“What? Not yet committed? Why not?”
“The rail system is functional, but becoming burdened. We are now trying to supply eleven divisions in Syria and Iraq. It is simply a matter of logistics, and that division is scheduled to move soon.”
“Advance the schedule. It must be sent immediately.” Hitler’s eyes played over the map. “Given that Crete has been secured, what about Student’s troops? See what can be done there. I want no more excuses. Tell General Zeitzler that he is to find whatever is necessary to permit Guderian’s panzers to move south. He may choose whatever units he deems appropriate.”
“Any units? Even those assigned to the Leningrad Operation?”
“Have you read the weather reports from the Russian Front? It is 40 below zero! We won’t get that operation mounted until at least May at this rate. Now is the time to finish the job in Iraq. So yes, Zeitzler may take anything he wishes.”
The 45th Infantry had been part of the Austrian Army, subsumed into the Wehrmacht when Germany occupied that state. It had gained good fighting experience in Operation Barbarossa, and was now under Generalleutnant Fritz Kühlwein with three good regiments. Its arrival, a week later, would make a great deal of difference, as its fresh battalions could take up positions to relieve KG Rosenfeld and Schafer, and also on the west bank where two full regiments of Brandenburgers had been simply watching the west end of the bridges and patrolling the riverbank. It was going to allow Guderian to concentrate the Brandenburg division and move it down around the river bend with 10th Motorized. At the same time, Hube could now have the full establishments of both 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions on the east bank free to maneuver. A meeting was called the night of the 27th to discuss options.
“I’m told we will soon have the 45th Infantry Division,” said Guderian. “In that event, do you feel we can press a double envelopment of this city?”
“Prospects look better in the south than they do in the east,” said Hube. “I would have to move my panzers another twenty to thirty kilometers south to find ground suitable for an advance. But there are no bridges over the Tigris down there. The closest bridge is 50 kilometers to the southeast as we approach As Suwayrah.”
“Could you get there?”
“If I could use both divisions, yes, that should not be a problem.”
“Alright. General Beckermann, what about the south?”
“I can push now with what I have in hand. They have four brigades there, with their line anchored on the nose of the river bend. But if I send 10th Motorized down towards the Euphrates, they will have to extend their front in that direction. Then, when the rest of my Brandenburgers come down from the west bank sector, we will break through.”
“Then this would effectively surround the city,” said Guderian, “though we don’t know what they might do in response to these moves. I still like this better than trying to grind our way forward, block after block, through the whole nine mile length of that city. I do not think we could succeed that way at all. We must find a way to turn this into a battle of maneuver again. This means that we may not want to completely close the door behind them. What I want is to precipitate their withdrawal. That is the key.”
“But they have been very stubborn,” said Hube. “What if they just sit, even under the threat of envelopment?”
“Then we will have no choice but to complete that envelopment, and I will tell Hitler that I have the entire British Army in Iraq trapped in Baghdad. In that event, if I can get at least one more division, then I could build a mobile force strong enough to send south. It’s the only plan I see that has any hope of bearing fruit.”
“So how do we proceed?” asked Beckermann.
“You say that you can press them in the south right now—then do so. They have another division coming up, and if you gain ground there it may affect its deployment. Zeitzler has also informed me that he will try and find more for us, perhaps some of Student’s troops from Crete, or a few other ad hoc detachments. All the better. Has the 16th Regiment arrived from the 22nd Luftland Division?”
“Yes sir, it came up tonight.”
“Then assign it to the Royal Palace area so you can free up as much of your own division as possible. Hube will not be able to move until the 45th Division arrives, so once again, my Brandenburgers lead the way.”
“We will not disappoint you,” said Beckermann.
Colonel Blaxland was soon in for more than the discomfort of being ejected from his palace HQ. He had demonstrated that he could sit with the best of them, but if Beckermann’s plan worked, he would soon have to learn how to dance.
Heinrich Himmler was a very efficient man. As head of the SS, he had produced and fielded some of the finest combat divisions in the war. Steiner’s vaunted SS Korps had been the flashing sword of Germany in the south, devastating on attack, insurmountable on defense. And Himmler had been building up many more units for service in the far flung fronts of the war. He had come to deliver his latest report to Hitler at OKW, requesting a private meeting to update him on the SS contribution to Operation Downfall, the upcoming attack on Leningrad.
“My Führer,” he began, “as you know, my 7th SS Prinz Eugen Division is already in the field in support of Operation Phoenix. I can now report that several more units are mustering in the Divina River line sector for Operation Downfall.”
“Show me,” said Hitler, leaning over the map.
“To begin, a second Mountain Division, the 6th SS, has been placed here, southwest of Riga in the Telgaya concentration sector. There I have also placed the SS Polizei Division, 8th SS Florian Geyr Cavalry, and two new infantry divisions, the 1st Lettische, and 1st Estonian. The SS KG Nord Brigade rounds out this formation, now designated the SS Motorized Korps. It will be accompanied by the 3rd SS Panzer Korps, the real heart of this new army.”
“An entire Army?”
“Yes, my Führer, an army. While it may not be as powerful as Steiner’s Korps, it will nonetheless prove most useful—of that I have no doubt. This new Panzer Korps has leaner division structures, but they will serve as fast, powerful units to exploit breakthroughs and gain ground. There are four more divisions, the best being my new SS Nord Panzer Division. Then I have assembled three more Panzergrenadier divisions—Langemarck, Nederland, and Wallonien. These are troops I have been recruiting from all the occupied countries, volunteers to a man, just like the unit I raised in France.”
“Excellent. You have done very well, Himmler. If these men have half the fight in them that Steiner’s men have, these new divisions will serve me very well.”
“That is not all,” said Himmler with a smile. “Another Brigade has been raised for the Reichsführer Panzergrenadiers already serving with Steiner. It is even stronger, with all the new equipment we have been building—the Reichsführer Sturm Brigade. This will raise that unit to the status of a full division. But the best I have saved for last. I have also been building a strong new SS Panzer Korps in the West—three new SS Panzer Divisions, and a strong Panzergrenadier Division as well, the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen.”