“General Montgomery is reportedly moving his headquarters forward to Algiers,” said Kesselring. “You want him to say he beat you?”
“I could care less. What I want is to get to ground I can easily defend. The defense near Algiers is already badly outflanked. We’re holding because the troops on that line are good enough to do so, and the American infantry is still green.”
“Yes,” said Kesselring. “Continue with your arrangements to move east, but keep a lid on it. As for Algiers, keep the 327th fighting there as along as possible. The minute the Allies put out that they’ve got the entire city, Hitler will explode again. At the moment, he is fixated on the East Front. We may just be able to pull off a redeployment without him noticing it too much.”
“I’m already pulling some of the air mobile troops off the line and sending them by rail to Bougie,” said von Arnim. “Kubler’s mountain troops will be next. If we do this right, then we can pull it off without much change in the daily front report to OKW. By just looking at the map, it will seem that the lines of battle remain the same, that we are holding, but the bulk of our best troops will get east, one way or another. But when the balloon finally pops?” Von Arnim gave Kesselring a wary look.
“Then we shall see. It may be that one or both of us loses our jobs here, but we will have at least handed our successors a position they can have every expectation of holding, and an army to do that. Don’t worry, General. My head is bigger than yours. I’ll be the first to go on the chopping block.”
The lines of battle did seem to hold their places on the map for the next several days, but all the while the trains were marshaling at receiving points, and the Germans were conducting one of those masterful strategic withdrawals Kesselring would become famous for. He was an expert in defensive maneuvers, and could read the ground better than any other General when it came to picking out a good place to hold, and knowing when he had to move.
The toughest thing he had to do was make it seem that Algiers was being held to the last. The 327th Infantry Division had only been at about 60% strength there, and now it was down to about six battalions. He told them to be stubborn, and it was house to house as the dogged 43rd Wessex bore the brunt of the attack, pushing into the outskirts of the city on the 13th of October. By that time, all of 22nd Luftland Division, and Kubler’s mountain troops had deftly made their way to the trains and started the journey east.
The American 3rd Division was slow to advance and take over the ground the enemy once held, all difficult high mountain country in the Tellien Atlas. By the time they did get up there, moving cautiously up the road to Ain Bessem, the Germans were long gone. In another day or two all the ground between Algiers and Bougie would be successfully evacuated, and those troops were already being posted to new positions south of Les Falaise.
Patton had clucked when a company from 13th Recon, CCB, 1st Armored, had probed out as far east to reach Barika. That report was just hours old when a battalion of the 104th Panzergrenadiers supported by tanks and KG Luder showed up to summarily evict the Americans. They had been told to screen the roads from that town to the northeast, where Kubler’s mountain troops were arriving at Batna. They would be the ideal force to hold in the hilly ground in that sector.
The German withdrawal would largely be complete by the 14th of October. The price was the 327th Division near Algiers. No more than two battalions and a company of engineers would ever get east, along with the division artillery, headquarters and some flak guns. The last four battalions would still fight for Algiers, delaying Monty’s entry there as long as possible.
Bougie itself was also abandoned, though not before the port and airfields had been subjected to demolition. The new defensive front would be anchored on the coast just east of Bougie by the 16th Regiment of the 22nd Luftland Division. 65th Regiment came next, then the Falschirmjaegers of 7th Flieger and KG Barenthin, their lines ending at Setif on the main rail running east. Another group of these tough soldiers had also just arrived at the port of Bone, under Koch, so the Germans still had plenty of good infantry.
Fairly rugged highlands ran east and south from Setif, and von Arnim positioned Fischer’s 10th Panzer Division to watch the passes. Kübler still had seven battalions of good mountain troops around Batna, and then, behind it all, Herman Goering’s troops would be the fire Brigade.
It would take Kesselring, along with the combined weight of the entire General Staff at OKW, to convince Hitler that the position they had selected east of Algiers was one they believed they could hold. The rapid advance of the Allies would now meet a much better organized defense, and 5th Panzer Army continued to build up supplies in Tunis and Bizerte.
“Hot damn,” said Patton. “We’ve got them on the run again. My boys pushed them right out of M’Sila, and we’ve just retaken Barika as well. Now it’s on to Batna. That’s the real prize. We get that, and I’ll have their flank turned again.”
“Hold on George,” came a voice, and in walked General Omar Bradley, sent in by Eisenhower to help him look things over on the front, and troubleshoot problems. He had not come on the scene until the defeat at Kasserene raised a lot of questions, but in this history, he had just been selected out by Eisenhower for this special role.
Patton turned, smiling broadly. “Brad,” he said warmly. “How are you?”
“Fine George, but it’s the army I’m here to worry about.”
“What do you mean worry? Things couldn’t be better. I was just telling Truscott here that we’ve got the Huns on the run again. Pushed them right out of M’Sila, and that was Rommel’s old outfit, 10th Panzer. Come on, have a look for yourself.” He gestured to the map.
Bradley came over to take a look, though he already knew things that Patton was not privy too. Radio intercepts and ULTRA had picked up the German intention to withdraw. The conversations between von Arnim and Kesselring had been rather transparent. He knew that Kesselring didn’t want the fight at Algiers, but he also had to give Patton credit for keeping the pressure up on the flank, and the fighting at M’Sila had been the culmination of that maneuver on his part.
“Damn good job at M’Sila,” said Bradley. “But the British have been complaining about 34th Infantry—said they were dragging their feet in the push for Algiers.”
“Supplies, Brad. That’s all my fault. It took everything I could get my hands on to keep those two armored divisions out there moving. This is hard country—few roads worth the name, wadis and salt pans everywhere, and no rail lines feeding my move around this flank to M’Sila. That was the key. Every mile I pushed east while the Limeys were knocking on the door at Algiers, was one more mile the Germans had to hold on their flank. They tried to stop me—threw in the whole 10th Panzer Division, but our boys came out on top. Now I want this place—Batna.”
“Good lord, George. Talk about hard country. Those mountains look damn near impassible, particularly for armor.”
“The whole country is damn near impassible, but we made it all the way here, didn’t we? I’ve pushed them 700 miles in 30 days since we landed in Casablanca.”
“Outstanding, but now Ike thinks we need a pause.”
“A pause? What for?”
“As soon as we clear out the last pockets in Algiers, Montgomery wants to move two divisions over from Spain. He thinks we should coordinate our next offensive and not operate independently—Allies and all.”
“Coordinate? He’ll take a month before he decides to do anything. Allies? You let Montgomery settle in and he’ll want to run the whole goddamned show out here.”
“Well, George, your corps is strung out from here all the way back to 34th infantry near Algiers. You’ve got to consolidate, bring up supplies, and they want to land fresh tanks for the armored divisions at Algiers.”