Colonel Thomas Bell Hood was a southern gentleman and not prone to interrupting his Commander in Chief.
Unusually irritated but curious, the under-pressure Eisenhower held his tongue and very deliberately extracted a cigarette before inviting the information.
“Sir, my apologies. It is just that this is gold dust, Sir.”
“OK Thomas. Things are a little fraught around here so let’s move on. What have you got for me?”
“Well Sir, you directed me last week that I should look at Soviet capabilities, particularly their trained manpower.”
“Indeed I did, Colonel, and I assume you have found something of note?”
Hood could have swung into the presentation but he wasn’t that sort of man. Foster had sniffed it out first, so he deferred to her so she would get the credit.
“Sir, Colonel Hood tasked a number of us with looking at availability, behaviour and losses of the various speciality branches of the Red Army.”
She laid out five reports before her General.
Indicating the first report she continued.
“This is low-level intelligence report originating from 12th Group. It gave me my first real indication, Sir.”
Inclining her head so she could quote from it she placed her finger under the relevant section.
“Soviet bridging units seem slower to respond than expected, sometimes appearing after some hours or not appearing at all. This causes inevitable delay for the Soviet advance.”
“OK Anne-Marie. I got that. And?”
“This is an extract I obtained from the interrogation report of the German General Karl Burdach, commander of the elite 11th Infanterie Division in Russia.”
Again she found the passage and read it aloud.
“Soviet engineers were numerous, as well as being extremely effective and competent. Temporary bridges to get infantry across water obstacles could spring up in a matter of minutes and more substantial ones in a few hours. They should take much credit for the rapid Soviet advances, for as quick as we could knock them down, it seemed they were putting them up just as quickly and continuing the advance.”
Not stopping Foster reached across for the third document.
“Here we have some rough timings that I have gathered from intelligence reports. It appears that water obstacles are causing unexpected delays to the Soviet advances. This information has been out there all the time; it was just a question of bringing it all together.”
This time the woman did not recite, permitting her General to scan the list.
Eisenhower’s interest had already been aroused but he was now looking at evidence that the blowing of bridges was having a huge impact on the Soviet advance.
“Is there more, Anne-Marie?”
“Yes Sir. Intercepts which have been partially decoded seem to indicate that Soviet bridging units are now, in the main, Army Group assets at the very least. This would limit their availability, and could explain why there is a delay when they do arrive on site.”
Ike lit another cigarette, his mind working overtime.
“However, Sir, it is in behaviour that I find unusual activity which could be the biggest clue of all.”
She slid the last piece of paper under Ike’s gaze.
“This is a post-combat report from the British 605 Squadron. They had been tasked with an attack on a Soviet engineer bridge laid over the Fuhse River at Groß Ilsede.”
She realised her omission immediately but was swiftly rescued by Hood, who grabbed a small map and pointed out the location. The military importance of maintaining a bridge there was immediately obvious.
“Thank you, Thomas. Proceed, Captain.”
“Well Sir, they failed to bomb it because it wasn’t there.”
“I’m sorry?”
“The engineers had packed it up and moved it off, and as far as we know, there is still no bridge at Groß Ilsede, which has to be causing logistical difficulties for them.”
Eisenhower looked at the map, and back to the RAF report, moving on over each piece of paper in turn.
His officers stood back respectfully to await his response.
“So you are telling me that the huge Red Army is running out of bridges?”
Captain Foster cleared her throat.
“Sir, what I believe is that the Red Army is conserving its bridging assets, be that bridges, qualified personnel or both. That is a departure from their norms. According to the German interrogations this is unusual activity, again not the norm. They have changed the way they are controlled for a reason.”
Again, a nervous cough.
“Combat reports indicate that water obstacles are more of a problem to the Soviets, even those which should be relatively easily overcome. We have a report that assets in place are being recycled prematurely, affecting their logistics, probably in favour of maintaining the advance.”
Colonel Samuel Rossiter USMC was waved down and immediately responded to Eisenhower’s hand-signals.
“Sam, I want your opinion of this. Again, if you please, Anne-Marie.”
Consuming another cigarette, he stood back and listened to it all again as Rossiter received the full brief.
“Well Sam, what do you think?”
“Can you give me two minutes please, Sir? I have something that can contribute to these proceedings.”
“OK Sam. Quick as you can please.”
The Colonel almost bounded out of sight, and Ike fired off more of his hand signals, this time encouraging a steward to bring coffee for the four officers.
Rossiter was back before the coffee was finished, so Ike calmly indicated the Marine’s own full coffee cup.
“Right. Before you give me that,” he indicated the paper in Rossiter’s hand, “Sam, what is your take on this?”
“She sold me, Sir.”
“As she has me. Well done Anne-Marie, well done.”
The smile on her face was worth the wait for Rossiter’s bombshell.
“So now then, Sam, what got you running?”
Rossiter’s identity as head of OSS was still not known but he had, in his own right, recently been established as part of the Military Intelligence liaison team within SHAEF, and it was wearing that hat that he brought his information into open discussion.
“Sir, as you know, the Soviets do not trust the Polish Army and have placed them in occupied Poland, where they will only be called upon to defend their own country from seaborne invasion.”
“Indeed Sam, and I also know you and the British have numerous agents in place reporting back. Might I assume one of them is responsible for that piece of paper?”
“You may, Sir. This is from the Brits and it came in this morning. The report comes from someone within the 4th Polish Engineer Brigade. He speaks of turning over any and all bridging equipment to the Soviets on the 3rd August. He also speaks of how his unit is being employed to dismantle selected engineer bridges in Northern Poland. These are then transported to the west. He describes how volunteers were sought to do engineering duties behind the front lines in Europe.”
Something lit up in Eisenhower’s mind.
“The 3rd? You say the 3rd?”
“Yes Sir, although the preparation order to do so came through some time before that,” and finding the information he sought, Rossiter looked straight into his commander’s eyes, “On the 23rd July, Sir.”
“Good god. They were stripping bridging assets out before the combat losses, so they were obviously short prior to starting this goddamn mess, as well as being prepared to risk Poles putting up their bridges. Short on qualified personnel too possibly?”
Neither Colonel ventured an opinion.
The captain had no such qualms.
“I believe that they are short on both assets, Sir.”
“Explain please, Anne-Marie.”
She took the plunge.