Breakout (Kirov Series Book 38)

by Schettler, John

  Yet Berg knew his real advantage was not his armor. While it made his vehicles much more survivable than their historical counterparts, it was their situational awareness and ranged firepower that would be the heart of their ability to fight this war. They could find and see the enemy first, and then hit him at ranges beyond their ability to reply. That armor was there only for situations where the action closed range out of necessity given the tactical situation. Yet in effect, he would fight like Muhammad Ali, floating like a butterfly, and stinging like a bee.

  “When we get into this,” he said, “remember that we’ll be keeping the enemy at arm’s length, jabbing with the lighter AFVs, and then throwing that good right cross with the Leopards. If, for any reason, they get inside 2000 meters, and we simply must hold the ground, then we fight inside. But I want to avoid that wherever possible. If they never get close enough to lay a hand on us, all the better. But even in that case, don’t forget their air power. Leave it to the Stingers on the Wiesel Ozelots.”

  That was a variant of the light Wiesel tankettes, with air defense radars and four Stinger missiles. There were only a few assigned to the 7th Recon Battalion, but they would at least provide some defense against the Jabos.

  “Alright,” Berg finished. “Check your maps. The enemy is coming our way. At the moment, they’re tangling with the Nordland SS Panzergrenadier Division about 15 klicks west of Nogent le Rotrou. They’ve also pushed out patrols towards Remarlard. We’ll hold here until we see what happens, but be ready to move on a moment’s notice. Armor up, and get everything stowed.”

  Berg had been referring to Truscott’s advance with 4th and 6th Armored Divisions. 3rd Armored had already been sent up there by Patton to help out, and now he would dispatch 5th Armored as well. Thus far, that breakthrough had not been fully exploited, as the cavalry, and most of 4th Armored, had to watch their flanks on reports that several German divisions were heading their way. That irritated Patton to no end.

  The General was torn between his desire to ride with his new creation in the Provisional Armored Division, and the need to get up north and put some fire in Truscott’s exploitation. In the end, he would decide he had a good armored champion in Abrams, and took to his jeep again, heading north….

  * * *

  Far to the southeast, another armored champion was listening to the battle. O’Connor could easily distinguish the sound of his 25-Pounders, and the crump of his Cromwells, from the guns of the enemy. What he heard coming back his way was mainly light mortar fire, and the buzz of the German MG-42s.

  He had come up past Nevers to Henrichmont, and was now shaking out his armored corps to begin a major attack. As at the battle of Clermont, Currie’s 4th Armored Brigade would lead, supported by the 5th Infantry Division. Behind that, heading for the communications hub of Aubigny, he had all of 6th and 10th Armored Divisions. Eight roads met at that city, and if he secured it, another 30 kilometers would take him to the Loire. He planned to make his crossing attempt east of Orleans, at any of four or five possible points.

  Proceeding east from Orleans on the Loire, there were bridges at Jargeal, Chateau Sur Loire, Sully Sur Loire, Gien and Briare, though he preferred the former two sites. The terrain north of the river, and all around Orleans, was heavily wooded, so his first real objective was just to get to the Loire and establish a bridgehead. There did not seem to be any enemy armor in front of him, so he had the advantage of speed and hitting power with his X Corps. 6th Armored would make the attack on Aubigny, with the 10th getting into position to exploit it.

  The resistance had been weakening, but just as his troops reached the city, up came yet another German infantry division, and he wondered what else they might have in reserve.

  “226th Infantry,” said General Evelegh of the 6th Armored coming back to report. “It appears to be a new unit. We have nothing on the books about it.”

  “Then it was probably just raised,” said O’Connor. “Let’s not shillyshally about here. Hit them hard. I want Aubigny today, even if we have to attack all night.”

  “Very good, sir.”

  The British put in a night attack, but made little progress and paused to rest after midnight. But they made up for it the following morning, the armor blowing through the German line just east of the town. Three enemy battalions were cut off and formed a hedgehog position, but 6th Armored moved past them on the left, and 4th Armored Brigade on the right.

  O’Connor had his breakout.

  * * *

  4th Armored had stopped north of Belleme, and General George Patton wanted to know why. The night of the 15th, he arrived at Truscott’s Headquarters at a small town called St. Aigna.

  “Lucien,” he said, shaking Truscott’s hand warmly. “How’s my fighter?”

  “Well enough, General. We pushed out pretty far yesterday, but now there’s a lot of enemy movement heading our way.”

  “Panzers?”

  “We don’t know yet, but I should get reports tonight.”

  “Well, don’t worry about them. I’m returning your 5th Armored Division tomorrow, and I want to get things rolling up here towards Chartres.”

  Truscott showed Patton the map. “Have a look here, sir. We think the Krauts might be building up here, at Nogent le Rotrou.”

  “I know the place,” said Patton. “My wife and I visited Chateau St. Jean [1] there, years ago. It commands the whole area.”

  “There’s also a lot of cultivated land around the place, orchards and such, and for miles in every direction.”

  “Can you swing around it through Remarlard?”

  “No sir, they moved a division through there last night.”

  “Well I’m going to drive out there to see John Wood first thing in the morning. In the meantime, Oliver will bring up the 5th Armored. Let’s get it up on this road from Belleme to Nogent, and attack in the morning.”

  Patton remained confident, and his aggression would rule the hour. To the south, Lucas would kick off a massive renewed attack backed by heavy artillery against the intrepid 50th Infantry Division south of La Ferte Bernard. It was occupying a position between Nordland SS in the north, and 15th Panzergrenadier in the south. Hit by both 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions, its lines began to buckle. The only reserve behind that line was the remnant of the 116th Panzer Division, now a mere kampfgruppe after ten days of fighting. It had been resting behind La Ferte Bernard, but now had to rejoin the action to shore up that line.

  That day, Berg’s troops, with two brigades of the Brandenburgers , moved out from Chartres under low grey skies. They made good progress before the Jabos found them, but casualties were light. Just the same, Berg elected to find cover in woods, and resume the march after dark. He had two of his five battalion sized KGs forward at a village called Thiron, about 14 kilometers east of Nogent le Rotrou.

  All that day, the US pilots reported that they had been attacked by rockets while engaging a German column advancing from Chartres. Word was sent to Patton that it looked like a strong panzer division was coming up, and the restless American General therefore decided to press his advantage and attack that night with 5th Armored.

  Huddled near their halftrack, a pair of US armored infantrymen were having a smoke before the orders came to crank up the engines and mount up. The corporal was leaning back, gazing at the wind in the trees, when he thought he saw a strange looking bird.

  “Hey Sarge, get a look at that,” he pointed.

  The Sergeant turned, squinting into the dusk, and saw what he thought was a tiny aircraft, and he could hear the faint sound of its engines. It was not one of the medium altitude drones, but a small device, perhaps a foot in diameter, and the Sergeant saw that it seemed to hover in place. He raised his rifle, intending to take a pot shot at the thing, when it suddenly dipped away behind the trees and was gone.

  7th Recon Battalion was controlling the tiny drones, and slowly mapping out the current positions of the US forces. As they did so, that information was fed wirelessly to the
German command and control software in all vehicles, and every unit in Berg’s command could see the data graphically on a map.

  Contact.

  The Old Horse cavalryman who fell in love with tanks was about to get a look at something quite unlike anything he had ever seen in his life….

  Chapter 11

  That night, Patton urged his divisions on the line to press the enemy hard, and then began collecting the widely dispersed assets of Wood’s 4th Armored. He ordered the 3rd Cavalry to screen the area they were holding, and sent Wood’s troops east. Then he ordered 30th Infantry to extend its lines and relieve 3rd Armored opposite the Nordland SS, and he pulled that armor north as well. Everything was being mustered near that road from Belleme, overlooking the broad plain below… the road to Chartres.

  What he did not know that night was that Hercules, in the steely presence of Brigadier Berg with his troops, was taking up positions around the very chateau Patton had mentioned to Truscott. It sat atop a prominent hill, which was wooded on all sides, overlooking the town and broad cultivated plain beyond.

  Berg arrived at Chateau St. Jean a little after 02:00, standing before the twin towers at the entrance, topped by blue wizard’s cap pointed roofs. It was a small walled chateau, circular, and no more than 90 meters in diameter. A few trees shaded swards of green grass and gardens, with the main keep of stone near those twin towers, which seemed oddly fused to the other structure. That was because the original chateau and keep had been built before the 13th Century, and was burned by the British in 1428 during the Hundred Years War. Only the Dungeon survived, and later the buildings were restored and the twin towers built in the 15th Century. So there were layers of history at the site, which today houses a small museum.

  Berg could see that he wasn’t going to get his vehicles, let alone the tanks, through that small arched entry between the twin towers, but the place would make an excellent headquarters. He would gather some AA assets, and some of the lighter vehicles with ATGMs for any necessary defense. A company from his 1st Rifle Battalion would man the low stone walls. From the chateau, he noted another rise, of equal height about 500 meters to the south. That would be suitable for positioning a company of nine Leopards. Just north of the town, there was a series of low wooded hills that would also make excellent defensive positions. One straddled the road to Belleme on the right side, and from there his tanks could rake the entire road with lethal fire. He had staked out his position, and was confident to know that there was a Brandenburg brigade on either flank.

  As he predicted when the recon data was received. The Americans attacked just north of the Nordland SD Division, with 5th Armored pushing into the lines of the newly arrived 716th Division. He did not expect it to hold. South of Nordland , the Provisional Armored Division was leading a new assault against the 50th Infantry Division. Even bolstered by KG Manteuffel of the 116th Panzers, the line could not be held. It took the entire Reichsführer Division, which had been coming up the road behind the German lines, to stop that attack.

  As Berg and his staff listened to the radio, they could hear the shouts of those on the front line, hearing calls for artillery support. The 716th was breaking, but he sat, with steely resolve, waiting in the Chateau keep. The enemy would do exactly what he expected, and come into the range of his heavy Panzers in good time.

  Kluge was with him at the chateau, and his staff were also collecting all the reports from other activity on the front. He gathered that there was also heavy fighting to the south, and he had been studying the maps to see how he might move if necessary. But reports from other locations began to gnaw at him. Far to the east, near Vierzon south of Orleans, the British were apparently making a relentless advance towards the great bend of the Loire. Now Berg suddenly realized that his unit, its power aside, was only on small piece on the vast chessboard of this battle, and by extension the wider war. He might stop the division that first dared to come up this road and challenge his Leopards, but then what? His troops and tanks could not be everywhere, and this was but one small part of the great game now underway.

  In for a penny, in for a pound. One of his old associates with the British Army of the Rhine, had been fond of saying that. There had been an army by that name, twice on German soil, after the Great war, and after this one, until it was recalled home in 1994. Yet the British had returned to Germany with a heavy division in the year 2020, as tensions began to mount with Russia. In for a penny, in for a pound. He and his men were committed here, come what may, yet at the same time, he had no doubt that they would all be sorely missed back home in 2021.

  The thunder of heavy artillery rumbled on the horizon, Truscott’s II Corps guns firing in unison with those of 3rd Armored Division. Berg did not know the particulars, but the meaning of the sound was evident. A storm was coming—Stahlgewittern —and it was aimed right at his chateau. The edge of the enemy breakthrough was now no more than six kilometers to the west, and he could see the terrain there lit by fire, explosions, and scarlet smoke hanging over the whole scene.

  The 716th Division was shattered, frozen in place and unable to conduct any kind of fighting retreat. While that had the effect of slowing down the American advance, it was exposing the division to terrible casualties. The four division attack had now been reduced to one. 4th Armored was wrestling with the 716th to the north, 5th Armored was holding open the jaws of the lion on the immediate shoulders of the breakthrough, and 6th Armored was tangling with the Nordland SS to the south. That left only 3rd Armored exploiting through the gap in the German line. It reached the HQ and artillery park of the 716th, and the tanks began shooting everything up.

  Behind this chaotic scene, just six kilometers east, three of the strongest brigades in the German army sat waiting, in long silent lines of feldgrau and steel. Berg’s brigade was the head of the bull, with two very sharp horns on either flank, the Freiburg and Duren Brigades of the Brandenburg Division.

  Just after dawn on the 18th of May, Bradley came up, and with a yellow manila envelope in his hand. “George,” he said, “you better have a look at these latest recon photos. 3rd Armored is pushing right up on a fresh new German Panzer Division—the Brandenburgers.”

  That got Patton’s attention, but he never liked looking at things he did not want to see. “I thought they were out east bothering Montgomery.”

  “Not anymore. Look at this one. They spotted more elements of the division along the Loire, east of Orleans. G2 thinks they came in by rail two days ago, and a good chunk of that division is right in front of 3rd Armored.”

  “Well, we’re going to have to take them on,” said Patton, unruffled. “If we beat those sons-of-bitches, then we can crack this thing wide open. 80th Infantry just came up from Lorient, and we’ll have the 92nd in a few more days. I want to move the 80th onto the southern shoulder, and then roll 6th Armored there, right behind 3rd Armored. That ought to do the trick. Tell Truscott to pool the artillery, and lay it on thick. And get some good air support. This is the main event, Brad. We don’t take to the corner just because they step up with the champion.”

  Patton’s reaction might have been predictable, but Bradley had real misgivings. The troops had advanced overnight into the rear of the 716th. The Germans might have counterattacked then and there, using the darkness to sew confusion, but they stayed put. He told all this to Patton, a worrisome note in his voice.

  “George, I think they’re waiting us out—planning to bushwhack 3rd Armored as it moves on this town.”

  “That may be the case,” said Patton. “But we need that town. It commands this whole valley. You tell Watson to keep his eyes open, and tighten up his combat teams, but renew operations this morning. Once he makes contact, we’ll see how the Krauts like our artillery.”

  2nd Battalion, 32nd Armored Regiment, was still fairly strong after over ten days in action. It had 35 M4A3’s, six of the new A3E2 Assault Shermans, six more of the M4/76, and eight Shermans with the 105mm for assault and infantry support. That wa
s 55 tanks in the lead. There was still fighting on the main road to Nogent le Rotrou, so they had swung south of the road, through the heavily farmed fields. Behind it came 3rd Battalion, also with 55 tanks, and two battalions of armored infantry, 2nd and 3rd of the 36th Regiment, were right in the wake of that armor. A company of armored cars was watching the river to the south, flowing down from the vicinity of the town.

  It was a fairly strong Combat Command, but when Watson learned where the Germans were, and who they were, he had an unsettling feeling. The enemy had adopted a horseshoe position, with the center of that arc at the town, and the two iron ends of the shoe on either side of the main road. He didn’t like it.

  The “Third Herd” as his division was sometimes called, had been on a stampede. The men had advanced through most of the night, stopping at 03:00 to rest and regroup, but there had still been fighting in the German artillery park. But the other nickname for his outfit was the “Spearhead Division,” and that is exactly what he was at that moment, leading the charge. Out in front, he had a most capable officer in Maurice Rose, and being an old bulldog himself, he swallowed his misgivings like a bone and reached for his map.

  “Let’s start laying down artillery on these flanking positions. Finish with smoke in front of Rose.”

  Maurice Rose was a hard charging officer, relentless, but not flamboyant. He never sought the laurels of publicity, but he would push his men hard, setting the record for an advance of 100 miles in a single day, and being the first US forces to penetrate the German Siegfried line in the old history. He was next in line to take command of the Division, but he also had the dubious distinction of being the highest ranking US officer to be killed by enemy fire in the war. It remained to be seen if these events would mete out that same fate.