Hammer of God (Kirov Series Book 14) Page 5

  “You are a remarkable young man, Captain,” Churchill began, as Wavell translated. “I listened to you very closely in the general meeting, and I can see that your grasp of the situation here is secure.”

  “It may seem that way,” said Fedorov, “but nothing is ever certain, Mister Prime Minister.”

  “Very true, but yet you have had a peek around the corner of tomorrow, young man, and that is something that few, if any, can claim with any hope to be taken as a sane man. That, plus the fact that you seem intimately acquainted with the events now unfolding, make you a most remarkable asset. I hope you do understand that. And here you have come to us like a guardian angel, and I am told that in your day, our two nations were adversaries. To see you here now, and realize you have taken it upon yourself to try and reverse that outcome, is most commendable. With the knowledge you have of days to come, we can stand advised of every crooked jab of the enemy’s lance, and know when we must thrust and where to parry.”

  “Possibly,” said Fedorov, a note of caution in his tone. “I do know what happened once, but that is as much a burden as it is an advantage. And I cannot predict what may or may not result from the decisions you might make. I can only advise you in the light of what I already know.”

  “Because you’ve walked the long path ahead. You’ve climbed that hill I put into my speeches to bolster up the people back home.”

  “No sir, I haven’t walked it, and I’ve done no climbing at all. That has been, and will be, your privilege and task. I have only read about it, though being here like this makes me feel very odd—as if I were inside one of my books, if you can understand that.”

  “Yes… I do understand. I do quite a bit of reading myself,” Churchill said with a smile. “And seeing you here leads me to feel that you have walked right out of some very good tales where I’ve lost myself for many a long hour. Our H.G. Wells, for example, always seemed to me to be a man who saw tomorrow. Now that I know there are really such men alive on this earth, and charting the course of events here, it is somewhat chilling. So here you are in my book, and here I am in yours. That’s the way this life is, my good young man. Everyone you meet is walking out of the story of their own lives, coming to you after a journey of many thousand steps. Some stay with you but a while, a brief chapter or two, but others are at your side for many long volumes, even to the end of your story. I am only glad we have met, and shaken hands here, but tell me, Mister Fedorov, what compelled you to stand with us?”

  The question pricked at that deep seed of guilt in Fedorov, for he still believed that it was his meddling, that impulsive whisper in Sergei Kirov’s ear, that had caused the breakup of his homeland and shattered the history of WWII. But he did not want to get into all of that with the Prime Minister, so he gave an answer that seemed fair enough in his mind.

  “The war, sir. Not this war, but the next one that follows in our time. And I suppose the long enmity that befell our two nations after this conflict concluded.”

  “I cannot imagine it, for the war we have in front of us now demands my whole being in attention. But tell me… We win it, do we not? The Grand Alliance between Britain, the United States and Soviet Russia prevails?”

  Fedorov knew this question would be one of the first to be asked. Tovey had asked it, and O’Connor, so it was no surprise that Churchill would want to know as well, and keep the certainty of that outcome in his pocket.

  “That is true, sir, The allied forces prevailed.”

  “Then why did it fall apart?”

  “I suppose because winning the peace is sometimes the more difficult victory. In that, I think we failed, on both sides.”

  “A pity.” Churchill relit his cigar, savoring another breath of the heavy tobacco, exhaling slowly. “You know a very great deal for a man so young.”

  “Too much, I’m afraid.”

  “Then I hope you will unburden yourself with me here. I have always had a yearning to get with our Mister Wells and his Time Machine and spring forward for a good long look. Perhaps we can talk about that later, but for now, the world we’re sitting in is more than enough to manage.”

  “Very true, sir.”

  “Then tell me, if you will, of the three campaigns that now seem imminent, which road is the most promising? We spoke earlier of the defense of Crete. You seemed to believe that was a lost cause, and yet you indicated the Germans also paid a dear price for that island in the shattering of their airborne corps.”

  “True, sir. Whether that will happen again, I cannot say. So in spite of anything I might tell you, the decision remains a gamble. I should point out that Crete was defended by a much stronger force than you have there now. In our history, General Wavell sent the bulk of the 2nd New Zealand Division to Crete, yet it is now moving west into Libya. That leaves you only the 14th Brigade of the 6th Infantry Division, and a few troops that evacuated from Greece, and this is a much weaker defense. It could be that the Germans will not sustain the casualties that your larger force inflicted in the history I know.”

  “Everything is a trade off,” said Wavell. “If I had sent the 2nd New Zealand to Crete, then I would have nothing to watch Agedabia while the Australians have a go at Benghazi.”

  “Well, what about this General Kinlan’s wonder brigade?” asked Churchill. “They sent Rommel packing once already. Can’t they hold that line?”

  “After Giarabub is cleared, we’ll likely have a good number of prisoners to transport back to the Nile,” said Wavell. “Then the 7th Brigade plans to move west to overwatch the German buildup at Mersa Brega. But I still think it wise we leave 2nd New Zealand in Libya for the time being.”

  “Which brings us to Syria and Iraq,” said Churchill. “I’m still inclined to give Crete the benefit of anything we can send there, but not at the expense of losing Syria and Iraq! Securing them now before the Germans get the same idea and begin to move troops is paramount. The Captain here says the loss of Crete is a foregone conclusion. We must not allow that line concerning Syria and Iraq.”

  “Agreed,” said Wavell, “but all I can make available in either case might be the 7th Australian Division, and I wouldn’t even have that if not for the victory at Bir el Khamsa. They’ve been training up at Mersa Matruh and are now ready. That division, and two brigades of the 6th British division in Palestine, are all that we have in theater. I can add in the 5th Indian Brigade arriving from East Africa now as well, but securing both Syria and Iraq is a tall order for those forces.

  “I know you are hard pressed as it stands, General, but we must do something. I’ve spoken to general Auchinleck in India, and he’s of a mind that we can quickly move the 10th Indian division to Basra. In fact, I’ve ordered him to do exactly that. The War cabinet has already agreed on a plan to deal with the Vichy French in Syria, very secret. But perhaps I can persuade Captain Fedorov to advise us on this?” Churchill gave Fedorov an expectant look.

  “Yes, this was a most dangerous period, with threats and operations on every side. In our history Crete was lost, as I have said, but I can tell you that both Syria and Iraq were cleared and held.”

  “Splendid,” said Churchill. “Then I think we can safely commit the 7th Australian Division to the task, General Wavell. I’m told the Vichy French may not have much fight in them. It may only be necessary to press them hard, and once they see the Aussies come marching in on them, perhaps they’ll come to their senses and join us.” Again, the sideward glance at Fedorov, the raised eyebrow carrying the question.

  “Well sir,” said Fedorov. “As to Operation Exporter, which is what your Syrian campaign was called, your first advance committed two brigades of the 7th Australian Division, the 5th Indian Brigade you have mentioned, and the Free French force.”

  “You see,” said Churchill, latching on quickly. “He even knows the code name of the operation, something known only to the war cabinet at this point. Good enough. Four brigades do the job in Syria, leaving us all the rest for Iraq.”

  “Not qu
ite,” said Fedorov, recalling the research he had read on this campaign just the previous evening. He could see that Churchill was full of vigor and would push units around on the map to pursue his objectives with the assurance of victory given what he had already revealed. He needed to impress upon the Prime Minister the real nature of the struggle that might lay ahead. So he took a deep breath, and spoke.

  “Those were the forces committed at the outset to Operation Exporter, sir. It required much more to win through in Syria. The Vichy French will fight, and possibly more vigorously now than they even did in our history. The force I mentioned swept over the border into Lebanon and Syria easily enough, until they encountered stronger enemy resistance on the Litani River and at Damascus. Let me give you a small glimpse of what may lie ahead. You needed that coastal road, and the bridge over the Litani, but you had to pay a price for it. Number 11 Commando was sent in north of the bridge to try and seize it for the Australians, only a third of that force, under major Keyes, failed to land correctly, and found itself a half mile south of the target. Then everything began to unravel.”

  “In what way?” Churchill took a sip of his brandy, waiting expectantly.

  “Captain More was well to the north, but his radios were contaminated by sea water and he was out of communication. Lt. Colonel Pedder’s force landed right opposite the French barracks east of the road, and he was killed, along with many others. The bridge was blown, Keyes force was forced to try and use boats to cross the river, and all under intense enemy fire from machine guns and mortars. His detachment left many good men there, cut down near the mouth of the river. The forces to the north were counterattacked by enemy armored cars and tanks and driven back. Some were forced to surrender, others made it back to join the Australians. The battalion lost 45 killed and another 84 wounded, about a third of its total force… And this was just the beginning. A battalion of the Royal Fusiliers would be lost in action at Quneitra, outnumbered three to one by an unexpected French counterattack, and fighting to the last round before they finally surrendered. Your forces were held up in the center for some weeks by stiff resistance, and the 5th Indian Brigade also suffered heavily at the doorstep to Damascus. It was soon realized that the force allocated was totally inadequate.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” said Wavell. “Three or four brigades to take the whole of Syria? Not bloody likely.”

  Fedorov continued. “So the last two brigades of the British 6th Division in Palestine were thrown in, and a good portion of the forces that had been sent to Iraq were also recalled and entered from the east. It was the hardest fighting your army suffered during this whole period, five long weeks against a determined French defense—and this is likely to happen again, or be even worse if the Germans manage to send troops to support their ally in Syria. I do not mean to try and discourage you, but war is hell, and men are going to die in these operations. It took a good many Victoria Crosses for you to win this one.”

  Churchill sat in silence, a look on his face that reflected the torment of his mind, and the pain of carrying the burden that was now on his shoulders. Yes, he thought, war is hell, and I am the man who has to order all these good men to fight there.

  Chapter 6

  “I understand your impulse to caution me, Captain,” said Churchill. “You might think me no more than an old windbag, out to meddle in the planning of all my Generals. Certainly General Wavell here must put up with more than his fair share of my temperament. But someone must drive home a winning strategy, and that task seems to have fallen to me. I listen well to the advice I receive from many quarters, but in the end, a decision has to be made, and that falls to me, and I know full well what I am asking of the men who so bravely put on those uniforms. So you will forgive me if I look for any signpost on the road now, to guide my thinking in this most decisive hour.”

  “Of course, sir,” said Fedorov.

  “Well, as I look at things now I see Syria and Iraq as the most important front, Libya aside. We must keep Rommel in check, and I hope we never see him rampage across Cyrenaica like that again soon. Crete and Cyprus remain important frontier outposts for us. Certainly the Germans will be able to extend their air power much further into the Eastern Mediterranean if they were to seize those islands. But in Iraq we have significant airfields, not to mention the oil from Kirkuk and Basra. It must not fall under Axis control. As for Syria, if the Germans get their foot in, we shall have a wolf at the back door. The Vichy French may not be strong enough to invade Palestine or threaten Egypt, but they provide a den of iniquity for the Germans to feed in planes and men, and that could grow to something much more dangerous. If they are heavily reinforced, it may make the campaign we have been discussing even more arduous. So I am inclined to say we must now make Operation Exporter our principle offensive action in the months ahead.”

  “And the plans for Battleaxe?” Wavell had been urged to prepare an offensive against Rommel at the same time.

  “You have made it abundantly clear that you haven’t the resources to conduct an offensive on two fronts, General, and given the Captain’s sobering warnings, I am beginning to agree. Let us set a guarded watch on Rommel, invest Benghazi and take that place if possible, and then throw everything else we have against the Vichy French. Iraq must also be given the highest priority. Rashid Ali has the allegiance of four prominent Sunni Arab nationalists, all military officers in Iraq, and we all know the real power lies with the military there. He calls them the Golden Square, and he has a mind to overthrow the current pro-British government.

  “The Germans have been meddling as well, stirring up trouble by sending old Fritz Grobba as their ambassador. They would like nothing more than for Iraq to go up in arms against us, which would threaten our major oil concerns there, and cut the air bridge to India we have in those airfields. Beyond that, to allow this uprising to succeed would also encourage Arab nationalism throughout the Middle East, and I daresay our position in this regard is none too sound, even in Egypt. So perhaps we must rethink Operation Exporter, and see it as a broader operation aimed at securing both Syria and Iraq.”

  “Thus far the Iraqis haven’t done much more than sit on the plateau overlooking our RAF base near Fallujah,” said Wavell.

  “Habbaniyah? Yes, it’s held out, but we’ll have to do something. We have the old Cavalry Division in Palestine, do we not?”

  “More or less,” said Wavell. “Some units still have horses, the others have been converting to trucks and carriers, but there are all too few of those to go around, and we’ve been cherry picking most of their artillery and heavy weapons for other units.”

  “Fancy having a mobile division without trucks,” said Churchill, exasperated. “I can see we need to do a great deal more for you, General Wavell, and I fully appreciate that you have utilized the resources in hand to the fullest. Yet Captain Fedorov makes a good point about this windfall we have with General Kinlan’s 7th Brigade. We must use that power while it remains strong. Is it wise to leave it sit down here in the southern desert in a defensive role, when we might draw that bright flashing sword and put it to use in the attack?”

  “Realize I have no armor to speak of beyond that unit, “Wavell reminded him. “Our own 7th Armored Division is merely a shell. The only tanks we can give it come from the repair dens, and that takes time. We’ve been cannibalizing badly shot up vehicles for spare parts.”

  “And yet we have all these splendid tanks just sitting here and contemplating a joust with the Italians at Giarabub. Surely we might reconsider using some of this force for other operations.”

  “And the question of security?” Wavell cautioned. “It will be hard to keep a lid on what has happened here if we try rolling those monsters up through Alexandria to Palestine.”

  “True,” said Churchill. “But perhaps we could get them there by some other means. What about the Glen ships?”

  “We have one or two available. Glengyle is operating with our Layforce Commandos at the moment. But they a
re largely for infantry transport, sir, and have only a single LCM in the forward deck that can transport a tank to shore, and then no more than 16 tons.”

  “That won’t do to move a Challenger II,” said Fedorov. “Those tanks are over 60 tons each.”

  “Amazing,” said Churchill. “But I’ve seen scores of smaller armored vehicles here. What about those?”

  “Many are the Warrior Armored Fighting Vehicle. They may appear as tanks to you, and in fact they have armament similar to the tanks you now deploy, but they are really designed to be infantry transport vehicles.”

  “All the better,” said Churchill. “Why didn’t we think of that earlier, Wavell—an infantry carrier with a good gun on it like that.”

  “Might these move by sea?” Wavell asked Fedorov in Russian, but soon learned that the Warriors were still too heavy at 25 tons.

  “Only the light scout tanks could move by sea with the ships you presently have,” said Fedorov. “The Scimitars weigh just under 8 tons, so depending on the size of your LCM, you might take two at most on the Glengyle.”

  “Hardly an armored force capable of doing much, even if these are good vehicles.” Wavell pursed his lips, thinking. “But I’ve had a good look at those tanks. They have the look of a vehicle the men might easily accept as something we could have built ourselves. I’ll admit, one look at those heavy tanks out there boggles the mind, but the Scimitars are on a scale and of a design we can grasp. We might move a unit of those tanks quite openly by land without ruffling anyone’s skirts.”

  “Would General Kinlan be persuaded to make us a loan?” asked Churchill.

  “I don’t see why not. He’s a British serving officer, and though it has been our intention to keep his force segregated from the main army, we just might pull this off.”