Kirov Saga: Hinge Of Fate: Altered States Volume III (Kirov Series) (38 page)

Down in
one of the forward pill boxes, the troops heard what sounded like the rumble
and rattle of armor. “Tanks!” came the warning shout, and a few old 2 pounder
guns began to fire. Soon there came the booming sound of explosions, which
heartened the troops when they thought their defensive fire had scored hits. As
the smoke thinned, however, they gaped at the scene, seeing what looked like
squadrons of miniature tanks grinding their way forward into the minefields and
wire, and then blowing up, one after another.

“What
in blazes?” One man said as he stared at the diminutive tanks, no more than
five feet long and just under two feet high. The Germans called them the
Leichter
Ladungsträger
, or ‘light charge carrier,’ with a 60kg demolition charge
that was designed to be deliberately detonated to clear mines, barbed wire,
blow bridges or blast pill boxes and buildings. Designated the Goliath, the
German troops called them “Beetle Tanks,” and they were crawling in great
numbers over the mined area, blowing themselves to smithereens.

Behind
them came the German assault engineers, all experts at clearing mine fields,
and two full battalions in strength. They would soon be followed by the
hardened troops of the 98th Regiment, 1st Mountain Division, the Edelweiss
Division that would have conquered Europe’s tallest peak at Mount Elbrus in the
history Fedorov knew. They were advancing towards the area known as ‘the
racetrack, a roadway that circled the airfield runway and rifle range in the
flat land north of the Rock. There several detachments of 2nd Kings Rifles held
forth in slit trenches and improved positions behind an anti-tank ditch that
cut across the road near the small Passport Office building. Needless to say, the
men they saw advancing on their positions were not carrying passports to gain
entry, but rifles, machineguns and demolition charges.

Finally
alerted to the danger, the 25 pounder artillery positioned at the old Windsor
Battery on the rising slopes of the Devil’s Tower, and 5.25-inch QF naval guns around
Princess Anne’s battery on Willis Plateau, began to fire. One gun there had
been damaged by the German
Stukas
, but three more began firing at the
exposed ground crawling with enemy troops and engineers.

The
Germans endured losses from artillery and mines that the Goliaths had not
cleared, but pressed doggedly forward, finally reaching the anti-tank ditch, which
now gave the infantry excellent cover. There they rushed at the British
defensive positions in well coordinated attacks, the rattle of MG34 machineguns
answered by Vickers HMGs resounding from the imposing sheer cliffs of the Rock.
At times the fighting was hand to hand, but the weight of Germans numbers
carried the position.

One
battalion each of engineers and mountain troops focused attention on an area
known as ‘North Front,’ on the western side of the isthmus where the Passport
Office was. A second kampfgruppe of two battalions were assaulting the hangers
and service buildings at the north center of the field in the Race Course area.
Squad after squad raced forward, weathering intense defensive fire to get close
enough to fling demolition satchel charges and grenades at the line of the defense.
The casualties were heavy, but the Germans would take both positions within the
hour, forcing the remainder of the King’s Rifles to withdraw back over the
runway in a mad dash to the cemetery where their main line of defense was
established.

There
were two burial grounds, one dubbed the Jewish Cemetery in the west and the
main cemetery in the center, where pathways meandered through the crosses and
tombstones, which now provided cover for the second line of defense held by a
company of the 2nd Somerset Light Infantry Battalion. As the King’s Rifles withdrew,
these men peeled off and jogged right along the line to cattle sheds on the
east end of the isthmus.

The
Jewish cemetery was open ground, and too exposed, so the line bent back as far
as Devil’s Tower Road, then through the main cemetery to the cattle sheds. By
11:00 the Germans had brought up elements of the Grossdeutschland Regiment, and
a company of the 3rd Battalion of the mountain troops made another daring
assault by boat on a narrow sandy beach near the Slaughterhouse. The place was
well named, as Vickers machineguns positioned by the Somersets in the Cattle
Sheds and Devil’s Tower Camp exacted a very heavy toll on the beach, decimating
the leading platoon before both artillery fire and two well timed
Stuka
attacks silenced those guns. The remaining infantry quickly occupied the Slaughterhouse,
now eyeing the tall sheer cliffs ahead.

There
was only one defile that they could climb, and it would be one for the record
books in the annuals of war. 2nd platoon led the way, with Leutnant Groth
urging his men on. Ropes with hooks were fired up in special mortars, and though
several failed to take hold, others were lodged in the craggy rocks. The men
began to climb. The defile would take them up to the Great Siege Tunnels, on
the upper galleries of the north face of the Rock.

Dating
from the 18th century, the tunnels had been dug by British engineers during the
time of the American Revolution to withstand an assault by French and Spanish
troops, the fourteenth attempt to seize Gibraltar, and the last until Groth and
his mountain troops showed up. The tunnel had been built to reach an
inaccessible crag known as The Notch, and place a battery there. Now the hidden
tunnel housed generators to power the 3rd Searchlight Regiment. From there a
stone stairway led down to the Middle Gallery below, deep inside the massive
limestone mountain.

At
places the cliff was so sheer that it was near vertical, but the mountain
troops continued their climb, up 650 feet to the 200 meter line on their
terrain maps, taking only sporadic fire from the cattle sheds. The first squad
of seven men led by Groth himself flung their demolition charges through the
embrasure openings that overlooked the airfield and cemetery, blowing away the
rusting iron bars, and then they began to work their way in through those same
openings. The Germans were inside the Rock with this single squad, and their
mission was to find and destroy any useful enemy facilities they could, and
eliminate any observation posts near that location.

Far
below, the 2nd Kings Rifles were fighting for their lives in the cemetery, with
the newly dead lying atop the cold stone grave plates in a macabre scene. The
batteries at Governor’s Lookout and the Prince William Battery gave them as
much support as they could, while under ceaseless attack from the screaming
Stukas
.
It was soon clear to General Liddell that the position was lost, and he ordered
his men to begin a gradual withdrawal through the cemetery, across Devil’s
Tower Road and through some makeshift facilities that had once been used as an
Isolation Hospital. They would reform near the old Moorish Castle, which
blocked the switchback road leading up to the tunnel complex entrance. The
north face of the Rock itself was a near vertical cliff, which could not be
climbed by anyone without special equipment and training. So the action shifted
west towards the Land Port.

By
01:00 the Germans had overrun the two forward defense lines and taken the whole
of the airfield. Now the grenadiers of the Grossdeutschland Regiment focused their
effort on the inundated area just south of the Jewish cemetery. There was a
narrow causeway that crossed the inundation to an area known as the Land Port,
very near the position already occupied by the Brandenburgers. As if by
pre-arranged plan, the commandos now renewed their assault, fighting their way
across the market square against opposition by B company of the 2nd Somerset
Light. It was their intention to clear the area south of the causeway and so
allow the grenadiers to cross the inundation.

With
ruthless efficiency, the Brandenburgers stormed the Grand Casemates, silencing
the guns there. The grenadiers surged over the causeway, led by their tough
recon battalion, and the Germans built up enough strength to force B Company
back towards the old Moorish Castle where the exhausted King’s Rifles were
taking up new positions.

By
02:00 the Germans were preparing to attack this position, as the remaining two
battalions of the Grossdeutschland Regiment rolled south and heavily reinforced
the area taken near the Grand Casemates. Soon their assault teams were working
their way in to the north town area, opposed by the 4th Devonshire Battalion
and elements of 2nd Somerset Light in house to house fighting. It was here that
the training and recent combat experience of the Germans made all the
difference. They had fought in Poland, and in the lightning dash across France,
all while the Devonshire Battalion languished at Gibraltar. The German troops
were among the best in their army, and they pressed home a relentless attack,
pushing past the Post Office to the Civil Hospital where they flanked the end
of the 2nd Somerset’s line at the Moorish Castle, which climbed the hills
behind it in fortified tiers of tower and wall.

First built
in the 8th century and then restored again in the 11th century, the castle
walls and complexes once reached to the edge of the sea. Yet by 1940 only the
prominent square Tower of Homage and the Gate House below remained, climbing
the steep knees of the towering mass of Jebel Tarik, the name of the mountain
which was once called the Rock of Jebel, and has since come to be known as
Gibraltar. Its tower stood higher, its Kasbah Keep bigger than any other
Moorish fort built on the Iberian Peninsula. It had endured numerous sieges
over the years, shrugging off the cannon fire of previous eras. Now the Germans
brought up light infantry guns and began to systematically blast away at the old
castle walls and abutments, but the tower stood stolidly unbroken, the
crenulated teeth of the stony walls now manned by British troops firing from
above. There the proud Union Jack flew from a tall flagpole and the 11th siege
of the castle was soon well underway.

 The Germans
saw that their 75mm infantry guns would make little impression on the hard
masonry of the gate wall, and so they called for bigger guns, waiting an hour
while troops brought up a 150mm battery from the rear. The Gate House was the
first obstacle, which stood as two imposing squarish legs of stone built up in
layer after layer of limestone brick. The center receded to a walled off gate
with a single vertical embrasure where the barrel of a Vickers machinegun spat
fire and steel at anyone approaching. Yet the gun could not be rotated left or
right, which made it easy for engineers to approach from the sides of the
embrasure and lay demolition charges. The troops that had demolished the
massive impregnable fortress of Eben Emael were now about to be tested again.

A
massive explosion shook the Gate House, blasting away part of the wall that surrounded
the embrasure and shocking the gun crews behind it senseless. Dust and smoke
billowed up in a huge mushroom, and engineers pushed on through the soot and
broken rock to penetrate the breach.

High
above, the wail of a diving
Stuka
was heard, which delivered a 500 pound
bomb to score a direct hit on the nearby Queen Charlotte’s Battery. By 03:00
the ancient fortification that had stood for over 1200 years was being reduced
with the fire and steel of modern weapons it had never been built to oppose.

Meanwhile,
Groth’s mountain troops had gained access to the upper gallery but, as the
alarms went out, Liddell rushed a platoon of the Black Watch, his reserve force
inside the Rock, to block their migration down to the Middle Gallery. The pipes
played the quick march with drum and skirl, and the strains of “Highland
Laddie” echoed through the labyrinth, giving heart to the defenders outside.
But as the sun fell lower and the long shadows of the mountains behind
Algeciras began to creep over the waters of the bay toward the harbor, it was
clear that the weight of the German forces was becoming decisive.

They
now had three battalions of combat engineers, the 98th Mountain Regiment and
the Grossdeutschland Regiment all on the line, with the Brandenburgers mixed in
and fighting their way down the west coast to take the King’s Bastion near the old
Coaling Island. Sir Clive Liddell was evacuating the Governor’s residence where
he had set up his headquarters, and heading for the relative safety of the
tunnels under the Rock.

Outnumbered
three battalions to one, the 4th Devonshires were slowly pushed back, and
Liddell had to make a crucial decision. Should he order them to fall back
through the town, continuing to bar the way to the main wharf, or should he
pull them east up the switchback roads that climbed to Devil’s Gap and the
Signals Station beyond? That choice would see his entire force pressed back
against the Rock itself, and eventually shut inside. It would also leave the
Destroyer Camber, Main Wharf and docks, and the whole of Rosia Bay open to the
enemy advance. All the service troops, shore batteries, and AA guns on Windmill
Hill and Europa Flats would be effectively thrown to the wolves, along with any
hope that the Royal Navy might land reinforcements in the south. He was
literally between the Devil and the deep blue sea, now, or more to the point,
between the Rock and a hard place.

Liddell
was not yet ready to concede all that ground and lock his infantry up in the
fortress tunnels, and so he ordered the 4th Devonshire Battalion to fight for
every building, store, and house in the town. The one burning question in his
mind now was what had happened to the Royal Navy? The force that Gibraltar was
there to support and maintain had seemingly deserted the men of the Rock in
their hour of greatest need.