The division, split into three independent columns, had marched along three separate, parallel routes in the region of six to eight kilometres apart, eventually reaching Salzgitter. They were allowed very little time for rest before being ordered to move yet further west. The width of the march-sector the division required was in the region of thirty-five kilometres. Such was the mass of Soviet forces in such a small area, their march-sector had been reduced to as little as twenty kilometres wide and they often found themselves up against the flanking divisions fighting for space. This mass concentration of men and armour only encouraged the West to initiate further attacks, and the Soviet air force was hard-pressed to defend the forces under their protection. NATO had initiated deep strikes in order to disrupt the Soviet flow of reinforcements, and both the division and 20th Guards Army as a whole had suffered losses. More and more US aircraft were joining in the fray and, with France joining in the fight, a greater number of West German and US aircraft had been released from a defence posture, to one further forward, interdicting the Soviet air-to-ground attack missions.
As for the British, although they had been kicked out of many of the bases in West Germany, they could still operate from the United Kingdom. General Yashkin, even before arriving at his staging areas, had been forced to put one of his tank regiments in reserve until they were able to consolidate after being hit by US B-52 bombers. Nine aircraft, flying from RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom, had dropped close to 500 bombs over an area of two square kilometres. Seventeen tanks and other armoured vehicles had been destroyed or damaged; not forgetting the devastation caused to the communication routes. Also, a complete tank battalion, late getting to its assembly area, such was the mayhem on the congested roads, moving in a column formation, had been caught out in the open. It had paid a heavy price. The exposed target, the location and details radioed in by a stay-behind force, was hit by a joint British and American strike. Thirty aircraft, a mixture of Tornadoes, Jaguars and US F111s, protected by US F-15 Eagles, destroyed eleven T-64s and damaged eight before they had been driven off by the SAMs and the Soviet air force. Although the local air defence forces had destroyed one of the planes and Soviet fighters another two before the force escaped back across their own lines, it had the effect of making the commanders of the advancing units extremely nervous.
Once they reached their final departure line, orders had been passed down almost immediately. His division was to exploit the river crossing, once 12th Guards Tank Division had secured a decent bridgehead, and smash the British forces once and for all. His commander ordered him to then to be prepared to go either northwest or southwest, dependent on where the British Corps was at its weakest. In the meantime, he and his men would have to deal with the British long-range artillery and missiles raining down on his stagnant forces.
The destruction of the railroad and road-bridge at Torun, Poland had created major problems for the 5th Guards Army in getting to its staging area from whence it could be brought into the fight against the NATO forces. It was a race. The western Allies were also bringing their reserves into the battle. The Soviet 2nd Strategic Echelon was on the verge of committing fresh, powerful forces that would surely finally crush the enemy divisions stacked up against them. Using as many ferries as could be commandeered, adding pontoons and makeshift platforms that could float troops and armour across the river, the 5th Guards Tank Army had finally been able to board transport trains and continue its journey. By the time the 7th Guards Tank Army had arrived in theatre, the bridge had been rebuilt and the Soviet Railway Construction Brigade had laid a new railway line across it. As a consequence, the second group of the Belorussian Military District forces was able to continue its journey with little disruption, apart from the continuing congestion all the advancing Warsaw Pact forces were experiencing. Behind these two armies, the BMD had released the 28th Combined Arms Army along with the 1st Tank Corps. In total, the BMD would add over 300,000 troops and 4,000 tanks to the battle, their target, the Central Army Group, CENTAG, and the two American and two German Corps, and mitigate the French forces joining in the fight.
Chapter 18
The wings of the Platypus, a twin-engine Islander, wobbled slightly as turbulence caught the aircraft’s squared-off wings. The pilot steadied the controls and continued on his track flying north to south along a line between Petershagen and west of Rinteln.
“Two minutes,” the pilot informed the two crew sitting in the back of what was once a civilian passenger aircraft. But it had been converted for the special purpose to which it was now dedicated.
One of the crew looked up from his workstation. “She’s tracking nicely. Recording in nine-zero seconds.”
The second crewman adjusted a couple of dials and the screen in front of him brightened slightly. The feed from the multi-mode all-weather radar, tucked away in the aircraft’s long, circular, flattened nose, hence its nickname Platypus, was coming through fairly clearly.
“Sixty seconds,” informed crewman 1.
“Acknowledged,” responded the pilot.
Somewhere above, two West German Phantom Interceptors flew with them, providing cover for their vulnerable charge below. The operator turned the equipment up to full power, and the antenna illuminated its target, the microwave being transmitted obliquely at right angles to the direction of the aircraft’s flight. The swathe, the footprint being illuminated, covered an area where tanks of the 197th Guards Tank Regiment of the 47th Guards Tank Division of 3rd Shock Army were assembling en masse, waiting to follow through the gap that 7th Guards Tank Division had created. The short pulse width and the intra-pulse modulation were helping to enhance the picture being created, providing a resolution fine enough to pick out the armoured vehicles and the folds in the ground where they were hiding or on the move. This all-weather system would back up the intelligence already provided by the drones that had been flown the previous day. This next piece of the jigsaw would confirm the early morning positions of the massed forces. The information, once transmitted back to base, would help guide the defence that was slowly being mounted against these fresh troops that were threatening the defence of the entire front of the Northern Army Group.
The aircraft was again buffeted by a pocket of turbulence, a slight blip in the radar tracking but not enough to jeopardise the mission. The pictures were being transmitted to a receiver station, set up as close as possible to the aircraft’s line of flight. Imagery analysts would soon be pouring over the product, putting their expertise to use, pointing out the various armoured formations but, more importantly, the location of each one.
“Ugly Duckling, this is Top-Cover. We are about to get a visit. ET your mission end? Over.”
The pilot of the Platypus called back over his shoulder. “We’ve got company. How much more time do you need, guys?”
Crewman 1 responded, “Thirty seconds. Just keep us steady for thirty seconds.”