By accident, the Russian Tank Colonel had aimed his first effort straight into the weakest of the Canadian infantry units in front of him, Carleton & York’s C Company having been badly handled during its defence of Tostedt.
The situation had seemed stable enough to Lieutenant-Colonel Lascelles, although his five mile frontage was considerably more than accepted practice it was manageable because of the river lines.
Neither river was broad but days of heavy rainfall and considerable efforts by engineers and service personnel had made it into an obstacle that was more than enough to deny tanks and vehicles access and certainly deep enough that any infantry would be seriously slowed up swimming across it. A few mines scattered on the home banks also helped to make him feel secure.
The Carleton & York’s were bordered on the north-west by the Royal 22e Regiment, the famous Van-Doos of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade. They were anchored in Tiste and maintained a contact with Lascelles’ own ‘A’ Company, whose flank extended to Burgsittensen. To the south-east was the Loyal Edmonton Regiment of the 1st Canadian Division’s 2nd Infantry Brigade, positioned at Konigsmoor, and running all the way to Luneburg heath and beyond.
The arrival of most of Kommando Tostedt had been a boon, as he had been expecting them to be lost in the hopeless defence of Wistedt. He assigned them a reserve position in Tostedt Land, where the carrier Platoon was also situated.
His perception changed, and the situation now seemed less than stable, as a report from ‘B’ Company indicated a large number of Russian infantry with tank support pressing hard against their positions around Tiefenbruch.
Lascelles had little idea that his whole battalion would be but a memory within two hours.
Yarishlov had halted the advance west from Otter on nothing more than intuition, sensing rather than knowing that he was missing something.
Calling his officers together for a brief orders group, he laid a map on the ground and dropped onto his haunches to examine the land once more.
Before he could address the group, the 4th’s Communications officer interjected, barely controlling his breathing from his run.
He passed over a message form that confirmed Yarishlov’s intuition.
“Comrades, we have an opportunity here, and I intend for us to grasp it.”
Passing the message back to his signals captain, he continued.
“The 79th Motorcycles has found Tiste unoccupied and the bridge over the Oste intact.”
Officers leant over and checked the map, developing immediate understanding of the enemy omission.
Such errors happen in war, and the Royal 22e’s had been withdrawn on orders, a mistake that left the Carleton & Yorks vulnerable.
“I am going to order,” he looked up to check that pencils were hovering over notebooks, “79th Motorcycles, my 1st Tank Battalion, and the Guards Engineers south over this Bridge.”
He checked the name on the village he was looking at.
“The engineers will occupy Burgsittensen and these woods, and hold.”
Moving down the map, he tapped a point approximately 1500 metres north of Stemmen.
“I want 79th to set a screen here running from these woods across to the river. This bridge,” he indicated the apparently intact bridge north of Stemmerfeld, “I want this under observation so we can drop artillery on them if they gather to cross it. That will be a priority target, Mayor, clear?”
The artillery officer nodded his understanding.
“1st Tank Battalion and its grapes will sweep up the river line and into Wümme. No further forward than that for now. I want anyone in this area to be an enemy,” he placed his hand over the land between the two rivers centring on Tostedt Land.”
“1st will take Everstorfermoor under fire and prevent westward movement.”
Checking the unit markings closely, Yarishlov made a quick note before speaking to the Infantry commander. He looked up and noticed the young infantry officer standing next to his temporary Divisional Commander, noting with satisfaction the new bandage on the recent arm wound.
“Your wound is treated satisfactorily, Comrade…?”
“Zvorykin, Comrade Polkovnik. Yes, thank you.”
Yarishlov grunted by way of reply and moved on, addressing the senior man, illustrating his words with gestures at the map.
“I want this unit, 2nd Battalion of your 1195th, to head to Vaerlon as quickly as possible, and then push south. I wish to test the possibility that the river can be forded. If it can then I want them in Avensermoor and no further. If it cannot then harass from as close to the river as they can comfortably achieve.”
The Infantry Lieutenant-Colonel understood perfectly.
“These units opposite Everstorfermoor, I want them noisy and harassing the enemy but no more for now. I want to keep them interested and confident in their positions.”
The acting Divisional Commander of the 360th smiled.
“Yes, Comrade Polkovnik, we can do that.”
The man, so often let down in the past by fanatics, whose ideas were no more than ‘charge and die’, found it wholly refreshing to be under the command of someone who was extremely competent.
“I want half of my 2nd Battalion here as soon as possible, leaving the other half to support the infantry around Tiefenbruch as before.”
Looking at his watch, he did the mental arithmetic.
“Units near Tiste must go now, so get those orders out.”
Two men hurried away to the radio to pass on the new orders.
“I want to start knocking on the door very soon, so I will go with what we have here, and the 2nd Battalion will have to catch up.”
Catching Major Zvorykin’s eye, he continued.
“You suggested the artillery change in case the enemy had defences on our flank here,” tapping the bloody mark the young man had left some time before.
“I shall give you an opportunity to test that. Your infantry will take the Dreihausen Bridge and hold it. Then you will take a force down the river on the south bank, linking up with my tanks at Wümme.”
The young officer kept his expression fixed.
“If there are enemy forces there, where you suspect, I want you to bring our artillery down on them. I want nothing of note on my left flank while I am pocketing these British clear?”
“Yes, Comrade Polkovnik,” a grin finally splitting his face.
“Right then, Comrades, any questions?”
The artillery officer chipped in with two suggestions on additional targets and offered some rapid fire plan call signs, but that was that.
“Then we will go now and pull the enemy in towards us. The trap can shut on a fat bag of Tommies. Good luck comrades.
An under-pressure Lascelles started to receive reports as the Russian plan swung into action. Artillery and mortar fire had intensified all along his front, and troops had appeared opposite most of his positions.
It seemed that only the ends of his line, namely ‘A’ and ‘C’ Companies, were not affected at the moment, so he focussed his attention elsewhere. The bridge at Everstorfermoor had not yet been blown, despite the efforts of a platoon of engineers. Orders went out to ensure the job was done.
Support Company reported their bridge ready for destruction and Lascelles immediately gave the instruction to drop it into the water, especially as Soviet infantry had appeared on the road from Rotenburg.
His strongest unit, ‘B’ Company, had already dispatched some Soviet recon troops, but now they were coming under increasing pressure in Tiefenbruch and Riepshof.
The presence of Soviet armour to back up the infantry caused him concern, so he ordered the carrier platoon to move across to assist. That would give them an opportunity to employ their newly acquired knowledge. Ex-soldiers in the Bucholz Kommando had shown the carrier platoon how to use the Panzerfaust, and each carrier had a load of six weapons. As a sensible measure, Lascelles had also agreed with the Bucholz KommandoFührer to release a dozen men to the carrier platoon, in exchange for one of the Vickers machine-guns, ammunition and two boxes of grenades. Lascalles now smugly felt it had been a fair swap.