Макс Глебов
Prohibition of Interference. Book 4. Asymmetric response
Chapter 3
“How did the British and USA ambassadors respond to our appeal?”
“They expressed great concern, Comrade Stalin,” Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov grimaced irritably, “they promised to tell us the position of London and Washington as soon as possible. There seems to be little hope for the Americans. After the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor and the Imperial Army landed in the Philippines, they are, to put it mildly, not interested in us. Apparently, it was feared that once the war with the Samurai had begun, Germany would declare war on them, but so far this has not happened, and Roosevelt certainly will not want to provoke Hitler[1].”
“With the current situation at Moscow and the beginning of the British offensive in North Africa, all Hitler needed was a war with the United States,” Stalin's voice sounded irritated. “Roosevelt's apprehension is misguided, though it may only be an excuse for denying us effective help. And what do you, Comrade Molotov, think about the prospects of Britain entering chemical warfare?”
“It's more complicated here, Comrade Stalin. The Germans lost the air battle for Britain, but it is unlikely that Churchill would want to expose his cities to the risk of chemical bombing. By drawing off the tank units of the African Corps, we have greatly relieved the situation of the British in Egypt and Libya, and now Churchill is in a hurry to turn the course of the war in Africa in his favor. He does not need any new problems, especially in view of the Japanese attack on the port of Hong Kong and the emergence of a real threat to Singapore and all of British Malaya. On December 10, the British fleet lost in the South China Sea the battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Repulse. This victory cost the Japanese only three planes, so the British and Americans have enough to worry about. It is possible that they can ask us for help themselves[2] – now they are in a situation similar to ours in June.”
The Chief nodded slowly and switched to another topic:
“After the gas attack on anti-aircraft positions near Vyazma, are there any other facts of the use of chemical weapons by the Germans?”
“No, Comrade Stalin,” Zhukov entered the discussion, “but the intelligence data is very disturbing. All the signs of the enemy's preparation for combat operations in chemically contaminated areas are there.”
“How ready are we for this?” Stalin shifted his gaze to Shaposhnikov.
The Chief of the General Staff did not embellish the real situation:
“Now the enemy is way ahead of us in means of chemical defense, but work is being done. All the necessary orders were issued immediately after the discussion at the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command of Lieutenant Colonel Nagulin's conclusions about the threat of the Germans' use of chemical warfare agents.”
“The name Nagulin has come up too often in this office,” the Chief grinned indefinitely, “do you not think so, comrades?”
“Given his role in key events at the front, it doesn't look like anything special,” Shaposhnikov answered cautiously.
“Perhaps,” Stalin nodded, “however, the results of his actions against the Luftwaffe air bridge do not yet look as impressive, as the previous operations, although some successes definitely exist.”
“Hardly anyone else in his position would have done better,” Zhukov, usually skeptical to all the endeavors of Nagulin, whom he did not quite understand, suddenly stood up for him. “The enemy's opposition is too great, and our resources are extremely limited.”
Stalin did not seem to expect such words from Zhukov either, and he was somewhat surprised at the unanimity of the commander of the Western Front and the Chief of the General Staff.
“When will Kleist strike?” The Chief suddenly changed the subject, temporarily "forgetting" about Lieutenant Colonel Nagulin.
“Perhaps as early as tomorrow, Comrade Stalin,” Zhukov answered after a short pause. “In two days at the most.”
* * *
Göring's "air bridge" crackled and swayed, but it had no desire to finally collapse. I gave the Luftwaffe a lot of trouble, but the forces and means at my disposal were still clearly insufficient, and I had nowhere to get additional forces and means.
The Germans quickly realized that flying in tight formation at maximum altitude would be suicide and immediately abandoned this tactic. The enemy was in no hurry to repeat the attacks on the air defense positions. Apparently, the losses made a great impression on the Luftwaffe command, and it was not prepared to lose aircraft and, more importantly, qualified pilots, at such a rate. Nevertheless, the very fact of the chemical attack on anti-aircraft positions forced us to take emergency measures.
We had to train anti-aircraft soldiers to fire in gas masks and anti-mustard gas capes, which had a big impact on their rate of fire and, consequently, on the results of their firing. This was clearly insufficient for protection against sarin, but no other means were available to the Red Army chemical troops anyway.
In a way, I was even glad that the enemy started using chemical weapons immediately with the most dangerous gas. This enabled me to tell Shaposhnikov categorically that if Soviet industry did not immediately master the production of general-purpose hazmat suits immediately, we would have no chance of winning the chemical war. At that time the army had only a few hundred general-purpose hazmat suits, and they were mainly made on the basis of fabric soaked in drying oil, which gave very conditional protection against serious poisonous substances.
Unlike me, neither Stalin, nor Shaposhnikov, nor the rest of the Soviet military commanders knew that Hitler no longer had sarin, nor the industrial capacity to produce it. I was in no hurry to inform them of this encouraging fact – why should I deprive the country's leadership of such an excellent incentive to improve chemical defense?
I looked at what had already been done in this direction at home and in the world, and turned to Shaposhnikov with a proposal to use for mass production of hazmat suits the double rubberized fabric SK-1, developed five years ago. This time the Chief of the General Staff was not at all surprised that I was again trying to solve such problems through him; he took away my folder with the documentation on general protective suits and sent me back to Vyazma to continue to carry out the task of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command to counteract the supply of German troops in the Moscow Pocket.
When convinced that the chemical attack had destroyed one anti-aircraft unit but had not solved the problem of beating the Junkers, the Germans tried to switch to the tactics of night flights. It did not bring them any success. Clear, frosty nights allowed me to target German transport planes with our night fighters, as the Il-2 ground-attack planes were quite unexpectedly quite good. Their speed was quite enough to fight the slow-moving transport planes, and their powerful armament and good armor made it possible not to fear the return fire of the Junkers.
Despite the losses, the Luftwaffe did not give up the idea of an air bridge. The transport planes were now flying at low altitudes during the day, trying to break through to the surrounded troops by single planes or in small groups. I found it more difficult to counter this tactic because there were too many targets in the sky at once, especially considering the numerous Messerschmitts that were trying to be everywhere at once, to prevent Soviet fighters from hunting down Junkers and Heinkels.
With this arrangement, the air defense position areas were no longer needed, and I again distributed the anti-aircraft artillery more or less evenly throughout the western part of the encirclement ring. In fact, I did everything I could. The Germans lost almost three hundred transport planes in four days. The flow of cargo to the Moscow Pocket was cut in half and continued to decline. There was nothing more for me to do here, but the order that had been given to me had not yet been cancelled. I got ready to wait, but the adversary decided everything for me.
Having weighed the pros and cons one last time, Ewald von Kleist came to the conclusion that there was no point in dragging it out further. On reduced rations the Army Group Center was growing weaker and weaker every day in the Moscow Pocket, and all that the Führer could allocate to strengthen the First Panzer Group, Kleist had already received.
On December 21, five tank and three motorized divisions of the Wehrmacht took the offensive north of Vyazma. Before the attack, the Führer's address was circulated to the troops:
"Soldiers, 150 kilometers of frozen land lie before you, which the Russian armies are holding on to with the last of their strength, and beyond this land are your comrades, who are waiting for help and believe in your unbreakable fighting spirit! This time you have only one way – to go ahead and win! The time has come to cast aside all the restrictions that our enemies tried to impose on us in pre-war times. We have weapons capable of overturning the Bolshevik hordes and reversing their movement, and we will use them here and now! You will celebrate Christmas together with the heroic soldiers of Army Group Center!"
I saw tanks, assault guns, armored personnel carriers, and artillery moving into forward positions at night. The Germans took into account the lessons of November and tried not to create areas with a high concentration of troops. There was nothing I could do about it – the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command bound me hand and foot, but in the evening of December 20 I still could not resist and called Shaposhnikov.
“Comrade Marshal, the Germans will take the offensive tomorrow at dawn. The main blow will be struck on the Holm-Zhirkovski-Gzhatsk line. Auxiliary strikes will take place near Vyazma and Rzhev. Artillery preparation will be combined, using chemical and conventional shells. In the direction of the main attack the enemy will use only volatile gases that do not linger on the ground, so that they themselves do not suffer from their own toxic chemicals during the attack. It is most likely to be phosgene and cyanogen chloride, the latter being more likely, as it has a shorter period of latent action and old-style gas masks are ineffective against it. The Germans have few infantry, and will make extensive use of persistent poisonous substances to cover the flanks of the breakout – various mixtures of mustard gas and lewisite.”
There was silence on the phone for a few seconds.
“Comrade Nagulin, is this intelligence data or your own analytical conclusions?”
I could hear the tension in Shaposhnikov's voice.
“Analytical conclusions, Comrade Marshal.”
There was another pause in the conversation.
“Are you absolutely sure you weren't wrong in your inferences?” asked the chief of general staff, not trying to hide a heavy sigh.
“Absolutely.”
“What about sarin?”
“There might be sarin, but it is unlikely to be in large quantities.”
“I heard you, Lieutenant Colonel. If your information is confirmed, be ready to leave for Moscow immediately. Wait for the order.”
* * *
The outer front of the encirclement collapsed and crumbled like a house of cards. I was afraid of something like that, but I still wasn't expecting such a crushing effect. When von Kleist got his hands on the new weapon, he decided to use it to its full capacity in order to maximize the effect of surprise, although it was somewhat marred by the Abwehr's botched operation with sarin bombs.
Kleist was supplied with an abundance of chemical munitions, of all types, for every conceivable purpose, and an hour before dawn the Wehrmacht began its first massive use of chemical warfare agents in this war.
Heavy howitzers and aviation were the first to engage. Thousands of high-explosive shells and bombs, among which were many munitions filled with phosgene and cyanogen chloride, hit the front lines of the two infantry divisions of the Kalinin Front.
Combat gases quickly dispersed over the area, poisoning those Red Army soldiers who did not have time to put on gas masks. Of course, after the order of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command and especially after the gas attack on the anti-aircraft gunners, the readiness of the Soviet troops for chemical warfare was increased, but the fighters, who had never used gas masks in combat before, did not have time to react to the danger in time. Many soldiers' gas masks were ill-fitted or faulty, or in some cases were simply missing.
The death of comrades from bullets and shrapnel was a familiar sight for the Red Army men during the past six months of the war, but death by poisoning was something completely different, previously unseen and terrible. By the time the German attack began, the morale of Soviet fighters was, to put it mildly, not at its best. In some places there was outright panic, and the German tanks, which had taken the offensive, broke through the first line of defense almost without resistance.
Only the Soviet troops in the central section of the breakthrough were attacked by flying gases, which practically never stayed on the ground and quickly dissipated even by a light wind. On the flanks the Germans used a completely different tactic. Mustard gas and lewisite in the form of special winter mixtures were used here to keep these poisonous liquids from freezing in the cold.
In addition to bombs and shells, German bombers made extensive use of airborne spray devices, creating wide swaths of contaminated terrain behind the flying planes. The dominance of Luftwaffe fighters in the air and the fact that the air defense assets were disorganized by the chemical attack did not allow the Soviet side to stop these actions, and zones of chemical contamination, impregnated with skin-explosive poisons, formed on the flanks of Kleist's tank group rushing forward.
To protect against mustard gas and lewisite, a gas mask is not at all sufficient. Their main target is the skin of enemy soldiers. The Red Army men who were attacked had anti-mustard gas capes in their kit, but their effectiveness in real combat conditions was extremely low, especially in the case of the combined use of chemical weapons and conventional ammunition.
Any meaningful resistance in the infected areas was out of the question. Surviving fighters were eager to leave as quickly as possible the area that had been chemically attacked, and they left their positions without orders. However, the Germans, too, were in no hurry to occupy the trenches left by the Red Army. Their goal was quite different – to prevent Soviet counterstrikes under the base of the ledge, which was formed as a result of the breakthrough of the front and the development of the offensive by German tank divisions.
Wehrmacht infantry divisions occupied positions on the flanks of the tank formations that had gone forward, they fortified on the borders of territories flooded with mustard gas and lewisite and covered them with fire, preventing the Soviet chemical troops from decontaminating the terrain.
After breaking through the first line of defense, two regiments of Nebelwerfers concentrated behind the back of the advancing German troops. For the first time these multiple rocket launchers were used for their direct purpose – to fire chemical munitions.
The second and third lines of defense were broken by German tanks by mid-day. Here the resistance of the Soviet troops was more stubborn, but still could not stop the enemy offensive. The tactics chosen by Ewald von Kleist was bringing success to his divisions.
* * *
I arrived in Moscow four hours after the German offensive began. Shaposhnikov decided not to wait for me to get there on my own and sent a plane for me. Judging by the gloomy appearance of the Chief of General Staff, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command was in a depressed mood.
“You were right again, Lieutenant Colonel,” the Marshal began without preamble, “You gave the exact time and place of the strike by Kleist's tanks, as well as the methods of the enemy to use chemical weapons.”
“Was it possible to stop the enemy?” I asked a direct question, knowing full well the answer.
“Kleist's tank and motorized units advanced 30–40 kilometers and continue to press our troops,” Shaposhnikov said softly and turned to the map. “The two rifle divisions covering the direction to Gzhatsk were almost completely destroyed. After your report yesterday, I ordered four tank brigades to be moved to the threatened area. That's almost half of our mobile reserves, but it makes no sense to throw them into a head-on battle against Kleist's tanks, which outnumber them – we'd only lose men and equipment. On the other hand, we can't strike from the flanks – everything there is flooded with poisonous substances. At least the Germans in the pocket have been quiet so far. Apparently, they simply don't have the fuel for a 100-kilometer march with fighting, but as soon as Kleist gets close, they will strike out to meet him.”
I looked at the map in silence. It seems that yesterday my words were not fully believed after all. I'm not sure about Shaposhnikov, but the other members of the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command, led by Stalin, apparently took my information cautiously, otherwise they would have drawn much more reserves to the site of the upcoming breakthrough. Except that it wouldn't have helped much.
Here and now the Germans were objectively stronger. Kleist was a competent tank commander who understood well what maneuver warfare was all about. This is not Göpner, who was put in charge of a tank group only because there was no better candidate with a rank commensurate with the task, this is not the individualist Rommel, able to perform normally only solo parts in isolated theaters of military operations and absolutely does not recognize the interests of his neighbors on the front, if he suddenly has them. Kleist will grasp it with a deadly grip and tear forward until he reaches his goal. And he has something to fight with. Five tank divisions, though battered in the battles for the Donbass, but not badly replenished and put in order – this is a very formidable opponent for the Soviet armies, which closed the Moscow Pocket with great difficulty. And right behind these tanks come the elite motorized SS divisions "Viking" and "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler". The latter, by the way, is familiar to me – I had the pleasure of encountering it near Uman.
“I would like to hear your opinion on this situation,” Shaposhnikov, who never waited for me to comment, broke the silence. “You seem to understand the logic of the German commander quite well, since you were able to predict his actions so accurately.”
Yes, the situation is indeed complicated, since the Chief of the General Staff openly asks the advice of a lieutenant colonel, albeit not the most ordinary one. This is understandable – no one wants to let go of a grand victory that already seems to have been won.
While I made my way to Moscow, I had plenty of time to analyze the situation, but the Red Army had too few resources at its disposal to remedy the worsening situation.
Over the past week, we have not been able to make much progress on either thermite projectiles or fuel-air explosives. General Ustinov's People's Commissariat used everything it could at these developments, but so far only the first prototypes were ready, whose tests were just beginning. And it was too early to even think about cruise missiles. Too much had to be reworked there, so Korolev could hardly put the first products to the test sooner than in a couple of months. The problem had to be solved with the means we already had at our disposal.
“Comrade Marshal, I completely agree with your conclusion that we cannot stop Kleist's tanks with a counter-strike. They have to be beaten off by a stubborn defense full of anti-tank weapons, and our counterstrokes can only have an effect if we apply them on the flanks.”
“But it's all flooded with mustard gas!” Shaposhnikov interrupted me.
“Boris Mikhailovich, we need to break corridors through the chemical barrier sectors. As soon as we do that, the chemical troops will do the decontamination. They have accumulated a lot of bleach and other special solutions. It is important that the Germans have no opportunity to target the chemists. Before you sent me to Vyazma, you mentioned two tank brigades being formed near Kalinin. On leaving, I submitted a report to you with a request to reinforce them with chemical warfare units and to saturate them with protective equipment, including all available hazmat suits.”
“I gave the appropriate orders,” Shaposhnikov nodded. “Do you want to use these units for counterattacks?”
“By and large, they are totally unprepared for this and will probably suffer great losses, but we simply do not have anything more suitable. The Germans left relatively weak infantry divisions to cover the chemical barrier sectors. The farther Kleist's tanks advance, the more their flanks are stretched and the weaker their covering forces are. Newly formed tank brigades must overcome contaminated territory and retain their ability to attack German infantry positions. Immediately behind them will go the chemical units with their decontamination machines and provide passageways for troops protected only by gas masks and anti-mustard gas capes. The Germans will probably continue to use chemical munitions to close the holes we shall have punched in their defenses. It will cause more casualties, but I see no other way to stop Kleist's advance.”
Shaposhnikov walked thoughtfully along the wall with the map.
“The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command rejected your proposal to refrain from retaliatory use of chemical weapons,” the Chief of the General Staff suddenly changed the subject. “With the total shortage of conventional ammunition, we simply cannot afford it, and the very idea of not retaliating has not been understood by the country's leadership. By the end of the day, our air force and artillery will begin treating enemy troops with poison gas shells and bombs. Perhaps this will slow down the advance of Kleist's armored divisions.”
“It won't, Comrade Marshal. They've been ready for this for a long time and they know what we're capable of. If chemical weapons were to be used, it would not be against Kleist, who was fully equipped for chemical warfare, but against the Germans in the pocket. Unlike the First Panzer Group, they were equipped with the means of chemical protection at a minimally sufficient level, and when retreating from Moscow the enemy troops abandoned these "unnecessary" cargoes in the first place, and now they are hardly prepared for chemical attacks. We need to prevent a blow from the pocket toward Kleist, don't we? Mustard gas treatment of the leading edge of the German defense on the inner front of the encirclement would contribute greatly to this. Without decontamination, infantry cannot traverse contaminated areas, and surrounded troops almost certainly do not have the right reagents. ”
I said "almost certainly" for Shaposhnikov. I myself knew exactly how Rommel, Goth, and Göpner were doing with chemical protection and decontamination. They had nothing – everything but gas masks had been abandoned or lost in the retreat.
“Perhaps that does have a rational point,” the Marshal nodded, “but now the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command considers the main task to stop further advance of the enemy's First Panzer Group. Comrade Nagulin, can you repeat the experience of the Rogachev Highway? Then your grenade launcher companies, together with General Zakharov's men, were able to hold back Rommel's tanks and inflict very significant losses on them, and this was in the conditions of an encirclement. Now we have the opportunity to give you much more forces to fulfill this task.”
“It won't work,” I tried to answer as firmly as possible, “In the Rogachev Highway area the Germans were severely restricted by terrain conditions and squeezed in the forest "corridors". It is one thing to defend a kilometer or two front with a concentration of all forces in previously prepared positions, and it is quite another thing to hold a 40-kilometer band of land at defense lines, hastily equipped, moreover, by troops with no real experience in chemical warfare and having no reliable means of protection against blister agents. Positional defense will not help us in this case. We need a successful counterstrike that would force Kleist to stop the offensive and deploy his tanks to parry the threat from the flanks.”
“And if Kleist does not stop and continues to deepen the breakthrough, hoping that his infantry divisions and aviation will not allow us to develop our success?”
“So, another famous German general and his army will end up in the Moscow Pocket,” I allowed myself a wicked chuckle. “Suppose Kleist manages to break through to Army Group Center. And then what? Will he break back through the corridor that has been liberally sprinkled with mustard gas and has already been closed by us? His Panzer Group is the last truly mobile army of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front. Never will its commander take such a risk and allow us to cut off his communications and supply lines. And so that Kleist doesn't want to rush forward without looking back, we need, before it's too late, to redeploy to the Gzhatsk direction all the grenade launcher companies formed by Comrade Beria's Commissariat. They showed themselves very well on the Rogachev Highway. Of course, they can't stop five tank divisions, but the grenade launchers will knock out a lot of tanks and slow down the enemy's advance, and then the Germans will stop themselves when we get to their rear.”
“I see you, Lieutenant Colonel, do not doubt for a second the success of flank counterstrokes through mustard gas and lewisite contaminated territory. How can you be so sure?”
“Comrade Marshal, my confidence is grounded on a plan based on an analysis of the situation. I believe it is necessary to create a strong breakthrough group, concentrating in it the formations most prepared for chemical warfare and all the available tanks in reserve. Only then will we be able to cut the ledge that's been formed or create such a meaningful threat to Kleist's communications, that he will be forced to concentrate on repelling it, abandoning his main task,” I went over to the map and took the pointer in my hand. “I propose that a secondary counterstrike be launched from the south by the Bryansk Front, and that the main efforts be concentrated on Kleist's northern flank by launching a counteroffensive from Sychovka to cut the supply lines of the Wehrmacht's First Panzer Group.”
“What you are proposing is a blatant gamble. We’ll have to bet it all on one strike. If it doesn't succeed, we'll simply have nothing left to stop Kleist.”
“Boris Mikhailovich, you know yourself that throwing the reserves under Kleist's tank roller we won't be able to stop him anyway. We may be able to delay the enemy's advance a bit, but with the same disastrous result at the end.”
“I repeat the question,” said Shaposhnikov with pressure, “why are you so sure of the success of the counterattack?”
“Comrade Marshal, I ask your permission to lead the advanced breakthrough group – the same tank brigades reinforced with chemical troops. On the spot I will be able to pinpoint the weakest part of the German defense. We’ll cut a corridor in the chemical barrier, and then the armies of the Kalinin Front will develop success. The Germans do not believe in our ability to act effectively in a chemical contamination zone, and they don't expect a strike on their northern flank. We should not let this opportunity slip away. It's likely that we won't get another chance.”
