“Bradley says the line has stiffened up,” said Patton. “The Germans were forced to go defensive when Monty showed up. That’s another rabbit I managed to pull out of my hat, and it’s a miracle that man moved so quickly. I didn’t think we’d see him until next Tuesday. Now… Any word on the rest of Harmon’s outfit?”
“They arrived last night, sir, loaded for bear with all new tanks.”
“Magnificent! Can you put them on the road through Les Baines to Tebessa right away? The Huns are at the door down here, and Robinette’s boys have been fighting all week. I need a big steel shod boot to kick that door shut again.”
“You’ve got it, General. I’ll get word to Harmon on this for you, and tell him where he can find his CCR. Then I’ll leave for G7 right away.”
“Fair enough. I do owe you one for this. I know I can be a real pain in the ass at times, but you’ve done your job and done it well. Now go put some fire in the belly at II Corps. I want those two infantry divisions ready to attack in support of Monty’s move up there. As for Ryder. He plunked himself down in a defensive laager, well to the south, but I think he’s got Jerry worried about his flank. That’s at least good for something. Word is that a good chunk of 15th Panzer is still facing him down, which means I don’t have to kill those sons-of-bitches here.”
Truscott couldn’t see it, but he knew Patton was probably grinning ear to ear with that. Patton would find that CCR before Harmon even got word, and he had it moving exactly where he wanted it that same hour. He had been moving all the pieces on the board that he could get his hands on, amazed that he had managed to talk Montgomery into coming down to lend a hand.
Now he was at Tebessa to fight the gallant stand against Rommel’s two tough Panzer divisions. He had the ground, and he had reserves, and for that he was grateful. The sheer size of a US Heavy Armored Division was daunting. It had six tank battalions with 270 tanks organic to those units, and some 30 more scattered in other division elements and HQs. The two American Armored Divisions had started the campaign with 600 tanks, and a good 500 still remained active, with others in the shops or wrecked on the field of battle.
Harmon’s CCB had 300 of those, and Patton was marching it to his fortress wall to relieve the battered CCA of Ward’s 1st Armored. His other two Combat Commands were slowly bulling their way through the pass at Damous, forcing Fischer to pull more and more troops back to that sector. The daring plan Patton had conceived would have never dawned in the mind of lesser Generals. It was risky. He had mixed commands from both divisions instead of fighting them together as a whole, though this was largely forced on him by circumstances.
It had been his ability to go to Montgomery, hat in hand, that really made the difference, and to his credit, Monty had risen to the occasion in a way that Patton had never thought possible for the man. The swift and deliberate deployment of 10th Armored south from Constantine had changed everything. It had forced von Arnim’s attack to completely halt, giving Patton, Bradley and now Truscott time to pull together the two sagging US infantry divisions in II Corps.
This day, when von Arnim looked at his latest situation map, things looked very bleak. He picked up the telephone to call Kesselring, convinced that this offensive was now over.
Chapter 9
The storm had reached its high tide, and the weather was changing. Off on the distant horizon, von Arnim could see new clouds forming dark ridges in the sky.
This should not be happening, he thought. This army should not be able to stop us here. I should have deployed my two divisions closer together, and formed one strong thrust. If I had an infantry division, I would not have had to cover such a broad front. Yet even so, I was pushing the Amis back just as I expected. Then Montgomery shows up—those damnable British.
“The situation has changed,” he explained to Kesselring. “I do not think I can occupy the ground I’ve already won in this offensive any longer. There is simply too much pressure on my flanks.”
“You know what Rommel will say.”
“Let him say anything he wants. He had the Lion’s share of the Panzers, quite literally, and most of the Tigers as well. Has he taken Tebessa yet? I think not. The fact remains that if I stay where I am, it is the same situation I faced earlier—two divisions trying to hold a 25 to 30 kilometer front, and now I am facing two British and three American division sized units.”
“Two British?”
“Montgomery has reinforced his attack with 10th Armored.”
“Interesting,” said Kesselring. “I didn’t think the man could move that quickly. He was tenacious on defense in Libya, but we haven’t seen how he conducts an offensive yet. Well, let me have a look at the latest situation map, and I’ll have a chat with Rommel tonight. Yet if things are as you say, then I think Sturmflut is over, a brief Spring rain instead of what Rommel had in mind. He won’t like it, and frankly, I think he will be recalled home to Germany after this. O’Connor took Tripoli from the Italian garrison he left there, and Mussolini is screaming that he again sacrificed those divisions like lambs to the slaughter.
O’Connor had indeed accomplished that, but with his 4th Indian and 1st South African Infantry Divisions, with a little tank support from the 7th Armored units he was sending back to Benghazi. With one hand he had closed the long arduous and often dramatic campaign in Libya, while with the other fist he was now knocking hard on the gateway to Tunisia.
“Albert,” said von Arnim. “I think we are finished here. It is only a matter of time now if we do not get at least two more divisions over here.”
“Perhaps. I am not prepared to say anything of the kind to Hitler yet, but I think we must put aside this will-o-the-wisp Spring Wind idea, and revert to a stubborn defense. Start looking over the maps of the terrain behind you. We will need to hold Gulema and Souk Ahras for as long as possible. I will also have to order the infantry on the coast back as far as Bone. Don’t worry, Tunis is still a long way off, and I think we will still have a good deal of fight in us.”
“I’ll still be operating with only four divisions,” said von Arnim. “It won’t be easy.”
“Given the fact that O’Connor has taken Medinine and is forming up to attack Mareth, I think Rommel will have to return there very soon. But I don’t think he will need three Panzer divisions. I’ll see about getting one of his units transferred to your command.”
“That would help,” said von Arnim, the tone of dejection evident in his voice. “This should not have happened. We should have kicked the Amis all the way back to Algiers, just as Rommel boasted.”
“We should have done many things that never happened in this war,” said Kesselring, “and we are doing many things that never should have happened. There are some things I think you should know, von Arnim. We will speak again on this at another time….”
Kesselring sounded somewhat cryptic with that, but von Arnim would never imagine just how strange that conversation would be one day, and what it would portend.
Smiling Al’s call to Rommel at mid-day on the 8th was just more bad news for the old desert warrior. O’Connor had smashed the Italians at Medinine in a single attack, the French Constantine Division was putting pressure south of Ghafsa, forcing Randow to send two more tank companies south to stabilize that sector. The American 34th Division stubbornly refused to retreat, and now it was merely being watched by the rest of 15th Panzer and parts of the Superga Mountain Division.