As soon as Jeffries arrived, the group mounted up and headed southwest. Once on a hard-packed lane, the driver steered south; then west along a narrow metalled road taking them a kilometre until passing through Lauenhagen and across the Hulse. Turning north, passing through the outskirts of the village and taking another metalled road to their half-left, they arrived at the location it had been agreed Second-Platoon would defend. The clatter of helicopters drowned out the sound of the Land Rover’s engine as more troops arrived in the region. The build-up of the defence of Stop-Line Black Raven continued. Another Chinook touched down, and a Lynx not far away also connected with ground, an infantry section leaping out quickly, allowing the helicopter to return and pick up more soldiers. With the ramp of the Chinook down, a line of soldiers, hunched down with the weight of their loads, left the confines of the helicopter, moving down the loading ramp. Fifteen men were disgorged, a full mortar-section from the battalion’s fire-support company. The men quickly dispersed. Nine of the men carried three mortar base plates, three barrels and three bipods, with sights, between them. Each item weighed over eleven kilograms, the sight coming in at thirteen and a half. They would need the remaining two Land Rovers and trailers that would be dropped within the hour to move about the battlefield. Once set up, the three 81mm mortars would provide additional firepower that A-Company could call upon when needed. With a range of five and a half kilometres, the section’s mortars could pound the enemy in front of A-Company’s lines with high-explosive bombs, and lay a barrier of smoke to cover them while they withdrew. The other two sections would no doubt support B and C Companies.
Lieutenant Thorpe, and the second-in-command of Two-Section, scouted the area, satisfying themselves where the section would deploy when they pulled back. He would send the section early, along with the two Milan FPs, giving them plenty of time to get their bearings and bring fire down on the Soviets as they crossed the open ground.
Corporal Prentice, commander of Two-Section, had passed out top in his Junior NCOs’ cadre course eighteen months before and had proven to be an effective section commander and leader of men. Another eighteen months would potentially see him as a platoon sergeant. He had confidence that, supported by Sergeant Cohen, Two-Section would give a good account of themselves.
Thorpe and his men climbed back into the Land Rover as a second Chinook dropped a Land Rover and trailer that was slung beneath it before landing further afield and offloading more troops. The build-up continued. They headed back to the front line. Thorpe’s men would need to prepare their defences if they were to be ready to have any impact on the juggernaut that was rolling towards them.
Chapter 10
North of the Mittellandkanal, D and G Company, The Green Howards, 1st Battalion, Yorkshire Volunteers, Territorial Army, were digging in along a two-kilometre stretch of the Rodenberger Aue, locking in with K-Company, south of the canal. To their north, they tied in with the 1st Panzer Division of the 1st German Corps. The 3rd Panzer Brigade, one of three brigades in the division, with their Leopard main battle tanks, provided the German Corps with a strong right flank and would help support the Territorial Army soldiers. The ugly-looking Saxon armoured personnel carriers pulled up along the length of the five to ten-metre wide water feature and disgorged the troops that would defend this section of the Rodenberger Aue. Officers gave orders and the NCOs made it happen. Sections were deployed to dig in, building defensive positions on the west bank, making sure they had good firing placements with overhead protection for the expected shelling by Soviet artillery. Behind them, the ground was heavily forested; their escape route should the enemy cross the water feature and force them back. The unit was defending the northernmost boundary of the 1st Armoured Division, within the area of operations corresponding to the 3rd Battalion, the Queen’s Regiment. All the Yorkshire Volunteers had to do was hold this piece of ground long enough for the 3rd Battalion, that was very much on the run, to pass through.
Lieutenant Colonel Delamere, Commander of 3 Queen’s, had been ordered to extract with all speed; conduct a fighting retreat, but not get bogged down in trying to defend ground, ground that was already lost to the enemy. The commanders of the 1st Armoured Division and 1st British Corps needed to keep as much of the battalion, along with the attached tanks from RTR, as intact as possible, to provide a force to block or even counter-attack the enemy wherever the Soviets managed to break through. 1 BR Corps had to hold the River Weser. Beyond that was Osnabruck and Bielefeld, Dortmund and the Rhein, then the Netherlands and, finally, the English Channel. If the Soviet Army managed to reach the Channel, they would split the NATO forces in Europe in two.
The battalion was expected to cross near Rehren. Although the bridge would be blown shortly to prevent the Soviet forces finding an easy crossing, Chieftain AVLBs (Armoured Vehicle-Launched Bridge) had been made available to dash forward, and in less than five minutes, two twenty-three-metre bridges would be laid across the Aue. Once 3 Queen’s crossed, they had orders to race west as fast as possible; their responsibilities for defending that sector would cease. 2nd Infantry Division would take over full responsibility for the defence line from then on. The 2nd Division’s stop-line was the River Weser, but while they prepared those defences, Territorial Army units allocated to them, along with the 24th Brigade, would be used to slow the enemy down. 1st and 3rd Armoured Divisions required a reprieve if they were to extract themselves from the battle and rest, resupply and rearm.
During periods of total war, the Territorial Army is incorporated by the Royal Prerogative into the Regular Service. They now came under the code of Military Law for the full duration of hostilities or until the situation was such that deactivation could be permitted.
“Mathew.”
“Sir,” responded Lieutenant Mathew Reynolds, running over to the Land Rover FFR where his company OC was standing talking into the radio.
“Roger that. Out.” The Officer Commanding, Delta Company, 1st Battalion, YV, one of four rifle companies in this BAOR-assigned battalion, passed the handset back to his signaller. “Mathew, I’ve got a special task for you.”
“Sounds ominous, sir.”
“It is.” The sandy-haired officer laughed. His freckled face stood out even through the streaked cam-cream that plastered his face. “See that concrete structure,” he said, indicating the concrete mouth of the tunnel where the Rodenberger Aue passed under the Mittellandkanal, an amazing piece of German ingenuity. “I want your platoon to defend that. There are Soviet airborne all over the area, and they’ll want to ensure the Soviet tank divisions have free passage.”
Reynolds turned to his runner. “Get Sergeant Mason to move Three-Section up the top there. I’ll join him shortly.”
“Sir,” responded the soldier, and ran off to carry out his orders.
“Have a Gympy facing down the canal itself, and I’ll get a Milan FP over to you. I might send you a second FP, but the other three will be needed to support One and Two-Platoon.”
“You think they might use the canal, sir?”
“Wouldn’t you? Why try and cross it when you can send your troops along it. If they cross the Rodenberger that way, they’ll get right behind us.”