Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (16 page)

Goldstein interrupted his flow of thought.

“And here is a list of
the contribution that the
German
Air F
orce can make
,
once logistics are put in place.”

The second list was no less impressive than the first, containing some twenty separate units, ranging from fighters to reconnaissance.

Speer had deferred to Dönitz
,
who was speaking very methodically to ensure Goldstein got every word.

“Herr Donitz stresses that these German Air force units are not ready to contribute as yet
,
as even spares and facil
ities have yet to be organised, let alone IFF and signals protocols.
In the light
of
the clear and urgent need for a qualified and competent man to direct Luftwaffe matters
, the Council request
s
that you arrange for General
der Flieger
Koller to be released from British custody to facilitate the organisation and integration of these units.
”

Eisenhower couldn’t speak for the British but doubted there would be a problem, given the likely benefits to the Allied cause, plus he seemed to recall th
at
Koller was not on the list of those who were unacceptable.

“I will make urgent enquiries as soon as we have concluded our business here
,
gentlemen.”

Acknowledging the translation from Goldstein
,
Donitz plunged on.

“There are a number of U-Boats
that
can be made available
,
but we are unsure how they would be employed or if they would be necessary. Clearly
,
there is a large manpower pool of naval personnel who wish to contribute. The Council wishes to liaise with a senior officer of the Royal Navy to discuss what is to be done.”

Eisenhower ignored the unintended snub to the USN.

“I assume that will be your responsibility
,
Herr Dönitz?”

A positive response allowed him to rapidly continue.

“Tomorrow
,
Admiral Somerville will be attending this headquarters. I will ask
that he liaises with you
and arrange it
for
the two of you to have an office to discuss the matter if that is satisfactory?”

Ike understood the simple
‘
thank you
’
without need for Goldstein skills.

Anxious to resolve the burning issue
,
Eisenhower picked up the first report and scanned it again, failing to see the answer he needed.

“Gentlemen, this report doesn’t tell me when I can expect these units to be available for combat use
.”

The Germans received the translation with barely concealed amusement, exchanging glances before Von Vietinghoff picked up the report and pointed at the top of the document, speaking directly at Goldstein and fingering each word he recited.

Dropping the document back onto the table
,
he added a few more words
for the benefit of his council colleagues
and sat back in his seat, looking directly at an expectant but confused Eisenhower.

The Major leant across and pointed the same words out to his General, words whose true meaning were simply lost in the translation of the document.

“Sir, it states here that
‘
the forces available are
’
. What Herr Vietinghoff states is that these formations are available.......now.”

Ike could not help but feel a surge of electricity
throu
gh his frame at that news, a charge of both positive and negative thought.

Before he could summon up the right response
,
Goldstein continued.

“Herr Vietinghoff offers himself as a staff officer here in order to plan the integration and use of the German divisions and to act as liaison between SHAEF and the German Army Commander.”

Eisenhower knew he had been railroaded, as
the Army
command was
supposed to
, by mutual agreement,
belong to a SHAEF appointee
,
with a senior German Officer as Chief of Staff, but somehow it didn’t seem to matter at that moment.

“Guderian
,
I assume?”

Goldstein was cut off as he drew breath.

“Jawohl. GeneralOberst Guderian.”

Pursing his lips, Eisenhower placed his hands palms down on the table, weighing up the pros and cons, quickly understanding that acceptance was the only real possibility.

“Very well.”

Eisenhower stood and walked briskly around the table, extending his hand to each man in turn.

“Thank you, Gentlemen.”

Eisenhower was alone in the room; the council, Goldstein, and the Tech NCO, all departed.

Speer had passed over his report, translated into English, with the
original
German version attached.

His forecast on German weapons production was extremely interesting, anticipating an Allied stand to preserve the Ruhr, and an Allied withdrawal in areas of
Germany
, necessitating the removal of some manufacturing plants to safer areas, such as were suggested in
France
.

Ike found this puzzling, and consumed two cigarettes
as he
pondered
the fact
s.
Speer had seemed surprised that so much ground was to be conceded, and yet had already prepared a proposal to evacuate much of the industry in south-west
Germany
.

The council had suggested
that some of their forces commenced
training
on Allied weapons, and yet seemed to be suggesting that German industry could quickly start to manufacture replacements for losses incurred in the coming battles.

‘What am I missing here?’

After a number of calls to his senior commanders
,
Eisenhower was clear as to where he would commit the
Northern European
German units when they came on line. In truth
,
the commitment was blatantly obvious.

             
Inserting the Germans
between
McCreery’s 21st Army Group and Bradley’s 12th Army Group made sense, the more so as the
Ruhr
would offer a suitable area for the Germans to defend, and one
that
they would be well motivated to
preserve
.

             
That all pre-supposed that Bradley and McCreery could stifle the
Soviet
advances for long enough to get the Germans in position. Both had given an assurance that they would give ground slowly to buy time for the deployment
,
but that didn’t stop Ike being anxious and upping his cigarette consumption rate alarmingly.

He tried to convince himself that
the imminen
t arrival of German divisions w
ould have a positive effect on Bradley’s 12th
,
and make their defence in front of the
Rhine
more difficult for the
Soviet
s to overcome.

             
The Italian based formations would free up some of Alexander’s divisions which would be sent north as soon as possible.

             
A visit that evening from Austrian leader Karl Renner
,
promising two and a half B
undesheer divisions was welcome
,
but
did not ease the worry
.

T
he darkness brought too little sleep
,
as Eisenhower debated and argued with himself into the night.

‘I am committed to using them.’

‘And why would you not? They are great soldiers.’

‘Because they are German
,
of course!’

‘And they fought the commies for four years.’

‘Look at the trouble there’s been already.’

‘Small stuff by provocateurs. Anyway, you need ‘em! The Allies need them
,
and will
probably
not prevail without them.’

Eisenhower woke, his breathing rapid, his body filled with the unease of a broken night.

He reached across for his cigarettes and drew in the pungent smoke, coughing lightly as his body overcame the nocturnal surprise.

“Goddamn it!”

When the enemy advances, withdraw; when he stops, harass; when he tires, strike; when he retreats, pursue.

Mao Zedong

Calmly
, carefully
,
and quietly
, as is the way of the sniper, the
two
soldier
s
crept into the chosen firing position.

Opposite
it
was the building
that
had caused all the problems to the battalion assault that
earlier that
morning.

Soviet
dead lay strewn
over the open ground in between. T
he rubble and craters
that
surrounded and filled
the
destroyed
German
town
of
Tostedt
, all heavy with those freshly killed that day.

Allied s
oldiers
from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division’s Carleton & York Regiment
, stubborn
soldiers
in defence, filled the pos
itions opposite
,
from where they had poured deadly fire into the attacking forces, beating them off with heavy casualties.

And then the rain had come,
a downpour
that
masked the sniper
teams
now
moving into
their chosen
position
s,
as well as wash
ing
away the puddles of
bodily fluids
freshly formed
from
the products of
the
day
’
s
butchery.

Adjusting her sights to suit
a
range
of four hundred metres
, she risked a swift look through the
hole in the side of the American truck
, the position
from where she intended to wreak
her own sort of
havoc.

Mortars shells, a mix of HE and smoke
,
were dropping on the Canadian positions, a small token from the commanding officer to
help
the sniper teams deploy.

Along with Yefreytor Lena Yurieva Panfilova’s team,
360th Rifle Division had
been allocated
five other special sniper
groups
, all of which
were
taking their positions, each with their own allocated fire sector to work once
the new attack
commenced.

Each team consisted of two snipers and two spotters, all of whom could change roles in an instant
,
as all were deadly marksmen and women in their own right.

Panfilo
va’s number two today was
Yarit
,
a wizened old Siberian
Eskimo
,
whose eyes seemed hardly
to
open no matter what the circumstances, but whose aim was as deadly as anyone in the unit.

Using whispers and sign language
,
Yarit
sorted out the targets.

The other two in Panfilova’s team
, Olga Maleeva and Sergey Erinov,
had dr
opped off into a group of fallen
trees
on
the other side of the road and were invisible
to the team leader
,
despite the fact that she knew they were both there.