Soldiers and Marines Saga, page 34
“These special operations are at all times to be the highest priority mission for all the German and American cargo planes and aerial tankers. And, as it specifies in the folder, all missions into Russia are only to be flown with German aircrew and only carry German special operations teams.
“If the Luftwaffe comes up short on having enough planes I want you to instantly paint iron crosses on some of the American birds and instantly turn them over to the Luftwaffe—and instantly means that moment, on the spot, not one minute of delay.
"Anyone who causes a delay for any reason in getting planes or helicopters to any of our special operations on time is to be immediately stripped of his rank and sent to the Crailsheim Penal Battalion. We’ll court martial him after the war if he’s still alive.” Well that got their attention.
“The special operations missions into Russia and elsewhere may or may not go at the same moment the air war starts. That’s a decision I’ll make personally when the shooting starts; but the planes and the special operations teams they are carrying are almost certainly going to be in the air and ready to head east when the war starts. They can turn on their transponders to help increase the radar clutter even if I decide not to send them.
“In fact, come to think of it, the reason we have the Russian-squawking transponders for your airfield attackers is that we are going to install some of them on the helicopters and cargo planes that will be making the behind-the-lines raids described in your folders.
"Our thinking is that if the planes carrying the special ops teams get lit up they can turn on the Russian identification frequencies and, hopefully, get some of the Russian fighters and air defenses to turn away thinking they are Russian planes.
“And Jim, NATO headquarters leaks like a sieve. So I want you and General Forstmann to guard that folder closely, really closely. It’s eyes only for you two and no copies. Period. There are to be no explanations to anyone, not even your deputies.”
Then I explained more of what I want.
“The man I want in charge of organizing the air force portion of the special ops missions is a good guy, an American Air Force brigadier by the name of Jones, Davy Jones. Davy reports directly to me and will be located in your headquarters. He’s probably already headed there if he hasn’t arrived already.
“You’ll find Davy quite useful because he knows all about the transponders and all about the missions to drop men into Russia to cut the Trans-Siberian Railway corridor—he should, he helped plan the missions and led the team that wrote up the flight plans.”
I took a sip of tea and continued. Yes I’m trying to switch to tea. Dorothy insists. Less wear and tear on my stomach and it doesn’t keep me awake all night.
“Basically, the German C-130s and Transalls will load troops and pallets at the airfields designated in your folder and then fly them out to their targets in Siberia the night the war starts or maybe the next night. And the transports that make it back will load troops and repeat the process every day thereafter until the operation is completed—and you will have to be ready to instantly replace those that don’t make it back.
"As you’ll see, some of the German special ops teams are going so far into Russia that their transports will probably have to be refueled by aerial tankers. So be sure you have the necessary tankers lined up and ready to go.
“General Jones and two important people in my office, an army lieutenant general named Dave Shelton and an admiral named Mike Morton, have the only other copies of those ops plans.
“Shelton and Morton will have the troops and pallets at the airfields in time to be loaded and Jones’ men at each airfield will personally hand each plane’s pilot his operational orders and the precise routes to be flown to their drop zones and back.
“This one’s important, Jim. It’s your job and Heinz’s job to see the pilots and planes are there for the special operators to use even though no one can be told why and other operations have to do without them. If you do nothing else you and General Forstmann must I really emphasized the word ‘must’ have all the special ops teams’ transport planes and tankers in place, fully loaded, and ready to go the moment the war starts and every day thereafter.”
Then I looked General Macefield squarely in the eye.
“The special operations are so important that your officers will be lucky to be privates in the Crailsheim Penal Battalion if Jones’ planes are not loaded and ready to go on time—we’ll lose many tens of thousands of German and American soldiers and Marines if they aren’t ready and the officers who fail to deliver the planes and air crews on time will sure as hell be among them.”
That’s a warning for you two also. I hope you got it because I sure as surely mean it.
It was the same heavy duty warning I’d soon be giving the German and American army generals in charge of NATO’s helicopters about the missions to insert the Coast Guard and Marine swimmers. I don’t want anyone to even think about assigning those planes and helicopters to other missions.
“You guys can use the phones to get things started while I meet with Admiral Peavy. But stick around. After I meet with Peavy I’m going to meet with Klausen and I want you there to coordinate whatever needs to be done so your planes and his helicopters and light air are in the air and making their initial attacks at the same time when the war starts.
“You can similarly coordinate with Davy Jones about getting the special operations planes and helicopters up when you need their transponders to help turn off the Russian AWACS. Davy is probably at your headquarters waiting for you. And he can always be reached by a phone patch from my office. My aide, Brigadier Hart, can set it up and will always be able to tell you how to reach Shelton, Jones, and Morton.”
Yes, my old buddy Jim Hart from the long and drawn out Korean War. I know Jim’s dependable and can make decisions so I recruited him to join the Detachment a couple of years ago when he came up for retirement as a Colonel.
******
My meeting with the Admiral John Peavy, the Brit in charge of NATO’s naval forces was short and disconcerting. Some of his news was good—all available NATO and U.S. submarines are on station and ready to go and the order to close the Kiel Canal is in effect and seems to be working.
"Then I gave him Karl Mauer’s name and contact information and let him look at the classified folder describing the use of the German civilian ferries to put German armor into East Germany.
Peavy liked the plan.
“Quite imaginative. It will surprise them.” Significantly, he agreed that his office was far too vulnerable for him to be able to keep a copy or share the information with anyone else in the naval establishment.
He and Mauer, I told the Brit, “are to get together and refine the participation of NATO’s navies in Mauer’s operations. It involves providing a number of appropriately experienced German naval officers we’ve identified who are presently in shore billets and making sure the escort ships and subs are available.”
The German officers didn’t know it yet, of course, but they’ll be “assisting” the civilian ferry captains to make sure they get their ferries to where they need to be. Peavy’s German deputy will begin bringing them in within the hour to explain where they are to report and what they are to do when they get there. His deputy, and only his deputy, can be told about Mauer’s operation. “Make sure he understands what will happen to him if he leaks it.”
Mauer is the newly promoted German brigadier general who worked on planning the operation during his tour at the Detachment. He will organize and command the invasion force and work out of my headquarters. He’ll report directly to Dave Shelton.
The bad news, something that concerned Peavy greatly, is the American Navy’s seeming reluctance to put its carriers and their escorts in harm’s way.
“I don’t know how to say this, General Roberts, but I have the distinct impression that your navy’s leadership does not want to risk losing their ships, particularly their carriers, and intends to keep them out of the war. You wanted to know what I’m worried about, and I’m probably wrong, of course, but there you are.”
******
I was in the latrine and, as luck would have it, while I was still sitting with a roll of toilet paper in my hand when a call came in from the President. I may go down as the first person in history who took a dump while talking to the President. The news was not good.
Macefield and Forstman were still in the building so I shouted an order through the closed door for one of the headquarters staff to run after them and ask them to temporarily join my meeting with General Klausen and his deputy in the conference room. Get Admiral Peavy there also, I said.
Klausen’s deputy was a tall lanky Texan, Bill Moody. Up until six months ago he was commander of the tank-heavy U.S. Second Corps. Uh oh. He’s probably a card-carrying true believer in the Fulda Pass Association.
My deputies’ faces turned grim when I told them I’d just finished speaking with the President and that an attack by the Warsaw Pact on Germany is virtually certain. Probably within the next seven days—and maybe a lot sooner!
“The President’s and the Chancellor’s efforts to negotiate some kind of peaceful solution, it seems, have gone nowhere. They’ll keep trying, of course, but the situation does not look good.”
Then Macefield and Forstman, for the benefit of Klausen and Moody, briefly explained the possible short-comings of the Russian airborne radar control systems.
“Herr General,” I said to Klausen when they finished, “your helicopters and observation planes must be used to help Generals Macefield and Forstmann overwhelm the Russian AWACS’ radar. You must be prepared to surge them so they are all up with their transponders off when the war starts, but ready to be turned on when the order is given.
“Similarly all up,” I said to Admiral Peavy, “must be all those under the control of the navy including their cruise missiles.
“But,” I warned them all, “that does not, repeat not, include any helicopters and planes assigned to the special operations troops under the command of Generals Shelton and Jones and Admiral Morton. All special operations are under my direct personal control. They will undoubtedly also be up and behave similarly, but they’re to be up only if General Shelton or I personally give the order.”
Then I looked at Klausen and Peavy and told them that they and Macefield and Forstman were the only ones authorized to know we might be able to trick Moscow into starting the war a few hours early, at a specific time of our choosing—so we can jump their planes and airfields when they are not ready and, of course, make it more likely our swimmers and penetration teams get in safely.
“When I confirm the Russians have begun their ground attack, General Macefield will instantly order all his planes to turn on their identification transponders and attack. Your helicopters and observation planes must immediately also turn on their transponders and assist our artillery in hitting all the Warsaw Pact supply depots, troop concentrations, and headquarters they can reach, except those in Russia and Poland.
"That includes your unarmed troop carrying helicopters and observation planes. They can turn on their transponders and drop grenades and mortar rounds out their doors.
“In other words, when the war starts we want all of your planes and helicopters in the air and ready to suddenly turn on their transponders and begin a maximum effort attack on every Warsaw Pact target our helicopters, planes, drones, cruise missiles, and artillery can reach.
“The NATO ground attack planes and C-130 gunships will take the more distant headquarters and targets, General Klausen. That means your artillery must be ready to hit those close in and all your helicopters, every single one of them except those reserved for the special operations, must be in the air and ready to go for targets beyond artillery range at the same time Macefield and Forstmann have all their planes in the air and ready to go.
“You four must work together to divide up the initial targets and target areas, with as few staff involved as possible to avoid leaks and none of them knowing about the transponders or the possibility we will be able to trick Moscow to starting early. Probably each of you should assign one reliable senior officer to work on the division of targets.
“But no one,” I said sternly, “and I mean absolutely no one, must know or be able to guess, why all the planes and helicopters are up at the same time and ready to hit specific targets with all their transponders turned off and ready to be turned on. It is never to be discussed with anyone, not even your deputies.”
******
Klausen spoke up when Macefield and Forstmann briefly left to make more phone calls.
“I saw Generalmajor Doppelfeld’s name on several of the special operations plans, Herr Generaldoktur. I’ve known Dieter for years but until I saw his name I was unaware he had worked directly with you and helped plan some of the special operations.
“Dieter is a good officer,” I said with a nod of my head. “He’s smart and dedicated; truly an excellent officer. If he can be made available, I would like him assigned to my headquarters as General Shelton’s deputy and the commander of all German airborne and special operations units—with the authority to instantly remove anything or anybody of any rank or service who impedes them.”
“Ja, of course. Immediately. It is for sure. I will confirm it and inform Dieter immediately.”
******
I continued to explain the special operations when Macefield and Forstmann returned from making their calls to get things rolling.
“Basically Gentlemen, there are six special operations that will commence as soon as the war begins. They are already in the process of being implemented. Each is commanded by an officer who helped plan them."
"Those officers report to Lieutenant General Shelton who holds a newly created command and reports directly to General Klausen. In his new position General Shelton commands all of NATO’s special operations and airborne units. Generalmajor Doppelfeld is Shelton’s deputy and commands the German troops who are involved.”
“Your role, all of you,” I said, “is to support these special operations as requested by Generals Klausen, Shelton, and Dopplefeld. Supporting them with everything you’ve got is your highest priority. You are not, with one exception, to keep notes on them or discuss them with your deputies or your staff or anyone else except each other and Dopplefeld and Shelton. So put away your notebooks.”
It took me almost an hour to describe the “fortress” of elderly reservists and volunteers from which a hidden West German tank column will emerge and the use of the civilian ferries to take German armor columns into East Germany. Both operations were designed to cut off and destroy any Warsaw Pact forces that move into West Germany.
Sounds familiar doesn’t it? We’re going to run a couple of Inchon landing types of operations and destroy the bastards by coming in behind them.
I also described the motorcycle skirmishers drawn from the airborne and ranger forces and my intention to instantly drop German engineers and FSK troops, the German Special Forces, into Russia to cut the rail, power, and pipe lines coming from Siberia, and for the German airborne division to drop men on the pipeline pump stations, refineries, and the conventional and nuclear power generating plants in East Germany and elsewhere.
American and British paratroopers, I told my rapt listeners, will simultaneously drop on or be helicoptered to the rail lines and similar facilities of the other Warsaw Pact countries. They will try to turn them off and hold them undamaged, but they are to destroy them if they can’t turn them off or are in any way attacked.
What I didn’t tell anyone is that a portion of the NATO airborne divisions, and certainly all the NATO airborne infantry, are probably going to be dropped on the Warsaw Pact airbases, particularly those in East Germany. All I told them is that the airborne divisions, except for the FSK and the troops assigned to special operations, are to be held in deep reserve until I personally order them into the fighting.
“Finally, Herr General,” I said addressing Klausen, “and it’s the big one and the only one all of you can openly share and discuss with your staffs since we want the Russians to know about it in an effort to discouraging them from attacking—I’m giving you thirty brigades of fully trained and ready to fight American Marines, one for each of your NATO divisions. Each of your divisions is to provide its Marine brigade with food, medical support, transportation, and everything else.”
“The kasernes they’ll use, the airports where the Marines will arrive, and their relationship to their divisions are summarized in here,” I said as I pushed a box of folders across the table to Klausen.
“The Marine brigade commanders already have their copies. These are the operational orders for each of your division commanders.”
Then I explained to General Klausen why he and his staff needed to move quickly.
“Each of the thirty brigade’s radios, SAMs, and anti-tank missiles are being trucked to its kaserne as we speak in civilian furniture moving vans. The Marines themselves are being flown in on a massive airlift using all of our civilian airliners and will start arriving in the next few hours. There are thirty-eight hundred men in each brigade. They’re organized into six battalions of six-hundred men each.”
Klausen was absolutely stunned.
“Mein Gott, Herr Generaldoktor, immediately a full brigade of six American naval infantry battalions with radios, SAMs, and anti-tank missiles for every NATO division and ten battalions of missile equipped motorcycle skirmishers? It changes everything on the ground. Can it be true?”
“Yes, it’s true and your division and corps commanders must make the successful use of their Marine brigades one of their highest priorities—but there must not be a word or even a hint to anyone, and I mean not anyone, about the inadequacy of the Russian radars or any of the special operations we will be implementing. You must give the necessary orders but you must not explain them to anyone, not even your deputies.”
