Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (26 page)

Eisenhower exchanged
looks with both his Colonels, l
ooks
that
carried both questions and answers.

‘
Bingo.
’

“
I have a feeling
you
may just have found what we needed
,
Anne-Marie. A very big well done.”

Pausing to get his thoughts in order Ike took the plunge.

“I want copies of the paperwork compiled and sent out to
every senior commander immediately. I want them to know what to look for and what to go after
,
clear?”

He got the nods he
needed
.

“Furthermore, I want Air to
recon this possibility as a priority
,
and to
produce a plan to knock down as much of their bridging infrastructure as possible
if
it’s correct
. When we have done here
,
Thomas, ask Arthur Tedder to join me straight away.”

“Sam?”

“Sir, that report needs sanitising.” He indicated the one from
the
Polish
agent.

“If it goes out as it is there is too much information if the enemy gets a sniff of it
. Need to protect
the British
agent
,
Sir.”

“Agreed. Get it done and get this information out to my Generals.”

The three officers came to attention.

“Oh, and Thomas, p
lease cut me the paperwork for the promotion of Captain Foster
. I think Major is the least we can do to the lady who
may
just
have
pulled our coals out of the fire.”

“Yes Sir.”

The three left, one grinning from ear to ear with satisfaction and pride.

A
n A
ir
F
orce
Lieutenant stepped forward and indicated the telephone.

“Sir, General Bradley, sir.”

Eisenhower settled down in his chair with a fresh cigarette and took up the receiver.

“Eisenhower, and good morning to you, General Bradley.”

Ike listened for a moment and then interrupted his senior man.

“Well as it happens, Brad, we may have just come up with something.”

A pause as Bradley
made some quip and then Eisenhower dropped his bombshell.

“It’s all a question of rivers.”

Many miles away, in the underground
headquarters
facility at Nordhausen, Marshall Zhukov was also talking rivers.

“So where is the new equipment we were promised eh? Where are the
trained
personnel?
The new units?
Govno!”

Zhukov took in the stark surroundings, seeking some solace in the map-covered concrete walls and finding solely the obligatory picture of the General Secretary to break up the monotony of military paraphernalia.

Making direct eye contact with the highly stylised portrait of Stalin, he repeated his question
s more fiercely, a fact not wasted on Malinin.

Zhukov’s Chief of Staff
referred to a
report
he had prepared on the matter of
Soviet
bridging engineers.

“We have
now
stripped
virtually
all
the
assets from the Poles, and 75% of the equipment from the interior forces, plus the Crimea
,
and
Iran
.”

“
Y
our order to recycle equipment has meant that we have maintained our advance
. It has caused us some logistical problems as
you are aware
,
Comrade Marshall, but we are coping.
”

The word ‘just’ was left unsaid but
well
understood by the Commander in Chief
,
who also knew that
Malinin was not criticising, just stating fact.

“It has been necessary to replace some crossings where the logistical issues were insurmountable.”

Marshall Zhukov pulled out his chair and sat, making notes as his
CoS
carried on with his brief.

“Losses in personnel have been heavier than anticipated, meaning that some of our bridging units are less effective than they look on paper
,
Comrade Marshall.”

Zhukov
took up
his
tea and listened
to his right-hand man confirm his worst suspicions.

“Our projections are not as accurate as they could have been, for a number of reasons.”

Consulting the figures closely
,
Malinin enlightened his Commander.

“
As of 180
0 hrs
yesterday
,
our e
quipment losses are running at 50% over expectations, personnel losses at 65%
over
.”

“The order to limit
combat
engineering has saved lives and equipment but has had a negative effect on combat operations, particularly time wise, which is
partially
why we are running behind schedule.”

Sounds of mumbled discontent drifted over from the bald
Marshall
.

“I obtained this interesting report
from the
Far East
command
, originating from
Polkovnik General
of Engineers Tsirlin to Marshall Vasilevsky.”

Malinin rose and passed
a
document over, referring to his own copy as he drew his chief’s attention to the damning sentences.

“In referring to his new influx of engineer officers
,
you will note that Tsirlin complains of low training standards and competence across the range of duties.”

“On the second page he speaks of low-quality equipment
,
with higher than acceptable failure
rate
s.”

Producing another report for Zhukov, Malinin moved on.

“That is reflected in the
second part of a
report from
Mayor
General
Perhorovich regarding the failure of his
August
12th
assault
into the south of Hannover over the
Leine
River
,
on the Waldhausen-Ricklingen axis.”

Malinin thumbed straight to the third page and précised the meat of the report.

“Perhorovich lays the blame for the failure squarely on the shoulders of the commander of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Pontoon Bridge Brigade, attached to him from 1st Red Banner’s reserves.”

“The commander of 70th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment was killed along with four of his crews
,
and valuable vehicles lost
,
when the bridge collapsed due to
apparently
faulty engineer work.”

After a pause to let Zhukov digest the information
,
Malinin concluded.

“Perhorovich
had
the
commander of the 2nd Battalion,
May
or of Engineers
Pavlov
,
arrested
on the spot.
The NKVD took the officer away and hanged him by the roadside, complete with a placard damning him as a saboteur.
Subsequent investigations discovered defective
manufacturing in the
ropes and
low quality
metal fixings
and welding work
on the pontoons.”

Zhukov looked up puzzled, his hand suddenly
touching one of his awards as a memory flickered into life.

“Pavlov of the 7th? Didn’t I...”

His voice trailed off as restrained nodding from Malinin indicated his memory was correct
,
and he had indeed presented the young Major Pavlov with the Hero of the
Soviet
Union
award
during the Patriotic War.

Zhukov recalled the enthusiastic young officer who had led a combat bridging assault with incredible bravery and skill.

“Perhorovich acted precipitously
,
and we have lost a good officer.”

“I agree
,
Comrade Marshall. Do you propose action on the matter?”

Zhu
kov considered his options quickly.

“Send the General a copy of Pavlov’s service record and commendations. Request of him a written explanation of his actions,” and pausing to finish his latest cup of tea
,
he ended with a flourish, “
Marked f
or my personal attention. That should focus his mind
,
Comrade.”

Sampling a sweet biscuit from the t
ray, Zhukov waited whilst his
CoS
made the appropriate notation.

“So, I assume shortcuts were being made in the engineer officer training?”

“Yes, Comrade
Marshall
. The programme had been adapted to circumstances. It is now back to its original form.”

Nothing more could be said on that point.

“What steps are being taken regarding the equipment?”

“All bridging units have been
ordered
to check their equipme
nt against these noted failures, Comrade Marshall.
”

“Good, there must be no repeats.”

More tea was
poured
by the senior man.

“NKVD Quality control
teams are on their way to interview the factory managers of the facilities that produced the defective items
.”

There was an unspoken understanding that such interviews would inevitably end with more executions for sabotage and the like.

“Personnel and equipment shortages have
obviously
been caused by
combat operations
,
but p
articularly heavy losses have resulted from enemy air action.”

Malinin halted and accepted the full cup
that
Zhukov pushed across the table at him.

Taking a deep draught
,
he cleared his throat and continued.

“Thank you
,
Comrade Marshall.
Some examples
of this
.
Two full bridging brigades were badly mauled
when Allied bombers attacked the Vessertal concentration site near
Suhl
. Marshall Bagramyan reports his available
heavy
bridging capacity down to two companies of the 106th Engineers, both of which have seen co
mbat and have limited equipment, as a result of ground attack by the RAF.
”

Another swallow of tea brought needed moisture to a throat drying out
,
not just from speaking but from genuine horror at the unfolding situation.

“
Karelian Front
is sending its own bridging assets to 1st Baltic, but this will have an effect upon our intended
Norway
operations. A necessary evil
,
but one that Bagramyan and Govorov shared
with us
only when they were already committed to the move.”

The criticism was genuine
. A
lthough the move made sense
,
it had not been approved, having been sorted out between the two front commanders alone.

“We will sort that out in good time
,
Comrade,
even though that wily old Armenian
kept us out of it. F
or now it is a good
arrangement on their part
and we would have supported it immediately
,
would we not?”

A point Malinin conceded immediately.

“
Marshall
Malinovsky
is desperate for mo
re assets. He reports that the 112
th Pontoon
Battalion is his sole intact bridging unit
with good capability
,
the
others
ha
ving
little
equipment left
.
He also states
that casualties amongst
his
experienced engineers have been punishing. You will recall that you instructed that the latest batch of replacements went straight to him?”