armed with heat-seeking and radar-guided missiles such as the Stinger and the Patriot. These units, relying on a system of interlocking early-warning radar, had to conform both to the needs of combat maneuver units and the leapfrogging forward elements of the radar network to cover the entire corps.
Within the complex and intricate layering of combat and combat support units were the combat service support elements. Signal units like the air defense radar units had to leap forward in well-planned jumps so as to maintain the communications between units and their superior headquarters. Supply and transportation units, collectively known as trains at every level from battalion to corps, had to move forward to refuel and resupply all elements of the corps, to include themselves. This process was extremely elaborate, made more so by the fact that the entire corps was moving up through Germany like a great bubble. Supplies and fuel, therefore, had to flow in all directions, out from the center and not just from the rear forward as was normally practiced. This complication alone made the already challenging task of meeting the needs of combat and combat support units while the support units themselves were moving a task that defied description.
Mixed in with the supply and transportation units as part of the trains were the medical and maintenance units, one responsible for retrieving and tending to wounded soldiers and the other for recovering and repairing, if possible, the damaged or broken-down vehicles and equipment left in the wake of the advancing corps. Like the supply units, the task of these elements of the trains was complicated by the fact that this was not a normal textbook operation. Neither the hospitals nor the maintenance units would be able to stop and fully set up their operations. They, like everyone else, would be in an almost constant state of movement or preparation for movement. This alone made it impossible to provide all the necessary services that they were capable of. As with every other support element, the need to deal with the evacuation of wounded in all directions, not just from front to rear, made their tasks more arduous and demanding.
That, however, was not the most difficult part of the operation for these dedicated professionals, both in the medical and maintenance fields. The standing orders issued before the beginning of the march established demanding criteria to be used in deciding which wounded soldiers and damaged vehicles would be worked on and kept with the corps and which would be left behind. Those wounded whose lives or limbs would be endangered if kept with the Tenth Corps would be left in the hands of German medical services at the nearest hospital. Damaged or broken-down vehicles and equipment would be abandoned and destroyed if deemed unrepairable in the time available or if parts were not available. While it could be easily argued that there was no comparing the two, wounded personnel and disabled vehicles, the dedication of the officers and soldiers in the maintenance units to the accomplishment of their duties is no less real and pressing than that of their counterparts in the medical units.
While Ilvanich and his rangers worked to clear the corps' line of march, the personnel of the 553rd Field Hospital prepared for another night of aimless wandering. Hilary Cole was charged that night with supervising the transfer of three Tenth Corps soldiers injured in traffic accidents over to the Germans. Leading the stretcher bearers carrying the wounded personnel from the ward tent of their field hospital set up in the parking lot of a German civilian hospital into the emergency room of the German hospital, Cole pondered the wisdom of leaving Americans behind. Though all three Americans had sustained internal injuries in separate incidents that required a recovery period of rest and care that a moving field hospital could not provide, the idea of leaving fellow countrymen in the hands of 'The Enemy' bothered Cole.
Leading the small parade of litter bearers and wounded, Cole was greeted by a German nurse whose English was about as bad as Cole's German was. The German nurse, an older heavy-set woman with a round face and dressed in an immaculate white uniform, was seated behind a counter when Cole and her charges entered. After shouting out something in German to Cole that she did not understand, the German nurse stared at Cole for several seconds, looking her up and down with obvious disdain. Cole, like everyone else in her unit, had been unable to take proper care of herself or her personal needs. Moving about in what had appeared to her and the other nurses of the 553rd to be a totally random fashion, without ever knowing where they were going or when they would get there, unable to fully set up their hospital and the living areas for the staff, left Cole looking and feeling miserable, dirty, and haggard.
Realizing that everyone in the hospital was staring at them, half unsure what to do and half disgusted, Cole decided that she needed to assert herself. As much as she hated the idea of leaving her wounded here in the hands of foreigners, she knew in her heart that it was the right thing to do. The fact that she couldn't even properly care for herself made her realize how foolish it would be to saddle the 553rd with severely injured soldiers. When it became obvious that the Germans were not going to make the first move, Cole motioned for the stretcher bearers to set the wounded down, took off her helmet, and walked over to the counter where the big German nurse sat. Though she suspected that the German nurse wouldn't understand the words, Cole hoped that she would understand the meaning. Supplemented with motions of her hand, Cole tried to explain who she was and what they were there for. 'I am a nurse. Those soldiers are injured and we cannot take them with us. We have an arrangement with your hospital to leave them. Who do I see to make the transfer?'
There was at first no sign of comprehension on the German nurse's face. She just sat there staring at Cole while Cole went about pointing at the wounded and talking. After a pause of several seconds, during which Cole became convinced that she had totally failed to communicate, the German nurse stood up and called for another nurse. A thin young nurse, her long blond hair pulled back and secured in a neat tight bun, who had been standing off to one side watching and listening, came up next to Cole and introduced herself. 'I am Marie. The head nurse doesn't speak English, so I will assist you.'
The smile on Marie's face caused Cole to relax. 'Where can I take my patients? They are, I'm afraid, in the way where they are, and it's not a good idea to leave them for long near the doors. Drafts and all, you know.'
Marie nodded and smiled. 'Yes, yes, we know. If you would have your stretcher bearers pick up the injured, I'll take you to an examination room. Our doctors would like to examine them themselves and have them cleaned up before we send them to the wards and begin treatment.'
Cole blushed slightly in embarrassment. 'I am so sorry that they are not in better shape. We're very hard pressed to tend to even the most basic needs. These are hard times for us.'
Marie glanced over at the big German nurse as she leaned, closer to Cole. 'Yes, I know,' she whispered. 'These are hard times for all of us. Her son,' Marie said while nodding toward the big German nurse, 'is a soldier with the 2nd Panzer Division. But don't worry. She is a good nurse, and your soldiers will be well cared for, just like our own.'
The look in Marie's eyes, her efforts to ease Cole's concern, and the smile on her face told Cole that it would be all right, that she was doing the right thing. After thanking Marie for her kind words, Cole signaled the stretcher bearers to pick up the wounded and follow Marie. For the first time in days, Cole felt that something she was doing made sense. Perhaps, she thought, things weren't as bad as they had seemed. Perhaps, she thought, this would all work out in the end.
Within easy walking distance of the hospital where Cole was transferring her charges over to the Germans, men and women of the Tenth Corps' G-2 counterintelligence section were doing their part to blind or at least confuse German intelligence. Their current task of keeping German intelligence from gathering all the information that it needed to form a complete and accurate picture of where the Tenth Corps was and what it was up to at first seemed impossible.
The Tenth Corps was, after all, moving through the heart of Germany. Even in those towns and villages that dotted the corps' route of march with great regularity, where the populace supported the American efforts through noninterference, there were always a few who were outraged by what they called 'the rape of our homeland by the foreign invaders.' Together with local police officials dedicated to their duties, this network of informers provided the German intelligence agencies, both military and civilian, with a wealth of information. The Tenth Corps policy of noninterference with civilian property and operations seemed to aid this, since no efforts were made to cut the civilian phone system or hinder the movement of German civilian police. Even mail deliveries were still being carried out with great regularity between what was now referred to by Chancellor Ruff as occupied Germany and the rest of the nation.
Knowing full well that they would be unable to hide even the smallest piece of the corps from German eyes, the corps operations officer and intelligence officer decided that their deception plan would capitalize on this free flow of information. A special corps counterintelligence section formed a detachment manned by American personnel fluent in German as well as some trusted Germans, collectively known as the Valkyrie. This detachment, using a master deception plan drawn up by corps, used the same system and format utilized by the regular German informers to insert volumes of misinformation into the German intelligence system in an effort to both mislead the
