At Nogent le Rotrou, 4th Battalion of the US 34th Infantry Division was the first to sweep through Chateau St. Jean, where Berg had first set up his headquarters weeks earlier. The chateau was empty, but the ground bore markings of heavy equipment that had been here once. There, near the stump of a tree that had been blown in half by an Allied fighter strike, Private 1st Class James Sandoval reached down and picked up something odd in the debris. It was thin and smooth, part metal on one side, and glass on the other. Holding it in the palm of his hand, he stared at that shiny glass, seeing his own reflection and thinking he hadn’t shaved in over a week.
He would see much more there a day later when he had time to take the object out and look it over. At first he thought it was a cigarette case or metal and glass flask, but it seemed too thin for either function, and why would it have one side made with something as fragile as glass? Fingering it lightly, he was surprised to see the damn thing light up like a Christmas tree. No man from his day would ever know what he had in his hand that day, but one man in Berg’s Brigade HQ staff would later find that he was missing his Samsung 12 cell phone….
Meanwhile, back at the new location of Lucky Forward, which was now in the smoking ruins of Sieux, Patton had been inspecting the deep track imprints of those new German heavy tanks. They were damn good, but he was gratified to know that he was the one still standing in that town now, and not the Germans. Entering the HQ building, Patton saw Bradley looking at the map, noting the movement reports on one German division after another. It was as if the wide arc of the entire front had simply shattered.
“George,” he said. “This thing has busted wide open.”
Chapter 26
Coordinating the retreat under near constant air attack was a nightmare. The enemy divisions were so mobile, that the Germans had to move day and night to keep ahead. The city of Dreux, one of several outlying planets in the orbit of Paris, was another major hub that saw five divisions pass through on the 7th of June, and it soon became a scene of fire and carnage.
When General Simon of the 16th SS Reichsführer Division learned that the bottleneck there was clogged, he wisely decided to take another road, come what may. When he approached Colombes to the southeast of Dreux, he found the troops of the 276th and 352nd Divisions slogging through that town ahead of him. They had come up from Chartres, which was now open and empty for the men of General Gerow’s V Corps to walk right in. 6th Battalion of the 90th Infantry would be the first to “liberate” that landmark city, taken like Le Mans, without a single shot being fired by either side.
As the army withdrew, it was also leaving behind tons of supply and munitions that had been stored in places like Dreux and Chartres. There was simply no transportation to move it, or time to destroy it. The hungry soldiers, marching round the clock, looked for food and drink above all else, just so they could keep moving. They assumed that stores and supplies would be waiting for them behind the Seine, but this was not going to be a universal truth.
At Versailles, von Rundstedt was busy overseeing the movement of the entire HQ staff for OB West. Officers were rushing about, burning documents that were no longer needed, and packing away all the others into the staff cars. The General took a lingering look at the Palace and chateau, knowing he would not be likely to find another HQ so well appointed for the duration of the war. It was the glittering heart of France, its history, royalty, magnificence and artistry all represented there in the architecture, gardens, gilded halls and chambers. He knew in his heart that the German Army would not be here much longer, and he could not help but remember those halcyon days of 1940 when the Wehrmacht rampaged through the country, hounding the Allied troops into a few miles of lonesome beach near Dunkerque.
He shook his head, disheartened, discouraged, and hoping the Generals back at OKW were busy making arrangements to put some steel into those old abandoned fortifications on the Siegfried Line. But now he, too, had to move, his eyes scanning the skies darkly, remembering the fate of Erwin Rommel. His column was hit only once before they entered the suburbs of Paris, then the fighters disappeared. Now the danger would come from the thousands of French Partisans that were already beginning to set up road blocks and make small attacks on German soldiers posted to guard duty. As the tides of war drew ever closer, the patriots of Paris made ready to rise up in vengeful anger. Von Rundstedt decided to avoid the heart of the city and move instead through the outlying district of Argenteuil.
Guderian had already departed, off to try his best to coordinate the east wing of the Army as it made this headlong retreat. Both men would soon come to regret the decision to attempt this one massive backward step to the Seine. It would leave the army a ragged, dispirited collection of shattered units, some strung out for twenty miles on the roads, with elements not knowing where the rest of the division had gone. The losses in guns, horses, vehicles, supplies and equipment were severe, and casualties were extremely heavy.
By the time the Army reached the Seine, it would be reduced in strength by another 25%, and would now have to deploy some measure of defense on the north bank, where the river itself would be the only barrier to Allied advance until they could get reorganized. That was the only reason this withdrawal had been ordered. That wide water barrier would need boats and bridges to get the enemy armor across, and that would take time. It would give the Army precious time to try and reorganize, and the alternative if they had remained where they were would have been a massive kessel forming south of Paris.
Both Guderian and von Rundstedt considered that, wondering if it might not be the better choice to at least allow the army to fight that battle, even if the enemy might encircle it. That was overruled by OKW, for the loss of all those divisions would have meant the complete collapse of the Western front, and it would have then required a similar general retreat, this time all the way to the German frontier.
For the most part, the Germans would win the race to the Seine, having the advantage of the first move, harried as it was by those debilitating air strikes. The last of 10th Panzer was southeast of Rouen. The Hermann Goring Division crossed at Las Andelys, and Panzer Lehr would cross at Vernon, along with 232 Division and KG Manteuffel of the 116th Panzer. Seven more divisions would converge on the crossings near Mantes. [2]
One division, the 361st, had its troops straggling for 50 miles, with some battalions still as far south as Chartres. They would be among the last to cross the river at Meulan.
* * *
In the east, elements of the 44th RTR and 2nd Kings Rifles of the 4th Armored Brigade reached Melun on the Seine, about 40 kilometers southeast of the heart of Paris, and the bulk of the British armor was on the river some miles to the west towards Corbeil. The Brandenburgers had crossed at Corbeil, and then raced down the road southeast to reach Melun just as the British arrived, where they quickly put in a sharp counterattack. That was now their watch on the Seine, and they were determined to prevent any enemy crossing.
West of Corbeil, Student’s entire I Fallschirmjager Korps was retreating through Longmeau, crossing the Seine there into the vicinity of Villeneuve and St. George. They would hold the river as it approached Paris, but now the one fly in the ointment prescribed by OKW would present itself—Paris.
The massive sprawl of the city would soon be a no-man’s land for German soldiers, so no defense could be made along the river where it made its serpentine course through the heart of the metropolis. All the Germans could do was knock down the bridges, and let the river itself become a temporary barrier to further enemy advance. There, throngs of Parisians were already rushing into the streets, sensing imminent liberation. The demolition crews at those bridges would have a harrowing trek to escape north after their work was done, and to do so, many simply shed their uniforms and disappeared in civilian clothing.
All this meant that the Germans would have to stretch their new lines north of the city, making Paris a massive enemy bridgehead. Von Rundstedt had little doubt that that was where the next big e
nemy push would emerge, but he hoped that might not happen for at least two weeks, time enough to reorganize the army. In this he was incorrect, because Eisenhower had given orders that no American units were to enter the city. He then informed De Gaulle of the difficulties he perceived in occupying the place, the strain it would cause on the already overburdened supply system, the massive administrative tasks ahead.
That done, he would give grudging permission for Leclerc to enter the city, now at the head of a three division Corps of French troops. Allowing them the honor of liberating Paris was a purely political move, though it should have rightfully gone to the troops that carried the greatest burden in the war thus far, the British.
So the French would not be tasked with leading the next phase of the offensive, storming out of Paris with their single corps. Instead, Eisenhower hoped to acquire several bridgeheads on either side of the city, planning a double envelopment as he had at Le Mans. The goal now was not the celebrity of liberating Paris, but the need to first get over that river in force, and then secure the port of Le Havre. After that, his objective for Patton and Bradley would be to push for a linkup with the forces fighting in the Pas-de-Calais.
To do any of that, the Allies needed secure bridgeheads over the Seine, and in two places, the Americans and British would get to the river first. Patton’s spearhead, CCA of the 6th Armored, followed closely by the whole of the Provisional Armored Division under Abrams, would reach Elbeuf, on the nose of one of the twisting hairpin bends in the Seine that pointed southwest. It was about 20 kilometers south of the great river city of Rouen, which sat at the top of a much larger bend in the river pointing to the north.
The first companies crossed at Elbeuf under desultory German artillery fire, with A-Troop of the 6th Armored Cav being the first American unit north of the Seine, aside from all the troops fighting in the Pas-de-Calais. Yet now they had a long narrow corridor in front of them, bounded by the river on both flanks. It was three kilometers wide, and ten kilometers long, and up ahead, troops from 10th Panzer Division were already setting up a makeshift defense to stop any further advance.
Abrams sent his own cavalry west around the curve of the bend, through a road fringed by heavy woods. They ran right into the retreating SPG Artillery of what was once the 7th Panzer Division, which had been marching for Rouen. The Lieutenant in charge called back the report, and C-Troop took a side road north towards the main objective, Rouen. It was wide open, and they would reach the southern outskirts of that city by dusk on the 7th of June.
Brigadier Berg was racing to get to Rouen to prevent the formation of a bridgehead there. His brigade had been moving through Bourg Achard, thinking to take the same road that the US Cavalry had used, leading into the big loop of the river , with its nose at Rouen itself, but now that route was closed. His only recourse was to instead swing north to cross at Duclair, about 18 kilometers west of Rouen, and then make a dash for the city from that direction.
Just as Abrams forces were approaching from the south, his own KG-5 began entering Rouen from the west, but the leading company would be one kilometer shy of the still intact bridge when the first Pershing tanks crossed that night. They would soon receive a very cold welcome….
* * *
Patton put out the word that he wanted a bridgehead over the Seine at any cost, and Abrams was determined to give him one at Rouen. The bridge the Americans wanted was Pont de Jeanne d’Arc, right on the end of the wide bend in the river. Just north of the bridge was the bus station, Theatre des Arts, and the Opera House. Continuing up the Rue Jeanne d’Arc, the prominent old courthouse of the Palais de Justice was just to the right at the corner of Rue Saint-Lo. The street would continue on past Verdel Square to the railway station. Just a few blocks east, and four blocks from the river, was the famous Gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame de Rouen, a great historic landmark.
The Vikings had burned the original church on the site, and their leader Rollo was involved in the restoration, baptized at the site himself when he converted to Christianity. Lightning struck the place in the year 1110, and it was burned again in 1200. After that it was continually enlarged, surviving the wrath of storms, Calvinist vandalism, and fire. By the 19th century, it was still the tallest building in the entire world with its lantern tower made of cast iron.
This war had already ravaged the cathedral, as it had been bombed by both the Americans and British, with a resulting fire that destroyed the north tower, so hot that it melted the bells there. Now it had to endure the house to house fighting that would soon develop as Berg’s troops struggled to put the cork in the bottle and stop any further advance by the Americans.
Berg’s 5th Company of the 1st Rifle Battalion was the first unit on the scene for KG-5, arriving at 04:00 on the morning of June 8th, but it was not what it once was. When they entered this fray, the unit had 12 squads in an equal number of Boxer IFV’s. Now there were only three squads left, with four Boxers, three Wiesels with TOW rockets, and one more with a 20mm autocannon. One squad of engineers was in the Wiesels, and there were also three Fennek recon scout cars left. That was ten out of an original deployment of 21 vehicles, and four of 15 squads still alive.
A company of the 7th Recon Battalion was two kilometers behind them, with eight Fennek scout cars, two 20mm Boxers and one 20mm Wiesel. That unit had five of twelve squads left. With them came the heart of the KG in terms of any real combat power, Schwartzpanzer -5 , with six Leopard 2A7’s, three more assault squads riding in Puma AFV’s, two more Wiesels with the 20mm autocannons, and a single Fennek.
KG-5 had 30 fighting vehicles and what amounted to one company in twelve total infantry squads. It was those six leopards that would have to hold the line, but they would arrive too late to stop the Americans from using the bridge. Company after company of Pershings crossed into the city before the Leopards could get there. The 20mm autocannon sprayed rounds at the bridge as they crossed, but all they did was kick up sparks as they snapped off the metal girders and frontal armor of those heavy tanks. The Pershings returned fire, and it was soon clear that this half strength company from 2021 was not going to stop that advance. Three tanks were taken out by those TOW Missiles, and then they ran out of that ammunition.
But that fight did not matter. A few hundred meters to the east, the Americans found another bridge that connected the Lacroix river island to the far side. In the real history, it had been destroyed by the French in 1940, but here it was still standing, a stone bridge that had once been used by Napoleon on his many campaigns.
As General Abrams ordered an attack to drive off that meddling enemy company near the bus station, the rest of his enterprising division was using that stone bridge to cross into northeast Rouen, and soon the armored cars were fanning out in all directions, covering every road. That incursion would now flank the positions of 10th Panzer to the south, and when Brigadier Berg finally arrived on the scene, he could see that it would now be futile to launch a counterattack into the heart of Rouen to try and seal off those bridges. His night drones told him what was happening, and he could see yet another long armored column coming up right behind the contested bridge, and preparing to cross on the stone bridge of Corneille, which would be converted to a welded steel bridge in 1952.
In fact, it was the whole of III Armored Corps under Lucas that was now rolling up. They would be using the last of their gasoline to get there, but get there they would, and with enough in the tanks for a good fight. 4th and 5th Armored were going to put steel into that lodgment on the far side of the river, but then the Americans stopped, too low on fuel for any deep exploitation.
Berg was too late, and on the morning of June 8th, Patton had his bridgehead.
Chapter 27
Pas-de-Calais ~ 6 Jun 1944
The 10th SS Panzer Division was the first to arrive in the vicinity of Poppering, where the Guards Armored Division had rumbled through that otherwise sleepy town that night. General Adair had moved his division HQ to the town, and he heard the
sound of fighting erupt to the south. The SS Panzergrenadiers were attacking from march, the troops leaping from trucks and halftracks and crouching low as they advanced on either side of a stream that flowed north to the town. Then the crack of distant artillery was heard, and the Germans started putting down covering fire for their Panzergrenadiers.
Adair did not yet know this was an SS division that had appeared on his southern flank. Most of his own division was now well to the east, the leading element having entered Ypres around midnight, where they stopped for the night. They had advanced unopposed on the road from Poppering, but now they would have to pay the toll for taking that road. 10th SS was attacking, and on its left, the whole of 2nd Panzer was coming up and starting to deploy from their night march. These were two of the best divisions on the field, and now they would make a concerted attack to try and cut that road and maroon the British troops that had pushed so boldly to the east into Ypres.
There, a few kilometers south of that town, an advanced detachment of 1st SS had taken a small five car train and moved by night to a position south of that city. They weren’t much, the division Recon Battalion, 4th Panzergrenadiers, one company of 15 Panzers and another with 12 assault guns. With the enemy advancing unopposed, all they were meant to do was form a blocking position on the road to Tourcoing, which was now only 15 kilometers to the southeast. The Germans had a major supply depot there that had to be defended.
The rest of 1st SS could not risk moving like that on the rails. Instead they were on the road to Hazelbrouck, their lead elements led by division commander Theo Wisch with his HQ staff. The Germans had reacted quickly to get all the mobile divisions moving towards the southern flank of the breakthrough. Even 17th SS had pulled off the line to move east on roads that would take it to Hazelbrouck, where V-1 rockets were being launched from a site a few kilometers southwest of that town. Soon General Adair would think twice about having chased the Americans off his road. Their 11th Armored Division was still close, only about six kilometers to the north, but intent on continuing in that direction as they probed their way around that exposed German flank.
Breakout (Kirov Series Book 38) Page 22