Posted on 01/09/2012 4:42:13 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
It’s hard to imagine waking up every morning to current headlines like these.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1942/jan42/f09jan42.htm
German lines unable to resist Red Army
Friday, January 9, 1942 www.onwar.com
German equipment destroyed in the winter battlesOn the Eastern Front... The Soviet Northwest, Volkhov and Kalinin Fronts launch a major offensive in the Valdai Hill area west and northwest of Moscow. The Soviets have rapid success despite fierce German resistance.
In the Philippines... Japanese forces begin the assault on the Bataan Peninsula.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/09.htm
January 9th, 1942
UNITED KINGDOM: Destroyer HMS Vimiera is mined in the Thames Estuary off the East Spile buoy at 51 28N 00 55E. (Alex Gordon)(108)
GERMANY: U-274, U-391 and U-650 are laid down. U-183 and U-612 are launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Northwest, Volkhov and Kalinin Fronts launch a major offensive in the Valdai Hill area west and northwest of Moscow. The Soviets have rapid success despite fierce German resistance. (Jack McKillop)
MALAYA: Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, General Officer Commanding Malaya, issues instructions for withdrawal of the Indian 3 Corps into Johore, where a final stand before Singapore Naval Base is to be made. The corps begins a withdrawal at once, executing a demolition program as it goes. The Indian 11th Division and line of communications troops are to delay the enemy along two lines: one covering Seremban and Port Dickson, and the other covering Tampin and Malacca; Indian 9th Division is to clear Kuala Pilah and Tampin, respectively. (Jack McKillop)
In the fiercest fighting since the Japanese invasion a month ago, Japanese troops supported by tanks and fighter planes have overrun British positions and crossed the Slim river 200 miles north of Singapore.
At the same time Japanese troops are advancing south-eastwards towards Kuala Lumpur, Malaya’s largest town. They claim to have broken through the strongly fortified line at Kuala Kubu, an important junction 25 miles north of Kuala Lumpur. The British plans for the defence of Malaya have been built around the 9th and 11th Indian Divisions and the 8th Australian Division.
Although the British claim that the Japanese suffered heavy casualties in the battle for the Slim, they are pessimistic about holding Kuala Lumpur. Apart from the military its streets are deserted, with most of the civilian population fleeing south to the island of Singapore.
After studying the situation in Malaya, General Sir Archibald Wavell, the new Allied Supreme Commander in the Far East, has ordered the immediate fortification of Singapore’s north coast.
BORNEO: RAF planes from Malaya terminate action over Borneo with a reconnaissance flight over Kuching. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: As consideration of the U.S. role in China continues in Washington, General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff U.S. Army, decides to recommend against sending Lieutenant General Hugh A. Drum to China because of the small effort that is currently to be made there. (Jack McKillop)
THAILAND: Pilots of the 2d Fighter Squadron, American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) attack Tak Airdrome at Rahaeng and destroy four Japanese aircraft on the ground. (Jack McKillop)
PACIFIC: The submarine USS Pollack (SS-180) torpedoes and sinks a Japanese merchant cargo ship 40 miles (64 kilometres) south-southwest of Inubozaki, Japan. (Jack McKillop)
COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES:
On Bataan, the Japanese open an assault at 1500 hours.
From the Dinalupihan-Hermosa area, three regimental combat teams with artillery support move forward, two against the II Corps on the east and one toward the I Corps sector on west.
None of the columns reaches the outpost line.
The II Corps, defending the Abucay line (from Mabatang on Manila Bay to Mt Natib) with 57th Infantry Philippine Scouts on the east, 41st Division Philippine Army (PA) in the center and the 51st Division (PA) on the west, opens fire on the enemy combat team driving down the East Road and makes patrol contact with it.
To the west, another Japanese column advances unmolested down the trail from Dinalupihan to the vicinity of Album.
In the I Corps area, the enemy column from Dinalupihan is slowed only by demolitions while moving west along Route 7 toward Olongapo.
Disposed along I Corps’ Mauban line (Mt.t Silanganan on the east to Mauban on Subic Bay) are Company K of the 1st Infantry (PA); 3lst Field Artillery Battalion of the 3lst Div (PA) organized as infantry; and the 3d Infantry of the 1st Division (PA).
Additional troops are maintaining the outpost line to the front. (Jack McKillop)
Five of nine USAAF Far East Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, based at Singosari Airdrome on Java and staging through Kendari Airdrome on Celebes Island, Netherlands East Indies, strike shipping in Davao Bay, Mindanao. The other four aircraft turn back with mechanical problems. (Jack McKillop)
AUSTRALIA: Colonel Stephen J. Chamberlain arrives by air direct from Washington. He is the new chief of staff to Lt-Gen Brett who will be CG US Army Forces in Australia. He brings with him a $10 million credit from the US Chief of Staff’s fund. (Michael Alexander)
NEWFOUNDLAND: Corvette HMCS MOOSE JAW runs aground off St. John’s. (Dave Shirlaw)
MARTINIQUE: The US Armies only tank and infantry battalions with joint amphibious training, the 70th and the 1st along with the 1st Marine Raider Battalion are sent to invade this Vichy French island. Seeing the force against him, the governor capitulated without a shot being fired. (Mike Yared)
I was interested to see the TIMES claiming the Japanese had at east five divisions in Malaya. Most of the campaign was done by three, with a fourth joining in.
As to the British belief that the Japanese had suffered heavy casualties, Japanese casualties for the entire campaign will be laughable.
When enemy tanks suddenly rumble past the front door of an Army headquarters and the front is suddenly only half a mile away, these are certain signs of an impending catastrophe.
On 12th January 1942, in the late afternoon, the German Ninth Army was faced with just such a disaster.
The time was 1600 hours. In the map room of Army headquarters in Sychevka, in front of the situation map, stood Lieutenant-Colonel Blaurock, the Army chief of operations, with Major-General Krüger, commanding 1st Panzer Division from Thuringia. Also present, to acquaint themselves with the situation, were Lieutenant-Colonel Wenck, the division's chief of operations, Lieutenant-Colonel von Wietersheim, commanding 113th Rifle Regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel Holste, commanding 73rd Artillery Regiment. The most forward combat group of 1st Panzer Division had just arrived at Sychevka.
A week ago this small town with its huge railway marshalling yard had been a quiet sanctuary behind the lines—an Army headquarters and rearward supply base, a safe haven for supply clerks, paymasters, a few forlorn deserters, fugitives from units that had either been overrun, annihilated or had just turned tail and run from the avenging Soviet troops.
For two days now it had been the front line.
The stuttering of machine-guns and the dull thud of mortars could be heard in the room. "If I may acquaint you, sir, with this bloody mess of a situation," the Army chief of operations said to Krüger. "Since 9th January the Russians have been keeping up their full-scale attack from the Ostashkov area against the left wing of our cut-off XXIII Army Corps, and have pushed it down to the south. At the same time there have been fairly strong attacks against the left wing of VI Army Corps —here." Blaurock stabbed the map with his finger. "Our request for permission to take the front back to the Gzhatsk-Volga line was turned down. Since 11th January there have been strong enemy attacks from the north-west, striking towards the south and west of Sychevka, with the most forward enemy units on the town's western outskirts." Blaurock placed his hand on Sychevka and said imploringly, "Hold Sychevka for us, Herr General—it must not be lost."
The commander and officers of 1st Panzer Division nodded. They understood the difficult situation they saw before them. What surprised them was that Colonel-General Strauss, the Army C-in-C, was not personally present at this conference.
The chief of operations explained: "Colonel-General Strauss's health is finished. The chief of staff, too, has to go on sick leave. We're expecting the new Army Commander-in-Chief any day now—General Model."
There were surprised faces all round.
So Model was the new C-in-C Ninth Army. His had been a meteoric rise. Three months previously he had still been commanding a division—the famous 3rd Panzer Division.
The short, wiry man from Genthin, born in 1891, was well known at the various headquarters throughout Army Group Centre. He was known even better to the men of 1st Panzer Division who had fought under his command within the framework of XLI Panzer Corps ever since Kalinin. He was popular with his troops, much though he differed from his predecessor, Colonel-General Reinhardt. Everybody knew that where Model was in command the good fortune of war was present: the most daring enterprises came off and the most critical situations were retrieved. Nowhere was a man of his type needed more urgently at that moment than with Ninth Army.
Blaurock pointed to a tangle of red rings and arrows about 30 miles south-west of Rzhev. "As you see," he continued, "strong Soviet forces have swung round towards Sychevka behind the most forward units of Twenty-ninth and Thirty-ninth Armies. The Russians quite clearly intend to take the town, to wheel northward, and to encircle the Army. At the moment they are fighting for the railway-line to Rzehv. If they capture it the supplies of our entire Army will be cut off. Our entire supplies and reinforcements hang by this one line. If Sychevka falls we shall be outmaneuvered. The Russians, gentlemen, are already on our doorstep. Their spearheads have already penetrated into the railway-yards, but are fortunately busy looting. I say fortunately, because the edge of the town is held only by emergency units hurriedly scraped together of runners and supply drivers, led by Colonel Kruse, the chief of Army artillery. On the edge of the goods yard is your 6th Company, 1st Rifle Regiment, which arrived just before midnight." Major-General Krüger, an easy-going Saxon who was not readily ruffled, uttered a much-used trooper's word.
Wietersheim nodded and muttered, "That's putting it mildly."
Half an hour after this conversation at Army headquarters in Sychevka the forward units of combat group von Wietersheim were moving into action to engage the Soviets, who had already established themselves in the railway-yards and in the sheds of the extensive supply depot. The troops consisted of a few armored infantry carriers and a reinforced company of the Motorcycle Battalion, 1st Division—men from Langensalza and Sondershausen, led by First Lieutenant Pätzold.
Pätzold, who had inched his way forward to a shed with his runner, was observing the goods station of Sychevka-North through his binoculars. "It's as busy as a Michaelmas Fair," he uttered in surprise.
The motor-cyclists beat their arms round their bodies to keep themselves warm. The lieutenant came back and mounted his motor-cycle. "Forward!"
The scene among the sheds and store huts of the goods station really looked like a fair-ground. The Russians were dragging crates and cases of foodstuffs from the sheds and were beside themselves with delight at the things they found. The special rations for airmen and tank crews, in particular, met with their approval—chocolate, biscuits, and dried fruit. But the legs of pork in aspic, the liver sausage, and the fish conserves were also acknowledged with shrieks of delight. They opened the tins with their bayonets and ceaselessly tried one after another.
"Papushka, look at this—try it."
Then there were the cigarettes! "Just have a whiff of this— not at all like our makhorka smelling of printer's ink and Pravda newsprint." But by far the greatest magnetic attraction was exercised by the French cognac. The soldiers knocked off the necks of the bottles and quaffed the magnificent liquor, which, by comparison with their rough vodka, seemed as wonderfully mild as sweetened tea.
The Russians were getting extremely merry. They no longer felt the 40 degrees below. They were forgetting the accursed war. They burst into song. They cheered. They embraced and kissed each other. No warning was given by any sentry. Not a single rifle was fired. But suddenly the bursts of machine-gun fire from Patzold's motor-cyclists swept among the sheds. Handgrenades exploded. Sub-machine-guns spat their bullets from infantry carriers. In wild panic the Soviets ran away. They did not get far. They fell in the machine-gun fire and died among the canned food and the cigarettes, among the Hennessey cognac and the tins of biscuits. If one wanted to put it frivolously one would be entitled to say that the first German victory at Sychevka was won by chocolate and French cognac.
Only because the Russians were so busy with their precious booty could weak units of 1st Panzer Division succeed in snatching the vital railway-yards from a greatly superior enemy. It was a situation that was by no means unique.
General Infantes, the Commander of the Spanish Blue Division, for instance, makes the following point in an impressive study of the Spanish volunteers' operations in Russia: "We found not infrequently that, after successful local attacks, the Russian troops would forget their tasks and waste precious time. By mounting immediate counter-attacks we would often catch them searching our dug-outs for food, or emptying tins of jam or bottles of brandy. This weakness of theirs was always fatal, because they rarely got away alive.
Sometimes we would overcome them in our counter-attacks because they had lost their way in the labyrinth of our trench system. It is true that the Red Army men will advance unflinchingly towards any objective they have been given. What makes them dangerous is not only their up-to-date weapons, but also the vodka issued to them, which turns them into savage fighters. Their well-prepared large-scale mass attacks are undoubtedly very dangerous, since the 'Russian steamroller' crushes anything that opposes its progress. All one can do then is face the attackers with cold steel. But a well-organized counter-action will always take the Russians by surprise."
During the next two days further parts of 1st Panzer Division arrived. Together with 337th Infantry Regiment, airlifted from France to Russia, they cleared the enemy from the immediate surroundings of Sychevka and restored connections with the airstrip at Novo-Dugino, south of the town, where the Luftwaffe had been holding out in all-round defense for a number of days. Surrounded bakery companies, dug in around their huge baking-ovens, and a hard-pressed Army signals company were relieved. The men of an Army horse hospital were freed from their encirclement. Immediate Soviet counterattacks were successfully repulsed.
A few days after their first conference at Ninth Army headquarters the commander and chief of operations of 1st Panzer Division had again called on the Ninth Army chief of operations to acquaint themselves with Army's further intentions with regard to the fighting for Rzhev and Sychevka. Greetings had only just been exchanged when a door was heard slamming outside—the door of a German jeep. Words of command were shouted. An orderly entered and announced: "General Model."
In a three-quarter-length greatcoat, with old-fashioned but practical earflaps over his ears, with soft high boots, the indispensable monocle in his right eye, the new Commander-in-Chief stepped into the room.
The man radiated energy and fearlessness. He shook hands with the officers. He flung his coat, cap, and ear-flaps on a chair. He polished his monocle, which had steamed up in the warm room. Then he stepped up to the situation map. "Rather a mess," he said drily, and briefly studied the latest entries.
"I have already informed the gentlemen in rough outline about the main problems," Blaurock reported. "The first thing Ninth Army has to do is to establish the situation around Sychevka and to secure the Rzhev—Sychevka—Vyazma railwayline. Following a stabilization at Sychevka itself, through 1st Panzer Division, the forward units of the 'Reich' SS Motorized Infantry Division are at present arriving."
General of Panzer Troops Model, a dashing commander in the field as well as a coolly calculating staff officer, nodded.
"And then the first thing to do will be to close the gap up here." He ran his hand over the wide red arrows indicating the Russian penetrations west of Rzhev between Nikolskoye and Solomino.
"We've got to turn off the supply-tap of those Russian divisions which have broken through. And from down here"—Model put his hand on Sychevka—"we shall then strike at the Russian flank and catch them in a stranglehold."
Krüger and Wenck were amazed at so much optimism. Blaurock summed up their astonishment in the cautious question: "And what, Herr General, have you brought us for this operation?"
Model calmly regarded his Army chief of operations and said, "Myself."
Then he burst out laughing.
With a great sense of relief they all joined in the laughter. It was the first time in many days that loud and happy laughter was heard in the map room of Ninth Army headquarters in Sychevka. A new spirit had moved in.
It was a strange thing, but the moment Model assumed command of the Army the regiments seemed to gain new strength. It was not only the crisp precision of the new C-in-C's orders —but he also turned up everywhere in person. While Colonel Krebs, his chief of staff, was in Sychevka, looking after staff affairs, Model was at the front. He would suddenly jump out of his command jeep outside a battalion headquarters, or appear on horseback through the deep snow in the foremost line, encouraging, commending, criticizing, and occasionally even charging against enemy penetrations at the head of a battalion, pistol in hand. This live-wire general was everywhere. And even where he was not his presence was felt. It was largely that presence which decided the impending battle.
To understand it one must know what led up to it. As early as 8th January Colonel-General Strauss had tried to close the breach in the north. Units of the replenished SS Cavalry Brigade Fegelein under the command of Obersturmbannführer [Colonel] Zehender had been switched east from the Nelidovo area and had mounted the attack via Olenino. Units of VI Corps from Rzhev had thrust westward to meet them. But the Russians were much too strong in the penetration area, and the German forces too weak. The counter-attack of the combat group Zehender was utterly paralyzed for several hours by a frightful blizzard, and subsequently unable to succeed in the face of several Soviet brigades. East of Olenino the attack ground to a halt. The attempt to close the gap had failed.
In order to repeat the attempt with stronger forces, Army Group Centre had withdrawn 1st Panzer Division from the Ruza line and dispatched it to Rzhev. It was a lucky move. For as a result the division could now be quickly redirected and switched to Sychevka in order to redeem the critical situation there.
But mere defense in the areas held did not lead anywhere. "Attack, regain the initiative, impose your will on the enemy." That was Model's recipe. The Thuringian 1st Panzer Division from the ancient central German towns of Weimar, Erfurt, Eisenach, Jena, Sondershausen, and Kassel made a virtue of necessity: since they lacked tanks, the tank crews transformed themselves into infantrymen on skis. Lieutenant Darius, whom we met earlier on the Duderhof Hills outside Leningrad, was now in charge of a noiselessly operating "ski company." By daring thrusts and patrol operations his men gave cover to the railway engineering detachments who were continually busy repairing the track between Sychevka and Rzhev, a favorite target of Russian sabotage units. But it was rather a long stretch of line. Major Richter, commanding 2nd Battalion, 4th Flak Regiment, therefore thought up an unconventional method of protecting the vital railway traffic to Rzhev. He got his men in Rzhev to build a kind of mobile "AA battery": on a number of flat-cars two 8.8-cm. AA guns, four machine-guns, and two light 2 cm. AA guns were installed, the wagons were hitched to an engine, and the home-made "armored train" was manned by a crew of forty under the command of First Lieutenant Langhammer.
This train ran a shuttle service between Rzhev and Sychevka. First of all, at the urgent request of the duty transport officer, it steamed to the south to pick up an ammunition train. When he received his first assignment Lieutenant Langhammer is quoted as having asked doubtfully, "You don't think a U-boat would be more suitable?"
But the AA gunners of the "armored Flak train," which soon became famous throughout the sector, discharged their task admirably.
Physically, service on board the unprotected "armored train" was torture. The headwind caused the temperature on the surface of the weapons and on the open flat-cars to drop to 50 and even 58 degrees below zero. The muffled lookouts on the locomotive wore leather masks on their faces because otherwise their noses and cheeks would have frozen off within minutes. In front of it, the locomotive pushed several goods wagons to act as "mine detectors." Time and again the "armored" train dispersed strong enemy sabotage detachments which had made their way up to the railway embankment. Moreover, the battery on wheels brought up the supply trains to Rzhev, following in convoy behind it, and thus ensured vital supplies during the first, most difficult days.
Things were by no means rosy for the Soviets who had broken into the German lines. This is shown by a glimpse at the other side of the front.
Sergey Kambulin, a twenty-six-year-old lieutenant in command of the machine-pistol company of a rifle regiment in 381st Rifle Division, was hustling his men onward. "Davay," he shouted: "get a move on, don't dawdle!"
Grumbling, the men put their shoulders to the wheels and pushed two captured German infantry guns forward. The horses had died of hunger and cold. As for the men of the company, two, three, or sometimes four and even more would drop out every day. They were advancing along a wide snow-track packed hard by the tanks. The caterpillar tracks had made the snow as firm as concrete. But they had also made it as smooth as a skating-rink in a Leningrad park. Painfully the men struggled forward. One of them asked, "What's the name of that village over there, Comrade Lieutenant?"
Kambulin looked at his map. "Solomino," he said. With thumb and forefinger he measured the distances on the map. "We're already 20 miles west of Rzhev, moving in a southerly direction. You know what that means? It means we are striking at the fascists' rear!"
At Solomino was the westernmost breakthrough point of the big gap through which Kambulin's company was advancing to the south. The penetration point was covered by anti-tank guns and heavy 15.2-cm. field howitzers. A hundred yards on the company's right a horse-drawn supply column was moving along the road. The field kitchens were steaming. Longingly Kambulin's men looked across. They had not had any hot food since the previous evening. The time was 1100 hours.
The day before, on 21st January, Second Lieutenant Kambulin had at last received a pair of felt boots. He had refused to accept a pair until every single man in his company had been issued with them. The thermometer stood at 45 degrees below zero Centigrade.
"They say the Germans are still running about in tight leather boots-some of them even in cloth boots," remarked one of the soldiers, a young village schoolmaster. "I hope the bastards freeze to death," Kambulin grunted.
"Enemy aircraft!" a man shouted.
Everybody scattered and flung themselves into the snow. A German fighter-bomber was already opening up at them with its cannon. In the distance German aircraft were wreaking havoc among the Soviet supply column. Shortly afterwards Soviet fighters appeared. But German fighters arrived almost simultaneously and chased off the Soviet machines.
From the west came the thunder of German artillery. The shell-bursts were a little short of Kambulin's company, but presently they got nearer, straddled the platoons, and continued to creep forward, to the east. The worst was over.
Kambulin straightened up. What on earth was happening? The supply column was hastily retreating. Machine-guns rattled. From the west came infantry, in line abreast, wearing snow smocks. Between them lumbered massive tanks without cupolas.
"Those are German assault guns-German self-propelled guns," Kambulin realized. The village schoolmaster too was shouting: "Those are Germans, Comrade Lieutenant!"
Calmly Second Lieutenant Kambulin made his dispositions. The sections dispersed. And already the first machine-pistol salvos swept over the enemy. The two light guns which they had captured from the Germans were barking. The Germans on the other side flopped into the snow. They were seen waving and signaling to their rear. They were calling up their infantry guns.
Model's battle for the big Soviet penetration area west of Rzhev had begun. The new C-in-C Ninth Army had launched the second phase of his operation against the Soviet Armies which had broken through the German front. He had done so in 45 degrees below zero, a temperature which froze a man's breath.
Regimental and divisional commanders had asked Model to postpone the date of attack because of the frightful cold. Model's reply had been: "Why, gentlemen? To-morrow or the day after won't be any warmer. The Russians aren't stopping their operations."
Attack—that was Model's element. His great achievement in January 1942 consisted in leading Ninth Army from a hopeless situation of desperate all-round defense all along the front into a liberating counter-offensive with clearly defined centres of gravity. Model's plan was simple. From Sychevka he made the reinforced 1st Panzer Division and units of the newly brought up "Reich" SS Division drive towards the north-west, in the direction of Osuyskoye, in order to strike at the flank of the most forward Soviet formations.
Twenty-four hours later, on 22nd January, Model ordered VI Corps to attack from the area west of Rzhev, striking in a westerly direction at the Soviet break-through zone, the main weight of this operation being borne by 256th Infantry Division, reinforced by battalions of four other divisions, by artillery, Panzerjägers, and AA guns. Simultaneously XXIII Corps—cut off at Olenino—attacked from the west with 206th Infantry Division, the SS Cavalry Brigade Fegelein, and Assault Gun Battalion 189, in order to break through and link up with the formations of VI Corps coming from the east. The men who were thus unexpectedly facing Second Lieutenant Kambulin belonged to the SS Combat Group Zehender: in fact, horsemen employed as infantry, together with some self-propelled guns of the "Ritter Adler Brigade"—the 189th Brigade. In vain did Kambulin try to stop them.
Two days later a German patrol found him dead in the snow, surrounded by his shot-up company. Kambulin, gravely wounded, had frozen to death. Shortly before he died he made a last entry in his diary:
"The German assault guns are a deadly weapon. We've got no defense against them."
The German two-pronged thrust against the Soviet penetration area between Nikolskoye and Solomino, an operation mounted with the very last ounce of strength, had succeeded. The VIII Air Corps under Air Force General Wolfram von Richthofen smashed Soviet AA and artillery positions in the penetration area. Heavy mortars shattered the Soviet anti-tank guns. At 1245 hours on 23rd January the spearheads of XXIII Corps and of Combat Group Recke of VI Corps were shaking hands.
XXIII Corps was able to restore physical communications with Ninth Army, even though, for the time being, only across a narrow strip of ground. The two "snow roads" laid by the Soviets across the Volga had been severed, and the Soviet Corps belonging to Twenty-ninth and Thirty-ninth Armies had been cut off from their rearward communications and from all supplies.
It was a great hour for Model. He had regained the initiative on the battlefield between Sychevka and the Volga, and he had no intention of surrendering it again. The first thing the new C-in-C did was to reinforce the newly gained land connection between VI and XXIII Corps. For naturally the Soviets tried desperately to break through the barrier again and to restore communications with their nine divisions which had made the original penetration. That had to be prevented.
For this task Model chose the best man. As always when he had a particularly difficult operational assignment, Model succeeded in picking the best man for the job—in this case Obersturmbannführer [Colonel] Otto Kumm, commanding the " Der Führer " Regiment of the " Das Reich " SS Division. With his regiment Kumm was dispatched to the Volga, to the exact spot where the Soviet Twenty-ninth Army had crossed the frozen river.
" Hold on at all costs," had been Model's order to Kumm. " At all costs," the general had repeated emphatically.
Kumm saluted. "Jawohl, Herr General!"
Would he be able to hold on, with just one regiment?
On 28th January, while he was reinforcing his barrier in the north, Model launched his encircling attack in the south against the Soviet units which had broken through. The attack was made from the Osuga-Sychevka area with all available troops:1st Panzer Division, 86th Infantry Division, the bulk of the " Reich " SS Division and of 5th Panzer Division, as well as 309th Infantry Regiment and the Combat Group Decker of 2nd Panzer Division, had all been united in XLVI Corps under the command of General von Vietinghoff and were pressing towards the north-west. The Russians knew what was at stake and resisted desperately.
There was much bitter fighting. In the deep snow of the forests every wooden shack became a fortress; in the villages every wrecked house was an inferno. On 26th January came the expected large-scale attack against the northern front of 256th Infantry Division and the rightwing of XXIII Corps, where 206th Infantry Division was employed. There were many highly critical situations, retrieved only by supreme efforts of the dog-tired men. In daytime Model would spend about an hour over his maps and the remaining ten hours with his troops. Wherever he appeared he had the effect of a battery recharging the spent energies of the unit commanders. The unaccustomed temperature fluctuations caused the German troops extreme hardships. With the milder weather came blizzards. Then, abruptly, the thermometer dropped again to 52 degrees below zero Centigrade. The men cursed the Russian winter.
Nevertheless the Soviets were repulsed, compressed, and split up along the Rzhev-Olenino railway line. The Russian commanders sacrificed entire battalions in pointless counterattacks. On 4th February the Westphalian 86th Infantry Division took the keypoint of Osuyskoye. Forty-eight hours later Thuringian grenadiers of 1st Panzer Division, riding in armored infantry carriers, broke through to the railway line at Chertolino. There the foremost units of Combat Group Wietersheim linked up with the spearheads of Combat Group Zehender. The ring around nine Soviet divisions, representing the bulk of two Armies, was closed.
Kumm and his 650-strong regiment had meanwhile built themselves an improvised but serviceable position along the frozen Volga. Holes had been blasted into the ground with blasting cartridges and mines. Machine-gun positions and infantry dug-outs had been set up at regular intervals of 100 to 200 yards. It was a thin line, and Kumm had no reserves. The Russians attacked ceaselessly. Day after day their formations grew more numerous. They were intent on getting through, on restoring contact with the cut-off divisions. It was at that point that the battle of Rzhev was being decided.
In the morning relief and ration parties would trek through the waist deep snow to relieve the lonely outposts and listening posts covering the widely scattered front lines only to discover vacant fighting posts where single troops had been abducted during the 40 below night by special patrols of Soviet troops. In other holes they would sometimes find their comrades dead with throats slit or worse. But even more terrible was coming upon fighting positions where they found wounded comrades who had been deliberately left alive after they had had their eyes gouged out.
Kumm's headquarters were only half a mile behind the fighting line of 3rd Battalion. Every day Model called by Fieseier Storch, landing on the ice of the Volga. Or else he would come by jeep. On one occasion, when the vehicle had got stuck, he arrived on horseback. On 28th January, just as Model was at Kumm's headquarters, men of 1st Battalion brought in a Red Army prisoner. He was a signaler from the headquarters of the Soviet Thirty-ninth Army.
Such men had rarity value. They knew more than many a commander in the field.
The loquacious Russian reported that a large-scale attack was planned for the next day. He claimed that several Russian rifle and armored brigades were all lined up for it. The break-through was to be achieved regardless of the cost, and the encircled Corps liberated. Model left the headquarters, a worried man.
"Obersturmbannführer, I'm relying on you," were his parting words to Kumm. And with a grin he added, "But maybe that Russian was leading us on."
The prisoner had not been leading them on. On the following morning the full-scale attack began. It came exactly at the earlier penetration point of the Soviet Twenty-ninth Army, where the wide tank-tracks marked out the road across the ice. Kumm's regiment, though numerically small, was well equipped. In the foremost line was an 8.8-cm. AA gun. The Panzerjäger Company had 5-cm. anti-tank guns. The Heavy Company comprised a heavy and a light troop with infantry guns and two more troops equipped with 3.7-cm. anti-tank guns. Moreover, in the course of the fighting the Motorcycle Battalion of the " Reich " Division was placed under the regiment, as well as a battery of Assault Gun Battalion 189. Even so it was still a modest force compared with the mass of the attackers.
The Russians kept up their charge ceaselessly—by day and by night, throughout three weeks. But they committed a tactical mistake, a typical Russian mistake: they failed to concentrate their strength on a single major break-through. They omitted to form a centre of gravity. They flung in battalion after battalion, then regiment after regiment, and eventually brigade after brigade. Anti-tank cover for the group resisting at Klepenino was provided by two Panzerjäger troops of Panzerjäger Battalion 561. The thirteen 5-cm. anti-tank guns under Second Lieutenant Petermann had destroyed twenty T-34s by 3rd February. On 5th February Second Lieutenant Hofer took over the antitank troop from the wounded Petermann. The ferocity of the fighting is shown by the fact that the crew of the gun outside Klepenino had to be changed three times within five hours. Two dozen shot-up enemy tanks lay in front of the position. The neighboring gun had been crushed by a T-34. The infantrymen had to tackle the colossus with mines and demolition charges.
On the sixth day the Russians appeared in front of 10th Company with thirty light tanks. They advanced to within 50 yards of the positions. They halted. And then the whole armada opened fire at the infantry dug-outs and machine-gun posts. They continued pasting them from all barrels for a full thirty minutes. Then they drove back into the forest.
Silence and brittle cold hung over the plain. Two hours later a man crawled out of the shattered position of 10th Company back to battalion headquarters. He was helped in. He was Rottenführer [lance-corporal] Wagner. Seriously wounded, with frost-bitten hands, he tried to stand up in front of Bollert, the battalion commander, to make his report. But he collapsed, and reported lying on the floor: "Hauptsturmführer, I'm the only one left from the company. They're all dead."
A tremor ran through him. A moment later there was no survivor of 10th Company.
There was now a gap in the front about two-thirds of a mile wide. The VI Army Corps rushed 120 men into the line—drivers, cooks, bootmakers, and tailors. Paymasters were in charge of platoons. Fine men, but wholly inexperienced in this dreadful type of fighting. They moved into the positions of 10th Company.
The Russians, after a sudden concentrated mortar bombardment, charged with shouts of "Urra." That was too much for the nerves of the men of the supply services. They simply took to their heels. They were picked off one by one like rabbits.
When dusk fell the Soviets were within 50 yards of Kumm's regimental headquarters at Klepenino. The small village originally had thirty houses, but only eight were left. Hauptsturmführer [Major] Holzer, the regiment's adjutant, had cut deep holes under the floor and sawn firing slits into the lower beams which formed the wall. From the regimental commander down to the drivers each man stood in his firing-pit, with carbine, machine-pistol or machine-gun. They were supported by an anti-tank gun and by the Panzerjäger Battalion 561, now fighting as infantry. No matter how often they attacked, the Soviets never got closer than 15 yards. The words found in the operational reports were not a figure of speech, but the most literal appalling truth: "Outside Klepenino the dead were piled high in huge heaps."
Corps sent aid in the shape of an infantry regiment. But it was shot up by the Soviets while making a counter-attack. Its remnants were shared out among Kumm's battalions or else employed for flank cover. During the night of 7th/8th February the Russians eventually broke into 2nd Company's positions in battalion strength. Ferocious hand-to-hand fighting continued for four hours. The 2nd Company of the " Der Führer " Regiment was killed to the last man.
At that moment the Motorcycle Battalion of the " Das Reich " Division arrived at Klepenino. In addition, units of Assault Gun Battalion 189 and the Reconnaissance Detachment, 14th Motorized Infantry Division, under Major Mummert were rushed to Kumm's front. A 2.1-cm. mortar was got into position in a patch of woodland, and the enemy who had broken into the "Russian grove" was pounded with it. That grove changed hands ten times. After the eleventh charge it remained firmly in the hands of Major Mummert's Reconnaissance Detachment 14.
Kumm's front on the northern edge of the great pocket held firmly. Relief brigades of the Soviet Thirty-ninth Army did not succeed in crossing the Volga. They bled to death. The killed were lying in their thousands in front of the German lines by the Volga bend. In the meantime operations against the Soviet divisions encircled south and west of Rzhev continued. On 17th February the Combat Group von Wietersheim penetrated into the core of the last major Soviet pocket—in wooded country near Monchalovo—with tanks, Panzer sappers, and armored infantry carriers of the reinforced 1st Panzer Division. The last desperate break-out attempt by 500 Soviets under the personal leadership of a general collapsed in the fire of the German combat group. The battle was drawing to its close. The Soviet Twenty-ninth Army and major parts of the Thirty-ninth had been destroyed. Model, promoted Colonel-General on 1st February, had brought about a turn of the tide in the winter battles on the German Central Front. The ferocity of the fighting is revealed by two figures: 5000 Russians were taken prisoner; 27,000 lay dead on the battlefield. Six enemy rifle divisions had bled to death, four had been smashed, and nine more, as well as five armored brigades, had taken heavy knocks.
German casualties, too, had been heavy. On 18th February, when Obersturmbannführer Otto Kumm reported at his divisional headquarters, Model happened to be there. He said to Kumm, " I know what your regiment has been through-but I still can't do without it. What is its present strength?"
Kumm gestured towards the window. " Herr Generaloberst, my regiment is on parade outside."
Model glanced through the window. Outside thirty-five men had fallen in.
Heavy and indeed appalling though the price was which Ninth Army had to pay for smashing the Soviet Armies which had broken through between Sychevka and the Volga bend, it was not too high if one considers that the fate of the whole of Army Group Centre was at stake. The deadly danger of encirclement which had threatened it from the north had now been averted.
Continued
"One thousand Jews are deported from the Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, camp/ghetto to Riga, Latvia."
"The front page of The Jewish Advertiser, a bilingual publication of the Jewish religious community in Prague, Czechoslovakia, delineates the restrictions placed on Jews throughout Eastern Europe.
This January 1942 issue contained information of activities forbidden to Jews, which were not known about in the West until these papers were smuggled out."
Check out page 4 of this edition. Scroll down, and on the left is the column ‘Marine Epic Grows’.
For me, there’s nothing quite like reading first hand accounts about the Marine Corps from a newspaper story of the day.
For anybody unfamiliar, freeper Homer_J_Simpson has been painstakingly reproducing here at Free Republic the ‘exactly-70-years-ago’ daily edition of the New York Times. Homer has been doing this EVERY DAY for well over a year, leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack and now following America’s war effort. The daily editions posted by Homer also include movie reviews, sports, city news, etc., as well as advertisements from the time. It’s a window into the psat. The whole project is cool as can be.
Thanks for the ping, Lancey and the posts, HJS.
An amazing feat by those Marines that shows great skill and determination, they improvised.
The last note should show at least how he got the nickname Dougout Doug. As to putting that hymn to any music, I wouldn't even try. I don't sing.
His claim that the siege of Sevastopol was lifted is completely erroneous.
At no time during the present Soviet offensive was the German ring around that port city in any serious danger of being lifted. He also reports the Soviets pushing north from Yalta-a German occupied town the Soviets were nowhere near.
His claim Soviet forces "broke" into Kharkov and captured a German headquarters- is a complete fairy tail.
I'm guessing he's using Soviet press releases while completely ignoring those of the Germans who are of course silent on these made-up Soviet victories.
I'm not sure whether he's engaging in bad reporting or just wishful thinking.
Well, you do notice that the NYT always tends to err on the side of the Allies in its reporting. When the Battle of Britain was going on you would have thought that the Germans never did any significant damage if you went by the Times reporting alone. I don’t really fault them for this, considering that they have multiple conflicting reports that they can’t verify from either side. Daniel just decided not to pick any middle ground between the two.
bump for later
As I recall from something I read, the visit was confined to the dock area at the southern end of the peninsula, and didn’t last long.
The last note should show at least how he got the nickname Dougout Doug.
I would still think the question of when and where he got the nickname would be interesting to try and pin down.
Were I a member of an ill equipped green unit that just disembarked in autumn 1941 and found myself in such situation, I would not have a very good attitude at all. I would be beyond p!ssed. So, that a frustrated, demoralized serviceman might coin such nickname is understandable even though Corregidor was also a front line position.
The Battling Bastards poem was written by war correspondent Frank Hewitt circa Feb 1, 1942. The author of "Dugout Doug" is anonymous. This is just me as an amateur but I don't know of "Dougout Doug" lyrics printed earlier than those by Col. Miller circa 1949 in "Bataan Uncensored".
Both Manchester in "American Caesar" and Clayton in "The Years of MacArthur" cite Col. Miller's version. Clayton does indicate other versions existed but cites none of them and chooses to copy Col. Miller's 1949 version verbatim.
Surely some war correspondent or reporter would have gotten wind of this earlier and printed it?
Very few people were evacuated from Bataan/Corregidor. Other than the group which left with MacArthur in March 1942, the only other evacuees that come to mind are the combined less than 100 officers and nurses sent out in two floatplanes (only one of which made it to Australia), a submarine and a handful of tandem seat "bushplane" flights from Corregidor in April and May 1942.
I tend to doubt lyrics were radioed out. Anyone not evacuated that knew the lyrics would have been killed or captured. So, from where and when did they originate in order to be known by men during the war years?
As to putting that hymn to any music, I wouldn't even try. I don't sing.
To me, the chorus fits the melody well but I have had a difficult time fitting the stanzas to the melody. I'm not saying it wasn't done in a manner that could easily be sung but in order for the ballad to spread, the lyrics had to match the well known melody closely enough that it could be quickly learned.
Per Gen. Wainwright, MacArthur drove up the east side of Bataan about half-way to the Bagac-Pilar highway. He then took the highway to the west side of the peninsula where he met Wainwright.
There were some troops on Bataan (I once read no more than a hundred) who managed to evade capture by the Japanese, make their way off Bataan into the Luzon interior, and link up with what became the Philippine guerilla movement. Some of them were subsequently evacuated by submarine back to the States while the PI were still occupied territory. Had they known of the song, upon coming back to the States, they would have found that MacArthur had already been deified as a hero by Washington and the press, and likely would have decided it was in their best interests to keep their mouths shut.
I’m reminded of an attitude noted by Stephen Ambrose in one of his books, regarding the issue of the frontline troops’ concept of “the rear”...one said that to him “rear” was anybody who wasn’t to his left or right on the front line. If the troops weren’t seeing MacArthur, or at least hearing of him coming to the front once in a while, I can see them gradually becoming disgusted and coining a name like “Dugout Doug”.
Moreover, I can easily see frontline troops, ill-equipped and consistently doing nothing but fall back, getting progressively p!$$ed at a distant commander who had already lost them their air force of B-17s, acted indecisively in the first weeks of the war before he issued the order to withdraw to Bataan, and making grandiose declarations of his forces’ success totally at odds with the reality the troops on the front were seeing.
I’ll dig out my copy of Henry Lee’s “Nothing But Praise” and see if he makes any similar references. (I know he made some disparaging references to Roosevelt.)
Thanks for the ping Lancey.
This IS as cool as it can be.
Of interest to me is the mention of Singapore.
My parents went to England back in 1996 to do some family history research.
At a small church in Diss they got to talking to an older gentleman who told them he was a deacon, and had been for over 40 years. He then told them the story of him serving in WWII. In Singapore. He said they fought until they literally had nowhere to retreat to and was taken prisoner by the Japanese. He was taken to Japan.
He described how they were told if Japan was invaded they would all be killed. The Japanese would take them out and put them in trenches and then point machine guns down at them. Dry runs.
And then we used the bombs. He said he was transported through Hiroshima. Saw that devastation.
But it brings a tear to hear him tell of walking in the front door of his house. To his wife who had had no word—nothing—for six years.
My dad has that now on dvd.
Silentgypsy asked me how I, being just a “kid” heard about the Codetalkers.
I had a professor in college. He taught classical lit and poetry courses. Gentle. Kind.
He served in the Marines in the Pacific in WWII. And he told me things. Like how after the war he had to stay in Australia for 18 months so they could try and make him human again. He told me when the war ended he couldn’t see anyone who looked Asian without instantly trying to kill them. With whatever means. Rock. Stick. Hands.
He told me about the Codetalkers one day.
He told me how he booby-trapped a trail that, in the CONFUSION, wiped out an American patrol.
He died climbing the Grand Teton. He climbed it all the time. Said it felt like being at the top of the world. Where he could sit and think about things.
We talked a lot about tragedy. Fear. Courage. Victory. And humility.
I miss him.
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