Hammond gave a sigh, “Yes, take a look at this,” he said as he led them to where he had been standing. He gave a quick brief of what had happened so far. “They got to the outskirts of Krakow before the train was finally stopped. They disguised it to look like a simple freight train and we bought it. Then when they couldn’t get farther, they simply pulled up to a siding and the tanks and equipment rolled off the damn thing. The first thing they did was scamper into these towns and are now in between the buildings. I’m having a hard time getting at them with air power and most of my armor is over here on the front. We have some light units moving in, but they can’t do very much. My other troops and equipment are down here in Vienna. It’s going to take some time getting them back up here,” he said.
Jeffers was looking at what looked like a mass of tanks and vehicles just outside Vienna near the Slovakian border. “What are your advisors saying?” he asked.
“They want to put them on trains and get them to Krakow. It’s going to take a couple of days,” he said.
An intense look came over Jeffers’ face. Richardson noticed it. “Tell us what you’re thinking, Rod,” she said quietly.
“Slovakia was attacked the same time as Poland,” he said.
“That’s right,” said Hammond. “Now the whole country is in the hands of the Russians.”
“Yes, but I’m not seeing any major forces in this area. I see some up here near the Czech border, but this looks a little barren,” Jeffers said.
Dortmund looked along the western border. “You know, he’s right. There is this one brigade down here near Samorin and a few here at the crossing near Bratislava, but the rest are up here mostly near Trencin near the border.”
“If you remember, the Slovaks pulled their troops and remaining equipment into the Czech Republic. It looks like a lot of stuff is up here around Straznice and these other two towns. Do we know how much the Czechs and the Slovakians have?” Jeffers asked.
“Not much. Between them they might come up with a short division. Right now they are trying to be ready if the Russians decide to move on into the Czech Republic,” said Dortmund, warming up to the discussion.
“Then why move the Italians and Spanish at all? Why not coordinate an attack from Vienna and from the Czech Republic at the same time? If they both drive in together, they could then move back up these highways here and retake Slovakia. That would cut off these new troops and make a lot of people very happy. With the supplies cut off, these people near Krakow can’t go far. Then we set up our defenses along the eastern Slovakian border and hold on. Once the main operation gets going we might be able to get through and cut off all this,” Jeffers said, motioning toward the southern countries.
“Bloody hell,” said Sir Reginald Kensington, Commander of British Forces. “We’ve been looking at this for two hours and couldn’t see this thing staring us in the face. Let’s think about this. If we did this, it would be like driving a wedge across to Ukraine. These southern countries like Hungary, Romania and Serbia might give up on their Russian allies and come back to our side. At least that would be one of my worries if I were Russian. It might even mean they have to pull back some troops to reinforce their hold down there. It would go right along with our planning. Not bad, young fellow,” he said.
“How long would it take to get the Spanish and Italians online? If they knew the Czechs and Slovaks would be coming in from up north to join up with them, they might be ready in short order,” said Hammond.
“I’ll contact them and get it set up. You may need to call down to Prague and get things started,” said Dortmund.
“I’ll place the call right now. Get me the facts and figures in two hours. If we can do this, I want to kick off in forty eight hours. Get your staffs to kick this in high gear,” ordered Hammond.
The men started rushing from the room as Richardson looked at Jeffers. “Rod, you are frightening. I thought your plans were amazing, but what I just witnessed is quite unbelievable. There were times when we were hung up for days on a problem. You just found a very viable solution in a matter of minutes.” She turned to Hustvedt, “Chris, would you mind if I had him for a while?” she asked with a grin.
“Not on your life. He’s staying with his own kind. I want him with me when we make those landings,” Hustvedt said slapping Jeffers on the back.
Hammond sat back and looked at Jeffers. Even he had not realized the mind that his friend possessed. “Good job, Rod. I’m proud of you. Now let’s get to the business at hand. This afternoon we brief the NATO commanders. This will include most heads of government and military leaders. Admiral McKennon and General Bryant will be going over the Pacific area and you will go over the Black Sea incursion. My staff will go over the European offensive. I will wrap it all up. I trust you have your presentation ready,” he said.
“All set,” said Hustvedt. “We went over it several times on the way over.”
“Good. I hope you realize you will be playing to only the highest hitters in Europe. Even the King of Great Britain will be there. It won’t do to have you freeze up on me,” said Hammond.
“You know better,” said Richardson. “I just hope he can keep up.”
“Oh, he’ll keep up. You’ll find he will ask the best questions of them all. Now let’s go over it right quick so that we can add or take some things out before the show,” said Hammond getting down to business. Jeffers pulled out the laptop. He had never seen a king before.
The trains had been forced to stop at a major rail yard in Tarnow. The tracks had been switched for expected incoming trains and they led directly to a large terminal in the heart of the city. There, a large concrete loading dock stood empty. It was the perfect place. The trains pulled up and the tanks simply turned on the cars and drove onto the dock. They were followed by numerous trucks pulling artillery and carloads of troops disgorging from their transportation directly onto the trucks. Once empty, the train pulled away and a second pulled up, disgorging its military cargo in record time. Three trains later and the Russian mechanized divisions began moving down the four lane highway right beside the terminal toward Krakow. Local civilians could only stare as the Russians moved through their streets unopposed. One man tried to block the way with his truck loaded with groceries. The tanks didn’t even slow down. By the end of the day the truck was no more than a crumpled sheet of steel lining the road. In the end, only a small garrison of men remained. They went to the City Hall and took the mayor as prisoner. There had been no troops in the city to protect it.
“Pack it up! Training’s over. We have to get all this stuff to Krakow as fast as we can,” ordered Master Sergeant Ricks. “Get everything in the crates and make sure it’s got plenty of padding.”
The men were scampering around the large room, disconnecting equipment and sliding it all into designated spaces in the crates for shipping. Despite the fact these men and women had just completed boot camp, they responded with a sense of urgency that bode well for what was about to come. One of the men came up to Ricks.
“What do you need Private Kursov?” asked Ricks.
“Do we need to pack up all the training manuals? It’s going to take up a lot of room and if we’re going right to work, there might not be much need for them,” Petyr said.
“I agree. Just throw the things in an empty crate. We’ll let these guys here take care of them,” said Ricks. Kursov was one of the better young Polish soldiers of the bunch. He had a quick mind and seemed to grasp what was needed long before the others. He’d go far. “Just make sure the maintenance manuals go along. I’d hate to try to fix one of these things without them,” he said.