more than the older single-stack designs.
“Enter!”
Rodgers was covering the door and Rockingham swung round to add his Capsten. Even so, he nearly missed seeing the young Lieutenant who crawled in. The fear of the snipers was making everybody jumpy.
“Sir, errr, Sirs.” the Lieutenant goggled slightly at the sight of two Generals in the little office.
“Another lesson for you, John. Make sure you’ve got specialized anti-sniper teams trained. You’ll need them. I doubt there’s more than half a dozen of the swine out there and they’ve got the whole headquarters pinned down. What’s the damage?” The last remark was directed at the Lieutenant.
“Bad, Sir. The northern, western and eastern perimeters are all holding but the Finns ran right over us in the South. Came right on the heels of the Doodlebugs. Gutsy thing to do.”
Rodgers nodded in agreement, the Doodlebugs were so inaccurate that following them in like that took guts indeed.
“Anyway Sir, sirs, we lost the Motor Pool for a while. We’ve got it back now; the Redcaps took it back pretty quick. Can’t move the vehicles though. The Finns were in there for at least twenty minutes. Probably booby-trapped every vehicle in the place. Radio section and comms have gone, blown up. The fuel dump held but…” The Lieutenant hesitated, “… .they got the RCAMC post.”
“How many?” Rodger’s voice was terse. “And why weren’t they evacuated?”
“A dozen patients Sir. Three more who were ambulatory escaped as the Finns came in. There were two doctors and five nurses on duty. Wouldn’t leave the wounded. Finns killed them all. Think so anyway; the men who escaped heard the gunfire. We won’t know for sure until we recapture the place but isn’t that what they always do?”
Rockingham looked shocked. Even in a war that was spiraling brutally out of control, some things just weren’t done. The Germans were as hard as nails but even they never shot medical staff, not in field hospitals anyway. They’d just put the staff to work caring for their own wounded. There was a story that did the rounds that related how they’d overrun a Canadian field hospital and done just that. When German Army pay day came around, the Canadian staff found they were included, paid at full German Army rates for their work. After the Swedes had arranged an exchange, they’d come back with their pockets full of unspendable Reichmarks.
On the floor across the office, Rodgers was weighing up the situation. With half the camp disputed, comms and radio gone, transport gone and everybody pinned down by snipers, the Divisional HQ wouldn’t be commanding anything for hours. That left the front line brigades of the division hanging in the breeze.
“Still socked in solid.”
Captain John Marosy wasn’t entirely displeased to hear that. A day snowed in meant another day not having to face German Flak. There were too many quad-twenties, too many twin-thirties and even the twin-engined, armored Grizzlies suffered. The single-engined birds were even worse off; their losses were worryingly high. Lieutenant Zelinsky settled down in a convenient chair and leaned back.
“I’ve been having a word around. The weather’s clearing but it’ll be tomorrow before we can fly again. The Russians down at Three are still grounded, they’re to the east of us and the storm’s clearing from the west. The Canuck Williwaws at Six reckon it’ll take all night to get the runways clear. Way it is out there, we couldn’t even find the fight line, let alone get anybody off it.”
“Winter’s setting in early, that’s for sure.” Marosy finished off his coffee. It was cold but coffee came in by convoy and was not to be wasted. “We never had a storm this bad this early before.” This was his second winter in Russia. He’d spent the first one flying A-20s.
“Heard a rumor about some of those big bases, you know, the ones up in Maine. Some say they’ve got tunnels underground, joining all the buildings. Why can’t we have those?”
“Keep it buttoned, Lieutenant.” Marosy’s voice was cold. “The sign up on the wall isn’t a joke. You hear a rumor and repeat it then the wrong ears pick it up. Well the rumors may be wrong, that one almost certainly is, but who knows what the Krauts will make out of it. Careless talk does cost lives.”
Zelinsky looked abashed at the rebuke. Marosy decided to take mercy on him. “Look it’s OK, here. We all hear these rumors. Just be careful who you’re talking to. The Russians paid high for their lack of operational security back in ‘41. We don’t want to do the same.”
There had been no warning, nothing. One second Zelinsky had been about to say something. Then the whole world had just fallen apart. Marosy picked himself off the floor. The mess was a complete wreck, blasted in, tilting and about to fall. Zelinsky was dead. A fragment from the wooden wall had skewered him just as efficiently as a cavalryman’s lance. The building was wrecked, a complete wreck. Marosy knew he wasn’t making sense, even to himself. That didn’t seem to matter at all. Then hands grabbed him and pulled him out.
It wasn’t just the mess. The whole base was wrecked. The hangars were down with two of them were burning. The flight line looked sick, just as if there’d been a tornado down it. The aircraft that had been on it were thrown about like toys. “What happened?” Marosy realized with a little amazement that he’d asked the question.
“A-4 rockets. Eight of them. Krauts must have brought them in during the storm and set them up. Did well too. Good tight pattern.”
“Aircraft?”
“Don’t worry. Your bird’s OK, Captain. She was over on the other dispersal area, that got away with it. We’ve lost ten, fifteen at least though. Now you stay put while we get you to the aid station.”
That was when it occurred to him.
Some meetings were pointless before they started and this was one of them. Technically, the discussion was the invasion of Europe and the various plans for it. Marine Corps General Holland M Smith was giving the overview and he knew it didn’t matter. All that did matter right now was the battle going on in the North Atlantic because the outcome of that would change so much. So, the thoughts of everybody were there, not here. The clocks on the wall gave the times at various locations around the world. Moscow, of course, Madrid, Rome, New Delhi, Canberra, Tokyo, Pretoria, Bangkok. One gave the time in the North Atlantic and that was the one everybody kept glancing at. Howling Mad Smith was not pleased but in the presence of the President, he restrained himself nobly.
“Gentlemen, This time last year, we were actively planning five possible scenarios for the invasion of Western Europe. In order of preference, these were as follows. The first was Plan Red which envisioned an invasion of England being mounted directly from the USA. An outgrowth of Plan Red was Plan Emerald which envisaged a landing in Ireland. In effect, the seizure of Ireland would provide us with a bridgehead for the subsequent invasion of England. Third in preference was Plan Gold which envisaged a landing along the Aquitaine coast of France. Emerald and Gold would also be mounted directly from the United States. I need hardly tell you that an invasion mounted across the North Atlantic would be a military undertaking unprecedented in history. The fourth plan that was being actively considered was Plan Olive which envisaged a landing in Spain had that country entered the war. Finally, Plan Silver looked to an invasion of North Africa.
“Over the last year, we have continued to refine these plans. Contrary to our expectations, Spain has not only refrained from entering the war against us, Generalissimo Franco has actually moved closer to us and has provided some small, discrete, but none the less valuable services. Where the practicalities of Plan Olive are concerned, while there are suitable invasion beaches, the transport infrastructure in Spain is poor and has not recovered from the Civil War. If we were to invade, we would face heavy resistance and extensive guerilla warfare. I would remind you of what happened to Napoleon in Spain. Once we had fought our way through all that, we would still face the barrier of the Pyrenees where a much smaller force could hold us almost indefinitely. For all these reasons, it has been decided that Plan Olive is no longer a viable option and it has been discarded from future planning.
