Stormtide Rising (Kirov Series Book 29)

by Schettler, John

  The real danger was in the center of von Arnim’s main attack, where his 10th Panzer Division had sent its infantry against Eddy’s Division, then swept its Panzer Regiment around its flank, heading for La Meskiana on that road between General Eddy’s HQ at Ain Beida, and Tebessa. Harmon’s CCA had been lingering near Meskiana, but Patton had ordered him to push it towards Clairfontaine to reach the main road north to Souk Ahras. It was that “perfectly good road” that the fiery American leader wanted to use to pull a Napoleon on the Germans, but it had not been overlooked by his enemy.

  Von Arnim had sent one battalion of tanks there, just south of the mountain town of Damous. The rest of his panzers had pushed 9th Infantry south and west, and their lead elements were now also about 15 kilometers from Harmon’s HQ at Meskiana.

  “Patton wants me to go where? To Souk Ahras?” Harmon could not believe the orders he had just received. “Well does he know the Germans are coming here?”

  Harmon was a big man, broad shouldered, stout of heart, and with a voice so gruff that it could take the paint off the side of a house. His division, old Hell on Wheels, had been the reserve formation for the American mobile forces, while Ward had divided his 1st Armored into two strong combat commands to make the push for Tebessa. Now he would be forced to divide his own command, for Patton wanted him to attack to the north while he clearly had to arrange some defense to the south at Meskiana. That would be easy if he had his whole division up, but at present, he only had CCA.

  Thankfully, Harmon was up to the task. He had been the man tapped by Eisenhower himself in the real history to go and backstop General Fredendall, the acting commander of II Corps, and even relieve him if necessary. He had found Fredendall in a drunken stupor, hidden away in an underground headquarters up an isolated ravine, some 80 miles behind the front. There he had been drawling orders over the field phone and radio, trying to run the battle from a map, not once visiting the actual front to see what Eddy or Anderson were contending with.

  In this history, Harmon was going to be the man to rescue Fredendall’s Corps again, which had nominal command of both the 3rd and 9th Infantry Divisions. And yes, Fredendall was nowhere to be found at the front. He had established his HQ at Ain Malila, 75 Kilometers from the nearest unit he theoretically commanded, and on the road north to Constantine from Batna. That was, after all, where Fredendall thought he was to take his two infantry divisions, before Patton changed the plan and ordered them to move east and south, along the road to Tebessa.

  Fredendall was perturbed at that, for now he had to move his HQ, but three days after the order, he had not yet accomplished that small task. His staff had suggested Ain Fakrour, a town now about 40 kilometers from the front line of action, but Fredendall didn’t think it had facilities he could use, even though it was right on the main rail line from Constantine.

  “There’s no air field there,” Fredendall had complained.

  “But sir, there isn’t one here either,” said his G2.

  “Well we’ve got a good rail line here.”

  “Yes sir, and there’s a rail line at Ain Fakrour too.”

  “Aw hell,” said Fredendall in his southern drawl. “Patton went through there, and those damn tanks of his probably tore those tracks up real good. Nuthin’s comin’ down that line for at least two weeks. We ought’a stay right where we are.”

  So Fredendall didn’t move, both his divisions were now under heavy enemy pressure, and 2nd Armored was the only reserve that might have a chance at saving the situation.

  Up on that road to Souk Ahras, elements of Harmon’s CCA ran right into that German tank battalion. Brigadier Gaffey was the man leading the attack, and he had three companies of Shermans totaling some 39 tanks, and two more companies of M5 Stuarts all backed up by two batteries of 75mm guns mounted on halftracks, the American T30 HMC. Not sure what he was up against, he sent his armor in until it was hotly engaged by the combined arms of KG Huder, (190th Pz Battalion), with 18 PzKfw IVF2’s, 12 Marders, three of the new 88mm Nashorns, and two Tigers. This force also had two platoons of motorcycle infantry, which had been acting as its recon element.

  Damous was in a mountain pass on the rail line between Souk Ahras and Tebessa. The Germans opened fire, the five 88mm guns on those Nashorns and Tigers doing immediate harm. The hard crack of the gun, and its high velocity, raised the hackles of the men in the lead Shermans, which were hit and easily penetrated. Three were knocked out almost immediately, and when the men in those M5s saw what had happened to them, they quickly lost their ardor for the fight.

  “Damn!” said one driver. “Did you see what those kraut guns did to the lead platoon? If one of those hits us, it’ll go right through one side and out the other.”

  “Tigers,” said the tank commander. “You just use our pop gun on that infantry, but get us into good defilade. Maybe they won’t see us.”

  The Germans did see them, but it was a IV-F2 that put an end to that tank as the driver tried to maneuver into a nearby gulley to get hull down. The Germans had a slight elevation advantage, so they were actually depressing their gun barrels to hit the American tanks on the turrets. Huder didn’t like that American artillery, so he called for support from a nearby artillery unit, and would get fires from eleven 105mm guns in reprisal.

  When Patton learned about the blocking position on the road he wanted north, he acted without a second thought. Major General Oliver’s CCB of 1st Armored had pushed through Charpinville to the east and had been sparring with elements of the German 334th. He reasoned that fight could wait, and the German infantry did not pose any immediate threat to his flank. He got on the radio to Oliver.

  “Bug?” He said, calling Oliver by the name he often went by. “George Patton. Be sure you leave something to cover the road to Bou Khadra, but otherwise, I want you to pull out of that business at Charpinville and take your whole combat command back west to Grid 4C. Gaffey’s there with a group from 2nd Armored and he’s got a fight on his hands. You’ll be the cavalry arriving to settle it. Now move fast, and hit ‘em hard. This will mean everything.”

  Then even though it galled him to do so, Patton got on the phone to Montgomery. “Monty? Look we’ve got a bit of a situation here. The Krauts are hitting us pretty hard. So far we’ve identified five Panzer divisions, two up north hitting Fredendall’s Corps, and three more coming up through Kasserine and Thelepte. Now I think they’re trying to pinch my whole outfit off and isolate us from communications with your army. Well, I’m not going to stand for that. What’s your situation on the coast.”

  “Rather thick,” said Montgomery. “They’ve two divisions dug in on very good ground, and it’s been tooth and nail. I’ve just moved up 10th Armored from Army Reserve. I was hoping to send it up behind 43rd Wessex, but the 133rd Motor Brigade was sent in earlier to probe through the passes toward Gulema. I don’t need to remind you that was where your infantry should be.”

  “Right…” said Patton, not wanting to get into a tiff here, as he was coming with hat in hand and needed Montgomery’s support. “Look Monty, II Corps is getting hit hard, but they’re fighting. They’re holding. Now this is the main event down here. If you swing 10th Armored down you could clip the Hermann Goring Panzer Division right on the flank. I’m building a strong armored force further east at grid C4. I want to go to Souk Ahras and bag this entire northern pincer. Once we kick the Germans in the ass, you’d be free to roll right on up to Gulema. Hell, you could even go right up to Bone on the coast. That’ll put the fear of the lord into those two Jerry divisions you’re up against. So what do you say? Are you up for a fight here? Come on down and have a go at the big fellas. If we stop this attack, the Germans are finished. They’ll have to pull back into Tunisia.”

  Monty was looking at his map. It was an audacious plan, but one much better suited to a mobile division like 10th Armored than commitment to the fight on the coast. He might break through there, but then again, he might find the Germans remain a stubborn foe, and would not h
ave it said that he was stuck like a bug in a rug along that coastline. “Very well, Patton. I’ll issue the order, but mind you… 10th Armored will remain under British control.”

  The division Monty was sending was very strong, with two large armored brigades, the 8th and 24th, each with a mix of Churchills, Valentines and some Crusader IIIs. Both tank brigades had a single battalion of infantry attached, and there was the 133rd Infantry Brigade, already engaged near Ain Regada with the German 756th Mountain Regiment. The armor would take the road through Ain Fakrour, which would bring it down behind the US 3rd Infantry.

  The key element in this battle was that the American infantry was fighting more than running. It was not like the rout Rommel and von Arnim had inflicted on the Americans in the real history. The GI’s had landed at Casablanca, and then fought their way all the way through Morocco and Algeria to reach this position. They were still not the resilient force that they would be later in the war, but they had been toughening up, and Patton had been instrumental in imposing strict discipline, in spite of Fredendall’s slovenly displays.

  Even as Patton and Montgomery were planning their counterattack, Fredendall was sleeping in his bunk, his edgy staff officers eyeing him with some chagrin from time to time. So it wasn’t Fredendall that was holding that vital flank, but Eddy and Anderson. When Patton then put in a call to Fredendall’s HQ, learning first where it was, and then hearing that the General had to be wakened, he went through the roof. He found General Bradley and a small section of fast jeeps and told him to go up to Ain Beida and take over command of II Corps. Fredendall’s staff was to go there directly as well, and the old General himself was ordered to report to Eisenhower.

  About 4pm that day, the German attack began to falter. Tank losses were not heavy, but the Germans had attacked over the valley floor, crossing two wadis in the process, and now fuel and ammunition were becoming a problem. Two of the panzer battalions were down to 30%, a minimum reserve, and so Fisher was reluctantly forced to pause. In doing so, he ordered II Battalion, 104th Panzergrenadiers, to Damous Pass to reinforce Huber’s defense. He had lost four of his 18 IV-F2’s, a pair of Marder III’s and one Nashorn, but inflicted far worse harm on Gaffey’s CCA.

  This move by Patton, though not yet the successful breakthrough and envelopment he wanted, had already done much to unhinge von Arnim’s entire operation, and some of it was pure happenstance. A Lieutenant in 3rd Company of the 81st Recon Battalion in Oliver’s CCB had been scouting well north of Charpinville when the order came to withdraw to Damous Pass.

  “Well hell,” he said, squinting at a map. “It looks like the General wants to go right up the main road to Souk Ahras. This road we’re on now will take us right on up there—about 20 klicks. If we backtrack, it’s at least that far to get to Damous, and then another 18 klicks to Souk Ahras from there.”

  “But Lieutenant. Everyone else will be on that other main road. We’ll be out here all on our own.”

  “Look around, Sergeant. See anyone else out here but us? We’re recon. This is the shit we’re supposed to be doing. The Brass might want to know if this damn road is passable.”

  And that was that. The company started up that road and when it reached the village of Taoura it stopped for a rest. A Luftwaffe fighter taking off from the airfield at Souk Ahras spotted them, and raised the alarm—American light mechanized forces on the road, just nine kilometers from Korps HQ at Souk Ahras.

  Von Arnim went ballistic. He got on the phone to Fischer, a man already a week into an all new life, for he had avoided that mine that killed him in the old history on the 1st of Feb near Mareth. He had to quickly detach half his recon battalion and a company of tanks from the defense he had been building up at the pass. His entire drive south had come to a complete halt, and the division was now in a defensive posture.

  The first elements of Bug Oliver’s CCB from 1st Armored were beginning to arrive near Damous, and late in the day that much needed reserve would form up just below the pass.

  Part III

  Swan Song

  “ One who cannot dance must not blame the song.”

  — Matshona Dhliwayo

  Chapter 7

  That evening the British 24th Armored Brigade began to arrive in a perfectly neat column behind the extreme left flank of the U.S. 3rd Infantry. The first thing they did was begin setting up their guns, and then an enterprising Colonel of the Artillery made a simple mistake. The rest of the division would take time to follow and assemble, and Monty had planned on a morning attack. But the Colonel took map reference points from the Americans and thought he might start registering his artillery. A Lieutenant in 1/I Panzergrenadier of the Herman Goring division was leaning on his halftrack, taking a moment to enjoy a smoke when the registration fires started.

  “The British!” he said with some alarm to a nearby Sergeant. “Those are not American guns. I’d know the sound of a 25-Pounder anywhere. It’s the British. Get to the Captain and inform him of this. He’s likely to hear it just as I did, but let’s make no mistake.”

  This astute officer had just provided battlefield intelligence in a way that could not have been obtained by other means. The bad weather that day, and the fact that the British had arrived well after sunset, meant that they might not have been detected until the following morning. But now General Conrath was soon informed that the enemy had brought in fresh reinforcements on his right flank, and he didn’t like it. He got on the phone to von Arnim at Souk Ahras, and the two men discussed the situation.

  “What is there?” asked von Arnim.

  “We won’t know that until morning,” said Conrath, but they have already started registering their artillery. The men up front tell me it’s 25-Pounders—the British.”

  “They have also pulled out of the Charpinville sector and Huder sees a lot of force building up below the pass at Damous.”

  “That is a new strong buildup on both flanks,” said Conrath. “Could they be planning a pincer operation?”

  Von Arnim resisted the urge to dismiss that out of hand, believing it beneath the capabilities of their enemy. He was very close to his objective at Ain Beida, cutting the Americans off from the British, but now it seems that Montgomery had decided to act, not by positioning additional forces on defense, but apparently by planning a counterattack, which seemed to be coordinated with that buildup to the left of 10th Panzer at Damous. Patton and Montgomery… they were as different as night and day, but could they pull something like this off? And where was Rommel?

  From all reports, 21st Panzer Division flowed through the pass at Kasserine largely unopposed, but now they were locked in a head butting duel with an American armored force. Then there was a report concerning an engagement at Sidi Bou Baker. 15th Panzer Division had run into an American infantry division there, which delayed Rommel’s move north through Feriana and Thelepte. Now the Luftwaffe reported it was seeing what looked to be a division sized formation coming up from the south at Tozeur, and this could only be the damnable French.

  That has to be the Constantine Division, thought von Arnim. We believed it had retired south for good, intending to stay out of the fighting, but it seems the Allies have been courting new friends. The French… Well, we have their country, their navy, and to hell with the rest of them here. Yet now Rommel will have to look over his shoulder. These two incidents will give him all the excuses he needs if this operation fails. But what should I do?

  “Conrath,” he said. “You’re the man on the scene. What do you advise in your sector?”

  “I think we should be cautious here. I have a mind to strengthen my right flank, but to do so I will have to suspend the drive on Ain Beida until we see what we have in front of us. I must say, the Amis have not been the pushovers we thought they would be. And frankly, I smell Patton in this. Montgomery would have never planned such a counterattack.”

  “Fisher tells me he needs fuel and ammo,” said von Arnim. “Very well. We will suspend for one day. Make any defensiv
e arrangements you deem sufficient. I will speak with you again in the morning.”

  When that morning came on the 6th of February, the entire complexion of the battle would change. The unexpected French threat to Ghasfa from the south, von Arnim’s need to adopt a defensive posture, Rommel being paired down to an attack with two divisions instead of all three, had all shifted the balance of the battle. Then one further development presented itself. Rommel was soon going to be looking over his shoulder in more than one direction. O’Connor’s British 8th Army had been consolidating at Ben Guerdane for some time, and now he was opening an offensive against the Mareth Line….

  * * *

  Rommel was pacing outside his field tent, a mix of frustration and anxiety. His grand vision of sweeping around the flank of the Amis with three Panzer divisions abreast was not going to happen. The sudden appearance of 34th Infantry Division in that meeting engagement on the road to Ghafsa had forced him to commit the whole of his 15th Panzer Division to drive it back. After inflicting that severe check, which nearly did become a rout, General Ryder managed to get his division deployed in a semi-circle and was trying to hold his own. Rommel could have completely smashed that position if he had committed von Funck’s 7th Panzer Division, but instead he sent it right up the road towards Feriana and Thelepte. That afternoon, he came up from Ghafsa to speak with General Randow.