Lewis suddenly became quite solemn. "Have you ever thought, General Malin, that perhaps Herr Ruff is hoping for the same thing?"
Part Three
MALIN'S MARCH TO THE SEA
CHAPTER 10
For over three hours, ever since the last of the mess trucks packed up and left, the company commanders of 3rd of the 3rd Mechanized Infantry Battalion had remained gathered about their battalion commander's humvee waiting. Except for them, the small train station bathed in a sickly dull blue light was abandoned. On the track beside them a train that disappeared in the darkness to the southwest, loaded with their combat vehicles, also sat waiting. Inside each of those vehicles strapped down on the train's numerous flatcars were the crews, who, like their commanders, sat huddled together in silence as they tried to protect themselves from the cold and boredom of waiting. All good topics of conversation had been exhausted well before their last hot meal for many days was over, leaving the assembled groups of combat leaders with nothing of value to discuss. All the orders for the forthcoming operation had been issued. Rehearsals at every level, from battalion down to platoon, had been completed. Concerns had been aired and addressed. Pre-combat checks and inspections had been completed. Pep talks and the few final cheering words that the leaders could manage had been said. Now there was only waiting. Each commander, lost in his or her own thoughts, stood ready like a great jack-in-the-box ready to spring into action as soon as one word, like the latch on the lid, was released.
Standing next to a wooden lamppost at the railroad crossing where her commander's humvee sat, its silent radio waiting to blare out their final order to move, Captain Nancy Kozak pulled out the copy of the message that their corps commander had ordered all commanders, down to company, to read before their assembled units. As befitted Lieutenant General Malin, the corps commander, the message was to the point. In the faint light, Kozak reread the message dated January 14th.
Circumstances have placed this command in a difficult position. As you know, a nation that we had until very recently counted as one of our best allies has created an international crisis in which we, the Tenth Corps, are being treated as expendable pawns. The leaders of that nation, men who are no better than their Nazi forefathers, have seen fit to hold us, the Tenth Corps, collectively guilty for the errors and policies of our elected officials, officials who have seen fit to capitulate to the demands of the Nazi leadership in Berlin.
Although I am pledged to obey the orders of the superiors appointed over me in accordance with the Constitution, the oath of my commission also requires me to defend that very same Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. After very careful consideration, 1 cannot view the surrender of this corps to the Germans as anything but detrimental to the maintenance of long-term peace and stability for the United States and Europe.
I therefore have decided to disregard the President's order to lay down our arms and allow Nazi aggression once again to threaten the world peace. Instead, I propose to march this command from the Czech Republic, through Nazi territory and to the coast, where I will deliver this corps, with all its equipment and personnel, into the hands of my superiors as an effective and combat-ready force.
I must underscore that my choice, my view, may not be shared by many of you. I am, after all, disobeying the orders of the President of the United States. I cannot ask you to blindly follow suit. Each of you, from division commander down to rifleman, must choose on his or her own. I cannot promise you success. I cannot promise you that you will be hailed as a conquering hero when we return to the United States. We may, in fact, be treated as criminals. Possible death and deprivation waits for us along our route of march. What I can promise you is that we will stand up to Nazi aggression, as our fathers and grandfathers did in World War II. If you go forward, with me, we go forward as soldiers, masters of our own fates, ready to uphold our honor as American soldiers and free men.
Those of you who in the depth of your hearts cannot bring yourselves to commit to this enterprise are free to remain in the Czech Republic, where you will be disarmed and returned to the United States. I, and every member of this command, will respect your decision. You, like me, must determine where your true duty lies.
I remind those of you who stay with the colors of what Captain Charles May told his troopers of the 2nd Dragoons before they charged Mexican positions at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma in 1846: "Remember your regiment and follow your officers." Together, with the help of God and the skill and determination that have made the American soldier the most effective soldier in the world, we will not only see this through but will serve notice to the world that the United States is, and shall remain, a force to be reckoned with. God bless you all.
A. M. Malin
Lieutenant General, U.S.A.
Commanding
The address to the corps was, Kozak thought, well thought out and had had the desired effect on her company. Not a single soldier had stepped forward to ask to be left behind. She had, when she had read the message and after, taken every opportunity to ensure that no one was being coerced through peer pressure or pride to do something that they did not want to do. Though she knew that those forces were in effect generally, Kozak was able to convince herself that the members of her tiny command were there that night of their own free accord. For that she was thankful.
Stuffing the piece of paper back in her pocket, where eventually it would be forgotten and slowly destroyed as other items were shoved in on top of it, Kozak folded her arms tightly across her chest as if she were struggling to keep whatever warmth she had left from escaping. The light snow that had begun to fall during their meal was becoming heavier. While this, she knew, would cover their move into Germany and give them the best chance to roll through the German countryside to their point of debarkation without detection, it had its drawbacks. The wheeled vehicles of the battalion's field trains, moving by road after the border posts had been cleared, would have to negotiate the treacherous mountain roads made worse by the same fresh snow that would cloak the entry of the combat vehicles. And the follow-on forces, as well as the rest of the Tenth Corps sitting lined up and ready to' move in fields and along the sides of roads, would have to deal with the foul weather that would hinder them as much as it aided Kozak's company. The whole operation, Kozak imagined, was like one of those giant domino contests run to see how many dominoes you could line up and then knock down with a single push. This operation, she knew, like the domino contest, depended on detailed planning and at times incredible luck. One domino out of place or falling wrong would stop the whole process.
Looking about her, Nancy Kozak suddenly got the feeling that she was alone. Standing there in the bitter night, every sound muffled by the falling snow, the world seemed to be at rest and asleep, not waiting to leap forward into battle. That leap, she knew, would come. What it would mean to her and her command, however, was beyond her comprehension. The whole enterprise was from beginning to end crowded with unknowns. Would they be able to make it through the mountains to their designated blocking positions and unload their vehicles unhindered? Would the Germans resist, and if so, how? How would her soldiers react to that resistance? How would she react?
While Kozak waited and wondered, eighty miles to the southwest, in a break in the mountains known as the Cheb Gap, Major Ilvanich and the rangers of Company A, 1st Ranger Battalion, 77th Infantry, were about to push over the domino of Big Al's gamble.