Three Kings (Kirov Series) (30 page)

He reached for his submachine gun
where it rode easily on his broad round shoulder. The other Marines acted on
sheer instinct, weapons ready and up on their feet at once. A second crack of
thunder was heard, then eerie green lightning scored the darkening reddish
brown sky, which was suddenly alight, backlit with a bright glow.

Any explosion in the desert could
mean only one thing, thought Popski. They had been found. It had to be
artillery. They were under attack.

Part IX

The Brigade

“Our fate is not frightful because it is
unreal; it is frightful because it is irreversible and ironclad. Time is the thing
I am made of. Time is a river that sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a
tiger that tears me apart, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me,
but I am the fire.”

―
Jorge Luis Borges

Chapter 25

The
British position on
the Egyptian Frontier was far from secure. The 6th Australian Division was now
penned up in Tobruk, and the 9th division held a wide defensive arc that
stretched from Bardia through
Sidi
Azzeiz
to
Hafid
Ridge, but it
wasn’t staying. A German General in Rommel’s Afrika Korps had looked at his map
and made a telling pronouncement on the position around Bardia and
Sollum
. “It was a tactician’s dream and a logistician’s
nightmare,” he had said, and that was now proving true.

With O’Connor’s plane down and
the General lost in the desert somewhere north of
Siwa
,
Brigadier General
Neame
was in command of the
withdrawal. He took a look at the map as well, and concluded the same thing.
Bardia could not be held as it was north of
Sollum
,
where a steep escarpment finally reached the coast again from positions well
inland to the east. Largely impassible to armor or vehicles, there were only a
few narrow defiles that permitted motorized traffic to pass the barrier of that
escarpment. The best of these was
Halfaya
Pass, very
near the small coastal town of
Sollum
itself.

With only the 9th Australian
division in hand, and the scattered remnants of his 2nd Armored division, he
realized there was no way he could hold off the enemy advance. So he determined
to withdraw the 9th Australian division from its defensive perimeter around
Bardia and through
Sollum
, to a safe position behind
that imposing escarpment. It was like a king falling back to the safety of a
hard stone castle. Now his badly outnumbered troops only had to defend the few
passes at
Sollum
,
Halfaya
and further south at a place the British called “Halfway House” near hill 617,
a pass about half way down the length of the long escarpment, 30 kilometers
east of
Sollum
.

It was a wise move, for now it
would force Rommel to continue east for another 70 to 80 kilometers if he
wanted to get beyond the escarpment where any flanking move would again have a
chance to cut the vital main coastal road. The tactician’s dream was that
escarpment, and the natural castle in the desert it formed, well supplied by
that coastal road running up to
Sollum
. The
Logistician’s nightmare was the fact that in making a further move east to try
and isolate that position, Rommel had only thin secondary roads through
increasingly rough terrain in front of him. The ground became more stony, with
deeper sand in small pockets, and occasional depressions to dry lake beds that
would impede vehicular traffic.

Yet what Brigadier
Neame
did not know was the real strength of the force that
the wily German General now had in his Afrika Korps. What had started as a
blocking force and reconnaissance in force over a month ago had now become a
full fledged offensive that OKW had been feeding with new units as fast as the
ships could get them to Tripoli.

General Keitel had been busy
those last weeks, and he delivered on his promise to Rommel in spades. Not only
was Malta being targeted for Axis occupation, the 5th Light Division had been
rapidly reinforced with additional armor and halftracks, and re-designated
“21st Panzer Division.” More than this, a second Panzer Division, the 15th was
quickly moved to Tripoli, much sooner than it had arrived in the history
Fedorov knew. Keitel had also put together a new motorized Schnell Division,
designated the 90th Light, again formed early in this retelling of events, and
though it did not yet have its trucks, the Germans leaned on their new found
friends in Vichy North Africa and politely asked them to sell them 1500 trucks
from Tunisia and Algeria. They could move them by rail into Tunisia, and from
there they could make their way to Tripoli. When the troops of the 90th Light
arrived by sea, they would find their vehicles waiting for them.

Rommel’s daring advance in
December of 1940 had recovered all of Cyrenaica and drawn Hitler’s attention.
At first he was surprised, as he had given Rommel orders to simply stop
O’Connor and wait for reserves. But the Führer did not waste any anger over the
fact that Rommel had pressed on under his own initiative, much to the chagrin
and frustration of the Italians, who thought they were still in overall command
in North Africa.

“He has certainly stopped the
British,” said Keitel. “Yet it is clear that Rommel has made true the old maxim
first espoused by Napoleon: the best defense is a good offence. He’s driven
O’Connor off, taken Benghazi, which will augment our supply deliveries by over
1200 tons per day. In this light, we can supply three divisions now, possibly
even four. He’s taken
Derna
, another minor port, and
invested the British fortress of Tobruk.”

“He has not taken it?” Hitler
gave Keitel a sharp glance, his dark eyes playing over the map.

“He’s bypassed it for the time
being, and pushed the British all the way back to Bardia, here my Führer.”
Keitel indicated the place on the map. “The Italians have invested Tobruk with
five infantry divisions.”

“Then they will take it?”

“Perhaps, but Rommel is making
sure that the British will not be able to reinforce it by land.”

“And what about Malta?”

“That operation is well underway.
Student has two regiments on the island now, and he is presently landing the
third. Resistance is much lighter than we expected. I do not think we will need
to commit the 1st Mountain Division as planned. Apparently the British had only
a single brigade defending the island, and not the two brigades Canaris said he
had identified. In another day we will have four regiments of Fallschirmjagers
on Malta, and the entire 22nd Luftland Air Landing division in reserve.”

“And the 1st Mountain Division?
They performed admirably at Gibraltar. What do we do with them?”

“We could send them over to the
operation in Greece. These are experienced mountain troops.”

“We have over 20 divisions
there,” Hitler waved his hand, his eyes still fixed on the map, with that
strange inner fire burning from a well of blackness. “The Greek Army won’t last
another two weeks. Is that Rommel’s present position?”

“Yes, my Führer. The British have
not been able to stop him. He is now thinking he might kick them out of Bardia
and
Sollum
, and possibly continue east. It appears
OKW cannot stop him either.”

Hitler smiled. The lines of the
battle were advancing into Egypt now, well ahead of schedule. “I heard that man
said he would give me the Suez canal in 90 days. I told him to take up a
blocking position, but I did not think he would choose one so close to the
Egyptian Border! He’s taken back all of Cyrenaica! Well, he has sixty days left
to deliver on that promise about the canal. Can he do this, Keitel?”

“Supplies must be wearing thin after
a his long advance. Note how he has kept his troops well inland, away from the
coast where the Royal Navy could become a factor.”

“What of Operation Anvil?” That
was the code name for the air/naval maneuvers now underway. Malta was the
anvil, and the heavy squadrons of planes and ships were the hammers.

“The Italians believe they can
finish the job, though our Western Task Force out of Gibraltar has just
rendezvoused with the French fleet from Toulon. The Royal Navy is coming out to
challenge the Italians, just as we thought they would. They can match the
Italians, and their experience at naval warfare may make all the difference,
but we will make sure they do not succeed. Admiral Raeder has assured me of
this. Lütjens is on the
Hindenburg
, moving east at this very moment.
With any luck, we will soon find and destroy the last of the Royal Navy, and
then you may have the pleasure of getting the good news that
Hindenburg
is shelling Alexandria!”

Hitler laughed at that, clearly
pleased. “I like this man, Rommel. And Raeder’s advice has proven well taken.”
And Volkov’s advice as well, he thought. That man told me to send strong forces
to North Africa… And why not? I have divisions sitting in Spain that are not
needed there, strong troops that could be put to better use in Rommel’s able
hands. Then he made one of those snap decisions taken in a moment of jubilation
that would have dramatic effects on the outcome of the desert war in North
Africa.

“Give Rommel anything he needs,
supplies, tanks, anything. In fact, you may send him the 1st Mountain Division
if it is not needed on Malta. And start putting together more motorized
infantry at once.”

“We are presently forming a new
division, the 90th Schnell. The French made good on their promise and they will
deliver the trucks to Tripoli as planned.

“Then they are good for something
after all,” Hitler jibed. “One new motorized division will not be sufficient.
What about the Grossdeutschland Regiment that was used at Gibraltar?”

“It has been reforming as a full
motorized division in Spain, my Führer.”

“Yes, I was also going to order
it to the buildup on the new front we will form near the Ukraine frontier, but
this battle in North Africa is looking very interesting now. Once we finish off
Greece, only Turkey separates our forces from those of Ivan Volkov. Can our
armies in the Balkans subdue Turkey?”

“We are presently war gaming that
very question, my Führer.”

“If the results are satisfactory,
then move Grossdeutschland to Italy. From there we can send it to Rommel as another
strong motorized reinforcement. Feed a good fire, Keitel. I am not yet ready to
smash Sergei Kirov’s Soviet Russia. All things in time. If we can link up with
Volkov and the Orenburg Federation, that will make Kirov think twice about his
advance into the Caucasus. In the meantime, feed a fire. Support Rommel with
everything you have. Send someone over there to see what he needs. Who is a
good man for the job?”

“General Paulus is available.”

“Good. Send Paulus. Tell him to
report on Rommel’s condition, intentions, and timetable. Have him work up a
list of everything needed to take the Suez canal in sixty days time. That is
the real prize. If we take the canal we have all but knocked the British right
out of this war. And at the moment, there is nothing but a few demoralized
Commonwealth divisions and the empty desert between Rommel and Cairo! Raeder
was correct. I would have to commit over fifty divisions in Russia to get this
far, and here this Rommel has brought us to a place where we have the English
on the ropes, and with what, two divisions? Send him more! Build that force up
to a full Korps, as quickly as possible, Keitel. Fan those flames.”

Hitler’s assessment was largely
correct, and he might be forgiven for having overlooked one other odd report
that had found its way into the intelligence stream that day. It was from the
Italian garrison at Giarabub, and they seemed to be concerned that the British
were sending heavy reinforcements to the
Siwa
Oasis,
perhaps intending to attack their own position, or execute a deep flanking
maneuver to surprise Rommel. Keitel mentioned it in passing, but Hitler brushed
the matter off.

“The Italians,” he said shaking
his head. “They are afraid of their own shadow. What could the British possibly
have to send that far south to
Siwa
? It is 230
kilometers from their positions near Bardia and
Sollum
.
Why would they do this when they can barely hold the main coastal road?”

“The report indicated that troops
bearing the insignia of the British 7th Armored had been spotted, mostly
artillery supporting the light Australian patrols snooping around Giarabub.”

“7th Armored?”

“That was the division the
British used to make their bold offensive last month. It almost single handedly
destroyed the entire Italian 10th Army. Yet all our intelligence indicates it
is still reforming at Alexandria. The British are also bringing up the 2nd New
Zealand Division. Apparently they have decided not to attempt a reinforcement
of Greece.”

“In that they are very wise,”
said Hitler. “They would have simply thrown those troops away.” Now Hitler’s
eyes darkened, a cloud of worry there. “I was told that we have intercepted a
message indicating General O’Connor is no longer commanding the British
withdrawal.”

“That is correct.”

“So the rat has fled the sinking
ship, eh? What will the newspapers say about the man now that our Rommel is
stealing the headlines?” He thought again. “Well, could this 7th Armored
Division possibly be ready this soon? Might this man, O’Connor be planning
another of his bold offensives?”

“Highly unlikely, my Führer. Not
from that deep southern flank. And if he did throw the 7th Armored Division
that far south, how could the British keep it supplied?”