Falling Europa

  © Max Lamirande, 2022

  Published by Max Lamirande

  © 2022 Saguenay, Quebec, Canada

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or modified in any form, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Credits:

  Kindle publishing

  Cover credits:

  References:

  Wikipedia, Wikicommons

  FOREWORD

  Dear readers,

  I welcome you back to the Blitzkrieg Alternate Series. So much has happened since the first book. I can still hardly believe my success with the sales and the reviews.

  Rest assured; I am still fully motivated to churn out a great story rapidly. The war in Europe is NOT over; I can promise you that!

  Before I forget, I want to thank you, my dear readers, for continuing to read my work. It's what makes it all worthwhile in the end.

  I believe you will like the change of pace that book 9 proposes on the Blitzkrieg Alternate Series. As one war is ending, a second war is slowly dawning. What remains to be seen is what will happen. Will it be like historically and evolve into the Cold War between superpowers? Or will Stalin take the plunge and try to take over the World? We will soon know.

  But let's not count our chickens before they hatch, shall we?. There is still a Third Reich to destroy before any of that happens.

  Read on

  *** Don’t forget to review my work and also sign up to the mailing list at www.maxlamirande.com

  P.S. The next book I am working on now is the second installment in the parallel story Pacific Alternate: Battle Pacific

  PROLOGUE

  Operation Tsar

  Border between the USSR and Japanese Manchuria, January 12-22nd, 1947

  The quiet of the dying night was suddenly shattered by the most potent artillery barrage seen since the end of the war in the Pacific. From across the Soviet expanses, four massive armies started to attack the Japanese forces in Manchuria. Two mighty forces launched themselves from the area of Lake Khanka, near the Pacific coast. The 1st and 25th rifle armies, under General Meretsov, attacked frontally at demoralized Imperial forces. Within an hour, the shelling was over, and Russian tanks and infantry poured into Manchuria. Kwantung 1st Army under General Seiichi, responsible for the defense in the area, balked. Most men expected to be repatriated to Japan, not be attacked. Many amongst them had already discarded their weapons and settled into a more normal life. Discipline was lax, and the officers did the same. The units within the army group defending the sector were slowly disintegrating.

  Another powerful attack was launched in northern Manchuria thru the Lesser and Grand Khingan Mountain ranges. It was led by Sergei Berezin's Transbaikal Front and his 12th Rifle Army. The Russians didn't even encounter resistance in that area, as the Japanese had already evacuated the whole sector since the surrender.

  Finally, one last Soviet Army launched over the border to reach the central valley plains and the city of Harbin as fast as possible. It was Kerenin's 45th tank army, accompanied by several rifle divisions.

  In all, the powerful Soviet offensive sported a little under one million men, 1500 tanks, and 1100 planes of all shapes and sizes. The artillery park was also immense.

  Japan's surrender had been proclaimed weeks before in December after the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, and the Imperial soldiers expected anything but a renewed attack from the Allies. Of course, the surrender conditions had not yet been in effect in Manchuria as it was a vast territory, and the Americans were still busy just occupying the Home Country.

  The Japanese government signed the unconditional surrender on board battleship Missouri. The ceremony had been quite formal, in Tokyo Bay of all places, with the entire American Pacific Fleet in view, planes flying above to show Allied might. It had not taken long after that for the Americans to land forces in Tokyo and other strategic points of the Home Islands. Several other strategic territories were also rapidly occupied, like Formosa, the oil installations in the former Dutch East Indies, French Indo China, and even limited areas at the tip of the Korean Peninsula (Pusan).

  But Manchuria had thus far been left to its own devices. The by then 500 000 strong Army, supposed to guard the border with the Soviet Union, was numerous and in a backwater territory that didn't have much importance in terms of American strategic objectives. That army group had been the strongest in Imperial Japan before the war, but most of its elite forces had been taken away for the needs of the war in other theaters.

  And so, the Japanese Army received the powerful and totally unwarranted Russian offensive with what could be described as total apathy. Within ten days, the Soviet forces were in Harbin and Changchun, and another five days later, they stormed Shenyang in the southwest.

  Only the Chengde/Pekin area resisted since the former Commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, General Otozo Yamada, retained some semblance of control over about ten hodgepodge divisions. He established a precarious defense in that area, helped by other units from China that reacted in time to rearm themselves to face the Russian juggernaut.

  The news was taken with utter shock in London, Washington, and other Allied countries. The Russian move had not been expected, nor any news or reports had reached the Allied military forces about Russian movements to the east. Everyone thought that the Soviets were concentrating on finishing the German forces in Europe.

  And they were right, in a sense. But Stalin had entertained over 800 000 men on the Soviet-Japanese border to deter Imperial Japan from attacking Siberia. It didn't take a lot of reinforcements to make a coherent offensive force, especially since the Japanese Army was in a state of disintegration across the Pacific theater since the surrender.

  The offensive shook the foundations of the Grand Alliance to its core and showed the World that all was not well. Officially, the USSR was coming to the help of the Communist forces of Mao Tse Tong in China, but no one was a fool about it. The lightning advances by the Red Army in what used to be the Japanese protectorate of Manchukuo, and its penetration of the Korean Peninsula could only mean one thing. The Soviets were making a blatant land grab.

  Lake Balaton

  Panzer Lehr Division on the attack in Hungary, January 12th, 1947

  The Panzer gun barked again with all its might, recoiling slightly to the rear. The tank was at a dead stop, with its turret across its side, aiming at yet another enemy tank that was in sight. The 88mm high-velocity red tracer raced in a slight arc toward its unfortunate recipient, an IS-2 Stalin tank.

  The round hit the Russian in between the gun mantle and the turret. It was a known vulnerability for this specific type of Soviet tank but a difficult place to hit— another superb shot by his young and very talented gunner, Hans Stromer. For a fleeting moment, probably half a second, it looked like the Russian tank would shrug off the shell. But only for that little moment. It didn't take long for the turret to disconnect from the tank's base and skyrocket in the air, followed by half of a body (probably the machine's commander) severed as well in the catastrophic explosion. Not much time elapsed after that for the rest of the IS-2 to burst into flame, with a giant pillar of fire bursting forth from the hole created by the turret's flying away.

  The young soldier was not fazed in any way by his marksmanship. Staying as sharp as a well-honed knife, he spotted another enemy in his targeting sight and yelled to the loader. "Quick now, load!" Walder looked rapidly thru the observation slit, and right as rain, another enemy was driving hard toward them, perpendicular to the by now fiercely burning IS-2 tank they'd just destroyed. He wondered how the kid saw the tank thru all this smoke and fire. He indeed had a gift.

  The loa
der finished his job. "Ready to fire, Hans." And then the Konigstiger fired again. This time, it hit the opposing tank below the topside armor, right on the side where the tracks rested. Walder, looking thru his slits, couldn't believe the shot again. It was the only spot to aim at, and Stromer had again done it perfectly.

  "Move to the right and backward!" Yelled Walder in order to get out of what looked to be a deathtrap. He'd been distracted since being too concentrated on the gunner's work. His job was to look at the overall scene, not just the destruction wrought by his gun. And he had not noticed the three T-34 75mm tanks rushing them from directly ahead.

  The Tiger II was rocked by two powerful hits on its frontal armor. Fortunately for the Germans inside, the Panzer was one of the strongest in the German arsenal with its 185mm of steel plating. So apart from stunning everyone and getting their ears to ring profusely, the tank shrugged off the hits. But the three enemies were coming closer by the second, and if one thing was sure, it was that at short range, the T-34 would be able to penetrate the Panzer, thick frontal armor or not.

  The tank lumbered at a surprising speed, even for the crew inside. They were still not used to the new Tiger II engine and transmission improvements. They'd just got the machine before the Lake Balaton offensive and had been told of the new Simmering Sla.16, a 1000hp+ engine (a significant improvement over the old 690 hp that the Tiger II used to have) and transmission derived from a ship's engine that the Kriegsmarine had developed in 1945 but never used because of the fleet's destruction. It had been adapted for the Wehrmacht tanks. This latest development came in handy for the famous Panzer, which had been plagued with low speed and transmission problems. The new gig was supposed to take care of the tank's main weaknesses.

  So far, it lived up to its promises. The whole Panzer Lehr Heavy Panzer Battalion had talked about it at the start of the offensive and marveled at the new speed the tank could go - an average of 48km to 50 km- which was also a significant improvement compared to the 38-40 it used to do under the Maybach engine's power. Not even one machine had broken down during the advance to the frontline. It was a refreshing development for the Panzer crews since about 10% of the machines usually simply broke down just getting to the battle.

  Erich had the tank backed up into a slight ditch that wasn't too steep nor too deep, but that enabled the Tiger II to get out of the charging T-34's line of fire. The Konigstiger rumbled down at full speed, plowing the soft earth deeply with its large and powerful tracks, splattering its side with brown mud. Several shells burst just in front of the Panzer, creating pillars of dirt and debris that then showered on the Royal Tiger. "Continue to drive backward at full speed," ordered the tank commander. A stream was at the bottom of the slight downward slope, and beyond it, a large rockface resided. They were right by the shore of Lake Balaton.

  By the time the Tiger II splashed into the knee-deep water of the stream, scattering it in all directions and followed by smoke and some fog created by the movement, the first T-34 showed its underside at the top of the ditch. As sharp as ever and being ready for just that opportunity to present itself, Stromer fired. The shell hit the Soviet tank as it was tilting down. The 88mm penetrated cleanly thru the thin armor and even exited on the other side by the engine's compartment. Gutted, the enemy machine skittered to a halt sideways, sliding for a moment on the muddy, sloping ground.

  That was when the other two T-34's decided to show up at the top of the ditch overlooking the small stream. They fired their rounds, but this time the Tiger II was able to dodge them since the driver expertly backed up the armored machine on the other side of the rockface. Again the tank splashed into the water (this time the Lake's water itself, but it was shallow depth), while the two Soviet rounds exploded in all their glory on the rock, splintering it in every direction.

  The battle was far from over for Walder’s crew and would still last a few more days. The Panzer Lehr was part of a German counter-offensive designed to save the Wehrmacht units trying to retreat from the Balkans and the rest of Central Europe. The situation had worsened gravely in the Balkans since December 1st. The Romanian betrayal had hurt the German strategic position, and the recent Western Allied breakthrough in Slovenia compounded the problem.

  Bucharest and the Ploesti oilfields were gone, Bulgaria had surrendered the minute Soviet troops entered their country, and the Russians even occupied the Hungarian capital, Budapest. The attack's goal was to give the 500 000 or so men time to extricate themselves from the Balkans and other positions that would soon be cut off from Germany proper. So Walder and his men didn't know how long they would fight for and what city they needed to take, but they understood the odds. The longer they held and pushed back the Russian attacks, the more time they gave their beleaguered compatriots to escape and fight another day.

  Bled Castle

  141st Regiment (Lone Star Division), Slovenia, January 13th, 1947

  As he was about to round the corner, a burst of machine-gun splattered the wall in front of him, making him stop dead in his track. An American soldier then fell backward, appearing in his view. The man fell to the floor with a heavy thud. The unfortunate G.I. had rounded the corner before Jack, and he received a ton of bullets in the chest and face.

  Germans soldiers waited in the castle corridor that gave on the exterior courtyard they'd been trying to reach for the better part of the last four hours. The division had come up to a small town called Bled, in Slovenia, about halfway between Italy and Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital. In the last few weeks, they fought their way thru the defensive line hastily set up by the Germans, but their superior numbers and better-equipped forces had won the day in a couple of weeks. The battle had been hard, but it was a far cry from the Gustav Line a few months back. Then They'd broken thru in the Mount Falcone area (another Axis defensive line between Italy and Slovenia), which was by the sea. Several big battleships had also helped them with their big guns and bombarded the Axis positions to oblivion.

  Since then, they had been advancing in Slovenia, trying to penetrate as deep as possible toward the Soviet forces battling it out with the Germans in Hungary and Central Europe. The Allied goal was to link up and thus seal the fate of over half a million Wehrmacht soldiers trying to retreat northward toward the Reich.

  But while it was a nice wish, it was no easy feat. The enemy did not give up one inch of ground without a fight. Everywhere they advanced, the Nazis awaited them in some sort of ambush, minefields, or fortified position like this one.

  The castle of Bled overlooked a tall rockface that towered over the town and a superb-looking lake. It was a great natural defensive position. With the added walls of the castle, it had, of course, been occupied by the damned Germans. The number of men they had bunched up inside was unknown. So, the artillery and the flyboys had shelled the place for a day or so to flatten it, but not much had been achieved in the end. The construction was well built and embedded into the rock itself. So, the Lone Star Division commander had been ordered to launch his men at it and storm the place.

  So, Jack and his men climbed the steep slope that gave to the castle's main gate. There they'd fought a small group of enemy soldiers, nested in several machine-gun nests and hastily-made earthen bunkers. The firefight lasted for half an hour, and Jack had ended up calling the Lone Star supporting Sherman unit to storm the position since he'd determined that they didn't have any heavy ordinance.

  After the tanks helped them take the entrance, they couldn't advance any further, the slope giving way to the steep walls and the area's rockface, so they continued their advance without the armored machines. They fought again for the inner gate, sending grenades and bazooka rounds at it and had charged.

  And then, after that, the Germans had retreated within the castle tunnels. It was a difficult battle. Reminiscent of the Cassino ruins and bitter struggle for supremacy over the Gustav Line.

  "Turnbull!" yelled Summers. Turnbull ran up to him (he'd been busy peppering the enemy toward another directio
n). "Anyone of your men still got grenades?" asked the sergeant. They were using the thing like they were snowballs, but contrary to a snow fight didn't have an infinite number they could carry at any given time. The battle was so tricky, and the tunnels were so packed with enemies and ambushes that they had no other choice. "I've got one myself, Sarge," said Turnbull, giving his superior a large smile. He gave it to Summers. The sergeant removed the pin and threw it down the corridor.

  Counting to three, he then yelled the order to charge thru. At the same moment, a loud, muffled sound was heard. The grenade exploded, showering the passage with splintering rock and smoke.

  Jack stepped over the dead American soldier that had taken the bullets in his place and rushed the other side of the corridor, not before sending a couple of machine-gun bursts toward what he supposed were the awaiting Germans. The bullets ricocheted on the rocky walls, showering the area with sparks and dust. Arriving at the other corner of the corridor, Jack was pleased to see that the enemies (two German paratroopers) were lying in a pool of blood and gore. The grenade's explosion had badly mangled them.

  He heard running footsteps further down and, in an instant, decided to follow. "Quick, boys!" he said, gesturing with his arm. His men ran after the enemy. Their group eventually arrived at the end of the medieval tunnel that gave to the inner courtyard. Apart from the four kaki-clothed paratroopers he could see entering the main building at the other end (there was no time to shoot at them), there didn't seem to be any enemies on the other side entrance since no one was shooting at them.

  "Damned German Paratroopers," Jack said, sending a burst of his machine gun for good measure even if he didn't have any chance of hitting the soldiers that had already entered the building. The so-called "Fallshirmjagers" fought like demons ever since the 141st started exchanging fire with them on the Gustav Line. The American soldiers didn't hate them; they respected them immensely. But at the same time, they longed to be done with them since they were pretty good at killing G.I.s.