“And to you, Comrade.”
Yarishlov took the coffee from Kriks, and the two sat in silence to consume the drink.
The tank Colonel spoke to his Senior NCO as he would speak to a friend.
“If someone walks in right now and finds us hiding under a table drinking coffee, we’ll have to do some fast talking, Praporschik Kriks!”
An artillery burst gave the NCO a moment to respond.
“I don’t envy you, Comrade Polkovnik. I am a lowly soldier, just following orders, whereas you’re a Hero of the Soviet Union with a reputation to maintain. Best of luck with that.”
He clinked jugs and downed the last of his brew.
“I should have you arrested for insubordination, Praporschik.”
Kriks grinned.
“Oh, the stories I could tell. The Chekists would be delighted to confirm their veracity with you, Comrade Polkovnik.”
Yarishlov spluttered in his mug.
“I’m away to man my vehicle whilst you organise my detention and interrogation.”
With an exaggerated salute, Kriks quit the room, leaving the door wide open.
Yarishlov grinned like a Cheshire cat.
“Bastard NCOs.”
He picked up the receiver to make another call, only to find it devoid of sound.
The artillery had cut the line.
With nothing else to do, Yarishlov ordered the line repaired, left the small headquarters, and made his way to his T-54 command tank.
The previous battles in and around Naugard had been modest affairs, and few of the 7th Guards Tank Assault Brigade’s tanks had been involved, the 1st’s integral 121st Guards Tank Battalion having been sufficient to see off any enemy armour.
Yarishlov and Deniken had been particularly keen to keep the 7th Guards uncommitted and, more importantly, unappreciated for what it was.
Whilst the presence of the new tank was known, the numbers were probably not, and that was a factor in both Soviet Colonel’s thinking.
Four had been totally lost, two to accidental internal fires, and one each to enemy ground action against tanks, and to air strike. Seventeen more were mechanically unsound and had been withdrawn to the workshop facility in the woods between Wollchow and Wismar, where the mechanics worked feverishly to get the valuable tanks back into the line.
Losses and breakdowns left the 7th with forty-three intact T-54 battle tanks.
Yarishlov’s SPAT company had been sent to bolster Deniken’s positions in Naugard, and three of the monster ISU-122’s had already succumbed to enemy fire.
The Allied artillery gently melted away to nothing, leaving a surreal quiet over the Red Army positions, occasionally interrupted by a secondary explosion or a scream of pain.
Two minutes later, Barracudas from 814 and 837 Squadrons FAA, configured as dive-bombers, arrived to do their part and swooped down from the sky, dropping their bombs on targets identified by the photo recon interpreters; a possible strongpoint here, a likely anti-tank position there.
Fortunately for them, the Soviet AA commander had configured his defence for the normal low-level runs of Typhoons and the like, but the Soviet flak still brought down one Barracuda II and sent a couple more home trailing smoke.
Whilst the Fleet Air Arm attack planes did their bit, top cover was provided by 802 Squadron FAA, their Seafire L/III’s easily repulsing a sally by a handful of Yak-3’s, losing only one Seafire downed to four Yaks confirmed.
Once the Barracudas had safely left the area, 802’s commander responded to the pleas of his pilots and permitted a single sweep over the target.
As predicted by the Soviet AA commander, the Seafires commenced their run as had others before, sweeping in from west to east and using the road from Schwarzow to Naugard as a guide.
802’s first combat loss to enemy aircraft was quickly followed by its first combat loss to ground fire.
The combination of 12.7mm, 25mm, and 37mm fire tore the Squadron Commander’s aircraft apart around him, the Seafire splitting open and coming apart in dramatic fashion, leaving the Lieutenant Commander to ride the cockpit and engine into the woods that concealed Yarishlov’s tankers.
The next two aircraft were smashed in short order, one flipping over and burying itself in the soft ground next to a road junction, the other pulling upwards in an attempt to evade the deadly fire as the cone of fire slowly enveloped the cockpit until only the wingtips and tail could be seen outside the flaming orange-yellow mass that was bringing a horrible death to the British pilot.
The next aircraft flipped away in a hard port turn, the damage easily discernible as pieces of the wing and control surfaces fell away in its slipstream.
Three more Seafires were knocked out of the air, none of the pilots having the remotest opportunity to escape before the expensive aircraft converted themselves to scrap as they drove hard into the ground.
The remaining Seafires aborted their attack and formed up around the damaged aircraft, determined not to lose another friend on a day when the war had become more than a game.
Offshore, the damaged aircraft waited whilst the remainder of 802 landed on their carrier, the Barracudas having already been recovered and been taken down into the hangar.
HMS Venerable, a Colossus class carrier, recovered her Seafires and then the flight operations officer set about bringing in the damaged bird.
No sooner had he lined up the damaged Seafire, than the weakened wing structure lost more integrity and the resultant displacement was sufficient to spin the aircraft into the water.
Most aircraft could float for enough time to allow the pilot to escape, but this aircraft was keen to rest on the bottom of the Baltic and speared under the water in the blink of an eye.
A wingtip appeared, as the buoyant wing struggled to bring the fighter back up, but it quickly disappeared, taking another of 802’s pilots with it.
Back at Naugard, the AA’s success was already forgotten as the British attack smashed into the Guards positions.
[HMS Venerable was sold to the Netherlands in 1948 and served as the HNLMS Karel Doorman. She was later sold to Argentina and renamed ARA Veinticinco de Mayo. She was scrapped in 2000.]
Deniken listened to Lisov summarising what was going on, or as best as the man could interpret from the reports of soldiers under pressure.
The major combat elements of 1st Guards, Yarishlov’s Tank unit aside, were the 167th, 169th and 171st Guards Rifle Regiments, 25th Guards Artillery Regiment, and 121st Guards Tank Battalion, the latter a mixed bag of T-34s, but with Yarishlov’s old T44/100 in the HQ unit.
The artillery were well set back, covering all areas.
The 167th and 169th Rifle Regiments were arranged numerically from west to east, with the 167th centred on Naugard itself. The 171st provided the main infantry reserve in Deniken’s pocket, the headquarters units and First Battalion lying back from the frontline to the south of Naugard.
2nd/171st sat between Naugard and Yarishlov’s tanks, whilst 3rd/171st was on the other side of the defences, in the woods north of Route 144.
Yarishlov’s SPs covered the approach from Kartzig, the 121st, less a shock group of six tanks, set up ready should anything approach from Eberstein or Minten.
The fighting to date had claimed many lives and consumed ammunition at alarming rates, forcing Deniken to send roving units into the rear, seeking ammunition and supplies willingly given or, if kind words failed, to appropriate anything that was needed regardless.