Patton strode back to the middle of the briefing area and set himself again.
“Thank you, Brigadier.”
The British officer nodded and moved back into the expectant mass of senior personnel, all waiting on orders from the man himself.
“Clearly, the Soviets have made a FUBAR of their attack, almost to the point that you could wonder if they meant to do it at all! Not our problem, but we’re sure as hell gonna make the suckers pay big time.”
He turned to the situation map and took in the markings and trappings of the manoeuvres of millions of men and thousands of pieces of equipment.
“The President has given me an order and I intend to carry it out without delay.”
Patton nodded to himself in acknowledgement of the importance of his decisions, picked up the slender metal baton and flexed it gently between his hands.
“Our German and Polish allies have responded quickly, thanks to their exercises in progress, and their efforts will proceed. In fact… will be enlarged.”
Patton’s eyes narrowed.
“In general, we’ll advance across a broad front… keeping up pressure at as many points as possible but… specifically…”
He flicked the baton to the top of the map.
“I plan to start operations in North Norway within three days, if not sooner. The finer details of that’ll be sorted shortly.”
The aggressive general was out of the bag.
“The Polish Army on the Baltic will continue to guard the coastline, and will be responsible for moving up the coast in line with the British advance.”
McCreery gave Patton his full attention.
“The British forces will keep their right flank hinged on the Poles here,” he slapped the map hard, denting the small village of Lazdijai, “With a view to driving forward and occupying Riga as soon as possible.”
McCreery understood his task and that the three hundred or so kilometre advance would require extremely careful planning and coordination with his Polish cohorts.
“Meanwhile, the Polish Army will continue their magnificent counter attacks and convert them into main drives, which will focus on Vilnius and Minsk… simultaneously.”
He took a look at Guderian and offered a courteous nod.
“Fieldmarshal, your forces have responded superbly and I want you to continue with your assaults towards Bialystok and Lublin at full speed… but your centre should pin the enemy in place… push… but not too hard.”
Patton’s intention was obvious.
Encirclement.
“The French forces will mount an attack to support the Fieldmarshal’s assaults, by threatening Zamosc, and another to threaten an attack north of Lvov… here.”
That was a big ask of the reduced French Army, but Patton knew that more units were already marshalling for quick dispatch to the front, and that they were units of better quality than had previously tried and failed against the Red Army.
“US forces will launch a number of attacks from areas in Poland here,” he indicated the southern Polish sector, where most of the US Army was either in the front line or camped behind the lines on policing or training, or simply at rest.
‘Not that anyone in my goddamned army is resting at the goddamned moment!’
“My objective for the US forces is simple. I intend to take Lvov to protect the northern flank of an advance that will take forces to the shores of the Black Sea. Eliminating Bulgaria, Hungary, and Rumania as threats, and as allies to the Communists. This will have the effect of freeing up considerable assets presently tied down elsewhere.”
Patton enjoyed the look on the faces of many of the men present, who quite clearly thought he was asking too much of his forces.
He was asking a lot, but he felt he knew his boys… and no one ever accused George S. Patton of lacking confidence.
“This!”
He again slapped the display, this time precisely on the Austrian capital city.
“We’ll take Vienna immediately, with as little damage as possible. A quick sharp blow should be enough to force them to surrender. Austrian forces have already nearly closed up the supply route… so that’ll be done as quickly as possible.”
He extended a hand to the map, almost tickling the sensitive spot.
“Yugoslavia?”
“Quiet, Sir, but we understand that Tito will be making a very public condemnation of the Soviet aggression. Our sources tell us that there’ll be no issues from the Yugoslavs.”
“Thank you. In other words, Tito is pissed with Stalin. That’s good. We do nothing… I repeat…nothing to bring the Yugoslavs to any other position. None the less, we treat our lines opposite them as active zones. I’m not gonna get caught out. Clear?”
Lieutenant General Morgan, second in command of the Italian theatre, nodded his understanding.
“Right, gentlemen. I want to see some planning by 1100 tomorrow. Ok, then let’s get ourselves in the saddle and go and win this goddamned war!”
1800 hrs, Saturday, 15th March 1947, the White House, Washington DC, USA.
“People of the United States of America, I come before you this evening with a heavy heart, to report to you upon events that will bring despair to every soul… heartache to every fibre of your being.”
“On December 8th 1941 my predecessor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, stood before Congress and told of the Japanese attack upon our country.”
“He used some words that all of you will remember.”
Truman paused, some thought for effect but in truth it was emotion that seized him.
“He called it ‘a day that will live in infamy’.”
“Today, I come before you all to report that, for the second time in a generation, we have suffered such an infamous day, no lesser than that visited upon us by the Empire of Japan.”
“At two o’clock this morning, European time, the forces of the Soviet Union and her Allies, launched a surprise attack upon the forces of NATO in the free countries of Europe.”
Truman paused, even though he suspected that very few listening to his broadcast were unaware of the new ignominy visited upon the world at large.
“I can tell you all that our forces, and those of our Allies, responded quickly and met the aggressors in the field, in the air, and on the high seas, and we have prevented any great advances.”
“Indeed, we are already making inroads into the enemies’ lines.”
“As you will know, following the grievous loss of General Dwight Eisenhower, General George Patton was placed temporarily in command of all forces in NATO, and he has taken charge of the efforts to take the fight to the enemy and punish them for this incredible act of treachery.”
He took a quick sip of water and pressed on.
“The gravity of the situation that confronts the world today cannot be underestimated, as the very techniques and weapons of war now available have changed so much since President Roosevelt took us into a righteous war against the Japanese… and against the Axis of evil that threatened the world’s freedom.”
“These weapons have the capacity to lay waste to land like no other means of war devised before.”
“We find ourselves, once again, involved in a war not of our choosing, but one thrust upon us by the decisions of others… others whose motivation is the suppression of rights and freedoms, and the enslavement of nations.”
More water.
“I promise each and every one of you that the efforts of this administration, our forces, and those of our Allies, will be focussed on the total and utter defeat of the aggressors, and that we will do so with every means at our disposal.”