“My Führer, I am relieved and much gratified that you finally see this, but I am still sorry I let you down.”
“Nonsense, nonsense. If you had a beast like this at your command, you would have certainly beaten the British at their own game. We were late, that is all. This will be corrected. There will be more—new Panzerjagers with even heavier armor, new planes to support them, and deadly new weapons for our bombers. I have seen the results of a number of tests, and things are looking up! Last week, I delivered a nice little surprise to London. We have a new bomb—very powerful—and I am told it uses uranium at its core to create the explosion. It was only a prototype again, a small warhead to test the feasibility of such a weapon, but the results were very good. Now… Imagine yourself at your new command, with tanks like these, and a weapon that can smite the enemy armor concentrations and utterly destroy them! This is what lies ahead, Rommel. So do not look so glum.”
“My Führer, I have every hope to continue serving you.”
“Good. Take your rest, and then I will have new operations for you to oversee. Much will happen in the months ahead—you will see.”
“On that note,” said Rommel. “I was told there may be another panzer division for Tunisia. That would come in very handy there. If I did not have to use a full division to cover my southern flank near Ghafsa, I would have—”
“Yes, yes, all that is over,” said Hitler with a wave of his hand. “We must look to the future now. This business in Iraq is a major new front, and we certainly caught the British by surprise. I want you to look over the reports, see if you have any recommendations—when you have time, of course. First, go and see your family. Then, when you have rested, report to me again. I have big plans for my Field Marshall. This Winter offensive was very well timed.”
“In Russia?” asked Rommel.
“No, everything is frozen solid in Russia, and be glad you are not there if you think the desert was a harsh environment. Nothing has moved there for months, but the spring thaw must come one day, and we will soon look north to Leningrad. By that time, most of the Panzer divisions assigned to that operation will have been rebuilt. It was only this necessity that prevented me from sending you more in North Africa. I hope you understand.” Rommel nodded.
“The real winter surprise was in the Middle East, and this will matter a great deal, you will see. Once I get Baghdad and push on to Basra, I will have choked the life blood out of the British position in the Middle East. Then you and I will meet to discuss how best to proceed. I will want your thoughts on all of that, so do make time to read those reports sent by General Guderian. At last he shows me what he is capable of. In Russia he had the same complaints as you—new enemy tanks, inadequate supplies and fuel, impossible weather conditions. Now I think I have finally put the right man in the right place at the perfect time.” Hitler smiled. “Perhaps you will join him soon, and with tanks like this one at your command. Imagine that, Herr Rommel.”
The dark light was kindled in the Führer’s eyes, but for his champion, far away in Iraq, the cold light of reality was now in Guderian’s eyes as he considered what was now before him.
Baghdad, thought Guderian as he looked at the distant city, silhouetted by the red ball of the setting sun on the 22nd of February. Six weeks and here we are. There’s the city, the minarets rising above the domes of those ancient mosques, the smoke from the souks and bazaars. It sits there like Moscow, the heart of this country, with a river winding its way through the middle of the city, just like the Russian capital. This time, I hope we do not have to burn the place down to take it.
Back in ’41, it was the bone numbing cold and snow. Here it will be just the opposite. It is pleasant now, with temperatures reaching no more than 70 degrees Fahrenheit, but that will change in a few months. I am told that by late August, the mercury will be pushing 120 degrees here in this desert. It is only this mighty river that allows this place to exist. It comes all the way from the Turkish frontier, just as I have, but now this river is nothing more than an obstacle.
I have my Brandenburgers here on the west side of the Tigris. That’s where my first objectives are, the airport at Al Muthana, and of course the main rail yards. We’ve finally cleared the rail lines north to Mosul. The old Berlin to Baghdad railway is finally ours again, and as long as I can keep rolling stock moving, we’ll get adequate supply, and perhaps even reinforcements. So the Brandenburg Division will fight to clear this side of the river, and secure those two key objectives. Schmidt’s 10th Motorized will fight with them, and that will give me seven regiments here, considering that I will have all five regiments of the Brandenburg Division.
Now that Kirkuk is ours, Hitler must be dancing about OKW and in a fine mood. Good. I hope it lasts a while. But something tells me this fight here is going to be more difficult than anything we have yet attempted in this operation. Out along the Euphrates, we used our speed and superior motorization to simply run rings around those British Indian Divisions. One made it back here, in the south near the airport. The other went to Kirkuk, until the odds there looked too grim, and now it is undoubtedly retreating south to come here as well. From all reports, there are two others, the 8th and 6th Indian Divisions. So this may become a difficult fight.
I’ve taken the time to resupply, and get that rail line open. Now I have Schneider’s 4th Panzer Division east of the Tigris after he crossed at Al Taji. Tomorrow Westhoven returns with Hans Hube and all of 3rd Panzer Division. He stopped that spoiling attack the British launched at Palmyra, and thankfully, Hitler keeps producing the ground units he promised me, so that front can be held by the troops from 12th Infantry Korps.
There was some trouble up north after the British abandoned Kirkuk. It seems that Volkov’s Turkomen divisions thought they were going to rule the roost there at Baba Gurgur, but I had specific orders from Hitler himself that those oil fields were to be occupied by German troops. Volkov’s rabble got pushy, until Oberst Barenthin showed up with his Sturm Regiment of Fallschirmjagers. That settled the matter. The regiments of the 78th Sturm Division have come south on a parallel track to the retreating enemy units, and that will even the score here.
It will leave some 30,000 Turkomen infantry up there near Kirkuk by all accounts, but none of them want to tangle with Barenthin. I’ll get another infantry regiment for Kirkuk, and the Turkomen troops can serve as garrisons elsewhere in the region, and keep an eye on the Kurds. Lord knows, I don’t want any of that rabble down here stumbling about my operations. As far as Volkov’s contingent is concerned, their war here is over. Let them sit about and smoke their hashish.
Alright, the engineers have shored up the Hasan Bridge south of Al Taji. When Westhoven arrives tomorrow, he can use that bridge and join Schneider east of the river. Then I’ll want both divisions to strike from the north and aim right for the heart of the city. This place is a warren of political and military objectives. We’ll need to take the Royal Mausoleum and other palaces, all the rail yards and workshops, the key government ministry buildings, parliament, the major banks, and of course, the key bridges, if we can get them intact. There are also embassies from Belgium, Spain, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Britain, the United States, and even China. Those of belligerent countries will have to be taken, searched, and closed.