by Gee, Colin
1135 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, Headquarters of Force Ambrose, Hohenthurn, Gail River valley, Austria.
1214 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, Headquarters of Force Ambrose, Hohenthurn, Gail River valley, Austria.
1434 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, Gail River bridge, Unterfederaun, Austria.
1439 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, hasty defensive position 300 metres south-east of Labientschach, Austria.
1455 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, the Gail River valley, Austria.
1501 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, Allied western defences, the Gail River valley, Austria.
1607 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, Headquarters of Force Ambrose, Hohenthurn, Gail River valley, Austria.
1629 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, Headquarters of Force Ambrose, Kartner Strasse, Maglern, Gail River valley, Austria.
1635 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, Route 111, one mile southeast of Nötsch, Austria.
1735 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, Defensive line Edward, one kilometre east of Arnoldstein, Austria.
1833 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, Route 83, west of Arnoldstein, Austria.
1959 hrs, Thursday, 28th November 1945, on the bank of the Gailitz River, 500 metres from the Italian border, Austria.
1048 hrs, Saturday, 30th November 1945, Natzwiller-Struthof prison camp and hospital facility, the Vosges, Alsace.
Chapter 110 - THE WARNINGS
0902 hrs, Sunday, 1st December 1945, Glenlara, Éire.
0100 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, Headquarters of SHAEF, Trianon Place Hotel, Versailles, France.
0103 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, GRU Commander’s office, Western Europe Headquarters, the Mühlberg, Germany.
0153 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, Headquarters of SHAEF, Trianon Place Hotel, Versailles, France.
0217 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, Forward headquarters, Assault units for Operation Rainbow Black, Pfalzburg, France.
0240 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, Headquarters of 3rd Red Banner Central European Front, Hotel Stephanie, Baden-Baden, Germany.
Chapter 111 - THE WARCRIMES
0310 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, Assault force, Monswiller, Alsace.
0403 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, Mobile Command Group, 16th US Armored Brigade, two kilometres south-west of Hattmatt, Alsace.
0515 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, Hattmatt, Alsace.
0545 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, north of the Zinzig River, Hattmatt, Alsace.
0601 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, Hattmatt, Alsace.
0642 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, Mobile command post, five hundred metres west of Hattmatt, Alsace.
0651 hrs, Monday, 2nd December 1945, the waste ground, Rue Principale, Hattmatt, Alsace.
2nd December 1945, Hattmatt; the aftermath.
Chapter 112 - THE KILLINGS
1127 hrs, Wednesday, 4th December 1945, outside of the Mairie, Rue Principale, Mittelschaeffolsheim, Alsace.
1507 hrs, Wednesday, 4th December 1945, outside of Brumath, Alsace.
1600 hrs, Wednesday, 4th December 1945, Brumath, Alsace.
1620 hrs, Wednesday, 4th December 1945, Laager positions of the 1st Battalion, 412th Mechanised Brigade, one kilometre east of Brumath, Alsace.
1729 hrs, Wednesday, 4th December 1945, the Zorn River, east of Brumath, Alsace.
1809 hrs, Wednesday, 4th December 1945, east of Brumath, Alsace.
1815 hrs, Wednesday, 4th December 1945, Brumath, Alsace.
Chapter 113 - THE DECISIONS
1606 hrs, Thursday, 5th December 1945, Headquarters of SHAEF, Trianon Place Hotel, Versailles, France.
1607 hrs, Thursday, 5th December 1945, GRU Western Europe Headquarters, the Mühlberg, Germany.
1637 hrs, Thursday, 5th December 1945, Headquarters, 2nd Red Banner Central European Front, Schloss Rauischholzhausen, Ebsdorfergrund, Germany.
2328 hrs, Thursday, 5th December 1945, the Kremlin, Moscow.
Chapter 114 - THE FRIDAY
0055 hrs, Friday 6th December 1945, Soviet Temporary Detention Camp 130, Baranovichi, USSR.
0947 hrs, Friday 6th December 1945, Headquarters of SHAEF, Trianon Place Hotel, Versailles, France.
0955 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, Headquarters, 2nd Red Banner Central European Front, Schloss Rauischholzhausen, Ebsdorfergrund, Germany.
1000 hrs, Friday 6th December 1945, the Ardennes, Europe.
1209 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, Dahlem, Germany.
1238 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, Dahlem, Germany.
1315 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, Dahlem, Germany.
1334 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, Dahlem, Germany.
1346 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, Dahlem, Germany.
1503 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, US Army Forward medical post, Dahlem, Germany.
1230 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, Route 109, the Wurzenpass, Yugoslavia.
1230 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, Trieste, Italy.
1805 hrs, Friday, 6th December 1945, GRU Commander’s office, Western Europe Headquarters, the Mühlberg, Germany.
Chapter 115 - THE TEARS
0507 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, La Petite Pierre, Alsace.
0522 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, Forward headquarters, Assault units for Operation Rainbow Black, Pfalzburg, France.
0528 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, Mobile Headquarters, 16th US Armored Brigade, Ringendorf, Alsace.
0602 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, Mobile Headquarters, Task Force James, 2nd US Infantry Division, south of Rimsdorf, Alsace.
0700 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, Mobile Headquarters, Task Force James, 2nd US Infantry Division, Ottwiller, Alsace.
0728 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, Mobile Headquarters, 16th US Armored Brigade, Ringendorf, Alsace.
0810 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, five hundred metres north-west of Griesbach le Bastberg, Alsace.
0836 hrs, Sunday 7th December 1945, Route 233, the Greisbach - Neuwiller road, Alsace.
0931 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, in and around, La Petite Pierre, Alsace.
1226 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, La Petite Pierre, Alsace.
1403 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, La Petite Pierre, Alsace.
1509 hrs, Saturday, 7th December 1945, Forward headquarters, Assault units for Operation Rainbow Black, Pfalzburg, France.
Chapter 116 - THE FOLDER
1758 hrs, Sunday, 8th December 1945, Headquarters of ‘Camerone’, Gougenheim, Alsace.
1823 hrs, Sunday, 8th December 1945, Headquarters of ‘Camerone’, Gougenheim, Alsace.
1851 hrs, Sunday, 8th December 1945, Headquarters of ‘Camerone’, Gougenheim, Alsace.
1854 hrs, Sunday, 8th December 1945, Headquarters of ‘Camerone’, Gougenheim, Alsace.
1237 hrs, Monday, 9th December 1945, US Seventeenth Corps Headquarters, Prum, Belgium.
Chapter 117 - THE ILLUSION
0017 hrs, Tuesday, 10th December 1945, the Kattegat.
0401 hrs, Tuesday, 10th December 1945, Ten miles south-south-west of Trelleborg, Sweden.
0405 hrs, Tuesday, 10th December 1945, Thirteen miles south-south-west of Trelleborg, Sweden.
Chapter 118 – THE TRAP
0441 hrs, Tuesday, 10th December 1945, GRU Commander’s office, Western European Headquarters, the Mühlberg, Germany.
0559 hrs, Tuesday, 10th December 1945, headquarters of the Polish Home Front, the Fenger Palace, Torun, Poland.
0600 hrs, Tuesday, 10th December 1945, Kluczewo Airfield, Poland.
0937 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Karup, Denmark.
Chapter 119 - THE CONFUSION
1005 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, the Kremlin, Moscow, USSR.
1107 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Headquarters of SHAEF, Trianon Place Hotel, Versailles, France.
1131 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Route 51, North of Eicherscheid, Germany.
Chapter 120 - THE COLD
1315 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Route 182, two kilometres southwest of Müggenhausen, Germany.
1344 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Strassfeld, Germany.
1349 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, outside of Strassfeld, Germany.
1414 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Route 182, west of Strassfeld, Germany.
1438 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Route 61, east of Strassfeld, Germany.
1503 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Strassfeld, Germany.
1550 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Müggenhausen, Germany.
2120 hrs, Wednesday, 11th December 1945, Müggenhausen, Germany.
Chapter 121 - DER SCHWALBE
1239 hrs, Friday, 13th December 1945, approaching Baltiysk Airfield, USSR.
1304 hrs, Friday, 13th December 1945, approaching Baltiysk Airfield, USSR.
1304 hrs, Friday, 13th December 1945, approaching Østerkær Island, Sweden.
Chapter 122 - THE CHARGE
0904 hrs Sunday, 15th December 1945, Headquarters of the Manchurian Red Banner Forces, Pedagogical Institute, Chita, Siberia.
1229 hrs Sunday, 15th December 1945, 3rd Imperial Special Obligation Brigade ‘Rainbow’, Route 487, Luoliao, China.
1237 hrs, Sunday, 15th December 1945, Route 487, North of Luxuzhen, China.
1240 hrs, Sunday, 15th December 1945, Route 487, North of Luxuzhen, China.
1301 hrs, Sunday, 15th December 1945, Three hundred metres south-east of Luxuzhen, China.
1311 hrs, Sunday, 15th December 1945, headquarters, CCA, 20th US Armored Division, Luxuzhen, China.
1350 hrs, Sunday, 15th December 1945, headquarters, CCA, 20th US Armored Division, Luxuzhen, China.
Chapter 123 - THE DACHA
1006 hrs, Wednesday, 18th December 1945, the Dacha complex, Kuntsevo, USSR.
1731 hrs, Wednesday, 18th December 1945, NKVD guest dacha. Kuntsevo, USSR.
1900 hrs, Wednesday, 18th December 1945, Stalin’s Dacha, Kuntsevo, USSR.
2021 hrs, Wednesday, 18th December 1945, NKVD guest dacha. Kuntsevo, USSR.
2100 hrs, Wednesday, 18th December 1945, NKVD guest dacha. Kuntsevo, USSR.
2111 hrs, Wednesday, 18th December 1945, NKVD guest dacha. Kuntsevo, USSR.
0837 hrs, Thursday, 19th December 1945, NKVD guest dacha. Kuntsevo, USSR.
0801 hrs, Saturday, 21st December 1945, US 130th Station Hospital, Chiseldon, England.
Chapter 124 - THE ROLLCALL
1800 hrs, Sunday, 22nd December 1945, VNIIEF Facility, Workers Camp, Kremlyov, USSR.
Chapter 125 – THE QUIET
December 1945, the European Front
1051 hrs, Monday, 23rd December 1945, Headquarters of SHAEF, Trianon Place Hotel, Versailles, France.
1100 hrs, Monday, 23rd December 1945, the conference room, Headquarters of SHAEF, Trianon Place Hotel, Versailles, France.
1238 hrs, Monday, 23rd December 1945, Headquarters of Command Group Normandie, Pfalzburg, France.
0401 hrs, Tuesday, 24th December 1945, Maaldrift airfield, Holland.
1107 hrs, Tuesday, 24th December 1945, RAF St Angelo, Northern Ireland.
2239 hrs, Tuesday, 24th December 1945, Frontline position, 400 metres north of Hinteregg, Austria.
2342 hrs, Tuesday, 24th December 1945, the Wilders Estate, Rottelsheim, Alsace.
2343 hrs, Tuesday, 24th December 1945, One kilometre southeast of Zittersheim, Alsace.
Table of Figures
Glossary
The full text of the poem ‘Wait for me’ by Konstantin Simonov.
Bibliography
List of units mentioned within ‘Red Gambit’ that have been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation since 6th August 1945
‘Counterplay’ - the story continues.
Chapter 126 - THE ANNIHILATION
1317 hrs, Wednesday, 25th December 1945, airborne above North-West Éire.
2002 hrs, Thursday, 26th December 1945, Camp 5A, near Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
Fig#72 - European locations of Impasse.
You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out, or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?
Robert Louis Stevenson
Chapter 103 - THE CHANGE
1033 hrs, Thursday, 1st November 1945, Headquarters of SHAEF, Trianon Place Hotel, Versailles, France.
Eisenhower could feel for the man, they all could, but the mantle of failure had to be laid somewhere and, in this instance, it lay fully on the shoulders of Group Captain James Stagg.
His information, received from civilian and military sources across the spectrum of agencies, had been misinterpreted.
Gathered in the room were the heavyweights of the Allied Command Structure, initially brought together to discuss the changes in the Soviet hierarchy, but now all were overtaken by a new priority, equally afflicted by the meteorological prediction error.
“Well, Jim, it’s done and no use crying over it now. It doesn’t happen again. We can’t afford to get caught like this a second time.”
Stagg took his leave, intent on reviewing the situation to discover where the errors were made.
Ike watched him go and then returned his focus to the group.
“Right. We move on.”
He brought them back to the moment.
The men edged forward to examine the map but were distracted by the sound of laughter from outside the room.
Their eyes were drawn to the window and a group of military policemen, playing hard as soldiers do, firing missiles at each other at breakneck speed, stopping only to scoop up more handfuls of the snow that covered the landscape for as far as the eye could see, and whose arrival had caught the Allied forces unprepared.
Patton moved briskly to the window but Eisenhower stopped him with some quiet words..
“Let ‘em be, George, let ‘em be.”
Reluctantly, the Commander of the US Third Army moved back, sparing a moment to scowl at the soldiers, oblivious to their seniors as they cavorted in fifteen inches of pure white snow.
“Now. Let’s sort this mess out.”
That work was in progress when a simple message arrived.
The Italian Government had declared its neutrality.
To be fair to the Meteorological Department, they had forecast snow to fall as of the night of the 30th. The issue was in its quantity and the dip in temperature that ensured it remained.
On the morning of the 30th October, the temperature stubbornly refused to break 0°, dropping to -9° as November arrived.
November 1st had seen better temperatures at the southern end of the line but, in the centre and the north, 0° became but a pleasant memory.
Stagg had presented them with a revised forecast that morning; one that did not cheer them.
More snow was on its way and with it would come a further drop in temperature, partially because of the presence of a huge cold front and partially because of the winds that would accompany it.
He added widespread freezing fog to his glum forecast.
Now the Allied Armies would have to battle the elements, as well as the Russians.
1251 hrs, Thursday, 1st November 1945, Rheine-Bentlage Airfield, Germany.
The three men sat quietly, well apart from all the others, mainly wounded soldiers and furlough men waiting for the arrival of their ride home.
The threesome drew a number of looks, as much for their disparate proportions as the fact that they were clearly combat veterans who had been through some sort of hell on earth, which, in truth, they had.
A cigarette moved steadily between the smallest man, seated on the left end of the barrier that the three had made their personal seat, travelling to the man seated in the middle, and back.
On the end, nearest what had been decided had once been an Opel Blitz lorry, sat the largest of the men. He did not smoke, but shared the
canteen doing steady business on all three sets of lips.
A brazier, constructed by the airfield guards for their own comfort, produced both heat and smoke, warming bodies and stinging eyes.
The steady drone of an approaching aircraft broke into their comfortable silence and three sets of eyes were suddenly wide open and scanning the sky for threats.
An RAF transport aircraft descended through the gently falling snow, landing harder than the passengers or the pilot wished for.
A door flew open on the temporary structure that was presently the operations centre for the small field, yielding a weasely faced British MP Captain, whose voice broke the silence as he shouted the waiting passengers into some sort of order.
The moment had come, one the three had simply ignored.
They stood as one and hands were extended.
Bluebear ignored both hands and swept his two friends up in his massive arms, crushing them close.
From under his left armpit came an unmistakeable voice.
“Oi Vay Chief! Leave me shome breath already!”
With a laugh, BlueBear tightened his grip on Rosenberg and then released both men.
The diminutive Jew drew air into his recently crushed chest and proffered his favourite suggestion one more time.
“You shure you don’t wanna batman like the Limeysh do? You’d be doin’ me a favour, Chief.”
The Cherokee looked the small man up and down, feigning disdain.
“No pets allowed on the aircraft.”
Hässler laughed, as much at Rosenberg’s inability to immediately respond as at the humour itself.
Rosenberg rallied.
“And fucking shquaws ride on the roof!”
Their intimacy was broken as the MP Captain appeared magically in their midst, his clipboard held firmly as a pencil hovered expectantly.
“Names.”
“Rita Hayworth, Hedy Lamarr, Betty Grab...”
The British MP poked Rosenberg in the chest with the clipboard.
“Don’t try to be funny with me, Yank.”
“You asked for namesh, you got namesh, wishe-assh.”
The clipboard seemed to develop a mind of its own, firstly moving back, almost as if to strike the recently promoted Jewish Sergeant. Secondly, it jerked upwards as it left the British officer’s grasp, snatched away in the mighty paw of a Cherokee who was not going to watch his friend messed with by the Limeys.
