Front signal troops had worked miracles establishing a means of communications that half measured up to the one that had suffered at the opening of the Allied offensive.
Chuikov was taking advantage of his new freedom by shouting down the phone at Zhumachenko, the harassed commander of 40th Army, one of the formations that had taken the biggest hits.
“I don’t give a fuck, General. You are not authorized to withdraw, not now, not later, not tomorrow. Is that clear?”
He clicked his fingers, summoning a map.
Running his dirty fingers over the creased paper, he confirmed his thoughts.
“Now listen to me, Comrade Zhumachenko. You will hold the line from… Tolmezzo across to… what does that say?”
Bogoliubov strained his eyes.
“Moggio di Sotto…”
“Moggio di Sotto… and above all, you and the Yugoslavians will hold Tarvisio, clear? What do you have there at the moment?”
He spat to one side as an unsatisfactory answer was delivered.
“No, no, no, that’s not enough. Put more there and do it fucking quickly, man!”
Lighting a cigarette, the Marshal relaxed back into a rocking chair.
“Look, Comrade. The capitalists’ve caught us by surprise, by there’s no chance of them breaking us, provided your army sits fucking tight and holds. I’m getting 7th Tanks and 4th Cavalry to dig in hard in the Gail valley, and you’ll provide the time for that. I wish you good luck, Comrade.”
Terminating the call, Chuikov waited whilst his CoS received a written report, expecting it to be more bad news.
He was clearly right as Bogoliubov rummaged for another map.
“Comrade Marshal, 7th Guards Army has a big problem.”
He held out the written report but Chuikov declined to take it.
“Show me.”
“Here… at Vipiteno… 53rd Rifle Division is uncontactable and here… at Imst… 28th Tanks have come under direct fire… in a rear line position.”
“Get me Shumilov immediately.”
The signals officer got to work immediately whilst Bogoliubov proffered the signal again.
“Report originates from Quartermaster Mayor General Alexandrov of 7th’s rear services.”
“What have we got to spare?”
“27th Army of course, but you want to save that for counterattacking still.”
“Only if we have something else we can send, Comrade.”
Examining the unit roster, Bogoliubov married names with places, and found some assets.
“163rd Rifle Division is resting here at Telfs.”
“Good, good… more.”
“115th Guards Anti-tank Artillery Regiment is here,” he sought out the location and placed his finger on it, “At Nassereith, complete with a Shtrafbat.”
“Excellent, get them moving immediately, place them under the command of 28th Tanks. I know the man and he’ll do the job. Tell the 28th what’s coming and that he is to hold his ground at all costs.”
The signals officer held out a radio handset.
“Comrade Colonel General Shumilov, Comrade Marshal.”
Chuikov took the handset swiftly.
“Comrade General…”
Showing unusual patience, Chuikov gave the man some licence to vent his anguish, waiting until the man had fired out his report and expected plea for air cover and reinforcements.
“Mikhail Stepanovich, you know you can whistle for air cover, but I’m working on your problem right now. 28th Tanks has reported as engaged at Imst. I’ve sent 115th Guards Anti-tank and what’s left of the 163rd Rifle to bolster that position. What you’ve just told me fits that scenario… wait.”
The map lay open in front of him and the Marshal did some swift calculations.
“I’ll authorize an adjustment to the line based on Imst to Vipiteno, which you must retake immediately. Clear?”
Chuikov’s eyes flashed in fury.
“I don’t give a fuck! You’ll damn well do it or I’ll find someone with the balls to do it and you’ll be counting fucking trees!”
Chuikov took a sip of his tea as he listened to Shumilov’s angry retort, knowing that he had wound the competent man into coiled spring with his words.
“Good, Mikhail Stepanovich. Now, above all, you will hang onto 1st Southern and 26th Army. No gaps that the bastards can slip through. Your priorities are to protect Innsbruck and the routes to the north into Germany. Do you understand your orders, Comrade General?”
“Fine. Now, put someone on who can fill my staff in on your dispositions please. Good luck, Comrade.”
Handing the phone to an aide, Chuikov stood and looked at the situation map, knowing that it was already outdated.
Allied Commanders had decided that, in conjunction with the main assaults of Spectrum, precision bombing missions would be dispatched to take out the headquarters of the Soviet Fronts and other priority formations.
The limiting factors were the availability of properly trained aircrew, a similar issue with suitably modified aircraft, and limited stocks of the devices that were to be employed; namely the Tallboy and Grand Slam super bombs.
Planners decided on ten missions in total, which left some of both types of bomb in reserve for priority missions in support of the objectives of Spectrum.
Below are the now accepted results of the Heracles missions.
Heracles I - HQ, Red Banner Armies of Soviet Europe.
Smashed, rendered ineffective, heavy casualties amongst Frontal command staff, and with Marshal Konev killed. The command group needed to be completely re-established. Zhukov took command from distance in the interim.
Heracles II - HQ, 1st Polar Front.
Heavily damaged, rendered ineffective but command fully restored within three days. Alexandrovich was amongst the wounded, and he succumbed to his wounds on 2nd April.
Heracles III - HQ, 1st Karelian Front.
Smashed, rendered ineffective, with heavy casualties amongst Frontal staff. Govorov was badly wounded.
Heracles IV - HQ, 1st Baltic Front.
Missed its objective completely. Allied intelligence was misled, and an alternate command position was bombed instead. This was, perhaps, the biggest failure of the Heracles Missions.
Heracles V - HQ, 1st RB Central European Front.
Command facility totally destroyed, with heavy casualties to Frontal staff, but, due to Malinovsky’s organisation and alternate deployments, with only slight disruption to command ability.
Heracles VI - HQ, 2nd RB Central European Front.
Heavy damage and rendered ineffective for four days. Heavy casualties to Frontal command staff. Petrov, temporary commander, was amongst the dead.
Heracles VII - HQ, 3rd RB Central European Front.
Light damage inflicted overall, but severe damage specifically to communications. Restored to full working ability within four days.
Heracles VIII - HQ, 1st Southern European Front.
Smashed and rendered totally ineffective. However, 1st SEF had a mirror facility set up to train replacement personnel. This was swiftly organised to take over control, resulting in less than 24 hours disruption. Yeremenko was slightly wounded and continued without a break.
Heracles IX - HQ, 1st Alpine Front.
Severely damaged and rendered ineffective. Heavy casualties to Frontal staff. Chuikov was slightly wounded and remained in command.
Heracles X - HQ, 1st Balkan Front.
Modest damage and casualties, including Tolbukhin wounded, albeit lightly.
Six RAF and one RAAF aircraft were lost, with four of those from one mission, that being Heracles X.
Debate on the effectiveness of these missions continues to this day, and it is certain that the failure to inflict any damage on 1st Baltic counts greatly against Heracles.