“Precisely,” said Churchill, a light of battle blooming in his eyes.
“It’s 5,600 nautical miles from Perth to Iraq by sea; less than half the distance from Liverpool to the same destination. That’s just three weeks at sea to move the 18th Division, as opposed to six weeks or longer to send anything from here.”
“Splendid!” Churchill immediately approved the plan, even though it meant that the attack on Ceylon would have to be postponed. And so the British would pull yet one more rabbit out of their hat, and hopefully enough to foil the German plans to seize Baghdad and storm into southern Iraq.
“Thus far they’ve had it all their way with this dirty business,” said Churchill. “We thought we’d settled affairs in Iraq and Syria two years ago, but now you see what Turkey’s infidelity has cost us.”
Which brings us to another matter,” said Alanbrooke. “Alexander believes we have to take the gloves off concerning Turkey, and put the RAF onto those rail lines sustaining this new German foray into the Middle East.”
“Do you agree?”
“It would be very risky,” said Alanbrooke. “Thus far Turkey has been consorting with the Germans, but they’ve maintained a cautious stance in all these affairs. They’ve permitted the Germans to transit their territory, including the Bosporus and Dardanelles, and this new German push into the Kuban region is likely to keep them quite on edge for some time. The thing is this. Turkey really want’s nothing to do with Germany. We showed them the folly of that alliance in the First War, and by god, I think they remember it. Yet as long as Germany remains a viable force in the region, particularly with support from Orenburg now, the Turks have had no choice but to cooperate. We should have invaded Iran long ago and put that threat to rest. It would have made our wedding proposal to the Turks much more appealing. As it stands, they don’t see that we’ve any dowry to speak of, and so they’ve given us the cold shoulder. Unless we can show them that we can fight and win in the Middle East, they’ll have no good reason to throw in with us.”
“Apparently Operation Scimitar wasn’t enough,” said Churchill.
“It might have been, but Hitler had a strong force poised on the Turkish frontier, and just 120 miles from Istanbul. We cleared the Vichy French out of Syria, but never really finished the job after Scimitar. We let Jerry keep those mountain divisions in Northern Syria and the Turks could not help but notice.”
“It was all we could do at the time,” said Churchill. “And we were fortunate that we had our guests at hand to even do what we did with Scimitar.”
Those ‘Guests’ were the men and machines that had come out of the deep desert in Egypt, from a future Churchill and Brooke could scarcely imagine now. Yet now they were gone. Only the barest kernel of the force remained, hidden away on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, where British engineers had been learning all they could about the amazing Challenger II. While Hitler had the broken carcass of one such vehicle, the British still had a few fully functioning tanks, and Lieutenant Reeves, now made a Colonel by the British Army, was right there to explain how everything worked. It was leading to a whole new way of thinking where the design and production of British tanks was concerned, and it would soon have a dramatic impact on the war when a new British challenger appeared to counter the alarming advances in German tank design.
“We’ve stopped Rommel,” said Alanbrooke, “but the Turks know we’ve still not beaten the Germans. It may be months or longer if we can beat them in Tunisia, and even if we do, that does nothing to make the Turks more secure. Given the razor’s edge they’re sitting on now, I would have to come down against direct RAF attacks on Turkish soil. It could be the last straw for them, and send them right into Germany’s camp if we bomb. They have 50 divisions, and a million men under arms. Yes, they aren’t up to snuff compared to our forces, and they’ve no armor to speak of, but we have enough to contend with as things stand.”
“Agreed,” said Churchill. “Yes, we must be very cautious. I’ve barked at the Turks for allowing the Germans to use those rail lines, but biting them is quite another matter. There will be no bombing of targets on Turkish soil. As for the rail lines in Syria and Iraq, they are all fair game. We can achieve the same result there without forcing Turkey to make a very difficult choice that we’d all regret. The problem seems to be that the RAF is also stretched thin. Sir Arthur Harris still holds to his strategy of big raids over Germany and general area bombing. That won’t do in Syria and Iraq.”
“Yes,” said Brooke. “We need precision bombing, and it’s not something our Wellingtons do with any real effectiveness. It’s work for fighter bombers. They have to get after the locomotives, rail depots and receiving stations, yet Coningham has his forces split between O’Connor on the one side, and now this new affair in Syria. That has left very little to send to Iraq. Thankfully, the Luftwaffe is in no better shape. They’ve managed to deploy three fighter squadrons, and a few squadrons of Stukas and other aircraft, but it’s been a wash. Neither side has air superiority over Iraq now, and unless we can find the planes, that’s the way it will stay. The Germans hit Baghdad last week, thinking to take it by storm, but we held. Now they’ve paused to clear the main rail line north to Mosul. That’s their lifeline. Kirkuk gives them fuel and such for local operations. Hitler can brag all he wants about it, but the rail line to Mosul is the real jugular. If we can cut that, we can foul their entire operation.”
“Aside from finding more fighter-bombers,” said Churchill, “what could we possibly do? Wilson is holding out, but he certainly can’t go on the offensive.”
“No, that would be a direct attack in any case, even if he could take the fight to the other fellow now. This has to be work for special forces. That raid we mounted on Habbaniyah and Palmyra was rather stunning during Operation Scimitar. Those fancy helicopters might come in very handy now.”
“Shall I go to Fairchild and enlist her support? They did a bang up job with that raid at St. Nazaire.”
“True, but I think we can do the job well enough ourselves. I was thinking more of Browning’s Boys, and the SAS.”
“General Browning?”
“We have two Airborne Brigades in the Med, and a good number of Commando units as well. We might consider raids into Northern Syria and Iraq, all with the aim of disrupting and sabotaging the enemy rail lines. They’ve done the same against us. Old Glubb Pasha has had his Arab Legion out after the Brandenburg Commandos. So we have to get thinking along those same lines.”
“Do whatever is necessary,” said Churchill, determined. “I don’t have to tell you that I now view this theater as the most crucial battlefield of our war effort. It trumps anything we are planning for Tunisia, though I’m gratified from the news we’ve had from there. Iraq must not fall. The Germans have taken half the country as it stands! We simply must hold on to the rest, and then build up the strength there to push them back again. This is bigger than Ceylon; bigger than Burma, which is why I did not hesitate to take troops allocated to those theaters for deployment to Iraq. Now I think we may have to do whatever is necessary to gain the upper hand in the Middle East. If It means we gut the British 8th Army and order General O’Connor to stand on defense there, so be it.”
“He’s just kicked off his attack on the Mareth Line,” said Alanbrooke. “Surely you don’t want me to call that off.”
“Hasn’t it already had the effect we counted on? Hasn’t it forced Rommel to look over his shoulder and call off his own offensive? I say we let O’Connor get himself to a favorable position with this attack, but then I think we should move more armor back to Syria. He can get it there faster than we can ship it from the Kingdom. It follows the same logic you presented concerning the 18th Division at Perth. Do get those troops moving at once, and then tell General O’Connor that we need more from him, and make it stick. I know we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul, but we’ve no other choice.”
There came a knock on the door, and a Staff Officer came in with a message, handing it
off to Alanbrooke, who read it with one raised eyebrow. “Well,” he shrugged, “we’ve another fine mess on our hands. Bletchley Park was correct. The Germans sortied with their Mediterranean Squadron last night. It was seen in the Tyrrhenian Sea this morning.”
“What’s it doing there?” Churchill set down his teacup, obviously concerned.
“Hut Four picked up signals that it was bound for Italian ports. The Germans think Toulon is too vulnerable. Yet one analyst thinks that’s just rubbish, our Mister Turing.”
“He’s a better explanation?”
“Yes sir. Turing thinks the Germans are going to hit Crete, and to my mind that is the most likely reason for this deployment. That would explain why all those German transport planes went to Athens—not for Syria as we first thought, but for Crete.”
“Damn,” said Churchill. “And it could not come at a worse time. We both know the garrison on Crete isn’t strong enough to last a week if the Germans attack there in earnest.”
“I’ve been meaning to send more troops,” said Alanbrooke, “but after the Aussies and New Zealanders went home, all we could find was the Carpathian Brigade. It’s posted up near Maleme, but You’re correct—Crete is a lost cause. We really aren’t ready to begin full scale bombing operations into the Balkans, and we’ve just ruled out staging raids on Turkey. Besides, we can still hit Ploesti when we’re ready, and do so from Alexandria, Beirut, or fields near Jerusalem. Crete has been hanging out there like an untucked shirt. We can’t really defend it, unless Cunningham keeps a squadron at sea round the clock.”
“Then you don’t advise reinforcing it?”
“I do not. In fact, I would advise the garrison to make plans to withdraw. Crete is useful as a place to stage fighters and interdict surrounding sea lanes, but if it is attacked, we simply haven’t the wherewithal to hold onto it. Cunningham should be advised to plan for a rescue operation, nothing more.”
“But what about the Bismarc k? This is a chance to get that ship, just like Tovey did in the Hindenburg .”
“Cunningham has Nelson and Warspite . Neither one can make much over 20 knots, and Bismarck runs ten knots faster. The French battleship is with it—the Normandie .”
“I see,” said Churchill, his mood darkening. “Now’s the time I wish we had those carriers in hand we spoke of earlier. We’ll have more soon enough. But for now, send that order to Cunningham as you advise. It will be yet another feather in Hitler’s cap, and one we’ll just have to pluck out again later this year—god willing.”
Part VI
Quicksilver
“ The Spirits survey the heavens and the earth and all the harmonious motions of the universe see the heavenly bodies set in revolving whorls, which, whorl within whorl, combine to form the Spinning, on the Spindle of Necessity; and the Goddess holds the spindle on her knee, and spins the thread which the Fates wind, unwind and cut…”
— Plato
Chapter 16
The thread of fate the Goddess unwound that day came like quicksilver lightning from the sky. Operation Merkur began with speed, the headlong dash of those heavy German ships through the Straits of Messina and east towards Crete. Then the dark pre-dawn skies carried the drone of hundreds of planes, a flock of crows come to claim Britain’s last island outpost in the Med.
Churchill and Brooke were correct. There was no way the island could be adequately defended. Britain was already struggling to scrape up troops wherever they could find them. Crete had served as a forward RAF base, a thorn in the sides of Italian shipping that dared get too close, and a watch on the Aegean Sea, but little else. Churchill had stubbornly held onto it, thinking it would one day be a springboard for the invasion of Greece, but that was not likely anytime soon.
The German Operation Phoenix had upset so many plans and timetables, cut so many threads of fate, that everything was now being focused there. General Quinan now had five divisions and two Armored Brigades in Syria, and Jumbo Wilson was seeing his force building up to five Indian and two British regular divisions in Iraq, along with two Armored Brigades there as well. Even that was not deemed enough, and General Richard O’Connor would soon find out. Wavell had come to him earlier to pick his pocket, but it had not been practical at the time. Now, however, with the Syrian-Iraq theater deemed the most vital of the war, all the stops were being pulled.
O’Connor would soon be asked to send the whole of his 1st Armored Division, and one more British infantry division back to Alexandria. The armor would make the long overland march by road to the railhead at Tobruk, the Infantry would go to Benghazi for shipment by sea. There would be no further reinforcement planned for his 8th Army, and he was told to be as ‘obnoxious as possible’ concerning the harassment of the German defenses at Mareth, but he would have to do with much less than he had hoped.
O’Connor asked if he could send the 4th Indian Division, but the request, or rather the order, from Whitehall was very specific. He had already committed the 44th Home County and 51st Highland to battle, but the 50th was not yet heavily involved. Disheartened and upset, he had no choice but to order it to the rear, and he would then bring up the 4th Indian Division in its place. Receiving the order to disengage his 1st Armored Division was the hardest blow.
Half his 7th Armored Division had already been sent east, the 7th Armored Brigade, as it was now being called, but it was quickly shipped off to Basra. That left him with the infantry tanks of 2nd Armored Brigade, and the 22nd and 23rd Armored Brigades. He would have to give up two of the three, so he reluctantly send the 22nd, which was the last of 7th Armored Division, mostly medium and light tanks, and then he sent the rest of 1st Armored Division as ordered. That division had but one armored brigade left, so in effect, he was simply taking the last of the 7th to reinforce the 1st, and sending one good armored division east as ordered. It would be reorganized into 1st and 2nd Armored Brigades, with the 7th Motorized Brigade being the infantry element.
This would mean that his offensives would be mostly infantry assaults, though he stubbornly held on to his 23rd Armored Brigade, a large formation with over 400 tanks. He would be sending at least that many east in the newly formed 1st Armored Division, so now he would be fighting with only one mailed fist, and also losing a good infantry division. He resolved that he could still keep strong pressure on the Mareth Front, and even still threaten a breakthrough. He had already taken Medinine and battered the Italian defenders there.
His push for Mareth itself was still strong with the 51st Highland, 44th Home County and 23rd Armored Brigade, which was all the frontage would allow for. Yet there was nothing behind it until 4th Indian came up, and he would have no means of exploiting any success. All he could do was remain a nuisance for Rommel, and force his opponent to keep good infantry divisions on the line. He compensated in the short run by sending up his army troops—two battalions of armored cars, two more of Royal Engineers, and a rifle battalion. 4th Indian Division was already arriving, and he gave orders to hasten it forward even as he sent the 50th Northumberland back. He also still had the 1st South African Division, but it was largely scattered, a brigade at Benghazi, another at Mersa Brega, and the last at Tripoli. It would also mean that he could not make a flanking move to the left of the highland country as planned. There was nothing to do but keep battering at the front door.
So the British 8th Army would not make the glorious and decisive breakthrough that Montgomery had achieved at Mareth, and this would also have an effect on the western front in Algeria and Tunisia. Churchill’s insistence on making Iraq and Syria his main war effort now would see 12 divisions there, and these two additional reinforcements being sent by O’Connor. That left his 8th Army with only four effective divisions, which was all Monty had on the other side in Algeria and Tunisia. This was going to mean that the American Army’s role would be much more essential, and thus far, Patton had worked his magic to harden those troops into a credible fighting force.
The American divisions were still cumbersome, p
articularly the two big heavy armored divisions, and some of the infantry battalions were still raw, but they were learning very quickly. The victory in holding on to Tebessa was significant, though that took the best infantry division of the lot, Terry Allen’s 1st. When Monty joined the party, it had forced von Arnim to first consolidate, and then withdraw, leaving Rommel with no other choice but to do the same. The Germans were now on the defense all along the western Tunisian border, but it still remained to be seen whether the Allies could mount a decisive offensive there.
Now, in mid-February, the weather was still much of a factor in those operations. The heavy rains were turning the silty dust and sand to slurry, and the mud was always a problem. After a good long fight against the German Operation Sturmflut , the Americans also had to consolidate, lick their wounds, and replenish. The weather was imposing this on Patton and Montgomery as much as anything else, though they resolved to push as far forward as practical, gaining the most favorable positions they could.
Montgomery continued to press his 3rd and 43rd Divisions along the coast, and was approaching the port of Bone. In the center, flanking that city, he pressed his 6th and 10th Armored Divisions towards Souk Ahras as planned. This move displaced the US 3rd infantry further south, and now Patton was looking over the map to plot his next move. His only problem was the sad fact that he had run out of “good roads.”
“Damnit Brad, you invite someone to dinner and they stay all night. Now Monty is pushing for Souk Ahras, and he’s already astride the road I was going to use. Anderson’s 3rd Infantry is out of a job. If they can’t go north up that road, there’s nothing but mountain country north and east of their position.”
Stormtide Rising (Kirov Series Book 29) Page 14