“Make a note of the frequencies on those dials if you please, Jenkins.”
She quickly made the necessary notes and passed it to the excited naval officer.
“No need to bother anyone about these,” he indicated his briefcase, “Are we clear, Section Officer?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Thank you, Jenkins. Now, get yourself some shut-eye time.”
Her objections fell on deaf ears as the Admiral turned to summon the senior of the three guards.
The door opened and the immaculately dressed MP NCO strode in.
“Ah Sergeant. Section Officer Jenkins is just leaving. Please secure this room, and permit no one to enter without the correct authority or, in the Section Officer’s case, before 1800hrs.”
The USMC officer acknowledged the order and opened the door, allowing the two British personnel to leave, only for them to be replaced by gallons of freezing air.
Solomon Meyer, no more an MP than the two other OSS personnel in USMC uniform, positioned his men, one at each door. Then, as directed by Rossiter, he enjoyed the opportunity offered to rummage through the paperwork, in search of something to confirm his commander’s suspicions about the latest Russian guest, something Rossiter wanted to keep quiet, if at all possible.
Agreement or no agreement, something’s were just too valuable to share.
He had no idea that Dalziel shared that view too.
The New Year marked a new start for Allied air power, and it was being demonstrated across the length and breadth of Europe, as Allied squadrons took to the skies to rain down high explosives on the logistic and communication routes of the Red Army.
The basic principle of the Allied air war was now to apply the maximum possible force as often as possible; whilst avoiding civilian casualties was important, the exiled governments all understood that many of their civilians would die before they could return home.
Across Britain and Western Europe, aircraft of all types and sizes had filled the skies from early morning, all under the ever-watchful eyes of hundreds of fighters. Streams of ground attack aircraft, intent on making the Soviet frontline soldier’s life a misery, followed by more of the same with the light bombers, who visited themselves on reserves and supply dumps behind the lines. The heavy bombers, including RAF units more used to night work, flew deeper into enemy territory, either to level the infrastructure of the enemy war effort, or to undertake intelligence driven missions, requiring the precision placement of tons of bombs on STAVKA reserves.
The US 34th Bombardment Group was one of those fully committed to action.
The 391st Bomb Squadron had taken off from RAF Mendlesham earlier that morning, intent on delivering its payload to the woods north of Weilerswist.
The 391st was also to be the first of the Group’s squadrons to return to a newly assigned home base; Beavais-Tille, in Picardy, France, an old Luftwaffe base that had been heavily extended and refurbished over the past two months, ready to accommodate heavy bombers.
Many of the 34th’s ground crew were flown over from Norfolk by DC-3, and were already working to receive the returning bombers.
Allied planners were now moving many bomber squadrons across the channel and into Europe, ready to extend the range of targets available, and hoping to carry the battle further into the Soviet heartland.
The 391st’s remaining B-17’s, from the 4th, 7th, and 18th Bomb Squadrons, escorted by Mustangs of 2nd and 4th Fighter Squadrons, swept down upon the vulnerable Czech capital, intent on destroying the remaining bridges and railway infrastructure.
Defensive Soviet fighter regiments, already worn down and exhausted, were almost universally brushed aside, and, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, only five Allied bombers were prevented from reaching their targets, with only two of those shot down by interceptors.
Flak defences were more effective and, over Prague, took their toll of the leadership of the three bombardment squadrons.
First to go was the 18th’s senior man. A 105mm shell, fired from a German mount, cut through the lead aircraft’s wing spar.
Whilst many of the crew, including the Lieutenant Colonel, died instantly, those at the two ends of the fuselage were condemned to ride it to earth. The wings folded together and the Flying Fortress dropped twelve thousand feet onto the residential area of Lodénice, obliterating a huge area as the bomb load exploded, spreading flaming aviation fuel across the flammable buildings.
The Colonel leading the 4th Squadron, senior man and mission commander, took a lump of shrapnel in the chest. Despite the flak jacket, the hot piece of metal demolished enough of his vital organs that he died before he could speak, leaving his co-pilot to handle the damaged Fortress to the target and back again.
7th’s commander had fallen out with a serious mechanical problem, and he was already back at the new base, watching his damaged aircraft being unceremoniously towed off the metalled landing strip.
The three bomber squadrons were formed for the attack, and the 4th, leading the group, deposited its high-explosives over the Balabenka district, wrecking the railway lines and sidings.
Behind them, the 7th destroyed their own target, but some bombs went astray, adding the Jerusalem Synagogue and the Prague State Opera House to the list of destroyed buildings.
Bringing up the rear, and south by three miles, the 18th Squadron turned northwards and in behind the lead aircraft, intent on attacking the Štvanice Islands bridges, as well as the road and rail crossings at Vitava, less than a mile north of the island, and also taking out the Bubny railway sidings in between the two.
The 18th successfully took out the main road bridge at Štvanice, and the marshalling yards at Bubny were heavily damaged. The rail bridge at Štvanice remained untouched and, although damaged, the road bridge at Vitava was back in use before the day was out. Again, the rail bridge was unscathed, and the Soviets were able to use both rail bridges to move vehicles, although the damage to rail systems was considerable.
The 7th and 18th each lost another aircraft to flak, although both managed to partially control their landings, permitting some of the crews to escape
Allied planning already allowed for another visit on the 4th January.
Chapter 130 – THE FREEZE
‘Sleep comes inevitably, and to sleep is to die. I tried in vain to save a number of these unfortunates. The only words they uttered were to beg me, for the love of God, to go away and permit them to sleep. To hear them, one would have thought that sleep was their salvation. Unhappily, it was a poor wretch’s last wish. But at least he ceased to suffer, without pain or agony. Gratitude, and even a smile, was imprinted on his discoloured lips. What I have related about the effects of extreme cold, and of this kind of death by freezing, is based on what I saw happen to thousands of individuals. The road was covered with their corpses.’
Thousands died.
Whether they wore green, or brown, or khaki, or field grey, or white, they died as soldiers in extreme conditions had done for millenia beforehand.
Thousands upon thousands suffered as plummeting temperatures, combined with supply difficulties, brought some Allied combat units to their knees.
The Red Army was not immune to the awful effects of that terrible winter, and their own supply lines, already creaking under the strain, were made worse by Allied air attacks across the breadth and width of occupied Europe.