With a hole in his lines 5 kilometers wide southeast of Kharkov, Zhukov now realized that his position on the Middle-Don was fatally compromised. He had to pull back from his tantalizingly close positions near Kharkov and cover Chuguyev. His risky ploy to try and stop and defeat Steiner in the south had failed. Now he had to worry about getting those troops on the Donets to the line he had proposed to Sergei Kirov, particularly the slower moving infantry of 2nd Shock Army.
Furthermore, while Kuznetsov and Steiner slugged it out on the line of the Volkov River, Kirchner’s 57th Panzer Korps had defeated Malinovsky’s 2nd Guard Mech Corps to the north and east, and that flank was also becoming very unstable. It was time to retreat, and he crossed his fingers with the hope that his commander could coordinate such a move under heavy enemy pressure.
So this battle in the south will be called Volkov Yar, he thought, and the Germans will claim it as a victory. That rankles me, to have that bastard’s name plastered on the history of these events. We must rename that town….
The afternoon of the 19th, the Germans paused, with some battalions down to 30% supplies. The Russians were now in full retreat towards Chuguyev, and Manstein was in possession of Volkov Yar. The first great clash of all these rebuilt armored formations was over, and with a clear and decisive outcome.
When it was over, Soviet tank losses would be 20% of their lighter T-60/70’s, 23% of all T-34’s, and 40% of their heavier tanks, including 60 of the 90 SK-I model, which had borne the brunt of the defense against those Lions. In that heavyweight division, both sides fielded about 525 tanks each, but the German losses were only 10%. The Lions were simply beating their armored enemies to death, and in that tank, Germany had a war winner if the Russians could not adapt quickly.
Chapter 32
That was not the only war winner Germany had in hand, and this was yet another grim realization that settled on the busy minds of Whitehall. Sir Alan Brooke got the full report on the incident in the tube that caused such loss of life, but it was what came after that really shook the command tree in England.
The Bomb.
“Concerning that incident at Victoria Park,” said Brooke. “I’m afraid it wasn’t a thermal bomb as we first thought.”
“Not a thermal bomb?” said Churchill. “I was told the trees and foliage were completely burned.”
“Yes, that was so, but we’ve now determined some most unusual after effects occurred. It took some time, but the casualty rate has been creeping steadily upwards.”
“How so? From injuries sustained by the blast?”
“In a manner of speaking.” Brooke did not mean to beat around the bush, so he came right out with it. “Radiation,” he said flatly. “The estimate is that anyone within the blast zone may have received as much as 500 Rems. I’m not entirely conversant with the meaning of that myself, but according to reports, it can be quite lethal, with a fatality rate between 50% and 90%.”
“Radiation…. My God, then we’re talking about an atomic weapon?”
Churchill knew about them, for he had given his own authorization for Britain to begin working on such a project in August of 1941, the T.A. series projects, where the T.A. stood for Tube Alloys. That was the covering code handle for Britain’s effort to develop the bomb, but now it seemed, and with the shock of cold water, that Germany had beaten them to the punch, quite literally.
“Casualties were relatively light,” said Brooke. “We were lucky this one landed where it did, in an open park. Frankly, we’ve also been lucky that they haven’t visited us again. I’m afraid we’ll have to put the emergency protocols into effect now. I know you’ve grown quite fond of your bunker office, but concrete and earth only give so much protection against this sort of thing. It’s the radiation…”
“Yes,” said Churchill. “The ghastly perfected means of human destruction; the monstrous child of our war technology has finally been born, and it seems we were the ones unfortunate enough to hear its first cry. Yes… Put the protocols in place.”
That had to do with the scattering and dispersal of key government offices, personnel and vital records. Nothing could be centralized to a point where it might fall victim to one blow. The bomb that fell on Victoria Park was quite small, just a tenth of the size that the Americans used on Hiroshima in one telling of these events, but the fear it produced was of an equal nature, once it was fully understood what had happened.
“We finally get air superiority, and then this damn thing gets through. I’m told it was delivered by a Zeppelin? Well, why in god’s name didn’t we get up after the damn thing. Surely we must have seen it plain and clear on the radar sets.”
“It was seen,” said Brooke, “and tracked. We did have fighters up, but they couldn’t reach it. The Spits top out approaching 12,000 meters. This thing was up over 15,000 meters—50,000 feet.”
“They dropped it from that high up?”
“Apparently. The Germans have been experimenting with glide bombs. They used one effectively at Novorossiysk.”
“Not all that effective if they had to send Admiral Raeder into the Black Sea. That said, the prospect of another great Zeppelin scare is already frightening. This time it will be an atomic Zeppelin bomber….” Churchill shook his head.
“Concerning the Black Sea,” said Brooke, “the developments in the Caucasus have certainly changed things.”
“Quite so,” said Churchill. “Sergei Kirov must be very relieved, yet he hasn’t buried the hatchet with Volkov yet. I suppose I can understand why after 20 years of hostility.”
“He seems happy to let Orenburg get a good taste of what the German Army can do when its guns and tanks are put against you,” said Brooke.
“Volkov has the devil to pay now.” Churchill shook a finger, forcing a smile. “Hitler is after his oil too, and he’s already got Maykop and Groznyy.”
“It doesn’t seem like they’ll go any farther. That big Soviet offensive got their attention. And our interdiction of the Baghdad rail line in Syria and Iraq has had a good deal of success. They got another infantry division through to Baghdad, but we took out a big supply train yesterday. Air power, Winston, that’s the ticket. It’s a long way yet to Basra and Abadan. Frankly, I think Jumbo Wilson will hold, particularly after he gets the reinforcements we’ve sent. But this General Guderian certainly delivered the goods, wouldn’t you say?”
“Unfortunately so,” said Churchill. “If General Wilson can hold him at bay, then we might be able to focus on finishing the job in Tunisia. What’s the holdup?”
“The Americans teed up an operation that was largely successful—Operation Hammer. It forced the Italians to give up Mareth and retreat north. Then the rains set in, thick and heavy. General Eisenhower is hopeful they can make another big push soon, and the objective is to try and get to Tunis in May.”
Churchill nodded. “Then it’s on to Sicily—possibly even Sardinia. Hopefully Jerry has no more Easter eggs to throw at us any time soon. They haven’t come again with that Zeppelin since the attack on Victoria Park. I wonder why? Nor have we had any word from them by way of a threat to repeat that attack.”
“Bletchley Park thinks it was a prototype, a kind of macabre test to see if they could deliver the goods, and gauge its effects.”
“Well they delivered alright,” said Churchill. “Ghastly… How is Whitehall taking this? I certainly hope there isn’t any talk of our surrender to this monstrous technology.”
“Quite the contrary,” said Brooke. “It’s been stiff upper lip, but they certainly want to get moving with our own TA projects. Time seems to be running out. If this was a prototype, then the Germans know it works. Now their effort will be to increase the size and lethality of the damn thing, which is what really worries. It may not just be Victoria Park and the surrounding neighborhood that gets the blast next time. It could wipe out most of central London if they get one big enough.”