Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (73 page)

Following
his
contact instructions to the letter, Heppel inserted the message in the hollow cutlery and delivered breakfast to the agent’s room, knocking in the accepted manner.

In order to preserve the pretence of Knocke’s compliance, the message had to be accurate.

Which it was, reporting ‘Camerone’s’ movements and plans precisely.

It just happened to be too late to act upon
the content
s.

Sat in the hotel lobby, examining a magazine
that
p
ictorially and saucily depicted
the latest
Paris
fashions,
De Walle leant
forward and stirred the newly-arrived coffee, noting with satisfaction the signal for success.

Heppel had
eventually
understood where his loyalties lay, and his sister’s continuing good health depended on his ability to carry on as normal under ‘new management’.

Allied forces –  1st Regiment du Marche,
and
1st
Regiment,
Chars D’Assault
, and 1st Engineer Battalion, and 1st Anti-tank Battalion, and 1st Chasseur D’Affrique, and 1st Recon
Compagnie
, and 1st Legion Artillery Battalion, all of
1st Legion Brigade de Chars D’Assault ‘Camerone’
, and 5th Regiment du Marche, and
3rd Recon Compagnie, seconded from 3rd Legion Division ‘Alma’ to ‘Camerone’, all of Command Group ‘A’, of Legion Corps D’Assault, of 1st French Army, of US 6th Army Group.

Soviet forces – 162nd & 163rd Guards Rifle Regiments, and 125th Guards Artillery Regiment, all of 54th Guards Rifle Division, of 3rd Guards Rifle Corps, and 1st & 2nd Battalions, 36th Engineer-Sapper Brigade, and 1416th Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment, and 12th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment, and 65thTank Regiment, and 166th Tank Regiment, all of 59th Army, of 2nd Red Banner Central European Front.

On cue
,
the supporting artillery units started
firing
their ordnance at the Russian positions, throwing up mountains of earth
,
and occasionally something more fragile.

A simple order rode the air waves.

“Vorwärts.”

Uhlmann, his headquarters tank moving slowly behind the first two companies, remained glued to his bin
oculars as return fire arrived; s
ome mortars, but no artillery as yet.

Swivelling to his left
,
he watched as the half-tracks and recon troops of the 1st
RdM
pushed forward, moving ahead of his tank line.

Pressing his throat mike
,
he encouraged the 1st
Company
commander.

“Berta calling Cäesar Zero-One.”

A moment’s pause before th
e ex-Hauptsturmfuhrer from Das R
eich replied.

“Cäesar Zero-One, go ahead.”

“Pick up the pace
,
Cäesar. Stay in line with Julius elements. Over.”

“Zu befehl
,
Berta. Cäesar Zero-One out.”

Uhlmann swivelled to watch his F
irst tank company noticeably quic
ken, encouraging the
trailing
S
econd
Company
to follow.

Enemy artillery started to arrive but it was inaccurate and did not trouble the Legion tanks, although it was of
a
large
enough calibre to worry Uhlmann, should
the
Soviet
s ge
t their response organised.

Behind the assault wave
,
Knocke was focussing his binoculars, his view obscured b
y the occasional artillery burst
as well as the mass of moving soldiery to his front.

His Beobachs Panther possessed no main gun, removed to provide extra room for more radios.

These radios were now
alive
with reports of targets and contacts, incoming fire
,
and the first casualties.

He concentrated part of his mind on the messages, the other he used to interpret the sights of battle.

On the left flank, the 1st’s R
econ troopers had been hit, one of the Puma armoured cars smoking badly, an accompanying half-track ablaze behind it.

Mortar men
from the 1st RdM’s 2nd Battalion swiftly deployed
and got to work. They
were rewarded with a secondary explosion right where they were told the enemy anti-tank position was, and no further fire came from it.

However, the hedgehog position was bristling with weapons, and more AT guns, supported by machine-guns, started to take a toll of men and vehicles alike.

The commander of the reconnaissance element was dead but his second took over, calmly ordering the pre-arranged smoke to fall and cover the advance.

Knocke decided to give some more assistance.

“Anton to Adler, receiving.”

The air liaison officer, bouncing along in a half-track next
to Uhlmann, quickly acknowledged.

“Order one parcel to strike
Leningrad
immediately, Anton over.”

Again, the liaison officer acknowledged, immediately organising a flight of ground-attack aircraft to drop their wares on top of the hedgehog position, codename
Leningrad
.

As he did so, Knocke opened the network and broadcast the
new information
for those on the peripheries
.

In the blink of an eye, four Thunderbolts swooped from the sky and deposited their rockets on the
Soviet
defences
, immersing the enemy in more smoke.

Knocke contacted the liaison officer again, partially to recognise the professionalism
,
and partially to confirm what support was remaining, stifling his disappointment at the limited air power available to his forces.

‘I spent years without air support anyway.’

Prior to the battle, his sixth sense had told him that ‘Rostov’ was going to be a problem
,
and
so
his command tank had been directed to proceed favouring the southernmost route
,
just in case.

1st Company of the tank regiment had enjoyed some success
in front of Dagersheim
, a sole T-70 light tank having been qu
ickly killed by numerous shells;
a number of anti-tanks guns
were
similarly dispatched.

However, it had not been without cost, two of the Panzer IV’s having been knocked out in return.

1st C
ompany deployed
centrally, w
ith 2nd C
ompany
splitting up equally and
accelerating to right
and left
, permitting 3rd Battalion of the RdM to launch an attack through the middle.

This attack was under the control of Uhlmann, Von Arnesen having elected to stay with the
undoubtedly
more difficult assault on the ‘
Leningrad
’ hedgehog.

With tank cover on both flanks, the 3rd Battalion swept forward and into the
Soviet
positions, a few men dropping here and ther
e,
but mainly without problems.

The two tank companies
pushed
on again, vacating ground
that
was struck by artillery shortly afterwards.

Both Knocke and Uhlmann noticed the increased effectiveness of the enemy artillery.

Unfortun
a
tely, ‘Camerone’ did not possess the appropriate equipment for effective counter-battery fire as yet
,
and so manoeuvre was their best defence.

From the reports emanating from the hedgehog, Von Arnesen was having the very devil of a time getting his men in close, a small watercourse having been liberally sown with mines
,
holding up his attack
,
and causing casualties amongst his Legionnaires.

‘Camerone’s’
pioneer unit deployed
a platoon in
SDKFZ 251 half-tracks, bringing small bridges into position and spanning the divide. The brave engineers were swept with fire, killing both the commander and second in line as they shared the dangers with their men. Seven more
men
were hit and dropped to the earth, the four that were only wounded being recovered by grateful infantry.

Knocke watched intently as Von Arnesen’s voice commanded the air waves, hurling his men over the bridges and up into the
enemy position.

The supporting Sturmgeschutz self -propelled guns had been adding to the smoke screen
,
but now received orders to
change tactics
and seek more hardened targets.

The mortars switched their fire, bringing down
high explosives
to try and cut ‘
Leningrad
’ off from any support.

Knocke satisfied himself that the
assault
was proceeding and turned his attention to the ‘
Alma
’ force attack.

The enemy artillery seemed to be building here too, and smoking wrecks marked some losses amongst the reconnaissance element
,
as well as the motorized infantry company that backed up the lead troops.

A movement caught his eye and he swivelled his binoculars upwards, immediately seeing the forbidding sight of
Soviet
aircraft.

In his ear he heard the Air liaison officer screaming for fighter cover.

Three Shturmoviks were boring in, even though two of them trailed smoke, a sign of the air combat that had already claimed the rest of their group.

The three aircraft deposited their bombs and turned for a cannon and machine-gun run.

One of the precious JagdPanthers received a direct hit from a 50kgs bomb on the e
ngine grille
. The blast dismantled the tank-destroyer, removing sections of armour plate and throwing them in all directions, causing
some gruesome
casualties amongst ‘
Alma
’s’ Legionnaires.

A 20mm Quad mounted on an SDKFZ 7 chassis brought one aircraft down, the crew pancaking behind the lines to fight another day.

Selecting one of the Nashorne’s, the leader pumped out shell after shell from his 23mm VYa cannon. He pulled up and left the field, raging at his inaccuracy.

His second
aircraft
selected a half-track
,
and was quickly rewarded with a blossoming fire
,
as his shells set light to the vehicle. Burning steadily, the German half-track drove on, carrying its dead crew forward in a surreal fiery assault.

The second aircraft escaped without further damage, retreating over its lines but subsequently blundering into a
group of USAAF Thunderbolts, responding to the calls for assistance,
who wasted no time in adding to their
total
of kills.

Knocke watched closely as the 5th RdM moved forward, sensing its lack of direction, all the time straining to catch some hint of Lieutenant-Colonel Lange on the radio.

He decided to take the matter into his own hands.

“Anton to Gelb
kopf
-zero-one over.”

He was not acknowledged.

Concentrating on the landscape ahead of ‘
Rostov
’
,
he directed one of his signallers to continue trying to raise Lange.

The artillery plan now directed HE on ‘
Rostov
’
,
and sure enough
,
the landscape changed as shells started to land.

Machine-guns started to stammer out a challenge and men died in front of him, their bodies flung aside as bullets knocked them over.

Still, no word from Lange.

‘Verdamnt.’

“Anton to all units Gelb, all units Gelb, push forward quickly,” and as he was talk
ing, he assessed the defences, “
Centre on Rostov Four. Acknowledge.”