Opening Moves

Eisenhower left his political masters to soothe the ruffled Swedish feathers, feathers agitated by the thought of armed Germans and armed Russians a few kilometres from their border. A fair portion of the Swedish Army stood to watching events and ready to lash out if anyone should forget national boundaries.

Allied airpower was concentrating on protecting for now, ensuring moving units were not seriously attacked, watching air bases being reconstructed although, where possible, belligerent commanders undertook aggressive incursions to harry the enemy formations with surviving ground attack assets. In basic terms, exchange rates were pretty much one for one, although many allied pilots were recovered as the air war was mainly fought over allied territory.

Plans to use the bomber force had been decided upon but it was felt important that sufficient fighter escorts were available before they were fully implemented.

However, Tedder had put forward one or two low-risk ideas that whetted the appetite for things to come.

At sea, things were not looking so good, with a troop transport mined as it slipped into Cherbourg and the liner Queen Mary torpedoed within sight of the Statue of Liberty. Whilst loss of life on her was much less than at Cherbourg, her loss to the reinforcement machine was immeasurable and certainly counted as a huge success to the Soviet navy.

On the plus side, two Soviet submarines had been sunk off Norway and a Soviet minesweeper destroyed when discovered hiding in a small bay near Savannah, South Carolina. Apparently masquerading as an American vessel, the Russian ship had been there for days quite openly.

On land, the Russians were winning, and winning convincingly, although Eisenhower remained equally convinced that resistance was more than they had anticipated and that it was having an effect upon their plans.

Ike drained another coffee and drew down another cigarette, all the time taking in the situation map as it was updated with newly arrived information.

The loss of Lubeck was grave indeed, placing more pressure on Hamburg’s defenders and opening up Southern Denmark.

Soviet forces had immediately pushed forward and taken a bloody nose. British 11th Armoured Division had manhandled the Soviet 22nd Army at Timmendorfer Strand, taking considerable numbers of prisoners for the first time.

For now it seemed that the Soviet advance into Southern Denmark had been stopped but Eisenhower did not celebrate too much as he watched red markings outflanking Timmendorfer, and worryingly being placed on the eastern and southern suburbs of Hamburg, indicating small but important inroads by Russian forces.

The 82nd US Airborne had all but ceased to exist in bloody defensive battles north and south of the Elbe.

Ike’s attention was drawn back north of Hamburg as a Corporal placed new red markings at Bad Segeberg, heading west from Lubeck. That they went through an area apparently held by the British Guards was a concern and he beckoned a Major forward to send off a message to McCreery for more information.

Once done, he returned to his observations, noting that the advances into the southern environs of Hamburg appeared stalled for now.

Elements of the famous 51st Highland Division had been moved up and were engaged in fierce fighting south of the Elbe around Harburg. Lighting a cigarette, Eisenhower smiled to himself as he also noted the steady progress of 1st Polish Armoured Division, crossing the Weser and assembling at Bremervorde and Stade. Ike gave himself a moment’s pause and wondered if it was a smile or a grimace, for the move was not without risk if Bremen came under direct attack. He liked McCreery’s style though, and it looked like the British General was planning to hit back, driving the enemy back from below Hamburg, and relieving the pressure on the city.

In fact, the more Ike looked at the northern sector the more he felt that a stabilised line was possible in short order, provided no more huge surprises came his way.

Braunschweig had fallen and enemy units were heading to Hannover but were presently stalled at Peine where 405th RCT of the 102nd US Infantry, receiving timely assistance from elements of the British 8th Armoured Brigade, defeated, and bloodied a strong force of the Soviet 69th Army.

Eisenhower remembered reading a report of that action, where the US Commander described the Soviet artillery as incredibly powerful, a string that was repeated across the front. What the Soviets lacked in technology and finesse they made up for with weight of shell and dealing with the massed artillery assaults was a problem for which no immediate solution was apparent.

Making a mental note to find out what progress had been made on that issue, another cigarette armed him for the mental journey down the front line.

Hildesheim.

Still holding.

An RCT from 30th US Infantry Division, part of 2nd US Armored and stragglers from a number of units battling against the Soviet 3rd Army and doing exceptionally well.