli, Italy.
0921 hrs, Saturday, 9th March 1946, Castello di Susans, Majano, Italy.
0925 hrs, Saturday, 9th March 1946, Rivoli, Italy.
0930 hrs, Saturday, 9th March 1946, Castello di Susans, Majano, Italy.
0925 hrs, Saturday, 9th March 1946, Rivoli, Italy.
Chapter 136 – THE DECEIVERS
1554 hrs, Tuesday, 12th March 1946, the Billiard House, Hameau de la Reine, Versailles, France.
0917 hrs, Thursday, 14th March 1946, Map room, GRU Western Europe Headquarters, the Mühlberg, Germany.
Chapter 137 – THE COUNTDOWN
1600 hrs, Friday 15th March 1946, Meeting Room 3, The Kremlin, Moscow.
1843 hrs, Friday 15th March 1946, Scientist’s residential block, Los Alamos, New Mexico.
1912 hrs, Friday 15th March 1946, Office of the NKVD Deputy Chairman, Lyubyanka, Moscow.
1737 hrs, Friday 15th March 1946, House of Madame Fleriot, La Vigie, Nogent L’Abbesse, near Reims, France.
1011 hrs, Saturday 16th March 1946, Headquarters, Legion Corps D’Assaut, La Mairie, D’Essey les Nancy, France.
1521 hrs, Saturday 16th March 1946, Headquarters, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st US Airborne Division, St-Hilaire le Grand, France.
1526 hrs, Saturday 16th March 1946, Ward 22, US 130th Station Hospital, Chiseldon, England.
1530 hrs, Saturday 16th March 1946, the Billiard House, Hameau de la Reine, Versailles, France.
1318 hrs, Sunday, 17th March 1946, Bickenholtz area, France.
1339 hrs, Sunday, 17th March 1946, Route 46, eight hundred metres north of Bickenholtz, France.
1350 hrs, Sunday, 17th March 1946, the copse, nine hundred metres north of Bickenholtz, France.
1401 hrs, Sunday, 17th March 1946, Rue D’Eglise, Bickenholtz, France.
1423 hrs, Sunday, 17th March 1946, base of fire position, east of the copse, Bickenholtz, France.
1021 hrs, Monday, 18th March 1946, The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia.
1100 hrs, Monday, 18th March 1946, The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia.
2200 hrs, Tuesday, 19th March 1946, Old Town Square, Torun, Poland.
2200 hrs, Friday, 22nd March 1946, 15th Transportstaffel, Avno Airbase, Denmark.
2258 hrs, Saturday, 23rd March 1946, Task Force X-3, the North Sea.
0009 hrs, Sunday, 24th March 1946, Red Army Senior Officers Dacha, Moscow, USSR.
0022 hrs, Sunday, 24th March 1946, GRU Commander’s office, Western Europe Headquarters, the Mühlberg, Germany.
0903 hrs, Sunday, 24rd March 1946, Headquarters of 1st Guards Mechanised Rifle Division, Jatznick, Germany.
1230 hrs, Monday, 25th March 1946, OSS safe house, Thompson’s Farm, Doddinghurst Road, Shenfield, UK.
1602 hrs, Monday, 25th March 1946, Temporary Headquarters, Camerone Division, Schleiden, Germany.
1722 hrs, Monday, 25th March 1946, GRU Western Europe Headquarters, the Mühlberg, Germany.
1735 hrs, Monday, 25th March 1946, GRU Commander’s office, Western Europe Headquarters, the Mühlberg, Germany.
1802 hrs, Monday 25th March 1946, office of the Chairman of the NKVD, Moscow, USSR.
1833 hrs, Monday, 25th March 1946, Flat 3, 2 Franciskánska, Torun, Poland.
2004 hrs, Sunday, 24rd March 1946, Rail bridgehead at Torgelow, Germany.
2201 hrs, Monday, 25th March 1946, 1002nd Mixed Air Regiment, Pütnitz-Damgarten airbase, Germany.
Chapter 138 – THE REVELATION
1002 hrs, Friday, 22nd March, The Thatched Barn, Borehamwood, England.
1945 hrs, Friday, 22nd March 1946, SOE Headquarters, 64 Baker Street, London, England.
1312 hrs, Saturday, 23rd March 1946, MI6 Headquarters, 54 Broadway, London.
1201 hrs, Sunday, 24th March 1946, MI6 Headquarters, 54 Broadway, London, UK.
1557 hrs, Sunday, 24th March 1946, 7 Leinster Mews, Bayswater, London, UK.
1616 hrs, Monday, 25th March 1946, 12th US Army Group Headquarters, Arlon, Belgium.
Chapter 139 - THE LANDINGS
0028 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, the night skies over Northern Europe.
0047 hrs, 26th March 1946, seven kilometres north-west of Naugard, Pomerania.
0204 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Drop Zone around Konnegen, Poland.
0149 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, two kilometres north-east of Cierpice, Poland.
0252 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Joint Command Headquarters, Cierpice, Poland.
0303 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Joint Command Headquarters, Cierpice, Poland.
0500 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Kolberg, Pomerania.
0600 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Factory Rinat, Chaiky, Kiev, Ukraine.
0602 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Beach Zulu, Kolberg, Pomerania.
0833 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, ten kilometres east of Bärwalde, Poland.
Chapter 140 - THE BEGINNING
0844 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Europe.
0909 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Operation Heracles-I, above Nordhausen, Germany.
Author’s note on the remaining chapters of Sacrifice.
Chapter 141 - THE FIFTEENTH
0958 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, the grounds of Schloss Maria Loretto, Klagenfurt, Austria.
1058 hrs, Friday, 29th March 1946, St Ruprecht district, Klagenfurt, Austria.
Author’s note - The Heracles Missions
1008 hrs, Monday, 1st April 1946, the Kremlin, Moscow.
1209 hrs, Friday, 5th April 1946, Headquarters of 1st Alpine Front, Stainach, Austria.
1238 hrs, Friday, 12th April 1946, Headquarters of 1st Alpine Front, Stainach, Austria.
1109 hrs, Wednesday, 17th April 1946, Headquarters of 1st Alpine Front, Klaus an der Phyrnbahn, Austria.
1301 hrs, Friday, 19th April 1946, headquarters of British Fifteenth Army Group.
1101 hrs, Monday, 22nd April 1946, Headquarters of 1st Alpine Front, Klaus an der Phyrnbahn, Austria.
23rd April 1946, Area of operations for the British Fifteenth Army Group, Austria and Italy.
1009 hrs, Tuesday, 23nd April 1946, Headquarters of 1st Alpine Front, Klaus an der Phyrnbahn, Austria.
Chapter 142 - THE SIXTH
0758 hrs hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Toul-Rosières, France.
The journalistic reports of John Thornton-Smith, War Correspondent for the Daily Sketch newspaper.
With the United States Army Air Force, somewhere in Eastern France, 8:42am, 26th March 1946.
With the United States Army Air Force, somewhere in Eastern France, 9:13am, 26th March 1946.
With the United States Army, somewhere in Eastern France, 11:13am, 28th March 1946.
; With the Allied Army, somewhere in Eastern France, 3:17pm, 29th March 1946.
With the United States Army, somewhere in Eastern France, 11:13am, 30th March 1946.
With the United States Army, somewhere in Eastern France, 12:33am, 1st April 1946.
With the United States Army, somewhere in Eastern France, 12:33am, 2nd April 1946.
With the United States Army, somewhere in Eastern France, 12:33am, 5th April 1946.
With the United States Army, somewhere in Eastern France, 12:33am, 6th April, 1946.
With the United States Army, somewhere in Eastern France, 12:33am, 8th April, 1946.
With the United States Army, somewhere in Eastern France, 12:33am, 11th April, 1946.
12th to 20th April 1946, Area of operations for the US Sixth Army Group, Germany.
Chapter 143 - THE FIRST
1558 hrs hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Ahlen, Germany.
1632 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, two hundred metres from the Werse River, Ahlen, Germany.
1645 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, two hundred metres from the Werse River, Ahlen, Germany.
1744 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Werse River Bridge, Ahlen, Germany.
1814 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Werse River Bridge, Ahlen, Germany.
1825 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, St. Bartholomäus, Ahlen, Germany.
1920 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, St. Bartholomäus, Ahlen, Germany.
2058 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Hamelin Jail, Hamelin, Germany.
2328 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, St. Bartholomäus, Ahlen, Germany.
2359 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, St. Bartholomäus, Ahlen, Germany.
0639 hrs, Saturday, 30th March 1946, III/899th Grenadiere Regiment Rest Area, Gütersloh, Germany.
1549 hrs, Saturday, 30th April 1946, 899th Grenadiere Regiment Headquarters, Gastatte Dalbker Krug, Lippereihe, Germany.
2046 hrs, Sunday, 30th March 1946, 14th Guards [Ind] Engineer-Sapper Btn HQ, the Menkebach, Oerlinghausen, Germany.
0757 hrs, Sunday, 1st April 1946, the Teutobergerwald, Germany.
0809 hrs, Sunday, 1st April 1946, III/899th Grenadiere Forward Headquarters, on the Schopkettalweg, Lipperreihe, Germany.
0924 hrs, Sunday, 1st April 1946, the Teutobergerwald, Germany.
0925 hrs, Sunday, 1st April 1946, the Teutobergerwald, Germany.
1703 hrs, Sunday, 1st April 1946, 899th Grenadiere Regiment Headquarters, Gaststatte Dalbker Krug, Lipperreihe, Germany.
1st April to 17th April 1946, Area of operations for the 1st German Republican Army Group, Germany.
Chapter 144 – THE TWENTY-FIRST
1600 hrs, Tuesday 26th March 1946, Schafstedt, Germany.
0502 hrs, Wednesday, 27th March 1946, Headquarters of 10th Guards Army, Bad Oldesloe, Germany.
0745 hrs, Wednesday, 27th March 1946, Field Headquarters of Prentiss Force, Bad Brahmstedt-land, Germany.
0850 hrs, Wednesday, 27th March 1946, Astride Route 111, Germany.
0939 hrs, Wednesday 27th March, 1945, 23rd Hussars HQ, Bauernhaus Holzbein, Bad Brahmstedt-land, Germany.
1005 hrs, Wednesday 27th March, 1945, Prentiss Force HQ, Hill 73, Bad Brahmstedt-land, Germany.
1015 hrs, Wednesday 27th March, 1945, Prentiss Force HQ, Hill 73, Bad Brahmstedt-land, Germany.
1015 hrs, Wednesday 27th March, 1945, Route 206, Bad Brahmstedt-land, Germany.
1111 hrs, Wednesday 27th March, 1945, Route 206, west of Bad Brahmstedt-land, Germany.
1121 hrs, Wednesday 27th March, 1945, Hill 79, adjacent to Route 206, Germany.
1232 hrs, Wednesday 27th March, 1945, Headquarters, Prentiss Force, Hill 73, Germany.
27th March to 14th April 1946, British Twenty-First Army Group’s advance into Northern Germany.
1209 hrs, Sunday, 15th April 1946, 1st Baltic Front Headquarters, Heiligengrabe Abbey, Germany.
1312 hrs, Sunday, 15th April 1946, Guards Division positions, WittenbergerStrasse, Lützow, Germany.
1408 hrs, Sunday, 15th April 1946, 15th Motorised Rifle Brigade forward headquarters, west of Gottesgabe, Germany.
1318 hrs, Sunday, 15th April 1946, Guards Division positions, WittenbergerStrasse, Lützow, Germany.
2020 hrs, Sunday, 15th April 1946, former Guards Division positions, WittenbergerStrasse, Lützow, Germany.
2040 hrs, Sunday, 15th April 1946, 15th Motorised Rifle Brigade forward headquarters, Gadebusch, Germany.
Chapter 145 - THE PANTOMIME
0259 hrs, 26th March 1946, Wollin and Hagen, Pomerania.
0921 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, Wollin, Pomerania.
0954 hrs, Tuesday 26th March 1946, Second Battalion CP, near Klein Mokratz, Pomerania.
1000 hrs, Tuesday 26th March 1946, Second Battalion front, near Grosse Mokratz, Pomerania.
1200 hrs, Tuesday 26th March 1946, Second Battalion front, near Grosse Mokratz, Pomerania.
1348 hrs, Tuesday 26th March 1946, HQ of 63rd NKVD Rifle Division, the woods west of Neu Kodram, Pomerania.
2055 hrs, Tuesday 26th March 1946, Second Battalion front, near Grosse Mokratz, Pomerania.
2113 hrs, Tuesday 26th March 1946, Second Battalion front, near Grosse Mokratz, Pomerania.
0304 hrs, Friday, 29th March 1946, shoreline of the Vilm-See, Pomerania.
1001 hrs, Monday, 1st April 1946, Treptow Palace, PLAG Headquarters, Treptow an der Rega, Pomerania.
1236 hrs, Monday, 1st April 1946, HQ, 7th Guards Tank Assault Brigade, Wollchow, Pomerania.
1259 hrs, Monday, 1st April 1946, Naugard, Pomerania.
1331 hrs, Monday, 1st April 1946, HQ, 1st Guards Mechanised Rifle Division, Farbezin, Pomerania.
1249 hrs, Monday, 1st April 1946, HQ, 7th Guards Tank Assault Brigade, Forward positions, Schwarzow - Naugard road, Pomerania.
1636 hrs, Wednesday, 3rd April 1946, Treptow Palace, PLAG Headquarters, Treptow an der Rega, Pomerania.
Chapter 146 - THE TWELTH
1400 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, US Third Army Headquarters, Hamm, Luxembourg.
1803 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, US Third Army Headquarters, Hamm, Luxembourg.
2323 hrs, Tuesday, 26th March 1946, US Third Army Headquarters, Hamm, Luxembourg.
0723 hrs, Wednesday, 27th March 1946, Point units of the 35th US Infantry Division, Alf, Germany.
0939 hrs, Wednesday, 27th March 1946, US Third Army Headquarters, Hamm, Luxembourg.
1238 hrs, Thursday, 28th March 1946, US Third Army Headquarters, Haserich, Germany.
0621 hrs, Monday, 1st April, 1946, US Third Army Headquarters, Rheinböllen, Germany.
1714 hrs, Saturday, 13th April 1946, US Third Army Headquarters, Ducal Palace, Wiesbaden, Germany.
1117 hrs, Wednesday, 17th April 1946, outskirts of Reiskirchen, Germany.
Chapter 147 - THE RAMIFICATIONS
1202 hrs, Wednesday, 24h April 1946, SHAEF Headquarters, Hotel Trianon, Versailles, France.
1209 hrs, Wednesday, 24h April 1946, Meeting Room 3, the Kremlin, Moscow.
Chapter 148 - THE DEVELOPMENT
0545 hrs, Monday 29th April, 1946, White Sands Bombing Range, New Mexico, USA.
Glossary
‘Initiative’ - the story continues.
Read the opening words of ‘Initiative’ now.
Chapter 149 - THE POWER
1000 hrs, Tuesday 30th April, Frankenberg an der Eder, Germany.
1100 hrs, Wednesday, 1st May, 1946, Red Square, Moscow, USSR, and the Oval Office, Washington DC, USA.
List of Figures within Sacrifice.
Bibliography
‘Sacrifice’ and its contents have, of course, been dictated by the events of WW3. That has meant periods of relative inactivity militarily, followed by intense combat shoehorned into a few weeks.
Whilst I have tried to bring some breaks into the different passages of history, it may well be that the reader may find areas top heavy with either type of content.
I can only apologise but, for the most part, it has been important to f
ollow events chronologically.
Fig# 117 - Map of Europe
It is forbidden to kill, therefore all murderers are punished, unless they kill in large numbers, and to the sound of trumpets.
Voltaire.
Chapter 126 - THE OPPONENTS.
The Soviet Union.
The Red Army.
At the start of the new war, the units of the Red Army’s ground forces had been at different strengths. Some had received reinforcements before 6th August, mainly those with specific and important tasks in the new plan, whereas others that had been decimated in the heavy fighting of the final days of the German War were left in a reduced state.
The overall effect of the constant fighting against their new adversaries had been to remove a number of formations from their order of battle, and to make others shadows of their former selves. The Red Army at the start of ‘Sacrifice’ is not as numerous as it was at the start of the war, as casualties had been extreme.
By example, Artem’yev’s Guardsmen, the 179th Guards Rifle Regiment, of the 59th Guards Rifle Division, of the 34th Guards Rifle Corps, of the 5th Guards Army.
5th Guards Army was still an effective fighting formation, as other units were slipped into its order of battle to replace some of the casualties it had sustained. However, 34th Guards Rifle Corps had been virtually destroyed, along with the 59th Division, and most of Artem’yev’s regiment. Admittedly, the 179th saw some brutal fighting, and was virtually in constant action for weeks on end. By the time that the unit was withdrawn from combat, post Muggenhausen and Strassfeld, taking into account men returning from hospitals, the 179th cadre consisted of 467 capable men, which meant that it had lost 2147 men killed or so severely wounded that they could not return to combat. That represented an incredible loss of over 81% of the regimental strength. Whilst the 179th’s war was unusual, it was by no means the only example of 80% plus casualties in the Soviet OOB.
By February 1946, the cold had also taken its toll, and there were very few frontline units from August 1945 that were at anything like full strength in manpower, weapons, and supplies.
Soviet ground force morale had been excellent in August, and had continued at a high level, except where heavy casualties and local reverses made themselves known. Such drops in morale tended to be temporary.