Rhinelander (Kirov Series Book 40)

by Schettler, John

  Also that night, 3rd Armored continued its march, reaching a position midway between Sittard and Heinsberg. By dawn, General Maurice Rose would have both his combat commands assembled and ready for battle, and he reported as much Lucky Forward. Patton would have a very difficult decision to make that night, and in many ways, he was glad Ike was still at hand. The 317th Regiment of 80th Division was cut off, and its scattered platoons were being hunted down that night by the Windhounds of the 116th Panzer.

  Abrams had CCA of his division within four kilometers of their position, and he signaled Patton, asking whether he should try to rescue the trapped regiment. At the same time, reports came in that the 2nd Panzer Division was starting to break through east of Verviers, and that had to be stopped. Walker’s CCB, was at hand to do that job, but Eisenhower did not think it wise to commit a single combat command, at night, into a confused and highly fluid battle setting in the hopes of saving that regiment.

  “It stinks, I know it,” said Ike. “But it would be throwing good money after bad. I say deal with that breakthrough, and then muster both of Abrams’ commands so he can hit with real muscle in the morning. By that time, Bug Oliver should have 5th Armored up as well, so that will be my order. It’s off your back, George, and onto mine, and I’ll take the heat for it, and write the letters….”

  The night was heavy there at Lucky Forward, but the incident would set Patton to the boil. Tomorrow there would be a reckoning, he vowed inwardly, and he prayed his troops would be up to the task. They were at the end of three weeks operations, tired, but ready to fight. CCA still had 18 of the new M-26 heavy tanks, and they were all grouped together, watching the right flank of the refused shoulder, waiting out the tense night, the troops taking turns trying to get some sleep. Yet the sound of movement in the distance haunted them.

  The first day was over.

  The shock of the sudden enemy assault, the realization that their enemy was renewed, still determined, and out to kill them if they could, energized each man on the shoulders of that offensive. They had chased the Germans from France, harried them to the out of most of Belgium, and stormed across the German frontier. Now they knew their enemy was fighting harder than ever before. Patton’s armored chariots had come west, and tomorrow they would lock horns with the Germans, with a grim determination settling into the guts of every man on the line.

  Chapter 14

  Obersturmbannführer Joachim Pieper was in a hurry. The former personal adjutant to Heinrich Himmler had been known as an aggressive and hard charging panzer leader in Russia, earning his Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves on the day of his 29th birthday. Some saw his tactics too harsh, and there had been incidents in Russia where his men left behind villages torched with flame throwers. His take no prisoners attitude was too often made reality by his men, and in the old history, 12 years of prison waited for him after the war.

  For Pieper, war was not a gentlemen’s game, but a raw exercise of power. His mission came first, and he would do all in his power to fulfill his orders and objectives. So it was not surprising that he rose to command the Panzer Regiment of Leibstandarte , and today he had business in Maastricht. The Germans had learned that Patton himself was there, possibly even Eisenhower, and he had it in his mind to pay those gentlemen a hard visit.

  First on his list, however, was to secure the Meuse crossing at Maeseyck. His engineer battalion was already closing in on the town, with orders to get to the river, and destroy that bridge to close off that avenue of possible enemy counterattack. Then he would see about Patton. Theo Wisch took the division HQ into Monfort just before sunrise, and Peiper’s Panzers were on the road southwest, passing through Schilberg as the skies began to lighten.

  On his left, about two kilometers off, the rumble of the 12th SS Hitlerjugend Division could be heard, introduced between 1st and 2nd SS that night. Das Reich had to be sure the wooded ridge where the Americans had fled was clear before proceeding, but they found the GI’s had withdrawn. So the three divisions were massed in one thunder herd, heading southwest towards the Meuse near Maeseyck.

  That night, OKW planners had assessed the advantages of Bittrich’s operation, and found it wanting. Any further drive south on that side of the river would require one division to stand in constant contact with the enemy buildup there, leaving the other as the only force on attack. Manstein again insisted that the Meuse should not have been crossed, then he flatly ordered Bittrich to withdraw. The Roermond Bridgehead would be retained, but 10th SS crossed the river again before dawn, to be followed by 9th SS later that day. Manstein wanted the full might of the 5th Panzerarmee concentrated, and saw the Meuse as a much better defense than any ground to the west. Now he conferred with Guderian to determine the next objectives.

  “Steiner has broken through as we expected,” he said. “Now I think 1st SS should secure Maeseyck, and Das Reich should push due south and attempt to reach the Aachen Pocket. In the center, 12th SS drives directly for Maastricht. Now that we are withdrawing Bittrich to put him to better use, he can follow 12th SS.”

  “Are you suggesting Das Reich should relieve that pocket?”

  “It would do wonders for the morale of those troops. That’s 30,000 good German soldiers there. At the very least, we can bring up supplies and ammunition for them, but no, they will hold their positions. We are not linking up to move them out, but rather, to seal off the line of the Wurm River. Then everything Patton has east of that line will have to worry about being in a pocket. Yes?”

  “64th Infantry has already sent a full regiment to the Meuse south of Roermond. The rest of that division will not be able to cover much of that front.” Guderian remained concerned over the lack of infantry. “They are presently fronting what remains of the American 2nd Infantry, but they will not be able to push them back towards the Wurm. That will take a full SS Panzer Division.”

  “Then we will assign that task to 9th SS once it crosses the river,” said Manstein. “If we can flank them hard there, they will have to pull back the troops they have on the Roer north of Julich. This will help us cover Dusseldorf and Koln better. If we can pry them off the Roer, all the better. Now… What about the southern pincer?”

  “17th SS has reached Vise and is attacking now,” said Guderian. “So we are slowly sealing off the river, and thereby cutting Patton’s supply lines.”

  “You know they are already mustering reserves west of the Meuse to counterattack.”

  “Yes, but that will be more difficult than they may think. They fought their way across the Meuse once before, but not with five Panzer Divisions on our side of the water. I think the plan is sound, and our prospects remain good. 17th SS will hold the line of the Meuse from Liege to Vise. The Führer Sturm Division will continue on to Maastricht. 116th Panzer is already flanking their position at Herve, and that move will be reinforced by 7th Panzer.”

  “Expect Patton to counterattack today,” said Manstein. “He will push towards Vise.”

  The Field Marshal was very correct.

  * * *

  “The Krauts are giving up that bridgehead over the Meuse,” said Patton. “Where the hell did they think they were going, anyway?”

  “Good,” said Ike. “Middleton says that 30th Infantry should be arriving this morning, but they’ll be all day getting down to the Meuse where we can use them. What’s the update?”

  “The SS are six kilometers from Maeseyck. 324th Regiment is establishing a bridgehead there.”

  “It better be strong,” said Ike. “The Germans will shoulder into any bridgehead we establish. This whole plan is to secure the line of the Meuse and force us to fight our way back over to reestablish contact with your troops.”

  “I’ll have a reinforced regiment dug in there before noon. That’s where the next fight will be. I’ve still got the 102nd Armored Cav here at Sittard, and Rose brought 3rd Armored up to cover the left flank of 2nd Infantry. I think it’s time to fight in the clinch. Rose may not be able to stop them, but he’ll slow
them down. Any objection?”

  “They’ll be outnumbered, but if we don’t hit them, they’ll close the jaws on 3rd Army today, right here at Maastricht. What’s that near Vise?”

  “Germans pushed a recon in force up there last night. We have nothing there but bridging units and an engineer support company. They’ll have a good breakfast this morning, because we have 40,000 tons of supply there to.”

  “Damn,” said Ike. “That’s sausage for the Germans, not us. Where’s Collins?”

  “He’s coming. 7th Armored is approaching Maastricht now. 45th Infantry is coming up through Tongres, and they can go to Vise.”

  “They’ll have to cover the whole river line.” Eisenhower was worried.

  “The Germans won’t cross,” Patton assured him. “Hell, they marched right past the bridge at Hermalle, and it was wide open. No General, I don’t think they have any intention of operating west of the Meuse. That’s why they’re pulling the SS back over the river up north. I think that was just a spoiling attack to keep us on our toes there while Steiner made the big push through 2nd Infantry.”

  “How are they doing?”

  “The 2nd? Krauts cut the division right in two. The better part of it is screening Heinsberg to the east, but Robertson and his staff ended up west of the Meuse. I contacted Loveless and put him in charge of the Heinsberg group. Now I’ll bring 3rd Armored up on their left and we’ll seal off that northern breakthrough this morning.”

  “Seal it off? But for how long, George? That’s a hell f a lot of force coming south.”

  “They’ll hold,” said Patton, “at least long enough for us to get Collins into the fight. This is going to be the toughest wrestling match we’ve had with the bastards, but I’m going to win it, and kick their behinds back over the Rhine when I’m though.”

  * * *

  The rains continued on the second day, and with the massive number of heavy tracked vehicles, General Mud started to become a problem. Vehicles on both sides were lined up for miles on the roads, but for the Germans, they had seen the worst of mud in Russia, and knew how to cope. This was Colonel Mud in their minds, if even that.

  KG-4 of Berg’s contingent was now in the lead, its nine big Leopard II’s in the van. The brigade had bypassed Vise and pushed another four kilometers up the road towards Maastricht, now on a good highway, and hoping to reach the city that day. 17th SS was now relegated to the defense of the Meuse, and the offensive baton had been passed to the Führer Sturm Division. The road ahead looked empty and still, but five kilometers on, CCB of 1st Armored Division had already reached Maastricht, and 7th Armored had crossed the Albert Canal and was also entering the outskirts of the city.

  Always a favorite division for Patton, he went out to meet the Lucky 7th, gunning his fist and snapping back salutes from the tank commanders as the Shermans rolled by. Another gift that day would come by rail, the first two of three companies of assault tanks, including 30 of the new M-26. Five more batteries of heavy artillery from VII Corps were on the flatbed cars beyond.

  * * *

  An M8 Armored Car wasn’t much, but it was the eyes and ears of the US Army in 1944. The stogy looking six wheeled car was meant to replace the older scout car in the recon and screening role, which it performed very well, as long as there were plenty of roads about. The off road performance of the vehicle left a lot to be desired, and in mud or snow conditions it soon became road bound. Put it on a good hard surface, however, and it was very fast at 55 MPH, with a cruising range that could reach 400 miles.

  The British called them the Greyhounds, the lean, fast hound dog of the armored cavalry. The Hercules engine was so quiet, that the enemy found itself surprised by the sudden appearance of a troop of cavalry in M8s, so much so that they came to call the US cavalry “Patton’s Ghosts.” Yet these relatively light armored vehicles had no business trying to intervene in a real armored duel. Their protection was, at best, one inch of armor, and the main 37mm gun was nothing more than a pop gun in 1944. It would bounce off any German tank it hit.

  So it was with justifiable trepidation that Colonel Saunders took his 102nd Cav north from Sittard on the morning of September 2nd. Word came that the 324th Regiment of the 44th Division had crossed the Meuse at Maeseyck to establish a bridgehead, and that 3rd Armored was already racing to the scene from the southeast. That was still going to leave a gap on the main road south to Maastricht, and the 102nd was the only unit that could close it.

  So Saunders and his hounds went north that morning, all the way to the town of Susteren, very near the perimeter established by the 324th. They had plugged that gap, but Joachim Pieper had a timetable to keep, and he was coming in strong. Until 9th SS came down from Roermond, Leibstandarte was the inside division of the drive south, closest to the river. His leading group was a company of the 1st Panzergrenadier Battalion, followed by a company of the Recon Battalion, and then one of engineers. The column stopped just outside Susteren, a Leutnant eyeing the edge of the town through field glasses before ordering the advance.

  That was prey the 37mm gun on the M8 could easily handle, and Saunders had his troops well concealed. Behind them, just south of the town, there was a most welcome addition to his regiment, which consisted of six troops of M8s, each with 12 armored cars, four halftracks with MGs and a number of jeeps carrying 60mm mortars. The regiment also had two companies of light tanks, which normally were the obsolete M5 Stuarts. All they had was a 37mm main gun, just like the M8. They were clunky and slow by comparison, even if their tracks gave them a little better off road performance.

  But Saunders didn’t have the M5. He was one of the lucky cavalry regiments who received the new light M24 Chafee, which was a vast improvement over the M5. It wasn’t that well armored, with just 1.5 inches at the thickest point, but up in that streamlined turret, the tank had a gun worth the name, the 75mm M6, a lighter weight version of the same gun used on the Sherman medium tanks. It could penetrate 86mm of frontal armor at 1000 meters, enough to kill a Panther if they hit it in the right place. At closer ranges, that penetration power increased to 95mm at 500 meters, and just over 1000mm at point blank range.

  Saunders figured he could handle what he saw coming at him that morning, and if the Germans brought up tanks, he would rush those new M24’s up to the edge of the town to engage. He also had two troops of HMC M8 self-propelled guns, which he positioned behind the tree line, about a kilometer south of the town. That was his fallback position if it got too hot in the town, and it did.

  His men opened up on the German halftracks, knocking out three in quick succession, and forcing the German infantry to dismount and go to ground. Behind them, the Germans then rolled up their own armored cars, and they were much better than the Greyhounds. The SdKfz-234-2 with the 50mm main gun, and a good number of the newer replacement 234-4 model with the PaK-40 75mm main gun. They came up just to the edge of the smoking halftracks, using the damaged vehicles for cover, and began pouring on fire at the lighter US armored cars. Even if Saunders had the enemy out-numbered, he knew he was already outgunned, and it would not be long before enemy tanks would join this argument.

  At that moment, to buy time and preserve his edge, he ordered up the Chafees. That soon made the engagement a case of pick on someone your own size, and Leutnant Himmel got on his radio and called Pieper.

  “American cavalry are blocking the road,” he said bluntly. “We need a tank company.”

  He would get that in short order, twelve Panthers, now among the most heavily produced German tanks, as they were less complex than the Lions. The Germans knew they had the advantage, for when they hit an American tank, almost anyplace, that PaK-40 would penetrate and kill. They had trumped Saunders again in this see-saw battle, and when B-Troop quickly lost six of its twelve M8’s and the AAMG halftrack, it was time to get the armored cars out of that fight.

  Saunders ordered them back to the tree line, and the Chafees held the line, dueling with those Panthers at 1000 yards. The Americans got
two kills, but quickly lost seven M24s in exchange, until they were ordered to fall back as well, leaving four bazooka teams hidden in the town to ambush the Germans when they came forward. Those brave men would get another two Panthers, but three of the four would be gunned down when the Panzergrenadiers advanced and swept through the now burning town, angry and shooting anything that moved, civilian or military.

  Saunders wasn’t winning his morning battle, but he was doing one thing of great importance—buying time with the lives of his vehicles and men. He fought from that tree line, then displaced behind a smoke screen laid down by the 60mm mortars. Finding that ground too open, he quickly withdrew another kilometer to the town of Nieuwstad, where he would start the battle all over again.

  He bought four hours, and for that he traded his Regiment. It was the worst fighting of the war for the 102nd Cav. The Greyhounds could have turned and ran, but they didn’t, they fought and they died. Before relief finally came up, Saunders had lost 40 of his 72 M8’s, along with four jeeps, four halftracks and 13 M24 light tanks. There were over 350 casualties, many of those KIAs.

  Then, at 16:00 on that bloody, smoky afternoon, up came the leading elements of the 141st Regiment, 36th Division. There was a company of combat engineers, more armored cars, and best of all, a company of nine M18 tank destroyers. Behind him were all three battalions of infantry, with the main body passing through Sittard four kilometers to the south.

  When Joachim Pieper heard that the point of his column had still not taken Nieuwstad, he was engaged, shouting an order at an officer to bring up the Schwere companies. The battle for Sittard was about to begin.