Opening Moves

Moving his pointer down to just above Hamburg, Malinin moved on.

“Reinbek fell in the night and 4th Shock Army is in the eastern suburbs of Hamburg. 4th also sent a column north and they have reached and taken Bargteheide, hopefully relieving our surviving paratroopers at Ahrensberg before the morning is out.”

“43rd Army has performed brilliantly, Comrade Marshall.”

Zhukov noted Malinin’s praise by placing an asterisk next to that part of the document, ready for his recommendations for promotion and awards at a later date.

“Not only have they broken through at Geesthacht and Bergedorf but Major-General Lenskii sent 92nd Rifle Corps southwards to crush the defenders of Lüneberg who were holding up 11th Guards Army. They are now driving hard south of the Elbe and were fighting in Winsen at last report.”

Zhukov placed another asterisk on his paperwork as he could appreciate that Lenskii had done extremely well with his small army.

“A note of caution here. 11th has a wide-open left flank in its drive for Hamburg. Galitskiy has placed the paratrooper units he relieved as a guard force on the major roads but he is vulnerable if the allies get organised.”

Zhukov made a note to remind him to assess that more closely at the end of the briefing and gestured for Malinin to proceed.

“2nd Guards Tank Army encountered some problems with bridges but that has been overcome now,” he flatly acknowledged for Zhukov, “Not without cost in valuable bridging assets I must add Comrade Marshall.”

Zhukov made no note; he did not need to.

“On the upside, an American infantry regiment was crushed by 1st Mechanised Corps units overnight and 2nd now have outflanked Braunschweig,” looking down at his notes once more, “Being now attempting to cross the canal at Wenden.”

Malinin cleared his throat in an affected way, a sure sign to his commander that something bad was coming.

“In Braunschweig itself, 69th Army were stopped in their tracks by a British tank unit. Details are sketchy but we believe that the 68th Tank Battalion was badly mauled by a British Guards Armoured Unit. This we did not have on intelligence and its appearance was a surprise. 69th is reorienting to push again but I suggest that may not be necessary, given 2nd Guards Tank being past Braunschweig to the north already. I suspect the British will withdraw.”

Zhukov considered that and agreed, especially as the allies seemed to be avoiding any outflanking or encirclement risk to date, preferring to preserve their force. Very wise he mused.

Moving the pointer slightly to the south the briefing took an upbeat note.

“Here 3rd Army has found a huge hole opened up in front of them and Colonel-General Gorbatov pushed his tanks forward as fast as he could. They have run into problems here at Hildesheim where the Amerikanisti have rallied. However, we appear to have struck on the hinge between two US divisions. 2nd Tank has folded back to the north-west and the 30th Infantry to the south-west.”

Slapping the map on Göttingen, he continued.

“Here we appear to have an opportunity to exploit. We can bite off north and south here and destroy one infantry and one tank division in situ. If Malinovsky releases more assets now”

No more needed to be said and he waited as Zhukov thought through the matter.

“Very well comrade. Tell Malinovsky to release 1st Guards Tank Corps and one of the First Red Banners’ spare rifle corps to Gorbatov’s command. Order him to exploit the gap opening between Hildesheim and Göttingen…” pausing to study the map, “…With either Paderborn or Minden in mind but closing the rear door on Göttingen. Tell him also I will be moving some reserve assets up closer so that if he finds favourable conditions he is to exploit in the knowledge that substantial reinforcements will be close at hand.”

Zhukov made a suitable notation on his paperwork, already mentally ticking off which units he would move up ready. He looked up once he had thought through the list, Malinin taking his cue.

“At Kassel our units are embroiled in heavy street fighting in some areas and tank battles to the north and south.”

The General’s concern was obvious.

“We have identified parts of the 8th American Tank Division here at Witzenhausen, where they badly handled one of our tank regiments.”

He was unable to recall the designation but progressed anyway.

“South of Kassel one of their tank-destroyer units reduced 1315th Guards SP to flames inside one hour. American Jackson Tanks with big guns; very nasty. In the end, they were driven off with artillery and our forces are holding until a heavy tank regiment arrives to support the advance.”

Again, the pointer contacted the map with a clear slap and all knew more good news was coming their way.

“Between Bad Hersfeld and Fulda there is nothing. Intelligence previously slated the Amerikanisti 5th and 6th Tank Divisions but they seem to have melted away, with very few units standing to fight.”