France Fights On (English Translation) - Thread II - To the continent!

[Wings]

September 7th, 1943

Sarajevo - Hermann Neubacher has just finished his tour of the various political forces in Bosnia. This visit was quick: the offensives against the "terrorists" in recent months (operations Weiss and then Schwarz), as well as the numerous conflicts between Chetniks and Partisans of the accursed Tito had at least the merit of clarifying many allegiances. It is always difficult to balance goat and cabbage in a war zone!
In short, since the elimination or the rallying of the Chetniks of Bosnia, the province does not have a serious political movement with which to negotiate. It can therefore only serve as an object, not having the characteristics required to become a subject.
The cunning Austrian therefore recommends in his report to divide the country into two zones of occupation, which would return respectively to the independent State of Croatia and to the collaborating government of Belgrade. The diplomat does not specify (that goes without saying) that the size of these zones, obviously doomed to annexation, will of course depend on the goodwill that the interested parties would put into defending the Reich's cause.
As for the fate of the indigenous populations - deportation or massacre and replacement - it does not concern the Germans.
Neubacher has completed his mission, because he does not plan to go to Slovenia, Macedonia or Montenegro. These provinces belong to Italy (well, to the RSI...), or are located dangerously close to the front line. As for Albania, it has its own puppet government, which the Austrian is quite happy not to interfere with.
However, he will remain about one month between Zagreb and Belgrade, trying to negotiate, then to maintain at low cost the uncertain allegiances of the local Collaborators. His steps will not lead to anything concrete, except the revival of hatreds that had no need of it...

 

[Wings]

September 7th, 1943

London - In the cosy intimacy of the Argos mission offices, we discuss. First of all about current events and the claws of the fire-breathing Dragon in the Mediterranean, then the development of V weapons, before tackling two subjects on which recent information has come from Norway.
Firstly, it appears that the Germans have had the heavy water plant at Vemork rehabilitated, which is said to have resumed production. A raid similar to the one on Gunnerside would have little chance of success, so it is agreed to carry out a bombing raid. The Americans of the 9th AF, less busy at the moment, can do it.
Secondly, the Knaben mine also resumed its activity after the long interruption due to the severe damage caused by the Mosquitos in January. Ah, by the way, the RAF has informed them that one of the two crew members of the shot down plane had returned last month via Sweden! The other will be decorated posthumously...
It is then suggested to kill two birds with one stone: a joint raid on the same route with two separate targets, Knaben and Vemork, plus the nearby Rjukan hydro-electric power station as a secondary objective - its destruction would de facto interrupt the production of Vemork.

 

[Wings]

September 7th, 1943

Toulouse - The 11. PanzerDivision, moving at night to escape the air attacks, set out shortly after midnight in the direction of Provence. All available units on its way were are to support it and to "clean" the roads, where blockades (sabotage of bridges, cutting down of trees, sometimes ambushes) start to form.
.........
Paris-Toulouse - General Ottenbacher, commander of the security forces in France, flies to Toulouse in the night. He obtains from Oberkommando West a promise of reinforcements for the Toulouse-Nîmes sector.

Everywhere in France - French police open the envelopes of the "Liste S" (suspects to be arrested, souvenir of the Laval period). An operation that will turn out to be short...very often, the policemen will meet the suspects in question only to put themselves under their orders!

Revolt in Rouergue
Villefranche-de-Rouergue, midnight - Without noise, at the password, the sentries - at that moment, only the Muslim and Croatian soldiers chosen the day before by the first sergeant open the doors of the girls' school to a discreet group led by a small officer: Second Lieutenant Ferid Dzanic. The non-commissioned officers are were sleeping there, Germans of the Reich or ethnic Germans recruited in Yugoslavia, wake up with the barrel of a gun under their noses. They let themselves be disarmed and locked up without question.
04:00 - The same scenario is repeated at the Hotel Moderne. Lieutenant-Colonel Kirchbaum and his officers wake up in front of the gun barrels and are dragged out to a dark backyard. Dr. Schweiger, a second lieutenant doctor, is missing; we learn later learned that he was spending the night at the home of a certain French woman well known to the German officers. Imam Halim Malkoč tries to argue, but Dzanic gives him no choice: "Imam, come with us, otherwise you will be our enemy!". The imam is locked up in one of the rooms on the second floor.
05:45 - All the soldiers are now awake and begin to converge on the Place Nationale. Ferid Dzanic goes from one group to another and tries to convince the undecided ones, accompanied by his orderly, the young soldier Djemaludin Krupalija. Suddenly, an armed group bursts from the bridge, led by Imam Malkoč, machine gun in hand. He has escaped from the hotel by the roofs and was able to rally some men, German non-commissioned officers or Muslim soldiers, on guard at the station. In a vehement voice he says: "Soldiers of Allah! You who are believers, the armed revolt that is taking place today is the work of the Bolsheviks, the English and apostates! It is Islam that is in danger! It is the Almighty who commands you to stifle this revolt! Attack!"
Dzanic raises his gun. He hesitates for a moment: perhaps he remembers that he and the imam went to high school together in Bihac. Malkoč has no such scruples: with a burst, he shoots Dzanic.
But the mutineers shoot back; a brief gunfight pits the two sides against each other and the force remains with the men of Dzanic. In the general disorder, the imam also falls, seriously wounded.
According to some witnesses, it was probably the young Krupalija who shot him, although he denied it later.
The murder of a cleric is a serious matter. The imam is taken to the St. Claire hospital, where he dies in the evening.
In the morning - The death of Dzanic leaves the mutineers distraught. He alone had contacts with the Resistance and he had promised "guides" who, for one reason or another, would never appear*. After disarming the last of the Imam's supporters, the soldiers meet to elect leaders. Two groups emerge: some around Dizdarevic, a Muslim who was one of the leaders of the plot, would like to go underground in the north, in the Cantal mountains: "It is a country of mountains, a small Bosnia, we will hold there as long as it takes". The others, around the young and ardent candidate Nikola Vukelic, would like to march towards the sea and join the allied bridgehead: "We will help them to beat the Germans and they will bring us back to Croatia to participate in the liberation of our country." He is followed by most of the Catholic Croats of the unit, including Bozo Jelenek, a tall, quiet-looking fellow whose proud appearance earned him an promotion to sergeant. In the general confusion, no one speaks about "Yugoslavia", an idea that seems very distant.
Aspirant Eduard Matutinovic and Sergeant Karlo Bauer, a Sarajevian more Slavic than German despite his Germanic name, remain temporarily outside this debate: with a few men, they go to the gendarmerie to disarm the French. They do not put any fight: after a brief negotiation, it is agreed that the disarmament would be purely formal and that the mutineers would deposit their weapons in a nearby farmhouse so that the gendarmes could recover them. The only goal is to keep up appearances to avoid German reprisals.
The bodies of the lieutenant-colonel and the other officers, shot during the night, are taken to a room in the girls' school. The German non-commissioned officers and the few Muslim soldiers who refused to follow the rebels are left in the custody of the gendarmes: these prisoners will testify, in case of a German investigation, to the good will of the inhabitants who had not taken part in the fight.
Another subject of debate: what uniform should be worn? The SS uniform is compromising and risks to attract bullets from French Resistance fighters. But in these times of shortage, it is difficult to find suitable civilian clothes, especially for someone like Jelenek, who is 1,85 m. Most of the men decide on the work coat used in the stables, the Arbeitrock, of a rather neutral brownish hue.
12:45 - The 13th Battalion splits in two, each group taking a dozen small black horses. The first, with Dizdarevic and Matutinovic, leaves for Mount Mouchet, where, it is said, there is a gathering point of the maquis. The others go south and to the Black Mountain with Vukelic, Jelenek and Bauer; they will take part in the fighting against the 11. Panzer and its escort. The Villefranchois, who were not very demonstrative, nevertheless give them encouragements and food and the bell tower's carillon plays the Lorraine March.

Plan Couleuvre
Castelnaudary (Aude), around 15:00 - "You have to be patient, my friend, life is hard for everyone..." It is not said in all words, but Captain Wilhelm Pirch, head of the 11th Armored Reconnaissance Squadron, almost feels as if he can read the words through his thick, bald head of the railway director. A sixty-year-old man with a war cross on his lapel, you'd think there are only those left in French administrations. He is not at all impressed by a Wehrmacht white man, even if his 11. Panzer has the right to several commendations on the Eastern Front... What emerges from his explanations is that the passage is likely to be difficult!
- The bridge over the Fresquel, yes, we can take it, not like the bridge over the Aude at Couffoulens which exploded the other night, and that's bad luck, Mr. Captain, because we had twelve locomotives south of Couffoulens, yes, twelve, because there were troop transports waiting for the Pyrenees, and those, we can't count on them anymore!
But no, he does not smile, it is Pirch who sees everything in black...
- But in Carcassonne, everything goes on. It is in Trèbes that it does not pass any more, no, not a bombing, only a broken down machine but we have nothing to pull it... We are waiting for a crane from Montpellier, it will arrive eventually. You know, it seems that the line that goes to Montpellier by Mazamet and Saint-Pons, that one, that one works perfectly well. I got confirmation of this earlier. If Herr General wants to go that way it will be perfectly fine.
.........
Toulouse, 17:00 - General Wend von Wietersheim makes his last arrangements for the big move of the 11. PanzerDivision to the Mediterranean. The report of Capt. Pirch convinced him that the road to Carcassonne is impassable and, according to the Luftwaffe, the entire coastline between Arles and Narbonne is infested with enemy aircraft. On flat ground, impossible to conceal the tanks, which would make them too easy targets. Too bad, he resigns himself to taking the inland route, via Castres and the passes of the Cévennes. It will undoubtedly be necessary to abandon tank-carrying trucks, which are too large for these routes, but it is possible to go through with the tanks alone, like in Greece two years earlier where the roads were no better.

Bourg Saint-Andéol, Côtes de Provence, Montélimar, Ventoux, etc. - Names that evoke the vine and the nectar of Bacchus but which, today, do not incite so much to cheerfulness. When the harvest is over since the end of August in Bas-Languedoc, it is in full swing in the lower Rhône valley. And the Occupiers notice that the region is teeming with itinerant workers, all "foreigners to the locality" according to their criteria: many foreigners, Italian deserters, Spanish republicans and, for the French, refractories to compulsory labor, Jews, escapees, illegal immigrants of all kinds...
At that moment, despite the battle raging on the coast, the Germans find soldiers and trucks to surround the villages and to comb the farms and the barns. Those who are able to slip through the cracks flee on foot or by bicycle to the Cevennes, or to the Alps. But it's too late for Esperanza, a Spanish woman, because she wasted time burning papers that could have compromised other people, she is arrested and sent to the prison of Valence. For her and many others, this year's harvest will have a taste of blood.

Bucharest - While the Reich is struggling to cope with the Bulgarian defection, the Romanian man in the street is openly questioning what his country should do. Oh yes, the press calls for obedience to the Conducator and for a front on Germany's side against the Bulgarian neighbor, whose treachery finally appears in broad daylight! But in fact, the tension between the kingdom and the Reich, its representatives... and its troops, which seem to occupy the country more and more under the guise of protecting it.
Incidents break out at regular intervals with German volunteers: refusal of service, insults, throwing stones. Nothing dramatic - we are not in the USSR or in France - but this creates a curious atmosphere in a country that is, in theory, an ally of Berlin! The police almost always intervene, with vigor - a lot of vigor - and the former members of the Iron Guard are not reluctant to lend a hand. A woman is arrested in Focșani, on Bucharest Boulevard, for insulting a German patrol passing in front of the Mausoleum of Heroes**, before being almost lynched on the way to the police station by a motley group of former Guardsmen including several women***! The unfortunate woman is only saved by the intervention of a group of infantrymen of the 1st ID, who had had plenty of time to recover from their illusions.
However, the "defeatist" incidents in Romania are not the sole fact of the Romanians...
Thus, during a gala evening at the Royal Palace, the businessman and generous donor Albert Göring (the Reichsmarschall's own brother) causes a stir by refusing to sit at the same table as the Reich ambassador, Manfred Freiherr von Killinger, whom he considered personally responsible for the assassination of the Jewish industrialist and politician Walther Rathenau in 1922! It is well known that Herr Göring doubted the Final Victory and even allowed many Jews to escape arrest****. But this time he probably overestimated his influence a little. He is arrested on the spot and spends several days in prison before an intervention by his brother gets him out of this predicament.

* No local Resistance group remembers being in contact with Dzanic. It is probably the group of Dr. Bozidar Vitkovitch, a naturalized French Serb, who served as a relay. But, since the day before, all exchanges between Toulouse and Villefranche have been interrupted.
** Byzantine-inspired war memorial, built in 1937 under the guidance of architect Ştefan Baloşin to house the remains of 1,744 unknown Romanian soldiers.
*** In 1938, 11% of the Iron Guard members were women. Perhaps this commitment should be seen as a political adhesion to the "virilist" policy of the movement, which was supposed to respond to the "emasculation of the Romanians" by the creation of a "new man"...
**** Albert Göring maintained numerous contacts with the Czech resistance. He also regularly sent trucks to the concentration camps with an order to provide manpower. Once away from the camp, the trucks usually stopped in the open country for an (apparently) unscheduled and unplanned break.

 

[Wings]

September 7th, 1943

Indochina Campaign
Between Savannakhet (Laos) and Quang Tri (Vietnam) - In the morning, a Tachikawa Ki-36 (Ida) spots a column of infantry - necessarily enemy, as no Japanese or even Siamese units are reported in that area. After being fired upon by small arms fire, the Ki-36 is joined by a shotai of Ki-43 (Oscar). The latter machine-gun for long minutes the edge of the woods where the enemy troops had taken refuge.
On the way back, they discover a second column in marching order. However, the low clouds and especially the lack of ammunition allow the allied soldiers to escape the anger of the "Wild Eagles".
As soon as the aircraft return, all the posts in the sector are put on alert in case of an attack. One of the columns, in particular, probably aims at the Japanese camp of Tchepone.

Don Muang (Bangkok) - In the late afternoon, the 308th BG and its guardian angels of the III/40 return to the top of Don Muang. They hope to complete the task they had begun on 31 August and finally render the main RTAF airfield, which is also the HQ of the Thai air force, inoperable.
With clearer skies, the bombing by the sixteen Liberators is more accurate than last week's bombing. Runways and buildings arehit at many points.
Only, scalded by the previous attack, the Thais took their precautions.
Their planes were dispersed in shelters and only a few planes are slightly damaged by shrapnel.
The flak manages to shoot down one B-24 and two others are damaged. A dozen Ki-43s rush to attack the rest of the formation, but they are immediately caught by the eight NA-73s of the escort. The Siamese fighters shoot down a Mustang and managed to damage an additional Liberator, at the cost of four of their own, plus two damaged.
The damage suffered renderes Don Muang unavailable for 48 hours.

New Guinea Campaign
Salamaua-Lae Campaign
Battle of Labadia Ridge (Day 2) - At first light, the Australians launch another counterattack, but the Japanese have had time to set up machine guns and, with the help of their mortars and grenade launchers, they repel the assault. However, exhausted by the previous day's fighting, having neither armor nor heavy artillery, they cannot make any further progress.
The clashes continue throughout the day, but are limited to exchanges of small arms fire and neither side clearly gains the upper hand.

 

[Wings]

September 7th, 1943

Operation Suvorov
Cunning buffalo
Vitebsk region ("Suvorov-North") - The withdrawal of Soviet forces continues, even though their decimated and dispersed units have more and more difficulty to maintain even a semblance of cohesion.
The Wehrmacht no longer considers itself in danger here - well, less so than before. The troops of the 2. Armee have already reached the positions defined by Rommel, and there is not a Red on the horizon! Only a few irritating aircraft of the 2nd Air Army from time to time fly over the German lines - however, they are mostly reconnaissance planes, the pilots of General Naumenko being in great need of rest after the recent events. The intruders - sometimes chased by the Bf 109 of the LuftFlotte 2, but not always - are obviously looking for a weak point in the Heer's position.
Still far from the enemy positions, Pavel Kurushkin is however forced to order his 20th Army to take a break - it is decidedly too exhausted and dangerously stretched to advance further westward without being at the mercy of a disaster, if Friessner's XXIII. AK decides to fall on it as it descends from Nevel. This decision will be the subject of exchanges with the Stavka - which understands its necessity, but has to relay the orders of the Vojd. Finally, Kurushkin is given 24 hours, not one more, to reorganize himself in Šumilina before taking the road from Polotsk to Obal. In the meantime, the unfortunate troop will secure the road to Haradok, to the northeast, which leads behind the former positions of the LIII. AK. Had it not been for the obsession of some for Vitebsk, this road could have been a relevant offensive axis, who knows?
As for the 63rd Army, it continues its way to Sianno, through woods and marshes, on land abandoned by the enemy, but whose roads are decidedly infamous - despite the indications given by the local partisans. In the evening, Kuznetsov is in Bikovo - not farther.
.........
Orsha and Talachyn regions ("Suvorov-North") - After 48 hours of racing against an enemy that has already arrived, the 1st Guards Army finally reaches Kanapel'chytsy and Ozertsy, on the outskirts of Talachyn, joining the remnants of the 18th Armored Corps, which is unable to break through the new German defenses.
The 9. Armee, always reinforced by the XXXIX. PzK (von Tippelskirch) on loan from the 1. PanzerArmee, sets up a device relying largely on the Drut - this right tributary of the Dnieper that rises in Razdolnaya, ten kilometers north of Talachyn.
Obviously, the VI. AK (Grossmann) - weakened but a bit rested, and reinforced on its right by the 337. ID (Schünemann) - does not hesitate to take advantage of this modest natural obstacle to keep one of the banks of the city, and more generally the flank of the new front line.
In the end, however, Chistiakov doesn't care about Talatchyn - like almost everyone else, for that matter. He should therefore be able to bypass it from the north, with the Drut, to reach his next objective, namely Baryssaw... Alas, in the absence of the 63rd and 20th Armies to guard his left, and while the area of Kasieničy further north, is hostile to any maneuver (this is why the very modest V. AK of Richard Ruoff assumes sole custody ...), the Soviets have to make do with a single wooded gap of 13 kilometers, between Razdolnaya and Kasieničy... It is not much, even if between Razdolnaya and Talatchyn, the Drut itself is hardly annoying! And of course, this is where the Wehrmacht concentrates the best of what it has in this sector: 227. ID and 336. ID of the XXXIX. PzK and 18. PanzerGrenadier, the 12. Panzer remaining in reserve in Krinitsy.
Chistiakov must agree that he has in front of him something solid, which it will be impossible to seize in a hurry. He is thus reduced to reconcentrate his forces for a possible new assault, while waiting for the 3rd Guard of Zakharkin, which has just left Orsha to reach the Star' road junction, where he was yesterday...
.........
Mogilev region ("Suvorov-Center") - Ivan Fedyuninsky accelerates! His 15th Army makes a leap of 20 kilometers to the west, taking advantage of a terrain that is finally improving and (especially) the absence of any real German defense - a point confirmed by the reconnaissance of Comrade Papivin. By evening, the frontovikis are in Višoŭ - that is, halfway to Bialyničy,
This is a town on the Drut River, opposite which the 4th Army has redeployed its forces.
The 15th Army is preceded by the 22nd Armored Corps, which goes forward in pursuit of an enemy which eludes it. Its armor is already on the outskirts of Bialyničy, having rolled day and night for this purpose. Nevertheless, discovering the new German defenses that stand in front of him, Mikhail Volkov, on his own authority, prefers to wait for the arrival of the infantry to continue.
He has already lost enough armor by dint of haste and does not see anyway very well in what the early liberation of this locality would open prospects.
On the left, Managrov's 29th Army comes out of the woods and goes down southwest towards Chachevichy - a town on the Drut River. Having secured the crossroads of Hluchskaja Sialiba, it continues on its way and reaches Dubrova, still heading towards the Germans who had long since settled at their destination. This formation is now dangerously isolated: being already more than 35 kilometers from the 15th Army (north), it can hardly count on the other forces of the 2nd Belorussian Front (south). Indeed, in case of an underhanded strike, the latter would have to cross the Dnieper and cross 80 kilometers of this delicious local terrain to come to its rescue. But the direction of history is still in its favor: the Germans have nothing in the area that could endanger it!
.........
Gomel and Zhlobin region ("Suvorov-South") - The most promising branch of "Suvorov" continues to pick up its pieces in preparation for the next step. The reconnaissance of the 15th Air Army already revealed that the bridges at Jlobin have been blown up - but that does not prevent the Red Army to continue. Finally, the 21st Armored Corps is the first Soviet unit to show its red stars on the Dnieper River; in the late afternoon it enters Lugovaya Virnya, facing the new Fascist defense line on the west bank.
General Trofim Tanashishin is now watching Jlobin with binoculars. And he doesn't need to wonder for a long time to know what he will tell Konev that evening, still in Dobruch: it is not possible for him to cross the Dnieper in the present situation.
It is understandable that Ivan Konev is upset, to say the least... However, the general understands that he has no choice but to take his pain in patience, while he takes stock, Govorov's 2nd Guards Army barely reaches Staraya Rudnya, and its dispersed and harassed forces will not be able to rally along the river before 24 hours - let alone cross. As for the 3rd Shock Army, it is still in Gomel, still in the process of reorganization after the great butchery of the last weeks; it will probably not move until tomorrow. Finally, the 54th Army is likely to remain in the Retchytsa sector for a long time - someone has to guard the left flank! Besides, this formation has given too much during the previous battles, it could not be of any use anymore...
On the side of the armored formations, it is not much brighter: besides the 21st Armored Corps - in line, but reduced to less than half of its nominal strength - the Front can only count on Alexei Rodin's 7th Armored Corps, comprising about 200 vehicles of all types (including quite a few BT-7s from the reserves...). As for the 10th Corps, its leader Alexey Popov announces that he still needs at least four days - until September 11th - to recover a bit...
In short, all this is not very bright! It will thus take time, men and supplies to take Jlobin - a small city of 20,000 inhabitants, easy to defend and whose banks will always be a death trap for many soldiers or armored vehicles...
A feeling of déjà-vu hovers over the 2nd Belorussian Front...

Yentsy battlefield (north of Chachersk) - All these military problems do not upset the journalists of Pravda and other Izvestia, who fall on the liberated territory: the battle of Chachersk, which significantly contributed to the liberation of Gomel, is obviously a great victory for communism! And like all these recent and so expensive victories, it should be emphasized, so that the Soviet worker understands that his 70 hours of work per week are worth something!
The battlefield north of Gomel has everything to please the regime's photographers: the terrain is relatively flat, easy to develop, and overflowing with wrecks or corpses of all kinds that can be staged according to the needs of the moment. If necessary, we won't hesitate either to make some frontovikis of passage put on German uniforms, so that they can represent large cohorts of infantrymen, certainly Nazis, but above all happy to surrender with a smile*. As for the wrecks of Tiger or other panzers, once grouped together for the photo, they will demonstrate the obvious superiority of the USSR's equipment over that of the Reich - any image or even mention of the slightest equipment provided by the capitalist world being totally forbidden.
In short, the USSR is all joy, all elation even, about the fighting in Belarus - it is enough to just look on the bright side.
.........
"Yesterday evening, the major told me that a journalist from the capital would come to talk to our crew, escorted by NKVD officers. Apparently, our Pobieda! got the eye of the command, by dint of its exploits. Even if, Fyodor persisted, it was surely the rarity of survivors among our unit that justified our choice, much more than the number of our victories!
He was probably a bit right - but it didn't matter. The news triggered the stewardship department into a frenzy of activity: our tank was brightened up as never before and repainted as new - it looked like it had just come from the factory. The rackets were dismantled - they would have been in the way on the picture, it seems. I'll ask to have them put back together afterwards... As for me, I got a new uniform, with new epaulets that I wonder if they were not taken from a colonel's jacket. Seeing me like this, all fresh and beautiful, the chief of the escort carefully looked at me under the chin with a suspicious air to see if I was clean and well shaven - he had fallen well with me. Then he left satisfied, without a word, with his arms crossed behind his back, while the photographer was already setting up his equipment.
So we had to pose - for a long time, because our visitor had very precise ideas.
Me at the turret, binoculars in hand (balancing on a box so as not to fall...), Fyodor pretending to repair a pebble, in a uniform without a drop of grease. Andrei and Alexandr happy to load their multiple, sparkling... and heavy 76 mm shells, Andrei virilely aligning his eye on the sight with his hand on the trigger (a photo taken in a gutted turret, for obvious reasons...). Alexandr wounded and rescued by us (we gave him his bandage for the occasion...). Finally, after two good hours, the delegation seemed satisfied. The ournalist thanked us, folded his camera... then left as he had come. Asking us questions would have been superfluous - he probably already knew from the staff all there was to tell about us. Maybe we'll get a copy of the article in the mail, who knows!" (Evgeny Bessonov, op. cit.)

Talachyn and Rahatchow regions (Belarus) - Einsatzgruppe B arrives at its destination, to the great misfortune of almost 12,000 unfortunate people who had already been crowded in ghettos. Without wasting any time, Horst Böhme and his men set to work - the Bolsheviks should not fall on them before they have finished!
SS-Obersturmbannführer Eduard Strauch was clear: everything must be settled by the 15th. The men in black will then return to Minsk as soon as possible. They will then have to deal with the Western regions of the General Commissariat of White Ruthenia...

Operation Kutusov
Hemorrhage
Gomel sector - The 61st Army continues to move northward to Gomel and finally joins the 2nd Belorussian Front in the vicinity of Shutovk - a long way, it is true, but the road to the south is the least of Ivan Konev's worries. In this area, it is up to the 3rd Belarussian Front to make efforts!
A little further east, the Frontovikis reach Lyubetch and still aim at Loïew - a city on their side of the Dnieper, but which is located at the confluence of the great river and the Sozh. Who knows, if by chance they seized this crossing point, they could then hope to continue towards Retchytsa and infiltrate on the right flank of the HG Mitte?
.........
Ovroutch sector and downstream of the Uzh - The 8th Guards Army finally takes Ovroutch, deserted by the enemy - the XXIV. PanzerKorps (von Knobelsdorff) speeds westward and the forests of the Olevsk region. Sergei Trofimenko has neither the aviation nor the motorized equipment to catch up with him... It's a pity.
On his right, the 64th Army spread out to seize abandoned woods and marshes.
It liberates Chernobyl - an insignificant town in the middle of the marshes that will certainly not go down in history - and thus secures the mouth of the Uzh, while moving up towards Yelsk. In the evening, it is in Kirov, in the middle of the muddy waters of this sinister country...
.........
Korosten Sector - The fighting has now moved to the banks of the Uzh River. Fighting with no other aim than to gain time, the LII. AK, the XLVII. PanzerKorps and the 10. PzGr repel all day the furious and massive assaults of the 44th Army, the 60th Army and the 20th Armored Corps who attack all along the river in search of a weak point to exploit.
The 5th Army (M.I. Potapov) alone covers the rear.
During the night, Stalin sends a personal message to Nikolai Vatutin - he takes note of his good results, and will not fail to greet appropriately the imminent liberation of Korosten. Like Hitler, the Vojd wants its trophy... Nothing else matters, even if the city is nothing more than a reminder of what it once was! In addition, Stalin hopes that Kutusov's chiefs will be able to do better than Suvorov's chiefs, who have just pitifully let the enemy slip away.
However, if Moscow doesn't like it, we are not there yet... In the north, Hans-Karl von Scheele holds on well and concedes only a modest bridgehead to Voroneve, which could not threaten him in his retreat. In the city center, the 10. PzGr and the rearguard of the XLVII. PanzerKorps have no difficulty in containing the enemy, who cannot yet deploy boat bridges. One fights under the sometimes blind artillery fire, for a piece of bank, a quay, a facade even... Decidedly, in Ukraine like in Belarus, the Great Patriotic War has the same face everywhere!
Finally, the only remarkable progress of the day is the fact of the 60th Army of Kreyser, which succeeds in clearing in the late afternoon, at the southern end of the city, a section of the bank safe enough for Pavel Poluboiarov's 20th Armored Corps to begin passing. During the night, the 4th Shock Army joins them and gradually moves up...
But did the Frontovikis triumph? Or did they simply take advantage of the withdrawal of the defenders of the Reich ? In fact, the 246. ID has decamped. And in the darkness, the panzers of Eberbach and the 501. s. Pz Abt are the last to escape to the north. They thus escape, under cover of darkness, from the planes of the 3rd Air Force, which had been strafing the columns of the 3. PanzerArmee as well as the cohorts of fugitives, service personnel or other local collaborators, in spite of the desperate opposition of a Luftwaffe well and truly overwhelmed.
In the end, although the circumstances are rather favorable, the Red Army did not succeed in destroying its adversary - it could only push him in a wild carnage, suffering substantial losses to obtain a marginal victory. Vatutin and Malinovsky skate in the blood of their own troops while the bulk of the enemy retreats! And while the 20th CB crosses in haste to bypass the city by the north in pursuit of the enemy, the sappers are still clearing a reasonably cleared and sheltered and sniper-proof path that would allow the 2nd Guards Armored Corps (P.S. Rybalko) and the 4th Guards Armored Corps Malin (S. I. Bogdanov) to pass. At midnight, the banks of Korosten are still not considered as safe!
.........
Horshchyk sector and south of Korosten - Communist forces continue to advance, avoiding enemy strong points and moving all around them before finally drown them. The 21st Rifle Brigade (4th Shock Army) enters Korosten from the south, only to be immediately confronted by the 246. ID, which covers the withdrawal of the forces that had crossed the Uzh the day before. In this district divided by an easily defensible avenue, the Soviets are quickly stopped - but their presence is a very unpleasant additional pressure for the Reich, at least as much as the multiple bombardments administered by the 8th Air Force, truly fascinated by this great city, which had become an anthill of Fascists, at the risk of neglecting the other sectors.
However, despite Vatutin's displeasure, his 3rd Ukrainian Front gave a lot. Its action becoming more and more confused, he must now mark the step, although the adversary does not give up ground! In fact, the 4th Shock Army is just beginning to refocus to march north to Korosten following its 21st Rifle Brigade... As for the 11th Armored Corps (on loan from the 3rd Belorussian Front), which was supposed to support it, is still recovering - it will be back on the line only tomorrow.
On the side of the 3rd Belorussian Front, it is not much better... Exhausted by a series of maneuvers, the 19th Armored Corps, which was also rushing towards Korosten, is curtly pushed back by the 9. Panzer at Kupyshche. During the day, 64 Soviet and 27 German tanks are added to the wrecks of the past few days - Ivan Vasilev has to throw in the towel and withdraw. Finally, a little east, the 50th Army takes over the center of the breakthrough. Konstantin Golubev is now advancing
from Zoryanka to Ostapy, without knowing where to focus his main effort. In fact, in this sector, it is the whole 3rd Belorussian Front - although supposed to exploit the breach - which is scattered and exhausted. This could be detrimental to him, especially in case of a counter-offensive...
.........
Barashi sector - Did Vasily Chuikov force his luck? In any case, by dint of assuming too much on the retreat of his opponents, his 37th Army is more or less on the trajectory of the III. PzK of Kempf, which goes up towards Korosten to cover the retreat ordered by Manstein. Not being able to admit that this adversary persists in wanting to join with the breakthrough while advancing himself towards the north, Erich Jaschke launches a violent counter-attack on the whole line from Simakivka to Andrijevychi. His LV. ArmeeKorps has finally clear instructions: to gain time, to allow the panzers to pass towards Korosten, then withdraw in coordination with them. Faced with this unexpected reaction, the Red Army stalls and does not progress almost all day.
.........
Novohrad-Volynskyi sector - Against all odds, the trap of Erich Brandenberger seems to have worked even beyond his expectations ... Indeed, the 5th Shock Army has completely abandoned its prey - the 147. ID (Paul Mahlmann) - and no longer tries to bypass the city by the south: preceded by the 5th Guards Armored Corps Zhitomir, it now rushes under a big blue sky towards the center of Novohrad-Volynskyi! In front of it, everything is ready to receive it: since 48 hours, the 62. ID (Botho von Hülsen) and the SS Galizien (Fritz Freitag) have been entrenching themselves in and around the city, with the support of the 36. PanzerGrenadier (Hans Gollnick) - held in reserve, the latter had to ward off any risk of encirclement.
Pressed by the passage of time and by his leader who is pestering, Ivan Chernyakovsky gives up on the maneuver. He wants to seize his first objective as soon as possible in order to - finally - announce good news to Vatutin's headquarters in Kiev, before moving on. This serious mistake - which seriously assumed the weakness of the Axis forces in the city - is to be very costly.
From dawn, the Soviet forces are slowed down by violent delaying fights between Susly and Pletenka, which they could not shorten for fear of clearing their left flank. In the evening, the Russians enter Novohrad-Volynskyi - at great cost and, of course, the tanks of the 5th Guards CB could hope to do nothing other than support the infantry.
The fight for the ancient city of Galicia is going to be long and hard...

Wolfsschanze, Rastenburg, 17:00 - Erich von Manstein emerges from the Wolf's Lair looking like a boxer who has just completed ten rounds without a break against an opponent from a higher weight category.... The discussion with Hitler - because Manstein has gotten a private meeting, he was one of Hitler's closest advisors in 1940! - was very intense, even tense at times.
Thank God (?), the main thing is safe: the Führer will not countermand the current retreat of the 3. PanzerArmee and the 6. Armee. Manstein skilfully managed to argue that the orders given - in particular those relating to the total destruction of the abandoned areas - were already too far advanced to be cancelled. It is fortunate that the general had this argument.
Obviously, Hitler would only accept the withdrawal of a scorched earth operation! Even if, in the end, the head of HG Nord-Ukraine still does not see why he should be refused what the HG Mitte has just done, on a larger scale and with less destruction! Of course, rather than using this kind of argument, Manstein preferred to talk about counter-offensive and armored battle of annihilation - terms that always please his interlocutor.
Well, that's not so bad. After all, the Führer has many important matters to deal with... Belarus, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania... France especially, at present, where things are apparently going very badly. Hitler never stopped railing against Johannes Blaskowitz, "a soldier from the old world, who understands nothing and has not fought for five years!" Obviously, his days are already numbered... Finally, Blaskowitz and Löhr - not to mention the traditional Romanians or Hungarians - have at least had the merit to divert the attention of the Guide a little.
However, the Chancellor seems to have changed since the last time he had seen him, last March, when he was visiting the front... His gesture is less confident, his head less haughty, his eyes less proud. He is visibly overworked and, remaining locked in his den, makes questionabledecisions... And unfortunately, it also seems that he has become more or less deaf to all requests, no matter how well argued they are. Manstein has been able to ask for reinforcements, nothing to do - with this landing in the Mediterranean, one might as well ask money to a Jew! A blasphemous comparison, certainly - but the general is annoyed by Hitler's curt rejection of his proposal for a general withdrawal to the Sluch.
"Impossible to abandon Olevsk to the enemy without a fight, Manstein! My entire staff would oppose it!" And when Manstein has just slipped that some reshuffles would perhaps allow the staff in question to understand the situation better, the tone is raised again: "I'm not going to give up. You have to understand that I and I alone decide on the grand strategy!" All launched, of course, in a tone without reply.
In short - the boss of HG Nord-Ukraine has what he came for, but nothing is settled.
As he gets back into the car that will take him to the airport, he thinks that, contrary to what Hitler seems to think, he probably understands very well what is going on here.

Occupied Ukraine - Andriy Melnyk did not take long to decide... At dawn, the forces of the UNO-M launch a violent surprise attack on ARPU positions and hideouts - even the headquarters of Tarass Dmytrovych Borovets is targeted by several battalions that come out of the woods. Benefiting from superior equipment - essentially provided by the Germans! - the men of the UNO-M have many successes, but do not succeed in decapitating the ARPU as hoped. Several leaders are captured, others are...eliminated, but Borovets is still on the run, having managed to flee with most of his staff. However, his companion, Anna Opochenska, was not so lucky. Captured by Melnyk's men, she is hanged from a tree**.
Now pushed eastward, ever closer to the territory controlled by the Soviets (or at least by the Partisans), the Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army and its leader are crying out for revenge against this betrayal. A new conflict within the conflict has just started - it is not likely to serve the cause of a free and independent Ukraine...

11. Armee - By dint of acrobatics, Reinhardt manages to extract the 72. ID (XLII. AK) and the 225. ID (XXX. AK), reinforced as promised by the 376. ID. The first two formations, dispersed from Siret to Heci, break camp before dawn, in a kind of ordered chaos. It is not sure that this particularly improvised Kampfgruppe can break through the Bulgarian door, if by chance this last one was kept closed...
General Kleffel, who commands the XXX. AK but whom Reinhardt has made leader of this expedition, is well aware of this: this is why he insisted on personally accompanying his troops to Varna and the coast. Climbing into his Type 320 (W142) car (a comfortable vehicle - fortunately, considering the planned route), he is surprised to see General Hermann Frenking, who has finally taken over the command of the 282. ID, the wound of Wilhelm Kohler still keeping him away from the front, perhaps permanently.
Frenking, who had not left the General Reserve since December 1941 after having commanded an infantry unit during the Yugoslavian campaign, is surprised, to say the least, by the feverishness that seems to affect everyone. But for the time being, his chief is indifferent to his concerns, and does not pay more attention to them than to the Romanians' solicitations...

Odessa Front (Romania) - Since the announcement of the Bulgarian reversal - which surprised all the protagonists on the ground - the Russian forces have been watching the southern bank of the Danube. The Frontovikis were on the lookout for the first sign of moral failure, desertions, or even reversals. Don't they say in the columns of Pravda that reactionary countries can fall one after the other like dominoes, the fall of the first leading to the fall of all the following ones?
General Petrov is therefore hoping for a change of allegiance from his opponents. Even if, surprisingly, he has not received any order from the omniscient Stavka to exploit a possible lull, it seems obvious that the Red Army will not let Romanians coming back from their mistakes perish. And then, it would at least allow to cross the Danube quietly!
But the hoped uprising does not happen: the Romanians are too tired by the fights of these last months, too distrustful towards the Reds, too much watched by the panzers to try anything. As if to confirm this state of affairs, Petrov receives in the afternoon an instruction from the Stavka to "take no initiative in the sector, except for a complete upheaval of the front. Your forces are too weakened after operation "Molot" and the USSR is not concerned by the events of Sofia, capital of a nation with which it is not even at war with."

* Let's remember that executions of prisoners were common on the Russian front, on both sides...
** According to corroborating testimonies, two UNO-M militiamen later laughingly referred to "her way of wriggling again and again while dangling her legs"...

 

[Wings]

September 7th, 1943

Scapa Flow - The departure of the Tirpitz and the Admiral Scheer is reported by the Norwegian resistance in the morning. Could it be a response to the landing on the coast of Provence? Already?
In any case, the Royal Navy decides to take this information very seriously and to consider that, like the Bismarck and the Prinz Eugen, the two large ships are going to break into the Atlantic, where they could make a massacre among the American troop transports that cross the Pond every day.
The battleships Anson and Howe set sail immediately, along with the aircraft carrier Furious, the cruisers Norfolk and Belfast and about twenty destroyers. All these ships are to set up a barrier between Scotland and Greenland, passing through the Faroe Islands and Iceland.

 

[Wings]

September 7th, 1943

Italian Campaign
Operation Buffalo
Italian Front - The infantry of the 1st Armored CCA advance through the streets of Pisa. This progress is facilitated by the German withdrawal, following the beginning of a successful breakthrough by the Americans in the east, along Route 3.
In this sector, the 142nd Infantry Regiment of the 36th US-ID, accompanied by the 601st Tank Btn, has now crossed the Arno River and is advancing on the "wart", despite numerous clashes with the retreating Fallschirmjägers. In general, the GI's progress until the next clash and then the tank destroyers intervene in support of the infantry. Since the beginning of the operation, the tank destroyers have been carrying an additional supply of HE shells to be able to treat the fortifications. The officers just complained about the accelerated wear of the tubes... but the stewardship follows. At headquarters, the study of reports and operation reports shows that the M-10s, which were considered the number one anti-tank weapon in the doctrine, are more often used in infantry support. The fight against the panzers relies, whether they like it or not, on the M4s and their short 75s - to the crews, who ask for a better anti-tank gun for their mount, one can only answer that it is coming... This is true, but the first M4A3(75-LB) destined for the Old Ironside are only beginning to arrive in Naples: priority has been given to the units that were to be engaged in Dragon.
In the hills, the 143rd Infantry Regiment of the 36th US-ID is relieved by the 141st, which comes to clean and secure the area. Thus liberated, the 143rd, accompanied by the 31st Cav Btn and the 751st Tank Btn, push on to the south of Altopascio, at the intersection of Routes 4 and 6. The CCB of the 1st Armored continues to operate to the outskirts of Lucca - famous for its ramparts and for its square built on an ancient Roman circus.
It is over Lucca that the aerial exploit of the day takes place. Lieutenant Philander D. Morgan, of the 324th FG, obtains a double while his squadron was caught by Bf 109 of JG 77 on their return from a mission. The 314th FS loses two of its own but shoots down a total of four German aircraft, which had the imprudence to engage the Razorbacks at 10,000 feet. Lieutenant Morgan, recently arrived on the front, had already scored four victories, all on P-47s.
A little further on, while the 133rd IR of the 34th US-ID and the divisional engineers are installing bridges over the Arno river, the 135th IR, operating in contact with the 36th US-ID along Route 8, cuts Routes 34 and 61 from the north, seizing the hamlet of Staffoli. South of the massif, the 2nd Ranger Btn of TF Bender maintains the pressure by moving up to the northeast. This is how the Red Bull makes its most beautiful capture with almost 500 prisoners of the 112. ID. Meanwhile, the 168th Infantry Regiment moves up to Fucecchio; thanks to the Italian Resistance, it manages to establish a bridgehead on the other bank of the Arno.
Immediately to the east, the 139th Infantry Regiment of the 47th ID Bari spends the day controlling the San Miniato sector, while regaining contact on its left with the Americans of the 34th US-ID. On the right, the 140th Infantry Regiment succeeds in establishing a bridgehead on the other side of the Arno River, at the level of Route 31, in contact with the German position.
The 20th DI Friuli spends the day in the Empoli area. While the 87th Infantry Regiment secures the surroundings, the 88th continues northward for three kilometers, after its success of the day before, clearing the hills of any German presence.
In Florence itself, where the insurrection is still going on, it is time to evacuate. The 356. ID, which is supported only by elements of Panzergrenadiers, has to face two infantry divisions supported by armoured vehicles, under an entirely allied sky. The DI Alpine Cuneense, supported by a regiment of the Folgore, attacks with rare vigor. The 1st Rgt. of Alpini seizes the hamlet of Tavarnuzze and the 2nd Rgt, which had just overrun the sector of Strada in Chianti, crosses into the Florentine plain. Finally, in the east, the 83rd DIA, in the wake of the 6th BMLE, succeeds in penetrating the German position. The Spanish and the Algerians are only a few kilometers from the city center, where the German command blows up five of the six bridges, despite the pleas of the municipality, which barely manages to spare the Ponte Vecchio.
Further east, the Belgian 4th ID and the 86th DIA are more or less at a standstill, taking advantage of a well-earned and welcome rest for the men, the material and the logistics.
.........
Similarly, General Alexander decides to stop the offensive operations of the 1st Army. The day sees only a few skirmishes, notably at Senigalia. The British, Indians, Canadians and South Africans are tired and exhausted. It is true that the operation had kept many German troops in the east of the boot, but on the ground it was a failure, with an advance of barely fifteen kilometers, at best. The Canadian division has to go into reserve to make up for its losses and the armoured brigades are a shadow of their former selves.


Greek Campaign
Operation Apprentice
Albania - The landing in Provence, launched the day before, does not prevent Air-Marshal Tedder from launching his air fleet again to attack the Balkans. Blenheim and Boston, relayed at night by the Wellingtons, venture far north and strike Prizren and Gjakovë, in Serbia (province of Kosovo), as well as Shkodër, at the border of Montenegro. Interestingly, these three cities are the main road junctions serving northern Albania... The allied air force has therefore shifted towards the Adriatic, after having attacked Macedonia.

Operation Presage
Preparations
Surroundings of Ioannina - Duly supplied by the intermediate depot of Nafpaktos, established some time ago during Operation Whirlwind, the men of the Polish 2nd AC of Gen. Władysław Anders are preparing to set out on the assault on Albania. Their units have had the opportunity to replenish personnel and equipment during the quiet period that was (for them!) the end of the month of August. In addition, the quartermaster did not have to compensate for the supplies spent during Tower-Tour. So the Poles are in great shape, ready to pounce on their opponents.
As a starter's pistol, they can count on the fire of the 5th AGRA, coming from Agios Dimitrios. This heavy artillery unit started its movement on September 1st, when it appeared to the GHQ in Athens that the capture of Salonika would be... more difficult than expected. Montgomery could not be blamed for not having been able to anticipate, and we can understand better his refusal to deploy the 25-Pounders! Beyond all humanitarian considerations, they were already reserved.
.........
South of Neapoli - The 4th Regiment of Tunisian Spahis and the 107th RALCA, also mobilized for Presage, are currently on the road to Tsotyli, parallel to the Albanian border. This bad road is not controlled by Axis forces, but by ELAS supporters, reinforced by Vukmanović's men.
The few French units still present in the Balkan theater approach their starting positions with difficulty, but relatively quickly. The hilltop town of Eptachori, then the small village of Pyrsogianni are reached during the night - these towns had long been liberated by the Resistance, if they had ever been occupied.
Informed of this progress, which he nevertheless judges (with some bad faith) to be too slow, Montgomery orders Colonel Roux to press on. And he concludes, in his usual pinched tone: "Your compatriots have seized the ports of Toulon and Marseille in less than 48 hours, I have no doubt that you will be able to do the same and quickly reach your objectives!" However, the Spahis do not aim to seize installations on the Adriatic coast, which is very far from their position, but to secure the flanks of Presage against an improbable but possible counter-offensive from Macedonia.
.........
Arta (Epirus) - The Tunisians are not the only ones pressed by Monty - the 192nd DIA and the 3rd BMLE arrive near the ancient Ambracia, after several days of transfer. At the same time, the 1st Czechoslovakian ID arrives directly from Athens in the Ambracian Gulf, thanks to the few LCT still at the disposal of the 18th Army Group supported by the feverish activity of Greek coasters coming back some time earlier from Crete, where they had taken refuge in 1941. There are whispers that the Czechs benefited from a comfortable naval transport because they did not steal the show from Montgomery.
All these units are camped on the plain between Arta and Kampi, ready for Presage.

Tirana - Hellmuth Felmy, leader of the LXVIII. Armee-Korps, one of the weakest formations in this now secondary Balkan theater of operations, is very worried. On the front, the frequent probes launched by the Poles these last weeks, put his nerves (and those of his troops) to the test. And today's bombardments on his rear do not bode well.
Now, to defend the whole of Albania, a poor, mountainous, poorly served province... and turbulent, he has only four divisions, one SS regiment and two armored Abteilungen. The 100. Jäger (Willibald Utz), the 907. StuG Abt and 914. StuG Abt (Major Friedrich Domeyer) and the 8th Rgt of the 4. SS-Polizei-Panzergrenadier-Division (Walther Schimana) are not enough to secure the capital and the most important cities, Durrës and Elbasan. As a result, these units keep Albania "useful" (if this word is adapted to this damn country!). They will be able to intervene in reserve on the front.
The latter is held, at Kalpaki level, by the 164. ID (Carl-Hans Lungerhausen) and by the poor 11. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division (Karl Drum), i.e. the bare minimum. These divisions were severely shaken by the recent Allied offensives. But if the first one seems to have recovered, if not reconstituted, it is not the case of the second one, made up of Luftwaffe creepers. These had long since had the opportunity to understand that it was not enough to give them a gun to make them war heroes, contrary to what their leader, Reichsluftfahrtminister Göring, seems to believe. With a little cynicism (or disillusioned realism) Felmy deploys them to the front lines - as much as the shells fall on them and they absorb the first shock of an attack.
To secure the middle ground in this land of savages, all he has left is 162. ID (Oskar von Niedermayer), and the Kampfgruppe "Albanian" - i.e. a division composed for a third of Soviet Muslims and a collection of militias more characterized by the desire to protect each other than by their devotion to the Reich. This is not much to hold 15,000 square kilometers of very uneven terrain! And, yesterday, we dared to announce that the Kampfgruppe was to participate in the formation of the new 11. SS-Gebirgs-Division Handschar, within the XV. GAK. The men are already on their way to Split, Croatia, with an ardor that Hellmuth Felmy guesses to be measured. Jealousy is a bad advisor and it's not much of a loss - besides, if they were to turn their backs like their compatriots in France, it might as well be outside his area.
Nevertheless, this philosophical attitude does not solve its staffing problem. A division deployed in Korcë, and of poor quality, is simply not enough.
Picking up his phone, like many other colleagues, he calls Alexander Löhr in Nis. He can only talk to the Chief of Staff of the 12. Armee, Hermann Foertsch. This Foertsch makes it clear to him that 1) the current British offensive towards Salonika and the events in Bulgaria absorb all the available manpower, 2) that Albania is certainly not a priority for the head of the 12. Armee and 3) that nothing has happened in his sector for almost three weeks, despite numerous alerts. His pleas are therefore useless, even annoying. Then, as a Parthian arrow, Foertsch adds that the 8 SS Rgt will probably be taken away from him soon to "participate in the settlement of the Bulgarian problem".
Hanging up his telephone, and powerless in front of his situation, the leader of the LXVIII. Armee-Korps can only hope that nothing happens on the front ... or nothing more than usual.

Albania - Indeed, Albania is a complicated country to manage for all, including the various representatives of the allied secret services in the Balkans. Since the fall of King Zog I, the country has known a quasi anarchy that the Italian occupation has only masked the chaos: we remember that on May 17th, 1941, the young partisan Vasil Laçi tried to kill King Victor-Emmanuel (he paid with his life). The situation has only worsened since the Italian troops evacuated the country, either to flee by sea or to be disarmed by their former German allies and sent to prison camps. Now, three factions are now vying for control of the majority of the country and, already, for future power.
At the forefront is the Communist Party of Enver Hoxha. A powerful movement supported by Moscow, but its surprisingly legalistic stance towards the attachment of Kosovo to Serbia (from which it had been detached during the Italo-German occupation of the region) alienated a significant part of his base. It is true that it is perhaps imprudent to upset Comrade Tito on this subject, and a fortiori to share the spoils of an Axis that still moves a lot... However, the CP took control of the National Liberation Movement, the Lëvizje Nacional Çlirimtare, triggering a real schism in the Resistance. He also managed, by dint of threats and promises, to more or less lead the Kryeziu brothers, true non-politicized Resistance fighters and warlords of the north of the country.
Next to the CP, or rather opposite it, are the forces of Legaliteli, commanded by Abaz Kupi, a former gendarmerie general and Gheg chief, who had resisted the Italian invasion for 36 hours - and thus enabled the royal family to escape. If Zog I does not really count anymore in Albania, he continues to enjoy the prestige of his royal rank, and he is proud of the official support of MI6, which acts in full coherence with its doctrine of support for pre-war royalty. His forces, however, are widely dispersed and lack support since the crushing of the Unity Front in May 1941.
Finally, the Balli Kombëtar National Front, formed under the Italian occupation, is theoretically republican. In fact, it is above all anti-communist, and its ballist supporters are not averse to cooperate sometimes with German troops or collaborating militias to fight Hoxha's forces. However, it is led by Midhat Frashëri, one of the fathers of Albanian independence. A significant part of its members crossed the Rubicon at the time of the German invasion and joined Tirana to form a "neutral" government - that is to say, a collaborator one. The aim of the latter is simple - to extend Albania to the maximum with the help of the Axis and to claim Kosovo, the region of Debar (in Macedonia) and even the south of Epirus (which he called Chameria). Persuaded that he is defending Albanian unity against his real enemies, Yugoslavs and Greeks, his military force is not negligible but politically it no longer carries much weight.
All these forces had once tried to get along. In September 1942, at the conference in Peza, they even agreed on a modus operandi, which had led to the Mukje agreement on August 2nd. But this agreement was immediately denounced by the Yugoslav representative in Albania, Svetozar Vukmanoviċ, as too favorable to the "Albanian fascists". The differences are insurmountable, and the festering wounds can only be treated surgically.
One can imagine the headaches that these hatreds and clan conflicts, which do nothing for the cause, inflict on the honorable British, and sometimes French, correspondents. In order to better fight against the Axis, but also to flatter the powerful neighbor Tito, the Allies find themselves in fact most often to support the troops of the Communist Party! Or the Yugoslav partisans, which is the same thing... By force of circumstance, the "collectivists" seem to be able to seize power when the country is liberated, with the support of the National Liberation Army (NLA) commanded by Spiro Moisiu... and of which Enver Hoxha himself is the main political officer.

Tirana - For their part, the Germans obviously favor the puppet government which they have set up, and which has become little by little relatively autonomous, thanks to the divisions of the country. Alas for him, if the Ballists are often willing to hunt down the collectivists, very few really wish to show themselves to the Occupiers and even fewer agree to be accountable to him for their actions. And this all the more so as the Allied troops seem to be getting closer every day. It is therefore necessary to look for other forces to rely on.
The most enthusiastic Collabos are obviously those who have the most to lose in the event of an Allied victory: the Kosovars, who do not want to return to Serbian rule. The
Reich Chancellery is therefore proud of a difficult, modest, but real success - the formation of the new Albanian government, which will be officially inaugurated on September 14th. At its head is Cafo Beg Ulqini, who formed the High Regency Council (Këshilli i Lartë i Regjencës) with Ibrahim Biçaku of Elbasan, Bedri Pejani and Xhafer Deva from Kosovo. The latter are supposed to govern the country in the absence of the king, in all legality (!). This with the support of a National Assembly composed of 243 members, which will be gathered during October 1943, and whose first mission will be to confirm the members of the said Council... The new regime, which officially declared itself neutral in the world conflict, will have the heavy task of stabilizing the administrative and judicial institutions of the country, of restoring education and agricultural production, and perhaps even to bring back order in a nation on fire and bloodied.

The siege of Salonika
Salonika (northern sector) - As decided with General Horrocks and especially with Montgomery, Stevens' 6th Division (AIF) prepares to assault the village ofPolichni, which commands the access to the heights of Agios Pavlos - the place planned for the junction with the troops of the XIIIth Corps.
An additional difficulty of this offensive is the presence of a tree-lined river about 5 meters deep, located about 600 meters in front of the first buildings. This topographic element would serve as cover for the infantrymen, it is true. But it will hinder the lines of fire and will be an obstacle to the progression of the men of the 6th and the armored vehicles of the 1st Australian Armoured. The attack is therefore coordinated with that of the 51st Infantry Division (Wimberley), coming from the south. It is hoped that this double action will prevent the Jägers from concentrating their forces on the ANZAC, which would not have to suffer the same setbacks as during the September 1st offensive.
.........
Salonika (southern sector) - Wimberley's men are also ready to seize the village of Pylaia, which we hope will be poorly defended - the Germans cannot be everywhere at once. This village, situated at the foot of the heights surrounding Salonika, is the first step on the long road to Agios Pavlos. Brian Horrocks has a clear head, feeling for once supported by the commander-in-chief: above all, it is necessary to put pressure on the topside. The capture of the port will have to wait, by force of circumstance and to limit the fighting there.
For the moment, the Tommies will not venture too far along the coast...
.........
Salonika (center) - Ludwig Müller sees his fears come true - the Allies attack from the south towards the hills... and he has nothing to counter this assault. The pincer maneuver seems obvious. Temporarily abandoning Evosmos and the railway station sector, the general sends the maximum number of units to the north, towards Polichni, where he prepares his new "decisive battle", according to the classic Clausewitzian scheme. As far as Pylaia is concerned... only the pioneers are left to go and reinforce the few sections on the spot. They have done their duty on the port and they will have to defend the city with their comrades. Spend specialists in street fights does not suit the general, but he has no choice. An unpleasant situation indeed!
A few blocks to the east, Colonel Müller is not much more satisfied. The requisitions are long over and there are not many people left to arrest or question, while the perimeter of his troops' "work" is getting smaller by the day. Therefore, the men of his Kampfgruppe are idle and bored - and this boredom is responsible for the most dangerous indiscipline, considering the unit's profile! The frustration is already there for several days, and is only growing. There are already a number of incidents, sometimes violent. Oh, not with the Jägers! The colonel's henchmen are not suicidal.
But the policemen of Logothetópoulos are paying the price for the bad mood of men who seem to realize a little late that they are locked in a war zone. And as the Greek "forces of order" do not like the culprits of actions that they have however covered, the atmosphere may quickly become explosive. All this without the colonel being able to do anything about it, except hang a few more leaders - but at the risk of alienating his own troop... In 1917, Salonika was the capital of a region in revolt and the officer would like very much that History does not repeat itself, especially if, by chance, he had to be victim of it!

Hesitations
Sofia and surroundings (sector of the 1st Army) - Still in a state of alert, and under the energetic action of Major-General Nikola Kochev Nakoff, the troops of the 1st Army continue to prepare for battle. General Yanchulev orders them to retreat - but where? The North and east are supposedly covered by the 4th and 3rd Army, respectively. In the west, it is Macedonia and the sector of the 5th Army. Remains the south and the 2nd Army of Stoychev, with uncertain loyalty ... The route of the Vardar valley, by deploying in particular troops in the cities of Samokov and Kostenets. After all, isn't it by there that the English will arrive? It will be necessary to facilitate their task.
.........
Plovdiv and surroundings (sector of the 2nd Army) - Major-General Nakoff is right to doubt his colleague Stoychev: on the latter's order, the 2nd Army maintains a strict attitude of neutrality towards the coup d'état. Informed that in the distance, the 19. PzGr is preparing to break camp, major-general Nikola Georgiev Stoychev seems to search in vain for reasons to engage on the side of the insurgents, in a combat which he estimates lost in advance. Unless, obviously, the allied tanks were moving! So he spends the day waiting...
.........
Varna and surroundings (sector of the 3rd Army) - Of all the Bulgarian army, the most hesitant man is probably major-general Nikola Hristov Hristov. Isolated with his 3rd Army on the coast of the Black Sea, he was upset that "they" had not seen fit to inform him of the upcoming changeover of the country. He is obviously unaware that his superior, General Yanchulev, simply did not have the time!
His state of mind is further aggravated by the uncertainty about the concrete situation of the country: what is covered by the change of government? What if these politicians are leading Bulgaria to its loss? What is the real position of the Regent on these political upheavals? Why did he not speak on the radio, instead of this Muraviev? And if by any chance Bulgaria has indeed changed sides, why isn't the Russian fleet already in front of Varna?
Finally, the general orders the ports to be closed and the troops to be confined until he can see more clearly.
.........
Pleven and surroundings (sector of the 4th Army) - Major-General Atanasov Stefanov strictly obeys the instructions of the GHQ - he now holds the triangle Vratsa-Pleven-Sevlievo as firmly as possible. The road to Sofia from the north is well and truly closed for the time being.
.........
Annexed Macedonia (5th Army sector) - The two divisions of Major-General Nikola Mihailov Mihov, on their way back home, reach Kumanovo. They are reported by Josef Brauner von Haydringen's 187. ID, which itself arrives in the area and peacefully mingles alongside them. Haydringen cannot help but observe that these Bulgarians are moving up the road much faster than their colleagues of the 1st Occupation Corps had gone down it...
.........
Agras Pass (annexed Macedonia, sector of the 1st Occupation Corps) - The four divisions of Asen Drobev Nikolov continue to cohabit with the 92. Grenadier Rgt, without incident for the moment. The Bulgarian general knows that his situation is, to say the least, precarious.
And to make matters worse, he is more than a week away from the Bulgarian border! To return to their country, his soldiers must cross almost all the annexed Macedonia, a mountainous region now probably held by hostile Teutons.
Major-General Nikolov is a man of many skills - foremost among them, he can read a map. And according to this document, it would be much shorter (and easy) to cut through the Vardar valley, leaving Salonika on the right. Thus to pass through the allied lines.
Several plenipotentiaries leave this morning for Edessa to negotiate a right of passage with the troops facing them. But the first results are not very encouraging: their interlocutors are the Greeks of the 2nd AC of Tsolakoglou, and more precisely the evzones of the 13th ID of Charalambos Katsimitros. These last ones have a score to settle with these Slavs who tried to assimilate the region - and they do not want to show any understanding.
The Hellenic officers aretherefore categorical. If the Bulgarians want to cross the Allied lines, they can do so - as prisoners of war. A solution obviously unacceptable to General Nikolov, who would like a "mutually satisfactory" arrangement. Even if he has to negotiate in person, which he plans to do the next day.
Otherwise, he will have to make other arrangements. But, between neighbors, can't we understand each other?
.........
On the outskirts of Lake Koronia (annexed Thrace, sector of the 2nd Occupation Corps) - Major-General Trifon Yordanov Trifonov is also worried, and in at least two ways.
First, he is concerned about the situation of his units, dangerously advanced out of Bulgaria and stuck between the Allied lines and the XXII. Gebirgs-AK of Fehn. Fortunately the Serbs deployed in the Vardar valley (his enemies, until yesterday at least) separate his troops from those of his ex-German friends!
But above all, the Bulgarian general is worried about the cohesion of his army corps. A man of righteousness, he can only obey the order of the new government, while hoping that this one will be more successful in its approach than... let's put the Italians. But it has among its divisions: the 16th Infantry. He knows it very well - he is its creator! And he suspects that his soldiers, Bulgarians "of the White Sea" coming from this Thrace which is likely to return to Greece, are not willing to give up the fight.
For the moment, his benevolent authority, but also his legitimacy as former commander of the Division, assures him the understanding of the colonel Strashimir Velchev. But what will happen tomorrow, when he will order to prepare to return to Bulgaria, finally in the one of the pre-war borders? Won't the soldiers consider that they are abandoning land and families to the despised Greeks without a fight? And, in these circumstances, what will his stripes be worth? The general spends a very bad night, counting and recounting his supporters - the 7th ID of Nikola Ivanov Grozdanov mainly. Because he will certainly not be able to rely on Stanimir Khristov Grnev and the conscripts of his 28th Division...
.........
Sofia - The recent foreign minister Ivan Bagrianov presents his report to Prime Minister Muraviev, and of course to the regent Kyril of Preslav. Clearly, it is not good: the USSR is absent, ambassador Lavrishev having "returned to the USSR for consultations"! By what means, we do not know... And the embassy attaché who received the Bulgarian minister is unable to provide any useful information, apart from the usual banalities.
A shiver runs down the spine of the men present, who begin to realize the presumptuousness of their step... and to glimpse the trap in which they fell. Because it was Lavrishev who was supposed to warn the English of the imminence of the coup?
In a flash of good sense, Muraviev finally decides that the emergency requires that we do without the Soviet ambassador, at least for the time being. Bagrianov will try to contact directly with the British, the Americans, the French... in short, with whoever he wants, as long as they can intervene quickly. The border with Turkey, traditional source of anxiety of the Bulgarian governments, will thus find here a great usefulness.
.........
On the airwaves - In the evening, Neue Europa emits again vigorous threats to the felonious Bulgarians, inviting them to "leave as soon as possible their rat holes to hide in the skirts of the Scottish soldiers, like the cowards that they are".
Admittedly, there are very few Highlanders in the area, but the expression has the merit of being pictorial. And it reflects quite well both the wish of the Westerners and the best choice the insurgents can make at the moment...

German reactions
Kosovo and Serbia - Split into two separate groups to limit traffic jams or the impact of possible partisan attacks, Walter Krüger's 1. Pzr advances rapidly on the two parallel roads leading down to Macedonia. The first column enters Kosovo at night, while the second arrives at dawn in the vicinity of Nis. The tankers don't know it, but they don't have to worry about it. The local resistance fighters are not stupid enough to attack an armored division that is obviously going to attack Bulgarians! Moreover, General Milan Nedić's troops are overzealous, eager to show that they can be counted on, as their leader assured Herr Neubacher, the Reich envoy.
Panzer IV G and Leopard thus pass through deserted, even burned-out villages. This beginning of an ethnic cleansing, which is aimed especially at the Albanians, is not a novelty in the region: one remembers the massacres committed by the Serbian army in 1912-1913 during the 1st Balkan War, in order to reduce the percentage of Muslims in the future regions that were going to be divided in the conference of Ambassadors in London*.
Indifferent to the exactions of the Collaborators, the Panzerdivision continues its road towards Skopje, abandoning for the moment the road to Sofia. First of all, it is necessary to stabilize the situation in Macedonia and get the XVIII. Gebirgs-AK from the bad situation it is in. There will be time to deal with the Regent afterwards...
.........
Vardar Valley - Against all expectations, there is nothing to report in this sector. Neither the British nor their Serbian affiliates are moving. The front is even absolutely quiet - at least if we except the distant rumblings from Salonika.
General Gustav Fehn and his subordinate Josef Irkens are perplexed. What should they do?
To pick up the phone is obviously to obey... but also to take the risk of being pursued in the middle of the withdrawal by the Serbs. Conversely, to remain on the spot, it is to risk to be stuck between the Serbs and Bulgarians, if the latter would indeed change their alignment.
In the end, discipline prevails and the 19. PanzerGrenadier prepares to raise camp in order to move northwards. The 104. Jaeger under Hartwig von Ludwiger has to extend its front to fill the gaps, because the 8th Regiment of Alfred Wünnenberg (4. SS- Polizei-Panzergrenadier) is also needed in Bulgaria. Its know-how in the field of discretion will not be of much help to restore calm in this country, once the mutineers have been defeated.
Supplies are no longer available, as the roads leading to Serbia are cut off. But there is no lackof gasoline or ammunition, which had been accumulated with difficulty in the previous days in anticipation of the counter-offensive on Salonika ordered by the Führer. These reserves will simply have another use!
.........
Dobroudja Region - General List, of the Army Group Sud-Ukraine, manages to detach several units to help quell the Bulgarian rebellion. These are three divisions: the 72. ID (XLII. AK), the 225. ID (XXX. AK), and finally the 376. ID (which just arrived from Germany). These units are obviously superior to the poor forces of the 3rd Bulgarian Army.
Gathered in a kind of big Kampfgruppe commanded by General Philipp Kleffel (XXX. AK), they do not waste any time and cross the Dobroudja border by night.
Their columns circulating with all lights on break through the barriers of the border guards, which judge preferable, in front of these new Scythian hordes, to look elsewhere...
.........
Vigastisko - Answering the anxious call of General Dietl, its commander, the 1. Gebirgs-Division of Hubert Lanz also abandons its positions. After being relieved by the men of Hans Kreysing's 3. Gebirgs-Division, it reaches the town of Florina in the evening.

Berlin - Admiral Wilhelm Canaris is not the least satisfied with the Bulgarian reversal - this betrayal had been announced by his services, which were once again not listened to. There is no doubt that the head of the Abwehr will gain something from this fiasco, and with a smile, having gained there an opportunity to ridicule this pedant of Joachim von Ribbentrop. At least he hopes so...
Beyond the byzantine intrigues of the high spheres of Nazi power, there is one indisputable reality: the source "Cicero" of Ludwig Carl Moyzisch is perfectly reliable. The information it will transmit will be analyzed with redoubled attention, without really being questioned.

* Twenty to twenty-five thousand deaths according to estimates at the time. Thus goes life in this region of the globe, where tragedies are repeated in echoes.

 

[Wings]

September 7th, 1943

Südwall - The 11. Panzer (in Toulouse) and the 60. Panzergrenadier (in Carcassonne) are ordered to move along the Mediterranean coast, near the Rhone. The 334. ID has to leave Clermont-Ferrand to move to the Nîmes sector through the Massif Central and the Cévennes and the 344. ID, in Angoulême, has to replace the 11. Panzer in Toulouse. Moreover, the 355. ID, stationed in the region of Reims, is attached to the 1. Armee and will go to the south of Nîmes while the 2. Fallschirmjäger*, attached to the 19. Armee, leaves the north of France for the Drôme. The movements of the infantry divisions have to be done by train, in spite of air attacks and sabotage by the Resistance. The last part of the journey of the 334. and 355. ID must be done at night... It will take them a week to reach their destination.
During the night, the 15th AF bombs again Valence and its bridges, which does not help the SS Panzer Division Das Reich, in the process of being transferred to the east bank to join the rest of the I. SS Panzerkorps. Another factor slows down its journey: at the end of the night, puppets named Rupert, filled with firecrackers to simulate a firefight, were parachuted in the Hérault between Montpellier and Lunel, causing confusion in the German command. Was there going to be a secondary landing? The doubt isreinforced by a bombing of the coastline south of Montpellier by Task Force 83 at dawn. In the uncertainty, the Das Reich is ordered to suspend its movement. When the day finally dissipates the ghosts, precious hours have been lost. It is only at noon that the 2. SS Panzer resumes its maneuver for good.
In the south of the Drôme, as they arrive from Lyon and Valence, the units of the 1. SS Panzer LAH and the 14. SS Panzergrenadier Götz von Berlichingen form Kamfgruppes. Thus, the 1. SS PzGr Rgt of the Leibstandarte, reinforced by the StuG Abt 14 and the PzJg abt 14, form the KG Witt, which is given the task of following the Rhône between Pierrelatte and Bollène. The KG Hauck is made up of the 2. SS PzGr Rgt, formed of young fanatical recruits directly from the Hitlerjugend, accompanied by the reconnaissance squadron of the Leibstandarte and the newly formed 101. SS Schw Pz abt, equipped with the new Tiger heavy tank, will have to advance in the center on an Orange-Avignon axis. On the left wing (east), KG Peiper is formed by the SS Pz Rgt 1, the 37. SS PzGr Rgt and the reconnaissance echelon of the 14. SS.
Finally, flanking the whole to avoid any risk of overflow, KG Meyer has to cross the Drôme provençale towards Carpentras and Isle-sur-Sorgue; it is formed by the 38. PzGr Rgt of the 14. SS, reinforced by the StuG Abt 1 and the PzJg abt 1 of the LAH.
But the progression is laborious and the device is delayed. The Tigers are victims of repeated breakdowns. In spite of the improvements brought by the engineers to the gearbox, it remains relatively fragile because the crews, if they are experienced tankers, are still not familiar with their new tank. In addition to these problems, there are the constant ambushes of the Resistance in the Drôme, especially in the Montélimar area. On the outskirts of the village of La Laupie, elements of the KG Hauck are shot at by the Resistance: the Hitlerjugend then gather all the inhabitants of the village and lock them up in the church before setting fire to it. This atrocious episode will go down in history as the Massacre of La Laupie, for which Obersturmführer Walter Hauck is responsible.
The progression is all the more laborious because as soon as they enter the Vaucluse, the allied air superiority is total. On average, the columns can only cover a few kilometers between each air attack. The Germans feel bitterly that they are in the same position of their opponents at the time of the triumphant Blitzkrieg. On the roads, the slightest movements are mercilessly tracked down, one does not count any more the number of burned or crashed vehicles. The allied staff devotes the entire 27th-86th FG and 358th-362nd FG for the USAAF, the 5th-7th EC and the 2nd-4th EC for the Armee de l'Air to a single mission: delay the German advance. Because, even more than vehicles, the Kampfgruppes lose a precious commodity: time. The day ends without the SS units having reached contact with their opponents on the ground.
.........
At sea - Shortly after daybreak, after a night of turmoil following the destruction of the Rowan, another explosion shakes the squadron deployed off Fos. The victim is the destroyer USS Decker, which breaks in two and sinks in a few minutes. A submarine was spotted, but after several hours of hunting and a series of depth charges, it is clear: the U-boot responsible was able to escape.
New alert at the end of the afternoon: a PBY on patrol spots a periscope and wakes of torpedoes. Warned by radio and by the firing of alarm rockets, the ships move away from the dangerous sector while two Swordfish from HMS Hunter, guided by the Catalina, shoot the intruder. The USS Wilson and the HMS Primrose, the closest escort vessels, set off in pursuit, tracking their prey at ASDIC. As night falls, an explosion sounds very different in the headphones of the sonar operators' headsets: U-431 has just started its last journey towards the bottom of the Mediterranean.
.........
Liberation - At dawn, the paratroopers of the 507th PIR, accompanied by the cavalry from the 117th Rgt. and the Big Red One, and M-10s from the 645th TD Btn. attack to the north. They run into the survivors of the 338. ID and 189. RD, supported by the Panzer V F Leopard of the 213. Ppz abt, from the reserve of the 19. Armee reserve, coming from Orange.
Nevertheless, the Americans succeed in creating three bridgeheads on the Durance: at Orgon, as well as north and south of Cavaillon.
Another bridgehead is established by the 16th Regimental Combat Team (16th IR of the 1st US-ID, 70th Tank Btn, 636th TD Btn) in the Chateaurenard sector. The GI's are however blocked at the Avignon airfield by reservists of the Grenadier Rgt 15, reinforced by the tanks of the 106. Pz abt, which also arrived during the night. The situation is resolved in the afternoon thanks to the timely arrival of the first elements of the 2nd Armored Hell on Wheels Division. The breakthrough of the Shermans allows to enclose Avignon.
Further south, the 1st, 3rd and 4th Rangers Btn, accompanied by the commandos of the 1st SSF, successfully cross the Rhône and seize Salin-de-Giraud and the roads leading to it. In preparation for future operations in the Camargue, they receive additional LVT, DUKWs and a batch of LCVPs. They also benefit from powerful naval artillery support and the exclusive support of the 363rd FG's Airacobra aircraft, in addition to the Navy's aircraft.
Meanwhile, the first elements of the 3rd US Rock of the Marne Division (General Truscott) land on the beaches.
West of Marseille, the 934th. Infantry Rgt of the 244. ID is surrounded by the 7th US-ID, which takes many prisoners. The 17th US-IR spends the day cleaning the surroundings of Etang de Berre, while the 32nd RCT rallies the French paratroopers in the Septèmes sector and that the 53rd RCT, accompanied by the 191st Tank Btn, break through to l'Estaque.
.........
In the air - At dawn, the darkness slowly dissipates over the Corsican plain, revealing metal hangars, sheet metal or cement barracks, and scattered tents. At Campo dell'Oro, the light morning mists cannot hide the silhouettes of the planes around which the armourers and mechanics are still busy, while the pilots, strapped into their cabins, are already waiting more or less patiently for the signal to start up. Soon, the sound of the huge V12 fills the air, music played by the orchestra of the 2nd EC, on Allison and Merlin instruments. The concerto in laminator can begin.
Loaded with two bombs, the NA-92 tank hunters of GC III/4 line up in patrols of four before taking off. As usual, and despite the open canopy, Warrant Officer Jean Maridor is bubbling with impatience at the slowness of the procedure. The ardor of this "young veteran" has not diminished since that day in July 40 when he had to force his way into the entrance of a "reserved" park in Cazaux, full of Caudron 635 and Goéland, that the guard of the said park did not intend to see leave without a written order in due form specifying the types of planes and the names of the pilots, all in triplicate! The paper that had been given to the student pilots of the "Z" class instructing them to withdraw to North Africa "by all means" had not been enough for the old fool, and it took the anger of the young major of the class and an ordinance revolver to convince him.
His marksmanship and virtuosity, but even more so his rage and willpower, had quickly led Maridor to the controls of the best fighter planes, and he was immediately seduced by the Mustang IC, equipped with 40 mm Vickers cannons, in his eyes the only way to do a good job. This aircraft quickly led him to multiply ground attack missions, but he didn't care: the important thing was to kill Nazis, wherever they were, on the ground or in the air.
Finally the green rocket bursts, signal of the departure for his patrol. Roar of the engines, the flames coming out of the exhausts project bright glows clearly visible in the new dawn. The four Mustangs take off and immediately set course for the continent, this French land that must be reconquered. Quickly, their patrol joins the three others who are wisely waiting for them, then cruise towards the objective, the Rhone Valley north of Avignon, where panzers were spotted descending towards the Allied troops. In a sky still empty of clouds, one can see in front and very high the contrails of the Mosquito PR of the GR III/33, which the observer must indicate the objectives. If not, it will be on sight.
Behind them, the Mustang IIs (NA-89 and 93) of GC I/4 and II/4 take off in turn. Faster and less greedy with their Packards than the ICs with their Allisons, they carry two 250 kg bombs thanks to their reinforced wings. The NA-92s only have small 100 kg bombs, installed underneath the carriers made by the mechanics of the French Air Force.
Climbing up to 2,000 m at heading 300 with a strong headwind, it takes the single-seaters a good three quarters of an hour to arrive off Toulon. Smoke rises here and there, marking the places of the last fights; it will be the same all along their route.
Emotion of the pilots: those who intervened the day before see the progress, some of them rediscover places forgotten for at least three years, the youngest get to know this region of their homeland in a way that is new to them. Toulon, Marseille, Aix, Salon, the cities parade on the horizon of their plans.
After Cavaillon, the device descends and spreads out to cover the entire width of the valley, from Avignon to Carpentras. Lowered also because of clouds more and more numerous, but fortunately still at altitude, the Mosquito's observer guides the Mustang towards what looks like potential targets, but in fact it is enough for the pilots of the Chabons to follow the main roads ! Soon they dive on their preys...
At the head of his patrol, Maridor doesn't take long to spot a column of vehicles on a road. Flapping his wings to indicate to his teammates to follow him, then he rushes forward, without worrying about whether he was being followed behind. Dive at 45° while firing the machine gun, to adjust the the shot, then with the cannon - when the target disappears under the propeller pan, drop the bombs and straighten up. Turn to observe the result and then go to choose another target further away, without giving the Flak time to retaliate.
Now, we are running at ground level or almost, in order to find the future victims of the Vickers 40, which turns out to be rather easy : the roads are full of green-grey columns. The infantrymen rushing out of the trucks are treated with machine guns, half-tracks and armored vehicles are ripe to the cannons. With a rare mastery, Jean even goes down some roads and shoots horizontally at the vehicles that pass him by! Devastating effect, as much on the equipment as on the morale of the soldiers, stunned by the audacity and efficiency of the French virtuoso and his wingmen and desperate for the absence of black crosses in the sky. In three years, "Mais où sont nos avions ?" has changed language...
After fifteen minutes at this pace, the ammunition of the guns exhausted, it is necessary to return. The Mustangs go back up to altitude and reform little by little, following the radio calls. Chimeras and Swallows** fly towards their nest. On their way, they cross the colleagues of another squadron who have come to party and so on for the day. Benefiting from the fact that they were the first to leave, the guys of the 2nd EC are able to make three rotations during the day, to the great joy of an insatiable Maridor!

Armee de l'Air NA-93 Mustang, Operation Dragon, September 1943
.........
Liberation - On the side of the French paratroopers, while the 1st RCP spends its day cleaning the sector of Marignane and Vitrolles, the 3rd RCP reorients its position towards the north, i.e. towards Aix-en-Provence, where the II/932. IR is reinforced by the remains of the 934. IR of the 244. ID.
In Marseille itself, the 6th IR and the 1st Shock have a lot to do and fight all day long a hard combat against the III/933. Street after street, the French still reach the Avenue du Prado and the hillside at the level of the Château Borély, which the Germans had set on fire. In the center, the III/932 cracks little by little under the blows of the Chasseurs d'Afrique and the 3rd DBC, but snipers continue to cause casualties everywhere.
However, at the end of the day, the town officially surrenders at the end of a Homeric ascent leading a section of tanks to the symbol of the city: Notre-Dame de la Garde. The Taureau Alsace was the last of the platoon on the ascent to Notre-Dame via the boulevard Vauban, but two collapsed buildings blocked the way to the vehicles. The tanks have to turn around on the spot and the Alsace is thus in the lead to try to pass by the climb of the Oratory. Aspirant Chevallier, the tank commander, recruited a few resistance fighters to act as guides and reached the summit. After a few bursts of fire and a single 75 mm shell, he saw Germans waving a white flag: the defenders of the Nachrichtung Rgt ask to negotiate their surrender. The Alsace tank, or at least a Taureau presented as such, stands today as a monument at the foot of the stairs of Notre-Dame de la Garde, reminding us that the first major French city to be officially liberated was liberated by a tank bearing the name of the province most martyred by the Germanic enemy.
The last regiment of the 14th DI, the 52nd, cleans the Aubagne sector. Passed by there the evening before, the Belgians of the Tancrémont armoured brigade and the 7th Rgt of Chasseurs Ardennais are to support the French paratroopers in the battle of Aix-en-Provence.
Aix resisting obstinately, the 1st armored division is obliged to bypass the city by Gardanne passing on the "carpet" laid by the airborne troops. If the Malaguti Brigade (501st RCC, 7th RDP) succeeds in crossing the Durance at Pertuis, the De Brauer Brigade is still on the other side, in the sector of Eguilles, and the artillery even further away. The plans - probably too optimistic - had obviously not foreseen that the commander of II/932 would not play along and retreat to the town rather than rush to the coast (and the destruction of his battalion).
At the end of the parachute zones, the Belgian paratroopers and commandos progress westwards in order to secure the Sainte-Victoire massif. They are relieved in the Saint-Maximin sector by the 3rd armoured division, which had landed and driven part of the night before. During this time, while the 6th RTS, reinforced by the divisional engineers and the II/7 RCA, reaches the Rians sector and touched the Durance river towards Mirabeau, the 3rd RTM secures the surroundings of Brignoles and the 21st Zouaves, accompanied by the 4th RSM, push on between Aups and Barjols, beginning to engage the elements of the 148. ID.

French Army SAV-43 Taureau tank, Operation Dragon, September 1943
.........
On the ground
Brignoles - From the column of vehicles stopped under the pine trees, we can hear the fire farther ahead. We had hoped to get out of the corner quickly - these narrow valleys are primsed for an ambush. And we are no longer dealing with soldiers stunned by the bombing. Fortunately, for the moment, the Boche seems to be disorganized - which does not mean that they let themselves be taken, the proof. Just as fortunately, they do not have armor in the area. There is some artillery, though.
Civilians had reported their presence in the area: probably in this village here. We have just left Brignoles, where the Belgians had hassled the Teutons two nights earlier.
While a reconnaissance group moves cautiously toward the barracks, de Fresnay and his company deploy from the rear. Sweeping of the countryside. Woods, buildings, peeled fields: it is promising. Not to mention the mine, over there, of course. The mine! An ideal playground to play hide-and-seek, between overturned wagons, piles of stones and piles of called sheds.
The men have a falsely casual air, we know now that we are not on a walk. Scared? No! Well, yes... But we had to deal with it. Without warning, in front of us, the mortars click. Oh no, not ours! And a column of black smoke signals the blaze of a vehicle undoubtedly inconsiderately advanced. New exchanges. It isgetting hot!
Suddenly, the commander's car reappears in a hurry, turning back. It doesnot stop. The windshield is just visible as a star. Quite quickly, and more surely than by radio, word spreads that several officers are wounded, which is true.
There is talk of an ambush, which is false. Partially true. We knew later that it had been a close call, a hair's breadth, so to speak. Serviac had gotten out of his vehicle to see the situation for himself, and he had turned around for some reason. The bullet that was to blow his brains out had very neatly removed at least two fingers, but the captain with whom he was talking had taken a bad taste. There was no bullet. It would have been more accurate to speak of splinters. Shrapnel, bullets, either way, for the victims, the result was the same. Serviac was to be temporarily replaced by Gallimont. That was the plan. The news made one cringe. Not that Gallimont was a bad officer. But he was known to be boring. That was... before. Would being in the fire change his character?
As for the overall course of operations, we only knew what was going on, but for the moment, we had other things to worry about! Poor things! If there was a moment of floating, it did not last long. The colonel arrived and did what was necessary. Wrap up the village.
Cleaning of the extraction site, stained with red dust. Visit of the "bastides".
Shooting. Gunfire.
Between two low walls runs a verdigris, bent under the weight of an ammunition box.
Positively, El Mardi adjusts it. Paf! The guy falls before he can take cover. A burst of FM sweeps across the open space and dissuades others from coming forward. We rush past a mutt hiding under a cart, without seeing the mother crushed over her child, sprawled in terror on the porch of a barn. New shots. New explosions. Screams. Calls. Silence. Shouts.
Dust. It seems to be calming down. We move forward with caution. Gesture of the hand to the woman to order her not to move. Note the strands of straw in her brown hair.
What does it matter? To know where "they" are! Here are two of them, white rag and arms raised.
Come on, move! Faster than that! Quick search, without too much care. Verdict: village liberated, enemy disappeared. And the mine? The mine? Yes, the mine ! In what condition ? Well, considering that it's only rocks and dust, it seems to be fine, the mine! A little bit of equipment to be replaced, wagons to be straightened, rails to be put back, when you have just lost friends, or even guys we've only met once or twice...
The tension falls. Balance sheet. Wounded on both sides. Dead, too. Among the civilians, an old mule, don't complain, it could have been worse! The Resistance fighters (or supposedly such) of all boards will not be long in coming forward. We won't wait for them. Even if their information proves to be precious. De Fresnay willingly gives them to Gallimont, or to one of his peers. De Bonnefont. Or Laville. By the way, where is this one? He was supposed to enter the village by the south.
...
Demeyer, promoted to head butcher, had set up his antenna at the exit of a small, insignificant village, which had the big advantage of having a beautiful space likely to accomodate a car park and its tents. Water is not far away, which is appreciable. The only downside: the dust. The ground, dried out by the summer, flew under the wheels of the noria of vehicles that brings equipment and supplies, and in the middle of which "his" ambulances slalomed. He had just had words with a person in charge of the "fuel" section: that the tankers were parked, even "for five minutes", near his patients is not to his taste. Water: that's fine. Wine: why not? But gasoline... For the time being, he is sorting. The wounded are arriving in waves, at the rhythm of the clashes. Minor injuries and then we have a fractured tibia, cripples, and deaths. We have to take care of the most urgent things, decide who goes by cab and who can wait, take the time to listen to this one, not being able to do anything for that one. Two ladies from the village, duly certified "from the Resistance", had offered their services: appreciating these Resistance members, he had enlisted them to take care of the guys under the trees, the slightly wounded, the concussed, to whom a female presence brings a little comfort. For the others...
The commander had lost two fingers. Not pretty, but at least that's where it stopped. Good for a trip back home and a month's vacation, at least, but no sea cruise, if all went well. The major tinkles as he discovers the next one. Captain Laville! One has almost nothing, and the other... Damn lottery! A lieutenant the other day, a captain in the afternoon... He had "passed away" during his transport. No question to ask, another one is coming. It smelled like bullshit! Too much confidence? The Krauts weren't attacking, were they?! If we had to withdraw already... Well, maybe we would be warned in time... We put the captain aside. To evacuate him later. Blood, screams, whimpering, calls... It was necessary to get used to it, it would certainly be daily life for a while!
...
Martinez goes up to the flight in the jeep that Santini stopped only the time of a wink. In the back, "Laurel and Hardy", shining of sweat, clutch their weapons.
- Drive on!
- Where are we going, Sergeant?
- Let's go! A little village, there, Quinson. With a bridge. Are you all right, soldiers?
- All clear, sir!
- How's it going?
- The others are coming, chief. But the dust is not good!
- That's why you have to be in front!" shouts the corporal, without turning around. Not that the road was bad, but rather tortuous. We'd look like idiots if we filled an olive tree!
- I agree with you, Chakir, but it seems that we don't have many people ahead of us at the moment. So the captain said to go... But you're right: we'll make ourselves scarce before we arrive!
The cohort of vehicles catches up with the three lead cars parked at the entrance to one of the few straight roads in the area. A machine gun covers the road, which goes further down between two rocky walls. Four soldiers are watching the area. The rest had left in the direction of the village... and, besides, it must have been them, over there, that we saw coming back. And at the pace they were going, the Nazis were not on their asses!
- Sergeant Martinez reporting, sir! We went to the village, no Krauts. The mayor said they passed yesterday.
- The mayor?
- Affirmative, sir. The new mayor, we understand. And the bridge is... clean. Anyway, the water's not too deep, so we could have crossed without getting our rims wet.
- The mayor... Are we expected?
- Well, you could say that, Captain. But I've already told you that we won't stop for a drink.
- And, Captain...
- Yes, Corporal?
- They even put up a "Germany" sign so we wouldn't get lost!
- ??? Are you sure, Corporal?
- Yes, sir!
- Yes, sir. Enough talk. Let's go! This time, you go behind...
- Uh, sir, we have a problem with the jeep. It won't go any further...
- The gasoline follows...
- It's not the gas, sir. I think we shot up something. She's dripping with oil...
- Well, leave it here! No one will come and steal it, right? And spread out in the others.
It will not be said that the village celebrated them as they passed, because they only passed by. Only one or two old timers grumbling in their moustaches, predicting the return of the proud warriors from across the Rhine, but it was only when an anonymous hand had dressed a window with a tricolor flag and a few vaguely disbelieving passers-by waved. Ah, yes, under an enamelled plate mentioning "Allemagne-en-Provence, 15 km" (real town) a little girl awkwardly threw them some flowers from the fields. A woman, still young, with a hand on her daughter's shoulder, shouted something swallowed by the noise of the engines. In defense of the corporal - for once - let us point out that the road sign had suffered the ravages of time and that a quick reading could explain the omission of this information: there was a Germany in Provence.
At the Germany in question, it was a scout car who forfeited. As for the village, there was nothing to be said. Barely in, already out! A triangle of houses, bordered by the road. But question of fuel, the arrival of two trucks carrying jerry cans was greeted as it should be.
The order was given not to go further for the moment: we had just hung on more to the east of the previous town. So there were Boche in the area. But we did not know where.. The dying vehicle is placed on defense, at least it would be of some use, and we prepare to spend the night there, taking the necessary measures.
A couple of airplanes come to sniff them a little too closely for Albertini's taste: it is that these andouilles, as we knew, tended to water first and check later. As if jeeps could be mistaken for panzers! Well, it seems so. Finally, to the salutes of the guys, they answer with a flapping of their wings, before going to inspect the upstream part of the river: the Verdon. "That's it, guys, go do your job there, and hello to the Fritzes from our part, eh... "
- A shot of red, the Old Man?
- I wouldn't say no to that! We've been eating dust for a long time! And is it good?
- Well... Uh... Let's say that I find it particular... Not bad, no, no ! But it is...local.
- Aaaah well! You tell me so much... Local... Family tradition ? Ok !
- Another one ?...
- It's just... I wouldn't want to abuse...
- No ? To kill the worm ?
- Oh, well, no hurry! Well, a little one, then, because if the boss sees me... It's that if there are any Chleus around, you have to keep a sharp eye out!
.........
Liberation - In Var, Toulon is liberated by the 10th DI. The Mont Faron, which dominates the city, isstormed by the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 113th RI, with the help of the artillery of the division.
At the port, the fighting dies down after a final resistance by the SS of the Polizei Regiment Todt at the Maritime Prefecture. The officers of the French Navy and the Naval Engineers sent to reconnoiter the port facilities discover them to be in much the same condition as after the Grand Demenagement. Only the submarine base and a few wharves capable of receiving light vessels were restored. It will be necessary to tow floating concrete pontoons from Algiers to give the installations some capacity.
Meanwhile, the infantrymen of the 10th DI fight all day long to reduce the last square of the city defenders, who took refuge in a set of four tunnels forming the powder magazine of Saint-Pierre. In the confusion of the last fights, a gigantic explosion shakes the city and buries the occupants of the powder magazine - and some of the liberators- under the hill. We will never know what really happened.
really happened. Even today, the hill remains unbuildable, no one knowing exactly the quantity and type of ammunition buried there.
Along the coast, the 4th RTS and the 6th RCA progress eastwards and reach La Mole and Cavalaire. They come up against the last regiment of the 242. ID, the 919. IR. This one, reinforced with survivors of the 917. IR, takes position around the Gulf of Saint-Tropez.
A little to the north, the 5th RTS passes Forcalqueiret and cleans up the area around "the Barre" to be able to seize the chapel of St-Quinis, above La Besse sur Issole.
Finally, the greatest progress made by the 9th DIC is recorded in the Vidauban sector by the 20th RIC. The latter benefitsfrom the support of the I/8 RCA south of Lorgues, of the 4th BMLE near Les Arcs, the 3rd RSM in the Thoronet sector and the artillery fire of the corps, to establish contact with the 148. ID, which is defending this area.
Meanwhile, the 14th DBLE is redeployed and works to secure the rear of the 9th DIC.
On the beaches, the 4th DMM starts to land.
.........
At sea - At nightfall, the torpedo boats of the Kriegsmarine based in Nice launch a final charge. The S-130 and S-145 are joined by the S-206 and S-207 of the 9th Flotilla and the four launches go on the attack. The first two had to play bait off the coast to try to distract the screen, while the other two will try to place their fish on worthwhile targets. After unmasking themselves, they will then return to the distraction side to allow their teammates to escape without damage.
But decidedly, the disproportion of the forces is too big. The two groups are detected by the Franco-British patrols, which had more than enough time to react in force on both sides. One after the other, the four S-boots succumb. Only the Sète flotilla remains operational in the Mediterranean (apart from the launches based in the Adriatic).

Off the Hyères islands - On the bridge of the command cruiser Duquesne, the President of the Council tries to force the hand of General Frère, commander in chief of Dragon, so that the latter would authorize him to go to the coast. At dawn, the news of the night being good, he left by plane for Corsica, from where the destroyer Fantasque took him to the Duquesne.
But nothing could be done: if the troops involved are still advancing, it is still with the relative slowness that the planners of the operation had foreseen, and nowhere is security assured.
As a result, it is not yet time to let the leader of "la France Combattante" risk his life to set foot on French soil. Late in the evening, it is an exasperated General who returns to his quarters to rest for a few hours (although the sailors in the adjacent passageway will say that they heard him cursing and swearing all night long).

* This division is just operational.
** Radio codes following the traditions of the 3rd and 4th Squadrons, Spa 83 and Spa 100.

 

[Wings]

September 8th, 1943

Madrid - As if the news of the D-Day landing in Provence was not enough, Francisco Franco is very unpleasantly surprised to receive, through his Minister of the Army, Asensio, a letter signed by eight of the twelve lieutenant generals of Spain. Orgaz, Davila, Varela, Solchaga, Kindelan, Saliquet, Ponte and Monasterio, refer to themselves as "former comrades in arms and respectful subordinates". As solemn as it is, this letter calls on the Caudillo to give way to the monarchy, nothing less! It even states that it has been seven years since the Caudillo has been at the head of nationalist Spain - the subtext "and that's a long time" emerges.
A petition from the highest Spanish officers to urge Franco to give up power! The gust of wind is strong for the Galician. "Let them come and get me! I I wait for them with my back to the wall", he cries.
But nobody will come. And as usual, the Caudillo will temporize and make sure to receive in the weeks that follow each of the Spanish lieutenant generals one by one. All of them give up their request or hesitate too much to try something. All of them? No, Kindelan, Ponte and Orgaz remain firm on their positions. Concerning Kindelan, it becomesa habit to oppose the Caudillo.
Orgaz had even envisaged, a few weeks earlier, a military coup to depose Franco - due to the lack of support from lower-ranking officers, he eventually gave up on the pronunciamento and settled for this petition from the Minister of the Armed Forces... A petition that would soon seem to be ancient history.

 

[Wings]

September 8th, 1943

HQ of the German occupation forces in France, Hotel Majestic, Paris - General Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, head of the Militärbefehlshaber Frankreich (MBF), is delighted to have postponed Operation Armageddon against the Jews of France. It should have started the day before, the very day of the Allied landing in Provence! It is not the time to waste time and energy, not to mention fuel and transportation, to deal with the Jews, when reinforcements have to be sent south!
It is with satisfaction that he writes to Brigadeführer Oberg that the Wehrmacht would not be able to lend a hand to operation Armageddon, theoretically planned "before the end of the month": indeed, "it does not seem useful, in the present circumstances, to mobilize German soldiers against Jewish civilians". Of course, Stülpnagel adds hypocritically, "I have no doubt that you will be able to carry out the operation at the moment that seems most opportune to you with the sole assistance of the armed forces of the French government". In reality, the general is well convinced that he would never hear of Armageddon again - and he is not mistaken.

Languedoc-Roussillon - From Toulouse, the 11. PzD continues its march towards Carcassonne, still operating at night. The 60. Panzergrenadier Division Feldherrnhalle (Carcassonne) and the 326. Infantry Division (Narbonne) have already started the "cleaning" of the road. The artillery elements of these units are sent without delay to the Camargue front.
.........
Murat (Cantal) - General Fritz von Brodowski, who is definitely a man of great talent, once again escapes an ambush. A grenade-launching rifle shot kills three people in an escort car. The Maquis retreats while firing, with wounded on both sides. Brodowski, feeling the ground slipping away from him, asks for reinforcements to encircle a concentration of partisans towards Mount Mouchet.

Camargue - Mutiny by Indochinese workers. They seize some weapons and leave for the Black Mountain maquis. During the same night, the American commandos enter the Camargue from the other side of the Rhône.

Saint-Flour (Cantal) - The sub-prefect has some worries. He has just received a not very friendly delegation from the German command of Clermont-Ferrand who also notes the general breakdown of the telephone lines in his region. To cover himself, and also because he expects brutal reactions from the Germans, he writes a letter to the captain of the gendarmerie, with a copy to the regional prefect.
"The Sub-Prefect of Saint-Flour to the Captain of the Gendarmerie of Saint-Flour.
Subject: Presumed sabotage of the underground telephone line built by the occupying authority.
Mr. Martin, head of the company of this name, who installed in the district of St-Flour an underground telephone line on behalf of the occupying army, has just informed me that
informed me that the cables had been sabotaged when they were buried.
The occupying authorities have taken up the matter.
I would like to ask you to proceed with an investigation as a matter of urgency and to report back to me as soon as possible.
The Sub-Prefect."
The gendarmerie captain, a veteran who has postponed his retirement date to compensate the absence of the young officers, knows very well what to expect from this sabotage. The Compagnie of Signal Workers, a public service team put at the disposal of the contractor Martin to carry out this work, had disappeared the day before, taking its equipment. Among other things, a nice supply of dynamite, indispensable for digging underground conduits in the hard rock of the Haute-Auvergne. It is true that the CTT was composed mainly of demobilized soldiers from the end of July 1940.

Allanche (Cantal) - Indeed, the occupying authorities did not remain inactive. A car with a card of the Telephone Company on the windshield, stops on the small small square. A man in a leather coat gets out, walks around the fountain, looks at the cobbler's sign and then walks towards a house opposite. He rings the bell at the gate.
A middle-aged woman lets him in and hurriedly closes it.
Once inside, the man shows him a copper badge hidden under the lapel of his coat, with an eagle perched on a swastika. The woman trembles:
- You shouldn't have come yourself, officer. The people in the neighborhood...
- Madam, I have no time to lose. Is it you who wrote this letter?
He takes out a thin sheet of grayish paper: the quality of the stationery has declined a lot in three years. The man has a rough voice, he speaks very good French, but with a pronounced accent:
"Madame, you promised us a list?"
- Yes, Officer... They are preparing terrible things, they are going to disperse and form groups of a hundred men along the roads to machine-gun your soldiers. All this revolts me. They are going to start looting again and who knows... You know, my son is a prisoner in Germany and he never complained, so we have the greatest consideration for the Germans. And if you could do something for him...
- I understand, ma'am. This list, please?
The lady hesitates, then, with increasing confidence, lines up names: the hotel manager, the furniture dealer, two butchers, a carpenter, a stationmaster, a plumber, a blacksmith, a letter carrier... The man notes on his small notebook asking him from time to time to spell out a name. When the list is finished, about forty people in total, he puts the notebook back in his pocket and says with a serious air: "Madam, you have done us a great service. We will do what we can do for your son. Stay home and be careful."
The lady leads the man out through another door. Once alone, she collapses into an armchair and swallows a small drop to recover. She named everyone she knew, nothing can happen to her...
Three months later, the lady will see the same man again, without a leather coat and without an accent but in uniform. French, the uniform. He will deposit the letter and the small notebook on the desk of the judge's desk. The lady will be shot at dawn.
[According to Gilles Lévy, L'Auvergne des années noires, 1940-1944, pp. 314-316].

Between Aveyron and Cantal - Continuation of the account of Mr. Largent, bookseller.
"Yes, we told them not to go through Decazeville, there was a strong German garrison there. Someone from here guided them, oh, don't ask me who, and they crossed the Lot at Golinhac, upstream from the Truyère. One of them, Sergeant Karlo Bauer, the one who spoke the best German, had kept his uniform under his smock to go on the offensive if they ever encountered a German guard post, but there wasn't even that. You know, the Rouergue is a big place and the Krauts didn't have many people.
A German motorcycle patrol, three machines with sidecars, arrived a little later to look for them, but we directed them to the forest of Cassaniouze, a little to the left when you passed the Truyère, and I think they are still there.
During the night, our Croats arrived in the Cantal, not far from Chaudes-Aigues. At dawn, they realized that they were surrounded by maquisards... Not a very comfortable situation. The maquisards were probably less numerous than they were, but who knows, in the forest... We had to make them understand that these Croats were on the right side. It took a good day of discussions until someone remembered that they were Yugoslavs and that the Yugoslav maquis, Radio-Alger often spoke about it. So they were adopted."
.........
Carmaux - While the northern group of Bosnians from Villefranche heads for the Cantal mountains, the southern group went in the opposite direction towards the Mediterranean. First stop: Carmaux.
The mining area is on high alert, all the roads are barricaded and if the weapons are not visible, one feels that they are not far away. All nationalities are to be found among the miners Italians, Spaniards, Kabyles, and even a Pole who, by chance of life, speaks Serbo-Croatian!
- Guys who have shot SS officers, they are brothers. You can stay here as long as you need to, the Germans don't set foot here anymore. Three months ago, a team of technicians came to look around and it was clear what they were looking for: places where to place their explosives if they received the order to blow up the mines. We took them to the bottom of the galleries, and there, the power went out, the lights went out, the elevator went out.
When we brought them back up three hours later, they were as green as their uniforms. Here, this is the land of Jaurès, we don't let anyone walk all over us. Now, if you want to fight, it will be further south. We'll try to arrange that for you...
The services of Algiers, in agreement with the parties and the workers' unions, have issued instructions to protect the coal basins. The liberation of the territory is likely to take some time and given the foreseeable saturation of transport, the coal from Carmaux, Decazeville and Saint-Etienne will be essential to supply the south of France this winter.
.........
Paulhac-en-Margeride (Lozère), 09:00 - On the outskirts of this small village, on the border of Cantal and the Haute-Loire, one of the first battles of the interior Resistance breaks out since the start Dragon. A detachment of Feldgendarmes and security troops comes up against a battalion of maquisards who are fairly well equipped: they have two MAC 24/29 machine guns. Despite this, the Germans are shaken, they do not hold on very well and, after some attempts to turn withdraw at about 15:00. The Maquisards have five casualties. They suspect that the hardest part is yet to come: the enemy has only tested their defenses before a more serious attack.

Military Tribunal (Berlin) - The debates of what has come to be known as "the von Sponeck affair" come to an end, at the end of a trial led by Hermann Göring himself. The latter, failing to take care of his beleaguered Luftwaffe, found here a way to be well-percieved of Supreme Guide at the expense of others.
In fact, and despite the discreet - but very real - interventions of a large number of generals in favor of the accused, the general climate is not really in his favor... The Heer has not been very successful for some time and the Bulgarian betrayal has created a poisonous atmosphere in Berlin. For the prosecution, how can one not make a comparison between the comparison between the "escape" of von Sponeck and the exemplary attitude of General Ludwig Müller, who is still locked up in Salonika with his men in order to gain the necessary time for the ungrateful Bulgarians to form a defense line? While Romania is staggering under the Soviet blows, who can say if, with a little more personal courage and by accepting to be surrounded in the north of Moldavia, von Sponeck could not have held out until the the forces of the "SommerGarten" operation came to clear him, forced the Reds to withdraw and save the Romanian forces from destruction?
These are militarily oriented questions - if they are based on any shred of reality. Nevertheless, they were asked at the hearing, where it was pointed out that the general took an oath of obedience to the Führer. He is not supposed to retreat at the first shot - or even at the second - and even less to surrender. In the face of such nonsense, the accused does not admit any fault: by acting as he did, he avoided the unnecessary destruction of his corps, and thus fulfilled his duty - much more so than by following absurd instructions.
The verdict was expected and predictable: for "insubordination" and "refusal to obey a direct order from a superior," von Sponeck is sentenced to death.
This severe sentence provokes real emotion among the German generals. Demonstrating a form of corporatist courage, and despite the disappointment of the failure of "Zitadelle" (of which Sponeck is not responsible!), Manstein will go in person to plead the cause of the condemned convict to Hitler. The latter, against all expectations, chooses to calm the situation by refusing to execute the sentence and commuting it to six years in the Germersheim fortress.

 

[Wings]

September 8th, 1943

Burma Campaign
Occupied Burma - A few days earlier, they had escorted Belgian B-25s into this Hellfire Pass area. Today, the "two-tailed dragons" of the 449th FS are back for a locomotive chase between Rin Tin and Konyu. Suddenly, a stream of smoke appears between the trees - it is one of the two engines that the Thais have assigned to this line, in the service of the Japanese. Despite the presence of two flak cars, the locomotive, riddled with bullets and shells, is beyond repair.
Along the coastal road, the Belgian, British and Indian Hurricanes return without having met any opposition.

Indochina Campaign
The Bac Kan massacre
Bac Kan (Tonkin) - "It seems that the pre-war tourist brochures extolled the beauty of its lake, the many ethnic groups and their many colorful traditional festivals. But today, we didn't care about that at all.
All we were interested in was our objective, the Japanese fortress installed just outside the city of Bac Kan. We had to eliminate it - to show the Japanese who was the real master in the area!"
(Klaus Müller, op. cit.)
The operation was in fact a diversion that involved only two companies of the 5th Regiment Etranger d'Infanterie, with less than two hundred men between them. A reduced number of men, but the Japanese garrison is not much larger. These men were in charge, according to the information received at Dien Bien Phu, to protect an anti-aircraft battery covering the approaches to Hanoi against the bombers stationed in China. We are therefore far inside the system covering the capital, in a region theoretically well controlled by the Japanese. Bac Kan is not really a strategic objective. In fact, the purpose of the raid is to convince the Japanese that there is no post far enough away from the front that is be safe. And above all, the Legion must, by this bold action divert attention from the events in Laos.
The Legionnaires infiltrate during the night, in groups of ten men.
06:00 - The Japanese realize that there is something wrong. Lieutenant Kanawa alerts Hanoi by radio to report gunshots, then sends a few men on bicycles to give the alarm to the different outposts and order them to join the main post.
06:10 - Flying over the Ba Be lake, six Warhawks of the II/40 send an armed sampan by the bottom which had the misfortune to pass by there. They circle for half an hour over the area, then leave without having seen any other interesting target.
06:35 - The first real confrontation occurs when one of the Legion groups clashes with Japanese soldiers in the middle of the street who were trying to reach the fort. The Nipponese dodge, preferring to concentrate first.
06:50 - A pair of Ki-36s approach, responding to calls for help from the garrison. Guided by radio, the "Idas" bomb and strafe the places that they are indicated, but without certainty about the enemy presence.
07:30 - A Japanese machine-gun nest is stormed at the southern entrance to the city. The legionnaires have three dead and several wounded. The fighting in the town starts, it will be long. The Japanese have transformed the houses where they had settled into bunkers, and snipers are ambushed on the roofs.
13:20 - A heterogeneous formation of four Ki-36 (Ida) followed by three twin-engine Ki-48 (Lily), covered by two shotais of Ki-43 (Oscar) and one of Ki-44 (Tojo), comes to pound the positions. The aircraft are relentless during nearly one hour, but the attack does not give anything conclusive.
14:25 - As the planes leave, seaplanes of the Navy appear*. They bring reinforcements for the garrison. Two H6K4 (Mavis) loaded with infantrymen, accompanied by an E7K (Alf) in charge of reconnoitering the site and escorted by three F1M (Pete), begin their approach above the lake. The good flying qualities of the "Mavis" and the skill of the pilots allow a smooth landing. Bad luck: the chosen landing point is under fire from several French heavy machine guns, which quickly sink the two aircraft, despite the strafing of the "Pete". Only a few soldiers manage to swim away.
15h:00 to 16:30 - The garrison launches three counter-attacks. But the legionnaires aim right and the Japanese assaults are bloody failures.
17:00 - A sort of precarious lull sets in.
19:00 - Under the cover of darkness, the legionnaires attack. The fighting, very violent, lasts until midnight. The French have 25 killed and 45 wounded. There are barely a hundred legionnaires remaining.

New Guinea Campaign
Salamaua-Lae campaign
Battle of Labadia Ridge (third day) - The morning is similar to the afternoon of the previous day. Japanese and Australians exchange heavy fire with various small arms: rifles, FM, machine guns, mortars, grenade launchers. Sometimes, an explosion throws dead bodies into the sky. With their eyes glued to their sights, snipers wait for an enemy to get up between two bursts of machine guns. Hours pass, each one taking its toll.
In the early afternoon, the Japanese begin to fall back. The 66th Regiment of the Imperial Army gives up - it was unable to take the positions defended by a single company of Australian soldiers. After the war, many Australian writers would describe the Battle of Labadia Ridge as an example of defensive combat. Nevertheless, the Australian losses are heavy... but four to five times less than those of the Japanese.

Pacific Campaign
Operation Crocodile
Carolinas - The MV Krait is sailing off the Pulusuk Islands, heading north. After having gone through the Sulawesi Sea and then sailed for several days on the high seas, the small ship enters the most dangerous part of her journey, the one where it crosses the Japanese trade (and military) routes in the Carolines.
Around noon, Falls raises the alarm: "Commander, enemy ship to port!"
Indeed, a ship had just appeared on the northwestern horizon. Captain Lyon grabs his binoculars: it is obviously a warship, probably a destroyer, which has just come out of a squall and is heading east.
- Camouflage procedure!
In a few seconds, the crew of the Krait has organized itself, mechanically applying the measures planned during its long training. The binoculars and other military instruments are stowed away, and only four men go about their business on the deck: dressed in Indonesian style, with their tanned skin and black-dyed hair, they look like simple fishermen. But the tension is palpable: if they hope to give the change from afar, the men of Special Unit Z know that their camouflage will not hold if the Japanese soldiers board the Krait: the two maiales on board are invisible from the outside, but their cover would not withstand a close inspection from the inside! Also, the last two commandos and the four Italian swimmers watch inside the ship, weapons in hand...
While the Krait continues peacefully towards the north without changing its course or speed, the Japanese come closer: it tacks and takes a collision course. Its guns are clearly visible, but it doesn't need them - a lurch would be enough to ram the fragile fishing boat. Despite the tension, "Happy" Huston continues to repair nets on the back deck. Arrived at less than 300 meters from the Krait, the destroyer turns back without slowing down; reflections betray the binoculars which scan the small fishing boat, but no light signal is sent to it. Huston raises his head, and waves vaguely with his hand to the destroyer that is already moving away...

The Sino-Japanese war
Air preparations...
Jiangxi - New combined raid of the 14th Air Force and the ROCAF, this time on Nanchang. The capital of Jiangxi is bombed by 17 Liberators and 12 Fortresses escorted by 10 P-51. Ten Ki-43 interpose themselves but lose three of them without obtaining anything in exchange.
Six late-arriving Ki-61s take advantage of the Hayabusa distraction to shoot down a B-17, which lands on its belly in the Chinese lines. However, the bombing lacked precision; the bombs that did not fall in the middle of the rice field reach civilian dwellings, without the military and industrial installations having suffered.
.........
... and land
In preparation for Operation Zhulin, the First Army (General Sun Du) and the Thirtieth Army (General Wang Lingji) began their deployment to their respective positions. The First Army moves into position near the town of Muzidianzhen, about 20 kilometers east of Macheng, in Hubei. The Thirtieth, reinforced by the already famous 200th Armored Division, moves north to Yichun, in Jiangxi.
Behind the Japanese lines, the New Fourth Army (General Peng Dehuai) is about to begin a discreet movement towards Bengbu, in Anhui.

* The Imperial Navy was put to work to support the Army in Indochina following a request from General Rikichi to alleviate the task of the Army pilots, who had some difficulties in dealing with the pro-Western partisan bands. Vice Admiral Denshichi Okawachi, commander of the 1st Southern Expeditionary Fleet, in charge of the surveillance and maintenance of order from Malaya to Indochina, accepted (grudgingly and after consultation with his superiors) Hanoi's requests, while pointing out that the Army that the Navy was not intended to compensate for the shortcomings of the Army.
The air force of the Imperial Navy in Indochina counted less than forty tired seaplanes (mostly from the 936th Kokutai and the Toko Kokutai), based for the most part on the Cat-Lai seaplane base, on the right bank of the Mekong near Saigon, and on that of the Great Lake (or Western Lake or Hô Tay Lake), near the Nautical Circle of Hanoi. These bases had to be patiently rehabilitated, after the damage inflicted by the Japanese bombs and French sabotage in 1942. The normal role of these seaplanes is to ensure patrols and to fight against the allied submarines, more and more numerous every day, in a zone ranging from the Hainan Strait to the Gulf of Siam.

 

[Wings]

September 8th, 1943

Operation Suvorov
Cunning Bison
Belarus - The Belarusian front is experiencing a day of lull, while the Soviet forces continue to move to the front against a Wehrmacht now well entrenched on its new defense line. The fighting is therefore at a standstill. In the skies, the fight is not much more intense, an overcast sky announcing a strong deterioration to come, limiting the scope of operations. Luftwaffe and VVS take advantage of this to take a break - they need it, like everybody else.
.........
West of Vitebsk ("Suvorov-North") - The 20th Army painfully leaves Šumilina to continue westward, and at the end of the day captured Obal - a place deserted by the enemy. Pavel Kurushkin's formation continues to expand: in addition to its northern flank (extended by 50 kilometers, after all!), it must now guard the Daugava to the south, because its neighbor the 63rd Army does not visibly advance at the same pace as its troops... It was therefore necessary to leave a reinforced infantry division (the 229th, increased by survivors of the 61st Corps)... weakening even more its already blunt point.
A little further down, Vasily Kuznetsov continues to advance with a wise slowness. His 63rd Army occupies Bielaja Lipa and approaches Sianno. However, in the evening, in spite of his preoccupations, he is forced to press on, on the express instructions of Andrey Eremenko.
Apparently, some people in Moscow think that the 1st Belarussian Front is "softening", as they say.
Better to disabuse them of this notion as soon as possible!
.........
Orsha and Talachyn ("Suvorov-North") regions - In this sector, the Soviet forces continue to cluster in front of the Drut and the Razdolnaya "gap", without trying to advance for the moment. They remain uncertain of their northern flank(the 63rd Army is still more than 50 kilometers away!) and are confronted with a powerful and well grouped opponent. However, the 1st Guards Army begin to deploy between Talatchyn and Kasieničy, while planning to eventually cede its southern flank to the 3rd Guard - still being transferred to Kokhanovo.
For this army alone, this represents a lot - 25 kilometers of frontage at least - especially since it has already experienced the fighting in Orsha. But it is necessary to make illusion, the time that the comrades arrive... Besides, Ivan Chistiakov has no choice, the instructions from Moscow being formal and the news of a delay in the new offensive on the Drut having already triggered a violent movement of mood of the Vojd.
Although theoretically reinforced by the debris of an 18th Armored Corps reduced to 50 vehicles, the 1st Guards is now in a very precarious situation - fortunately for it, the Axis has neither the means nor the desire to exploit this situation. Unless there is an accident, of course...
.........
Bialyničy and Balonauka regions ("Suvorov-Center") - Frontovikis of the 29th Army formally enter into contact with the new defense line of the Wehrmacht by Balonauka - on the Drut, and more or less in front of Chachevichy, where the 7. ID (still it!) of the XLIII. AK (still him!) is entrenched. Ivan Managrov knows that his opponent is worn out and dispersed - however, he is just as much. So he has to spend the day rallying his troops and bringing them down to the southeast before he can try anything - tomorrow if all goes well.
As for Fedyuninsky's 15th Army, it finally enters Bialyničy, taking the place of Volkov's 22nd Armored Corps - which is happy to avoid the risk of an urban confrontation. In fact, these armored vehicles will soon move northward, in the direction of Zarech'ye, in search of a weak point between the XX. AK and VII. AK (the XXV. AK, which was originally intended to connect the two, had gone further south, to Jlobin). This approach may seem wise and necessary, especially for those who want to avoid making the same mistakes as elsewhere - but it has the disadvantage of taking a long time... In the evening, an interesting site seems to have been found a little west of a village called Bor. No certainty, however - but here too, we will have to deal with it.
.........
Region of Gomel and Jlobin ("Suvorov-South") - The 2nd Guards Army begins to send more or less determined probes on the outskirts of Jlobin, under the cover of an accurate artillery bombardment, although less dense than before - the supply is not yet fully restored. The Landsers of the XII.AK, veterans and survivors of Gomel, bow their heads and hope with anguish that the assault is not for today... Tomorrow the comrades of the XXV. AK will arrive - the Reds can wait until then!
It is understandable that the Germans are worried... However, here too, they have nothing to fear for the moment. On Ivan Konev's manly and direct order, the 3rd Shock Army leaves Gomel and moves up to Uvaravičy, leaving Roginsky's 54th Army on its left, definitely out of the picture. The 10th Armored Corps continues to repair its equipment and the 21st CB not having the means to cross, the only real movement of Soviet tanks is made by Rodin's 7th CB, which precedes the infantrymen by crossing the plains to the west and passing - in turn - the crossroads of Buda-Kachaliova, of very sinister memory.
In fact, the Red Army will wait without the XLI. PzK had to intervene, to the great satisfaction of its leader, General Josef Harpe, who also has to ensure the command of the XII. AK, while waiting for a new boss for this one, announced for the following day. The probes sent towards Proskurni, Luchina, Zelenaya Dolina are all repulsed, but the Soviets nevertheless learn valuable lessons for the future. They observe in particular that the way south of Jlobin seems infinitely preferable to a bypass by the north, which would have to pass under the fire of defenders possibly posted at Rahatchow and through 20 kilometers of very inhospitable terrain at the confluence of the Dnieper and the Rzhavka, and then the Dnieper and the Drut. Of course, the Germans are well aware of this - which is precisely why they have already deployed the 904. StuG Abt "of the fire-breather" (Hauptmann Wiegels) south of the city to Strešyn, reinforcing a 34. ID decidedly well tested and awaiting an urgent and global reorganization of their so fragile device.
.........
"A day of relative calm for me and the crew, even of relaxation - the mechanics no longer need our help for the work that remains to be done. We decided to relax a bit, each in our own way: Fyodor, as usual, went to play cards hoping to rob some soldiers "from the back", Andrei has...disappeared, and I prefer not to know where he went (which will allow me not to have to turn a blind eye to his friends) and Alexandr is not in the mood to have fun: he is still often taken by violent headaches.
As for me, for lack of alternative during the little time we had, I preferred to go for a walk to explore the city center. I'm not sure what I was going to find - at least, it wasn't there. Ruin and destruction, the result of the invasion by our mortal enemy, that's all. The civil services are already there, trying to restore what is useful to our progression, and to have the roads cleared by a crowd of poor men who came out of the cellars and visibly forced to work for the promise of a meal and then a shelter. All this while the NKVD, on its side, is already busy putting back the electricity, not for comfort, but to power the loudspeakers that it has hung on poles at each crossroads - these will soon broadcast a message that I presume is "adapted to the masses to be educated". Here are some excerpts: "The Red Army of the Workers and Peasants triumphs every day over the Nazi beast! Comrade, join without delay the ranks of the Army and defend your family! Glory to the liberating soldier! And you, valiant soldier, keep pushing the enemy back to the west, until the complete liberation of the Soviet territory! Everything for the front, everything for the Motherland, before the capitalists reach Berlin!"
It is true that it seems to me that I learned last night, at the end of a news bulletin, that the French and Anglo-Americans had landed in France, no doubt with imperialist aims in mind. Well, for the Americans, of course, since, according to the comissar the French are already communists. And then, they are at home, after all.
Well, we'll see - all this is a long way from Gomel. And even further from my home.
Anyway, these loudspeakers annoy me - and I can't do anything about it, obviously! Already that covering a poster is a counter-revolutionary crime... So I turn on my heels, in the direction of our tank, the canteen and - who knows? - of a more useful and less depressing occupation." (Evgeny Bessonov, op. cit.)

Kremlin - Having now a clear - and most worrying - vision of the state in which the forces of the two Belarusian Fronts of comrades Eremenko and Konev, Marshal Zhukov returns to Stalin to obtain a delay "to be defined" before starting the next operations. This time, he secures the support of Aleksandr Vassilevsky - who, beyond his appearance of strict "competent specialist", is not averse to getting involved when the situation really demands it. That's how serious it is!
Decimated units, isolated formations, uncertain supplies, terrible terrain, insufficient aviation, invigorated fascist defenses - everything contributes, on the military level, to the... suspension of "Suvorov". Moreover, the two marshals (out of the three in the room!) do not hide their conviction that the means used to reach Minsk would be much more useful in the south - as well as their apprehensions for the days to come, if by any chance the order to advance is maintained.
As Zhukov docily pust it: "The 1st Belarusian Front has lost the equivalent of one and a half armies in only two and a half weeks of operations. The 20th Army has an army in name only. The 63rd cannot do the job alone - as for the 1st and 3rd Guards, they have no chance to break through without strong air and armor support... which was used to take Gomel! And as for Gomel, precisely - the 2nd Front should not move for at least a week, the time to prepare means of crossing and repair its armor ...
Also, I must ask the question: what is the meaning of taking Jlobin if it is not followed by a breakthrough? The 15th and 29th Armies can certainly still hope to advance together towards the Berezina, perhaps approaching Babrouïsk or even Berazino... but the Fascists will be able to withdraw behind this river and to force us to provide the same effort for the third time in a row!"
With a little more caution, Vassilevsky concludes: "That's why the Stavka renews its proposal of a stop of "Suvorov-North" and of a suspension of the two branches until the forces concerned have been able to reorganize themselves. Meanwhile, we can of course advise taking into account the situation in Ukraine."
All this speech is fully consistent. If it were addressed to a career military officer, it would probably have a chance to carry. Only, here it is - Stalin, despite his title of marshal, does not think on the military level, but on the political level. And for him, the problem is not so much what can be gained by "Suvorov", but what would mean if this offensive were to be interrupted. In a tone that mixed bad humor and good humor, he retorts: "So, comrades, are we doubting the victory now?" At these words, the interested parties imperceptibly stiffen - there are things that make sense in the USSR, bad sense, it goes without saying. But Stalin does not decide to separate from his two closest officers - he is joking! And after bursting into a big laugh, a little forced, he resumes.
- Come on, Georgy Konstantinovich! Aleksandr Mikhailovich! I know I can count on you! And I also know what you're trying to tell me with your purely military officer's words! Minsk is out of reach. But frankly, do you think that I have not realized this myself?
One could indeed ask the question, at least until very recently. Stalin then takes a malicious pleasure to light his pipe slowly, in front of his two marshals who are now questioning. Then he continues - affably, while taking a few puffs.
- It is therefore obvious (...) yes, obvious that Minsk will not be reached this month. But (...), does it mean that everything is to be thrown away in our operations in Belarus? No, of course not (...) Look at the map, Comrades, and see the situation in which the Fascists of Jlobin are in. You said it yourself, by the way, Georgi Konstantinovich (...) - Jlobin is now threatened with encirclement by the 2nd Belorussian Front! We may not cross the Berezina immediately, but we can inflict to the Nazis a powerful blow, by encircling and destroying two or three army corps between the Dnieper and the Berezina!
This is a magnificent plan, Comrades, I have no doubt that you have seen it. You will therefore introduce me very quickly - both of you! [The pipe points alternately to Zhukov and Vasilevsky] - a plan linking "Suvorov-Center" and "Suvorov-South", in order to destroy the equivalent of a complete fascist army. This plan will be yours, of course - even if I will check it for the sake of form. And thanks to it, you will be able to add one more decoration to your chest - I'll just go and tell Roosevelt, Churchill and De Gaulle about this triumph. No doubt they need to have their pride lowered a bit, after their little operation in the Mediterranean. You will understand, of course, that the USSR has a mission towards the proletariat of the world. It cannot disappoint, neither in Belarus, nor in Ukraine!
The end of the tirade refers of course to operation "Kutuzov", which does not go as well as hoped. Even if it is not as catastrophic, fortunately, as in Belarus. And "Rumantsyev", supposed to start soon in the south of Ukraine, will allow perhaps to advance even further, by saturating the fascist defenses...
At least that's what everyone hopes - besides, the luxury of choice is not given to many generals in the Stavka. Taking leave, Zhukov will hear the Vojd to specify: "Obviously, pending the offensive on Jlobin, "Suvorov-North" must continue - for diversionary purposes and to try to secure at least a bridgehead on the Drut. Then we will decide, depending on the progress of Comrade Eremenko's forces. In this regard, I am waiting news from you as soon as possible. That will be all."
Indeed, there is no need to continue. Everything has just changed, and yet nothing has changed.

Operation Kutousov
Tourniquet
Occupied Ukraine (sectors of the 3. PanzerArmee and the 6. Armee) - Under a cloudless sky and while the fighting in Belarus seems to have calmed down, the withdrawal of the Heer forces in Ukraine accelerates. The bulk of the 3. PanzerArmee should havereached the Mozyr-Olevsk-Yemiltchyne line by this evening. As for the 6. Armee, it is already under less pressure and not having as much distance to cover, it does not really inspire concern.
Indeed, as Manstein explained to his staff: "It is one thing to break through the enemy's lines, but it's another to know what to do next! Running in all directions, the Bolsheviks finally do nothing but walk on each other! No tactical vision, no programmed battle... No destruction of the opponent. And I can tell you that their clumsiness will cost them dearly!" In fact, the III. PanzerKorps of Werner Kempf, which has just arrived north of Korosten, has already begun to engage the enemy together with the rear guard of Walter Model's forces.

Central Ukraine - On Kutusov's right wing, the 61st Army finally reaches Loïew, to be immediately confronted with the LVII. PzK (Friedrich Kirchner), which had all the time to dig in at the edge of the mire to take advantage of the terrible terrain he is charged to defend. Pavel Belov already knows that he will never be able to break through - and even if he did, he would only be able to break through to Retchytsa, to join up with the 54th Army on Suvorov's left wing, without changing anything for this operation. A few unconvincing assaults are however launched without conviction. They are repulsed and Kutusov ends in this region as poorly as it started.
.........
Ovroutch sector and downstream of the Uzh - Around here, no need of trapped ruins to slow down the Revolution - that reactionary Nature is in charge! From Ovroutch, the 8th Guards Army progresses eastward and reaches Slovechne... after which it has to penetrate into hostile forests, riddled with mines and snipers. The advance of Trofimenko is obviously affected - but how urgent is it to seize this Baba-Yagas' lair!
As for the 64th Army, it continues to clean the area assigned to it. It adds Yelsk to its hunting list, after Chernobyl the day before. Mozyr is not far away - with it, the Prypiat, and probably the new fascist lines.
.........
Korosten sector - The Red Army finally takes possession of Korosten, but without being able to advance beyond it. Informed of the setbacks of the 50th Army, on its left, the 4th Shock Army - which had given so much to liberate this city, must leave the same morning towards the south to help the 50th, to the great frustration of Ivan Maslennikov, who hoped to enter the city and march in.
However, the general should not worry about that little... the "Cliff of Peter"* is a formidable obstacle for his comrades, even without the Germans! Ravaged by the bombardments and the multiple battles of the summer, Korosten is 80% destroyed**. The 2nd Guards Armored Corps (P.S. Rybalko) and the 4th Guards Armored Corps (S.I. Bogdanov) struggle in the debris and managed to cross the ruins only after having lost a precious time... as well as a certain number of vehicles victims of mines, fire from isolated anti-tank teams left behind to cover the German retreat and various other incidents.
The infantrymen of the 44th Army and the 60th Army, who were supposed to clear the way for the tanks, had a hard time controlling this pile of rubble quickly enough... Moreover, their formations are often in competition with the armor to cross the Uzh. Finally, Vatutin is reduced to order Rybalko to pass by force, thus adding confusion.
A kind of chaos spreads in the ruins and the Soviets get stuck in it. There is hardly any fighting, there is a lot of bickering, sometimes fights... and the most numerous shootings seem to be the work of the NKVD, which hastens to seize all the official buildings still more or less standing to strike with a prompt and revolutionary justice all the Ukrainians who could hide there - that is to say, all the living inhabitants, or very few of them...
Disgusted, Malinovsky finally orders "his" 20th Armored Corps (P.P. Poluboiarov) to go aroundd the city center by the left to pursue the enemy. At the crossroads of Klocheve, less than ten kilometers from the river, the T-34s meet the rear guard of the 3. PanzerArmee - that is to say the 9. Panzer, still in good shape and waiting for them calmly, with the help of the last four Tiger of the 501. s. Pz Abt. Engaged alone, while his comrades are still stuck in the ruins, Pavel Poluboiarov loses 34 more machines before having to give up, when he is told that several Panzer divisions would come up from Bondarivka to his position! Finally, as the day before, the majority of the German losses in this area will be the fact of the 8th Air Army, which takes advantage of the fact that the Luftwaffe is more interested in what happens towards Bondarivka.
As for the 5th Army, its men are good last in the queue that forms at the edge of the Uzh in such a Soviet way...
.........
Battle of Bondarivka (Horshchyk sector) - During the night, the 50th Army - which is camped in dispersed order in the hills between Zoryanka and Ostapy - is the target of a powerful assault of Werner Kempf's panzers, which literally come out of the darkness to crush the enemy! The 212th and 324th Rifle Divisions, in the center of the 50th Army's position towards Yamenets, are pushed back by the attack of the 7. and 8. Panzer (von Funck and Fichtner), which immediately continue southward in the direction of Bondarivka and Horshchyk! On its side, the 6. Panzer (von Hünersdorff) separates from the rest of the PanzerKorps and obliques towards the north-east and Korosten for what strongly resembles an attempt to encircle Ostapy, where the 38th Rifle Corps is located, on its way to Stari Novaky. In fact, these tanks are heading towards those of the 10. PanzerGrenadier, which come from Stantsiine.
The 50th Army is unable to oppose these movements, executed by an opponent superior in number and quality, which maneuvers with precision between the Russian support points. Aggravating factor: in the darkness, the Soviets do not know where the enemy is: it is thus impossible to effectively use motorized artillery! The541st and 542nd Mortar Rgt and the 54th Guards Mortar Rgt are reduced to firing at random, sometimes at the Germans, sometimes on the escapees and sometimes in the void...
However, Konstantin Golubev reacts quickly, with sagacity and courage - a courage as great as if he had to face the German personally, in truth... Detecting the enemy's objective and fearing above all the isolation and destruction of half of his infantry - impossible to reinforce effectively, in the absence of any clear vision of the situation! - he orders the general retreat of the 38th Rifle Corps towards the south and Horshchyk, while sending units to stop von Funck and Fichtner in the plain in front of Bondarivka. Indeed, in addition to the 49th and 64th Rifle Divisions, which would defend the line from Korosten to Novohrad-Volynskyi, his 50th Army has some interesting armored divisions to hold this area: the 196th Tank Brigade, the 21st and 43rd Armored Trains Battalions (always useful for those who want to hold a railroad!) and especially the 1536th Heavy Tank equipped with SU-85s, a small novelty that the comrades of the Stalingrad factories have recently delivered... As for the artillery (which mainly includes
the 447th, 523rd and 1091st Artillery Rgt and the 600th Anti-tank Rgt), it will spread out the enemy's axes of progression to drown them under the shells. Finally, Malinovsky, as soon as informed, promises at dawn the maximum support of the 3rd Air Army of Stefan Krasovsky, while obtaining from Vatutin the emergency dispatch of the 11th Armored Corps, stationed not far away - Of course, it is being reconstituted, but its intervention will undoubtedly be welcome...
In any case, in the meantime, the survivors of the 212th and 324th DF are asked to sacrifice themselves by clinging to the two fascist armored divisions... What they will do with courage, even with panache. Among them, Major Ivan Kravchenko, of the 324th, already a Hero of the Soviet Union and holder of the Order of Lenin for his exploits on the Mannerheim Line during the Winter War***. For a time in disgrace for his failures during Barbarossa, he is killed while bravely counter-attacking at the head of his 1091st Rgt to allow elements of the train to retreat... These fights lost in advance cannot stop the panzers, but they make them lose a precious time while the Russian reinforcements are deployed. The 7. and 8. Panzers approach Bondarivka only in the morning, and then they have to cross a plain that stretches out in front of the town and constitute an ideal field of fire.
The SU-85s make target shooting and the 122 mm guns bludgeon the German concentrations, while the Il-2s rush to the attack in spite of the attempts of the JG 52 to stop them! Gerhard Barkhorn reaches 160 victories and his formation claims 24 victims at the cost of 9 Bf 109 - but they have to neglect the protection of the Stukas, which lose 17 aircraft under MiG or flak hits. On the railroad, the armored trains coming in emergency from Polis'ke do not even maneuver - they simply form a wall of steel and fire, without seeming to care about their own survival...
It is understandable that Werner Kempf is very quickly worried. And when the two divisions launched towards Bondarivka announce to him that they had already lost about forty of the 200 vehicles that constitute his armored corps - painfully patched up after Zitadelle! - he orders them to let go and to bypass the enemy by the north and Radohoshcha, on a trajectory parallel to that of the 6. Panzer. The latter is still busy massacring the riflemen of the 38th Corps with the help of the 10. PzGr - not without difficulties: the circumstances are favorable but the ground is not very favorable to the tanks.
Maneuvering towards the east, von Funck and Fichtner finally encounter, north of Horschyk and almost by chance - the 11th Armored Corps of Vladimir Alexeiev, which advances on the Korosten road, which is decidedly fatal to many tanks. The Russian tankers try to deflect the Panzermänner, just like the men of Baron Ernst von Jungenfeld a few days earlier... The 7. and 8. Panzer destroy 35 machines and lose 17 of theirs, but then move away again to the north.
Horshchyk, the HQ of the 50th Army and its artillery are saved... During the night of 8 to 9 September, part of the remaining 38th Corps manages to break away and join the rest of the 50th Army or the 4th Shock (which was urgently brought down to the southeast). But of its 17th, 326th and 413th divisions, only the 326th will really survive the battle as a unit, the rest was crushed by the steel jaws of the Wehrmacht.
Golubev, cut down by a good half of his forces, will have to withdraw to the south and leave the place to others.
.........
Barashi sector - The 37th Army, which is once again trying to advance northwards, learns, not without concern, of the counterattack by the 50th Army, immediately to its left. He himself in command of a weakened formation and still threatened by the retreating but still dangerous LV. ArmeeKorps, Vasily Chuikov cannot intervene directly in the ongoing battle... On the other hand, he can maintain the pressure on the German flank and, by his only aggressive presence, prevent the Heer from pressing too much his comrade Golubev... He does not deprive himself of it, anticipating the directives of Vatutin which will arrive in the middle of the morning. From the morning, the frontovikis go up to the assault in spite of the losses and without other ambition than to gain time. The front hardly moves... but neither do the Germans!
.........
Novohrad-Volynskyi sector - On Kutusov's left wing, the situation is very simple: the Red Army does not advance. The 5th Shock Army is now completely blocked in the outskirts of
blocked in the suburbs of the city, and lost many men in frontal assaults against a 62. ID which defends with efficiency. The artillery has difficulties to follow, the air force is still insufficient... Realizing with a little delay that the Fascist has drawn him into a dead end and that his troops will have a lot of trouble to pass the Smolka****, Ivan Chernyakovsky finally sends Lelyushenko and his 5th Guards Armored Corps Zhitomir to do what he is there for: maneuver and get around the obstacle.
However, the T-34s are as constrained as the infantry by the rivers - as they attempt to cross the Smolka River north of Susly, they are targeted by anti-tank units deployed with Panzer IIIs, deployed by the 36th PanzerGrenadier (Gollnick) and reinforced by a detachment of the SS-Galizien. The Reds are severely repulsed and lose another twenty tanks without being able to cross a river. Decidedly, from sterile urban fights to lost bridgeheads, there is a smell of Gomel in the region... The next few days are going to be very difficult for the 3rd Ukrainian Front.

Romanian-Bulgarian border (south of Mangalia) - Driving day and night at full speed, KG Bulgaria crosses the border - at least in part, because between the motorized vanguards already arrive in Varna, and the rest of the troop, there are no less than 150 kilometers! The Landsers are going to drive all the day of the next day and part of the 10th to make sure to secure the Bulgarian coast...

* The toponymists see indeed in the name of the city the two Scandinavian words skarfr (cliff) and sten (stone).
** Today, its main point of interest is the military museum presented in the local base...
*** As a captain, he had led - as a replacement for his commander, who was killed! - the capture of the famous hill 65.5 of the Muolaanjärvi sector, which had held the Soviet forces in check for two months. Kravchenko was seriously wounded during the action, which earned him the right to attend the courses of the Frunze academy...
**** A tributary of the Sluch, which joins it immediately south of Novohrad-Volynskyi and borders this town.

 

[Wings]

September 8th, 1943

Spitzbergen - After less than two days of careful navigation, the Tirpitz and her suite approach their objectives from the west. The squadron slows down before entering the Isfjord, towards Barentsburg and Longyearbyen (the capital of the main island, Svalbard), where the weather and radio stations are located. Since Operation Gauntlet in June-July 1942, these stations are under the control of the Allies, while the Germans have to make do with stations installed by small teams dropped by plane or submarine.
(According to J. Jonathan, Les convois de Murmansk et la guerre dans l'Arctique, Marabout Université, Brussels)

 

[Wings]

September 8th, 1943

Italian Campaign
Operation Buffalo
Italian Front - A great day for the 1st Armored Division: the news of the end of the fighting in Pisa is followed by the capture of Lucca. The Germans take refuge behind the Serchio and on the surrounding heights; the Americans reach the Gothic Line. On the fortifications, in addition to the elements of the 1. Luftwaffe-Feld-Korps, which retreat in good order, Kesselring places the 8. Luftwaffe-Feld-Division, which had arrived only a few days earlier.
For the Americans, the objectives of Buffalo are achieved. It is clear that it will not be possible to go further without suffering irrelevant losses - moreover, fuel and ammunition reserves are at their lowest... and the Old Ironside would soon be withdrawn from the front for rest and re-equipment, before leaving Italy. In the meantime, the infantrymen of the division will spend a few days securing the area, with the help of the 142nd IR of the 36th DI-US, in the San Pantaleone valley and the surrounding hills, between Pisa and Lucca. A little to the east, the 143rd Infantry Regiment of the Texas Division enters Altopascio while the accompanying tanks bypass the town from the east and push towards Chiesina Uzzanese.
The 34th US-ID spends the day in mop-up operations. But while the 135th IR occupies the hills and extends its position towards the hamlet of Galleno, the 168th finishes in the Fucecchio sector and moves towards the north-east in the wake of Major Bender's tanks. The latter continues to move up along Route 111 and takes the hamlet of Stabbia.
On the Italian side, the 140th Infantry Regiment of the 47th Bari Division accelerates to reach Lamporecchio, leaving the 139th to secure its rear.
The 20th ID Friuli reaches for the first time the plain surrounding Florence. This time, it is the 88th Infantry Regiment that is in the lead, ahead of the 87th, which had had some difficulty in getting out of Empoli, where all the bridges had been blown up. The 186th Para Rgt of the Folgore also reaches the outskirts of Florence, on the other bank of the Arno, south of the city.
The 1st Rgt of the 4th DI Alpine Cuneense is only 3 or 4 km from the center of Florence when it meets the first resistance fighters of the Garibaldi movement. During this time, the 2nd Rgt. reaches the hamlet of Grassina, south-east of the city.
In Florence itself, the French are welcomed by a jubilant population. The 83rd DIA was able to infiltrate into the center of the city thanks to the Ponte Vecchio, which was not blown up in the end.
Even today, the reasons why the bridge was spared are still very much debated. The Magnan Brigade triumphantly ascends from Piazza della Signora, at the foot of Palazzo Vecchio, up to the famous Paradise door of the Duomo. He installs his staff in the Palazzo Pitti, which had housed Napoleon Bonaparte a century and a half earlier.
Resistance fighters of both movements, Garibaldi and Giustizia e Liberta, as well as the religious authorities of the city, immediately complain that the Germans had literally plundered Florence of its works of art when they left. This does not surprise the Allies: Pisa had been looted in the same way, just like the other Italian cities that had been liberated for six months. These lootings led to the creation of a team of American, French and English art experts, who were to follow the progress of the Allied troops and get dangerously close to the front line, even to the front line. These men would recover the following year in Germany a good part of the stolen treasures, but their action will be known by the general public only sixty years later, through a Hollywood film that only evokes the exploits of the team operating from England to the north of Europe.
.........
In fact, the capture of Florence marks the end of Operation Buffalo. Moreover, on the British front, the fighting has indeed stopped. There are only a few exchanges of fire during the day.
.........
At the German General Staff, it now seems obvious that no amphibious operation is going to take place in the Adriatic, but the landing in Provence poses a serious threat to the rear of the Italian front. Kesselring then decides to create a LI. Gebirgs-Armeekorps, whose mission would be to flank the Alps to prevent any penetration towards the east beyond Menton. To do this, he obtains from the OKH the transfer under his command of the 715. ID, stationed in the Alpes Maritimes department, and the 188. Gebirgsjäger Division. The latter was until recently a reserve division, but it is made up of seasoned Austrian mountain men.
To hold the Gap-Embrun-Barcelonnette arc, north of this potential Alpine front, Kesselring calls upon the RSI. This one is happy to show its usefulness and its fighting spirit by providing its 2nd Alpine Division Monterosa.
.........
The 2nd EC, based in Corsica, stops its activity in Italy in the evening. After a few days of rest and rehabilitation, it will now operate over Provence.
Captain Robert Thollon, of the GC I/2, obtains the last victories of the squadron on this front by shooting down two Bf 109s, bringing his record to 10 confirmed victories (out of the 15 it will have at the end of the conflict).
The Armee de l'Air only deploys the 3rd EC, the 23rd EB and the 53rd EACCS (B) in Italy.

The Greek campaign
Operation Apprentice/Presage
Albania - As dawn breaks over the forests of Epirus, Allied air forces launch a massive bombardment of the German defense lines. The Kalpaki sector is obviously hit, but also all military installations up to Tepelenë. The bombs mainly spray the unfortunate improvised soldiers of the 11. LFD, who however started to get used to their camps under the pines. The awakening is all the more brutal for them...

Operation Presage
The weight of the Partisans
Albania and Yugoslavia - The men of the LXVIII. Armee-Korps are not the only ones to be awakened by the clash of arms - throughout Albania and much of Yugoslavia, the sectors which are not in the immediate vicinity of a large German unit are boiling over. This action - for once - was coordinated with operation Presage; its aim is to cause trouble and, if possible, to hinder or even to prevent the sending of reinforcements to the front in general and the Albanian-Greek border in particular.
In the midst of a thousand bloody episodes that it is impossible to enumerate in detail, it is necessary to underline the political use of the military tool by Comrade Tito. By showing himself as the conductor of this real uprising, Josip Broz wants to show that we can count on his influence in Yugoslavia... and in Albania. Of course, if the German movements will indeed be slowed down, the Axis troops will be keen to carry out new and bloody reprisals on the inhabitants of the areas concerned. Nothing that could sadden the leader of the Partisans, who expects to see the arrival of new recruits eager for revenge.

The Polish Charge
Kalpaki sector - The Boston and Blenheim have just turned back when an impressive artillery barrage triggered by the 25-Pounder of the 5th AGRA falls on the German lines.
Then, while on the other side of the Adriatic, the Allies triumphantly liberate Florence, the Poles of Władysław Anders go on the attack not far from the Vikos Gorge - in very different but no less beautiful landscapes than those of Tuscany. The SAV-42s pulverize the defenses of the 11. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division, which crack completely and retreat in disorder towards the positions of the 164. ID.
The general, of the 164. ID, obviously wants to signal to Tirana that he is undergoing a large-scale attack, impossible to contain alone. But in vain - the telephone lines are cut and the radios jammed. In order not to be crushed by the rampaging Poles, Lungerhausen is forced to entrench himself around the hilltop village of Delvinaki, thus freeing the road to Tepelenë. Assailed by Czech and Polish P-39s, the Landsers seek the shelter of the wooded heights. This often turns out to be a fatal idea: the artillery pursues them and each shell exploding among the pines throws hundreds of splinters of wood around, natural shrapnel but no less deadly.
By noon, the matter is already closed. Maczek's tanks superbly ignore the defeated and parade in the valley, accompanied by their mechanized infantry and followed closely by the men of the 3rd ID. Taking advantage of this very temporary lull, General Lungerhausen manages to contact Përmet by radio, before withdrawing through fields in direction of the north with the remains of his division. As for the people of the 11. LFD... let those who still can follow!
At nightfall, the Poles approach the Drinos Potamos river, which marks the border. On their heels, the French and Czechoslovakian columns going up from Ambracia cross the former battlefield, clearing the ground of the few lingering Germans.
.........
Konitsa sector - In the middle of the afternoon, the 4th RST, followed by the artillery of the 107th RALCA, finally arrives on its starting positions: Konitsa, a charming but insignificant Greek village, located a few kilometers from the border. The region is quiet, although very isolated and mountainous!
The day is already well advanced and, further south, Presage has started well - without any reaction from Korçë for the moment. As the Tunisians did not seem to have been spotted, Colonel Roux decides to postpone his attack for half a day, in order to regroup his men and above all to rest them. This suggestion is accepted by General Montgomery, who ironically refers to "the social achievements of the French Army, a logical consequence of the presence of socialist and communist ministers in the government of the Republic". British humor - but a sign of the good humor of the leader of the 18th Corps.
.........
Tirana - It is 13:30 when General Felmy is finally able to get a more or less accurate idea of what is happening on the Kalpaki side. After an understandable phase of consternation (his detractors will say panic), the man does not let himself be discouraged and reacts by ordering the 100. Jaeger and the 907. Stug Abt to go south through Elbasan to try to stop the allied tanks. The region is full of passes and bottlenecks, it would be the devil if we can't win a day or two!
The leader of the LXVIII.Armee-Korps keeps the 914. StugAbt of Major Domeyer with him, just in case. The control of the capital (which in the last few weeks has seen many bloody events, in which the Germans were not always the only ones involved) remains with the SS under Walther Schimana.
After further analysis of the situation, Hellmuth Felmy finally wonders if he could not attempt a counterattack on the northern flank of the Poles. The Allies do not seem to have made any progress in the Korcë region. As for him, he has there the 162. ID, of uncertain quality, as one third of it is made up of Muslim ex-Soviet prisoners... Not really enough to reverse the course of the battle. General Niedermayer, who commands it, receives however the order to raise immediately the camp to go down towards Ercekë, razing and burning all that can hinder him. It is not any more time to take gloves.
With these orders given, Felmy again calls the chief of the 12. Armee, in a tone that could be ironic if he were not in such a bad position. Löhr has to agree that the situation in Albania requires urgent support or a decision to withdraw - which could only come from the OKW, which would necessarily refer to the Führer himself. However, Löhr had withdrawn a great deal in the last few months, and remembers that, according to Seneca, some Persian kings used to kill messengers who came announcing defeats. He thus asks Felmy to hold, the time that he finds him some reinforcements.
.........
Nis - Alexander Löhr's first call is to Eduard Dietl, commander of the XVIII. Gebirgs-AK, closest neighbor of Felmy's corps. The latter receives his chief as badly as is legally allowed, not refraining from reminding him of his complicated situation with the Bulgarians of Nikolov and Mihailov Mihov, who are still not "under control" at the moment. And this despite the announced arrival of the 187. ID and especially the 1. Panzer.
Finally, he says: "I'm sorry, Herr General, I really have no one to send to Felmy. Except maybe the Bulgarians. I didn't manage to get them to fight against the Greeks, but maybe you'll have better luck against the Poles!" Löhr prefers to hang up...
There is no need to ask Fehn, he is too far away, not to mention the current situation on the Bulgarian border. He has to call Lothar Rendulic from the 20. Gebirgs-Armee, in Zagreb. This one promises to detach "a German division, plus a Croatian division, if you don't mind". No, Löhr does not see any inconvenience, on the other hand, he is very annoyed to hear that these reinforcements will leave "as soon as the calm is back, these damned Partisans are unleashed and I've just had an SS brigade taken away!" So it's not for right now sighs the head of the 12. Armee as he hangs up.
.........
Maquis and various hideouts around Tirana - According to the well-known adage (and consistently applied in the region), one man's misfortune is another man's gain. The leaders of the various Albanian movements observe with pleasure the upcoming defeat of the Axis troops. All of them find it useless to expose their best elements too much - better to send young and fiery idealists to confront the Germans for the common good, saving their forces for later. However, the different clans keep quiet about the dissensions that undermine the Resistance... for the moment.

The siege of Salonika
Salonika (northern sector) - As planned, the 6th Division (AIF) storms the village of Polichni, under a blazing sun - painful, but very useful to spot obstacles and ambush vehicles. The progression of the ANZAC soldiers is particularly careful: they do not want to fall into ambushes impossible to prevent, the Greeks advising against (forbidding in diplomatic language) a prior bludgeoning by the artillery, which would however have allowed the Kangaroos to advance more quietly.
The operation is therefore long and costly. Robertson's tanks support the infantry in the absence of an organic armored brigade, and they are often obliged to serve as protection to the infantrymen clumped behind them to try to cross the real field of fire that stretches between the river and the houses. A thankless and dangerous role: the Marder IIIs spread out on the front line destroy a dozen Australian tanks before being forced to withdraw, after having lost several vehicles. Contemplating this distressing spectacle, Stevens has the impression of having been transported back to Paschendaele - the last straw for the Australians.
But he and his men were not done yet. As the "Aussies" finally enter the village, artillery fire is unleashed on the houses! It is the guns of the 97. Jäger that try to destroy the morale of the infantrymen. This is too much - if there is one thing the 6th is not short of, it is artillery. Its three regiments went on a counter-battery rampage and soon silenced the Axis guns, razing a good part of the Stavroupoli barracks, fortunately isolated in the urban fabric.
The Australians are rather comforted by the affair and resume their advance as good stubborn soldiers.
In the evening, they firmly hold a 200-metre wide strip in Polichni, the 17th Brigade (Victoria Province) in the lead.
.........
Salonika (southern sector) - General Wimberley's 51st Infantry Division does not face as strong resistance as the ANZAC troops. Progressing cautiously towards Pyliai, the British find that clashes are rare. Only an occasional sniper fire, or the occasional mine explosion, remind them of the tenacious presence of the Jägers and their Engineers. The latter did not see fit to hold on to the ground - there is still plenty of room to bleed the British. On the other hand, they leave behind them many traps, more or less vicious - for example, a file of documents left in plain sight in the remains of an outpost turns out to be connected by a wire to a grenade hidden under the desk!
The reckless officer who has seized the book owes his survival only to the experience of his orderly, who pushes him to the shelter at the cost of his own life. Further on, we discover that the water of the wells has been poisoned with rat poison...
At nightfall, the allied soldiers take a break. Tomorrow, they will take their road again in the middle of a crowd of traps of all kinds.
.........
Salonika (center) - The chief of the 97. Jaeger cannot be satisfied with this day.
He certainly inflicted heavy losses, at least to his knowledge, to the attackers on the northern flank. But it was at the cost of too many killed and wounded in his ranks, not to mention the loss of seven Marders: five destroyed in combat, one abandoned after being disabled by a PIAT shot, and one stuck in a dead end created by falling rubble which had to be set on fire! Moreover, about fifteen artillery pieces were destroyed at Stavroupoli, and their servants unfortunately suffered a lot - Her Majesty's guns are as formidable as they were twenty-five years ago...
Ludwig Müller obviously does not have the means to drive the Australians out of Polichni. And in the south, the British are advancing much too fast for his liking.
Showing consistency in his decision making, the general maintains the priority given to the northern front. He tries to bleed the Allied infantry sufficiently to dissuade them from advancing for several days, as in Evosmos. At that moment, it will be time to deal with Pyliai! The orders go out...
.........
Salonika (center) - On his side, colonel Friedrich-Wilheim Müller is very upset: this morning, it appeared that about twenty policemen of the Hellenic State are missing. He summons minister Logothetópoulos and asks him to explain himself. Unfortunately, the interested party can only suggest that the absent ones are deserters, who have chosen to go and hide in cellars or to join the allied lines. It was reported that during the night, suspicious movements were spotted in the Evosmos district; the Jägers on guard shot at unknown figures.
The colonel is gloating in advance about the example he is going to make at the expense of the collaborating policemen who had the bad idea to stay within his reach. Thus, two of them are shot in the morning for "equivocal or seditious remarks". These executions weaken a little more the loyalty of what remains of the police institution in Thessaloniki and reduce to almost nothing the fragment of authority that Logothetópoulos retained. But the colonel does not care: only the cohesion of his unit and his hold on it do.

Skopje - The first Panzer IVs of Walter Kruger arrive in the suburbs of Skopje at 14:00, securing the city and especially General Dietl's HQ. The latter, after his animated conversation with Alexander Löhr, is relieved to see friendly faces, even if the fatigue of these two days of road through Serbia and Kosovo doesn't make the tankers particularly friendly.
In the afternoon, the Gebirgsjägers of the 1. GbJg arrive in their turn, coming from the south... to learn that they are no longer needed here! They receive the order to go and support the 92. Grenadier Rgt at the pass of Apsalos, with an armoured detachment of the 1. Panzer.
.........
Kumanovo and surroundings (5th Bulgarian Army) - During this time, a few tens of kilometers further east, the second column of the 1. Panzer catches up with the rearguard of the 5th Army, which is camped in the vicinity of Rankovtse. The commander of the 2. Panzer Rgt, Oberst Baron von Holtey, requests a meeting with Major-General Nikola Mihailov. And he is accompanied by General von Haydringen (187. ID), to show that his tanks are not alone.
From reasonable proposals to acceptable compromises supported by the guns of the panzers, the Bulgarian general sees well that his situation is without exit. Persuaded that any resistance would only trigger a bloodbath without improving the situation of his country, he accepts the disarmament of his two divisions. These are courteously escorted back to their barracks of Macedonia. A temporary arrangement, because the armistices necessarily lead to peace agreements!
.........
Pass of Aspalos (1st Corps of Occupation) - General Nikolov tries in person to negotiate with the Greeks, he still does not manage to obtain from these stubborn evzones a right of passage. His interlocutor, Charalambos Katsimitros, does not wish to take initiative in such a delicate field. He thus invites the Bulgarian to await the answer from Athens. In other words, he sends the problem back to the Greek calendar.
Back at his CP, Nikolov is very annoyed. Since he is left with no choice, he is now considering going around Macedonia to return to Bulgaria.
He is obviously unaware of the fate of Mihov's 5th Army, and he is especially unaware that at the end of the day, the troops of the 1. Gebirgs arrived at Arnissa, on the banks of the Limni Vegoritida, about twenty kilometers behind the positions of their colleagues of the 4. Gebirgs. Not feeling strong enough to burst in the middle of four Bulgarian divisions, the mountain men are satisfied to close the road, thus the way of withdrawal of Nikolov's corps.
.........
Vardar Valley - In the remarkable absence of any Allied reaction, the 19. PanzerGrenadier of Irkens disappears in direction of the north in the early morning, accompanied by the SS of Alfred Wünnenberg. The 104. Jäger, badly hit during operation Tower (but not much more than the other units of its corps) stretches itself as best it can to cover the lines for about twenty kilometers. This does not reassure Hartwig von Ludwiger, who exclaims: "They only have to push the door to enter!" But he was obviously not asked for his opinion.
This inevitable maneuver has another, even more obvious consequence: the sending of Fehn's only mechanized units in Bulgaria supposes to give up any counter-offensive, and condemns by this very fact any vague hope of help for "Festung Salonik". This is why General Fehn does not inform the commander of the place of the departure of the tanks - direct order from Alexander Löhr. Salonika must hold long enough to allow to settle the score with the Regent!
.........
Varna and surroundings (3rd Army) - The Kampfgruppe formed by General Philipp Kleffel by the motorized elements of his three infantry divisions and commanded by Generalleutnant Walther Riße (225. ID) drove all night and arrives in Varna around 10:00. The port is under siege, but the two divisions of the 3rd Army do not welcome the
Kampfgruppe with rifles. In fact, they seem almost already prisoners of their barracks.
As a cautious man, Riese chooses not to rush Major-General Nikola Hristov. After all, the fish is already in his net, no need to scare him. Negotiating with him as a military man respectful of propriety and far from political shenanigans, he proposes "a temporary non-violent occupation of the coast to counter a possible Soviet landing, while respecting the Bulgarian military zones and the time that our respective governments agree on a peaceful outcome." Hristov accepts, convinced of the honesty of his interlocutor. But this one only seeks to gain the time necessary for the bulk of the three divisions to arrive. The day and the night pass without incident, the sentries facing each other in a form of indifference...
.........
Plovdiv and surroundings (2nd Army) - Major-General Nikola Georgiev Stoychev sees the arrival on his right of the tanks of Irkens, and does not feel able to face them. Moreover, he imagines - not without sagacity - that other troops are on the way from Macedonia. Judging the situation without hope and the combat of the Regent quite useless, he takes the initiative to contact Irkens to put himself at his disposal. It is a betrayal, it is true, but does one betray when one puts himself on the side of the victor? The 2nd Army therefore sides with the Axis, even if this allegiance is, for the moment, a benevolent neutrality.
.........
Sofia and surroundings (1st Army) - The defenders of the capital are waiting for the German invaders. And quite quickly, distant rumblings are heard. The Bulgarians look up: they are Ju 88s of KG 77, escorted by Bf 109s of JG 4. The planes do not attack - they carry out an armed reconnaissance with the appearance of a demonstration of force. The Bulgarian air force, warned too late, cannot intervene. Moreover, does it really want to? So that's where we leave it for the moment.
.........
Pleven and surroundings (4th Army) - The staff of the sector learns by radio that the 3rd Army had made contact with "non-hostile" Germans. This does not fail to surprise Major-General Stefanov, and believes that this will not last. Suppressing a smile of relief (or hope), he calms his anxiety by attacking the preparation of a second line of defense, in Yablanitsa, in the foothills of the Stara Planina range.
Better safe than sorry... or to trust the Goths!
.........
Lake Koronia region (annexed Thrace, 2nd Occupation Corps) - In the morning, Trifonov discovers a situation less bad than he had feared, but more unpleasant than he had expected. For, if his divisions are still there, a significant number of desertions are recorded in the 7th and 28th ID. Some conscripts seem to have simply folded up their tents during the night, then started to go back home!
Obviously, the Bulgarian general cannot let his units disintegrate like that and orders his most reliable troop - Velchev's 16th ID - to post barricades and sentries on the passageways and around the camps.
This precaution taken, Trifonov asks again for instructions to the GHQ of Sofia on how to proceed. Without a clear answer, he does not dare to take any clear-cut initiative, whether it is a retreat to Bulgaria or to collaborate with the Allies. But, in order to have answers, he would still need the 2nd Army to relay its messages to Sofia...

Sofia - General Yanchulev announces to the Regent and Prime Minister Muraviev the neutralization of the 5th Army. In spite of the Prince's disappointment, the Chief of Staff is encouraging: this outcome was expected, and after all, inevitable, given the weakness of Mihov's two divisions and of course their position.
That said, Muraviev turns to a completely different subject: the first contacts between Bagrianov and the West, via the Turkish embassy. Which are not encouraging, despite the obvious sympathy of the English for the cause. The French... have nothing against the Bulgarian attempt, but hardly support the English: cautious attitude that Yanchulev confirms, according to the information of his contact Dimitrov.
If the problem is neither English nor French, it is American. Logical, thinks the Prince: one must always deal with the leader of a coalition. After a few thoughts, he says out loud: "We must convince President Roosevelt to support us. But how?"
Passing over the fact that it might have been better to warn the president in question (not to mention his European allies) before trying to convince him, the Prime Minister has an obvious and sinister political answer: "With blood, Your Excellency. It was the blood of the French and the English that brought so many American soldiers to Europe."
Whereupon General Yanchulev hastily clarifies, "Our forces will never be able to sustain a long-lasting fight against the Germans. If you want to give Mr. Roosevelt this kind of reason to intervene, we will need at least the support of the Allied air force to get the friendly troops in before we are crushed. I have been informed of insistent Luftwaffe overflights over the positions of the 1st Army.
This is common sense. It is agreed that Muraviev and Yanchulev will both try again to obtain the support of the Allies, through their respective channels. In the meantime, the Bulgarian army will try to avoid combat, but will fight if forced to do so, hoping that its blood can serve as an argument to the diplomats.
.........
On the air - In the evening, the radio Neue Europa describes with strong details the movements of the armored units in Macedonia and Kosovo, without mentioning the disarmament of the 5th Army.
It pretends to frighten the felonious Slavs. But in reality, the Allies use it to transmit their information on the German intervention to the Bulgarians, without passing through the diplomatic stage, so insecure and slow.

 

[Wings]

September 8th, 1943

Südwall - In Italy, General Kesselring is able to talk to von Rundstedt about the future Alpine front. Indeed, it is out of the question that the Allies could pass through Italy and take "his" front from the rear. He has already obtained from the OKW the emergency transfer of the recent 188. Gebirgs-Division, composed of Austrian mountain men, to be transferred urgently*. Mussolini did not linger to provide the 2a Divizione Alpini Monterosa, a question of prestige, and von Rundstedt agreed to transfer the 715. ID (based in the Maritime Alps and already cut off from the Rhone Valley) to this new mountain corps: the LI. Gebirgs-Armeekorps, in charge to prevent the Allies from entering Italy. For the time being, the 715. ID receives orders from its new command to take up a defensive position, in second curtain behind the 148. ID and the last regiment of the 244. ID, which are fighting in the Var.
In Rastenburg, Hitler goes into a rage when he learns of the surrender of Marseille. His staff tries to explain the rapid fall of the city by the insurrection, which had made the task of the Allies easier: the Führer orders a punitive air raid. The following night, this terror bombing causes several hundred victims in the northern districts of the city of Marseille.

At sea - Since the day before, Captain Babbel and Lieutenants Holzapfel and Heye have discussed the best tactics with their three Schnellboots. An approach along the coast seems to be out of the question because of the presence of numerous ships equipped with efficient radar. It is therefore decided to make a large tour of the open sea, at the limit of the range of action of the launches, taking an additional barrel of fuel, to insert itself in the approach corridor of the navigation coming from Algiers. There, with a little luck and a slow approach, 12 knots at the most, the small flotilla should be able to give the change and get close enough to the rear of the allied fleets to attack.
The ruse starts to work quite well: contacted by radio, the three launches pretend to have broken down and do not respond. They then receive light signals to which the captains respond after as long a delay as possible with a randomly chosen code letter. To be sure, a US Navy MTB had the misfortune to come and sniff alone this convoy of three unusual ships. Taking advantage of the surprise effect, the S-boats accelerate while strafing the small American ship, which is set on fire. However, the alert is given, and the allied ships are in a state of panic, trying to distinguish the good from the bad echoes on the radar screens. The confusion lasts long enough for the launches to launch before heading back. An explosion is heard - one of the torpedoes hit.
This time, the victim is the destroyer USS Bristol. Hit in the stern, it was towed to Algiers but was never repaired and ended up being scrapped after the war.
But in the morning, in the S-boots' hideout, the S-151 was missing. The two other commanders have no illusions about their final fate, but they do their duty as sailors and soldiers...

Liberation - Despite the support of the naval artillery and the 363rd FG, the ponds, swamps and vegetation of the Camargue makes the Rangers' advance slow.
The men of the 338. ID oppose them in a kind of guerrilla warfare, but the Americans have the advantage of superior mobility: on the advice of the French during the preparation of the operation, they had provided numerous amphibious vehicles. Thus, thanks to the Buffalo and the DUKWs, they are often able to turn around points of resistance or to position themselves on the enemy's withdrawal routes.
In this sector, slightly behind, the 17th and 32nd RCT of the Bayonet Division redeploys along the Rhône.
Joined by the 18th Infantry Regiment of the Big Red One, the 70th Tank Btn and the 636th TD Btn resume their advance north of Avignon. Behind them, the 16th Infantry Regiment clears the ground of the numerous snipers that the Germans had left behind. On their right wing, we find the CCA of the 2nd Armored. Suddenly, while the progression seems promising, some armored vehicles are destroyed by anti-tank fire on the Sorgues and Vedène roads, within minutes of each other.
The US armoured vehicles have just made contact with the Germans, exactly with KG Witt.
The Panzergrenadiers of the Leibstandarte and the self-propelled guns of the 14th SS are deployed along the Rhône south of Sorgues, with on their wing the remains of the 189. Reserve-Division and the Pz abt 106 and 213, arranged in a hedgehog pattern south of Entraigues.
The CCA then calls upon the CCB of the division to its right, on the road of the Thor, for a pincer attack on this hedgehog, which seems to be the weak point of the German position. But the CCB is flanked by the arrival of KG Peiper coming from Monteux, on the road to Velleron. The day passes without the American armored vehicles being able to advance, but the air force and the 6th Artillery Group prevents any movement of the SS.
The Germans hope to be able to push back the Americans in this sector, but the third Kampfgruppe, the one including the 101. Schw Pz abt and its new Tiger tanks, is still only south of Orange, 20 km north of the front. To the ambushes of the Resistance, that Obersturmfuhrer Hauck took the time to savagely repress, are added since the entry in the Vaucluse, the bombs of the aviation, but also the "diseases of youth" of the new heavy tank: out of 30 machines leaving Lyon, only two had no trouble! Three were lost during air attacks and the other 25... broke down. The gearbox, often subjected to excessive stress, cannot last 200 kilometers, and it is simply impossible to transport these monsters by rail. The Panzerwaffe repair teams, as usual, demonstrate their know-how, but at no time could the 101. be fully manned.
The last Kampfgruppe, KG Meyer, is still in the vicinity of Carpentras, guarding the flank of the counter-attack of the I. SS PzK, but it too has to suffer from ambushes and attacks in the Drôme Provençale, then in the Vaucluse.
Opposite, on the right wing of the American position and on the slopes of the Luberon, the 26th US-IR supported by the 117th Cav Rgt and the 645th TD Btn, is urgently reinforced by the 191st Tank Btn.
The latter arrives at the right moment at the end of the day to help resist the assaults of KG Peiper. The 1. SS Pz Rgt tests the American device, but it is once again repulsed thanks to timely interventions of the air force and the 6th Artillery Group.
.........
On the French side, the 1st DB passes Apt. The Resistance reports that the road to Venasque is still empty of defenders; General Sudre decides to send the Malaguti Brigade in this direction, while the De Brauer Brigade passes through Cavaillon in order to answer the Americans' calls for help and to be able to counter any failure.
If the French armored division is in the lead, it was because the Belgians are still engaged alongside the French paratroopers in the battle of Aix-en-Provence. Numerous street fights cause a lot of damage in the city. The Belgian corps is not yet complete, but the 1st Ardennais is disengaged from Toulon to be able to rally while the 15th DBLE, which is fighting alongside it, moves northward in the wake of the 3rd DB.
In the Var, while the 3rd RTM kept a flank in the sector of Quinson facing the Grenadier
Rgt 281 of the 148. ID, the 21st Rgt of Zouaves cleaned up the sector of Salernes, west of Draguignan, and the 4th RSM launches reconnaissance operations to the other side of the Valensole plateau, towards Puimoisson. Meanwhile, the 6th RTS, accompanied by the 4th Btn of Engineers and the II/7 RCA, obtain a bridgehead on the Durance river which allows it to reach Manosque. On its heels appears the Touzier du Vigier Brigade of the 3rd armored division, while the Rabanit Brigade crosses the Verdon thanks to an intact bridge at Gréoux-les-Bains.
Finally, in the east of the Var, the pressure is put on the 148. ID: its 281. Grenadier Rgt is facing regiments of the 3rd DIM and the 3rd RSM while its two other regiments, the 285. and 286., in the sectors of Draguignan and Le Muy, face the 5th RTS and 20th RIC supported by the I/8 RCA and the 4th BMLE, as well as by the artillery of the corps (12th BACA).
To the south in this sector, after a day of bitter fighting, the 6th RCA, solidly supported by the naval artillery, breaks through and captures Cogolin, while the 4th RTS reaches the village of Saint-Tropez, which has been completely destroyed by bombing and fighting.
The 919. Infantry Rgt of the 242. ID retreats towards Sainte-Maxime, while the 14th DBLE advances cautiously in the Maures chain.
Robert Capa recounts in his "Carnets de Provence": "After two days of almost no sleep, I arrived at the church of St. Trophime in Arles, which served as a field hospital. There, in an incessant coming and going, jeeps or ambulances regularly unload the wounded. Inside, it is a curious mixture of life and death. A soldier, alive and well, with a simple bandage on his skull, smokes, with a haggard look, in an almost mortifying immobility.
Others, much more seriously wounded, scream and shake, trying to hold on to their life which is escaping. Nurses arrive, speak words of comfort and look in their bag for the one that calms all anguish: morphine.
For the writing of my next report, I have been authorized to enter the presbytery, transformed into an operating room. A team of surgeons operates without interruption, their tunics disappearing under the coagulated blood, like mechanics trying to tinker with a limp machine to get it back in shape. Their calmness really stands out in the chaos.
A little later, I will be able to speak with a local English speaking priest, who has been giving the last rites to the dying for the last twenty-four hours. In a moment of calm, his presence reassures me and I end up falling asleep with a heavy and dreamless sleep."

Sausset-les-Pins Beach - That's it! It's just noon when De Gaulle can finally set foot on French soil, for a lightning passage.
It was time, the General could no longer contain himself! So master of himself usually, carried away by impatience, he demanded that General Frère (who had twice as many stars as him on his kepi...) that he obeyed the civil power and let him dock as he pleased. In the end, the commander-in-chief of Dragon granted him a stay of less than an hour. De Gaulle was transferred from the Duquesne to the beach at Sausset-les-Pins by a small MTB (the staff had the delicacy to call upon that of CC Philippe de Gaulle). On the beach, he said a few words in front of the delighted journalists...not very memorable.
Journalist Donald Lincoln remembers: "He turned to us, his feet on the wet sand, and then he bowed slowly, picked up some sand and clutched it in his hand, he straightened up and said to us: "Gentlemen... Vive la France!". And he resumed his march. One of my friends told me that it was not a great speech, but another one pointed out that his voice almost choked on those four words. It was true. I think he had a lot more to say, but he was afraid to burst into tears, which would not have been in keeping with his character, isn't that right!
De Gaulle stays ashore three times longer than authorized, to meet and congratulate as many of the conquerors of these precious Provençal beaches as possible, and some flabbergasted natives. Finally, the General is taken back on the Duquesne, willy-nilly. But before leaving, he took care to affirm and repeat loud and clear that he would be back very soon and that next time, he would not be satisfied by being allowed to inspect only "the sand of the charming Provençal coastline", because he must honor "an imperative appointment with France".

* This division was in Northern Italy in December 1942 and carried out police missions under the label of 188. Reserve-ID. It was recalled to Austria during 1943, transformed into 188. Reserve-GebirgsDivision then promoted to 188. Gebirgs-Division.

 

[Wings]

 

[Wings]

September 9th, 1943

Yvrench, Somme - Following the indications provided by Argos, the pilot of a Mustang I PRU of Sqn 168 photographs an unknown type of construction at a place called le Bois Carré. Two paths form the pattern of a pair of skis stored on the side, with small sheds at the curved end and a concrete ramp at the end of the right side. A very typical layout that will make it easy to find these installations.

 

[Wings]

September 9th, 1943

Saint-Nicolas de Campagnac (Gard), 02:00 - This camp hastily built in 1939 was used to intern Spanish Republicans in disarray and "suspicious foreigners" during the Drôle de Guerre, before being used by the NEF and the Occupiers to hold their own suspects, including Spanish Republicans and various foreigners. With the raids of the last few days, it was full to bursting, the detainees were crammed three to a mat and new barracks had to be built.
However, this night, it was emptied at a surprising speed: a few bursts of machine gun fire, a few grenades, and the guards retreated into their casemate, leaving the rest of the camp with its doors wide open. The detainees, who thought they were dealing with parachutists from Algiers, are very surprised to see that their liberators are Annamites. The little yellow men, who have put on dark clothes, explain to them by gestures to disperse as quickly as possible. They themselves leave in the night like ghosts.
Captain Heinrichs, from the SD, who arrives on the scene the next morning with reinforcements, can only conclude that all the prisoners and even some of the French gendarmes in the camp had disappeared. The identity of the little men in black was quickly established: they are workers from the rice fields of the Camargue (twenty thousand had arrived in France in the first months of 1940), who had deserted their fields as soon as the bombing began. We will know later that they developed a whole secret organization, with guides and weapons, to cross the territories still under German control.
As if that were not enough, the SD loses track of 250 Malagasy, prisoners of war from 1940, who were employed in fortification work on the Südwall. Everything leads us to believe that they will join the maquis in the Cévennes, if they have not already done so.

Montagne Noire (Hérault) - The camp at La Galaube, headquarters of Region 3 of the Resistance, looks like an anthill. Couriers on foot or by bicycle arrive and depart by all the roads of the mountain.
The marching plan of the 11th Panzer becomes clearer: the direct route, via Carcassonne and Béziers, being impassable because of the aerial bombardments, it will be divided into two columns, both of them driving at night. One of the routes went further north, through Albi, Gignac and Ganges, but the other one crosses this very mountain via Castres, Mazamet, Lamalou-les-Bains, Bédarieux and Clermont-l'Hérault.
For two nights, the mountain has resounded with shooting and blasting, flares are going off in all directions. The maquisards try to slow down the progression of the armored column, but they themselves, several times, have to withdraw in order not to be caught by the Germans: the 326. Infanterie Division continues its cleaning work to clear a path for the panzers.
To complicate matters, the German commanders radio that "bandit leaders guilty of atrocities" would be taken to the High Military Tribunal sitting "on the front" and would travel with the German military convoys. The translation of this order was provided by a French Gestapo acolyte named "Pierrot" who, for a few weeks, seems to be looking for the path to redemption: Resistance prisoners and other hostages are to be chained to the vehicles of the 11th Panzer. The method has been used for a long time in Russia: in case of ambush or sabotage, the captives will be the first to perish. "Pierrot" also let it be known that a "great leader of the Resistance," the "Colonel Pastoureau," would be part of the next convoy.
.........
Clermont-Ferrand - General Brodowski takes stock of his resources, which are meager.
His plan to encircle the maquis in the Cantal-Haute-Loire-Lozère sector is already compromised by the withdrawal of several units: thus, the motorized anti-aircraft battalion 958, based in Roanne, whose fire would have been very useful for smashing trees and low walls, is on its way to the lower Rhone valley. However, General Kurt Jesser i in Montargis gathering a motorized column, made of units from the west of France, which should help him in the days to come. The 257. Infanterie-Division, which is being reconstituted in Brittany after its misfortunes on the Ukrainian front, agrees to lend some battalions.
With the 195th Security Rgt, coming from Rennes, it will have a suitable strength for the northern branch of the system.
For the southern branch, on the other hand, the OKW informs him that he could not count on the units from the Languedoc. There is even a Bosnian battalion stationed in the Aveyron that has simply disappeared. The contradictory reports suggest a mass desertion, if not worse!

Capestang (Hérault), 14:00 - The Germans have not forgotten that the apprentice Maquis intercepted at the Fontjun pass three days earlier, had mostly come from this peaceful town. Capestang is surrounded and 143 of the town's 3,000 inhabitants are arrested and added to the herd of hostages who are crammed into improvised camps.

Radio-Paris, 12:00 - The landing in Provence was not without causing some political upheaval in occupied France. Fervent supporters of the Collaboration became unreachable or much more measured in their remarks, spontaneous acts of violence (on both sides) cost a few lives... The balance of the NEF has always been very fragile; this fragility has only increased with the recent seizure of power by Jacques Doriot and this time, the collapse seems close!
In spite of everything, on Radio-Paris, Jacques Doriot orders a general mobilization of the collabo "Action Groups". And he does not mince his words: "The traitors of Algiers, useful idiots of the Bolshevists, have opened the doors of the country to the Anglo-Americans and to the international Jewry. They have sabotaged the peaceful order resulting from the Franco-German reconciliation. We will fight to defend our territory, to reconquer the independence of France, for a national socialism! Long live eternal France! Long live Europe united in the German alliance!"
During the last two days, his Crusaders, revolver in hand, went through the offices of Laval and finally obtained the famous "S lists", those of suspects to be incarcerated in case of an allied landing. The Secret State Police, short of manpower, was only able to visit a small part of these suspects, although SS-Brigadeführer Carl Oberg, on whom the PSE theoretically depended, had generously made available some German patrols armed to the teeth. Most of the targeted persons had already disappeared to unknown addresses. In their place, we arrest relatives or spouses, visitors taken at random from mousetraps. These roundups, while not satisfying the Germans, fill the already overloaded prisons. Among the unfortunate people arrested, several hundred end up deported or shot as hostages in the last weeks of this "peaceful order".
But Doriot played his last cards. He even considered leaving in person for the South with some of his followers. Oberg was not enthusiastic about this idea...

 

[Wings]

September 9th, 1943

Operation Zitronella
07:30, Cape Linné (Spitsbergen) - Although the weather station has been off the air since Operation Gauntlet, one year earlier, the buildings are still occupied by a small Norwegian detachment. Cape Linné, at the southwest corner of the mouth of the Isfjord, is indeed an excellent observation point. The lookout on duty this morning, Olaf Svensson, is the son of a whaler and a proud descendant of the Vikings. In other words, he is not the kind of person who is afraid of the cold. However, when the German squadron suddenly appears out of the early morning mists and frames itself in his binoculars, he runs full speed ahead to the command post - it is well known that fear gives one wings. "Chief! Chief! A German battleship!" The sergeant, torn from his stove, is not convinced: "A battleship? I thought the Russians had taken their vodka with them!" The arrival of a second lookout, not as fast as the first, saves Olaf from being punished. The alert is immediately transmitted by radio to Barentsburg and Longyearbyen.
.........
08:00, Barentsburg - The German fleet arrives in front of Barentsburg and starts to shell it. The few Norwegian artillerymen courageously take aim at the enemy ships, but their two old 100 mm guns are quickly silenced by two or three salvos of the Admiral Scheer. On their side, the Tirpitz and the 8th Flotilla continue towards Longyearbyen.
08:30, Barentsburg - After half an hour of bombardment, most of the town is in flames. The destroyers then set course for the shore to disembark their troops, whose boats are however targeted by Bofors and machine guns, which had remained camouflaged until then. These weapons inflict some losses on the German soldiers, but despite their courage, their servants are swept away in a few minutes by the 150 mm guns of the destroyers.
Once the threat is over, the German infantry lands and engages in combat. The elements disembarked in the center quickly take the upper hand, seize the buildings that housed the HQ and capture Lt-Colonel Sverdrup. On the flanks, the Germans are met with more resistance, but under the threat of naval artillery, the Norwegian soldiers are satisfied with a last stand before retreating inland.
09:10, Barentsburg - The town is in German hands. The Norwegians have 8 dead and 40 prisoners, for 9 dead on the German side.
.........
08:30, Grumantbyen - The Tirpitz drops three salvos from its main turrets on this tiny village.
09:00, Longyearbyen - The Z-34, Z-38 and Z-39 hit the Adventfjord and comes to a stop a short distance from the shore. Several salvos of their 150 mm guns precede the landing of a company of the 349. IR. The 53 Norwegian soldiers defending the area have no other heavy weapon than a 12.7 mm machine gun! After a short and unequal fight, they withdraw inland through a narrow valley, leaving ten dead on the ground.
Without trying to pursue them, the Germans, who have two killed, begin to set fire to buildings.
10:00 - All being well in Barentsburg, the Tirpitz follows the 8th Flotilla to Longyearbyen.
The 150 mm guns of the destroyers cannot dislodge the Norwegian soldiers who had withdrawn inland, the battleship decides to give voice once again. Lack of coordination or simple incompetence? The two salvos of 380s only riddle the German troops with shrapnel, and several of them are wounded. In addition, the large shells set fire to a coal mine. It burned without interruption until 1952!
11:00 - Exhilarated by the incident, Admiral Ciliax decides that his mission is accomplished. The destroyers begin to re-board the troops that had been put ashore. The surviving Norwegians are content to observe the scene from afar. One hour later, after a last salvo from the Tirpitz on Barentsburg, the German squadron regroups at the mouth of the Isfjord and set off on their way back. To avoid any bad encounter, the fleet will start by diving towards the Altafjord, skirting Bear Island, before heading back down to Trondheim along the Norwegian coast. It will return to its base without a hitch.
.........
Zitronella: the balance sheet - At the end of the day, Allied losses amount to about 20 killed and 50 prisoners, including the commander of the Norwegian forces in Spitzbergen. The villages of Barentsburg, Grumantbyen and Longyearbyen are largely destroyed. The Germans have lost about 60 men (12 dead and 46 wounded). The Z-14 and Z-15 suffered slight damage. Finally, the Tirpitz consumed 52 380 mm and 82 150 mm shells.

 

[Wings]

September 9th, 1943

Burma Campaign
Occupied Burma - Today the Spitfires participate in a big sweep in the Moulmein - Ye - Three Pagodas triangle: the aim is to clear the road of the Indian Hurricanes which will use their 20 mm in the valley until Kon Kuta. The result of the day is two Ki-43 shot down without casualties on the Allied side. Towards Tavoy, the Belgian Hurricanes set fire to several vehicles without any other reaction than a moderate flak.

Indochina Campaign
The Bac Kan massacre
Bac Kan (Tonkin) - Apart from two night patrols which did not encounter any Japanese, the legionnaires are content to remain in their positions, waiting for dawn. Until then, three Lysanders of the GB "Louvre" are attacking the surviving Japanese, with small bombs, incendiary bombs, or by launching flares.
The first rays of sunlight illuminate many corpses. Only three Japanese are found alive. Two of them, seriously wounded, will soon perish. The last one - a very rare case - is captured alive.
"Contrary to the information received before the operation, there was no flak. And counting the bodies, we found that the garrison numbered only 87 men. Eighty-eight, including our prisoner... In short, we had done a great deal and far too many of us had lost our lives for very little. That's war, they say." (Klaus Müller, op. cit.)
After having burned the Japanese installations, the legionnaires withdraw into the jungle at mid-day.
But a piece of news improves their mood.
"After acknowledging our report, Epervier added a few words: "French and Allied" troops had landed in force in Provence three days ago. They have established a solid bridgehead." We were not given any further details, but it was enough for everyone, even the seriously wounded, to start singing the Marseillaise, with all the accents of the Earth. If the other Japanese in Indochina had heard us, they'd have ran back to Tokyo!" (Klaus Müller, op. cit.)

Between Savannakhet (Laos) and Quang Tri (Vietnam) - Low, overcast and rainy skies prevent any effective bombing. The Franco-Laotians remain under the trees, hidden from the Thai Ki-36 who try without hope to locate more precisely the intruders. The post of Muong-Phine is warned - its garrison is to take the necessary measures.

Pacific Campaign
Operation Crocodile
Carolinas Archipelago - The MV Krait sails east, in calm seas and slightly cloudy weather, through regular and very localized squalls. After crossing the usual Japanese roads, the small ship starts the last normally calm part of its journey, before approaching the Truk archipelago from the northwest. At the beginning of the night, Captain Ivan Lyon and Lieutenant Durand de la Penne are both on watch, alone on the bridge. A time for confidences, the two men discuss their personal situations for the first time. Lyon was astonished to see an Italian come to the South Pacific to fight a war that does not seem to concern him and to engage in a very risky mission.
- It's true," says Durand de la Penne with a sigh. "But I am a soldier above all. I served loyally and honestly in my country's navy, before being taken prisoner. During my imprisonment, I was able to meditate on the subtle difference between my attachment to my country and obedience to the corrupt regime that dragged Italy into this unnecessary war. At my release, I did not hesitate to join the legal government of Italy, partly out of loyalty and attachment to the King, but above all out of concern to participate in the necessary recovery of the country. My participation in this recovery is to do what I know how to do best, to fight underwater, this time on the side of the Allies, hoping to make people forget Mussolini and thus offer Italy a fate as honorable as possible after the conflict. And if I have to fight, I might as well do it here against the Japanese rather than in Europe, against the Germans, who are after all former brothers in arms, or, even worse, against the Italians... As for our mission, it is not much more dangerous than the ones in which I participated in the Mediterranean!
But you, Captain, why did you volunteer for this mission, taking the risk of being treated as a spy by the enemy?
Ivan Lyon grimaces, but has to answer...
- I could tell you that I am a soldier and that I am doing my best to fight the war that has been imposed on my country by the enemy... but that would be incomplete. It is a personal story between the Japanese and me. They killed my wife and son.
In 1939, when I arrived in Singapore, I had heard in the mess about a French woman who was said to be the most beautiful woman in Asia. She was the daughter of the governor of the prison of Poulo Condor, installed by the French on an island off the coast of Indochina. I decided to seduce her! I went to the island with my yacht - yes, my family is not in need.
Pretending that my boat needed repair, I made an extended stopover there. I found that the beauty of Mademoiselle Gabrielle Bouvier still exceeded her reputation. I courted her assiduously, and I did seduce her - but it was reciprocal. We got married in Singapore, and our son Clive was born in 1940.
When the Japanese attacked, we were all in Singapore. In early 1942, I managed to get them off the island in one of the last ships evacuating civilians to India. Some time later, I too was evacuated from Singapore, but to Australia. When she heard about it, my wife decided to join me. Alas, the ship on which she had boarded with my son never arrived, probably sunk by a Japanese submarine or bomber.
Since then, I have been fighting the war, hoping to strike as many blows as possible against the Japanese Empire to avenge them.
- Your reasons for fighting are more personal than mine, and perhaps even more powerful, my friend. I will help you as much as I can.