Even as Patton and Montgomery were planning their counterattack, Fredendall was sleeping in his bunk, his edgy staff officers eyeing him with some chagrin from time to time. So it wasn’t Fredendall that was holding that vital flank, but Eddy and Anderson. When Patton then put in a call to Fredendall’s HQ, learning first where it was, and then hearing that the General had to be wakened, he went through the roof. He found General Bradley and a small section of fast jeeps and told him to go up to Ain Beida and take over command of II Corps. Fredendall’s staff was to go there directly as well, and the old General himself was ordered to report to Eisenhower.
About 4pm that day, the German attack began to falter. Tank losses were not heavy, but the Germans had attacked over the valley floor, crossing two wadis in the process, and now fuel and ammunition were becoming a problem. Two of the panzer battalions were down to 30%, a minimum reserve, and so Fisher was reluctantly forced to pause. In doing so, he ordered II Battalion, 104th Panzergrenadiers, to Damous Pass to reinforce Huber’s defense. He had lost four of his 18 IV-F2’s, a pair of Marder III’s and one Nashorn, but inflicted far worse harm on Gaffey’s CCA.
This move by Patton, though not yet the successful breakthrough and envelopment he wanted, had already done much to unhinge von Arnim’s entire operation, and some of it was pure happenstance. A Lieutenant in 3rd Company of the 81st Recon Battalion in Oliver’s CCB had been scouting well north of Charpinville when the order came to withdraw to Damous Pass.
“Well hell,” he said, squinting at a map. “It looks like the General wants to go right up the main road to Souk Ahras. This road we’re on now will take us right on up there—about 20 klicks. If we backtrack, it’s at least that far to get to Damous, and then another 18 klicks to Souk Ahras from there.”
“But Lieutenant. Everyone else will be on that other main road. We’ll be out here all on our own.”
“Look around, Sergeant. See anyone else out here but us? We’re recon. This is the shit we’re supposed to be doing. The Brass might want to know if this damn road is passable.”
And that was that. The company started up that road and when it reached the village of Taoura it stopped for a rest. A Luftwaffe fighter taking off from the airfield at Souk Ahras spotted them, and raised the alarm—American light mechanized forces on the road, just nine kilometers from Korps HQ at Souk Ahras.
Von Arnim went ballistic. He got on the phone to Fischer, a man already a week into an all new life, for he had avoided that mine that killed him in the old history on the 1st of Feb near Mareth. He had to quickly detach half his recon battalion and a company of tanks from the defense he had been building up at the pass. His entire drive south had come to a complete halt, and the division was now in a defensive posture.
The first elements of Bug Oliver’s CCB from 1st Armored were beginning to arrive near Damous, and late in the day that much needed reserve would form up just below the pass.
Part III
Swan Song
“One who cannot dance must not blame the song.”
Chapter 7
That evening the British 24th Armored Brigade began to arrive in a perfectly neat column behind the extreme left flank of the U.S. 3rd Infantry. The first thing they did was begin setting up their guns, and then an enterprising Colonel of the Artillery made a simple mistake. The rest of the division would take time to follow and assemble, and Monty had planned on a morning attack. But the Colonel took map reference points from the Americans and thought he might start registering his artillery. A Lieutenant in 1/I Panzergrenadier of the Herman Goring division was leaning on his halftrack, taking a moment to enjoy a smoke when the registration fires started.
“The British!” he said with some alarm to a nearby Sergeant. “Those are not American guns. I’d know the sound of a 25-Pounder anywhere. It’s the British. Get to the Captain and inform him of this. He’s likely to hear it just as I did, but let’s make no mistake.”
This astute officer had just provided battlefield intelligence in a way that could not have been obtained by other means. The bad weather that day, and the fact that the British had arrived well after sunset, meant that they might not have been detected until the following morning. But now General Conrath was soon informed that the enemy had brought in fresh reinforcements on his right flank, and he didn’t like it. He got on the phone to von Arnim at Souk Ahras, and the two men discussed the situation.
“What is there?” asked von Arnim.
“We won’t know that until morning,” said Conrath, but they have already started registering their artillery. The men up front tell me it’s 25-Pounders—the British.”
“They have also pulled out of the Charpinville sector and Huder sees a lot of force building up below the pass at Damous.”
“That is a new strong buildup on both flanks,” said Conrath. “Could they be planning a pincer operation?”
Von Arnim resisted the urge to dismiss that out of hand, believing it beneath the capabilities of their enemy. He was very close to his objective at Ain Beida, cutting the Americans off from the British, but now it seems that Montgomery had decided to act, not by positioning additional forces on defense, but apparently by planning a counterattack, which seemed to be coordinated with that buildup to the left of 10th Panzer at Damous. Patton and Montgomery… they were as different as night and day, but could they pull something like this off? And where was Rommel?
From all reports, 21st Panzer Division flowed through the pass at Kasserine largely unopposed, but now they were locked in a head butting duel with an American armored force. Then there was a report concerning an engagement at Sidi Bou Baker. 15th Panzer Division had run into an American infantry division there, which delayed Rommel’s move north through Feriana and Thelepte. Now the Luftwaffe reported it was seeing what looked to be a division sized formation coming up from the south at Tozeur, and this could only be the damnable French.
That has to be the Constantine Division, thought von Arnim. We believed it had retired south for good, intending to stay out of the fighting, but it seems the Allies have been courting new friends. The French… Well, we have their country, their navy, and to hell with the rest of them here. Yet now Rommel will have to look over his shoulder. These two incidents will give him all the excuses he needs if this operation fails. But what should I do?
“Conrath,” he said. “You’re the man on the scene. What do you advise in your sector?”
“I think we should be cautious here. I have a mind to strengthen my right flank, but to do so I will have to suspend the drive on Ain Beida until we see what we have in front of us. I must say, the Amis have not been the pushovers we thought they would be. And frankly, I smell Patton in this. Montgomery would have never planned such a counterattack.”
“Fisher tells me he needs fuel and ammo,” said von Arnim. “Very well. We will suspend for one day. Make any defensive arrangements you deem sufficient. I will speak with you again in the morning.”
When that morning came on the 6th of February, the entire complexion of the battle would change. The unexpected French threat to Ghasfa from the south, von Arnim’s need to adopt a defensive posture, Rommel being paired down to an attack with two divisions instead of all three, had all shifted the balance of the battle. Then one further development presented itself. Rommel was soon going to be looking over his shoulder in more than one direction. O’Connor’s British 8th Army had been consolidating at Ben Guerdane for some time, and now he was opening an offensive against the Mareth Line….