9th January 1942
In the north of Germany, 1st Army continues its rapid advance. The troops occupying the Baltic coast have now reached Köslin, while those who have crossed over into Poland have crossed the river Warta either side of Poznań and are advancing towards East Prussia as fast as they can. This advance is by now something close to a road march – the area has a mere handful of German die-hards left who are barely even able to slow the advancing troops down while the break in the weather has allowed the RAF to fly in significantly more petrol and even small drop quantities of it by parachute. This uses an adaption of the A Mark II parachute mine, with the mine body replaced by a 100 gallon petrol tank which uses a balsa-wood crate on the nose to cushion the shock of impact.
Fighting continues in the Berlin suburbs – I Corps is making gradual progress, with the rate mostly constrained by priority for supply being given to II and III corps. This means that only limited fire support can be made available, and the natural reluctance to be the last person killed in a war that has clearly been won means that attacks are rarely pressed home. The German troops – while armed with little more than small-arms ammunition – are suffering far less from desertion than other units elsewhere. As a result of this they are able to put up stiff resistance in the absence of British tanks and artillery, although they tend to fold rapidly when this is available.
With little or no prospect of being able to spare substantial forces to reduce the remaining German forces in much of Poland for some weeks yet, the Whirlwind and Auster liaison aircraft from the British 2nd and 4th armies are deployed to Poland in order to provide the ZWZ with a rudimentary forward air control capability. To achieve this the normal RA FOO is replaced by an RAF FAC. While this is nothing like as capable as what the RAF can provide to the British Army, it should enable them to use medium bombers in direct support of pre-planned Polish operations against German hold-outs.
The French Sixth Army (Giraud) completes the elimination of the German pockets in front of them. In the process they capture two Army headquarters (6th at Marburg and 2nd Panzer at Jena) as well as OB West at Schloss Osterstein, just outside Gera. They face very limited resistance in the process, with even the most senior officers seeming to be in shock at the completeness with which the German Army has collapsed on the battlefield in the past few weeks.
After several days of preparation to re-open the railway, Czechoslovak Army runs enough trains into the Wilson, Masaryk and Nusle-Vršovice Stations in Prague to deliver a divison before dawn, with strong support from the ÚVOD to ensure the Germans do not become aware of them. By the time fighting starts just after 7am the Germans are heavily outnumbered on the east bank of the Vltava and are unable to prevent follow-on trains arriving during the day.
Meanwhile (and following on from a political directive to allow the Czechoslovak forces to liberate their own capital), further west Prioux and Ritche make contact at Pilsen, occupying the town without firing a shot. This occupation degenerates into a massive party later in the afternoon, after the Měšťanský pivovar brewery throws its doors open to the newly arrived troops. While the beer is a pale imitation of what it made before the war, the troops know that the two armies having met on Czechoslovak soil means that the war is all but over – and that their part in it almost certainly is. The result is a massive party which despite the best efforts of the military police snowballs until it finally breaks up in the early hours having drunk the town dry.
Richie’s left flank has been given priority for petrol supplies, and as a result is able to make excellent progress. Light units are able to make contact with Czechoslovak forces in Hradec, while the majority of the force wheels left and is able to occupy Bautzen and Gorlitz.
The French Fourth Army enters Munich after it is declared an open city by the mayor. The handful of soldiers not to have deserted are locked behind the wire at the Dachau concentration camp after the prisoners there are released. Their weapons are destroyed by the simple expedient of driving a tank over them, and then all but a battalion resume the advance trying to keep up with their advance forces. These have already reached Salzburg and Berchtesgarten, although they are starting to have some supply difficulties and Requin has ordered them to halt in place for 48 hours to allow their petrol supplies to catch up.
Troops from Sixth Army (Touchon) occupy the north side of the Brenner Pass and make contact with the Italian customs post. While one Brigade is detached to move towards the Swiss border, the majority of the force will continue down the valley of the river Inn towards Jenbach. They are having severe problems with extreme cold and heavy snowfall, however, so progress has significantly slowed.