Rhinelander (Kirov Series Book 40)

by Schettler, John

  “What did your night fighters find?”

  “A lot of movement—always at night. We’re seeing what amounts to several hundred trains each night. All the equipment is shrouded in camo tarps, so we haven’t been able to identify anything. In fact, on the three photos we got of heavy armor, not one vehicle had any discernable unit insignia or markings.”

  “Sounds like their trying to hide something alright,” said Patton. “What else have you got?”

  “Well sir, they usually keep new Army and Korps generation quiet, but I can now say that we’ve got good evidence of the creation of two new Army level headquarters—5th and 6th Panzer Armies.”

  “We’re over the Rhine—at least the British are, and I’ll be there soon myself. Of course they’ve got to be building up to stop us.”

  “The thing is this, sir. We know von Rundstedt has been calling the shots from OB West, but Guderian is their firebrand, and he disappeared just about the same time all these Panzer Divisions pulled a vanishing act.”

  “Wasn’t he their Inspector General of the Panzerwaffe?”

  “Yes sir, but I don’t think he was merely supervising the refit of those missing divisions. I think he was planning something more—planning what he was going to do with them after he finished the job. Now, all this time we’ve been sticking it to von Rundstedt, and he’s a position player. If they had four or five Panzer Divisions in reserve, he’d want them doled out to stop the local crisis points we’ve forced on them. My God Sir, we danced over the Meuse and right up to the German frontier, and it must have driven von Rundstedt mad. Now I can tell you who gets these two new Panzer Armies. The 6th goes to Manteuffel, and he’s a damn good Panzer leader.”

  “And the 5th?”

  “Steiner.”

  Silence. That name was well known to everyone in the room. Steiner had made a legend of himself as the leader of the SS Panzerkorps in Russia. Wherever there was trouble, Steiner would be close at hand, and there had not been a single major German offensive in Russia where Steiner and his SS did not figure prominently.

  “Steiner?” said Patton. “He’s here—in the West?”

  “Yes sir, and by General Gay’s count here, I think he’s got five freshly refitted SS Panzer Divisions on the leash—somewhere….”

  Patton nodded, saying nothing. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar, first offering it to Koch, who politely declined. He lit it, taking a long first drag to savor that fresh tobacco.

  “Colonel,” he said. “Suppose you lay it all out for me—everything you’ve got. You’ve always been able to nail down the enemy’s capability, but now I think you’re getting at what he intends. Let’s hear it. What are Guderian and Steiner up to—and don’t leave even the smallest detail out of your briefing. I’ve got all night, and we’ll order in dinner and hash this thing out, here and now. You tell me what you think the Nazis are up to, and then, by God, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do about it.”

  * * *

  Patton looked at the map for a very long time after that briefing, thinking. He had once heard a statement made by then Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and it seemed to speak directly to him at that moment. “No matter how enmeshed a commander becomes in elaborating his own thoughts, it is sometimes necessary to take the enemy into account,” and that was what Patton was doing now.

  Colonel Koch was on to something. He had been pulling on the threads of many clues, doggedly, systematically. Patton had learned to heed his warnings, and live by them, but now he had to determine what they all meant. To do so, he would first have to set aside his own machinations, the feverish planning to reach Duren, and flank the Hurtgenwald from the north. Half his staff was already planning the cross river operation near Julich when the Roer flooding abated. They had a team out taking measurements of the river every two hours, waiting for it to crest. The moment it reached that apex, those measurements could be charted to predict when it would eventually return to normal.

  Now, in this hour, he would have to set all that aside, and instead put his mind on the thoughts of his enemy. Koch had made some very telling points. Von Rundstedt was a position player, and his style of defense was to maintain local mobile reserves to blunt offensives and maintain the integrity of his line. At that moment, the only mobile division worth the name on Patton’s front was the Reichsführer Division, and he had it bottled up in the Aachen Pocket.

  Then, seemingly out of thin air, Koch reported the arrival of two more divisions, the return of the 17th SS near Liege, and the deployment of 3rd Panzergrenadier at Duren. That last move he understood easily enough. It was just the sort of thing von Rundstedt would do. But why move 17th SS south of Liege? That was where it had been deployed earlier, until relieved by 183rd Volksgrenadier Division. Was it merely returning to the line? If so, why? That was a quiet sector, and the 183rd had seen no action there at all. So it would not be in need of rest. If anything, the 17th SS should have moved further south to check 9th Armored in the Ardennes… But it didn’t.

  At the same time, the photographic evidence of those new heavy tanks was also quite disturbing. They had been spotted close to the front, behind the line of the German 245th Division between Liege and Verviers. Then Koch had laid out increasing reports of an enemy buildup near Roermond. That area was safe behind the high waters of the Roer—for the moment. What was the enemy up to?

  Now he looked at his own deployments. Having completed their successful envelopment of Aachen, 1st Armored had one Combat Command watching the Roer, and the other pushing towards Aachen. 5th Armored had one on the Roer as well, and the other flanking the Hurtgen Forest to the north. 1st and 3rd were now driving relentlessly to the edge of Aachen, with fighting already underway in the city. Abrams had his Provisional Armored Division spread out along a 20 kilometer front between Schmidt and Monshau. All his war horses were busy, and in fact, he had but one trick pony in reserve, the 102nd Armored Cav Regiment at Valkenburg.

  In effect, all his fighting armored divisions were east of Aachen, behind the bulge of that pocket. From there they would be in a good position to cross the Roer and push for the Rhine. Yet aside from that single division, 3rd Panzergrenadier, the Germans were not building up east of the Roer as he might expect. Surprisingly, they were building up very near the Meuse. Could they be planning a counterattack across that river? The lines of his 3rd Army now described a great bulge, clawing into the heart of the Hurtgenwald and washing up against the swollen waters of the Roer. Now he asked himself a good question: If I were the Germans, what would I be doing with nine newly rebuilt Panzer divisions?

  If von Rundstedt had his way, there would be one in the Monshau corridor. Instead, all the Germans could scrape up to defend that area was a second rate Volksgrenadier division. Von Rundstedt would have a second division near Duren, one near Julich, perhaps two or three more up against the British threat in the north. None of that was happening, which told him one salient thing—von Rundstedt wasn’t really calling the shots here. It was someone else, and now he thought he knew exactly who that was—Guderian.

  By God, he thought. Those sons-of-bitches are thinking big this time. He looked at Roermond, then at Liege, and then he reached for the telephone to summon his Chief of Staff, who came in five minutes later.

  “Hap,” said Patton. “Has Collins taken possession of those two infantry divisions yet?”

  “No sir, the 104th and 92nd have been training, way down near Cambrai.”

  “Well, Terry Allen has the Timberwolves, doesn’t he? They ought to be ready. See if you can at least herd that division east. Move it up to Charleroi. What about 6th and 7th Armored?”

  “They’ve taken delivery of new armor, and they should be ready. Collins has those two divisions, and the 45th east of Brussels. He was expecting those other two infantry division to arrive by September 1st.”

  “What about 4th Armored in Middleton’s Corps?”

  “It’s on the line now sir. O’Connor has pulled both
his Guards and 11th Armored divisions off the line and sent them to St. Hertogenbosch. They’re going north to reinforce the Canadian Corps, so that means Wood’s 4th Armored has the watch up near Goch.”

  “Has Eddy moved the 29th yet?”

  “They’re packed and ready, but there’s been a shortage of trucks, sir. Lee’s commandeered anything he could get his hands on, including pulling vehicles from reserve divisions. In fact, he swiped half the trucks in the 92nd.”

  “I see… Hap, call it an itch that needs scratching, but that report you brought in with Oscar Koch has me thinking. Tell Collins I want him to come east as soon as he can. Move the three divisions he already has up here, to Hasselt, and make sure he knows that’s an order, not a suggestion. As for the 29th, light a fire under that move as well. I want them to relieve Creighton Abrams outfit. They’ve done their job, and right now he’s bottled up with heavy woodland on three sides. Let me know once the infantry gets there, and I’ll have new orders for him.”

  “Yes sir…. Then you think Koch is on to something?”

  “I’ll tell you what I think… von Rundstedt may still be managing the defensive front out here, but he isn’t running the war chariots. They had a pow-wow over there to decide what to do with their Panzer reserves, and Guderian won the argument. I think he’s harnessing his horses and getting ready to go on the offensive. And, by God, I’m going to be ready when he does. Get those orders out—today.”

  * * *

  The shape of the front did not change much in the next week, but a good deal of internal planning was put on hold, particularly for the crossing of the Roer. That needed another infantry division, the 45th, but Patton had decided to leave it with Collins and position his three ready divisions near Hasselt. They would assemble about 30 kilometers slightly northwest of Maastricht.

  With evidence of a buildup to the north and south, and both concentrations very near the Meuse, Patton divined that the enemy had some kind of pincer operation planned, and one that may even be contemplating an attack across the Meuse. If that were so, he wanted Collins to be his primary reserve, right in the center.

  Eddy sent his 29th Division in to relieve Abrams, and armored cavalry took over the watch on the Roer, freeing up those Combat commands that had been positioned there. For that week Patton still concentrated on reducing the Aachen pocket, but gave a reprieve to the 29th. They would not be ordered to resume the offensive towards Schmidt until the enemy’s real intentions could be known.

  The Roer flooding crested and slowly began to diminish. The Engineers then predicted that it would return to normal flows sometime around the 28th of August. That forced Patton to make yet another decision, because the plan for crossing the Roer was to have launched three days prior to the predicted date when the flooding would have abated, that to retain some measure of tactical surprise.

  Patton canceled the whole plan, and never said a word about it to Eisenhower. He had assumed a demeanor of guarded watchfulness, with Koch making regular reports on any new information his sleuths had come by. Patton’s Oracle was slowly fleshing out the enemy order of battle. On the 25th of August, he reported that Bletchley Park had been listening in on rail transfer orders, and they had determined that Steiner’s command would consist of five SS Panzer divisions, (1, 2, 9, 10 and 12.)

  The next day he was able to tell Patton just where Steiner’s HQ was, at a town called Bruggen, behind the Brachterwald Forest. It was Corporal Alphonso Romano who provided that piece of the puzzle, overhearing a German telephone call that ordered an adjutant to retrieve Steiner’s dress uniform jacket, which had been left behind at the headquarters in Bruggen. The German Lieutenant that made that call should have been boiled in oil, but in spite of tight security, there were always lapses and loose lips. Knowing where Steiner had set up shop was a major breakthrough, and now Patton suspected that those five divisions he commanded were being hidden under the thick forest canopy of the Brachterwald and Elmpterwald woodland.

  Where were they going? Would they attempt to cross the Meuse north of Roermond, with their main effort falling on the 5th Infantry Division? Or would they simply cross the Roer, falling on Robertson’s 2nd Infantry and keeping east of the Meuse.

  They would do both….

  Chapter 11

  On the German side of the fence, things were in the final stages of preparation by August 28th. An uneasy quiet settled over the land, and the GIs no longer reported hearing that low rumble of movement in the night. It was the proverbial calm before the storm, but the German movement was not yet complete.

  Guderian was confident his first echelon assault would be strong, but there was little in reserve behind it, particularly in the way of infantry. Something was going to have to hold the front along the Meuse as the pincers drove to meet one another at Maastricht. In the north, he did not think he could rely on Eberding’s 64th Division, and now he found himself wishing he had better infantry there, like the Parachute divisions that had been sent north to Holland on the Apeldoorn line. It was then that fat Hermann Goring came in to announce he had completed the resupply and refitting of his private little army.

  Goring had his own private factory as well, just as Himmler did. There he had been turning out a good number of the VK-75 and VK-88 Löwe Panzers, intending to build a proper Panzer regiment for his division. He had two dozen of the VK-88’s to add, and four dozen of the mediumVK-75’s. That would bring the division up to eight companies of tanks. 33 trains delivered those Panzers and a host of replacements to his division where it had been resting behind Rees, and Goring announced that his new Falschirmpanzer division was ready for action.

  Guderian was delighted. He had been also working to refit the Lehr Division with anything he could find, and trying to fenagle away one more Panzergrenadier Division, the 15th, which was presently in the south facing Montgomery. Bayerlein’s Division would need another week, and a little haggling with Manstein to free it from OKW reserve, but it might just be available for a second echelon reinforcement. Coming late to the trough, there had only been reserve Panthers and PzKfw IVF tanks available, but they were gladly received. The division would remain behind the Rhine until circumstances warranted its commitment.

  As the last few days passed, all eyes were on the weather. Ideally, Guderian wanted rain, in spite of the fact that it might slow the receding waters of the Roer, and keep them swollen. His engineers reported the river as being only 150 feet wide, about 50% wider than normal, and with an average depth of three feet. That was a far easier obstacle than the Meuse north of Roermond, which was well over 500 feet wide, and much deeper.

  Yet his troops still held a small bridgehead west of the Meuse at Roermond, behind heavily fortified positions that the American infantry had not tried to reduce. Four bridging units had been assigned to Steiner, two for the Meuse, and two for the Roer. With the skies low and threatening and on the 31st of August, Guderian went to OKW to request final permission to launch Rhinelander .

  * * *

  There would be no paradrop by Otto Skorzeny. All Von der Heydt’s Paras had taken up positions in the Aachen State Forest, and they there remained. There would be no special unit fielding captured American tanks and vehicles, with English speaking soldiers intending to sew mayhem behind the lines. No gallant defense would be mounted by the 101st Airborne at Bastogne. There would be no fighting along the Elsenborn Ridge, or at St. Vith. Nobody would die at Malmedy. There would be no snow….

  What there would be, was a limited attack by two strong Panzer Armies, now poised no more than 50 miles apart, and each with the strength of five divisions. All adjacent infantry would participate, the 226th, 64th and 59th in the north, the 245th, 77th, and 319th in the south. That made for an offensive of 16 divisions, with two more strong units confirmed for the reserve at that hour. It wasn’t as big as the historical 28 divisions the Germans threw into the Ardennes, in a misguided, fruitless drive that netted them nothing but useless tree covered terrain. No, this attack had re
al merit, and realizable goal and adequate force to achieve it. This attack was designed by Generals, not Adolf Hitler.

  German armor was stronger than it had been since the invasion of Southern France, and would never be this strong again. There were now 72 light tanks (Leopard), nearly a thousand medium Panthers and PzKfw IVs, another 216 Lions of various calibers, including 48 of the super heavy Königslöwe . With these came another 60 heavy tank destroyers, scores of JagdPanzer IVs, and every older Nashorn or Marder that could be found. In pure armor, the Germans would now field just over 1500 tanks. And then there was Berg with 35 of his amazing Leopard IIs, the tip of the spear in the south.

  Against this, Patton’s 3rd Army, including 6th 7th and 10th Armored Divisions in reserve, could field over 2000 medium tanks, another 530 light M5s and a 1170 tank destroyers, altogether about 3750 vehicles designed to kill tanks. While they were always outnumbered when it came to armor, the Germans counted on their qualitative edge when it came to those clashing knights. But the American Army had more and better infantry, stronger artillery, and an air arm that could be decisive if the skies cleared to permit its deployment.

  Eisenhower was at Maastricht that night, coming forward at Patton’s request, and also summoning Bradley and O’Connor to discuss the supply situation, replacement schedules, fuel deliveries, and the plan the movement of divisions into North Holland. He also wanted to know what Patton had in mind for the Roer, and when he might expect to wrap things up at Aachen. The pocket had been squeezed to a width of just five kilometers north of the city, with the line running from Kerkrade down through Wurselen to the woods near Eilendorf. That city was actually in American hands, but the Germans had dug into the Schill Line fortifications north of it, in a stubborn salient.