Fantasque Time Line (France Fights On) - English Translation

[Wings]

June 6th, 1943

Operation Dvina-Niemen
Against the 18. Armee - The Salacgrīva-Vidsmeži-Pāle line is attacked by the 1st Soviet Army. The western part of this line is based on an estuary that gradually widens until it reaches 180 meters near the sea, while further upstream the Salacea is often thirty to forty meters wide. Naturally, the retreating Germans set about blowing up all the bridges and undermining the fords. The eastern part presents the usual triptych of the beginning of the operation: forests, marshes, forest relays. The only passable road worthy of the name is the coastal road that passes through Salacgrīva. This is where the 12th Armored Corps has to cross the river. This is also where the 61. ID intends to put up the strongest resistance.
Kurkin used his numerical superiority to press the enemy's position along its entire length and to locate the weak points. He thinks to find one at the level of the old bridge of Vecsalaca, four kilometers east of Salacgrīva, but the area is too well defended and the engineers cannot work in sufficiently safe conditions. It is necessary to call in the air force, mobilize elements of the 4th Artillery Division to loosen the stranglehold. The bridge builders are helped by nature: a small island isolated in the course of the river saves them time and length of the bridge. A first bridge of twenty meters is built, followed by a part of a second bridge, this time of sixty meters.
Gunther Krappe senses the danger and orders all remaining artillery at Salacgrīva to target the bridge while the Soviet tubes tries to silence it. Further east, the 217. ID holds out well, but Lasch does not have enough resources to hold back the much more numerous attackers for more than a few hours.
For its part, the 12th Armored Corps launched platoons in search of improvised crossings (like the one undertaken by Kravchenko during the battle of Gomel), but in vain. The T-34s are content to fire on the positions on the opposite bank.
Abandoning Mazsalaca and the 291. ID to one of its divisions, supported by a regiment of 122 mm howitzers and a battalion of BM-13/16, Gusev pushes his three other units on both sides of Lake Burtnieku in the direction of Wolmar [Valmiera]. The city itself is defended only by elements of the 96. ID and by the 1. Luftwaffen Feld Division, which has just arrived in trucks from Riga. This new arrival may explain why the rare planes of the LuftFlotte I appear so often against Gusev's troops, preventing them from advancing as quickly as expected. Vecate and Oleri fall to the Soviet columns, whose men are mounted on all available vehicles, from T-50 tanks to the German pickup truck, including bicycles and horse-drawn carriages.
The Soviet planes that have been protecting the 4th Army the day before were sent elsewhere. Northeast of Valga, Krutikov calls for help. Heavily stretched and facing new attacks, his 7th Army is taking more and more casualties, and the former instructor of the Military Academy of the General Staff does not want to relive what the Soviet troops in Finland had experienced, where Soviet troops were ambushed in devastating ways along the communication routes. The much hoped-for air support allows the pressure on the flanks to be reduced. The divisions that are too far forward are recalled to the rear, where entrenchments are dug. Krutikov also obtains the help of his superiors. Activated by Popov, Tymoshenko contacts the Stavka: the 7th Army cannot go further without external assistance, it must stop in order not to suffer a rout - it has reached its objectives anyway. Stalin grumbles when he hears about it, but accepts after having consulted the maps and obtains confirmation of the launch of the second phase of Dvina-Niemen.
.........
Against the 16. Armee - The liquidation of the Rositten [Rezekne] salient continues. North, the 122. ID and elements of the 3. Panzergrenadier hold from Welonen [Viļāni] to Bērzgale. In the south, the 123. ID manage in extremis to evacuate its last positions near Lake Raznas and redeployed in part on the northern shore of the lake around the hamlets that now form the village of Čornajas, with the rest rushing to secure the large village of Malta (on the road to Dünaburg). On the Soviet side, in the north, the 13th Armored Corps (minus the elements committed the day before) charge toward Stirniene while the 34th Army increases its pressure against the German divisions. In the south, the 14th Armored Corps is late (it had lost time supporting the progression of the 39th Army) and regroups south of Lake Raznas around Dorotpole, ten kilometers southeast of Malta, while Zygin's army is preparing to finish with the 123. ID.
.........
Riga - The staff of HeeresGruppe Nord is not idle. First of all, there is the response to von Küchler's appeal the day before. Halder criticizes the dispersion of resources, arguing that if you want to put out too many fires, you end up not having enough lances but he accepts the plan. He takes the opportunity to confirm the transfer from Belarus two additional battalions of Sturmgeschutzen (185. and 226. StuG Abt).
The staff officers also have to respond to a furious Hans Krebs, who demands the units being transferred back to him intact. But the worst is not long in coming when the news of a landing of "unidentified troops" in Courland comes to light.
After the unfortunate messenger had been insulted by von Küchler (and a new message from the Kriegsmarine replaces the term "unidentified" with "Soviet"), one must face the facts. The Soviets have regained a foothold in Courland, a little more than a hundred kilometers from Riga... and much less from Ventspils. There is not much left to counter them, except for the 505. Btn of heavy tanks and the 18. Luftwaffen Feld Division... whose formation is not even completed yet. The whole will be reinforced by picking up volunteers, Latvian policemen and reserve battalions, plus all the unfortunate soldiers passing through the Latvian capital and who have the misfortune to run into Feldgendarmes, in an even worse mood than usual.
The end of the day is already announced painful that a last bell is heard. A last bad news? Alas yes. Angrily hanging up the phone, von Küchler turns to his cards. The 27th and 42nd Soviet Armies, which no one anything out of anymore, have awakened, breaking the line of the Latvian SS and the 121. ID.

 

[Wings]

June 6th, 1943

Gulf of Riga, 22:15 - The Soviet squadron "combs" the waters of the Irbe Strait at 18 knots. The destroyers Storojevoy, Slavnyi and Spokoinyi are a few nautical miles ahead of the main group. The three cruisers in line - Gorky, Kirov, Petropavlovsk - are preceded by the other destroyers type 7/7U, Skoryi, Smertlivyi and Silnyi, and followed by the type-30, Surovoj, Otverjdyonnyj, Odaryonnyi and Svirepoj.
The German squadron, also arranged in line, is led by the destroyers of the 7th Flotilla - Z-31, Z-32, Z-33, Z-37 - followed by the Seydlitz (which bears the admiral's flag), the Lützow and the Admiral Scheer, with the 4th Destroyer Flotilla - Z-23 - closing the march - Z-23, Z-26, Z-29, Z-30.
Later, historians will discuss the responsibilities: the radars of British origin installed on Soviet cruisers were so outdated or the operators so inexperienced? In any case, at 22:18, they do not detect anything when Kummetz is warned that his radar detectors have spotted several emissions. Suspecting, thanks to the report of the Nürnberg, that it is the enemy which it seeks, it starts its radars for a few moments, just enough time to spot the Soviet fleet - ten ships sailing at 18-20 knots on course 195, on the port bow. The first three destroyers go unnoticed, probably because the German radars were quickly cut off.
The German admiral makes them climb to 25 knots and take the course 185, to get closer to the enemy gradually approaching the enemy while moving up his formation. The night is beautiful, the weather but the moon was barely visible (it was new on the 2nd).
22:34 - The Soviets are ready for a confrontation - that is why Rall has the bulk of his force preceded by three destroyers. But the Germans arrive from the west-northwest, while they are waiting for them from the south. A watchman of the Kirov finally reports bow waves on starboard... Unfortunately, it is much too late.
22:36 - As soon as the watchmen of his ships spot their adversaries, Kummetz gives the order to open fire. At five thousand meters, despite the darkness, the German gunners
demonstrate the quality of their training... and the optics of their rangefinders. All three Soviet cruisers are hit before they can adjust their fire.
The most unfortunate is surely the Petropavlovsk. First, after its second salvo, it receives a shell from the Scheer, which ignites a violent fire near its chimney. Then, at its third salvo, the left gun of the A turret cracks! The fault lies in a weakness of the steel that the German builders had detected, but carefully camouflaged.
At the sixth salvo, the same accident hits the left gun of the C turret. At this moment, the cruiser receives two other 280 shells and its speed falls to 15 knots.
With only two 203 turrets intact (the other two are still firing, but from a single gun, and their aiming is uncertain), the ship is soon only a practice target for the Panzerschiff.
In front of the ex-Lützow, the Kirov does its best against the current Lützow (and ex-Deutschland). It manages to hit its opponent with several 180 mm shells, but these only do superficial damage - at least we assume so at this moment: they do not pierce the armor of the "battleship", but they destroy several anti-aircraft guns and the command post of the flak. If the 280 mm shells that hit the Soviet cruiser are not more numerous, they do much more damage.
The Soviet that fares best is the Maksim Gorky, leading the way. The exchange with the Seydlitz even seems to turn to its advantage when a 180 mm shell hits the German close to the bridge. Kummetz is hit, the commander of the cruiser is killed and in the ensuing chaos, the Seydlitz leaves the battle line - she looks in bad shape, although it is only slightly hit.
Meanwhile, the destroyers do not remain idle. The four ships at the rear of the Soviet formation take the offensive to cover the Petropavlovsk, but the Admiral Scheer shifts its fire to them and, supported by the guns of the destroyers of the 3rd Flotilla, strafes the attackers. The Odaryonnyi is seriously hit; it sinks at the end of the night. The Otverjdyonnyj is more lightly damaged, but it will escape. But the Surovoj and Svirepoj are stubborn and launch their torpedoes from quite close - alas, it is not the Scheer that is hit, but the Z-26! The latter is struck by lightning and sinks in a few moments.
In the front, the Skoryi, Smertlivyi and Silnyi also attack, but they are countered by the destroyers of the 7th Flotilla. Hit by a rain of 15 cm shells, the Silnyi burst into flames and the two others withdraw.
At this moment, a violent explosion briefly illuminates the battlefield - it is the Kirov. It is assumed that a 280 mm shell has pierced its armor and hit an ammunition bunker (that of the B turret, according to observations of the wreckage made almost half a century later). The cruiser sank in less than five minutes. This spectacular event seems to add to the ferocity of the battle.
In the southwest of the battle, the Slavnyi, Storojevoy and Spokoinyi turn around and speed up, after a few minutes of hesitation spent wondering where the enemy was, and what kind of ship it was. The first ship they see looks very much like the Petropavlovsk - and for good reason, it is its twin, the Seydlitz.
Uncertain, the Soviets hold back their torpedoes. So much the better: here is the Lützow, unmistakably Germanic.
The Panzerschiff changes target: the Kirov is eliminated, and it transfers its fire to the Maksim Gorky and obtains several shots on goal. It is then that the Spokoinyi appears, who has taken the lead of his teammates. The secondary artillery of Lützow is unleashed and punishes the destroyer, reduced to a burning wreck in a few moments - but the Slavnyi and Storojevoy take advantage of this to adjust their launch. A few minutes later when, as an officer of the Suvoroj, Lieutenant Fedor Isakievitch Halkin, will tell us, "the battle no longer resembled anything other than a bayonet massacre at the bottom of a trench," two torpedoes hit the Lützow in the rear and a third one explodes in its wake.
Strangely, the battle suddenly calms down. "It was like a curtain call," describes Lieutenant Halkin. "Suddenly, all the actors went backstage." All those who are still standing, anyway!
The Maksim Gorky moves away towards the north-north-west, joined little by little by the seven surviving Soviet destroyers. Yuri F. Rall, who is wounded, tries to draw the enemy away from the transports which are to carry the infantry reinforcements from Saaremaa in Courland.
It is useless: on the Seydlitz, Kummetz, who is also wounded, does his accounting. He has only lost a destroyer, but if his heavy cruiser is only slightly hit, the Lützow is in danger. Her survival is not immediately threatened, but her propellers and rudder are very badly damaged. It is highly unlikely that she will be able to return to port by its own means. Fortunately, the Russian cruiser fleet was wiped out (the Petropavlovsk was torpedoed by the Z-23 and Kummetz seems to have considered, in view of the flames that ravaged it, that the Gorky was lost). In addition, he sank three destroyers in exchange for one of his own. It is not an old dreadnought that will allow the Reds to control the Baltic. In short, the orders of the Führer were obeyed. The Seydlitz and the Admiral Scheer can leave for Norway. Why put this great success in danger by going to chase a few troop transports in the mined waters of the Gulf of Riga? Leaving the Z-23 and Z-30 to try to help the Panzerschiff, with the Z-29 as escort, until the arrival of professional tugs, Kummetz heads west with the Seydlitz, the Admiral Scheer and the four other destroyers.

 

[Wings]

June 6th, 1943

Italian front - On the Tyrrhenian coast, the 36th US-ID captures Massa Maritima by an overrun maneuver, with the help of the tanks and artillery of the 1st Armored. The CCB of the latter pushes eastward to Civitella Maritima. Meanwhile, the 34th US-ID Red Bull captures Paganico, on the flank of the armored elements, while the rest of the division joins the Italians of the Bari near the hamlet of Aiole. At the point, TF Tardy succeeds in seizing the bridge over the Ente River at Monte Amiata (the village, not the mountain),
and cut Route 323 from the north. Elements of the 2nd Rangers and the 752nd Tank Battalion take Seggiano, a little south of the road, capturing dozens of men of the 252. ID, caught in the rear, and cutting off the last withdrawal route of the Arcidoso defenders.
Although the men of the 47th ID Bari join the Americans, they progress in the hills, reaching the junction of the Quaranta road and Route 135, at the foot of Mount Amiata. On the plain, the 20th Friuli Division launches a concentric attack towards Radicofani, but the infantrymen of the 252. ID and the grenadiers of the 29. PG hold out : the Italians are sent back to their starting positions. Further east, the 44th ID Cremona continues its progression and seizes Piazze and Ponticelli, with the help of the artillery of the 86th DIA. Noting that with this capture, there is only one road left free, the Germans decide to evacuate Citta della Pieve, which is now surrounded on three sides by the Italians, the French and the Belgians.
Further north, while the Belgian infantrymen continue to fight on Mont Malbe, the legionnaires of the 6th BMLE are unable to break the German lock between Le Cupe and Capocavallo. The Germans of the 356th ID hold on to it with determination, as they have a vital need to keep Route 170 open to evacuate Perugia, even though at Canneto it is within range of the Belgian artillery. The control of Route 170 is all the more important because to the northeast of Perugia, the 83rd DIA advances step by step, fighting in the fields around Villa Pitinano and advances westward toward Montelaguardia, north of the city.
While the battle continues around Force between Canadians, Indians and Germans, the latter launch another counter-attack near the Adriatic coast. The 292. ID holds out well at San Benedetto del Tronto, allowing the 10. Panzer to launch a Kampfgruppe against the British armor. But the fate of the battle is to be decided between these two hot spots: part of the 1st South African Division overtakes Tesino and takes Cossignano, while the 1st Capetown Highlander push towards Ripatransone, threatening the enemy's rear at the mouth of the Tronto.
The highlight of the day is in the hills near Force, where Subedar* Abdul Hafiz, of the 9th Jat, single-handedly repels two machine-gun assaults by Panzergrenadiers of the Grossdeutschland. The Panzergrenadiers had already tried three times to seize the position and the subedar is the only survivor of his section! Rescued, he is nominated for the Victoria Cross.
.........
In the air, it is a very bad day for the 33rd FG, which is badly beaten by the JG 77.
Escorting A-20s of the 47th BG, the men of the 60th FS engage in combat against the Bf 109s. Five American planes are shot down, including one by Oberleutnant Reinert.

* Indian or Pakistani officer of the Indian Army (equivalent to captain)

 

[Wings]

June 7th, 1943

Moscow - The Soviet Foreign Ministry sends its allies an unkind note: "Concerning the question of the creation of a federation in Europe between Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Greece, including Hungary and Austria, the Soviet government does not wish to make any commitments
commitments to such a federation and considers that it would be unacceptable to include
to include Hungary and Austria.
Indeed, for some months now, this old idea, Coudenhove-Kalergi's "Pan-Europa", has been coming back more and more in diplomatic circles. On November 11th, 1940 in London, the joint refuge of the Polish and Czechoslovakian governments, a joint declaration had already evoked a possible "confederation" of the two states. The idea had resurfaced in February 1943 through the mouth of the Turkish minister Numan Menemencioğlu, in the form of a confederation of Central Europe, the Balkans and, of course, Turkey.
But it is especially the Polish government of General Sikorski who, since 1940, has been multiplying its attempts in this direction. General Stanisław Burhardt-Bukacki had been sent to Algeria in 1942, to Blida, to sound out the royal Yugoslav government which, it seems, was not opposed to it. Polish emissaries even approached some Hungarian and Romanian officials very discreetly. But it is obviously the Soviets who are holding back, remembering the "cordon sanitaire" drawn up against the USSR after 1918.
As luck would have it, this note comes the day after the suspicious death of General Burhardt-Bukacki, drowned on the coast of Scotland. Now, the Poles readily believe in miracles, but are suspicious of coincidences*.

* Gyula Juhász, Hungarian Foreign Policy, 1919-1945, Budapest, 1979, p. 249.

 

[Wings]

June 7th, 1943

Washington DC - With her written requests for reassignment going unheeded, Miss Holmes arrives at the opening of the Office of Personnel - Medical Corps, US Army. She emerges an hour later, her cheeks slightly flushed, but her assignment in her pocket! The walls of the building were still shaking six months later, it seems.
The Buick she had commandeered at Annapolis/Bolling Fields takes her back to the field where Buck Danny with a questioning eyebrow waits for her near an SNJ. A laconic "It's done!" accompanied by a bright smile, is enough for any answer. On the tarmac, Miss Holmes changes into her flight suit. Fifty years later, some of the male personnel of Bolling Fields still kept the image engraved on the retina...
Before noon, the tandem joins Oceana, where the sea air is much purer than in Washington!
During this time, telephones and telexes are in use between different services of the US Army, the State Department, the French Embassy, but also the Jean-Bart and even... Algiers. Two days later, in the capital of Fighting France, the President of the Council discovers a pile of messages. He flips through them, scribbles an "Agreement" and signs the first one in the pile, then, visibly trying not to smile, he hands the whole package to a perplexed Courcel: "Pass this to Tillon, he will love it! Let him make arrangements with the Admiralty!"
It is said that in Washington, after the departure of Miss Holmes, some staff officers had seriously considered a slight addition to the Joint Regulations of the Armed Forces in the Field.

Off Norfolk - The Jean-Bart and her full complement leave port for nearly three weeks of intensive training at sea. At 16:30, with everyone is in the air, the pickup of the planes begins. "Fast pace" demands the Avia chief. Everyone is on board within an hour, that is, one plane every 50 seconds or so. "Not bad, but we can do better," says CF Jozan.
Meanwhile, TF-100 heads south.

 

[Wings]

June 7th, 1943

Andaman Islands - Lookouts at the Dilgipur airstrip at the northern end of Smith Island, hear the sound of engines coming from the north. Soon, in spite of a gray and threatening sky, about fifteen dots appear in the sky and approach rapidly. These dots are Curtiss P-40Ns of the 88th Fighter Squadron, 80th Fighter Group, coming from Rangoon. The new American 10th Air Force detached the 88th FS to the Andaman Islands at the request of the British.

 

[Wings]

June 7th, 1943

Tuan Giao area - The Vietnamese "light divisions", the Dai Doan, which had opposed the concentration of the Japanese 22nd and 23rd ID, begin to withdraw away from the enemy to rest, refuel and receive reinforcements. They have so far supported most of the action and if their losses are far from reaching the ten thousand men claimed by the Japanese, they exceed three thousand.
Meanwhile, at Tuan Giao itself, the 22nd Division finally joins forces with the 23rd Division, which had arrived on the scene on June 3rd. With the agreement of General Nishihara Kanji, General Masachika Hirata grants a week of rest to his exhausted troops.

 

[Wings]

June 7th, 1943

Gulf of Riga - Alerted by a series of increasingly fragmentary and catastrophic messages from Y.F. Rall's squadron, Feldman decides, after a moment of uncertainty, to set course for the Straits with the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija and her ten little companions. But a little after midnight, the BO-101 launches a submarine alert: it saw the kiosk of a U-Boot on the surface, which hastened to dive, not without firing a torpedo at it, which the escort barely avoided.
There follows long moments during which the battleship zigzags as best it can while the light ships around her are frantically moving. Finally, the BO-107 signals that it has a good sonar contact. The BO-107 has indeed benefited from the generosity of the British, who offered him a relatively recent asdic equipment... and taught the operators how to use it effectively. Precisely guided by the BO-107, the BO-103 and BO-106 succeed in sending the U-259 to the bottom after 45 minutes of hunting.
Relieved, but fearing the presence of other submersibles, Feldman is about to take the road to the Strait, when an urgent message arrives from Leningrad: formal order to the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija to avoid any confrontation with the enemy surface fleet, if not to protect the troop transports. The destruction of the Marat has left traces!
With rage in his heart, Feldman resigns himself to making circles in the water while waiting for the sunrise. When dawn comes, he has to see that the Germans had not tried to sink the transport flotilla nor his old battleship. They have apparently vanished into thin air! Without trying to solve this enigma, he takes up position near Courland.

Northeast coast of Courland - The 6th Marine Brigade lands on the beaches northwest of the village of Roja. The village is at the end of a road leading inland. The bridgehead is not very wide (five kilometers deep, three kilometers to the northwest and four to the southeast) but the four thousand men and ten T-40 tanks that reached the shore are supported by the naval artillery of Rall's squadron and by the Fleet Air Arm.
Moreover, the German resistance is very weak. The air force reports groups of the size of companies or battalions at Dundagen [Dundaga], [Mērsrags] and Talsen [Talsi], as well as a larger garrison at Venstpils...but nothing that could immediately throw the Soviets back into the sea. Besides, the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija is taking a pleasure to mercilessly hammer the few German elements that try to hinder the progression of the marine infantry.
The landing operations continue during the day, allowing a company of T-34 tanks and half of the 3rd Brigade, which had come from Saaremaa, to reinforce the defences that have been hastily set up.

On the bridge of the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija, Captain 1st Class Feldman is concerned. Only six La-5s are orbiting over the ship to protect it from a Luftwaffe attack. Although the four Fighter Regiments of the VVS-VMF in the Baltic align about one hundred and twenty aircraft (which allows to have about forty fighters in flight at the same time), this is all that could be devoted to the battleship! The problem is that in addition to the coverage of the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija, the Soviet fighters must ensure the control of the sky of the peninsula, escort the Il-2s which support the attacks of the marine riflemen, protect the boats which bring reinforcements and supplies from Saaremaa and Hiiumaa... and that's not all. To these missions obviously foreseen by the designers of the plan came to be added the escort of the bombers and the torpedo bombers which will try to avenge the ships of the Red Flag Fleet sunk during the night, a mission that has become a priority.
.........
In the morning, the first Soviet reconnaissance planes brings back a somewhat consoling news after the night catastrophe. A big fascist cruiser is broken down west of the Irbe Strait! Despite their lack of training, the thirty Il-4 of the MTAD are armed with torpedoes and the thirty Pe-2 with armor-piercing bombs. They will be accompanied by the ten available MiG-5s, in charge of attacking the escorts, and covered by about twenty Yak-9s and La-5s.
A large target that is almost immobile, you can't miss it!
Comrades, we must avenge the comrades of the Fleet who heroically gave their lives this night to save the Motherland! The crews of the assault planes taking off to the Irbe Strait are not very well trained to attack a naval target, but they are determined to give everything, including their lives! And then, it's true, a large target, even for untrained aviators...
.........
Their aggressiveness would probably be increased if they knew what had just happened between Hiiumaa and the Estonian coast. The survivors of the previous night's battle went along the northern coast of Saaremaa and passed between this island and Hiiumaa. Rall ordered ordered four of the destroyers to return south of Saaremaa to cover the ships carrying troops between this island and the Courland bridgehead.
The Maksim Gorky cannot give more than 15 knots and maneuvers with difficulty - it does not zigzag and, in spite of the three destroyers that accompany it, makes a good target for the U-34, which will be able to console itself for not seeing the battleship reported the day before. Oberleutnant z. See Hagenau launches a salvo of four torpedoes, three of which hit! The sinking of the Gorky completes the Soviet defeat of the day before - additional vexation, the U-34, chased until the night by the escort, is quite seriously damaged by several depth chargings, but manages to escape...

 

[Wings]

June 7th, 1943

Operation Dvina-Niemen
Meanwhile, on the main front, the fighting continues.
Against the 18. Armee - Protected by an impressive artillery barrage, the Soviet bridge builders complete their mission during the night. Without further delay, Butkov launches his first tanks on the other side of the Salacea, while detachments of infantry cross the river on more or less improvised boats.
For lack of means, neither the 61. nor the 217. ID can not stifle all the breakthroughs. They have to retreat again to the south. Krappe and Lasch intend this time to reposition themselves along the Svetupe River, between Svētciems and Pāle. But every abandonment of ground is once again paid for by human and material losses.
As the 4th Army continues to push its two points south, Mazsalaca burns from one end to the other, set on fire by the bombardment. Only the old Lutheran church is miraculously spared. The Soviets will discover three hundred terrorized civilians, crammed into what remains today one of the most beautiful rococo style buildings in Livonia. In the confusion, Werner Göritz orders a general retreat. A few hundred survivors from his 291. ID - including himself - will manage to reach the German lines after an epic march of several dozen kilometers on the rear of the 1st and 4th Armies.
At Valga, the halt of the Soviet attacks does not go unnoticed. Lindemann orders to launch new counter-attacks to give a little more air to the defenders of the city, but this stop of the 7th Army raises questions. The ideas of the commander of the 18. Armee suddenly become clearer when he learns that the 42nd Army is moving and that he has received confirmation of the advance of the 4th Army. Would Valga have been just a decoy to attract his forces? If the 42nd Army's attack succeeds in pushing the left wing of the 16. Armee, it would inevitably be cut off from its rear. Since he could not order to withdraw, which von Küchler would not give him, Lindemann discreetly begins to strengthen his communications. Now rejected on the other side of the line of separation between the two armies of HeeresGruppe Nord, the 12. ID is withdrawn from the front lines and sent to Stackeln [Strenči] to protect the road and railroad linking Valga to Wolmar [Valmiera]. Finally, Lindemann begins to represent to his superior the impossibility of holding Valga under the threat of an enemy breakthrough past Busch's army.
.........
Against the 16. Armee - The salient of Rositten [Rezekne] is almost surrounded. Only the south-western part is still virtually in contact with the rest of the occupied Latvian territory, but the 14th Armored Corps advances rapidly and cuts one by one the last communication routes still open. Rositten [Rezekne] itself receives its first shells.
But Zygin and Lopatin cannot attack it yet. The 14th Air Force warned Merestkov: the panzers are on their way. The agents infiltrated by the NKVD in Jakobstadt confirm the gradual arrival of several dozen medium tanks and some heavy tank fighters. This news does not delight the Soviet tankers. Counting on their two armoured corps and on the tanks under repair, they will have, at best, only three hundred tanks and one hundred and twenty self-propelled guns. But Tymoshenko is optimistic: the KV-85s will have no trouble eliminating the Panzer IIIs and artillery and aviation will take care of the rest. The representative of the Stavka goes so far as to order the 13th Armored Corps to push its advantage against the Latvian SS before returning west of Rositten [Rezekne].
This prolonged effort against the SS unit facilitates the work of the 27th Army. Berzarin can advance without much risk toward Rugāji, encountering only scattered elements of the 253. ID. Further north, the 42nd Army quickly takes the measure of the 121. ID and inflicts terrible damage. Morozov is able to indicate to Popov that his objective for D + 3,
Marienburg [Alūksne] will likely be reached twenty-four hours ahead of schedule.

 

[Wings]

June 7th, 1943

Gulf of Riga - On the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija, Feldman is more and more worried.
Of course, the dreadnought can count on an abundant anti-aircraft artillery: four 76.2 mm guns, fourteen 37 mm guns, ten 13 mm machine guns and eighty-nine 7.62 mm guns. We can add the flak of the five Novik class destroyers (10 x 45 mm, 10 x 37 mm and 10 x 13 mm), the five ASW BO-class escort ships (10 x 37 mm and 20 x 12,7 mm) as well as the six small minesweepers remaining with the battleship (6 x 45 mm and 6 x 37 mm). But if it is numerous, this artillery is not adapted to the modern air threat.
.........
These concerns are not those of the few German troopers who try to control the advance of the Soviet marine riflemen, without being able to oppose it. For the Landsers, the intervention of the battleship represents a formidable threat. Of course, the 120 mm shells do not impress them more than that: most of them are veterans who have already suffered 122 mm barrage from the Soviet artillery, administered by dozens of pieces. But the impact of 305 mm shells is not only more destructive but even more frightening
destructive but even more frightening: there are no survivors where they fall. Two or three veterans of the French Campaign think they are back three years, on June 18th, 1940, when, south of Carentan, the Courbet had saluted in its own way the progress of the Phantom Division towards Cherbourg. Like the French battleship at the time, the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija fires slowly, three shells at a time.
Complaints - cries for help, rather - are coming from the German fighting units to the command. At first, they are met with incredulity, because the staffs in charge of the defense of the peninsula believed that the Red Fleet was no longer a danger: in Berlin, the Kriegsmarine was quick to announce the elimination of the Soviet cruisers. But it was not to be. The Luftwaffe is then called upon to muzzle the troublesome battleship.
.........
To finish off the Lützow, the VVS-VMF command believes that torpedoes are the most effective weapon. To offer the Il-4 the easiest target to hit, the Pe-2 will attack first the destroyers which try to tow the Panzerschiff (indeed, the tugs requested in Memel have not yet arrived). Bombers and torpedo bombers have to attack "without worrying about the possible opposition of the fascist fighters and even less of the flak", say the orders.
Fortunately, the German fighters are composed, at the time of the arrival of the Soviet raid, of a dozen Bf 110. It is true that the Bf 109s are engaged on the ground front, that the Irbe Strait is far from their bases and (perhaps especially) that the request for fighter cover took a long time to be passed on from the Kriegsmarine to the Luftwaffe...
The Yak-9s and the La-5s chase without too much difficulty the German twin-engines and the Pe-2s dive on the destroyers which are pulling the trailers. The Z-30 is shaken by several near-misses and breaks its trailer. As a result, the Z-23 does the same.
When the Il-4s appear, in groups of three, the target is perfect and the Lützow's flak was badly damaged the night before by the Kirov's shells. In spite of their inexperience, the Soviet crews will obtain there the greatest success in the history of the VVS-VMF. Out of thirty torpedoes, five hit. We imagine how many torpedoes Japanese planes would have hit the target in the same conditions, but these five will suffice - especially since they are all on the port side: with their target immobilized, the Il-4s are all able to attack from the same side.
At 11h18, the Lützow capsizes and sinks.
.........
Curiously, another naval drama is played out at about the same time, on the other side of Courland.
Hauptmann Steentz leads eighteen Stukas of the 1./StG 2, covered by ten Bf 109 F.
Around 11:15, the German aircraft arrive in the area. The Soviet fighters in cover - at this moment, six Yak-9 - try to oppose the attackers, but the Bf 109s of the escort repel them, shooting down three of them in exchange for one of their own. The Stukas are able to attack in two waves, the first led by Steentz himself, the second led by the already famous Hans-Ulrich Rudel (promoted to Hauptmann two months earlier).
As the enemy aircraft approach, Commander Feldman sets a course to the northeast to move away from the coast and maneuver, since his only means of defense are now his flak and evasive maneuvers. Without a fighter control officer on board, like on the large ships of the Western navies, it cannot call other fighters for help. The Oktjabrskaja Revlolucija starts a series of laces to derail the aim of the Stuka pilots.
The first bomb, that of the Hauptmann Steenz, pierces the bridge at the foot of the command tower, between this one and the B turret. It finishes its course in the front boiler room where its explosion causes the boilers to explode, killing all the members of the personnel. With the dreadnought at battle stations, the forward boiler room feeds the forward turbine group while the aft boiler room feeds the aft group.
In the front engine room, the mechanical engineer in charge notices that his turbines are no longer supplied with steam. He orders the mechanics to isolate the steam manifold to the front and opens the valves to receive the steam from the rear boiler room. The operation only takes a few minutes, but during this time, if the second and third Stukas miss their target, the bomb of the fourth hits the starboard deck above the same boiler room and, by exploding, opens a 2 m2 breach in the plating, below the waterline. The important water entry causes the ship to list on this side. Sensing that the injury could be fatal, Commander Feldman has the battleship lowered to port and beached on the coast, which is still close. This unexpected maneuver disorients the last five Stukas of the group, whose remaining bombs fall into the sea; only a few shards injure some of the gunners. Even better for the crew's morale, the battleship's riposte shoots down one of the attackers.
Although desperate, the maneuver succeeds and the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija manages to throw itself to the coast. But the ship, although severely damaged, is not out of action,
as shown by the relentless, albeit ineffective, fire from its flak. Rudel dives in turn, ordering his eight crewmen to space out their dives. His bomb pierces the front deck just in front of the triple 305 mm turret. It explodes in the cargo bay, blowing up the ammunition in a burst of flame and black smoke. When the cloud of smoke dissipates, the foredeck is separated from the rest of the ship, while the A turret and the command tower have simply disappeared - and with them, Captain Feldman and three hundred and twenty-nine crew members.
Faced with the state of the battleship, the last eight Stukas turn away from the wreckage and go bomb the Soviet destroyers. But hitting small targets zigzagging at twenty-five knots is not an easy job for novice pilots. Only the Volodarskij is shaken by a bomb that falls nearby, breaking part of its hull but without opening a breach. The other destroyers are unharmed. One of the attackers is hit in the left landing gear leg; when landing, it will break and the plane will fall apart, killing pilot and gunner.
On board the rear of the battleship, which still floats (only the bow is stranded), the surviving officers notice that the rear part of the B turret is structurally intact. The shock wave has defused the supply pumps and extinguished the boilers, depriving the ship of all power. Other auxiliaries stop and the electrical breakers trip. Lieutenant Petr Borisovich Grishin, who is the second in command of the artillery (he is the oldest surviving officer!) gives the order to four minesweepers to push on the hull in order to place it
so as to arrange it parallel to the shore. Then, by voluntarily filling in some double bottoms, the mechanical engineer Maksim Petrovitch Belaev completes to beach the battleship with a slight list of 2° on port side.
All afternoon, by the light of the emergency lighting, part of the crew isolates all the pipes and electrical circuits broken in the explosion. Another part of the crew sponges up the watertight bulkhead that separates the forward boiler room from the forward engine room. On the deck, the flak teams are keeping watch while the VVS-VMFs from Baltic Command have reinforced their their cover - it is true that now the hunt over the landing zone can cover both the Marine infantry and the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija.
The night does not interrupt the frenetic activity of Soviet sailors.

 

[Wings]

June 7th, 1943

Italian Front - At the II US Corps headquarters, the atmosphere is joyful. TF Tardy reaches Castiglione d'Orcia by pushing through disparate elements of the 252. ID and the 29. PG. The capture of this locality on the rear of Radicofani will lead to a hasty retreat of the Germans in this sector. One of the objectives of Operation Chianti is thus achieved: to unblock the Italian front by a maneuver that threatens to encircle a whole German division.
Along the coast, the 36th US-ID and the Old Ironside consolidate their positions. On the right wing, the 34th US-ID moves its 133rd IR in reserve while the 168th repositions itself and the 135th takes Arcidoso and Castel del Piano, capturing the last German defenders after they had resisted all day for the sake of honor.
On the Italian side, the 47th Bari reaches the top of Monte Amiata, where its men unfurl a huge green-white-red flag. The photo makes the rounds of the newspapers in the peninsula, with enthusiastic comments on this piece of Italian land liberated from the Tedeschi by the heroism of the troops loyal to the king (for some) or to the legal government (for others), rather unhappy that the flag is struck with the arms of the House of Savoy... but without, it was the flag of Mussolini!). The Germans beat a retreat, the infantrymen of the Friuli enter Radicofani and pushes on to Bagni San Filippo and Campiglia d'Orcia. In the valley, the Cremona easily takes Cetona and reaches the top of the mountain of the same name (1,100 meters).
Facing the Franco-Belgians, the Germans complete the evacuation of Perugia (to the great relief of the French staff) and redeploys in the hills fifteen kilometers further north, towards Pievratonio. Meanwhile, the Algerians begin to enter the city. They join up with the legionnaires a little north of Cenerente while the 4th Belgian ID finishes the cleaning of the sector.
On the British side, the 5th Indian Division undergoes without shuddering the counter-attack led by the fighters of the 6. Gebirgsdivision, in spite of the support of the tanks and artillery of the Grossdeutschland. It must be said that the Nepalese were masters of mountain combat and that they are well supported by the air force.
A little further east, the 3rd Armoured Brigade orients its attack towards the northwest to clear the Canadians by flanking the Kampfgruppe of the 10. Panzer. The Canadians are able to hold their positions. On the other hand, without the support of the brigade, the 1st South African Division makes only minimal progress.
.........
Lieutenant Albert Sachs, of Sqn 7 SAAF, is assigned that day to support the 5th Indian Division in the Force sector. The P-40s of the flight he commands respond to a company isolated in the hills and harassed by German aircraft. Sachs has just damaged a German aircraft when he feels that the world explodes around him. Hit by enemy flak, he has just enough time to parachute out. Luckily, he lands in the perimeter defended by the Indians and joins his group a few days later. Later, the Indians report that they hae found the wreckage of the plane he had damaged, which will credit him with an additional victory.

 

[Wings]

June 7th, 1943

Pragersko (Slovenia) - Not very satisfied with the results of the bombing of the 2nd, the Americans come back. This time, the railroads are very badly damaged.

 

[Wings]

June 8th, 1943

Little Waltham Camp (England) - "This Patton is a curious individual, Navarre. Undoubtedly competent, definitely not stupid, but curious. You'd think he's done everything he could to upset me. Well, at least we have the broad outlines of the 3rd Army's intervention. The rest will follow in a staff conference. Things are moving forward."
Henri Navarre nods. But not for the same reasons! Indeed, things are moving forward. The south of England is covered with fake installations: undeveloped barracks, decoy planes, hangars and bivouac areas intended to remain empty. George Patton spends a lot of time going through them, always with press photographers... Finally, no inflatable tanks were used: the British - and in particular Lieutenant-Colonel David Strangeways, in charge of the practical arrangements for Fortitude - never believed in it, believing that "it would not pass muster" for the press. As far as the Germans are concerned, Navarre does not know - Giraud, on the other hand, still hasn't seen anything. And since Amédée Blanc is not likely to go and contradict him...

 

[Wings]

June 8th, 1943

Italian Social Republic - Mussolini orders Graziani to crush the rebellion that is brewing in the Po plain, but he refuses! Indeed, the Marshal asks that before any action is taken to "maintain order", the requisitioning of workers by the Germans be stopped - to be replaced by a call for volunteers, that the RSI be given more freedom of action and that the Fascist Party be purged of the dubious characters such as Ricci or Pavolini! Of course, these conditions can hardly be satisfied, but the episode pushes Mussolini to want to meet Hitler as soon as possible in order to... regularize a maximum of files. In particular, after six months of existence, the RSI is still not sure about its real possibilities of action.

 

[Wings]

June 8th, 1943

Munster - First flight of the Arado 234, the first jet bomber (designed as such) in the world.

 

[Wings]

June 8th, 1943

Off the coast of South Carolina - All day long, the GAE of the Jean-Bart is talking powder. The fighters strafe targets towed by aircraft from the coast. The bombers drop cement bombs on huge targets traced on the ground on the Parris Island side and torpedo bombers launched inert-headed torpedoes at towed targets. In the late afternoon, 7F abandons the torpedoes for a mission with 500 and 250 pound cement bombs. Just to prove that they can do this kind of thing too, even if their 60° semi-diving attacks are much less spectacular than the almost vertical dives of the SBDs.
All day long, the Jean-Bart arms, launches and picks up its planes, by section.
A single accident spoils a very busy day. A 3F pilot lands his Corsair on the belly and gets stuck on the bridge; it ends up in the safety barriers. Pilot and engine drowned under the carbonic foam, there is no fire. Cleaned with the fire hose, the plane, put back on its wheels, is brought down to the hangar, where the mechanics will repair it.

 

[Wings]

June 8th, 1943

Tuan Giao - General Nishihara, who commands the Typhoon operation, gathers his officers in the town hall, transformed into a headquarters. The morning is spent taking the most accurate count possible of the available manpower - until then, the losses are limited, but not negligible - and to count the reserves of food and ammunition.
Without being catastrophic, the situation is worrying. Food in particular is a problem. The 22nd and 23rd Divisions have looted all the villages on their way, expecting to find full granaries. However, many small towns were burned before they passed through, along with their fields and warehouses. In other places, the granaries had been emptied; the villagers interviewed said that the Vietminh had already collected their taxes in kind.
Nishihara does not seem worried: "These famous taxes were taken away at Dien-Bien-Phu! Let's take over their base and we'll have all the food we want."
The other officers nod, but Nishihara's words reflect an optimism that many of them find difficult to share. The Nipponese remain convinced that their courage and determination give them a clear superiority over the enemy. However, everyone expects a hard fight.
Once again, General Nishihara tries to put into perspective the difficulties to come. The aerial reconnaissance had found only a few wooden bunkers on the ridges surrounding the Dien Bien Phu basin. The enemy has not established any real defense line, just a ditch and piles at the bottom of the hills. His artillery is limited to mortars, a few anti-aircraft guns and a handful of old 75 mm guns. Its air force: two dozen American fighters and bombers. The Japanese soldiers, superior in number and superior in individual prowess will have no difficulty in overcoming a cornered enemy!
Colonel Wakamatsu (85th IR, 22nd ID) intervenes then with diplomacy to recommend caution: an "inconclusive victory" at Dien-Bien-Phu (he obviously did not mention the possibility of a defeat) would severely affect the morale of the men. The soldiers of the tenno continue to demonstrate an unshakeable confidence in victory on all occasions.
But they are exhausted by months of marches and counter marches, with the impression that they are fighting ghosts that vanish when you think you have them.
Nishihara decides the issue with a wave of his hand: "By taking Dien Bien Phu, we will wipe out the rebel leaders and the last French soldiers in Asia at once. The rebellion will die out, for only a few peasants without command will survive. We are the samurai of Imperial Japan, which will soon extend its Sphere of Co-Prosperity to all of Asia. We do not fear peasants armed with old guns!"
However, it is not until June 14th that the march to Epervier Base resumes.

 

[Wings]

June 8th, 1943

Chahar - Kang Sheng is a man of many qualities. A fine scholar, an excellent calligrapher, great connoisseur of traditional opera, refined lover mastering the subtle techniques of esoteric Taoist eroticism, he is still, three months earlier, head of the Department of Social Affairs, an anodyne name that in fact designates the political police of the Chinese Communist Party - whose sinister reputation is as good as that of its counterparts in other countries and of all political tendencies.
But as Taoism rightly teaches, any phenomenon that reaches its paroxysm contains the germ of its own opposite, and now Kang shares the misfortunes of Mao Zedong, the self-proclaimed ex-leader of the Party. He has been dismissed from his post and of the hundreds of agents once under his command, only a few demoralized and closely watched men remain with him.
It is there that he and Mao found refuge with the other survivors of Yan'an, at the end of a second Long March even more calamitous than the first.
However, Kang adds to his other qualities a sharp instinct for political power relations. So he decides to do what he has done many times before in his long career as a communist apparatchik: make a "dialectical shift" in his choice of allegiance. After all, he was trained in the NKVD and therefore has no lessons to take from anyone in the matter of cynicism. In 1928, he supported the CCP faction led by Xu Xigen, but in 1929 he turned around and turned to Li Lisan. Then, in 1931, when Wang had become the rising star of Chinese communism, he swore loyalty to him only to disown him in favor of Mao after his installation in Yan'an in 1937! It is thus with a contrition of circumstance that Kang presents himself at the headquarters of Wang, in presence of a snide Otto Braun, who does not miss a beat. On the wall behind Wang, a large portrait of Stalin, reminding any visitor, if need be, that one does not deviate with impunity from the line set by the Little Father of the Peoples.
Wang, of course, is not fooled by the new reversal of the former executor of Mao's dirty work. He remembers very well that a year earlier, Kang had been an accomplice in an attempt to poison himself. But Wang, pragmatic enough to understand that a man of Kang's caliber could still be useful to the Party, decides to give him a chance to prove his loyalty in an undeniable way. Kang tried to liquidate him on Mao's orders ? Come on, if he proves his repentance, all will be forgiven. But he will have to show that he has definitively turned the page of his deviationist errors.
.........
The same evening, Kang Sheng visits Mao and his wife (Jiang Qing is an old friend...and a former mistress) in the isolated house where the couple is under house arrest.
After the usual courtesies and a few cups of a baijiu even more infamous than the one in Yan'an, Kang quietly gets up, pulls a Tokarev semi-automatic from his jacket and, without the slightest hesitation, fires three bullets at close range at his former boss. A fourth one in the head to leave nothing to chance - Kang is a professional and not a first time shooter - and, approaching a fear-stricken Jiang Qing, he says:
"Yes, Blue Apple [her stage name], this is a crime of passion. You killed your unfaithful husband and then, overwhelmed by remorse, you killed yourself." He cleanly puts a bullet in the temple of his ex-mistress, arranges a quick staging (he knows that the investigation will be a mere formality, and in any case the Party police are hardly trained in forensics), then he leaves without looking back. A week later, he is reinstated as director of the Department of Social Affairs. Let's wipe out the past...
.........
At the same time, General Zhu De, another survivor of Yan'an, is also granted clemency by Wang. He is given a new mission to organize the communist guerrilla warfare in Manchuria, in order to keep the Japanese busy on their backs.

 

[Wings]

June 8th, 1943

Gulf of Riga - If a relative calm has returned to the Irbe Strait, the waters between Saaremaa and Courland continue to be traversed by small Soviet ships, which are completing the transport of the 3rd Marine Infantry Brigade troops to Courland. These are very necessary, because the German reinforcements are pouring into the peninsula: the OKW has released reserves that are going to try to throw back the elements landed in Courland into the sea.
.........
Moscow - The consternation caused by the result of the battle of the night of the 6th to the 7th is further aggravated by the torpedoing of the Kirov and by the first reports on the bombing of the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija. It was only mitigated by the destruction of the Lützow.
Then comes some good news. The marine riflemen are apparently firmly established in Courland. They are now two brigades and it does not seem like the Germans will be able to prevent the transfer of the last brigade of the 4th Marine Division from Saaremaa. The Red Flag Fleet lost its large units, but not the control of the Gulf of Riga! And then, we learn, finally, the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija is not really lost - well, not completely. It can still be useful.
Yuri F. Rall had the good taste to perish in the wreck of the Kirov and Feldman disappeared at his command post... For the time being, there is no question of bringing down other heads. "We'll see later if we need to crack down, and against whom!" says Stalin himself. Admiral Tributs can (temporarily) breathe a sigh of relief. He knows that the large Chapaev class cruisers will soon be operational* and that, on the other hand, the reports of all the Allied intelligence services indicate that the Germans have no ship under construction that could replace the Lützow...
On the other hand, the master of the Kremlin wants to reassert his authority: from now on, no unit equal to or larger than a destroyer should be engaged without his explicit authorization. And this obviously applies to future cruisers when they enter service.
.........
Berlin - Everything was almost fine until the morning of the 7th, and then the destruction of the Lützow, sent a shiver of anxiety down the spine of the Kriegsmarine staff officers. In the evening, the ritual staff conference before Hitler begins with a complete review of the naval and air battles in the Baltic. Then silence falls. And, miracle! After a few moments of deep reflection, the Führer says: "Good. Make sure that the Seydlitz, the Admiral Scheer and a flotilla of destroyers join Fortress Norway. Kummetz will be able to control the Baltic with the Nürnberg and the Leipzig." A moment of silence, then Hitler adds: "And I order that from now on, no German warship will be unchristened."
Perceiving a hesitation among those present, he deigns to explain: "Am I the only one here who sees that three of the ships sunk in the Baltic had their names changed? That is significant!"
Hitler, a superstitious man, knew that for many sailors, changing the name of a ship was a bad omen. In fact, this was the case for the Lützow (ex-Deutschland), the Petropavlovsk (ex-Lützow) and Oktjabrskaja Revolucija (ex-Gangut). However, this coincidence seems to have dampened the anger of the Chief. The Kriegsmarine is going to hasten to obey his orders. The repairs of the Seydlitz are carried out at a rapid pace and, at the end of June, the heavy cruiser, the Admiral Scheer and the 4th Destroyer Flotilla will have reached the Norwegian fjords by taking advantage of a few days of bad weather.
.........
Northeast coast of Courland - While the staffs are making assessments and plans, under the bridge of the Oktjabrskaja Revolucija, the mechanical engineer Belaev leads a methodical inspection, compartment by compartment, of what remains of the ship.
A huge task, but the men are motivated by the desire to pay tribute to their lost comrades and to try to avenge them.

* The Vasily Chapaev from the end of June, the Zheleznyakov from the end of August and the Chkalov from the end of October. These are derived from the Kirov class, weigh 15,000 tons at full load and their main armament is made up of 12 180 mm guns in four triple turrets. Two others are being completed and two are under construction in the Black Sea.

 

[Wings]

June 8th, 1943

Northeast of Courland - The Soviet flotilla completes the landing of the 3rd Marine Infantry Brigade. As soon as they arrive, the men are sent to the front line, where the situation starts to deteriorate. The Germans were surprised for a while, but they had indeed recovered and activated counter-measures.
Disparate forces are concentrated in Talsen around the 18. Luftwaffen Feld Division and the 505. Heavy Tank Btn, under the command of General Wolfgang Erdmann.
In Markgrafen, a Kampfgruppe was formed with the Marine-Artillery-Abteilung 538 (an infantry company, a detachment of sailors assigned to the local lighthouse, two batteries of four 75 mm guns each and an anti-aircraft battery of four 20 mm guns) and infantrymen from Riga. It was placed under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Louis Lesewitz. Finally, in Ventspils [Windau], a second Kampfgruppe of naval artillerymen and sailors was placed under the responsibility of Lieutenant Commander Ernst
Graeff. This last group includes several Skoda 47 (initially intended for defensive positions around the port) and three SdKfz 222 light armored vehicles armed with a 20 mm gun.
At ten o'clock, judging that it is necessary to intervene as soon as possible, Erdmann orders the elements that had already reached Talsen to head north to block the road to the "invaders".
Tankers and Luftwaffe soldiers are the first to set off along the narrow-gauge railroad that runs through Sassmacken [Valdemārpils] and Anuži.
In the late morning, these first counterattackers reach the Lube railway station, which they find fortified by marine riflemen. Lacking heavy weaponry, the Soviets spray the tanks with anti-tank guns without any result, some brave men even tried to approach with mines. In response, the shells of the tanks set fire to the station.
It is the arrival of a Petlyakov Pe-2R reconnaissance plane that saves the survivors. Alerted by the smoke of the fire, the crew comes to see the situation before calling for help from the Ilyushin Il-2. Attacked by the assault aircraft, the tanks temporarily withdraw, leaving the time for the sailors to leave.