Particular thanks go to Steen Ammentorp, who is responsible for the wonderful www.generals.dk site, which is a superb place to visit in search of details on generals of all nations. The site has proven invaluable in compiling many of the biographies dealing with the senior officers found in these books.
I should also thank the website redbrick.dcu.ie for the Irish Republican quote.
If I have missed anyone or any agency, I apologise and promise to rectify the omission at the earliest opportunity.
This then is the fourth offering to satisfy the ‘what if’s’ of those times.
Book #1 – Opening Moves [Chapters 1-54]
Book#2 – Domination [Chapters 55-77]
Book#3 – Stalemate [Chapters 78-102]
Book#4 – Impasse [Chapters 103 – 125]
Author’s Note
The correlation between the Allied and Soviet forces is difficult to assess for a number of reasons.
Neither side could claim that their units were all at full strength, and information on the relevant strengths over the period this book is set in is limited as far as the Allies are concerned and relatively non-existent for the Soviet forces.
I have had to use some licence regarding force strengths and I hope that the critics will not be too harsh with me if I get things wrong in that regard. A Soviet Rifle Division could vary in strength from the size of two thousand men to be as high as nine thousand men and in some special cases, could be even more.
Indeed, the very names used do not help the reader to understand unless they are already knowledgeable.
A prime example is the Corps. For the British and US forces, a Corps was a collection of Divisions and Brigades directly subservient to an Army. A Soviet Corps, such as the 2nd Guards Tank Corps, bore no relation to a unit such as British XXX Corps. The 2nd G.T.C. was a Tank Division by another name and this difference in ‘naming’ continues to the Soviet Army, which was more akin to the Allied Corps.
The Army Group was mirrored by the Soviet Front.
Going down from the Corps, the differences continue, where a Russian rifle division should probably be more looked at as the equivalent of a US Infantry regiment or British Infantry Brigade, although this was not always the case. The decision to leave the correct nomenclature in place was made early on. In that, I felt that those who already possess knowledge would not become disillusioned, and that those who were new to the concept could acquire knowledge that would stand them in good stead when reading factual accounts of WW2.
There are also some difficulties encountered with ranks. Some readers may feel that a certain battle would have been left in the command of a more senior rank, and the reverse case where seniors seem to have few forces under their authority. Casualties will have played their part but, particularly in the Soviet Army, seniority and rank was a complicated affair, sometimes with Colonels in charge of Divisions larger than those commanded by a General. It is easier for me to attach a chart to give the reader a rough guide of how the ranks equate.
Book Dedication
My best friend and I have often discussed what we would have done, or where we would have chosen to serve, had we been called to arms in World War Two.
As you might expect, personal safety plays a huge part in our discussion, and he and I agree totally on the place we would least like to have served.
In a number of conflicts, struggling over the same lands, and confronting the same terrible enemies, both man-made and those created by nature, man endured the unendurable in one corner of the planet; one that, in regard to 1939-1945, still seems to be ignored in favour of its more well-known and more overtly dramatic cousins.
From the days of the 1941 Japanese invasion to the struggle of the Fourteenth Army in Burma, men, more often than not forgotten by those for whom they fought, endured the unendurable.
When silence fell in May 1945, it was not long before others were called to serve over the same battlefields, such as the French Army, whose soldiers and Foreign Legionnaires fought and died in Indo-China.
The fighting and the dying only ended when the last US marines and soldiers came home in 1975 or, in some cases, later.
Even then, the suffering was incomplete, something I remember seeing on newscasts, a final ignominy visited upon some returning US veterans, all of whom were worthy of an honourable reception; soldier’s welcome from a grateful homeland.
Some were solely greeted with derision, others were abused, sometimes spat at, and many were simply ignored.
I, even at that young age, was horrified, and I take this opportunity to say my piece now.
To those that did such things to your military, you are forever shamed and I offer you nothing but my utter contempt.
Therefore, it is with due deference and admiration, that this book is dedicated to those soldiers who, from 1940 to 1975, earned their spurs in the ‘Big Green’, the Boonies, or whatever expression is used to describe the awfulness of the jungles of Asia.
Although I never served in the Armed forces, I wore a uniform with pride. My admiration for our young service men and women serving in all our names in dangerous areas throughout the world is limitless.
As a result, ‘St Dunstan’s’ is a charity that is extremely close to my heart. My fictitious characters carry no real-life heartache with them, whereas every news bulletin from the military stations abroad brings a terrible reality with its own impact, angst, and personal challenges for those who wear our country’s uniform. Therefore, I make regular donations to ‘St Dunstan’s’ and would encourage you to do so too.
As 1945 draws to a close, I found myself thinking more about the innovations and advances that would have been made, given the continuance of war.
Some weapons that progressed slowly out of the war years might well have been developed a lot quicker, had combat been shouting its needs in the ears of those working on engineering and design.
To that end, from this point forward, it is possible that the reader may find equipment appearing before its rightful time.
At no time will it appear before a time that I consider wholly feasible or, I hope, that is unacceptable to the reader.
Map
Chapter 103 – THE CHANGE
You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out, or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?
Eisenhower could feel for the man, they all could, but the mantle of failure had to be laid somewhere and, in this instance, it lay fully on the shoulders of Group Captain James Stagg.
His information, received from civilian and military sources across the spectrum of agencies, had been misinterpreted.
Gathered in the room were the heavyweights of the Allied Command Structure, initially brought together to discuss the changes in the Soviet hierarchy, but now all were overtaken by a new priority, equally afflicted by the meteorological prediction error.
“Well, Jim, it’s done and no use crying over it now. It doesn’t happen again. We can’t afford to get caught like this a second time.”
Stagg took his leave, intent on reviewing the situation to discover where the errors were made.