Impasse (The Red Gambit Series) (16 page)

O
ne of the MPs, a Sergeant, was now covering the would-be thief with an M1 carbine.

The two men locked eyes and the Soviet paratrooper acknowledged the warning with a resigned look and fell exhausted against the building, knowing he had neither the wit nor strength to fly.

“Hey Boys!... Hey!... Boys!... Boys!... I’ve got me a chicken rustler!”

Three more MP
’s, in various stages of undress, turned out of the building, laughing at the pathetic unshaven man and his rags, closely followed by members of the Press Corps, some of whom carried cameras that immediately started to record the pitiful scene.

As was the agreement, no pictures were sent back for use until an intelligence officer had viewed and passed them
as revealing nothing of use to the enemy.

It was fortuna
te for the Allies that the man with the photo duty that day was keen, efficient, and above all, very good at his job.

Something sparked a memory and he reached up to a shelf groaning under a ton of paperwork.

He searched a special folder for a comparison photograph, satisfied himself that he was right, and immediately rang his boss.

A phone rang on the desk of Georges De Walle, now permanently attached to French First Army.

He recognised the voice immediately, his counterpart in Dever’s Army Group headquarters.

The man was all business
, and his calls either fishing for or supplying information were always brief.

De Walle listened.

“Mon Dieu! Yes...thank you... yes, we are very interested... yes... I will... as soon as possible and with written orders signed by me... Yes, today. Thank you, Colonel.”

Replacing the
receiver, he made the calculations, grudgingly admiring the man in question.

‘
Over three months.’

He picked up the telephone again.

‘Makarenko... at last.’

To the second, the meeting was brought to order, the wood panelled banquet room providing a magnificent setting for the momentous event.

Eisenhower, prior to the start, had drifted around the room, noting, with no little astonishment, how the occupants seemed relaxed with each other, former enemies now united in a common cause, a cause in which they now saw a turn in fortune, despite the events in Italy.

The men sat patiently waiting to hear his words represented the leadership of those countries brought together to oppose the spread of the Red Army.

‘
A goddamn who’s goddamned who,’
as George Patton had put it when the meeting had first been suggested.

And now
, here was the reality.

The Council of Germany and Austria was well represented, with Guderian, Speer,
Donitz, and Von Vietinghoff all present. Ike noted that Guderian and Vietinghoff sat in their military groups, not with their national organisations, something that encouraged him greatly, for reasons he didn’t quite understand.

The Generals were there in numbers,
including every Army commander, save those presently embroiled in the nasty fighting in Northern Italy.

Spanish General Agustin Grandes
sat silently, his animated conversation with the Cuban Brigade commander, General Genovevo Perez, now over.

The object of discussion, a prime Havana cigar,
had, in the spirit of comradeship, been offered up willingly by Perez, and now sat gently smoking in Grandes’ hand.

Its sister sat comfortably between the Cuban officer
’s lips.

The
Commander of the newly arrived 1st Mountain Division of the Argentinian Army had cornered the senior officers of the Paraguayan, Uruguayan, and Portuguese forces regarding South American politics, the latter only because he was in conversation with Paraguay’s senior officer in Europe when General Juan Peron had hijacked their private conversation. Peron was the most recent arrival in Europe, having flown in after his unit arrived, delayed by his 22nd October wedding.

Eisenhower had observed them all, men from the British Commonwealth
and the United States mixing with a Colonel from Ethiopia through to the unusually tall Mexican General, all brought together for a common cause.

And now they sat waiting patiently for his delivery; a summation of events past
, and a foretelling of events to come.

Eisenhower
’s summation of events up to the hour held little surprise for most.

In basic form, the Allied forces had taken big hits up and down the front line, a few disasters
had happened and a few had been avoided.

In Italy, the new Soviet offensive was progressing, albeit slowly, aided by the poor weather and the accompanying restrictions on Allied air support.

Losses on both sides were generalised, the Allies having paid a high price in stopping the Red Army’s forward momentum, the Red Army having paid a huge price in trying to maintain it.

Eisenhower finished his opening brief on a high note, showing how the major Soviet thrusts had run out of steam
, and explaining the Soviet logistical problems that contributed to the obvious failures of the Soviet assault.

Ike didn
’t bother to ask for questions.

He introduced Bedell-Smith and took his seat, anxious to gauge the reaction of the commanders in the room, the men who would have to see through the plan to push the Communist forces back.

‘To the Polish Border and beyond.’

The words seemed to haunt him at every turn.

Eisenhower particularly watched the Germans present, and was rewarded with looks of surprise when Bedell-Smith’s aide uncovered the huge map, upon which was set the basics of the liberation of Occupied Europe.

‘
Operation Spectrum.’

Donitz
’s eyes widened and he acknowledged Eisenhower with a brief nod.

‘
That’s one to Vietinghoff for playing it straight.’

Clearly,
the German Liaison officer had abided by the secrecy directive, something that pleased Eisenhower immensely.

He did not see Von Vietinghoff
’s and Donitz’s eyes meet briefly, otherwise he might have realised that Vietinghoff was a German first and an Allied liaison officer second.

The reaction in the room was satisfying; a mixture of stunned silence and softly spoken expletives.

Before the map had been uncovered, few in the room knew what it would reveal.

McCreery, Bradley,
Devers, and De Lattre de Tassigny, appointed by De Gaulle to be his eyes and ears in the matter, all knew of the minutiae of Operation Spectrum. Bedell-Smith and close SHAEF staff, such as Colonel Hood, had worked tirelessly on the logistics of the plan, and on the integration of the numerous national groups, giving each a suitable role to play within the grand scheme.

O
ne other man present knew everything.

He sat silently, almost smugly, acknowledgin
g the looks that swept over him. Some eyed him envy, some in relief that the burden would fall to him, and some even in dislike for the man and matters past.

Whatever the reason they looked, George Patton relished the attention, for the map made clear that the
initial responsibility for driving back the Red Army was his, with the vast, new, and extremely cosmopolitan US Third Army under his direct control.

Bedell-Smith allowed a few more moments for the map to consume
everyone’s attention.

All arrows pointed east, from those in Norway, Denmark and the North German plain, through Central Germany and to the Swiss border.

Eyes followed the arrows across Europe, inexorably moving eastwards, to the Polish border, and beyond.

Some officers, those with keener
vision and eyes for some smaller details, now understood that the senior Naval officers were not there as window dressing, and that the USN and RN had a role to play.

Forty-seven folders were handed out, some already translated for the non-English speakers.

Bedell-Smith cleared his throat, took a sip of soda water and commenced laying out the master plan that was Operation Spectrum.

There was no pause for lunch and so one o’clock came and went as Bedell-Smith conceded the floor to the Army group commanders in turn, first Devers, then Bradley, and finally McCreery, whose 21st Army Group’s area of responsibility had been adjusted to encompass Norway and the Baltic.

Tedder was ever present, introducing the Air support
element that went with each senior officer’s presentation.

Fig#79 - Operation Spectrum - December 1945.

Admirals King and Somerville worked in harness to outline the sub-operation ‘Pantomime’, projected for the Spring
and with the expectation of good weather, the Navy’s big contribution to events. Whilst all could see the advantages, none failed to understand the risks of such an operation.

As Eisenhower waited his turn to sum up, he felt extremely pleased with the planning. They had been at great pains to ensure that all nations in the Alliance felt involved, but also careful to ensure that inexperienced troops were not left over burdened or exposed in what was to come.

Kenneth Strong, SHAEF’s intelligence chief, completed his briefing, partially as an overview and partially detailing the shadier aspects of ‘Pantomime’ and ceded the floor to the Supreme Commander.

“So, Gentlemen, there you have it. Operation Spectrum is an all-encompassing general plan, outlining how we’ll push the Red Army back into its own lands. We must expect difficulties along the way, so we must be flexible. The specific timings of each phase will be decided by this headquarters, and I intend to adopt a slow but sure approach, unless low-risk opportunity presents itself, in which case, we will judge it on its merits.”

Patton had been a dissenter on that score, seeking, almost insisting
on, being given his head, with no limits on what he could do except the fuel in his tanks and the food in the bellies of his men. Eisenhower had given him short shrift, drawing more than one look from the inner circle at his ‘out of character’ testiness.

“
Your Army Group commanders will be holding separate sessions immediately after this briefing, and they will present your input to me tomorrow.”

There were some disappointed looks amongst the ensemble, but it made good sense to reduce the group size into manageable chunks, as well as limiting the discussion to those involved with each aspect. None the less, each of the
seniors knew that they would keep an ear open for anything that might be useful to pass on to another.

Hood caught Ike
’s eye, the slightest of signals confirming that the orderlies had luncheon ready.

“
Gentlemen, I regret to say that the folders you possess may not leave this building and must be handed in at the document security station immediately you leave this room. Your copy will be returned to you for this afternoon’s briefings.”

He let the few murmurs of dissent pass.

“To give our Armies enough time to stockpile resources, to go over the attack plans and for Allied Second Army Group to become ‘fact’, I have set the initial diversionary attack’s time for 0300hrs on December 2nd. If the enemy responds as we anticipate, Operation Spectrum Blue, the initial main attack, will commence at 0800hrs on December 4th. We do not anticipate launching ‘Pantomime’ until early spring, probably part of Spectrum’s phase Indigo. Good luck to you all.”

The officers sprang to attention as Eisenhower turned and strode from the room, his exterior calmness beginning to crumble under the anxieties that ate at him, the responsibility weighing even more heavily than did his command of Overlord
, some sixteen months previously.