Whether Hitler followed all that Manstein had said, or truly grasped the military situation he had been trying to explain, could not be known. Yet he heard one word in Manstein’s discourse, the carrot at the end of the stick—solution . That was what the Führer wanted, why he had really come all this way to see his Field Marshal. In every crisis, no matter how severe, there had been but one man who had truly prevailed, and that was Manstein. As stubborn as he was, Hitler could feel his own grip on the reins of this war slowly slipping from his grasp, and he wanted to redress that at any cost.
“Solution?” Hitler eyed him with misgiving. “What is it you propose this time?”
“I hesitate to even offer it, as you are so averse to yielding ground to the enemy, but in this instance, I can see no other way. Paulus must restore his front on the line of the Donets. That river will present the enemy with a formidable barrier, and in doing so, his left flank will again be in contact with that of General Hollidt’s forces defending the crossings at Izyum and Krasny Liman.”
“Can this line then be held?”
“Yes. I am certain that we can prevail, but we must act quickly. Since the Italian 8th Army has been withdrawn to Italy, we no longer have to worry about upsetting Mussolini, and I can see no economic or political benefit in holding the Don basin. Paulus presently has the crossing at Belaya Kalivta available, but if he is cut off, then his situation gets very serious. He would have to cross at Tormosin, and this could expose Rostov, as he would have to move his troops south of the Don to then reach that city.”
Hitler studied the map, taking the time to master his own emotions in the situation. “If you can assure me that the Donets line can be held, then I will agree to such a proposal.”
For a moment, Manstein was thrown off balance. He had expected a litany of reasons why the Don basin must be held, and did not think Hitler would acquiesce so easily to this request. He turned to Speidel, giving him a quiet nod of his head, and seeing that he had made somewhat of a breakthrough of his own, he decided to press his luck.
“Excellent,” he said. “It’s clear you appreciate the situation correctly. In that light, I will now ask you to consider our present position in the Caucasus. This move by Paulus will make it prudent to tighten our line this way…” He pointed at the map. The Hungarians are presently here at Kotelnikovo, and I recommend that they move to Zimovinki. They are not opposed by Soviet troops, as that area south of the Don is Volkov’s territory. However, the moves we now make do several things. In addition to consolidating our position, the Soviets will undoubtedly move to occupy the Don basin. When they do so, the river then becomes a border zone between their forces and those of Ivan Volkov, and they will have to garrison that line—the entire line of the Don, from Volgograd to our position.”
“Agreed,” said Hitler. He had, himself, come to see the Don Basin as a liability, and so this minor adjustment was nothing that concerned him. But he perceived there was something more behind Manstein’s request, and he soon flushed that bird out of the scrub.
“What about the Caucasus?” he asked directly. “Will our position there remain secure?”
Manstein hesitated briefly, for this was the real heart of the matter. The Donets line screened Rostov, which in turn provided Kleist and Hansen their line of communications back to the heart of Armeegruppe South.
“For the moment,” he said, a warning implicit in that remark.
Part VII
One Small Step
“There is but one step from triumph to fall. I have seen that in the greatest affairs a little thing has always decided great events.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte
Chapter 19
“The Caucasus,” said Manstein. “It is time we had a frank discussion about that. When I received the order to move on Maykop, and against Volkov’s forces, I was very troubled. It seemed to me that we had enough on our hands, and too few allies in this war. Now here we were making an enemy of one of them, and for something that we might have obtained simply with a willingness to negotiate. France joined us, and we ended up having to disarm and occupy them. I fear that the same will happen with Italy soon, and now we are at war with the Orenburg Federation, with a whole new front to hold and defend.”
“There were political considerations you were not aware of,” said Hitler. “Volkov was duplicitous, and to say even that would be too kind. He was devious, scheming to occupy and control all the key oil production centers of the world, and he nearly had them all! Besides, what did we ever gain through this alliance?”
“His Armies were of great help at Volgograd,” said Manstein. “And on the Volga, Sergei Kirov must post many armies to watch that frontier—all troops that he would much rather deploy against us.”
“It was clear that Volkov would never deliver the oil he promised us,” said Hitler. “So he had to be taught a lesson, and learn the consequences of his duplicity.”
“Indeed,” said Manstein with a shrug, “and we must live with them as well. I would ask you to consider our situation in the Caucasus from an economic perspective as well as a military one. It is clear that we cannot proceed to either Baku or Astrakhan, nor is there any reason why we should, now that we have the oil fields at Maykop. The overall strategic situation has dramatically changed in the last few months. The loss of 5th Panzer Army in Tunisia was a very hard blow.”
“Without question,” said Hitler. “Yet that was avoidable. Kesselring gave the enemy far too much there, which is why I am so keen on holding what we have here in the east. Backward steps can become a very bad habit—bad for our morale and good for the enemy.”
“Not in every case,” said Manstein, needing to hold that flank. “Tunisia was a liability. Yes, it kept the British and Americans occupied in the West, but that position should have been evacuated long ago, while we still had the air and naval power to permit that. As for the Caucasus, we have another situation there that can also become a grave liability. Our troops are now holding terrain over a very broad front, and for no good reason. Hansen and Rouff have sixteen divisions between them. If we were to consolidate to a line closer to Maykop, we could hold that region with an iron wall with no more than eight to ten divisions. Volkov has no offensive capacity. That would free up six to eight divisions, and this would dramatically redress the imbalance in our struggle to hold the middle and upper Donets—one we are clearly losing.”
“I have heard such talk from others,” said Hitler. “A defeatist attitude will never win a race. Look what we have done! We smashed them at Kiev, at Minsk, at Smolensk. We burned Moscow; made rubble of Volgograd! Now I ask the army to take Kursk, one city… One city! Suddenly it cannot be done; not with Steiner, not with seven Panzer divisions that were committed to that attack.”
“What does this tell you?” said Manstein. “The Army has fought hard. We have better tanks and equipment than we ever had before. There is no question as to the valor and dedication of the troops, yet now he can push us. He had enough to fight us in the north and still launch this heavy attack towards Kharkov again. It took all we had to stop those Winter offensives in the Don Basin last year. What does this tell you? Our enemy has changed. He has taken every blow we have delivered, suffered enormous losses, and yet there he stands. We crushed what was left of his old army in the Kuban, and it was but a shell of the force he first sent there. Now we face an all new army, and for the first time, they have tasted victory. They will want more.”
Manstein needed to find some way to make the situation clear. “We destroyed most of their 5th Shock Army, and two Tank Corps during Operation Zitadelle . Yet still they come, and as strong as ever. They have replaced all their losses, seemingly overnight, which can only mean one thing. The Soviets were not idling behind their fortified lines all winter. We are seeing new tanks and vehicles, new mechanized corps, entire new armies being transferred to this front. It is clear that the enemy has decided to focus all his energies against the southern wing of our forces. It is the one p
lace they can attack that can yield striking gains.
“Do you realize that an advance now of little more than 100 kilometers takes them to the Dnieper? That should be a sobering thought, and here I am trying to scrape up infantry divisions to cover the Middle Donets. Do you see that gap in the lines on the situation map? There is nothing to stop them from going for the Dnieper this very moment. It is only their caution after the blow we delivered last month that gives them pause, but I have little doubt that even as we speak, they are moving up fresh reserves to exploit that opening.
“In the meantime, Steiner’s divisions move from one crisis point to another. His equipment might be new, but there were not enough infantry replacements, and those that did arrive were green. I had Sepp Dietrich holding a frontage of 30 kilometers at one point, and he was opposed by the entire 1st Guards Army! The Panzergrenadiers are wearing down. Some battalions are only 60% of normal strength. And now, since I have had to concentrate everything here in the south to protect Kharkov, that left Knobelsdorff with only two Panzer divisions. The enemy is attacking up there with five armies, which include six mobile corps. There was simply no way that line will hold without redeploying to the south to straighten out the front.
Hitler shook his head, frustrated. “More ground lost, when we should be half way to Kursk by now. We have given Sergei Kirov everything he has gained. If my Generals would fight as hard as our troops, he could not take a single acre from us! Now you suggest we withdraw to Maykop? What about Groznyy? We shed good German blood taking that from Volkov. You would simply hand it back to him?” Hitler seemed aghast.
“Not at all,” said Manstein. “There will be nothing to give, for we would utterly destroy it. In fact, we should do the very same thing at Baba Gurgur—burn it. Destroy everything, and by so doing we deny it to the enemy. I have already made it painfully clear that we will gain absolutely no economic benefit from those oil fields. We cannot transport it to Germany. In the case of Groznyy, it will take a pipeline from there to Rostov, because we do not control Georgia, nor will we have the forces necessary to do so. That is 700 kilometers, and it will take us six months or longer before it could be functional. However, a pipeline from Maykop to Rostov already exists. It is only in need of repair. And if necessary, we could also build such a line from Maykop to Taman, and then simply move the oil over the Black Sea. For that matter, building the line south to Tuapse would be even easier. That is a distance of just a little over 100 kilometers, over some mountainous terrain, but it could be constructed in a few months. Some of that line already exists as well.”
Hitler nodded, seeing the situation in the cold light of reality now. He had wanted Baku, and Astrakhan, but even he could see that he would never get them. He had wanted to deny them to Volkov, even if he could not take that oil for himself, and this was what Manstein was now proposing.
“Then this entire move into the Caucasus was a great waste,” said Hitler.
“Quite the contrary,” said Manstein. “Yes, we might have negotiated for Maykop. That all went badly, but given that we are now at war with Volkov, the drive south to Groznyy was a severe blow to his little empire. We have shown him that we can push him any time we choose. Now we can utterly destroy his facilities at Groznyy, tear up his infrastructure so badly that he can make no use of the oil he covets there. We already have what we came for—useable oil, and fields within reach of ports that can get it to Germany. I strongly suggest we focus all our efforts on the Maykop-Tuapse pipeline. Now that Raeder has destroyed the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, we are masters of those sea-lanes. The oil can be shipped directly to Constanta on the Romanian coast, and then all the oil cars from Ploesti will be waiting to take it there for refinement and shipping to the Reich.”
Hitler was silent for some time, thinking, looking over the map. Everything Manstein said made perfect sense. He would not get Baku, and Astrakhan, and it was true that the oil fields of Groznyy were simply too far away to be of any benefit within the next year. The same could be said for Baba Gurgur, for that oil would have to move by rail over 1700 kilometers, through Turkey to Istanbul, and the rail capacity could not feed Guderian’s divisions while it also moved oil in any quantity that could matter.
It was abysmally clear to him now that all his adventures, in Syria, in Iraq and the Caucasus, had been as expensive as they were successful. He seized vast amounts of terrain, but most of it was absolutely useless, and much of it relied on the tentative agreements he had forged with Turkey. Manstein hit this front directly with his next statement.
“My Führer… Rommel gave you Damascus, and Guderian gave you Baghdad. What good has that done for us? We will not get to Cairo through Damascus, and Guderian will not get to Basrah any more than I will get to Astrakhan. These should no longer be considered strategic objectives. In fact, any further plans aimed at securing them would be foolhardy.”
Hitler wanted to shift the blame. “Need I remind you that it was you who first proposed such a movement through Turkey. I devised Plan Orient on your recommendation.”
“True, but that was in 1941. The movement into Syria was halfhearted, and meant only to support the Vichy French. Your recent offensives were bold and daring, but they simply came too late. If we had done this in 1941, things would be different. Now however, the occupation of Syria and Iraq is as much a liability as Tunisia was, and it could end the same way. Operation Phoenix , if continued, will become an Albatross. We need divisions for Italy and Southern France now. Where will we get them? Consider what I have said. Destroy Groznyy and Baba Gurgur, and then bring those troops here. Consolidate around Maykop and free up another eight to ten divisions there. The Western Allies are a minor threat at the moment. If you move all of Kubler’s divisions to Italy, we will have very good prospects there, and with Guderian’s forces back in the fold here, we can deal with the real threat—the Soviets. Then you will actually have the troops needed to launch Operation Downfall.”
Hitler took a deep breath. “I have considered this for some months now. The Spring campaign was a great success, but the summer in Iraq is merciless. I have already recalled the Wiking Division, and the Brandenburgers. In time, I can see that I will have to pull out all those Panzer divisions I sent Rommel and Guderian as well. I may be stubborn, Herr General, but I am not blind, nor am I stupid as your tone with me would sometimes assume. I have already told Zeitzler to begin planning the movement of the better divisions from our Middle East adventures. As for what you suggest in destroying the key oil fields we have seized, I have every intention of doing so. It is a pity that Guderian did not push harder to get to Basra and Abadan. Then I could have the pleasure of destroying those fields as well. If I cannot keep and use what I have taken, then no one else will make use of that oil either—not for years.”
“Precisely,” said Manstein. “Then what about my suggestion that we consolidate in the Caucasus?”
“I will give it further consideration, and take up the matter with OKW. I have made that headquarters responsible for all matters on the Ostfront now. OKH is a nuisance. We will have one central headquarters to manage all the affairs of the army, OKW.”
“And perhaps it would also be wise to appoint a senior officer to take full charge of the Ostfront ,” said Manstein. “Decisions would, of course, require your final approval, but it would relieve the burden you now carry.”
“General Manstein… I came here with the possible intention of removing you from command, but I have mastered that impulse. Do not stand there now and suggest that I be removed from command. Without my constant vigilance, this Army would become a shamble.”
Silence.
“Very well,” Manstein said with an air of finality. “Is it your wish that I relinquish this command? I am perfectly willing to hand over to anyone you propose. For that matter, I am willing to countermand any of the orders I have recently relayed to OKW, though I tell you, and with no uncertainty, that to do so would invite disaster.”
“No, General, I thi
nk I will keep you right where you are. But you must not be rash! I need your loyalty, as much as I need the good advice I have always sought from you. Now then…. As to the matter at hand. What will it take to stop these Soviet offensives? You did so a month ago, even if we did not recover all the ground they took from us.”
Manstein pointed to the map. “At the moment, our situation on the Middle Donets is quite precarious. That gap I pointed out is over 35 miles wide. That was where I sent the Wiking Division, but it cannot hope to defend such a frontage, nor can it be used to counterattack under the present circumstances. I have Steiner well concentrated to hold Kharkov, and I can assure you that the city will not fall—unless the front to the northwest should collapse. Then Kharkov would be in grave danger of encirclement. I need more infantry. Armeegruppe Center must provide it, and failing that, I have already suggested where it can be found.”
“Very well,” said Hitler. “I will get you every division I can, and then you must put a stop to these spoiling attacks. Downfall simply cannot proceed until this matter is cleaned up. I will consider what you have asked concerning the Caucasus, but I caution you not to make any further withdrawals without direct approval from OKW. If, however, you can find a way to maintain our current position there while extracting a few divisions for use on the lower Donets, then I give you my permission to make these transfers. But advise OKW before you do so, not after. Do not think you can present me with a fait accompli and do whatever you wish. There is a limit to my forbearance. Your plan delivered France in 1940. You took the Crimea, the Donbass, the Don basin, and Volgograd. I have had every faith in your ability in the past, and I will continue to rely on you, especially in times of crisis.”
Nexus Deep (Kirov Series Book 31) Page 16