Breakout (Kirov Series Book 38)

by Schettler, John

  When Rose first heard the sound of the enemy guns, it jerked his head about to listen. A sharp crack, crack, crack, ripped through the air, and after each one, came the sound of an explosion. The horseshoe was moving. The Duren Brigade had swept through the town of Bendhuise on a road running northwest to southeast through the chateau where Berg held forth. There it encountered a mixed cavalry force from both 3rd and 5th Armored, quickly busting up the formations of armored cars and sending them into retreat.

  The southern end of the horseshoe moved north in the same way, compressing the flank of the advance from that direction. Then Berg unleashed his heavy Leopards, and that was what quickly got the attention of General Rose. He had been in near constant action since Algeria, but had never heard a gun that made a sound like that. A few kilometers to the east, the tip of CCA was getting smashed by those 120mm main guns, and at a range where they never expected to be engaged. The carnage was terrible, with one tank after another hit on that main road, leaving a line of wrecked and burning Shermans.

  3rd Battalion soon saw its 55 tanks reduced to 18, and 2nd Battalion was chopped to pieces, with 17 tanks left after that onslaught. The cream of the armor in CCA had been wrecked in ten minutes. The sound of the tankers on the radio was chilling.

  “Holy mother of God,” said Rose. “The Krauts must have Tigers and Lions lined up from here to Cleveland. Hold the horses. This was a well-planned ambush. Get them back! Get our boys out of that killing zone. Let’s hit ‘em with the artillery.”

  That would be the only weapon in the American arsenal that would matter that hour. The squat Shermans were no match for what they had encountered, and the armored infantry could offer little support. But a 155mm artillery round was nothing to argue with, and the Americans had those guns in droves. The radio man was calling in the shots that very minute: “Able, Baker, Charlie, let it fly. Grid 93-84. Fire for effect.”

  The American artillerymen could answer that call better than any force on earth. Within minutes, the long barrels of those 155’s were elevating and starting to thunder away. Overhead, flights of three and four P-47’s would bring their rockets and bombs to the argument. What could not be won on the ground against those Leopards might yet be won with these powerful indirect support elements.

  Bradley got the word to Patton. It has been said that it takes two to hurt you, your enemy to do the dastardly deed, and your friend to get the news to you.

  “George, Maurice Rose just ran CCA right into a big firefight. The Germans were just waiting for them, and they got hurt bad. He had over 100 tanks out there, and they’ll be lucky to get back with forty.”

  It was worse than that, they got back with 35.

  Berg’s Brigade had savaged that of Maurice Rose, but now his problem came from the skies above. The Jabos were falling like hawks on the Germans, and the open fields between the town and the river where the Americans had fallen back offered no cover. Berg ordered his missiles into action, and they would take down several fighters, but the Americans came at them very hard, and with napalm. By that afternoon, each of his five heavy companies now reported they had only eight Leopards operational. The damaged tanks had been recovered, and that still left 40 operational heavy tanks on the field, as potent a force as ever.

  Bradley was persistent. “George, if you put another division in behind the 3rd now, it will be like throwing good money after bad. Hold up and let the artillery pound them until sunset.”

  Before dusk, gun camera footage came in to 7th Army HQ, and it was pulling quite a few young officers into a huddle. The images clearly showed a massive new enemy tank, easily as big as a King Tiger, and there were other smaller AFV’s that no one seemed to be able to identify. Word was passed down to corps level HQs that the Germans also had a new tank, and it looked to be a damn good one.

  When Patton heard about it, his first instinct was to reach for the M-26 tanks in the Provisional Armored Division, but they were already locked in a tough engagement with the Reichsführer Division to the south.

  “They chose a damn good position this time,” said Patton. “Set up right in the center of the board. Look how all the roads in and out of that town enable them to shift reserves to any flank on a moment’s notice.”

  “It’s our flanks I’m worried about now,” said Bradley. “George, we have to stop. We can’t push Walker’s division any further with losses like that. And the other divisions have been at it since May 5th, two weeks near continuous fighting. The men need to rest, and we’re going to need more tanks and fuel as well.”

  “We gained a lot of ground here,” said Patton. “Now’s the time to push them. We’ll stay with the artillery tonight. Then let’s set up 500 tubes to lay it on heavy in the morning. I hate to fight a battle of attrition, but if that’s what it takes, we’ll give it to them.”

  Bradley was left wondering which side would wear out first, but it would not be that artillery that would really shake things loose in the morning. It was something that had happened a hundred miles to the southeast, along the River Loire, east of Orleans.

  It was O’Connor….

  Chapter 12

  While Montgomery was still bunkering, and fuming over delays in supply, O’Connor had the lion’s share from the British Quartermasters, and he had kicked off his attack towards the Loire five days earlier. He had a strong corps, with 6th and 10th Armored, and the 3rd and 5th Infantry. 4th Armored Brigade was added as the tip of his spear.

  There were no Panzer divisions within 50 miles of his front, and it was only the arrival of a single reserve infantry division that had given him any pause. The attack was made even more robust by the close presence of Leclerc’s 1st Free French Armored Division on O’Connor’s immediate left, and after three days hard fighting, the German infantry was in retreat. 353rd made for the bridge and ferry site at Briare, and took up positions on the north bank of the Loire as far as Gien. The newly arrived 226th had a hard baptism by fire, and was soon covering the river between Gien and Sully sur Loire.

  That was where the first sign of any really professional German troops would be seen, but it was only a single battalion of the Jager Brigade of the Brandenburgers . That brigade was now covering all the crossing sites for the next 25 kilometers, all the way to Chateau sur Loire and Jargeal. Then the Langenargen Brigade had all of its four battalions in Orleans.

  It was an excellent defensive position, the wide river offering only those few crossing points, and then the whole area was backed by heavy woods. If the British did get a bridgehead, they would still find difficult terrain in trying to expand it. The only weakness now was the fact that the German 148th had not been able to reach the river. It was on the roads leading to Orleans, and a 20 kilometer gap had opened between those columns and the Loire. If found and exploited, O’Connor might turn northwest, keeping the Loire on his right, and make directly for Orleans. The danger of such a move would pose a threat to all the troops still south and west of Orleans, where the German line still described a vast semicircle.

  The German 277th had been all but destroyed, losing four line infantry battalions, its Fusilier Battalion, Pioneers and PzJag units, and a good number of guns. The remnant, now designated KG Praun, was able to reach the river on the night of the 18th, but it would be no impediment to any British advance. On its western flank, the 148th Division trudged north that night, reaching Vienne en Val a few hours before dawn. That withdrawal exposed the flank of Student’s 1st Fallschirmjager Korps, and so it would have to move north as well.

  The battle was now transitioning from a grudging defense against the early breakout by Patton and Bradley, to one of a general defensive fight for Orleans, Chartres and eventually Paris. For O’Connor, the terrain was now as much of an obstacle as the Germans, for unlike Patton, he faced very little in the way of armored resistance, and he also still had good supply in hand.

  The Germans had blown all the bridges on the Loire, and sunk all the ferry barges. The French who had fought to keep the br
idge from the Germans at Gien four years earlier, now saw the Boche blow it sky high. Even the big suspension bridge at Sully sur Loire that had been taken by the German 98th Division in 1940 now lay in ruins. Now that imposing water barrier was going to need a home made bridge, or a cross river infantry assault, and those operations would both take time.

  The roads all wanted to take O’Connor to Orleans, but when he got there, he knew he would be facing the very same situation. So the time for his dashing armored thrusts was over. It was the hour of the lowly foot soldier, and he gave orders that all bridging engineers were to come forward. The two infantry divisions now on his right, would move northwest, ordering 6th Armored to watch that segment of the river in their place.

  There was one bend in the river, about six kilometers slightly northeast of Sully sur Loire, where the far bank was screened by a wide wooded islet. O’Connor thought that would be an excellent place to cross, because to defend that islet, the Germans would also have to cross a narrow segment of the river, and he did not think they would. He set his mind on taking that island, and making it his main crossing effort.

  * * *

  For Guderian and von Rundstedt at OB West HQ in Versailles, the development was most troubling. They had been keenly focused on the battle against Patton, and now they were forced to look over their shoulders.

  “Those two brigades of the Brandenburg Division on the river will not be enough,” said Guderian. “We may have to consider recalling the rest of the division, and that at the very least.”

  “The woods behind the Loire will be a good defensive position,” said von Rundstedt.

  “Yes, but that is a fine waste of the Brandenburgers . The virtue of that unit is its ability to hit hard and then maneuver to strike somewhere else, just as we have seen in this counterattack against the American Schwerpunkt . We will not want it hiding in the woods, static, no more than a first class infantry formation.”

  “Then that is what we need in its place. We sent the 226th there, but it was only just raised, with no battle experience at all. Yet look at the 50th against Patton, and how stubbornly it fought. I have transferred what was left of the 111th to Orleans, which may help.”

  “It won’t be enough,” said Guderian. “Zeitzler told me he could get me more infantry from Manstein if we needed it. I think it’s time we put in a request. Face it, we don’t have even a single division in reserve now, on any front in France. If anything breaks, and they have the means of exploiting a hole, then we’re looking at a major breakout.”

  Von Rundstedt nodded. “I have been pulling back the units in the south, and attempting to straighten the line. That will likely free up mobile divisions soon.”

  “How soon?” said Guderian. “That is the question of the hour. I think we must get a good mobile division east now, as soon as possible.”

  “We may be able to do so,” said von Rundstedt. “The American attack has stopped. All they have been doing the last twelve hours is firing off artillery. I think this new brigade that Kluge pulled out of his hat may have hurt them. Might we send that east now?”

  Guderian thought. “No, let us leave it where it is, but if we can free up something else, it must go east as soon as possible. Let us hope you are correct and we’ve given this Patton a bloody nose to think about. But that man is relentless. We must now use whatever time we have to our best advantage.”

  “Very well,” said von Rundstedt. “I will see if I can relieve the Brandenburgers . At the very least, we can send those two brigades with Berg back east, and follow with something more later. They can at least contain any bridgehead O’Connor might force, until relieved.”

  Relieved by what, thought Guderian? But he said nothing more.

  * * *

  On the morning of the 19th, Berg was in the high tower of the Chateau, this time looking south with his field glasses. There was a long grey column coming up, and Kluge had come in to tell him what it was—the Panzer Lehr Division. Pulled off the line the previous day, it had moved back through Authon, and then due north to the chateau. There Bayerlein would now take possession of that stony roost, and Berg was free to maneuver his brigade.

  Faced with an impenetrable wall, Patton had ordered 6th Armored to move north instead of reinforcing 3rd Armored. The Germans had halted, content to remain on defense, but now 6th Armored was shifting into the lines of the 716th Infantry Division again. That attack was about 10 kilometers southwest of Remarlard, which was where Berg and his HQ staff were heading now. His five KGs were in motion, the Jabos thinned out that morning after the heavy battle of the previous day. Hazy weather and light rain was making it a better day for movement on the ground.

  The Germans were pulling back in many places, tightening their lines, which is why Panzer Lehr had been freed up. Now that division would move in behind the two Brandenburg Brigades, which would in turn free them up to maneuver. Try as he might, Patton’s attack was going to grind to a halt here, far short of his operational goal of seizing Chartres, but it wouldn’t be the Germans who would have the final say.

  It was Eisenhower, sending Patton a new order. He wanted him to suspend his drive on Chartres immediately, and shift his main thrust due north instead, towards Alencon. That would put him on the road to Rouen. In truth, Ike had never wanted Patton to push directly on Paris, and while his swashbuckling tank driver had made these dramatic gains in the last two weeks, he much preferred Patton to bypass the city to the west.

  “Have a look at that,” said Patton, handing the order off to Bradley, who read it aloud.

  “You are to shift the axis of your advance north to Alencon, with the aim of bypassing Paris and taking Rouen. A bridgehead over the Seine is now to be considered your primary objective.”

  “Bypass Paris.” Patton shook his head. “Well who gets that assignment, Leclerc? O’Connor?”

  “This is a better move, George,” Bradley placated him. “Look, we just took one on the nose here. The Brandenburg division damn near tore CCA and Rose limb from limb. You moved 6th Armored north, but look at that map. There’s thick bands of woodland ahead if you try to flank Chartres from the northwest. But after Alencon, we’ll have tankers ground all the way to the Seine. So I think we should start rolling things that way today. We’ve got the inside track on them, and we might punch through before they can shift west with those Panzers.”

  It made sense, but Patton had been dazzled with the prospect of marching his armored divisions into Paris, the triumph he had been seeking all along. Eisenhower knew that, and he wanted Patton as far from that city as he could keep him. “If you think George is difficult now,” he said to “Beetle” Smith, “then wait till you see what happens if we let him march down the Champs-Élysées and through the Arch de Triumph. He’ll be insufferable! Then De Gaulle will have a fit as well.”

  Orders were orders.

  Steaming but determined, Patton issued a series of sweeping new orders of his own. From Lucas he summoned 2nd Armored and the Provisional Division. From Truscott he would take 3rd and 6th Armored. They would all pull out of their positions that night, and using interior lines and the cover of darkness, Patton thought to steal a march on the Germans. He would strike at Mamers with Truscott’s two divisions, and those coming from Lucas would move east of Beaumont and drive on Alencon.

  “By God,” he said to Bradley when the HQ started to pull out. “I’ll get to Paris one way or another—even if I have to take Rouen, cross the Seine, and take the damn city from the back side!”

  Patton worked with ceaseless energy that night, running on cigar smoke. He ordered his two armored corps commanders to the scene of his planned attack to personally supervise the movement of the divisions he had summoned. Then he went out into the night looking for independent units, finding the 766th Tank Battalion, 705 Tank Destroyers, and rounding up all II Armored Corps cavalry units. He even collared the odd AA battalion he encountered and got it moving toward the front.

  Truscott’s attack would hit t
he German 711th, which had been digging in for the last five days unmolested in the woods northeast of Mamers. Both 6th and 3rd Armored were tired, low on fuel and ammo, with the latter still in shock after seeing nearly 75 tanks blown to hell on the field in that ill-fated attack towards Chateau St. Jean. Further southwest, 2nd Armored was ready to roll. It had been in reserve behind the Provisional Armored Division, and it hurled itself at the seam between the German 232nd Infantry Division and Berlichingen’s KG 21 at Beaumont. The breakthrough was immediate and substantial, with the bulk of the division pouring through a breach in the enemy line some five kilometers wide.

  Always ready to feed a fire, Patton told Lucas to cancel all further operations on the line to the east, and bring Old Ironsides to this breakthrough as soon as possible. Lucas was going to be moving his entire corps across the base of the big salient the Americans had driven into the enemy lines, and attack in this new direction on the 20th. The spearhead of 2nd Armored was just 15 kilometers from Alencon by late afternoon. Before dusk, all hell broke loose.

  The great semicircle in the front between O’Connor’s position and the apex of Patton’s initial advance towards Chartres was now seen for what it was, a liability. That line was held mostly by infantry, and that deep enclave had to be abandoned. There were ten divisions there, and orders to withdraw them that very night were given at dusk. It would send over 100 battalions into march, dissolving that entire front over a distance of 175 kilometers. All was suddenly made fluid as water.

  Almost every one of those battalions would be visited by American fighter bombers, the P-47’s having more targets on the roads now than they had rockets to fire at them. Some were hit two and three times on their initial march before sunset. The weather would be clearing the following day, and so the Germans knew they would have to march all night long in this massive withdrawal. Supply depos were abandoned or set on fire, and the troops set off in long columns, eyes glancing ever upwards at the grey skies. The losses were particularly high in the artillery battalions, many still horse drawn, with dead livestock cluttering the roads, trucks burning, and the sullen columns of infantry marching past the stench and smoke, which did little for their morale.