Tovey told Volsky of his service aboard King Alfred in the Pacific China Station, and of that strange incident when a rogue ship re-ignited hostilities between Imperial Russia and the Japanese Empire.
“I took it upon myself to side with the Japanese in that event,” said Tovey. “In fact, I believe I saw the very ship we’ve been discussing, under command of this same man—Karpov. So now he sails east again, and that bodes no good.”
Now Volsky lowered his voice, casting a look at the interpreter. “May I speak freely?”
“This man is completely reliable,” said Tovey.
“Very well… Japan has a plan to strike the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in early December of this year. They will also strike at all your Pacific bases, Hong Kong, Singapore, all of them. So I read a great deal in Karpov’s interest in sailing east, particularly given his position in this Free Siberian State.”
“Which is even more elevated now,” said Tovey. “Their former General Secretary, Kolchak, was apparently assassinated last week. Karpov is top dog over there now. Do you think he plans to intervene in this business the Japanese have planned?”
“That is very possible, perhaps inevitable given all I know of Karpov.”
“Yes,” said Tovey, “and given all I have seen of the fighting power of your ship, I’d say the Japanese are in for a most unhappy time. It’s quite possible that we will get war breaking out in the far east the instant Karpov appears there, which could be quite soon. If he’s taken the Arctic Sea route, it can be a bit tricky with the ice, though the real cold has yet to set in.”
“He’ll get through,” said Volsky. “Yes, and when he does get out east, there will certainly be trouble. While I cannot say what he will do, it is likely he will make threats, and then back them up with firepower, which you tell me you are well acquainted with. This could pre-empt the Japanese attack, and possibly even upset their entire war plan, which in turn affects the timing of the American entry into this conflict.”
“Our Mister Churchill won’t be happy to hear that,” said Tovey. “In fact, he’s planning to meet with Mister Roosevelt in Argentia Bay. We were to ferry him there, but I’ve convinced him we need every available ship to set a watch on the Germans. You may have helped me lick them once or twice, Admiral, but the German Navy is still a very serious threat. So that meeting was postponed, though it will take place soon, and the Prime Minister has been convinced that he might more easily fly to the meeting on one of our bombers.”
“A wise choice,” said Volsky.
“Yes. We can get him to Iceland in a Wellington easily enough, and from there down to Halifax. In fact, if he takes off from Western Ireland he might make the flight in one hop, but our preference is to have him take the journey in short steps, so we can post fighter escorts along the way. This means I’ll have to assign a few carriers along the Iceland Halifax route, and I’ll miss them. We need every ship we can get, particularly since we no longer have your able ship and crew at our side. And that said, we need the Americans. They’ve been cooperating with us out west, and have just relieved our garrison on Iceland. But we’ll need a little more from them than Lend Lease destroyers, and as soon as we can get it.”
“I understand,” said Volsky. “Well, Admiral. I may no longer have command of my ship to offer you consolation, but I did not come here entirely empty handed. Our Mister Fedorov has given me a mission, and I am happy to say I will now fulfill it. He entrusted this to me, and I was told to deliver it to you at all cost. Here it is.”
Volsky reached into the secret pocket, fumbling about for a moment to get hold of the strange key, and then he proudly handed it to Admiral Tovey. “I’m told you would be most gratified to receive this, though I have no idea what this is all about.”
Tovey looked at the key in his hand, realizing what it might be, yet not understanding how Fedorov could have found it. “My Lord,” he said. “If this is what I think it is, then I am a very rich man with this gift. I shall have to get back in touch with Miss Fairchild and spread the good news.”
“May I ask what that is?” said Volsky.
“I suppose we both might ask that,” Tovey answered. “It’s not what this is that stumps the mind, but what it might open, or lock away. Your Mister Fedorov gave you this? How in the world did he come by it? Did he tell you as much?”
“Not a word. He simply pressed it upon me to deliver it safely here.”
That alone spoke volumes to Tovey. If Fedorov knew of the importance of this key, then he had to be the same young, enterprising man he had already met. Yet Volsky was different, unknowing, a man made new. How was this possible?
“Admiral, I have a very great deal to share with you now, so please make yourself comfortable, and we’ll have a long chat over tea. One thing I do know—this key is very important, and having it in hand could make a world of difference in the days ahead. Now then, let me tell you everything I have come to know…”
Tovey spoke for a very long time, relating all that had happened under his watch, their time in the Atlantic dueling with the Germans, the sortie in the Med, the strange events in the North African desert, the arrival of Brigadier Kinlan and his troops, and then the events of the previous May, and the appearance of that little fleet of modern day auxiliaries.
“I’ve sent those ships on to Alexandria, as much to get them far away from England as anything else, and far from any questions they might raise.”
Volsky was astounded to hear it all, just as he was when Fedorov had tried to fill his head with stories it might have taken someone a score of books to write. When the long briefing was finally over, Volsky looked at the translator, a wry smile on his lips.
“Enough there to keep you awake a good many nights,” he said with a wink.
“Indeed,” said Tovey, “but as I’ve said, this man is completely reliable. He’s my latest recruit—a little clan I’ve started called the Watch. That makes him a member of a very select group.”
That was very true, for only a handful of people knew the entirety of all these events, and how the dots connected. And as for Tovey, the baton now passed, he was also a member of a very select group. The Admiral was now a Keyholder.
At that moment there came a knock on the door, and a messenger came in with a signal, handing it to Tovey with a salute. He read it with concern obvious in his eyes, but the light of battle kindling there at the same time.
“Well Admiral,” he said, “it seems the Germans have grown tired of wallowing in French ports. This is news from our Captain Patterson on King George V. The Hindenburg has just sortied with a large battlegroup and is running out into the Bay of Biscay. I shall have to catch a fast plane for a long bumpy ride out to Ark Royal. Care to join me? I can certainly use an old naval hand like yours at the tiller.”
Volsky smiled.
Chapter 27
Churchill had had quite enough of Wavell’s sloth since the decisive victory at Tobruk the previous May. Coming as it did at the height of the action in the North Atlantic that drove the German fleet back to French ports, he was elated at first, and eager to exploit the opportunity to make significant gains in North Africa. Yet Wavell continued to argue that he needed more and better armor, which frustrated Churchill to no end, for what more could the man want beyond the awesome power of Brigadier Kinlan’s Heavy Brigade.
He kept reading the latest communiqué from Wavell, shaking his head. “Reserve Force deemed too valuable for regular use in front line operations… Reserve Force?” Churchill looked at Alexander, a man he was considering for a new post in the Middle East to possibly replace the recalcitrant and calcified thinking of Wavell, or so Churchill put it to himself in his own mind. Alexander was one of a very select few who had been brought under the umbrella, and knew the real nature and identity of Kinlan’s Brigade.
“What good are these tanks if we can’t use them?” said Churchill, his frustration evident. “We stopped Rommel at Tobruk, and then let him gracefully sit on his
Gazala line and fan himself the whole summer through! Word is the Germans have been pulling one unit after another from his force and sending them to Russia. Now he’s down to only three or four German divisions there. I see no reason why we cannot kick him out of his defensive laagers, and then summarily chase him all the way to Tripoli. That would flank the German base at Malta, and give us every opportunity to take the place back.”
“Without question, sir,” said Alexander, “but the general thinking is that to use the Reserve Force in an offensive role would risk expending it before our own army has sufficient strength to stand on its own. This is why Wavell has waited for the convoys to strengthen his armored force, and quite frankly, both Montgomery and I concur with this strategy.”
“Yet the Brigade is virtually unstoppable,” Churchill complained. “Why not use it as a hammer to simply break down the door, and then withdraw it as our boys shoulder their way into Rommel’s kitchen? Once we break that position, then he’s no other choice but to withdraw to El Agheila, and then we simply repeat that performance and send him packing for Tripoli.”
“Yes sir, that is all sound thinking, but consider our own situation. Suppose he does pull back to El Agheila. What do we pursue him with? Such a move requires us to cross the entire base of Cyrenaica again, and that needs tanks in the vanguard, trucks with infantry behind them, and lots of petrol to keep them moving. It’s taken these last several months for the Army to lay in those stores. You realize the deliveries have been slow in coming all the way around the Cape of Good Hope, but now that I say that, don’t lose heart, Mister Prime Minister. Wavell indicates that he’s very nearly ready to tee off with his Operation Crusader.”
“He’s been saying as much for weeks,” said Churchill.
“Yes, but we’ve finally built up 1st and 32nd Armored Brigades to full strength, and the 22nd has been added to 7th Armored Division to bring that unit up to full strength. We’ve all of a thousand tanks available now, and things are ready to go.”
“Excellent,” said Churchill, “I’d fly over there again to see to the matter, but now I have urgent business with Mister Roosevelt. So I’m leaving things to you, General Alexander, and I’ll be very blunt about it. I want Benghazi before the end of October, and El Agheila by mid-November. No equivocation and hand wringing. I understand it will be O’Conner and Montgomery leading this attack?”
“Correct, sir. Montgomery proved his worth at Tobruk. He was very stubborn there, and should make a fine field commander. He’ll take three infantry divisions and break in through Gazala to sweep them out of Cyrenaica. That’s XIII Corps, and O’Conner will command XXX Corps with the two armored divisions and one motorized infantry division in support. Wavell will coordinate the whole party from Alexandria.”
“Well then,” said Churchill, somewhat satisfied. “You’re to do everything necessary, everything possible to light a fire under our Generals in the field over there, and do it as quickly as you possibly can.”
“I leave tomorrow morning, sir, and I will do all you request, and more. The plan in question was originally designed to relieve Tobruk, but that was accomplished when we stopped Rommel last May. He’s had no keen desire to sit outside the wire and invite our attack, but he hasn’t gone far. Now that plan has been dusted off, revised and extended to deliver the very same objectives you mention, and with sufficient forces of our own making in hand to do so without having to expend the Reserve Force. Oh, it will be there as before, just in case anyone should trip on his own boot straps, but the idea is to beat the Germans ourselves, as far as possible. And I think we can bloody well do so.”
“I like your spirit, General. Just make sure Wavell catches it too.”
The plan, like all plans, had been laboriously drawn up over the long hot summer, and meticulously prepared by both Wavell and Montgomery. After his setback at Tobruk, Rommel fell back to prepared defensive positions that stretched from Gazala on the coast, through Alem Hamza and down to Bir Hacheim. By stubbornly refusing to cede control of Cyrenaica, Rommel had salvaged some measure of his damaged pride, and satisfied Hitler that his enterprise in North Africa still had some merit. He was holding many valuable airfields, and a concerted effort had been made to strengthen and develop the port capacity of Benghazi in the west. This allowed Rommel to use the good coastal road to bring up supplies through Derna to Gazala, and he had also established a heavily fortified depot at Mechili, with good land links down through Tengeder to Bir Hacheim.
Yet all through the summer, he watched his army shrink as Hitler pulled one unit after another from his ill fated operations in the Middle East. The Grossdeutschland Regiment was the first to go, built up to a full division much earlier than it had been in Fedorov’s history, and then sent to the southern wing of Operation Barbarossa. Steiner’s 5th SS was pulled from Syria, and then Goering’s tough infantry had also been reclaimed, again to be built up to a full division before being shipped off to the Eastern Front.
Now Rommel was left with no more than his original force, with 21st and 15th Panzer Divisions, the 90th Light Motorized Infantry Division, and the Italians. Though he pleaded for fresh troops to replace his losses, none had come, though that was soon about to change.
The Germans had been refitting several Panzer Divisions in France, restructuring them with the newest tank designs that were now rolling off the production lines in increasing numbers. The coming of Brigadier Kinlan’s force had far more impact than either Volsky or Fedorov had first believed, and the early development of the Löew-55, and the new Leopard medium tank had already been field tested in the fighting in Russia. Hitler was determined to have his cake and eat it too. So he ordered the existing Panzer IIIs in the 2nd, 5th, and 10th divisions to be quickly sent east to reinforce the sagging tank numbers in his front line divisions. Then the 2nd Panzer Division was entirely refitted, along with one division from Hoepner’s force, and one from Hoth’s. All three were already in the thick of Operation Typhoon, as that winter storm now broke upon the Russian defenses before Moscow.
The last two divisions, 5th and 10th Panzer, had been initially slated for Rommel, though Hitler never informed his desert warrior of this. He waited to see if Rommel could hold, and so the British need to reorganize and rebuild their own armored force in North Africa played in Rommel’s favor. Seeing that Rommel still held all of Cyrenaica, Hitler eventually ordered that the new tanks assigned to the 10th Panzer Division be painted in the desert camouflage scheme. The Führer had it in his mind to see how his new tanks would fare against this British heavy tank, mistakenly believing that his own design was the equal of anything the British could have come up with. So he would finally answer Rommel’s plaintive calls for support, and even had a mind to further augment his force with the 5th Panzer Division should events warrant.
10th Panzer Division arrived at Benghazi just before the British were moving their armored forces up to the start line for Operation Crusader. But there was one other thing in the holds of the cargo ships unloading at Benghazi, crates of ammunition, or so the soldiers believed as they were loading them onto the trucks…. But they were something more.
*
The column pulled up to the main company HQ billet, with 21st Panzer Division, and the Sergeant stepped out, stretching his back after the long ride from Benghazi through Derna, looking for fresh water. He strode off, a clipboard under his arm, intending to first report his cargo to the company commander.
“Delivery,” he said, saluting to the man, a sallow faced Oberleutnant in the 104th Panzergrenadier Regiment.
“What is it this time? More biscuits? Tin cans of fish and beef? More of that god awful hard tack?”
“No sir, I have 48 crates of munitions of some sort.” He extended the clipboard, and the lieutenant eyed it briefly. “Where do you want them?”
“The Sergeant here will show you the way.”
And that was that.
Neither man discussed it further, and the crates were offloaded that afternoon,
stacked in trenches under thick netting, and left there until that evening when the Lieutenant decided to go and see what he actually had. He was more than surprised when he had a Corporal open the first crate, his eyes alight with curiosity when he saw the strange looking weapons it contained.
“What in the world is this?” he said aloud as the Corporal spied a folded paper and handed it to his officer. Lieutenant Beyer was the first man in the field to lay eyes on Germany’s latest innovation, a weapon that was helped along greatly in its development by one small oversight, a careless moment in the haste of their withdrawal when Fedorov and Troyak took off from the high fortress tower at Palmyra.
“Look sir,” said the Corporal, pointing at the letters stenciled on the inner lid of the wooden crate. It is called a Panzerfaust. What is it, Lieutenant? Some kind of new mortar?”
*
It was the brainchild of one Doctor Heinrich Langweiler who had been dreaming up new theories of propulsion for weapons munitions as early as 1939, something he called the “Impulse Propulsion Principle.” He was experimenting with hyper-velocity for small arms munitions, and his research was suddenly given a most welcome shove in the right direction when a man delivered a strange looking object to his factory site the previous March. Now, some 6 months later, he had studied it with utmost care to discover its secrets, information that was instrumental in bringing his latest dream to life.
Langweiler worked with a company called HASSAG in Leipzig, and one of his ideas involved the development of “rocket bullets” fired from a smoothbore weapon. But an enterprising Colonel Wolff from the 7th Flieger Division in Syria knew he had something very unusual when he discovered the strange weapon in Palmyra, apparently left behind by British Special Forces in their raid. The colonel had it crated up and immediately sent to division headquarters, with a letter explaining his find. “Appears to be a new British hand-held anti tank weapon,” he wrote. “DO NOT FIRE! Contents and design of round must be examined by qualified personnel. Recommend immediate transport to Germany.”
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