Lions at Dawn

Chapter 4

General Dwight D. Eisenhower sat at the head of the table, looking down the line of personalities on either side. The British were there with Air Marshal William Welsh, a quiet yet competent man who had started in the Merchant Navy in 1910 before becoming a test pilot in the first war. Then he worked through various positions in the Middle East, leading Air Squadrons in Palestine and Syria, managing technical training and air supply operations. At his side was Middle East Theater Commander Wavell, one eye shielded with a patch, looking just a little more grey, and very worn. He had stayed at his post largely because of his secret knowledge of Kirov, Kinlan, and the true origin of both, though Churchill had seen that he was flush with a number of able subordinates now, like Auchinleck and Alexander.

On his left sat the implacable and stolid figure of General Montgomery, Britain’s Rock, both east and west, always happy to wear such a moniker on his small round shoulders. Today, however, he appeared as a no-nonsense soldier, dressed in plain khaki kit with the telltale beret sitting on the table before him. Monty had been very busy, carefully managing the transfer of British forces from Spain, and receiving new units, equipment and supplies through the ports of Oran and Algiers. He glanced occasionally at Patton, who sat opposite him on the American side of the table, an amiable grin on his face in spite of his impatience to get on with this war. General Omar Bradley, sat on Patton’s left, another quiet and unassuming man that Eisenhower had cleverly sent to Patton to keep an eye on things. The colorful Brigadier General James Doolittle, Senior USAAF commander, rounded out the American delegation.

“Alright,” said Eisenhower. “We’ve sat on things here long enough. It’s taken us the better part of three months just to sort out the logistics here. Thus far, I would have to say that our operations in Algeria have violated every recognized principle of war, are in conflict with all operational and logistical methods laid down in textbooks, and will be condemned in their entirety by all Leavenworth and War College classes for the next twenty-five years! That stops now. This meeting is to coordinate the new offensive, and I’m told they picked a doozy of a name for it this time—BLADERUNNER.”

There had been an advanced combined arms team called “Blade Force” composed of both British and American troops early on as the Allies pushed into Algeria, and the name had sprung from that.

“Operation Torch succeeded in spite of the logistical mess,” said Ike. “We cleared Morocco, chased the Germans out of Spain, liberated Gibraltar, and pushed half way across Algeria before they dug in their heels and stopped us. They wouldn’t have stopped us if we had been able to move faster, but now we meet to address that shortcoming. At the same time, General’s Wavell and O’Connor cleared all of Cyrenaica and now they’re ready to push on for Tripoli. That’s his operation out east. For us here in Algeria, the aim is Tunis and Bizerte, and complete control of North Africa. But General Wavell, what in God’s name happened at Tobruk?”

Wavell had expected the question, asked more for the benefit of other officers who had heard more rumors about it than explanations. He cleared his throat, smiled, and gave the stock reply that had been devised by the British to cover the debacle.

“That was our forward supply depot for General O’Connor’s entire operation while the Italians still had Benghazi,” he said. “We had fuel and ammo ships packed in like sardines on the south side of the harbor, and something ignited an ammo ship. That shore was also crowded with munitions ready for movement to the railhead. I’m afraid it was too much together at one time and place and the whole lot went up in the most spectacular mess anyone’s ever seen.”

Ike nodded. That was the gist of it, and he hoped it would now stop lips flapping about it so they could get on with things here. What he really knew about it, he would keep to himself, and it was a good deal more mysterious than Wavell’s straightforward story.

“Now that we’ve got Benghazi,” said Wavell, “we won’t have all our eggs in one basket like that again. Heaven forbid.”

“Very well,” said Eisenhower. “Gentlemen, here’s what’s at stake as we look at BLADERUNNER. First off, if we do this right, the enemy is looking at the complete loss of all his forces in North Africa—either that or he’ll simply have to pull them out. Beyond that, when General O’Connor is through with him, we’ll have all of Tripolitania in hand and maintain an occupation of all the former French and Italian colonies in Africa. That gives us a perfect base to stage a landing on Sicily and get started on the effort to knock Italy right out of the war. Beyond that, we’ll have fertile ground here to recruit new troops into the Free French Army, and I expect we can establish an entire Corps here when we’re done. There are some very good airfields on Sicily, and with Crete still under British control, we can then move heavy bombers to those islands to begin a concerted bombing campaign aimed at southern Germany by mid-year. And of course, once we have Sicily, we can move from there to either Italy or Southern France.” Always diplomatic, Eisenhower had thrown bones to the British 8th Army in the east, both air commanders, and the Free French, even though they had no representative present.

“Now,” he continued. “First things first. I know Generals Montgomery and Patton are eager to get started, but I wanted General Doolittle and Air Marshal Welsh here for a very good reason. The plain fact of the matter is this. If we’re to advance on either side of this operation, the air force must lead the way. We’ve simply got to establish air superiority at both ends.”

“Damn right,” said Patton, an aggrieved look on his face. “The Krauts took after me the other day and ran my ass into a ditch!”

“Well they must have seen that third star you’ve got on that jeep, George,” said Bradley with a smile, and there was a restrained chuckle all around the table.

“The point is,” said Patton, “we need better tactical coordination from the ground up. When our troops call for air support, I want it thick and hot. None of this shillyshallying about with the planes arriving 24 hours later.”

That set Welsh to shifting uncomfortably in his seat, but Doolittle only inclined his head in Patton’s direction. He had already spoken privately with Eisenhower about this topic, and he knew what was coming.

“Well and good, George,” said Eisenhower. “Support for the troops on the ground is part of it, but I disagree with that ground up approach. I want the air arms operating independently. Yes, we’ll have liaisons and ground officers working on the front lines, but they’ll be there to coordinate, not control. I want overall control of the air forces to remain right with the tactical officers who are best at that job. That would be Tedder, Coningham, and I’m bringing in a good man on our side as well, General Carl Spaatz. We call him ‘Tooey,’ and he knows his game. The way I see it, and both Welsh and Spaatz agree, is that we need to focus on a more strategic application of our air power, and not simply see it as a tactical support for the Army. Don’t worry George, you’ll get the support you need, but I want the real emphasis to be on overall air superiority operations and interdiction, not ground support.”

“General Spaatz is a good man,” said Welsh. “He’s been in the UK since 1940, and I daresay he’s well thought of by everyone there. He’s of the opinion that 8th Air Force in the UK could help us out a good deal by transferring bombers to overall command of ANAA.” He pronounced that ‘Anna,’ which was short for the Allied Northwest African Air Force. “I can’t underscore the importance of using them heavily in the interdiction effort, and applaud the concept of keeping the reins with the air force commanders. No offense, General Patton, but we can’t be Johnny on the spot everywhere. The situation on the ground changes a good deal hour by hour, yet if we do seize control of the airspace above your battlefield, the likelihood that you’ll have to get after German Heinkels with your pistol will diminish considerably.” Everyone laughed at that again, for they had heard that Patton did exactly that, standing his ground defiantly with a pistol in hand during a German strafing attack.

“So I don’t want a regimental Colonel out there thinking he’s got his own private air force just because we post an air liaison with his HQ.” Eisenhower underlined his point.

“The trouble we’ve had to date,” said Doolittle, “is keeping fighter squadron strength up. Joe Cannon has done a good job at Casablanca setting up machine shops for repairs, but we’ll need to move those forward into Algeria.”

“I spoke to him recently,” said Patton. “Hell of a good man. He says we took some decent fields as the Army advanced, but only three are any good for all weather operations.”

“Correct,” said Doolittle. “That would be Port Lyautey at Kenitra on the Atlantic coast, Tafaraoni south of Oran, and Maison Blanche just east of Algiers. If we could take Bone, we’d get another good field there. Aside from that, we’ve a lot of reserve fields being thrown together with PSP reinforcement.” That stood for Pierced Steel Planking, which had arrived from the states in abundance as part of the engineering effort required to operate in this terrain. The steel planks provided a sturdy under-bed to prevent the secondary fields from becoming unusable mud holes in the heavy January rains.

“The problem,” said Welsh, “is that all but one of those fields are behind the action now. The field at Port Lyautey is 700 miles to the rear, and not good for much of anything. That gives us the two fields at Oran and Algiers, the former being just over 300 miles behind the front. That will do for the bombers, but not the fighters. They’ll have to fly from Maison Blanche, or the smaller secondary sites. That field gives us a little edge over the battlefield just now, as the good German fields around Tunis and Bizerte are 250 miles east of the front. Yet if we advance as planned, their air situation will get better, and we’ll push farther and farther from Algiers.”

“Then we’ll need the field at Bone,” said Montgomery. “Perhaps we can use a combination of para units and Royal Marines to take it at an opportune time.”

“I like that,” said Patton. “Audacity. Keep the other fella on his toes. I’ve also got my eye on Tebessa near the Tunisian Border. There’s a good field down there at Les Bains.”

“Both are on our objective list,” said Eisenhower. “The bottom line in all of this needs to be kept in mind. This whole affair is about logistics. Whoever controls the air, controls the supply routes to North Africa—period. We’ve got the advantage there, but the Luftwaffe has made it hurt. Jerry knows where this game is really going to be won, and that’s why they’ve been going after our biweekly supply convoys with a passion. To date they’ve already sunk over 75 merchantmen, and damaged another 150 ships. That’s half a million tons they put under the sea, and another million sent back to the shipyards since we hit the beaches at Casablanca and Lisbon. They moved in some very experienced torpedo plane squadrons from Norway, and it’s been hell out there. The rest of our difficulties have been our own damn fault. Shipments have been misallocated, ships loaded, unloaded, and then loaded again; equipment buried in warehouses when it’s needed at the front. The Germans have held us off here with four damn divisions against the dozen we have at hand, and Tunis and Bizerte have everything to do with that.”

“There’s our problem in a nutshell,” said Doolittle. “We’ve got to mount standing air patrols over both those harbors, and also cover the sea lanes. That doesn’t leave us a lot left over for close support, but we’re figuring to hold the line at 20%.”

“Well no wonder the Germans have been pounding my tanks with Stukas all month,” said Patton. “It takes a month to ship them over, another month to get them through the ports to my position, and then the Germans have a field day.”

“We’re working on it,” said Doolittle. “Now that we’re running round the clock operations at Maison Blanche, things should improve, but I can’t underscore the importance of seizing forward airfields. We need them.”

“Well, I hope to god we’re hitting them as hard as they hit us.”

“Good point,” said Eisenhower. “We need to get serious with our interdiction efforts. We’ll have to hit their fields hard, send bombers after the ports, and interdict their sea lanes as well.”

“We have,” said Welsh. “They’ve taken losses to their merchant shipping as we have, but the Germans are sending in a lot more of those new Siebel ferries through Toulon. Our torpedoes are useless against them, because their draft is so shallow. They just run right under them. And they’re too small a target to hit with any consistency with a bomber, particularly at night, which is when they mainly operate.”

“Gentlemen,” said Eisenhower. “These are all the reasons the Germans forced a stalemate on us here with so few forces. Now we have to show them we mean business. I’m assuming we have adequate supplies forward for BLADERUNNER?”

“My dumping operations concluded last week,” said Montgomery, a stickler for logistics, and Patton resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“Concluded?” he said facetiously. “Why general, you’re two weeks ahead of schedule, and considering we had the holiday season to contend with, that’s damn surprising.”

“Alright, George,” said Bradley, always the peacekeeper. “I’m sure Santa brought you more than a few presents in that interval.”

Montgomery cleared his throat, the time for levity over. “Very well, as you all know, the operation before us will have three phases. Contact with the enemy will be almost immediate. He’s dug in well, but I shall put in a good long artillery preparation to shake him up. After that we make the big push, where I plan on introducing my armor to attempt to breach his line. Exploitation follows, and should we unhinge his defense in the north, he’ll have no recourse but to pull back in the south, which will make your work there all the easier.” He eyed Patton. “Now then, we’ll push on up the coast through Fort Melila to Philippeville. There’s our first forward airfield. You’ll take Constantine, General Patton, which will then put us in a good position to push on to Bone while you take Souk Ahras and El Arba on the Tunisian border.”

“I could just as easily turn southeast from Constantine for Tebessa,” said Patton. “Once we get that, I can push right into Tunisia and make a run for the coast at Sfax.”

“That’s a long run, George,” said Bradley.

“You want a touchdown? Then someone has to do the running. I’m and old halfback when it comes to battle out here. You try to slug your way up that coastline, and the Germans can feed in one unit after another to slow you down. We need room to maneuver—do some broken field running.” He displayed that winning smile.

“All in good time,” said Eisenhower. “We need Constantine first. That’s the big supply center backstopping their line right now, and from there we have rail lines to Tebessa, Souk Ahras, and up to the coast through Philippeville to Bone. Once we take that, we’ll revisit the question. Any drive we make through southern Tunisia will have to be coordinated with 8th Army on the other side. Until then, I expect some hard fighting.”

“That’s the only kind worth a damn,” said Patton. “I’m up against a pretty tough outfit, Rommel’s old 10th Panzer Division. They raised a good bit of hell out your way, General Wavell, but I plan on going right through them.”

“I’m sure you will, General,” said Montgomery. “And your victory will cover my flank perfectly as I drive for Tunis.”

Patton gave Monty a narrow eyed smile.

“General Wavell,” said Ike. “How soon do you expect to jump off operations aimed at Tripoli.”

“Immediately. O’Connor has reorganized and come up on the German Buerat Line south of Sirte. It’s going to be more of that same hard fighting, but we think we have the mass in hand to move Rommel this time. They’ll defend the coast road as always, but our main effort will be inland. First we’ll want to get up through Mahallah to Wadi Zem Zem, and from there we’ll flank their the Buerat line by pushing for Bani Walid. After that it’s a straight shot for the armor up to Tarhuna, while the infantry clears the coast road through Misrata. Yet it will be some time before we get anywhere near Mareth for a drive into southern Tunisia, particularly if Rommel intends to fight.”

That would be an understatement, for Rommel did indeed intend to fight, but not on the Buerat line.

Chapter 5

Rommel could read a map as good as any general that ever fought, and he was soon convinced that the position at Buerat was far from satisfactory. To begin with, it was just over 250 miles along the main road from Tripoli to Sirte, making for a round trip exceeding 500 miles for his supply columns. The ground to the south of his line was open enough to present the British with easy opportunities to flank him, and there was much better ground closer to Tripoli itself at Tarhuna. There, a long stretch of hills and rough ground extended from Al Khums on the coast east of Tripoli, to a position 50 miles south of the city at Garyan.

The British will not get around that line easily, he thought, particularly if I develop the positon around Tarhuna. That is where I want to fight, a defensive line that is within forty to 60 miles of my major supply port, where our air fields are close at hand to provide good support. Yielding the ground between Buerat and Tarhuna won’t hand the enemy anything more than wasteland, stretches of desert and the big coastal marshes south of Misrata. There are no good airfields I would lose, except at Sirte, and I’ll set my engineers to tearing up that field before I give the order to withdraw.

Back we go, he smiled. Hitler won’t like it, but I give the British nothing worth taking. Just one small field at Sirte, and another at Bani Walid, and 200 miles of empty ground for them to haul their lorries over before they can come to grips with me again. The hills and escarpments favor me as well, forming a nice little castle wall that extends south and west, about 50 miles beyond Tripoli. I’ll have the fertile ground around the city, plenty of food and water for my men, short supply lines, and good roads. There’s even a rail line heading west towards Mareth. If they beat me here, or other events mandate a withdrawal, then Mareth is my next defensive line, perhaps one of the best in North Africa.

Just after the new year, Rommel gave the order for the Italians to pull out, still leaving his own divisions on the line they had held for some time. He knew his enemy had been reorganizing, dumping supplies, expanding the port facilities at Benghazi as well. That strange news concerning the explosion at Tobruk was most interesting. Knowing the British would see the Italians beginning to move, he gave orders to both his Panzer divisions to stand ready in case the enemy opened their offensive. Yet reports came back from the forward lines that the British were only conducting light patrols with armored cars.

Then, on the 4th of January, a major storm blew in, with gale force winds lashing the port at Benghazi. Ships were thrown into one another, one slipping its moorings and crashing into the inner harbor. Ferries and small boats were tossed about like toys, and four ships were sunk in the bay, completely swamped, including one with 2000 tons of ammunition in her holds. LCTs 106 and 107 foundered and went down, and the general chaos caused by the storm reduced the port from an average of 3000 tons per day in deliveries to no more than 1000.

That will give O’Connor pause, thought Rommel, for he realized that until the British sorted that mess out, they had no real supply port to rely on. Tobruk was still useless according to all reports, the wreckage in the harbor making it unsafe for any shipping, the town itself blasted and burned, and a heavy security blanket thrown over the whole area by the British. His long range recon patrols by the Luftwaffe reported that the enemy was still moving supplies by rail from Cairo and Alexandria, and truck pools were being organized at Mersa Matruh, but that was hundreds of miles behind the current front.

So this is the perfect time to pull out, Rommel realized, and he did so in December, again using inadequate supply deliveries over the 500 mile circuit as his salient reason. Kesselring was nervous about the move, worried that Hitler would react badly and become even more intransigent, but the military storms in Russia had completely absorbed his attention. So he approved the withdrawal, couching it as a redeployment to the main line of defense for Tripoli, and then he inveighed upon Rommel to hold that line, no matter what. He had to do something to appease the Italians.

In surveying that ground, Rommel decided that the open area around Homs would not be suitable to a protracted defense, and so he withdrew west of that city, placing the Italians on the coast near the village of Negazza. There, Hill 151 sat right astride the coast road to anchor that line, and the ground rose as it moved inland to the southwest, screening Tripoli. Those hills would be Rommel’s castle wall, where he would post his best infantry to prevent the coastal position from being easily turned. Behind the Italians, he set the 15th Panzer Division in ready reserve.

Further south, just beyond the thickest part of the hills, was the city of Tarhuna, and it was there that he posted his old favorite 7th Panzer Division under von Funck. He fully expected the British to move into Homs, and there was a good road from that coastal town to Tarhuna, and a lot of open ground to the east that was well suited to a mobile defense. That road passed through Tarhuna, continuing west through lower hills before bending northwest towards Tripoli, so a lot rested on the defense of 7th Panzer.

Behind it, on the road to Tripoli, Rommel set up his own headquarters at the small airstrip of Milga, and he had the 21st Panzer Division gathered there astride the road. If the British tried to flank 7th Panzer and bypass the Tarhuna position, the 21st would be poised to intervene and challenge that move. 90th Light was positioned forward of the 21st with Ramcke and his regiment of Falschirmjaegers on the flank. As for the remainder of the Italian Army, the Trento, Trieste and Superga divisions were placed in a wide arc along the defenses closer to Tripoli, where they were busy improving that ground, adding pill boxes and digging anti-tank ditches.

It was Rommel’s intention to fight his enemy on the Tarhuna line, and then if necessary, he would fall back on those inner defenses around Tripoli. The commander he would face this time would not be the implacable Montgomery, who would plan a grueling battle of attrition, well supported by supplies and timed down to the second for the introduction of each division. Instead he would again face the dashing General O’Connor, still enjoying his license as 8th Army Commander, instead of the four quiet walls of a prison cell in Italy.

“We are leaving Buerat,” he said at his briefing meeting prior to the battle.

“Hitler will have a fit,” said von Bismarck of the 21st Panzer Division. He was a thin man, bespeckled, yet with a wiry strength, even at the age of 52. Rommel knew him well, for he had commanded the motorized regiment of the 7th Panzer Division in 1940 during the dash across France.

“Then let him have his fit,” said Rommel. “I can think of no good military reason to stand at Buerat. It has no real natural strength, and it can be easily outflanked. The ground we want is here, astride these hills running inland from the coast west of Homs. The Tarhuna line is much stronger, closer to our supplies and airfields, and not easily flanked. I merely threw a bone to the Italians by stopping at Buerat, but, the whims of Mussolini and the Italians are no longer any concern. However, we must hold Tripoli as long as possible. We will serve their interests on the strategic level by doing so, but I will choose the ground, not the Italians.

“It looks like you have chosen well,” said Lungerhausen of the 164th Light Infantry.

“You will be here,” Rommel pointed. “The two Italian armored divisions will hold on the coast. You take this high ground and hold their flank. They will push here, but I fully expect them to make a heavy turning movement around Tarhuna to the southwest. That is your post, von Funck. I want you to engage them heavily there. Protect the main road and try and force them south. That’s when they run into Marcks and his 90th Light. And Georg,” he said to Bismarck, “You will backstop both those divisions.”

It was good ground, and a sound deployment, with hardened troops that had already shown the enemy they could win. There was only one thing still lingering in the minds of the Panzer Commanders, and von Funck was the first to raise the issue.

“My division will be the only Panzer troops in immediate contact with the enemy,” he said. “What if they use those heavy tanks again? You know we cannot stop them if they mass that unit against us on that road.”

“That is why you get the lion’s share of all our 88s,” said Rommel. “We can do nothing else but fight them if they come. If they do break through with those monsters, then von Bismarck will meet them here, where the road passes through this defile in the hills. To strengthen that sector, I will place the entire 501st Schwerepanzer Battalion there.”

They were worrying about nothing, as Kinlan was gone, and not even Lieutenant Reeves and those last two Challenger IIs remained in the desert. The great trump card the British once had in hand was played out, and now they would have to win or lose with their own units. Even as the Germans moved out to occupy the positions Rommel had indicated, O’Connor was meeting with his own senior officers to plan his advance.

“Big of them to give up Buerat and Sirte like that,” said Wimberley, Commanding the veteran 51st Highland Division. General Neil Ritchie had asked for him directly when he was summoned home to take over the 52nd Lowland division to get it ready for operations. A Scott through and through, Wimberley scoured the Army for good Scottish troops to flesh out the ranks of his division, and was often seen in his tartan patterned kilts to the point where he was called “Tartan Tam” by the men. All the patterns corresponded to various Scottish clans, and he encouraged this to build morale and esprit de corps in the division.

“That was a weak position,” said O’Connor. “I would have gone right around it. Yet now let’s hope they don’t stop here.” He fingered Tarhuna on the map. “I want to push hard now, and see if we can’t run them right out of Tripolitania. Once we get round the bend and up towards Misrata, I want your division in the lead, General Wimberley. You take the coast road right on up through Homs, and 23rd Armored Brigade under Richards will be on your left. General Hughes, will follow with the 44th Home County Division, and 4th Indian follows him.”

“Well what about 7th Armored?” asked General John Harding, a veteran of the fighting at Gallipoli and Gaza in the first war.

“Don’t worry,” said O’Connor. “I couldn’t leave you out of it. I want to form a flying column further south, and for lack of any better handle, we’ll just call it Southforce. That’s your division, John, and you’ll have General Nichols and his 50th Northumbrians right behind you for infantry support. Form up and resupply here, at Bene Ulid. Then take this road through the dry country and hit them here, just southwest of Tarhuna. If they do hold up on that high ground with their infantry, Tarhuna looks to be their Hougoumont. We won’t hit it directly. I want to bypass to the left and push up the main road from there to Tripoli. So the whole thing is a big pincer operation, and you’re the left horn.”

“And my Division?” said General Raymond Briggs of the 1st Armored.

“You’re the head of the bull,” said O’Connor. “I’ll want you southwest of 23rd Brigade, about here I should think. We’ll want to control the road from Homs to Tarhuna, and once you’re on it, you can move to support either side as the situation warrants. I’ll come up and we’ll have a cuppa to sort things out.”

“Very good sir,” said Briggs. “Will you be wanting Darjeeling or Earl Grey?”

Everyone chuckled at that. Tea kept the British going as much as gasoline. At times the soldiers would actually rattle off a stream of MG rounds just to get the barrel hot enough to immerse in water to heat it for tea. Even the tanks had an organic BV, a boiling vessel to brew up tea. With Ceylon taken by the Japanese, tea supplies were feeling the squeeze, and rations had thinned out in the ranks. In time, that necessity would become a luxury, but for now, the tea was still flowing liberally in North Africa.

O’Connor looked the men over, smiling. “Gentlemen, this is for the prize. 8th Army has wanted Tripoli for as long as Rommel’s had his eye on the Nile. It’s no coincidence that we’re here in Tripolitania, and Rommel is as far from Alexandria as he’s ever been. So off we go, and may the lions at dawn tremble at our approach.”

That got yet another laugh, but then the General stood quiet for a moment. He took a breath and said something more. “I’d be wrong to say we got here without a lot of hard work, and the blood and guts of a good many men who aren’t here to stand with us now. You’ve all heard the rumors, but let me lay it out for you in the clear. We lost the heavies at Tobruk when the whole place brewed up. They won’t have our back any longer, and seeing as though they were a special lot, we may not see their like here again for some time. That was a hard blow. I daresay I owe my own life to those men, and we owe them a debt for what they did in the heat of battle when we needed them. So this is for them, and all the others who died to get us here. We owe them a victory. Let’s get to it.”

“Here, here,” said Wimberley. “I say we drink on it, but if you don’t mind, General, how about something a wee bit stronger than tea?”

He raised a flask of gin.

Chapter 6

Hitler leaned heavily over the map, his eyes restless, searching, as he studied the situation in the Med. He had seen the tide of the enemy advance gobble up all of Cyrenaica, and now it flowed into Tripolitania towards that capital, a city that he now designated “Festung Tripoli,” saying it must be defended to the very last man.

“If they take that, then they will have all the air fields,” he said darkly. “It is only 300 miles from Tripoli to Tunis or Syracuse on Sicily, and even less to our bastion at Malta. Those airfields are crucial.”

They might be, thought Halder as he listened. Yes, they might be, if only the Luftwaffe had enough planes to send to them. If Tripoli fell, it would also be a very hard blow for the Italians. They would see Sicily as a viable next step for the Allies, though he believed Kesselring and Rommel could hold Tunisia for some time.

“And look how they have taken most of the French colonies in West North Africa!” said Hitler. That knocked France out of the war as a useful ally, and they are about to do the same to Italy. Useful idiots, the Italians, but useful nonetheless. It amazes me that I can conquer half of Russia, but this hand full of enemy divisions stops us there in North Africa. We must counterattack!”

“My Führer, they have stopped us because we have only enough naval capacity to supply the two armies we already have there,” said Halder, stating the obvious.

“Nonsense,” said Hitler. “Kesselring gave them half the ground they now hold in the west, and Rommel keeps back stepping every chance he gets. What happened to his grand plans of storming in to Alexandria? Haven’t I sent him those new heavy tanks to deal with those of the enemy? Why does he fall back towards Tripoli now, instead of attacking and smashing this General O’Connor? That was why I sent him there in the first place, and all he has done for these last two years is churn up sand and complain he has no fuel, and no air cover. We must find another way. The British are sitting all too comfortably in their Middle East strongholds. They get the oil from Iraq and Iran, and what do we do about it? Nothing! Well, that stops this hour, this very day.”

“What do you mean?” said Halder, the edge of worry creeping into his tone.

“Army Group South has taken Rostov, have they not?” said Hitler. “They are pushing into the Caucasus, but the Russian Black Sea Fleet still sits there on the coast and it will prevent us from shipping any of Volkov’s oil to Rumania as planned. It must be destroyed!”

“But My Führer, we have a only a few U-boats in the Black Sea.”

“What about the ships Raeder sent to the Med? He has already lost the Hindenburg. What good are the others sitting in Toulon?”

“They serve as a strong deterrent against any invasion of Sicily.”

Hitler waved that away like a bothersome fly. “They serve only as targets for the RAF. The bombers come to Toulon twice a week now, and if they get those airfields near Tripoli, they will come round the clock. I will order Raeder to send the remainder of our ships to the Black Sea. There is the force we need to destroy the Russian fleet. It is high time we used it. As for the British, I want a full corps assembled and sent south to Bulgaria and Greece.”

“What good will they do us there, even if I could assemble troops now to fulfill such an order.” Halder was clearly frustrated with this.

“We will invoke our treaty rights with Turkey again. I have had the Todt organizations working on those antiquated rail lines for over a year now, and we can move those troops through Turkey.”

Halder’s eyes widened with the realization of what Hitler was now proposing. “Don’t tell me you have resurrected this old notion of taking Egypt from the north. We already tried that, and you saw the difficulties involved, and the outcome as well.”

“That was then,” said Hitler. “Admittedly, we were too hasty earlier, and ill-prepared. Now we have better options. Look here.” He pointed at the map. “We can now rely on several good rail lines through turkey, and I will order additional motor transport troops to assist. The Army of the Orient will move quickly, so as not to overly frighten the Turks. We will slip in through the front door, and through their living room before they even know we were there. After that, it will just be supply trains and the occasional reinforcement. Our troops will assemble at Adana, then cross quickly into northern Syria. Raeder’s new German Black Sea Fleet will destroy the Russian fleet, and this will also clear the way for direct landings on the coast of Georgia. From there it is only a hop, skip, and jump into Northern Iran. Isn’t that where that massive oil field is sited?

“What? You mean Baba Gugur? No, my Führer. It is here, in Northern Iraq, near the city of Kirkuk.”

“All the better. We will take that, along with Baku, and then we will push all the way through Iraq to the Persian Gulf and take the British oil concerns there as well. This way, an invasion of Iran may not be necessary. In fact, I believe they will join us when they see us come in such force.”

“But this is madness! Where will we get the troops required to support these operations? We are still locked in a death struggle with the Soviets, and everything else has been frozen on the northern front for the drive on Leningrad in the Spring.”

“Don’t fret, Halder,” said Hitler. “If you cannot manage the affair, then I will select the divisions required personally. In fact, I don’t think a single Korps will be sufficient. We will need one to move east into Northern Iraq, another to drive through the center and take Baghdad, then move on to the Persian Gulf. The third will move directly into Lebanon and take Damascus in Syria back from the British. This will completely stop their offensive towards Tripoli and Tunisia.”

Halder took a deep breath, looking over his shoulder and finding Jodl and Keitel. His eyes clearly indicated that he wanted them at the map table, and when Hitler saw them approach, he stiffened his resolve.

“Do not think you can reinforce your ideas by summoning these other Generals. I have given this a good deal of thought. The British will not expect such an operation. We will take them completely by surprise.”

“What operation?” Asked Jodl, looking from Hitler to Halder.

“He has it in his mind to resurrect the old Plan Orient.”

“That plan was never shelved,” said Hitler quickly, with a wag of his finger. “It was only delayed. And if it will sound better to you, we will call it Operation Phoenix, yes, rising again from the ashes. It is only January, and the campaign in Russia will be frozen solid for another three months. I am told all movement there is impossible now, for both sides. The temperatures are the coldest ever recorded in the last 200 years! In the meantime, while we prepare for the Leningrad operation, I will assemble the forces necessary for Operation Phoenix. In fact, I began these preparations a month ago.”

“What preparations?”

“Do not think I rely on you for everything, Halder. If you recall, I flew to the southern front to meet directly with General Manstein in order to discuss the move into the Caucasus. Now that the situation near Kursk has stabilized. I ordered him to begin immediate transfers to the south, so there will be ample forces available for this operation.”

Halder held up his hands in utter frustration. “He thinks we can now move through Turkey again to invade Syria and Iraq!”

“I do not merely think this, Halder, I will order it. So you had better stop with this stubborn opposition and instead make yourself useful in support of these plans. If you cannot do so, then I will find someone else to do the job!”

This infuriated Halder, who had been in a torment for months now as he watch the increasingly difficult situation in Russia. Once he had been approached by conspirators plotting to assassinate Hitler, but at that time he had refused to support them. Yet taking advantage of his position of authority, he often kept a loaded pistol in his service jacket pocket, and spent more than one night awake in a sweat as he struggled with the idea of shooting Hitler himself. That weapon was in his pocket now, but he resisted the urge to reach for it and end this madness once and for all.

Yet he could not stand there and listen to Hitler browbeat himself and the other senior officers at OKW any longer. “Are you telling me Manstein is behind this?”

“Of course not,” said Hitler. “Manstein has agreed that the move into the Caucasus could be pressed with greater vigor. To this end, we discussed Operation Edelweiss for the drive on Maykop, and by extension, the occupation of Baku. Of course, such an idea would have never entered your head, Halder. Look at the mess you have gotten us into in Russia! It took my personal intervention, and the considerable skills of General Manstein, to stabilize the situation there.”

“You blame me for the disaster in Russia? This is intolerable! Now you stand there making these foolish proposals, and most likely without even having any notion of the enemy strength, the logistical demands, the political ramifications of your plan. It cannot be done. Jodl… Keitel, tell him this is madness!”

“General Halder!” Hitler raised his voice, his hand displaying the telltale tremor as he removed his spectacles. “I have listened to your stupid rationalizations for far too long. You no longer have the aggressive spirit and mentality for a job of this caliber. I want men here who will fight, not those who drivel and whimper about what cannot be done. It will be done! I will order it, and any man who opposes these orders will be dismissed, or worse.”

Now the frustration and anger in Halder became too much. “My Führer… I have supported you through thick and thin, but this is simply too much. I am leaving. Enough with your threats. You may find someone else to preside over this insanity. I am finished!”

With that, Halder turned and stormed out, his hand in his pocket, fist clenched on the pistol, his anger seething. Yet he could not muster the resolve to turn about and use it, any more than Fedorov could have pulled the trigger to kill Sergei Kirov.

Now Jodl and Keitel stood there, aghast at what they had just seen. “Well?” said Hitler, looking at them like an enraged bull. “Do you both wish to join Halder in early retirement, or will you bend your backs to the task at hand here and prove yourselves useful? Send for General Zeitzler. I intend to appoint him as the new Chief-of-Staff of the Army this very moment!”

Neither Jodl or Keitel said a word, seemingly frozen when confronted by Hitler at the very edge of another of his terrible tirades concerning the duplicity and incompetence of his Army Generals. It has long been said that all it will take for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Whether Jodl or Keitel might count themselves in the ranks of good men remained to be seen, but that day they did nothing.

“Rommel could not deliver on his promises to give me Alexandria, and now he has his back to Tripoli!” Hitler reiterated his reason for this alarming new plan blooming in his mind like a dark rose. “Therefore I am now reinstating several previous Führer Directives. Order Number 30, concerning the movement of troops to Syria and Iraq will be reinstated immediately. All available mountain troops will be used, even if such forces are already allocated to the Leningrad Operation. Furthermore, Führer Order Number 32 will now stand as the overall guide for the remainder of our winter operations, and Plan Orient will be redesignated Operation Phoenix. Has anyone of you even noticed that the Japanese have recently taken Ceylon? They do not lack the imagination of my Generals, do they? Nor do they stand about whining over fuel and supplies. They just go and take them. These things will be found. The troops will be found, and this operation will proceed.”

Finally Jodl found his voice. “Then you mean to invade Iraq?”

“How else can I get to the Persian Gulf? And I also mean to invade Syria. How else will I get to Cairo? These operations will now be given the highest military priority. I will select the divisions personally and, unless you wish to follow Halder into the dustbin of history, you will carry out the orders I give and see to all the details. Understood? That is not all. Führer Directive Number 28 will also be reinstated—Operation Merkur.”

“But that will mean we will have to pull all the air mobile divisions out of North Africa,” said Keitel.

“Then do so! At Once! I will not allow the British to build up bomber bases on that island. It should have been taken long ago.”

Jodl passed a moment recalling that it had been Hitler who personally cancelled those plans for the invasion of Crete, all in favor of leap frogging directly into Lebanon and Syria after taking Cyprus. Of course, he said nothing of this, as Hitler rambled on.

“The plans for Operation Merkur will be re-activated immediately. The 15th Infantry Division presently at Toulon may be sent to replace the Fallschirmjagers, but I want them all ready for an airborne operation against Crete in short order. I have already ordered Goring to begin moving the necessary troop transports to Greece, and the shipping will be found—see to that, Jodl. See if Raeder can scrape up a few troop ships to move my mountain divisions. You have two weeks. I want this entire operation ready by the 15th of January.”

Hitler swept back the hair that had fallen onto his brow, slowly composing himself. “A pity Halder lost his nerve,” he said slowly. “This Operation Merkur was one of his old favorites. All the plans are there. You need only find them and sweep the cobwebs off of them. So get busy, gentlemen. I will order Raeder and Goring to arrange support.”

Everything was give and take with the Army, and if he wanted to reinstate these grand plans, it was clear that something else had to be abandoned, and it would have to be something on the Russian Front. Later that same day, his eyes pouring over lists of troops and divisions, Hitler rescinded his stand fast order to General Walter Model, and told him to begin extricating his 2nd Panzer Armee, including the 47th Panzer Korps, and the 12th Infantry Korps, from the pocket they were in near Voronezh. The wergild he would pay for those troops would be that hard won city.

Advised by Keitel that his plan would need several fast motorized divisions, and perhaps one or two good panzer divisions, he took the 10th Motorized Division from reserve behind Volgograd, and then selected the elite Brandenburg Motorized Division. There were already mountain troops still holding in Northern Syria, and he recalled the 1st Mountain Division under Kubler to join them. He also added a Jaeger Division from the 49th Geiberg’s Korps in the Caucasus, and the SS Prinz Eugen Mountain Division. Convinced that he needed an experienced and aggressive Panzer Leader, he decided to give Heinz Guderian one last call to glory, this time far from the debilitating snows of Russia. Surprised at the offer, Guderian accepted. The following order of battle was the overall force structure for Plan Orient, now renamed Operation Phoenix.

After making these selections, General Model was reassigned to help oversee preparation for the Leningrad operation as soon as weather permitted in Russia. Since that was to be the major thrust this year, Hitler saw no reason why he should not prune the ranks of armies assigned to the central front, particularly forces facing off the Russians at Moscow, and southeast through Orel to Voronezh. He gave orders re-directing new panzer allocations so they would go directly to the 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions to bring them up to strength, and pulling “Der Mensch,” General Hans Hube, out of France was the perfect choice for the new commander of the 14th Panzer Korps.

Keitel recommended that Hube’s old 16th Panzer Division, still in France, should go to General Günther Angern. There it would stand in reserve for possible deployment to North Africa, and this development would literally breathe new life into General Angern. In the old history, he had killed himself in February of 1943, at a place then call ‘Stalingrad’…. But that would never happen, nor would his new division be destroyed there and be resurrected as the 116th later in the war. As for Model’s 12th Infantry Korps, it would be sent to Greece first for much needed rest, and to receive new recruits. Then it would be placed in general reserve to support all these operations.

The Führer was quite satisfied when he completed his reassignments, buoyant in spite of the row he had with Halder. Now he saw General Zeitzler as the perfect replacement for Halder, a breath of fresh wind for OKW, and he had every confidence that his new directives would be the undoing of all British aspirations in Egypt and the Middle East. He gave the order that Operation Phoenix would begin no later than January 7th, to be followed in three weeks by Operation Merkur.

The war was about to spin off in an entire new direction.