Breakthrough (The Red Gambit Series) by Colin Gee

here?’
                 
     
    After a number of calls to his senior commanders , Eisenhower was clear as to where he would commit the Northern European German units when they came on line. In truth , the commitment was blatantly obvious.
                  Inserting the Germans between McCreery’s 21st Army Group and Bradley’s 12th Army Group made sense, the more so as the Ruhr would offer a suitable area for the Germans to defend, and one that they would be well motivated to preserve .
                  That all pre-supposed that Bradley and McCreery could stifle the Soviet advances for long enough to get the Germans in position. Both had given an assurance that they would give ground slowly to buy time for the deployment , but that didn’t stop Ike being anxious and upping his cigarette consumption rate alarmingly.
    He tried to convince himself that the imminen t arrival of German divisions w ould have a positive effect on Bradley’s 12th , and make their defence in front of the Rhine more difficult for the Soviet s to overcome.
                  The Italian based formations would free up some of Alexander’s divisions which would be sent north as soon as possible.
                  A visit that evening from Austrian leader Karl Renner , promising two and a half B undesheer divisions was welcome , but did not ease the worry .
    T he darkness brought too little sleep , as Eisenhower debated and argued with himself into the night.
    ‘I am committed to using them.’
    ‘And why would you not? They are great soldiers.’
    ‘Because they are German , of course!’
    ‘And they fought the commies for four years.’
    ‘Look at the trouble there’s been already.’
    ‘Small stuff by provocateurs. Anyway, you need ‘em! The Allies need them , and will probably not prevail without them.’
    Eisenhower woke, his breathing rapid, his body filled with the unease of a broken night.
    He reached across for his cigarettes and drew in the pungent smoke, coughing lightly as his body overcame the nocturnal surprise.
    “Goddamn it!”
     
     
     
     
     
    When the enemy advances, withdraw; when he stops, harass; when he tires, strike; when he retreats, pursue.
    Mao Zedong

Chapter 60 – THE SNIPER S
     
Monday , 13th August 1945, 180 0 hrs , Tostedt , Germany .
     
    Calmly , carefully , and quietly , as is the way of the sniper, the two soldier s crept into the chosen firing position.
    Opposite it was the building that had caused all the problems to the battalion assault that earlier that morning.
    Soviet dead lay strewn over the open ground in between. T he rubble and craters that surrounded and filled the destroyed German town of Tostedt , all heavy with those freshly killed that day.
    Allied s oldiers from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division’s Carleton & York Regiment , stubborn soldiers in defence, filled the pos itions opposite , from where they had poured deadly fire into the attacking forces, beating them off with heavy casualties.
    And then the rain had come, a downpour that masked the sniper teams now moving into their chosen position s, as well as wash ing away the puddles of bodily fluids freshly formed from the products of the day ’ s butchery.
    Adjusting her sights to suit a range of four hundred metres , she risked a swift look through the hole in the side of the American truck , the position from where she intended to wreak her own sort of havoc.
    Mortars shells, a mix of HE and smoke , were dropping on the Canadian positions, a small token from the commanding officer to help the sniper teams deploy.
    Along with Yefreytor Lena Yurieva Panfilova’s team, 360th Rifle Division had been allocated five other special sniper groups , all of which were taking their positions, each with their own allocated fire sector to work once the new attack commenced.
    Each team consisted of two snipers and two spotters, all of whom could change roles in an instant , as all were