CHAPTER 5
There were fifty-two merchant ships in the first convoy to leave the shores of the United States enroute for Europe, all were carrying war stocks and the 1st (US) Armoured Division. To escort this irreplaceable cargo eastward, NATO had assigned a carrier battle group, led by the Nimitz class carrier USS Gerald Ford.
It was an all US effort and included two Los Angeles and two Seawolf class attack submarines, ranging far ahead and on the flanks. Their inclusion had been debated long and hard due to a late night video summit by the heads of NATO countries, following the fourth use of nuclear weapons in anger, since the birth of the bomb.
Admiral Conrad Mann had the task of delivering the ships to the shores of Europe in one piece and had insisted on having a voice in the political decisions of protecting his charges against the submarine, and later the air threat facing them.
His combat group was larger than any other carrier group since the Second World War when it entered the international waters of the Atlantic Ocean, he only hoped it would be the same size when it got to the Irish Sea. There were fifteen thousand men and women in the Naval and merchant ships counting on him to out-fight and out-think the enemy, the fighting men who would man the vehicles would be waiting on the far shore. At least he would not have their deaths on his conscience if he got it wrong.
700 miles southeast of Iceland, twenty-eight submarines of the Red Banner Fleets 4th, 5th and 9th flotilla’s, were spreading out over an area of 350 square miles of ocean, as they separated and made their way west, south-southwest and south-west, intent on closing their designated areas of the Atlantic to all shipping. Thirty-one vessels had begun the voyage, two were suffering from mechanical problems and were continuing at their best speed, another one had been sunk that morning as the bulk of the flotilla’s rushed the GIUK Gap, the area of water between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom. NATO had years before laid a sensor field on the ocean bed, the purpose of which was to listen for submarines and surface vessels, which would have preferred to have remained unnoticed by the West. During the Cold War this area would have been a death trap for them to have even tried to negotiate it, but now the maritime patrol aircraft that roamed above it were greatly reduced in number. One of their number had fallen prey to a patrolling RAF Nimrod, whilst two others had evaded the torpedoes dropped by a US Orion and a second Nimrod, but otherwise their tactic of swamping the defences had worked.
The two of their number trailing behind, would be sunk as they tried to cautiously pick their way across the gap unheard in twelve hours’ time, but their comrades anti-ship missiles and torpedoes carried nuclear warheads as well as conventional ones. They were confident in their ability to sink the eastbound convoys three times over, with the weapons they had.
Aboard the Alpha class attack submarine Omsk, Captain Yuri Kelyovich’s chief worry had been that the nuclear mines off the North Cape would not have detonated, their having been laid over fifteen years before, when the Iron Curtain still stood. If that had been the case then they would have been forced to expend some of their weapons in fighting through to open water, leaving fewer with which to attack the ships carrying reinforcements and war stores to Europe. He had in fact fired three torpedoes at a juicy target of opportunity that was too good to pass by, the damaged HMS Invincible and her tow, which had been hampered and unable to cut loose the tows in time. HMS Ardent had blown up and gone to the bottom even before the British carrier had rolled over and sunk. The Omsk was the flagship of the 9th Flotilla and led the ten vessels on a south-westerly course to interdict the convoy enroute from New York as she sounded out the way with a superior sonar to that of her sisters.
Via video conferencing, the German chancellor was explaining to the president of the United States as to why his forces were determined to fight on alone if the rest of NATO pulled back beyond Leipzig. The 3 (UK) Mechanised Brigade had taken the brunt of the Red Army thrust and blunted it, they were no longer combat effective though and had withdrawn to their next defence line, behind the Germans to reconstitute.
General Shaw had already put his own professional opinion that they should support the Germans. Pulling back now would be the worst possible move to make, setting a bad precedent whilst boosting Red Army morale and lowering that of their own troops. The president had agreed with the general but wanted the chancellor to have his say.
“Herr Chancellor, I do not see that it is possible to retake the city without massive loss of life and damage to its buildings… ” he held up a hand to stop the German politician from interrupting him, the man obviously expected a refusal. “… IF that is acceptable then I will recommend that we attack the airborne soldiers within the city and its outskirts, starting with the airport.”
The German looked relieved.
“Mr President, cities can be rebuilt, we have done so before and will do so again. It is not acceptable to the German people that the soviet yoke should again fall upon this land, any part of this land… I thank you for your support. Do you think the other member states will agree?”
“I know that Britain and France do, in principle at least. At present Britain has only a two-brigade division in theatre, one of those got its nose bloodied quite badly two days ago but it is the nearest and has more vehicles than troops to fill them.” He paused for effect before continuing.
“Like it or not Chancellor, my troops, the French and the British… will be withdrawing prematurely later today, to positions behind your own troops. We are not withdrawing past Leipzig, but this move is necessary to disengage units from the fight in order that they may drive out the enemy airborne division in the city.”
The German did not like the idea of surrendering ground, his people’s ground, without a more substantial effort but he had to accept the American’s word.
General Allain, the Canadian commander of NATO forces in Europe, would have preferred to have been conducting the battle rather than explaining his army’s actions to a bunch of politician’s. Like most servicemen worth their salt, he had a dislike of politicians but kept his voice and manner neutral as he reported on the previous 24hrs events, to the leaders of the NATO countries. Even when a government head, whose countries forces were not yet engaged, had criticised the British Guards regiments performance, demanding to know why they had not held for longer, General Allain had deadpanned.
“Senor, that is an answer best discovered for oneself, shall I tell them to have a rifle and pack awaiting your arrival, they will be in action again soon?”
The politician in question did not respond, so the Canadian soldier continued.
“The fundamental problem was not the troops but their equipment, which was inferior to that which should be expected of a government to supply. Added to the fact that they were damned unlucky. Their command and control did not fail, it was destroyed by enemy fire… there is a difference gentlemen. The men did not fail their country; their government failed them long before this crisis came to being. How else can you explain why they ran out of anti-tank weapons and their machine guns failed?”