He studied the new corps commander. Montagne was tall, so tall that he had to crouch to get out of the helicopter. Once on the ground, he carried himself carefully erect, ramrod-straight. In his late fifties, his hair was almost completely gray, with just a few streaks of brown poking out from under his service kepi.
Seeing the general’s distinctive headgear sent a strange feeling through von Seelow. The French kepi was an almost perfect flat-topped cylinder, about six inches high, with a small straight visor. In Montagne’s case it was dark blue, generously decorated with two gold rings of oak leaves, his four-star rank in a wreath on the front, and a red stripe around the crown. In various forms, it had been worn by the Army of France for a hundred years. Nothing else was so distinctly French.
Another officer stepped down, not as tall and much darker. Willi recognized General Alfred Wismar, a German and another tanker. Assigned as deputy commander for the new II Corps, Wismar did not look particularly happy with his new assignment. General Karl Leibnitz, commanding officer of the 7th Panzer Division, trailed along behind his two superiors.
Colonel Bremer braced and saluted the group. The two German generals hung back while Montagne cheerfully returned Bremer’s salute.
The two chatted briefly, in passable German, Willi noted, before Bremer guided the tall Frenchman down the line of brigade staff officers. Greeting each one warmly, the corps commander seemed careful to pronounce each man’s name properly.
It was his turn. The Frenchman had a firm handshake and his dark brown eyes seemed as friendly as his manner. Von Seelow let himself feel a little more optimistic. Maybe this won’t be such a disaster, after all, he thought.
With the senior officers following and a burly-looking German sergeant taking notes, Montagne moved on to conduct a quick, perfunctory inspection of the 191st. The general strode confidently, almost arrogantly, past the assembled battalion, stopping only occasionally to exchange a few words with one of the officers or for a closer look at the soldiers or their gear.
Von Seelow’s first favorable impression faded slightly as he watched the French general examine a panzergrenadier’s weapon. The G3A3 assault rifle was older, longer, and heavier than the ultramodern MAS rifle used by French forces. Everyone in the Bundeswehr knew it was outdated, but budget cuts in the early 1990s had slowed production of the army’s high-tech replacement, the Heckler & Koch G11. Even so, the G3 was still a ragged, reliable firearm, perfectly capable in the hands of a well-trained soldier. So there seemed little justification for Montagne’s contemptuous glance when he tossed the rifle back to the blank-faced grenadier. Or for a later comment that some of their Marder personnel carriers seemed “a little long in the tooth.” Considering that the comparable French APC, the AMX-10P, was almost as old, the remark seemed unnecessarily snide.
His inspection apparently over, Montagne marched back to a small raised platform and microphone near his grounded helicopter — trailed by a frowning group of German officers.
“Soldiers of the 19th Panzergrenadier Brigade, I greet you! Today marks an historic moment, a moment of glory for all Europe! For France! And for Germany!”
Von Seelow stirred uneasily. The general’s words were spoken in accented German, but the underlying posturing seemed all too French. With old customs and forms tainted by Nazism’s absurd melodrama, the Bundeswehr cultivated a deliberately low-key professionalism.
“I look forward with great eagerness to the coming years.
You and the other men of this division show great promise. And I am sure that, with hard training and constant devotion to duty, you will all become fine troops — soldiers for the future.”
From his position behind the Frenchman, Willi could see the carefully concealed resentment rippling through the ranks. He felt it himself. Who did this general think he was dealing with? These men were seasoned volunteers, not callow conscripts.
“In the coming months, my staff and I will institute a series of refinements to your tactical doctrines. New thinking is always hard, but I promise you that the advantages of these reforms will be readily apparent to each and every one of you — even to the lowliest private! And with these new tactics will come greatly increased fighting efficiency and combat power.”
No wonder Wismar looks unhappy, Willi thought. We are schoolmasters being taken to task by the students. As if the French could teach Germans anything about armor doctrine… My God, Rommel himself had once commanded the 7th Panzer!
Von Seelow’s unspoken concerns crystallized into certain dismay while Montagne thundered on about the bright future waiting for the combined Franco-German armed forces. Otto Yorck was right. This man was a disaster. The kicker came when the French general spoke about what he termed “simple administrative matters.” His language, so falsely dramatic before, suddenly turned vague and bureaucratic.
“Naturally, new force structures and new defense commitments require new dispositions. Accordingly, the Confederation’s Council of Nations has approved the redeployment of certain units. Including this one. When our II Corps becomes fully operational early next month, it will begin assuming key defense responsibilities for the region around Cottbus.
“To prepare for that, the 7th Panzer Division will send advance parties to that area next week. Your division’s leading elements will transfer during the last half of this month. I expect this entire corps to be at its new posts within six months.”
Willi was thunderstruck. Redeploy three divisions all the way to the other side of Germany in six months? Certainly it was possible to march units further in just a fraction of that time, but this was a permanent move. Ammo dumps, fuel depots, and spare-parts stockpiles would all have to be packed up, shipped, and then unloaded by the corps’s supply troops. Several thousand armored vehicles would need special maintenance support. And nearly fifty thousand soldiers and their families would have to find barracks and housing in and around the eastern German town. Better than most, he remembered what those old Soviet-built facilities were like. Bad when they were built, they must be almost unlivable now. The men were going to need careful handling. Who was…
Von Seelow suddenly noticed that both Leibnitz and Bremer looked as stunned as he did. Was this a total surprise to everyone? He studied Wismar’s face. Montagne must have told his deputy, but the German general looked even unhappier.
And why move them in the first place? The Bundeswehr only had three corps in its entire army. Stretched thinly, I Corps, the 7th Panzer’s present parent organization, was responsible for maintaining order over much of central and western Germany. Now, less than a week after this new European Confederation took shape, its leaders were apparently planning to cram almost the same firepower into a single narrow sector on the Polish border.
Von Seelow had seen the news reports of rising unrest inside Poland as oil supplies ran short. But that hardly seemed a justification for this massive troop transfer. The Poles weren’t a military threat. Nor were there any signs that the Russians were emerging from their self-imposed cycle of martial law and military purges.
He shook his head slowly. Whatever was going on, it didn’t look good.
First Lieutenant Tadeusz Wojcik noticed the change as soon as he walked inside out of the damp, chilly morning. An air of quiet concern and steady purpose filled the regimental operations building.
The long concrete building was the nerve center for the 11th’s three fighter squadrons. Not only were the regiment’s administrative offices here, but downstairs in the specially hardened basement, radio and radar operators managed a slice of Polish airspace stretching from the Czech Republic in the south to the border with Germany in the west. The camouflaged headquarters bunkers and buildings housing the 3rd National Air Defense Corps were right across the airfield. Responsible for all of southwestern Poland, the 3rd’s staff officers and senior commanders controlled the 11th Fighter Regiment, several other aircraft units, and a mixed bag of missile units — some using American-made anti-aircraft missiles, others still equipped with old Soviet-manufactured SA-2 and SA-3 missiles.