“My God… This is serious. What if they get to the Cotton Ginnery?”
“Exactly! Is there anything you can do?”
“5th Maharatta is down on the lower end of the bund. I’ll send them to the Ginnery immediately.”
That battalion got the order five minutes later, and began to move, but it soon ran right into the recon companies of Schmidt’s division, and a meeting engagement ensued. Arderne also called his field gunners on the radio and told them to turn about to deploy south. He would have them try and support the Maharatta infantry. Yes, it was Arderne who had done the running about the previous day, defending the Airfield Settlement, getting his brigade safely back to the bund, and coordinating smartly with Colonel Selby’s 28th Brigade on his right. Now he was the only one to actually order troops to try and stop the Germans at the Ginnery.
They would not be enough.
Chapter 24
The Al Muthana Airfield had two long strips running parallel to one another, a little over 2 kilometers in length. Brigadier Selby had placed his men at the far end of those strips, their lines extending from the airfield bund on his left, to a small cotton factory in the center, and then to the outskirts of Sulaymaniyah. It was there, in that desperate hour, that Barker’s 27th Brigade was meeting its final agonizing end.
The seven companies Barker still had in hand were in no way enough to stop the heavily reinforced Lehr Regiment. Two more companies were pinned against the river when they tried to block that road, and annihilated. The remaining five were scattered through the wooden hovels of the settlement, disorganized, out of contact with Barker’s HQ, and effectively paralyzed as fighting units. The Germans opened the breach near the river, poured through and they were quickly spreading through the Jufayar and Al Karkh neighborhoods as they swept to seize the Ghazi Bridge.
It was only that timely call by Anstice that brought his 7th Armored Brigade back to the bridge just in time to stop the Germans from establishing a solid bridgehead there. The British tankers were too much for the two companies that had already pushed across the bridge. They were slowly driven back, and then forced to retreat back over the span as the Shermans fired both main guns and machineguns in their wake. That had stopped a dangerous penetration into the main city on the east bank, but the Germans were still masters of the west bank, now as far south as the Faisal Bridge, where two companies were organizing to attack the emplaced AA units guarding the west end of that bridge.
Now Brigadier Selby of the 28th Indian Brigade realized the extreme danger he was in. His brigade had been solid on the left of Barker’s, and well joined with Arderne’s 25th on the Airfield Bund, but now the Germans were in the settlements well east of his position, effectively behind him and threatening to cut his men off completely. They had to get back, and Selby was close enough to Arderne to find him that hour.
“We’ve got to get back!”
“What? Over that field?”
“There’s nothing else we can do. Barker’s brigade has completely collapsed on my right. If we stay here, we’ll all be making a good long visit to a German P.O.W. camp soon. Are you with me?”
That would precipitate the second general withdrawal, both men acting on their own initiative, out of contact with their respective Division HQs. Arderne belonged to Blaxland, and there was no time to dicker with him at that moment. Selby belonged to General Thompson and the 6th Indian Division, but Thompson was on the east bank of the river. So the Brigadiers were on their own.
There ensued what could only be called a “mad rush.” The companies volley fired as before, then broke off behind a thin delaying screen, and began that long mad dash across the airfield, running for all they were worth. The Germans were firing artillery and mortars, and the field soon became a killing ground, with men hit and falling as they ran. Many shed their packs and even weapons as they fled, a human wave of lost souls, all jumbled together on the run. It would be a miracle if the officers could sort them out and rally them at the far end of the field, but most would make it there, breathless and bedraggled.
There was good defensible ground on the southern end of the field, an elevated road, a grove of palms and gardens, the Airport Hotel, Customs House and other facility buildings. Trumpets blared and the officers blew a shrill chorus on the whistles, desperately trying to call in the men of their companies.
Selby’s men had it a little better, retreating right down the road and rail line that ran parallel to the field. He was able to get several companies in order and anchor his new line in a sturdy museum building on his right, on the road to the Faisal Bridge, which was just under a kilometer to the east. Yet that flank was still hanging in the air, and there were already Germans moving through the AL Karkh district, effectively compromising that line.
Arderne’s men finally reached the elevated road south of the field, which became a natural rallying point. It was the same road that he had tried to block with 1/5 Maharatta, which had run right into elements of Schmidt’s 41st Motorized Regiment. The Germans of the 20th Regiment of that same division had flooded into the industrial zone, taking the Cotton Ginnery, and now Arderne’s men could only just cling to the northern fringes of those buildings. His position soon looked like a big letter V, tipped to the right on its side. One side was on that elevated road, the other along the edge of the Ginnery buildings, and behind them there was a thick marsh that would cover his left flank and prevent any envelopment from that direction.
Yet Arderne was astute enough to know he could not stay where he was for very long. If Selby were to be pushed out of the Airport Hotel and Customs House, Arderne’s entire brigade would be trapped, the same marsh that now protected him becoming a fatal obstacle to any further retreat. So he sought only to reorder his companies, knowing he would have to move again very soon. Now he collared the nearest radio section, and finally called Division HQ.
“I’ve got my whole Brigade back over the field, but the Germans have the Ginnery, and my position is rather precarious.”
It was Blaxland on the other end of the line this time, and he was clearly not happy. “Damn it man! You were posted on the River Khir. What in blazes gave you the notion to pull your men out like that and cross that airfield?”
“But sir, if I hadn’t moved to support Selby’s 28th, the Germans would have pushed right through the Airfield Settlement and overrun the whole field hours ago.”
“Well that was Selby’s problem—not yours! Now you’ve pulled the cork out of the bottle and that’s why the Germans have that Ginnery. You’ll answer for this, Arderne. Mark my words. Now I’ll have to move MacGregor back, and by God, we might end up losing the Palace of the Crown Prince in all this business. Now where exactly are you?”
Arderne knew he could not argue the matter over the radio. He gave Blaxland his current grid coordinates, and then tried to appraise him of the general situation. “From what I can piece together, Barker’s 27th has been completely overrun near the river. Selby’s 28th is on my right, and his flank is on the Faisal Road. But the Germans are there as well! It looks like they might get right around Selby’s flank.”
“Damn annoying,” said Blaxland, his poached egg sitting cold by uneaten toast.
“Sir,” said Arderne. “I’ll need to move again soon. We’re in a bit of a pickle here. Where would you want my men?”
Blaxland looked over his map. “Get to the Washash Camp, if you can do so. And this time hold that flank!”