Hammond nodded thoughtfully. “I like it. Let’s try it out in your sector. If it works, get the word to the others and take it across the whole line. Start with the grenades, then talk to me when you have the mine thing ready to test. My only concern is that our own people might step on one of these things in the tall grass. I trust you have written all this down,” said Hammond.
“Yes, sir, even the plans for whittling out this foam. It’s the only thing we could come up with and keep us in the running,” said Sanders.
An officer came into the room and saluted. Hammond looked up from the others. “Sir, it looks like something is getting ready to happen down south. You may want to come see in the planning room,” the officer said.
Hammond nodded and got up. He looked over at Ricks and Sanders. “I have to go.
Guys, keep doing the best you can do,” he said with a weak smile.
Ricks had already noticed that his friend was starting to look tired and haggard. He could not imagine trying to do his job. He took Hammond’s hand and leaned forward. Hammond turned his head to listen.
“Roger, take care of yourself. Don’t forget to take time out to shake some of this off. It’s what I would tell my people,” he said. He felt the handshake tighten.
“Thanks Dale. You do the same. One of these days maybe we can just sit back and swap stories like regular people.” Hammond stood back and slapped him on the shoulder with a wink and a smile.
Ricks grinned. “Aye, aye, sir,” he said.
After bidding the two goodbye, Hammond left the room and headed down the hallway to a guarded door. He looked at the soldiers guarding the door and showed them his identification and security cards.
The guards stood back and Hammond went through the doors and down a hall into a darkened room. In the center of the room was a huge square table. On it was a three dimensional image of the entire battle front. Consoles lined the walls manned by intelligence personnel and a number of high ranking officers were around the table. Hammond turned to the watch officer. “Okay, what’s the new development?”
The watch officer shifted the image to just inside Slovakia. Just east of the city of Presov, four military trains were traveling not two miles apart to the west. Although covered with netting and tarps, there was no mistaking the large outline of tanks and trucks. This was made even more evident when the image zoomed in and followed one of the trains. It looked for the world like a model train Hammond had played with as a boy.
“Admiral, it looks like this is just the first shot. Just south of Lviv, there are two more groups just like this one on the way. By my count, that makes three whole divisions of tanks, artillery, and personnel. In Smolensk, there are even more trains being set up. We know they aren’t coming to the front since they have taken the train lines headed southwest across the border into Slovakia. In Smolensk, there is a big stockpile of equipment and supplies. We first thought it was headed this way, but a lot of it was loaded on these trains. The question now is, where are they going?” the officer said.
“How much equipment is still to be loaded?” asked Hammond.
“They have only loaded about half of it so far,” reported one of the intelligence officers. “Since they started this move, nothing has gone across the Polish border. I believe this is an effort to get at our flanks,” he said.
“I believe they will push on through Bratislava and toward Vienna,” said General Keuster, the German intelligence liaison. “It’s a straight shot to Vienna. Keep on going and they achieve the same results, just going a more southern route. With their army holding our nose up here, we just don’t have the forces to stop them,” he said.
Hammond looked at the area. “How fast are they going?”
“These are moving about 80 miles an hour. It looks like they have cleared the rails all the way,” said the watch officer.
“Yes, but all the way to where? There are rail lines going up into Poland and the Czech Republic as well. If they head upward through Prague, they can achieve even more. What are you seeing?” asked Hammond.
“Sir, there is not a train on the line between where they are and the Austrian border. The rest have freight traffic,” he said.
“So it looks like they have cleared the lines so they can get there as fast as they can,” questioned Hammond.
“That’s the way it looks to me,” said Keuster.
“Okay, we go on that assumption. Where are the Italian and Spanish divisions now?” asked Hammond.
“The Italians are in Graz, in Austria, and the Spanish are near Munich. They sent two divisions each, including one armored division each. The rest are not on the way as yet,” the General said.
“At that pace, the Russians could be in Vienna within three hours. Get those Spanish and Italian troops to the Austrian border as fast as you can. “I doubt the Russians will come across the border by train, but somewhere in there they will disembark and head west. That will give us a little time. Contact General Matthews and have him try and sortie some bombers to try and break up their party. Then call the staff together. We’ll need to take care of this new threat,” ordered Hammond.
President O’Bannon sat is his chair in the briefing room and listened to the members of the Joint Chiefs as they laid out things that had happened the day before and the plans for the day. It was starting to sound the same as every other day. There wasn’t much progress in Europe. The Allies had been able to push the Russians back and to frustrate any temporary gains, but until the main push began, there wasn’t much anyone could do but watch. One good note had been that because of the use of the technology Hammond brought into play, casualties were light on the Allied side. People and equipment were being used sparingly so that when needed, everything would go at once.
As the last of the briefers finished, O’Bannon began his usual questions. “Carrier status?”
“The Kennedy made it back and is in drydock as we speak. Initial estimates are that she will be out for at least three months. Stennis is almost finished along with the Washington. The rest are down hard,” said the CNO.
“What about Lincoln?”
“Newport News sent a team and they are working day and night to get her off the bottom. It’s still up in the air,” the CNO said.
“The invasion is just a month away. So you’re telling me we won’t be able to support those landings and a crossing?” the President asked.
The CNO gave a smile. “Actually, we can. Our submarine assets have been whittled down by about ten, but they are still sinking ships. On the aviation side we will have the Nimitz, Roosevelt, Washington, Stennis, Truman and the Enterprise. In addition, we are presently turning our amphibious assault ships into carriers. They are smaller, but can add a little more weight. On that side we have the Wasp, Essex, Kearsarge, Boxer, Bataan, Bonhomme Richard, Makin Island, the America and Tripoli. As you recall, the Iwo Jima was sunk in Norfolk. She’s a total write off.”
“So we have six front line carriers and nine LHAs. With the scope of this operation is that going to be enough?” asked O’Bannon.
“I’m hoping the Lincoln will be ready, but that should be enough to cover the bases. Of course, we are supplementing with the battleships. They will be ready on time,” said the CNO. “They will be supplemented by the British carriers Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales plus an assortment of cruisers, destroyers and frigates. The French fleet will be available for sorties into the Baltic as weather permits. The other Allies are providing ships, but that is the bulk of our naval assets,” he concluded.