Al stared at him but said nothing for fear of getting Patton’s squeaky rose into even higher decibels.
‘That town up ahead is the key railway junction on which their entire withdrawal depends in this sector if you do not report its capture to me by nightfall consider yourself sacked.’
Roberts though it wise not to reply, the General’s blood pressure was clearly at maximum.
Two minutes later the lead Sherman was heading down the road towards Chalons, the German staff car only a kilometre ahead. White flag still visible.
Al was not a happy man. The dressing down had stung and was unfair. Dammit there were rules in war even if your name was Patton. In his anger he failed to notice things about the countryside that he should have, bushes that seemed slightly out of place, things were just a bit too quiet. But in the absence of resistance he did what Patton wanted him to – head right into town. A town that was just a little too quiet. The few civilians that showed their faces from the windows of their houses waived but no-one came out to greet the American column as it wound its way down the main road to the railway yards. In other towns the population had streamed onto the streets, church bells had rung. Clearly the Germans were still here. Through a side street he caught a glimpse of the church tower that dominated the main square. A company of Shermans and halftracks was heading there now.
A few minutes later the railway yards came into view. Coming down a road from a slightly elevated position Al caught a brief glimpse of the expanse of siding and carriages and a long stream of flatbed carriages with Panzers on them – Panzer IVs and Flakpanzers - and countless passengers carriages. ‘We’ve caught them napping We’re going to make it’ Among the carriages he saw uniformed figures scurrying. A glimpse at his map told him that it was more than a kilometre to the left along the track that he would find the chokepoint at which he would be able to set up a defensible position and stop any railway traffic out of these yards. Maybe they could pull it all off.
‘Oh shit..’ His driver had his head out of the hatch and saw it first. The turrets of three Panzer IVs on the flatbeds were moving and the long 75mm menacing swinging in the direction of his tanks. There was nowhere for either side to hide. The Germans were stuck on the carriages and the Shermans were confined to one rather exposed road. And showing their rather thin flanks. They were sitting, no moving ducks, but ducks nonetheless.
‘Gunner, armour-piercing now. The Panzer IV at 11 o’clock range 400 yards. Now! ‘All Units engage NOW. Fire at will.’
Slowly the Shermans turrets began swivelling but the Mark IVs were faster and at that range devastating. Roberts lost four Sherman’s and a halftrack in the first exchange. But the Panzers fared little better, stuck on the railway carriages they had their flanks exposed to the Americans as well and not all seemed to be crewed. Certainly not the Flakpanzers. Two went up in spectacular explosions with their 20mm munitions popping like fireworks. Two more exchanges of fire left nearly a dozen panzers in flame, but Irzyk had lost half his column. It did not matter, in a few minutes he would reach the chokepoint and then the Germans would be in the bag. There it was half a kilometre ahead, a small grassy hill, a park area from where he could dominate the entire yard. Now it would be a matter of Patton catching up with him.
Ahead two flashes erupted from the park and suddenly the Sherman came to an abrupt halt. Smoke filled the compartment ‘ Everybody out ! Al pushed himself through the hatch, saw dense smoke coming from the drivers hatch. No-one would be escaping from there. A second later he felt swoosh of a passing shell and out of the corner of his eye saw the turret of Sherman behind him leap into the air.
While Irzyk and his gunner huddled in a doorway the two 88s that had lain in waiting at the park put two more shells into the struck Shermans thoroughly blocking the road. The column behind – or what was left of it would have to find another way.
His radioman’s face gave Patton a sense of foreboding. ‘What is it’ He growled as he tried to shield his papers from the drizzle. The weather was truly British. The back of his jeep was crowded with radio equipment, wires and antennas around it officers had spread out maps, many of them on the wet ground, desperately trying to get a handle on the advance.
‘Seems that CCB have run into major trouble sir. A company has occupied the main square with minimal resistance. Irzyk did report a few minutes ago that he was at the rail yard. He should be radioing in that he’s at the objective now. Only he seems to have gone off air.’
‘What about any of his other commanders.’
‘That’s the thing Sir. A company is coming through loud and clear but I cannot raise anyone from Brave or Charlie. No-one is answering. And I mean no-one at all Sir.”
“Have A company investigate and tell Abrahms and his guys to hurry up and get into … Dammit this weather is really a pain. We need air support. “
Two hours later it was clear that something had gone badly wrong. Irzyk’s unit remained off air and probing advances from a battlegroup of another 20 tanks in the direction of the rail yards had run into stiff opposition. The road that the Sherman battlegroups had charged down into Chalons just a short while ago now were covered by 88s and a few burning American vehicles marked the line beyond which the Germans did not deem to let them pass. The second column had reached the outskirts of the town where a half dozen of 88s was keeping them at a respectable distance. Without fighterbombers to support them during daylight hours, Patton’s tanks were going nowhere. As night descended A company was pushed out of the town square and cut to shreds as it retreated along the main road. Only a few stragglers slipped through on foot. Patton’s thrust 95 kilometers behind the official frontline had run out of steam. 15% of his tanks were gone.
6pm 17th August
SHAEF London
It had been a while since Eisenhower had spoken to his president and suddenly the grilling by Marshall did not seem so bad. Marshall at least was a fellow officer; Roosevelt even if he fancied himself a bit of a Navy man, was ultimately a civilian with different priorities. “General, would you care to tell your Commander in Chief what is going on in France? George Marshall tells me that your General Patton has decided to implement Allied strategy all on his own.”
The call could not have come at a worse time. Eisenhower had managed to get some information concerning the success of the initial advance from the logistics support but there was also information that the suggested that the Germans had struck back. At this stage he had nothing substantial though. Again he played for time. The last thing he needed now was the President issuing some impulsive order, that he would have to directly obey or disobey.
“Mr President General Patton is trying to win the war in a way that will preserve American honour and bring our boys home sooner.”
The President sidestepped the speech, refusing to be drawn. “Marshall tells me that Patton is most likely heading for Chalons. He told you that he was going to do this?”
“Yes Mr President he did.”
And would you please tell me why you did not order him to stop? That was a surprise either Marshall had missed out the critical point Eisenhower had tried to end the last conversation on or the President was being deliberately naïve. Chances were that he would be hung out to dry.
Mr President as I told General Marshall, as theatre commander, I had no specific instructions to the contrary. The last order of 21st July…’
“Yes, yes I know what those instructions were. But I do not see how let’s wait and see can be interpreted as Charge!
“Mr President, has General Marshall given you our reports on troop morale since the German withdrawal ? “
There was a non-committal ‘Yes?’
And I believe that you and the Prime Minister have talked since our concern over general Montgomery’s bungling in Normandy? ‘Yes?’
‘Then, Mister President you will understand that when George Patton asked me whether I had any orders specifically prohibiting him from taking steps to shorten the war I had
to admit to not having these.’
‘Dammit Ike I am supposed to be the politician. I am not looking for a fall-guy… Yet. I want to know what’s going on. As the president and your CiC, George Marshall and I thought that we were entitled to a little information; sometimes even before it happens.’
Eisenhower said nothing
Then came the typical Roosevelt move: ‘so what are George Patton’s chances?’
‘Mr President if he catches the Germans napping and I think he has, then they are pretty good. Our last reliable intelligence before the weather turned nasty here were that the rail yards of Chalons is the place where the Germans were entraining nearly half of their tanks and much of their heavy equipment from the Normandy divisions. These are their elite units that will have a major impact on any future balance of power. However there are no guarantees. This is still war.’
‘Yes I see.. these units would make Uncle Joe rather unhappy if they showed up in the East.’ It was a question.
Grateful to avoid confrontation Eisenhower got talkative “Mr President we are talking about the cream of Rommel’s Panzers. We did give them a good mauling in Normandy but we must assume that there are still something like 3-400 Panzers that they can redeploy to the East, many, possibly half of them Tigers.
‘Well then we’ll just have to hope that nothing goes wrong. Keep us informed of Patton’s progress that is a direct order from your President. But we never talked. Understood?’
‘Yes Sir.’ Damn politician!
That night things went from bad to worse. The spearhead had advanced on so narrow a front that its logistics was critically tied to two or often just one road once it crossed the Seine. Everything, the advancing tanks, the halftracks and the supply trucks had to use the same artery. The wet weather would have already made things difficult all on its own. It was now that the lack of infantry back-up began to tell. The few units that had managed to keep up with Patton’s spearhead were just stretched too thin. There were two points where the logistical chain ran across a single small bridge over a tributary of the Seine. And even though Patton’s initial counter-strike against the German forces that had seized them contested control of the villages around them, they failed to withstand the 400 Wehrmacht veterans who in the early hours of the morning descended on them with 3 Tigers in tow. The first attack failed to dislodge the Americans but the Germans only needed one success and a second try cleared the area of American forces. By 7 am the next day the bridge over the Seine tributary was in German hands. The machinegun emplacements and trenches that the American defenders had slept in the previous night were occupied by Germans. By 9 am a motley group of two 75mm antitank guns, a battery of 88s and a hastily-scraped together under-strength company of Fallschirmjäger and some military police had joined them. Patton was in a trap.
9am August 18th
Rambouillet
40 kilometers from Paris
They came charging down two parallel roads, both pointing at Paris. The tanks and half-tracks slithered on the slippery roads but nothing was going to stop them. The night before news of Patton’s charge has finally reached most allied units in northern France, including the 2e DB – the Deuxieme Division Blindée, the French 2nd Armoured Division of General Leclerc. Although manned by Frenchmen, the division’s equipment, uniforms and weaponry were entirely American. The rumours of Patton’s charge had coincided with news that the Communist Resistance in Paris was staging a revolt to liberate the capital before the arrival of de Gaulle. Unwilling to tolerate any challenges to his authority ‘the General’ – as de Gaulle was known in allied circles – had bypassed Eisenhower and ordered Leclerc to advance. The few German units in front of them melted away and let them pass without much of a fight. No German wanted to die to keep Paris occupied just a little longer.
10am August 18th
forward command 4th Armoured
west of Chalons
France
It took Patton until 10 am to realise the danger. Fixated on renewing his advance, he nearly missed the message about the failure to retake the Seine bridge. With great reluctance Patton gave the order to assume a defensive posture towards Chalons while he swung around half of his tank column to reopen the bridge.
‘Don’t worry Meeks’ this’ll be quick we’ll hit them before they have time to set up proper defences. And we’ll hit them from both sides simultaneously.
At that moment the six Tigers of Heavy Detachment 501 pulled into positions on a ridge overlooking the Seine bridge from the northwest. It was an old multi-span stone structure, only partly reinforced by concrete sometime early in the century. One of the sergeants of the small infantry screening force attached to them to beef up the paratroopers defences came racing up to Wittman’s Tiger and handed over a message. The man’s unshaven face and dark-ringed eyes hid his youth. ‘This Sir is for you.’
Wittman gave him a quizzical look. His commanders usually communicated by radio. ‘It’s from Rommel’ the sergeant said pointing to the sky ‘he dropped it a few minutes ago.’
Commander blocking force
You hold a blocking position that neutralizes the threat that the American column poses to the Wehrmacht’s orderly withdrawal in this sector. Deploy force to maintain position for as long as possible. Estimate American force trapped to be in excess of 100 tanks. No relief force detected in your rear. Will deploy more forces to blocking position as soon as possible.
Good luck
Feldmarschall Erwin Rommel
Impressed Wittman folded the order and stuffed it into his breast pocket and glanced at the sky. How could anyone fly in this weather ?
11am August 18th
SHAEF HQ
London
Eisenhower was having a miserable time. One of the characteristics of blitzkrieg is the use of speed and surprise by an advancing armoured column to cut deeply into the opponents rear areas. The point is to use shock as much as firepower to achieve a tactical and if you’re lucky, strategic success. Patton had achieved penetration in depth and now that worked against him due to the limits of his manpower. Without the rest of the US Army in support, his column was too remote to be reached quickly. The reconnaissance teams that Eisenhower ordered in lacked the dash that Patton’s men had shown in their charge and thus were stopped more than 15 kilometers away from the German blocking position. The weather also still worked against the Allies. One of the American reconnaissance P-38 Lightnings searching for the Patton column misjudged a ridge and won first prize in a field-ploughing contest which neither the plane nor the pilot survived. Even the British Mosquitos sent out came back empty-handed. In the thick fog their speed counted against them. The only plane slow enough to manoeuvre safely in the foggy drizzle at low altitude was Rommel’s Fieseler Storch. But even the experienced, laconic pilot, Albert Nill, would later swear that the Feldmarschall had taken far too many risks.
11;30am August 18th
Seine bridge
outside Troyes
France
Woll’s smoke-covered face looked like a skull in the reddish light when he grinned at his commander inside the Tiger. ‘I think that they Americans have got the point, Hauptsturmführer.’
Michael’s eyes were glued to the viewfinder searching the scene of battle. Down in the open plain before him, less than 600 yards away on the roads that led to bridge that the improvised battlegroup had seized from the Americans rear echelon guards, lay the smouldering wrecks of 5 Shermans and two half-tracks. They never had a chance, he thought. The day before, a force of twenty Shermans had been detached from the main force to clear the blockage in the rear and had come up short when he and his squadron of Tigers had caught them in the flank even before they approached the bridge. With its powerful 88mm gun the Tiger was master of any battlefield at distances over a kilometre. The Shermans never had a chance. Now at altitude and overlooking the approaches and its only road, the Tiger-commander wondered what madness had propelled the Americans to try again along the same ro
ute, a route partially blocked by the wrecks of the previous days carnage. Surely there had to be an easier way out for the trapped American column?
Used to constant drumming from either naval batteries or allied air support in Normandy, something in Wittman registered things out of place. But no matter how hard he tried there was nothing he’d overlooked. It was just that the Sherman’s could not call in air support as easily as in the Normandy bocage.
‘Enemy tanks approaching … on the ridge… range 1400 meters.’ Aha so they were learning.
Michael swivelled his viewer to see at least eight Shermans surrounded by American infantry advancing along the slope of the ridge on which he had positioned his 6 Tigers. If they continued their advance they would outflank him very soon. His infantry screen to that side was near non-existent.
Clearly a lot more thinking had gone into this attack because he saw another group of tanks skulking through the woods to the far side of the main road to the bridge, American infantry advancing ahead of them.
For a few seconds he stared undecided which was the real attack, which was the greater threat. Manfred, how many Shermans do you count on that road? … ‘Maybe eight why?’
Eight. A reasonable force, strong enough to force its way across the valley and clear the bridge if he and his Tigers were distracted. He looked again, the force crawling along the ridgeline was now only 900 yards away and it was clearly the larger effort, he gave up counting after what was now 20 tanks. This was the primary effort. His decision was made.
‘All units reverse 200 yards to secondary positions then begin firing upon tanks advancing on ridge. Focus on tanks, I repeat never mind the infantry at this moment. Make this quick, and keep your front to them then you will be fine.’
11;40am August 18th
Seine bridge
Outside Troyes
France
Patton was rapidly running out of options and he knew it. The German blocking position was stronger than he had anticipated and instead delivering one decent knock-out blow he had wasted his Shermans by feeding them piecemeal against an opponent in an entrenched, commanding position. With a third of his force gone, George Patton risked everything on one final blow. Every vehicle in the area had been assigned to the attack – either for the flanking movements or the main force which would advance once the flanking forces had distracted the Tigers. Standing in his jeep, motor running he signalled the remaining tanks forward. The Tigers it seemed were fully engaged manoeuvring against the flanking force on the ridge. If this went on they would miss his main thrust in the valley. If he could get his tanks behind them he could route this force. A Tiger outgunned a Sherman in virtually every way but was just as vulnerable as the next tracked vehicle to the damage a bazooka might do. That’s why he had sent the bazooka squads with the flanking force. Patton the tanker was betting on the infantry to get him through this one.
The Valkyrie Option Page 35