Freyberg was given the unlimited use of two Royal Navy aircraft carriers and their compliment of planes. These well trained air units could go a long way, if properly used, towards mitigating the numerical superiority of the Red Armies divisions gathering to his north.
Freyberg assured Eisenhower that with full supply and the Royal Navy’s planes he could hold the enemy at bay for at least thirty days. Freyberg knew he would be well supported. There were dozens of reporters flown in to witness his stand. Sir Bernard reasoned that with the eyes of the world on his division HQ must be pretty confident of the outcome in the short run. He had pressed Eisenhower for more men and had done it as a matter of form, rather than with any hope of results. Freyberg was not holding his breath and planned on using the forces at hand to the best of his ability.
How Long ?
Omar Bradley was walking in circles trying to work off some tension. His office was large but not ostentatious. It contained a few prized memorabilia, but otherwise it could be classified as spartan. He finally addressed his visitor, Sir Harold Alexander, who once again was in command of the Mediterranean theater of operations. Alexander had been recalled to active service after being named the Governor General of Canada in March of 1946. Britain was losing its governors to active duty.
“When is Ike going to pull the trigger on this invasion? Bradley finally blurted out.”
“I would assume, when he is good and ready, Omar. I would suggest that you know him far better than me.”
Omar continues by asking “How much more strung out does he want the commies to get and how close to the Suez? It must be making Churchill very nervous.”
Alexander answers “I believe Winston has felt much more uneasy about other situations over the course of his life than this current kerfuffle. As you well know he trusts Ike completely and would never second guess him.”
“Never mind me…I’m just blowing off steam, Harold. We Americans have to do that from time to time as you well know. In days gone by I used to sack a general or two to deal with tension. Hell did you know that Patton only sacked one general under his command and that was after two warnings. Luckily for my subordinates, I’ve found other outlets for my energies.”
“Yes, I see old boy. You have worn out the carpet in only one afternoon. Would you please sit down? You are making me dizzy.”
Bradley takes a seat and asks “Your troops are all ready? How is Vandergrift of the Marines holding up? Are his troops ready to bound off the landing craft and move inland? We don’t need another Anzio, Harold.”
“Once again, you know Vandergrift, better than me, Omar. Are you just asking rhetorical questions? Is this your “tell” as they say in poker old boy? Is this another manifestation of your own misgivings? Are you ready to cut off the body from the head in what could be the greatest victory of all times, or are you having second thoughts about getting what you wished for?”
Bradley pauses and says “A little of both, and all I guess. Just needed someone to talk it out with. The security is even tighter on this upcoming invasion than on D-Day. I think you can count on your fingers the number of people who know the whole plan. A lot of moving parts spread out over the oceans. Imagine the audacity of putting together a series of cascading invasions, each consisting of twenty five divisions each.”
Alexander concludes “I will give Ike his due. While McArthur had great strategic visions, Ike is brilliant at recognizing good ideas and incorporating them into his plans. Even from his grave, McArthur is contributing to future victory.”
Figure 29 - General Sir Harold Alexander, with American General Truscott
Chapter Twelve:
One Man’s Tale
Figure 30 - Burt Post’s Diary
Diary of Burt Post
January 26th, 1947
Things are still going well at work. I applied for another patent. That makes three so far. Luckily, Kimberly Clark is rewarding my efforts with a large, unasked for raise and promotion. A lot of the younger scientists and lab technicians are disappearing from the job market. I guess the army is snapping them up. Oh well, more work for me and the other older engineers.
Looks like we’ve started to slow down old Stalin and his minions. The Pyrenees Line is holding and the news reported that we started to take back some territory in those wicked mountains. The stories of the fighting there are gruesome to say the least. Lots of hand to hand fighting among the clouds. Nice view for your last dying thoughts.
Rumors are that the US is going to pop out of nowhere and surprise Uncle Joe Stalin when he least expects it. From the reports in Time magazine, he hasn’t even attempted to fortify the French coast. I guess he knows it’s pretty futile and learned his lesson from Hitler. They say Stalin is going to trade territory for time just like he did against the Nazis. It would work again, I suppose. Let’s hope that Ike is smarter than that.
Ede is a joy of a baby at four months. She is doing all that she is supposed to do. John and Lynn are jealous, but that is par for the course. Thank God she is finally sleeping the whole night. I felt sorry for Maxine, but what can I do? Women know how to take care of babies. I try and help out with the older kids. John is a good 6 year old. I love that age, with its “what’s that” “how does this work” and “why not”? It’s fun to answer even if you don’t know, you can make things up as long as it does no harm.
Lynn is going to be a singer. My, what a voice, that rings loud and clear. A very pleasing pitch that carries great distances. Luckily, she is a very polite and loving little girl and all her comments just draw “Isn’t that cute.”
Just heard on the radio that we have lost the Holy Land to the Reds. Bad news, but I’m sure we’ll get it back. I don’t think the commies will desecrate anything. After all, they were Orthodox Catholics just a generation ago. I’ve never heard of them doing anything to churches etc., even in Germany, and they sure had reasons to hate the Germans.
Diary of Burt Post
January 27th, 1947
Rumor has it that there is some kind of big push coming soon from the NATO Allies. The news reels were full of Spanish troops attacking all along the Pyrenees front. The fighting looked ferocious but it appears that the Reds have been stopped for now. According to the maps they were about to break into tank country, and that would have not been a good situation.
Maxine and I went to see the movie “Dead Reckoning” with Humphry Bogart. It was a very good movie and this was our first time since the baby alone together out of the house. Maxine’s mother looked after the kids. That was real nice of her and she enjoys them. They certainly love her. Bogart was wonderful as usual, but Lizbeth Scott was kind of stiff. Anyway, good plot and great night out.
The orders for more and more paper kept coming in and the paper machines are running 24 hours a day. The company is very grateful that my latest invention increased productivity by 5%. Doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you’re talking millions a day it adds up.
Bill Larsen, down the street just got called up. He has a kid and everything. His son got lucky and was allowed to enter the Navy. Bill pulled some strings. Most draftees go into the Army. Looks like we’re really going to try and run the Reds out of Europe. I hope that’s all we do. It will be hell to pay if we follow Napoleon and Hitler’s folly into the Steppes of Russia. No one has ever won that battle.
They are having a hell of a winter in England. It’s been mild here. Just wait, we’ll get ours soon enough.
Diary of Burt Post
January 28th, 1947
Lost another tire today. Damn how I hate rationing. You would think that they could loosen up a little bit on some of the stuff. The Reds don’t have a navy so how is the supply of rubber being affected. We should be bouncing in the stuff. The word is that the British are running out of coal. Can’t tell that joke about selling coal in New Castle anymore, I guess.
Six year old Lynn got the measles today. Terrible to see your little kids sick. She looks so cute, yet so miserable. She can’
t sleep and has spots all over. Thank goodness, all but Ede had gotten them already. John’s bout with the disease almost killed the poor child. It was nip and tuck. I sure hope they come up with a vaccine or something for this scourge.
Time magazine had an article of Vallabhai Patel. He’s an Indian politician who embraces partitioning India into two countries, one Muslim and one Hindu. I foresee trouble with that arrangement. Imagine having the US divided by religion. How stupid would that be?
My brother, Richard, called and mentioned that he will not be contacting us for a while. Seems he’s being shipped out. I hope it’s not some place dangerous. He’s such a big bear of a man, yet so gentle. He’ll do his duty but he won’t come back the same.
Bill Spangle came back and was a totally changed man. He couldn’t sleep at night and would attack his wife in his sleep. Someone should do something for these guys but everyone just wants to push it under the rug. No one talks about the problem, including the veterans themselves. How are they going to get the help they need if they don’t acknowledge the problem?
I felt guilty for not going but I tried. The recruiters kept rejecting me because my job is vital to the war effort. Someone has to stay behind and make the supplies they need to fight. So far, I’ve been able to make our company more efficient and make more with less.
Diary of Burt Post
January, 29th, 1947
All the news is concentrated on Al Capone’s funeral. The guy was a killer and a scum. Now the whole nation is wasting its time on hearing his life story over and over again. It was a life worth forgetting, if you ask me.
My younger brother, Phil, is now being sent somewhere. He sent one of those cryptic letters saying that he couldn’t tell us what was really happening. He was drafted and became a writer for the Stars and Stripes. I hope they keep him doing cartoons and not reporting for the front lines. He’s a damn good artist. I wish he is able to continue his art after the war.
Speaking of reporters missing. They still haven’t found that reporter who was camping in Maine and then just disappeared after he tangled with a military exercise. Very strange set of circumstances. Odd that he would just vanish. Hopefully, the Army is just holding him for some reason. All is fair in love and war.
Lynn is doing better, but is really scratching her pox. I’ve seen some real problems occur with scaring and such. I wonder if Calamine Lotion would work like it does for poison ivy and mosquito bites. I’ll pick some up tomorrow.
Out of the clear blue sky, Maxine retold the story of how her “loving” brother, John, made her climb the city water tower at age five. That man was cruel even as a little boy. He belongs in Alaska, where he can kill himself hunting bears for all I care. I wonder why she told the kids that story at dinner?
Got a new retread tire, so I don’t have to take the bus to work. Taking the bus adds an hour to my work day and it is crowded and standing room only by the time I get on. This rationing is getting to be a pain in the ass.
Figure 31 - Advertisement for retread tires
Chapter Thirteen:
Best Laid Plans
Figure 32 - General Eisenhower Receives Briefing
To the Point
The drill sergeant was in his element. Strutting in front of his squad and pontificating on the subject at hand.
“The purpose of amphibious training for an infantry division is to permit the division to participate in the operations incident of landing on a hostile shore in an efficient manner. The amphibious phase of an operation is purely a. means to an end, that is, the delivery of the troops and equipment of the division onto the shore in such a condition to engage successfully in battle. Successfully means achieving the designated objective.
Nothing in amphibious training must be construed to mean that the basic tactical principles of combat of an infantry division are changed in any way. This must be impressed on all concerned throughout the period of amphibious training. This must be clearly understood. The invasion is just the means to an end.”
Blah, blah, blah… Phil’s mind started to wander. He wanted to get out his sketch book and immortalize this scene. The drill sergeant strutting around like a rooster with all the little chicks watching his every move. Blah, blah, blah.
Phil tries to focus like all the rest of the lemmings in the company. The Sergeant drones on
“In general, the arrangement of men is in three files, riflemen along the gunwales, members of crew-served weapons units in the center, the, boat team commander and squad commanders near the bow, and the boat and squad seconds in command near 'the stern. If the boat is not equipped with naval weapons served by naval personnel, automatic riflemen, if any, are placed so that they can fire their weapon toward the beach as the boat approaches the shore. As soon as the boat is beached the men are taught to leave the boat by a prescribed drill. If not equipped with ramps, all debarkation is over both sides of the boat simultaneously. The odd numbered men of the flank files, assisted by the even numbers, are the first over side, followed in turn by the even numbers and by the center file. This results in the arrival of boat and squad commanders first on the beach. In ramp boats the flank files go over the side, and the center file debarks over the ramp.”
Phil starts to drift off again and starts to wonder “Who thinks of this stuff? Do they sit around all day thinking of who should sit where and who should shoot their weapons and at what?” This is beyond bizarre. Two months ago I was trying to get to second base with Melony and now I’m being bored to death by a moronic drill sergeant. How and why did this happen? I was going to be an art teacher and now I’m being trained to get on boats, get off boats and then to shoot people who get in my way. And for what? God and country?
He snaps to and starts to listen again as the soldier next to him jerks awake. This attracts the eye of the corporal who starts to glare at them both.
And the sergeant drones on “(1) As soon as landing boats are beached, boat teams debark rapidly and cross the beach at a run in widely deployed formations resembling skirmish lines. Such formations are difficult to control by boat team commanders and are maintained only until the first available cover or concealment is reached.
(2) Under protection of the first available cover or concealment a brief pause is essential, during which assault boat teams change their formations into those which are more readily controlled. The following are suitable for the purpose. The most suitable is the one which will best fit the terrain and tactical situation existing.
(a) Wedge. An inverted "V", with riflemen forming the sides, and members of the supporting weapons unit marching in rear of the angle.”
This lecture goes on for another hour and Phil remembers absolutely nothing of what the sergeant said except the very first two sentences verbatim. He remembered these sentences because they made perfect sense. You get off the boats to fight the enemy on land. Everything else was irrelevant. You just followed the guy ahead of you, and if he got wacked you followed the next guy. They were a bunch of lemmings in reverse. Instead of following each other off a cliff, we follow each other off a boat in order to climb a cliff.
He sure missed Melony.
Inimitable Nimitz
With the death of Douglas McArthur,[cxv] Admiral Nimitz finally had uncontested control of all amphibious invasion forces of the NATO coalition. McArthur had been a burr in Nimitz saddle for years, and he was glad to finally have free rein. The irony was the he was going to use his arch rival’s plan. Luckily, it was a good plan and he had no qualms about its implementation.
Since McArthur was dead, Nimitz did not have to justify and argue every detail. All the resources were his to use as he saw fit. He was fit in every sense of the word and ready to do what had to be done.
The first landing was to be in a few days at the port of Trieste. Historically the city had alternately been under Italian and Yugoslavian control. Right now, it was under Tito’s Yugoslavia. Soon, it would be governed by NATO.
The Marines would be the first
to land. Then, the Army would take over landing 23 divisions ashore in as little time as possible. On D-Day over 130,000 troops had landed the first day. Nimitz’s imminent operation would disembark 250,000 troops on land in two days. These troops were to move at an historic pace towards Vienna. The goal was to reach this celebrated city in 10 days. The distance was about 300 miles and would require an unprecedented rate of thirty miles a day. [cxvi]
Everything possible was being given to the commanders to assist them in moving fast towards their objectives and the digging in once they reached them. The new Patton tanks were ready for the job. Fast as hell, with a gun that could take out any known Soviet tank. The tanks could get to their assigned position before the enemy, dig in and defend until relieved.
The M38A3 Wolfhound armored car fitted with a 17 pounder could handle on all but the heaviest Soviet tanks. The Wolfhound would be towing an armored trailer carrying two squads, as well as supplies for a week’s worth of fighting, from fuel to ammo.
The overreaching strategy was to get to defensive positions that cut off Soviet supply lines. Along the route to Vienna combat units were to capture known airfields and possible sites for new airfields.
The naval forces have the job of defending the airspace over the battlefield for 200 miles in shore. The advanced forces are to establish airbases farther than the 200 miles. The USAAF will use the airbases to provide air cover for the remainder of the advancing forces.
Just like the island hopping campaigns in the Pacific, islands of defenders will cut off the supply lines of the Soviet army. Many will recall when the first P-38 Lightnings landed in the Philippines and were able to establish air superiority in a matter of weeks. Nimitz’s goal was air superiority in days not weeks.
World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First Page 105