Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) (44 page)

On his head he wore his old M38
side cap
, again the eagle exchanged for the new insignia.
Whilst Haefeli’s kepi had been an honour granted by an officer of La Legion, Lavalle sought guidance from higher authority before permitting its general use, a stance
that
Knocke understood perfectly.

Saluting Lavalle
,
and being honoured in return, he removed his cap and silently enquired for news.

“I assume your antennae just twitched then
,
Ernst?”

Bittrich grinned at the Panzer commander, handing him the drink he had just poured.

“I saw the dispatch rider leaving. Plus
,
I have some requests to submit
,
Sir.”

Lavalle put Knocke in the picture as best he could
, which gave the man only headaches and no answers.

“I will expect that your brigade will be first away with a cadre from my headquarters. Once we know when and where
,
we will write proper orders. Until then, make sure you are ready to implement a full unit displacement.”

“Yes Sir.”

“How long until you can implement?”

Knocke considered the matter for the briefest of moments.

“I can move up
t
o the ramps and commence within the hour. I would expect to have my whole Brigade loaded within five hours
,
if the stock is in place Sir.”

From another man it might have seemed like a wild claim or bravado. Both senior officers accepted it for what it was; a fellow professional who knew his men and his business inside out.

Lavalle failed to hide his smug look and moved on.

“You have requests you said? What do you need
,
Ernst
?”

“At the moment
,
my maintenance crews are working miracles, and everyone one of my tanks is running. That cannot last
,
Sir.”

Lavalle looked at Bittrich
,
who understood perfectly
,
and moved to his table, seeking a particular folder.

The French officer gestured Knocke to continue.

“Sir, I know Uhlmann
and St.Clair are
out and about scavenging for parts, and that will help. But my need is
also
for personnel, trained
maintenance
personnel, or I risk having the tanks and the parts
but
no one capable of marrying the two.
My engineering crews are out on their feet Sir, and mistakes are starting to be made.
”

Lavalle asked the most obvious question.

“How many men do you need
,
Colonel?”

“If I had another forty trained personnel the problem would be gone
,
Sir.”

That drew a smile from the Frenchman.

“That I cannot do but,”
and he nodded his thanks to Bittrich who
had
pro
vided the necessary document, “
There are eleven panzer maintenance personnel on their way here as we speak,
17th SS Panzer-Grenadiere Division
prisoners taken by the Resistance in Normandy
.
They
ended up languishing in a civilian prison, forgotten or ignored. Either way, they should be here tomorrow or the day after.”

Lavalle returned the document to Bittrich.

“That is a start
,
Ernst,” and looking at Knocke’s expressionless face, he felt compelled to continue, “Not enough but a start.”

“Thank you
, Sir. T
he movement preparation ord
er may make
things difficult,
as we may not be here tomorrow or the day after.
But I have an idea
for now
, one that should provide a long term
answer
.”

“Your solution?”

“Is there any reason why non-SS cannot serve here? Unless I am mistaken there is not.
”

Lavalle pondered but remained silent, encouraging Knocke to continue.

”
In which case, seek volunteers from the forming German units
and the existing camps around here
, requesting trained personnel and organise their immediate transfer.”

“And?”

“
Personnel
who have mechanical experience can be of use, to do some of the heavier manual labour
. I do not doubt that such people can be found in a range of places and units
,
Sir.”

“I
do
see a problem
,
Ernst. The orders.”

Knocke conceded with a nod.

“I had not
anticipated
a movement order
,
Sir, but we may yet have time to bring in some new personnel
from the local camps
to help my mechanical engineers.”

Lavalle had absolute trust in the judgement of the man in front of him and ma
de sure he demonstrated that
whenever possible.

“I will get you some more men
,
Ernst, you may count on it.”

Knocke stood, putting his empty mug on the side table.

“Thank you
,
Sir. I will return to
my duties and get my unit ready.”

Replacing his side
cap
,
he
gave a smart salute and left.

Back in
the
less than impressive hut
that
presently served as the headquarters of the
1
st
Legion Chars D’Assault Brigade ‘Camerone’, Knocke called together his officer group, less Uhlmann and St.Clair
,
who were
still
out scavenging.

Frenchmen, Germans
,
and a smattering of officers from a kaleidoscope of nations
,
answered his summons and received the warning order on the Brigade’s movement.

The questions, when invited, were predictable.

“Menschen, you know what I know. It will be
Eastern France
and we will go by rail. That by itself is information from which we can glean much.”

Turning to the map pinned
on
the wall between the two windows, Knocke stepped to one side so that the majority could follow his reasoning as he fingered the map.

“The ne
w siding is not yet complete
,
so
we will have to load up at le Bas de Pont.”

A French officer cut in, complaining that the loading ramps
there were not yet finished
either
.

Knocke, sensitive to the nature of his new command permitted the man to interrupt without sanction, whilst the German personnel present felt uncomfortable at the breach of military protocol.

“Cap
i
taine Thiessen, the works there are fit for purpose. I inspected them myself this morning
when the heavies were practising their loading procedures
.”

Th
e legend’s tone brooked no argu
ment
,
and he continued conjuring up possibilities on the map.

Quickly he turned back to the man.

“Although perhaps we should check that the Schwere Panzers haven’t undone the good work, eh?”

His grin was infectious.

Different fingers traced different rail lines on the map, each route examined and either accepted or rejected in turn.

Abruptly
Knocke
stopped

“My best guess is
Strasbourg
,
Meine Herren. French First Army area, good access, west of the
Rhine
. Maintains flexibility of deployment. Thoughts?”

A chorus of agreement from the assembly and Knocke rapped out his orders.

“Each man to be issued wit
h four days rations immediately,
not to
be
consume
d
without orders.”

“Full battle order for the march. All weapons and fuel, air spotters and security deployments. I want no surprises catching us with our pants down
,
Kameraden.”

Checking his watch
,
Knocke looked impassively at his officers.

“This Brigade will be ready to move off at 1600 hrs, Kameraden.
Advance guards away at 1540
hrs
.
Klar?”

Eyes dropped to watches and immediately realised the enormity of the task ahead.

The ‘Oui’s’ and ‘Jawohl’s’ mingled together
without further comment,
as there was no
arguing with the schedule
.

“Very well. Dismissed.
Sturmscharfuhrer,
stay if you please.”

Try as they might, the ex-Waffen SS often slipped back into the natural way of things, and Knocke was no exception. Braun held
the French ‘Major’
rank, Vernais’ equal as Regimental Sergeant Major. He also rarely used the French ranks when dealing face to face with former comrades.

“Before you help Hauptsturmfuhrer Pöll get things organised, get a message to Uhlmann and St.Clair to return by 1800 latest please. Don’t say too much over the radio obviously.”

“
Jawohl,
Standartenfuhrer.”

Knocke’s deadpan face betrayed nothing.

“And try to use the French ranks
,
Braun.”

“Zu befehl.”

No hint of expression.

“We must remember that we are French soldiers now.”

“A vos ordres, mon Colonel.”

Knocke’s grin betrayed the humour of the moment, and his slapped the NCO’s shoulder playfully.

“
Braun, w
ipe that look off your face and go and get him back here.”

Zhukov listened impassively as Malinin read back the
request he had just
dictated.

“Let us hope that our leadership sees the sense of the request and gives us the men we need.”

Malinin nodded gently, his mind processing the proposition as it had been doing since the first moment he and Zhukov had approached the concept.

Released
Soviet
soldiers who had been prisoners of the Germans were regarded with huge suspicion,
more often
treated as traitors and
institutionally
ostracised
, falling to the most menial of jobs
. Many were sent eastwards to work in cruel conditions as punishment for their failings. Some were even shot.

After all, the
Soviet
soldier was expected to die in combat rather than surrender.

The losses inflicted upon the
Soviet
Army during the ten days of the war had been
worse
than projected, but unusually heavy on certain key specialists, not the least of which were the highly
skilled
bridging engineers, despite orders to limit the dangers to these key personnel.

The request Zhukov intended to submit to the GKO was a plea to permit all qualified bridging troops to return to the ranks as soon as possible. A reasonable idea to overcome the present worrying shortage of trained engineers.

Nearly five million
Soviet
soldiers had fallen into ca
ptivity during World War Two, of
which over one and a half million were still alive, having been liberated during the Red Army’s advance.

One major issue was the state these men were in, most having existed under the harshest of regimes with little sustenance, meaning they were not capable of being effective soldiers for some considerable time to come.