Grand Alliance (Kirov Series) (3 page)

“You
say they still have Tobruk?”

“Correct,
and I spoke to Wavell about that personally. The 6th Australian Division is
there, but the rest of the army has fallen back on Bardia and Sollum. That’s a
strong position, a natural castle in the desert. The escarpment there means
Rommel will have to go some 80 kilometers further east if he wants to outflank
that position.”

“How is
it you have Wavell’s ear, Captain, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Because
we matter, General. That’s the simplest way to put it. You know what my ship is
capable of, and we’re about to take off the gloves here and get serious.”

“You’re
an active combatant?”

Fedorov
did not want to go into any of the events that preceded their arrival to
1940—or to hint in any way that they once were actively combating the British! He
had to get to the heart of the matter here, and get Kinlan to see that he
mattered as well—that his force could be decisive here.

“Yes,
we fight for the British. We have helped them secure the Iceland gap against
German raiders, and intervened on more than one occasion to support their
operations. Up until now, my Admiral has been reluctant to fully engage, but
events have taken a real turn for the worse in this war, and so now we fight.
We are prepared to use the full power of our ship and crew to try and reverse
the setbacks lately suffered by the British. If we do not, and Egypt falls to
Rommel, then it will be more difficult than ever to prevent a German victory in
this war.”

“I seem
to recall that you Russians had a good deal to do with stopping Hitler.”

“True,
but my homeland is no longer whole. The Soviet Union, as it was once known,
exists only in part now. The country has fragmented into three warring states.
We think we know how this has happened, but the implications are staggering. It
took all these states, strongly unified under Stalin, to stave off the German
invasion that may happen later this year. Without a unified Soviet state, I
fear that the West has little prospect for victory. Remember, it is January of
1941, and the Americans are not in this yet.”

“He
says the Yanks aren’t in it yet,” said Popski. “So it’s a nice private little
fight for us now, just like my PPA—that’s Popski’s Private Army. Got that right
from Hackett, if you know the man.”

“So you
see, General,” said Fedorov, “What we can do at sea in the Mediterranean, you
can do here in the desert. How was it Lawrence put it when he was trying to
enlist Arab support with Feisal? The desert is a sea in which no oar is dipped,
and on this sea you can go where you please, and strike where you please, and
this is what you must do now.”

Kinlan’s
eyes narrowed. In the face of this whole impossible day, he at last had his
hand on something solid. Here I was, he thought, about to preside over a
withdrawal on the brink of World War III, and worried about how I could save
these men here. Now I’ve gone and landed in the last war instead if this crazy
talk holds. But if that is so… If I am here, with the 7th Brigade at my
command, well then it is exactly as this man puts it—I matter here, we matter a
very great deal. I can do exactly what I told Sims, and I can kick Rommel’s
behind any time I choose.

Wavell
had been hopping mad. He had no idea who he was talking to, and wanted to speak
with O’Connor straight away. I had to feign a communications lapse to get out
of that one, and I still have this O’Connor fellow on ice in the other FV432. I
know it sounds crazy, but something tells me I haven’t heard the last from this
Wavell, and that O’Connor is going to want to get right back in the saddle as
soon as he can. That thought brought a question.

“O’Connor…
Does he know all this?”

“No
sir,” said Fedorov, “he has not been briefed either. The only other man in
theater that is fully briefed is Admiral John Tovey.”

“Tovey
knows. He’s heard everything you’ve told me here?”

“Yes.”

“And he
believed it?”

“He’s
seen my ship in action. That can be very persuasive.”

“I
suppose that is so.” Kinlan rubbed a cramp from the back of his neck, the least
of his worries. “So what will I find if I do proceed to Mersa Matruh now?”

“That
will depend on how far east Rommel has moved. The last I knew he was operating
near Bardia.”

“That’s
200 kilometers west of Matruh.”

“About
that,” said Fedorov. “If you get there soon you will likely appear well behind
British lines—assuming there is still a line. If I can get through to Wavell I
can determine what the situation is. Then again… If you go north for Bardia,
you might appear behind German lines, which would be a very unpleasant
surprise. May I ask how big your force is?”

“He
wants to know just how many lad’s you’ve got here,” said Popski.

Kinlan
passed a brief moment thinking he was about to divulge information to an enemy,
but then he realized that the Russians of 2021 knew full well the composition
of his force when they took their pot shot. Telling this man what cards he had
in hand would not affect the game one way or another.

“Tell
him I’ve a full brigade, 7th Armored Brigade, to be precise.”

“He
says he has a full brigade here.”

“Can he
be more specific?” Fedorov gave Popski a nudge.

“I have
the 12th Royal Lancers for starters, with one company in Dragons and the rest
with the old Scimitars.”

“Just
an armored cavalry unit?”

“I said
for starters,” Kinlan corrected. “Right behind them are the Royal Scotts
Dragoon Guards, and not the 2020 light cavalry configuration. They sent the big
boys here to settle this business at Sultan Apache. See those two tanks over
there?” Kinlan pointed to the two Challenger II tanks that were part of his
headquarters troop. “Well, I have four Sabres—a full battalion of 60 tanks, and
a few more tucked away in HQ troops. Then two mechanized infantry battalions are
in support, the Highlanders and 3rd Mercian, both Armored Infantry in Warrior
IFVs. That’s a real fist full of war fighting for you. Throw in a battalion of
Gurkha light role infantry and supporting engineers, supply, and logistics troops
to round it all off. It’s a lot to keep on my mind, and none of those boys have
heard this wild tale were spinning out here.”

That
brought another whole can of worms to the discussion. If this were true, how in
the world would he tell his men about it? How could he tell them there would be
no sealift units waiting for them at Mersa Matruh. They were scheduled to
rendezvous there to meet several RoRo units, the ‘Roll on—Roll off’ ships that
could accommodate his heavy vehicles.
Hurst, Hartland, Anvil Point
and
Eddystone
were to be in attendance to move the 7th Brigade to Toulon in several trips,
for deployment in Europe. But that would never happen now. That was all gone.
Even if we were still where we should be, it might still all be gone, he thought.
If the Russkies lobbed warheads our way, they would have hit those units at
Mersa Matruh as well.

“So
that’s what I’ve got out here,” said Kinlan. “If this had happened a few days
ago I’d have a squadron of Apache attack helicopters too, but they left early
and missed the party.”

Fedorov
nodded. “It may not feel that way now, General, but you were the lucky ones.
Speaking of helicopters… can we sort this out and get my men back aboard our
KA-40? We were to get General O’Connor back to Alexandria, but your presence here
has changed everything. That said, my helicopter can give you some very good
airborne reconnaissance. Care to take a ride with me? I’ll give you a good
sitrep on the whole situation up north.”

“The
Captain here invites you to accompany him on that helicontraption of his, and
believe me, General, that’s a royal ride if ever there was one.”

Kinlan
thought about that. “Well,” he said at last. “I’ve a good deal on my plate just
now, the least of which is advising my men on this situation.”

“For
the moment, sir, I would recommend considerable discretion concerning that. We
can discuss it later, but it would be best to keep things quiet.”

“Well
they’ll have to know, Captain. This isn’t exactly news that will be in any way
easy to explain or deliver.”

“I
understand… Come with me on the helicopter. I can leave my men here if you
suspect any foul play, though I assure you, I am your friend and ally, perhaps
the best friend you will have here. I can help you, General, and you can help
us all—immensely. Come with me. You’ll get good situational awareness, and I
can discuss all this further.”

Kinlan
waited, thinking, then decided.

Chapter 3

While
Fedorov’s team had been waiting out the storm at Bir
Basure and making these encounters, events in the north became more precarious
for the British with each passing day. O’Connor’s disappearance left the ragtag
2nd Armored to fall back on Tobruk, and when he had been reported missing
Wavell gave a quiet order that the tough 6th Australian would go no further.
They would dig in along the strong fortified lines outside Tobruk and make a stand
there. Two light motorized brigades of Indian troops covered their southern
flank, and all the remaining armor drifted back towards Bardia, along with the
9th Australian Division.

Rommel
took one look at Tobruk’s fortifications on a map given to him by the Italians
and made a fateful decision. He would not stop and commit his German troops to
a static battle of attrition here, though he had no confidence that the
Italians could take the place on their own. Even so, he invested the port with
four Italian infantry divisions, Pavia, Pistoia, Bologna and Savona. The
Sbratha division was held in reserve, and the remaining two Italian divisions,
being more mobile, would continue east. These were the Trento Motorized
Division, and the Ariete Armored Division, which alone possessed more
operational tanks than the British had in all of Egypt at that time. In fact,
the British 2nd Armored had taken to fleshing out its thinned ranks with
captured Italian tanks taken during O’Connor’s whirlwind drive in Operation
Compass.

Now,
however, the compass needle was pointing the other direction, and Wavell was
trying to throw together the semblance of a defense along the Egyptian border.
His first thought was to position the Australian 9th Infantry Division in a
wide arc covering Bardia and Sollum, and place the armor on the southern desert
flank, but the German buildup on the border seemed more than a single division
could hope to contain. Like a poker player stolidly throwing chips onto the
table with a bad hand, he first thought to yield Bardia, shortening the 9th
Division’s lines at Sollum, then finally realized his best play was to fold and
hold the narrow defile near Halfaya Pass instead. The ground was so constricted
there that he might post a single brigade on defense and have the other two
available for other duty.

From
Sollum and Halfaya Pass the rugged escarpment stretched south and east for
nearly 80 kilometers, ending about 25 kilometers south of the coastal town of
Sidi Barani. The escarpment was a godsend, like a stony castle wall that could
not be outflanked by the fast moving German columns. So into this castle Wavell
moved the bulk of the 9th Australian Division, and all the service and support
troops that had been clustered around the ports. He knew he was yielding the
small advantage of using Bardia and Sollum to supply his troops, but knew that
if he had left them there, they would have been invested along with their
brothers in Tobruk.

Even as
he made these dispositions, Wavell was hastening the remainder of his ANZAC
Corps west in the 2nd New Zealand Division. Instead of making the dangerous sea
transit to Greece, he now had this division to stand on a defensive line well
south of Sidi Barani, but it was his last full division reserve of any strength
in Egypt. He might cobble together one more division sized force with the
Carpathian Infantry Brigade, and the British 22nd Guards that were now
mustering to the defense. Added to the 2nd Armored, no more than a brigade,
this was all that he had left, and that unit would be  lucky if it could muster
thirty operational tanks.

Rommel invested
Tobruk on January 25th, and then showed every intention of crossing the border
soon after he was satisfied the Italians were in position. He now had two
strong German units at hand, the 5th Light being reinforced by the early
arrival of the 15th Panzer Division. Keitel had made good on his promises to
Rommel in more than one way. He had sent him that second division, and was even
now gathering elements of what would become the 90th Light Division, and
sending them to Tripoli.

At the
same time, the Fallschirmjagers on Malta had been slowly building up strength,
enough to clear most of the northwest quadrant of the island, occupy a
defensive position known as the Victoria Lines there, and seize the vital
airfield at Ta’qali. This allowed the Germans to land much needed supplies
there, and move troops onto the island more rapidly. The Italian Folgore Paras
had also landed on the smaller island of Gozo to the north, and were preparing
to take the main town of Victoria. The remainder of the defenders had fallen
back on the vital port of Valetta to make their final stand. The meager air
defenses had been pounded to dust by the intense combined German Italian air
campaign, and what remained of that force was now grounded or evacuated.