For the infantry company, it was a similar story: three completely destroyed, a fourth with both tracks lost, and a fifth with minor damage to the turret but capable of continuing with the battle if called upon. Twenty-six infantrymen had been either killed or severely wounded. Some of those that had survived were in a serious state of shock and temporarily deaf. But they would be expected by their leaders to remain with the unit and fight when called upon. Ten tank crewmen had been killed. Kharzin had also lost a ZSU 23/4 and an SA-9. The British have drawn real blood for the first time in regard to the 12th Guards Tank Division, he thought.
“Four-Eight-Zero, this is Four-Eight-One. Passing your location. Orders. Over.”
“Push for Ronnenberg. Link up with the airborne. I’m right behind you.” He ordered 1st Battalion forward.
With that, he gave the order to move to his driver, who was still slightly shaken after experiencing his first taste of being under artillery fire. He pressed the pedal and the armoured giant surged forward. Not far away was a T-80K, followed by two MTLB command vehicles belonging to the 1st Battalion HQ, as the commander came forward with his third tank company. Soon, Kharzin would have a full battalion, minus the casualties, starting to make progress.
“Four-Eight-Zero, this is Zero-One-Two. What is your situation? Over?”
“Artillery strike. Temporary halt. First-battalion pressing forward,” replied Kharzin.
“Keep up the pressure, Yury. There’s to be no stopping,” responded the Bear.
“Understood. The British artillery will strike again once they relocate.”
“We will deal with them. Forward, Yury, you must move forward. Out.”
“Four-Eight-Four, this is Four-Eight-Zero. Report. Over.”
“We have sight of Four-Eight-One. Situation Report. Over,” responded Captain Kalyagin, the commander of the regimental recce company, from his BMP command vehicle.
“Go ahead.”
“Contact with airborne. Two elements have secured Ronnenberg and Wettbergen. You have free passage. Over.”
“Understood. Make your way to Ditterke and report. You must secure the gap.”
“Understood. Will contact you when we have a visual. Out.”
Chapter 3
The Soviet planners of the invasion of West Germany had a number of routes, options, available to them. Two consisted of a strike into Western Europe from the area of the River Danube in the south, or across the flat, open plains of Germany in the north. Crossing the River Danube would allow the Warsaw Pact to attack through Austria and into the soft underbelly of West Germany, in between Nuremberg and Stuttgart, supporting any attack from Czechoslovakia. In the north, the flat open plains straddling Minden, north and south, would allow the fast movement of massed tank armies, although the growth of the West German population and subsequent expansion of the towns and villages would in effect provide small defendable fortresses. A third and fourth option was to cut through the two corridors of the Fulda-Gap: an area that stretched between East Germany and Frankfurt am Main where two low-lying corridors linked Bad Hersfield in the north and Fulda in the south with the River Main. Situated close to the banks of this major German river sits Frankfurt. Napoleon’s armies used these very routes after they were defeated at Leipzig. Over 100 years later, during WW2, it was the route taken by the US XII Corps as they advanced on the Germans in 1945. The northernmost corridor passes south of Knullgebirge and continues around the northern slopes of the Vogelsberg Mountains, a volcanic massif reaching a height of 773 metres. The southern corridor stretches from the town of Fulda to Frankfurt via the Flieden and Kinzig valleys, straddled by the Vogelsberg Mountains to the north with the Rhon and Spessart Mountains to the south.
Emerging from the western exit of these two routes, the Soviet army would encounter less undulating terrain, speeding up their advance after the slow, restricted corridors they would have initially navigated. From there, they could strike out for the River Rhine and attack deep into the heart of the US military, centred on Frankfurt am Main. The Rhein-Main Air Base, designated to receive a huge bulk of the US reinforcements, had to be defended at all costs.
Beyond Frankfurt, the US army garrison of Wiesbaden was a mere thirty kilometres away. The defence of this gap was in the hands of the US V Corps. With the 11th Cavalry Regiment, the ‘Black Horse’ Regiment, completing its role as a covering force after being pushed back by the advancing forces of the Soviet 8th Guards Army. General Stilwell, commander of US V Corps, had now committed the rest of his forces to the defence of this critical sector. His toughest unit was that of the 3rd US Armoured Division, and it was this unit that would take the brunt of the next phase of the Soviet attack.
The most famous soldier in the 3rd Armoured Division during the 1950s was Elvis Presley, assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 32nd Armoured Regiment, Combat Command C, at Ray Barracks in Friedberg. After his time in service, Elvis made the famous movie G.I. Blues in which he portrays a 3rd Armoured Division tank crewman with a singing career. Former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell, also served in the 3rd Armoured Division and went on to command V Corps in Germany. However, the Spearhead Division was about to face its toughest task yet.
The M113 Armoured Personnel Carrier, the first armoured vehicle of its kind to have an aluminium hull, slewed left, coming to a halt, depositing the HQ element of the platoon it carried. The soldiers dismounted as a second APC pulled up alongside them. The platoon leader beckoned for his men to deploy along the edge of the wood on the lower part of the slope, northwest of Schluchtern, they were assigned to defend. A third and fourth M113 manoeuvred further into the trees where their squads would also dig in overlooking the L3292, a minor road that ran west from the Autobahn that snaked southwest through the 3rd Brigade’s position.
The platoon leader, Lieutenant Garcia, and his four squads had the task of protecting two units from the anti-tank platoon sent from the support company. They were expected within the next ten minutes.
Garcia made his way into the trees and met up with his platoon sergeant, Sergeant First Class Ricardo Park.
“LT, I’ve put first and second squad on the far left, weapons squad in the middle with third squad on the right.”
“What are the foxholes like?”
“Good, sir, a decent size. The engineers have done a half decent job. The squads just need to sort out some top-cover.”
“Let’s go take a look then, Platoon Sergeant. We need to get the APCs moved pretty soon.”
Before they could take a step towards the lower slope, the sound of the ITVs could be heard making their way through the trees. Although the forested area was very large, the trees themselves were fairly widely spaced, allowing smaller armoured vehicles to weave their way through slowly, providing someone guided them on foot. They turned around and headed back towards where the M113s were parked up and were met by an infantryman on foot guiding one of the M109 ITVs through the trees. Behind the lead ITV, they could see a second one following. The gunner who was the guide raised his hand and called a halt, and Garcia and Sergeant Park made their way over to the vehicle. The driver’s helmeted head, goggles pushed up and back, could be seen peering out of the driver’s hatch.