“Well I hope that’s the case. Ike didn’t want you down here until we had cleared Constantine and moved on to Gulema.”
“So I’m here early,” Patton smiled. “I’ll take the damn place tomorrow, Brad. Then you can call him and ask him if he wants me to give it back to the Germans.”
It was vintage Patton, headstrong, confident, and brash. One day someone would make a movie about that man….
* * *
That night the head of 15th Panzer Division reached Sbeitla, 30 kilometers east of Kasserine. That single platoon from the 82nd Recon sent a shock through General Weber of the 334th Infantry Division. When he learned the Americans were about to cut him off, he did exactly what Patton said he would, and packed up shop. He gave up Tebessa and then moved northwest toward the border, intending to use his division to screen and defend that airfield at Le Kouf. Rommel wasn’t happy about that, and he telephoned von Arnim and asked him to order that division to stay put.
“It’s too late,” said von Arnim. “The Luftwaffe gave up that field at Tebessa three days ago, but they want to hold on at Le Kouf. Weber did what was necessary. Furthermore, you are late. I have both my divisions formed up and ready. We can go right back to Ain Beida on the main road to Constantine.”
“Not yet,” said Rommel. “It takes time to get my divisions up from Gabes. I’ll need another day, and just be thankful I’m coming, General. Otherwise you would be right back in the stew. Has Montgomery taken Philippeville?”
“Not yet. He’ll try again tomorrow. We gave the British a little ground on the road to Constantine, but the line is in a much better position now. Kesselring is watching that sector for me.”
“Good enough. What about the road to Gulema?”
“The 756th Regiment of Weber’s division was detached to watch that sector. The Americans have been probing the passes east of Constantine, but there is no serious threat. I sent KG Hauer south through Clairfontaine. There’s a good hill there, and he says there’s a lot of armor south of that position. They’ve pushed a column all the way to the Tunisian border at Charpinville.”
“Alright, our battleship will be along shortly.” He was referring to von Bismarck’s 21st Panzer Division. “I will be there tomorrow with the rest of the fleet. Then we’ll talk again and decide how to coordinate things. And by the way… I’ve brought the Tiger battalion with me. That should be a nice surprise for the Americans.”
For once, the other side was going to experience the dismay of tank shock.
* * *
Terry Allen’s 1st Infantry spent the morning clearing out Tebessa, quite literally. They rooted out the last of the Germans, and then quickly looked for any bar or restaurant they could find to source out their wergild, alcohol in any guise. There had been many complaints about the division, but thus far, Patton had given them a long leash because he loved Allen’s guts and fighting spirit.
Once he had his prize, Patton seemed to have no intention of stopping. He told Allen to set up his HQ in Tebessa, and then moved Robinette’s CCA of 1st Armored right on through the town on the road to Kasserine, in a triumphant parade. The locals hooted at the arrival of the big American Shermans, easily switching sides in this campaign, and seeing the American troops as much better sources of looting, for their units seemed plush with supplies and other excess material.
Blade Force had been down near Thelepte in a scrap with the Italian Superga Division for the last two days, and they were asking for some help. So Patton sent 2/6th Armored Infantry Battalion, with a company of M5’s and some tank destroyers down that road to lend a hand. He was also finally bringing up the 34th Infantry Division under General Ryder. They had moved well south and east of Batna, and were now coming up on a road that would take them down to Ghafsa. As Allen’s infantry cleared the town and pushed on north in the wake of the retreating Germans, Patton ordered Ward to roll on for Kasserine Pass. Then he got into a jeep and headed for Tebessa himself, tired of the accommodations at the airfield. Along the way, he pulled out a cigar, letting the aromatic smoke trail away behind him, a satisfied grin on his face as he went.
General Bradley had again cautioned him, still worried about the concentration of German armor north of Eddy’s 9th Infantry. So to mollify him, Patton told Harmon to sit tight for the second straight day. This way he could also say that the bold movements he had ordered with Old Ironsides were nothing more than reconnaissance operations. After all, it was only a single combat command. The rest of Harmon’s division would not arrive for several days. He had to make amends with Eisenhower one day, but for now, he was feeling that saddle leather under him, still an old cavalryman at heart.
* * *
That same day, the recon battalion of 21st Panzer Division came up from Kasserine and scouted the road through the pass towards Tebessa. It reached the village of Chekir before it suddenly took small arms and mortar fire from well concealed enemy positions. They had run up on the Ranger battalion under Colonel Darby, which had scouted that area, operating well north of Blade Force. The Germans decided to flush out their enemy, and swept off the road with their armored cars and halftracks, moving into the attack. The rest of the division wasn’t far behind them, and within that hour, II Battalion, 125th Panzergrenadiers, came up in support. A flight of American P-40s swooped low for moral support, their machineguns strafing the road near the town.
When the Germans started also ranging in artillery from a battalion of mobile guns, Darby and his men had had enough. He knew he was up against much more than a recon force here. There was power on that road, and he could see dust in the air being kicked up in the pass to the southeast. So he got on the radio to Robinette, knowing that CCA was on this very same road and heading for his position.
Meanwhile, the 501st Schwerepanzer Battalion had been out in front with Rommel on the road to Ghafsa, which was almost a hundred kilometers south of Kasserine. They reached a defile at El Guettar, and rumbled on through. Just where the highway was about to meet the rail line that branched off to the phosphate mines and other destinations south, they ran into the head of the US 34th Infantry Division in a long column of march. General Ryder had been ordered to Ghafsa, but he had not sent out much in the way of recon. What happened next would give the American infantry a real taste of tank shock, to be sure.
The three companies of Tigers deployed abreast, one on the road flanked by two others on either side. Then they began a charge, like heavy cavalry thundering into the American column, those murderous long 88mm guns blasting away as they came. William Blake could have been writing about this very attack if he had been there to see it when he penned those now famous lines of poetry: Tiger, tiger, burning bright, In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
3rd Battalion, 135th RCT was about to find out.
Seven trucks, some fully loaded with infantry, were blown to pieces as the Tigers started to fire at long range. Then they thundered on, and within ten minutes, they had completely overrun and destroyed A-Company of that battalion. Most of the US AT guns were still being towed, so it was just the infantry, leaping from burning trucks, still lucky to find themselves alive, and running for any cover they could find. A few Bazooka teams bravely tried to get into position to fire, and the troopers raked the heavy tanks with machineguns, but to no avail. One team took aim and put a bazooka round right onto one of the Tigers, but they might have been throwing mud balls. When nothing happened, they threw the bazooka down, turned tail, and ran like hell.
The 60mm rocket in the bazooka was supposed to be able to penetrate between 90 and 100mm of armor at a 90 degree angle, but in actual practice it rarely achieved that performance. As late as the Korean War, it was even found to be ineffective against the enemy T-34s. It wasn’t until later in the war, when the US developed the “Super Bazooka,” that the weapon really came into its own against tanks. That could penetrate 280mm of armor, more than enough to kill most anything it could hit out to 300 meters. But the
34th Division had no M20 Super Bazookas at hand, nor would they for at least 18 months.
The alarm raised, the remaining two battalions of the 135th RCT began to deploy out of road column and moved to either flank. They finally brought up their AT gun support, a company with nine 37mm guns that they also found to be completely useless against those German Tigers. The US infantry watched, aghast, as one gun put round after round on an advancing enemy tank, not impeding its advance in the least. Then it stopped, the infantry cheering with the thought that they had finally knocked it out. Seconds later, they saw that big armored turret turn slowly, and fire blazed from the muzzle of that long 88. The AT gunners simply turned and ran, the infantry following them soon after.
The encounter there that would come to be known as the battle of Sidi Bou Baker had not started well for the Americans. The whole of A-Company was lost, and elsewhere, Colonel Darby had also lost fully half his battalion by the time he beat a hasty retreat south into heavily wooded country, hoping to save the rest of his Rangers with stealth, where force of arms had failed. He reached a platoon of armored engineers from Blade Force, warning the sergeant there that the Germans might be right on his heels. They got on their radio and sent the word back to Colonel Semms, and as it happened, that task force Patton had sent down towards Thelepte came rattling up the road to the junction at Bou Chebka.
“I understand you fellas are having an argument with the Italians?” said the Lieutenant.
“What of it?” said the tough looking Sergeant. “We can hold ‘em. But our Rangers say there’s Germans right up that road. You better go have a look.”
The Lieutenant gave him a nod, then turned his column onto the smaller road north, which soon ran into those heavy woods. When he finally emerged, getting up round a spur from the hills to the south east, he saw the Germans massed near that hamlet where Colonel Darby had fought his battle and lost. At that same time, the rest of Robinette’s CCA came down the road to Kasserine and began to hit the town from that direction. It was as if the Americans had planned the ambush, and now the Lieutenant eagerly began to shake his column into some order for battle, and moved to join that attack on the flank.
The battle for Kasserine Pass had finally begun.
* * *
Bradley found Patton at his headquarters in Tebessa, coming down from 1st Infantry’s lines to the north. “George,” he said, with a tone in his voice that said ‘I told you so.’ “Both 3rd and 9th Infantry report a heavy attack underway up north. Von Arnim is throwing everything he has at them—two panzer divisions.”
“Well you’re just in time, Brad, because Rommel has finally made his appearance on the road to Kasserine. Robinette ran right into his 21st Panzer Division there. And Ryder down south says he’s also got a fight on his hands north of Ghafsa.”
“Ghafsa?” Bradley rushed over to the map table. “The Germans must have brought in another unit through the pass at El Guettar. George, this is damn serious. That makes four German Panzer Divisions, and now getting over that border into Tunisia isn’t the issue any longer. This is a major counteroffensive, and here we are strung out all the way from Ryder’s division to as far north as Ain Fakrour.”
“I’ve already spoken with Montgomery,” said Patton. “He says he can easily watch the passes near Constantine so we can reclaim Macon’s 7th Regiment for 3rd Division. I’ve already given him orders to support the front line north of Ain Beida.”
“I hope it will be enough,” said Bradley. “The reports I picked up on the way down here didn’t sound too encouraging. Thank God you left 2nd Armored where it was. At least we have something in hand to hit them back. What about Oliver with CCB?”
“He’s just crossed the border at Charpinville, and I’m sending him right on down to Thala.”
“What? You’re going into Tunisia with that unit? Talk about sticking your head in the lion’s mouth. What’ll they do at Thala? By the time they get there the Germans might be here!”
“Now don’t get your feathers ruffled so easily,” said Patton. “This army has a lot of fight in it. I’ve seen to that personally. While Monty was ‘dumping’ for the last thirty days, I’ve had our boys drilling every day. We’ve fought the Germans earlier south of Oran and gave a good account of ourselves.”
“But that was only two divisions,” said Bradley. “And you know damn well that they were just trying to fight a delaying action while they pulled out those paratroopers. God only knows where they’ll end up. This time we’ve got four divisions heading our way, and this is no spoiling attack.”
“Then we’ll fight them,” said Patton sharply. “If I stop Rommel here, he’s finished. Understand? Now that’s exactly what I intend to do. Once Oliver gets to Thala, he’ll be in a good position to flank that German attack through the pass at Kasserine. We’ll have them bottled up.”
“What about Ryder? He’s all on his own down there.”
“Well, he’s got his whole goddamned division, and he ought to be able to hold. If things get bad I can use Allen’s reserve to hold Bou Chebka and then send Blade Force down there to lend him a hand.”
“Then you’ll be able to use 2nd Armored to backstop the 3rd and 9th Divisions.” Bradley pointed at the map.
“I’m not going to backstop anything. I’ve got a perfectly good road that will take Harmon’s Division right on up to Souk Ahras.”
“You’re going to attack?”
“The best defense is a good offense,” said Patton. “Napoleon proved that time and time again. Look, this is a classic German pincer attack. They’ve pulled this crap in Russia since 1941, but I’ve been reading Rommel’s book. If he thinks he’s going to push through my lines here and link up with that northern pincer under von Arnim, he’s flat out wrong. You’ll see.”
“Well the Germans have practically cut that road. I was just up there. They’ve got a kampfgruppe right here, at Soufia.”
“Then get orders to Harmon to clear them out.” Patton gave Bradley a look that said he meant business.
Chapter 6
5-FEB-1943
Having detached its recon battalion, Hermann Goring Panzer Division wasn’t quite up to full strength that day, but you could not tell that to the American infantry that faced and fled from its wrath. The road from Souk Ahras wound its way through the highlands, with one spur following the rail line south through Clairfontaine to Tebessa, and a second branching west through the village of El Beida, to Sedrata, and then down past Medkour and Raba to the broad lowland plain where the Amis waited. The division came barreling right down either side of that road, which was right at the seam between the US 9th and 3rd Infantry Divisions.
II Battalion of the HG Panzer Regiment smashed into 3/47th RCT and sent all three companies of that battalion into a headlong retreat. The “Old Reliables” of the 9th were anything but that in the face of those tanks. Troops abandoned mortars and heavy MGs in the field, some even throwing away their rifles as they fled south before they ran into a scowling Lt. Colonel George E. Pickett, directly related to the famous general that fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. He was standing there with a drawn pistol held high over his head, and he meant to use it on any man that failed to obey his orders to stand and rally.
Pickett collared a squad Sergeant, sent him to round up two others, and then found a Lieutenant trying to desperately start his jeep to retreat south. He told the man, in no uncertain terms, that if his jeep moved one foot, he would shoot him dead on the spot. “Now see that 50 on the back of that mother? You get on that gun and hold right where you are!”
“But sir,” said the hapless Lieutenant. “They’re coming with heavy armor. What good will that do?”
“Aim low. Hit their goddamn tracks! Take the head off of any smart ass tank commander that opens his hatch. You may get killed, but at least you’ll die fighting like a man. It’s either that or you can die right now as a coward, and good riddance.”
It was exactly the sort of talk Patton would have lev
eled at the man, and the Lieutenant stiffened his backbone, and settled in behind that machinegun. Slowly, Pickett rallied that battalion, and then took heart when he learned that the entire 7th Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division under Colonel Macon had just come up on his left.
The road the Germans were on led south to Ain Beida, a prominent settlement along the rail line from Constantine to Tebessa. That’s where General Eddy had planted his HQ flag for the 9th Infantry, and when he learned the Germans were no more than 12 kilometers to the north, he called Major General Anderson of the 3rd Infantry and asked ‘The Rock of the Marne” for some help. That division had been engaged with a part of the Hermann Goring Division on Eddy’s left, coming down from Constantine after being relieved by the British.
“Look,” said Anderson. “I’ve got my entire 7th RCT on the road heading your way right now, and with three engineer battalions. Hold on. We’ll get there. But if this thing is as big as everyone seems to think, we may have to get on the phone to Montgomery soon.”
“Patton won’t like that,” said Eddy.
“Then let him come over here and hold this goddamn line! We need armor here and it’s all well east and south of us now. The Germans pulled a fast one on us. They want that road back to cut us off from the Brits, and Monty ought to hear about it.”
He did hear about it, just as he was bringing up 10th Armored Division through the newly constructed bridges at Constantine. He had his engineers working for days to open a route through that city. His 43rd Wessex Division had followed the Germans north and east, where the fighting was now around Gastonville. 10th Armored was taken out of Army reserve and ordered to move through Constantine and turn north behind the 43rd. General Anderson decided to be the one to gently suggest to Monty that he might want to hold that division where it was. The American line had been hit hard, buckled, even collapsed along one or two battalion fronts, but for the most part it was still holding in that sector.
Stormtide Rising (Kirov Series Book 29) Page 5