So he reached for paper and pen, drafting a personal letter to the Führer, a final request. What he wanted, if it could possibly be found, was yet one more Panzer Division. He knew that after receiving the 101st Panzer Brigade this would likely be denied, but he made a fervent appeal.
My Führer, I have arrived in Syria to take command and make preparations for Operation Eisenfall. Yet seeing that the British have now moved considerable armored forces from their 8th Army to this sector, I note that this will force me to deploy my 16th Panzer Division in a defensive role. This will mean I will only have one strong division to move south as planned.
Your gift of the 101st Panzer Brigade gives me the spearhead I was hoping for, and no man could ask for a better division than the Wiking SS. Yet if I had but one more Panzer Division, I would finally come to feel that you have done all in your power to give me the tools I need to forge the victory you desire here. My Führer, I stand as one of many who have come to you with such a request, but if fulfilled, I promise you Damascus, and more. Know that I would never make such a request unless I believed it to be a military necessity. You heard my plaintive call for years in the desert, and I made do with whatever I was given. Yet put this sword in my hand now, and I will not fail you. With earnest sincerity and appreciation for all you have already done for me.
The Führer had been ranting about the Italians, noting their many lapses on the battlefield, their useless air force, their navy refusing to sortie its big ships. He had ample ground there to sew his wrath. When he finally settled down, Keitel handed him the note from Rommel.
Hitler would read that letter, sighing heavily. This request seemed at first to be an eerie echo from Rommel’s long retreat in North Africa. Then he remembered that he had already discussed this issue with Zeitzler, and agreed that Rommel would need three mobile divisions for his work in Syria, so this request was something he intended to fulfill. What to send?
There it was, pulled from the East front many months ago, and refitting in Germany. He had thought to position it in France behind Calais, but realized that the division could be put to much better use in the hands of a man like Rommel. It was the 2nd Panzer Division, a good veteran unit, and so he waved all thought of Tunisia away, his eyes still dark with anger. He would not throw good money after bad there. Instead, he quickly sent word to Rommel that his last wish would be granted.
The newly rebuilt 2nd Panzer Division scheduled for deployment in France will be sent to you immediately, and every effort will be made to see that you are well supplied. I have every confidence that you will now give me all that I have asked of you in return.
Rommel was elated. The initial timetable for Eisenfall was to launch the offensive on the 15th of March, but Rommel had only just arrived, and now he wanted to wait for 2nd Panzer. 34th Infantry can come last, he thought. It can arrive on the trains after I kick off the offensive. But what will the British do in the meantime? They will certainly see the trains moving all these panzers to Homs. So I will continue to position things to make it seem like I am building up on defense behind the 31st Infantry Division. To that end, I put my experience in building a good defensive Pakfront to use here, just as I did in North Africa against those heavy British tanks. I will position 88s in heavy bunkers, with panzerfaust teams, machineguns, and heavy weapons support, and all behind wire and mines. Let the British face the legacy of their own tank designers.
Then, on the 25th of March, the hot iron falls. The 101st Panzer Brigade will spearhead the attack here, south of Palmyra, and east of these rocky hills. There is only a single British infantry division there, and I will go right through it when the Wikings follow up that attack. Then I give the order to swing the other two panzer divisions east through Palmyra, and south in the wake of that attack. We will follow the rail spur that was built to service ore mining in that region, and then take the road southwest to Damascus. There will be good high ground on my right to post defensive kampfgruppes, and on my left is my old friend—the desert.
He smiled.
The British did not fail to see the deployment of these new heavy forces on the rail lines heading south, and they had been making preparations of their own. The 46th Infantry Division was on the line opposite the German 31st Infantry screening the most direct approach to Palmyra. That was the sector Wavell had used to make his spoiling attack, which had delayed the movement east of two of Guderian’s mobile units. Being a mixed division, that unit had a full tank brigade as its disposal, and behind it was the 25th Armored Brigade.
31st Indian Armored Division still held its left flank, but coming up from Cairo was the newly reconstituted British 1st Armored Division, all the forces that O’Connor had detached from his 8th Army. Its two Armored Brigades were simply renamed the 1st and 2nd, and then the 7th Motorized Brigade rounded that division out. Behind it, just off the transports coming in to Beirut from Benghazi, was the 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division.
“We’ve finally got the troops in hand to mount an offensive,” said Alexander. “Now we’ve all of five armored brigades, and the Northumbrian division gives us a little more push. I’m calling it Operation Gladiator. It has a rather nice ring to it, eh?”
“I wouldn’t be too quick to start pushing here,” said Auchinlek, in Beirut to confer with Alexander on all that was happening in Iraq. “That’s Erwin Rommel over there on the other side, and he’s now got three good mobile divisions. Don’t think he’ll sit on his backside like he did in the withdrawal from Libya. He’ll come after us, mark my words.”
Auchinlek was a very astute man.
Chapter 14
On the 25th of March, Operation Eisenfall began. Rommel had massed his three mobile divisions on the road stretching from the T4 Pumping Station, through Palmyra and on to T3. To British aerial recon, it looked like an immense iron spear on the ground, with the tip at T4 ready to strike through the outer shield of the 31st Infantry division. Warned by the Auk, Alexander had positioned his forces accordingly, with the 25th Armor Brigade in reserve, well behind the 46th Infantry Division where the attack was expected.
But Rommel seldom did what he thought his enemy might expect.
South of Palmyra, its lines scattered along the long rocky outcrop of Jebel Leptar, General Miles’ 56th “Black Cat” Division held the extreme right of the British position. That was where Rommel was going. He did not have his three divisions lined up to follow one another west as a great spear. Instead, he had them all abreast for a big move due south.
2nd Panzer opened the attack against the 46th Division, but at the far right of its lines, very near the sharp range that aimed northwest towards Palmyra. The attack would be made against the 139th Infantry Brigade under Brigadier Vickers. which was screening the rail line that looped through difficult ground in the “Basiri Gap.” That was a rail spur that serviced mining operations just south of that range, and Rommel’s first objective was to capture the rail station at Al Basiri and make it his forward depot for the drive south.
To assist this operation, the whole of the 7th SS Prinz Eugen Mountain Division would scale that ridge and push for the rail line beyond its southern edge. It split northeast of the gap, with the two ridges looking like hands of the clock. The big hand, pointed at 1:00, was aimed right at Palmyra. The little hand was Jebel Lebtar, pointed a little shy of 3:00. That was where Rommel sent the 16th Panzer Division, right around the end of that 3:00 ridge. Beyond that to the east, was the 101st Panzer Brigade and then the Wiking SS, both moving south to attack the 56th London Division. The iron was falling hard on Miles, and he and his men had already felt its bite when they were initially pushed out of Palmyra by Guderian.