Breakout (Kirov Series Book 38)

by Schettler, John

  “Yet you’ve just said that you won’t be able to keep us all rolling.”

  “I might, if we take things step by step. I can’t give everyone full offensive supply, but I can find what’s needed to keep them in the game. That’s why I choose the broad front approach, and that’s the way it’s going to stay. That said, I can promise you the gasoline you need to push for Dijon. We have a convoy bound for Marseille this very moment, and it should get there in another week. You’ll have the ammunition you need as well.”

  “And Patton?” Montgomery pursed his lips, a suspicious look in his eye.

  “By the time he gets to the Seine, assuming he does that in the next ten days, his divisions are going to need to rest and regroup. In that hour, things shift your way, so take advantage of the rest your men have now. I’ll want them fresh and ready to roar when the fuel trucks pull up.”

  He gave Monty that winning smile, ear to ear, finally thinking he may have tamed this lion, at least for the short run. “Now then,” he continued. “About this business with Antwerp. How would you proceed if you had to take Walcheren and Beveland Islands?”

  “We could lift troops from Dunkerque and Calais for a direct landing. If you can get to Breskens, that would be a much easier hop. Then again, we have four fine airborne divisions at our disposal.”

  “What if the Germans blow the dikes and flood the interior? That would be like dropping those men into a soup kettle.”

  “Yes, there would be difficulties, but a combined air and sea assault might deliver the objective much quicker. I understand that the Germans left Brest a complete wreck. Suppose they do the same to Antwerp? You might consider a lightning quick strike with airborne troops. I could look it over if you wish.”

  “Do that for me, will you? No one can tie off the loose ends of a good plan like you do, Monty. Look, I’m sorry you felt short changed these last two weeks, but remember, I have a lot of mouths to feed—lots of birds in the nest—and they’re all chirping the same tune.”

  * * *

  On the morning of May 12, Von Salmuth issued a series of orders aimed at eliminating several bulges in his lines, shortening them to try and free up units he could use to build a reserve. The big enemy push up the road to St. Omer had been checked for the time being , and von Salmuth had believed it was because of the timely arrival of the 1st SS Panzer Division. Yet that push, and the American drive due east of Boulogne to Colembert, had created the makings of a large pocket. It had been 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division that had stopped that eastern thrust, but now the general wanted to pull back that infantry and eliminate any potential trap.

  The troops began falling back through the woods, and slowly descending from the higher ground they had occupied, into the valley below. They would be somewhat vulnerable getting over a small river that flowed to Tournehent, but there was good ground for defense beyond that. He basically wanted to take all that infantry and establish a new line between the two newly arrived SS Divisions. It would not be until later that day that he would be informed of the discussions at OKW that would send new formations west into France and Belgium, five new infantry Divisions, the Nordland SS, 10th Panzer, and for his 15th Army he would get two of those new infantry divisions (59th and 64th).

  While he had been unable to stop the landings, he was finally beginning to feel he had the situation in hand, with the front intact and strengthening with all these newly arriving divisions. Those reserves were still some days off, but just knowing they were coming gave him heart. I will tidy up the line a bit now, he thought

  Kluge was long gone, and he had taken the new Schwerepanzer Brigade south on the trains to join the action against Patton. At the same time, the Americans reorganized the bedraggled 7th Armored Division, and brought up the 9th Infantry Division right behind it. The last scheduled arrival was the 26th Infantry, landing at Calais that morning. So Clark continued tussling with the 1st SS, attacking up the road to St. Omer that morning. At the same time, he had the newly arrived 11th Armored coming down the road from Dunkerque, and it was now in a good position to attack. All these moves were set in motion with his principle objective in mind. He had to find a way to penetrate the reformed German front, and get his breakout.

  Whatever had clobbered 7th Armored the previous day, it was nowhere to be seen on this day. His tanks encountered Panthers, and the occasional Tiger or heavy Lion, but these were not the devastating new heavy tanks that the GIs had reported. G-2 was sifting through the reports, and they came to think it was just a bad case of tank fright, nothing more. The Phantom Brigade was gone, already well engaged south to Paris.

  There, in spite of the wisdom of that French Proverb, the situation was much more different in the West than the front lines drawn on the map might indicate. To begin with, there were now far more German divisions in France than there had been in the old history. The German army was not broken, and was still being skillfully managed by Guderian and von Rundstedt. Thus far, there had been no disastrous and ill-advised counterattack like the one mounted at Mortain. Operation Valkyrie had been the closest thing to that, but when it failed, the Germans had reacted swiftly, in spite of all difficulties, and contained Patton’s bridgehead over the Loire. So no disaster like the Falaise pocket had happened, but given the volatility of the situation, particularly in the 7th Army sector, that was always a lurking possibility. For the moment, the front was still intact, but that was about to change….

  Part VII

  Robbing Peter

  “One cannot rob Peter to pay Paul and hope to remove his debt.”

  —English Proverb

  Chapter 19

  Frustrated on the road to Chartres, Patton had taken his new orders, and then put on what would have been a winning play in any football game. 3rd Armored had tossed the ball laterally to 2nd Armored, and like a halfback finding any hole in the line, Lucas and his III Armored Corps had raced through the Mamers and Alencon Gaps, taking both those cities by storm and driving north for Argentan. It was another first down, and a gain of 50 kilometers before the German’s tackled the situation, and closed that gap.

  While the massive breakout he labored to create still eluded him, the series of lightning quick plays he had run was gaining yardage, and he could sense the goal post was near. Patton had been obsessed with geographical objectives. He wanted that bridgehead over the Loire, then Le Mans, and now he wanted to get to the Seine, by any road that would take him there. The operations he was therefore planning showed a heavy concentration of his armored divisions in one bold thrust. He had not operated instead to attempt to pocket and destroy the enemy, and the lure of Paris had figured prominently in his thinking.

  Thus far, the enemy had not been able to mount one credible counterattack since Operation Valkyrie . That had been a close call, but Patton had never doubted that he would stop that attack. As the Germans reached that last barrier, the White Wood screening Angouleme, he fought them to a dead halt. They had thrown the best divisions in the West at him, and he stopped them. That victory had buoyed the morale of his 7th Army by a large measure, and he had now come to the assessment that the enemy could not really hurt him. They were strong enough to impede him, block his punches, and they still had legs, but he knew he would land a haymaker in time, and get that knockout punch.

  After that action in the White Wood, he had raced north to take Portiers and crossed the Loire at Saumur. Securing a good bridgehead, Operation Thunder had now liberated Le Mans, and without having to breach and destroy the old Roman walls that still surrounded the city. He had come just over 215 miles since that day when the White Wood burned with artillery fire, and he knew his romp through France was far from over.

  But it would not be easy.

  With the strange arrival of Berg’s heavy brigade redressing the boon Kinlan had delivered in the deserts of North Africa, the Germans had a most powerful trump card in their hand. Once again, the speed of Berg’s troops had beaten Patton to Argentan, and blunted the drive by 2n
d Armored.

  The Germans had done it again, and they were now pinching the gap in the front closed with these timely maneuvers. This was something that would have never been permitted under Hitler’s reign of incompetence, and the Wehrmacht Generals were finally beginning to realize that they still had an army with enormous staying power and skill.

  Yet Kluge’s prediction was all too correct, and it was about to come true. Patton simply shuffled his cards and moved a number of armored divisions around for his push to Alencon, Truscott had retained 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Armored. They were still operating northeast of Mamers, now 20 kilometers south of Patton’s push for Argentan. Just as Lucas was blocked, Truscott reorganized and put in a strong attack on the road from Mamers to Mortagne. It would fall mostly on the lines of the third rate 711th and 716th Divisions, which soon went staggering back like a fighter that had been hit with a good right cross.

  Berg was too far away to do anything about this thrust, but the senior local commander on the scene, Fritz Bayerlein, moved to backstop the 716th Division with his own Panzer Lehr , and called for any local reserves to cover Mortagne. That call was answered by the 116th Windhund Division, a bare shadow of its former self as KG Manteuffel. It had been resting near Mortagne, and the sound of the battle rolling his way prompted Manteuffel to goad his weary troops back into action. Yet he simply had too little wood to throw on the fire.

  With the 711th collapsing, the only troops that stood their ground were those of Panzer Lehr , implacable, but the withdrawal of that infantry on their right flank was going to force them to maneuver. They swung slightly north, bolster the lines of the 716th near the village of Corbon southeast of Mortagne, but they could do nothing to stop the attack at Mortagne itself. That was left to Manteuffel. There he was facing 3rd and 6th Armored Divisions, each attacking up the roads leading to the town.

  When the Americans pushed into the town on the morning of the 23rd, Manteuffel’s HQ troop was the only force there. All he could do was fight a brief delay, while the staff hastened to pullout. He had once been in command of one of Germany’s newest Panzer Division, rebuilt from the bones of the old 16th. Now, retreating to a hill three kilometers north of Montagne, there he sat, with his HQ staff and four tanks that had fallen back to provide some protection. He signaled Bayerlein that the town had fallen, and that he had nothing in hand to stop any exploitation up the road towards the next town of any note, Tourouvre.

  Bayerlein now had no choice. He could no longer sit and backstop the 716th, not with the 711th dissolving and Manteuffel unable to stop the enemy advance. He told General Richter of the 716th that he would have to hold on as best he could, and then shouted orders that the division was to make ready to move at once. It was into the fray, his troops racing north to arrive at Mortagne just as the Americans were starting to send armored cavalry through. Needless to say, they were soon dismayed to see the tough looking, professionals arrive on the scene. They had chased out the clerks and staff officers, but these were seasoned troops, their movements sure and purposeful. The Lieutenant leading that cavalry in A-Troop got on the radio and delivered the bad news.

  “Hey! We just ran into panzer troops, and they goddamn well know what their doing. If you boys want lunch in Mortagne, you’d better get CCA up here, on the double!”

  That call was answered by II/33rd Armored, and the 23rd Armored Engineer Battalion. Together with several troops from 3rd Cav, they fought their way through heavy enemy resistance, but at mid-day they held the town. Panzer Lehr was single handedly trying to stop the entire II Armored Corps, now engaged with elements of three of the four divisions. Both sides were tired, the battalions worn down, supply always short, but they fought on. In the late afternoon, Truscott called on his last division, Wood’s 4th Armored. It had been south of the fight for Mortagne, and now Truscott wanted Wood to fire it up.

  “Those damn Panzer troops had to have come from your area to swing up here. So I want you to just hit whatever’s in front of you, and hit them hard!”

  Wood did exactly that, piling into the 716th Infantry Division and smashing right through. He opened a hole in the line six kilometers wide and to an equal depth, and the only thing slowing him down now was the difficulty of the terrain in front of him. His spearhead reached the town of Beiussy-Maugis. There was a band of wood running north, and hilly country behind the town, but he had his eyes set on Remalard, about six kilometers due east.

  Panzer Lehr was still heavily engaged, so to stop him, the Germans were going to have to call on the 90th Panzergrenadier Division to the south of the breakthrough. It would have just enough in reserve to block the road to Remalard, but the line could not take many more heavy blows like that. Patton’s attack had basically destroyed the 711th and 716th Divisions as cohesive units, and now the mobile divisions were the only thing holding back the tide.

  Yet now it would not be his veteran armored divisions that would win through to a decisive breakout, but a newcomer on the scene, far to the north, in the Pas-de-Calais.

  * * *

  The American 11th Armored Division was off to a good start as it cut its combat teeth with its first offensive operation. In the old history, the Thunderbolt division had not arrived in France until late in the year, but under Marshall’s accelerated deployment program to support Overlord , it was shipped directly from the States to land at Dunkerque. Rattling down the road through Beruges, it was now attempting to break the enemy defense and drive to Poppering, where it was to turn east to the famous WWI town of Ypres.

  In its path was the capable 3rd Parachute Division, which had held the line for over a week. They were excellent as infantry soldiers, but the division had little in the way of AT weapons. Now they were facing a very powerful thrust, with Guards Armored Division joining the attack on the right, supported by the 52nd Lowland Division. That was three divisions, with a lot of tanks, and backed by powerful artillery. The British General Dempsey was coordinating the battle, and looking for his moment of glory with a breakout in this high-stakes fight.

  Just as it seemed the line could no longer be held, the last battalion of what was once the proud 24th Panzer Division, KG Edelsheim, moved to try and close the gap, and against very steep odds. It was led by supporting artillery, a brave advance into the teeth of a grinding armored attack. The infantry rushed forward, the Panzerfausts on their shoulders, but they were faced by all three battalions of the new British Centurion tanks. It was too much steel, moving too fast, and the British rolled right through that battalion, finally overcoming the last line of enemy resistance.

  The armored infantry of the Guards raced through, three battalions mounted in the new British Ram Kangaroos. Piling through the rolling smoke, they emerged to see an open field in front of them, and no Germans to be seen. The two armored divisions, side by side, had punched clean through the enemy line, and the road to Poppering was wide open.

  General Barenthin’s HQ had nearly been overrun, but he found a working telephone in a small town and was able to call von Salmuth in Lille. “They have broken through on the road to Poppering. We need Panzers!”

  That was an understatement. Every mobile division assigned to 15th Army was committed. In order to get one, a withdrawal had to be ordered to shorten lines so that unit could be freed up to move. Leaving a thinned outline as a delaying force, orders were given to the 10th SS and 2nd Panzer to extricate themselves and begin moving at once. Other units on the line would now have to extend their lines, which was going to create weak areas that might lead to more problems. But the problem in hand was one that had to be dealt with first. If that breakthrough was not stopped….

  The Germans had flowed in enough support for 15th Army to contain the landings and hold that front stable for just twenty days. It was early breakout attempts by the Americans further west that had seen the concentration of German mobile divisions in that area, and St. Omer had always been a natural rail and road hub. Von Salmuth decided to leave 1st SS where it was, at least for
a while, holding off a push for that town, but 2nd Armored on its right got those marching orders.

  It was always dangerous to take a stable front and set it in motion to react to a crisis like this, but von Salmuth would have to rely on the competence and skill of his officers and soldiers in the field, still the best in the world, man for man. At that moment, however, they had been undeniably bested by the concentration of those two enemy armored divisions. On the morning of the 25th, the gap widened from two to four kilometers, and the American 21st Armored Infantry Battalion was the first to roll into Poppering, taking the town without firing a single shot.

  That ruffled the feathers of General Adair, commander of the Guards Armored Division. He had expected the Americans would swing to their left, taking a secondary road to the northeast. His entry into his first assigned objective had been upstaged, and so he ordered the Welsh Guards infantry to go directly to the city and take possession. The Americans were to be told they were on the wrong road.

  “No two bit bar hopping ground pounder from Cleveland is going to make off with my wallet,” he said. “Get the column moving on our objective, and we’ll sort the matter out.”

  Soon he had six battalions in and around the town to make his point in numbers, and get the cheeky Yanks headed in the right direction.

  2nd Scots Guards passed through Poppering, and by mid-day, they were 10 kilometers from Ypres, where five grueling battles had been fought in the first war, taking the lives of perhaps a million men. The prospect of taking the city like this without a fight almost seemed an insult to the men that had struggled and died on that blood soaked ground. General Adair had been a Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards here in 1916, so he was on familiar ground. He had also fought over this ground in 1940, and it was a rousing feeling to be reclaiming this hallowed field of battle, and lost honor at the same time.