Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
A Clerk’s War
Friday 25th to Monday 28th May 1940
Even with the Spanish bombers disrupting supply to the front lines, OKH has agreed to meet General Rommel’s pleas for more troops. He will not, of course, get back the Panzerkorps he was forced to release. For one thing it is now in Yugoslavia, waiting for the 1st June and the start of Unternehmen Bohrturm. More importantly, however, our logistics experts tell us that we cannot support more armoured units in Spain. So the decision was virtually forced upon OKH: the nearest units are three infantry divisions of the Küste and Grenze Army that are on the border with Vichy France. 7.Infanterie (General Haase) has been taken from VII Armeekorps and 3.Infanterie (von Boehm-Bezing) and 71.Infanterie (Neuling) have been removed from II Armeekorps. All have been assigned to von Arnim’s 1st Motorkorps. (There is little chance of him getting any more motorised divisions soon – not with the demand for Panzerkorps with infantry support). From the transfer papers and locomotive and rolling stock requisitions on my desk, these men are already on the way to Spain.
They will be needed, as our casualties to enemy bombing are escalating. With the carrier fleets safe again out in the Bay of Biscay, the Royal Navy Air Arm returned to disrupting our ground attacks in Spain, and they returned with renewed enthusiasm. For a while they had things their own way, with 3.Infanterie again bearing the brunt of the attacks. Then, just after midday, Generalmajor Christiansen intercepted a combined Anglo-Spanish force heading for Villada to attack Ott’s men again. The carrier air groups, weakened by the recent attacks on the Nordseeflotte, could not outfight the Messerschmitts and the mission was aborted. A welcome victory for the Luftwaffe.
Air Battle of Villada: 1PM 25th May
Air Marshal Maltby decided to try his luck again later in the day, but Christiansen was waiting for him. The Allied aircraft performed better this time, shooting down five of our interceptors, but lost seven bombers. Critically, they again were forced to jettison their bombs, and Ott’s men were spared yet more casualties.
On the ground, General Petersen and 2.Infanterie (mot) have begun to move into Tarragona. Although the city is held by a skeleton force of only 3,000 men, it will not be easy: Petersen has to get his men across the Ebro at its widest point, and 2a Division de Infanterie (a regiment in all but name), has had time to prepare the city for defence).
Battle of Tarragona
North of Madrid, Blaskowitz is driving south, his way into Arévalo blocked by General Castro Delgado and the 12,000 men of Circunscripción Divison and 2/1a Division de Cabelloros. 29.Infanterie (mot) may be outnumbered, but both of Delgado’s units are wearied and disheartened by a succession of lost battles, and the terrain lends itself to a swift motorised attack.
Battle of Arévalo
No news all day on Kriegsmarine casualties: I think I must accept that Karl Behrens went down with his ship. Perhaps that it is the way he would have wanted it, but I doubt it. He was too full of life to have even contemplated death.
By the time I arrived at work on Saturday Blaskowitz had won the Battle of Arévalo. Only 17 men lost, and 96 Spanish dead. We are getting closer and closer to a mass assault on the enemy capital. How will the Spanish react to the fall of Madrid? As it changed hands several times during the Civil War, I suspect that it will not be a critical event, but it should shake their confidence.
The fighting over, men of 29.Infanterie (mot) have a chance to eat some warm food, sitting next to their Einheits-Diesel Kfz63 MeßstellenUnd Geraeftkraftwagen.
The rest of the day was routine, broken only by Jodl’s move to support Petersen’s attack on Tarragona. 14.Infanterie entered Lleida, north of the Catalan capital, and pushed back the few light tanks and armoured cars of 2 Brigada Blindada, which is still without a leader and, although potentially a powerful force, is liable to shatter as soon as put under pressure. In fact, within a day or so, Jodl had total control of the province. In a disgraceful breakdown of reporting procedures, no documentation has been lodged with Sud-Frankreich Army regarding this victory. I have protested, but my stern note did not even generate a response from General Rommel’s headquarters.
Battle of Lleida
Sunday was very quiet. I did not feel up to going out so soon after Karl’s death, and spent the day completing a few jobs around the apartment before an early night. I did open one of my few remaining bottles of pre-war brandy, and had a glass or two in memory of the dashing young Käpitan I had first met back in January 1936. In fact, I think that I probably ended drinking a fair bit of the bottle before my private wake was over and I went to bed.
My contemplative Sunday evening must have had a cathartic effect, because on Monday my mood was much better. Yes, Karl’s loss was a tragic event, but the sun was shining, Gisela was looking especially attractive, and yesterday the Spanish suffered two more defeats. General Sarabia has suffered a crushing loss in Montalbán , with 408 men dead. Engelbrecht’s 4th Gebirgsjäger Division lost just 6 men. Kreß von Kressenstein’s victory in Tortuera was not as emphatic, but still respectable. He lost 120 men, but even though he was outnumbered he still inflicted 573 casualties on Matallana Gómez’s 1 Brigada Montaña.
Some of Engelbrecht’s men rest after the battle for Montalbán. Even though the ground fighting has ended they have dug trenches for protection against the Allied bombers.
Several air battles took place over the Channel, with Klepke’s 1st Jagdfliegerkorps engaged in a war of attrition against the RAF and the Royal Navy’s carrier air groups. I must say that, looking at the effective aircraft lists lodged by JG 33 “Freki” and JG 24 “Geri”, we seem to be losing this particular war: “Freki” has only 50% of its regular complement able to fly, and “Geri”, while far better, is still 11 aircraft short of its normal 100 planes. The best information we have on the four British carrier groups is that they are perhaps 25 aircraft short.
Air Battle of the Western English Channel: 10AM 27th May
Monday began well with de Angelis adding 16.Infanterie (mot) to the growing cordon surrounding Madrid. He is advancing into Alcobendas, north-east of the capital. As is now becoming standard campaign weather in Spain, thunderstorms are raging over the entire area, and rain is steady. Nevertheless, de Angelis has no doubt that he will be adjacent to the city before Tuesday evening.
Battle of Alcobendas
The news at noon from General de Angelis must have caused furrowed brows in the Luftfahrtministerium. While the fact that he reported he was under attack by enemy aircraft was, unfortunately, not unusual, the type of bomber was concerning: they were RAF tactical bombers. He confirmed that the aircraft were definitely Handley Page Hampdens and Fairey Battles. These aircraft could not reach Matabuena from the United Kingdom, nor was it possible for them to be launched from aircraft carriers. (There was some dispute about this – a few bomber pilots were of the opinion that you could launch a bomber from an aircraft carrier, but all were sure that it could never land on the ship again.) It is therefore definite that the RAF is basing bombers in Spain, even if only at an RAF base in Gibraltar.
Bombing of Matabuena
RAF bombers (Fairey Battles) over Matabuena: a worrying development
Speaking of Gibraltar, we had an interesting message from Kommodore Aßmann. At night, resting on the surface and recharging his batteries, he spotted a small convoy of troopships escorted by three light cruisers, heading north. He believes the ships were empty, and perhaps the convoy was returning to the United Kingdom after delivering reinforcements to the garrison of Gibraltar. Of course he did no more than observe: all our U-boat commanders are under strict orders to act defensively and only attack when certain of success.
The mystery convoy at midnight of the 27th May
Later that day Spanish bombers joined the attack on 16.Infanterie (mot), but although 1er and 2o Grupo Táctico lost more than 160 men, it was not seen as serious as the earlier attack.
As I sorted through the various status summaries from Spain and cross-checked them against the military reports, I realised that another document was missing. Everything indicated that General Ott had successfully crossed the Duero and captured Villardefrades, but no battle details had been provided. Given that I was already missing the report from General Jodl, I can only assume that Spanish guerrillas intercepted the despatch riders and the relevant papers never reached Sud-Frankreich Army headquarters. I do have the casualty lists from 3.Infanterie (mot), however, and it shows that the combination of bombing and combat losses have reduced the division from 10,000 to 7,405 men. The river crossing must have been horrific, with the Spanish fighting with incredible passion and courage. We have no way of knowing the enemy casualties, but expect them to have been equally severe.
3.Infanterie (mot), safely in Villardefrades, but having suffered badly in crossing the Duero.
Spain at the end of 28th May
Preparations for Unternehmen Bohrturm are nearly complete, but several units are still moving to their start up positions.
Bombing Summary
Royal Navy Air Arm
Cistierna: Ludlow-Hewitt with 4th CAG: 11, 24, 38
Villada: Maltby with 5th and 6th CAG: 78
Calamocha: Bowhill with 9th CAG: 92
Cuéllar: Denny with 7th CAG: 32
Cuéllar: Bowhill with 9th CAG: 9, 23
Cambrils: Bowhill with 9th CAG: 23, 7, 1, 2
RAF
Matabuena: Dowding with No 1 and No 5 RAF Tactical Bomber Groups: 274
FARE
Calamocha: Comacho Benítez with 1er and 2o Grupo Táctico (2 x TAC): 82, 245
Calamocha: Bayo Giraud with 10 Grupo de Bombardeo, Grupo Táctico n.1 FARE (2 x TAC): 121, 147
Matabuena: Comacho Benítez with 1er and 2o Grupo Táctico (2 x TAC): 164
Anglo-Spanish Combined Missions
Villada: Maltby with 5th and 6th CAG, 1er and 2o Grupo Táctico: NIL, NIL
Luftwaffe
Villardefrades: Dörstling with 6th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 131, 259
Tarragona: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 278, 159, 194
Lleide: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 82, 151, 63, 156, 140
Tortuera: Dörstling with 6th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 105, 175
Tarragona: Dörstling with 6th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 46, 179
Unterseebootsflotte Activity Report
Cape St Vincent: 1 escort (Canadian): Halifax – Cádiz: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Cape Oregal: 1 transport (UK): Dover – Rangoon: Fricke with 3rd U-flotte
Coast of Cádiz: 1 transport (Spanish): Cádiz – Cueta: Wold with 4th U-flotte
Western Biscay Plain: 1 transport (UK): Portsmouth – Mauritius: Fricke with 3rd U-flotte
Horseshoe Seamount: 2 transports (Greek): Athina – Boston: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Coast of Porto: 1 transport (UK): Portsmouth – Malta: Aßmann with 1st U-flotte
Cape St Vincent: 1 escort (UK): Dover – Dubai: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
South Azores Biscay Rise: 1 transport (UK): Dover – Ed: Aßmann with 1st U-flotte
Coast of Cádiz: 1 escort (Spanish): Cádiz – Boston: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
With Unternehmen Bohrturm due to commence in just 2 days, and likely to dominate the news for the first week of June, a world update was prepared for the Cabinet Ministers. Things appear to be picking up for both the Italians and the Japanese.
Although pushed out of Meliki (where they had for a brief time cut off Thessalonika from the rest of Greece), the Italians are moving forward elsewhere. A Greek division has been isolated in the mountains of Ioannina. Although not confirmed, we understand there could be problems in the future as the port in Tirane is too small for the huge number of men now relying on it for supplies.
Libia is looking far better than a fortnight ago, even though the Army of Libia is still in full flight westwards. Some supply convoys are now reaching the fleeing troops and relief is on the way. Our military analysts expect that within a week or two the Italians will stabilise the front. The Army of Egypt will then face a far larger enemy with many rested and well equipped soldiers.
The Imperial Japanese Army is now making incursions deep into Kuomintang territory. Supply is still an issue due to the poor state of the roads and the almost complete lack of rail, but slowly the Supply Commissariat in Dagu is getting the truck (and in some cases mule or horse-drawn wagon) convoys in place to ensure regular deliveries to the front.
