At least he has the decency to give credit when due and use the word victory, thought Rommel. “What are you proposing?” he said, knowing that Kesselring would have already determined what he wanted here.
“To be forthright,” said Kesselring, “I believe we must first redress what I consider an imbalance in the present force allocations. At Tarhuna, you hold a front of no more than fifty miles with three Panzer divisions, two German infantry divisions, and at least three decent Italian divisions.”
“Not to mention Ramcke’s Parachute Regiment,” said von Arnim. “That is a unit that was ordered to report to Tunis over two weeks ago.”
“What?” Rommel played the fool. “I received no such order.”
“Nonsense,” said von Arnim. “Or have you been so busy seeing to your collection of medals that you over look dispatches from OKW these days, and think you can just get away with it?”
“I have overlooked nothing,” said Rommel. “I tell you no such order ever came to me. If it was sent, then it was lost in transit.” He stuck to the lie, for he knew it could never be flanked.
“Never mind that,” Kesselring intervened. “Whether you received it or not, the order stands, and it comes directly from the Führer. So that unit must move immediately to Sfax. I will arrange shipping to get it up to Tunis, and from there it goes to Toulon, along with all the rest of Student’s Korps.”
“What is going on?” asked Rommel.
“We don’t know precisely, but Goring has been very busy of late collecting JU-52s in Greece.”
Rommel proffered a wan smile. “Crete,” he said flatly. “Someone has some unfinished business to attend to there. Well, it may be too late for that. Those troops could have made a world of difference here. If Goring throws them at Crete, what will they do but sit there, assuming they can even take the place.”
“That is not for us to decide,” said Kesselring. “And while we are on the topic of unit transfers, let me continue. While you hold a fifty mile front with eight divisions, von Arnim has little more than half that many to hold a line that extends from Bone on the northern coast all the way south to Gafsa and beyond—over 200 miles. We must redress that imbalance immediately. I will want, at the very least, one panzer division sent to southern Tunisia immediately. Then I would also prefer a German infantry division, either one will do, but if you cannot part with them, then you must send me two more Italian divisions.”
“What? You want 30% of my Army?”
“Your math is correct,” said von Arnim. “Frankly, as I see things, the eight division force should be here in Tunisia, and not in Tripolitania. Then you can try holding your fifty miles with four divisions, and see how you fare. I’m up against eleven Allied divisions here, and I believe you are contending with no more than seven or eight divisions in the British 8th Army. It’s a miracle I have been able to keep Eisenhower from rolling right in to Tunis, and if he does that, this whole affair is over—for the both of us.”
Rommel’s eyes narrowed. He had expected this. They were going to continue to pick apart his Panzer Army Afrika, which was really not anything more than a good strong Korps by any standard he knew. Yet the imbalance Kesselring was pointing out was plain enough to see. In fact, he had considered a daring new plan himself, and now he decided to propose it.”
“Suppose I sent you three good German divisions instead of two,” he said calmly, much to the surprise of both the other men. “And suppose this Field Marshall comes along with the bargain.” He looked at von Arnim now, knowing the mention of his leg up in rank would rankle him.
Kesselring smiled. “What do you suggest?”
Now Rommel leaned over the map table. “As you have seen,” he began, “the position at Tarhuna is very strong, but I can count no more than five or six supply ships that have made it down to Tripoli in the last two weeks. Goring has most of the Luftwaffe up north in Tunisia and Sicily, which is why I was quite surprised that the few fighter squadrons I had in hand did so well. This big operation into Syria and Iraq again was the reason for that. It caught the Allies off guard, and they have used their Western Desert Air Force to redress the initial imbalance on the ground in Syria. But that will not be the case for long. Bombers are already revisiting Tripoli daily, which is why I get most all of my supplies by Siebel Ferry along the coast now, which has become a long, drawn out affair. So aside from consoling the Italians with the thought that they still have part of a colony in North Africa, why do we need Tripoli?”
“My thinking exactly,” said Kesselring. “In fact, I have spoken with both Bastico and Cavallero lately, and sounded out this idea to gauge their initial reaction. Face it, Libya is a lost cause, notwithstanding your gallant efforts there, Herr Field Marshall. Logistically, the distances were simply too imposing to keep your army adequately supported. It’s a miracle that you prevailed as long as you did, particularly against that new heavy armor that the British introduced. Strange that we have seen nothing of the kind here, and I hope to god we never do. That said, I suggested Tunisia might be a much better prospect for the Italians, and both Bastico and Cavallero agreed. They said Mussolini has always had his eye on Tunisia, and that he is fed up with the entire situation in Libya. After all, the Italians have taken the real beating there. They’ve thrown whole armies on the fire, and seen them burn, for what they were worth. So I think Mussolini would support a general withdrawal from Tripolitania. Is that what you propose?”
“I do,” said Rommel enthusiastically. “There is good ground from Ben Gardane through Medinine, Mareth and Gabes. That ground is one of the most defensible positions in all of North Africa, even better than my present position at Tarhuna. I suggest I withdraw there immediately. I can position my Italian Korps at Medinine, backstop it with one good German infantry division and possibly one of my Panzer divisions. That would allow me to then lead a decent Panzer Korps into southern Tunisia to cooperate with you, von Arnim. The Mareth line is our Thermopylae. We can retire there in stages if heavily pushed by O’Connor, making our last stand there opposite Gabes. The badlands west of that port will make it very difficult for them to flank that position. They’ll simply have to power through, which will take time. And I can use that time to smash the Americans, allowing von Arnim to concentrate his smaller force on stopping Montgomery.”
“Then you propose to operate in Tunisia yourself?”
“I believe I was clear on that,” said Rommel.
Von Arnim noted that Rommel gave without yielding anything with this proposal. He would retain command of all the divisions he brought into Tunisia, and nothing would go to strengthen 5th Panzer Army directly. Yet even with that arrangement, his situation would be infinitely better than it was now, where it was only time, supplies, and the winter mud that was preventing Patton from pushing all the way to Sfax. He knew that with Conrath’s division added to Fisher’s 10th Panzer, he might put in one good counterattack, but Patton still had all of six divisions, outnumbering him three to one in the south.
“What if I joined you in this attack,” he said quietly, giving Rommel a cautious look. “I have positioned my mobile units here, near Medkour and Kassem. The Americans have stopped to consolidate their position along the rail line from Constantine to Tebessa. If Patton gets up more fuel and supplies for another move, and if he attempts to make a run for Sfax as we believe, then it was my plan to strike due south towards Ain Beida again to cut him off. We still hold Tebessa, but they are massing troops to take that soon. If you can move quickly, up through the pass at Faid and through Sebeitla, then we can coordinate the offensive together.”