Victory in Europe: A Novel of World War II by Robert Kofman

Author:Robert Kofman [Kofman, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lion Valley Publishing
Published: 2024-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

The next day, Eisenhower visited Bradley’s headquarters where the tall, bespectacled Missourian welcomed him with an exciting statement.

“I’ve come up with a plan for breaking out of this god-awful hedgerow country!”

“That’s music to my ears, Brad! I want to hear all about it.”

“Come to my map trailer, and I’ll lay out the details.”

Once they were in the trailer, Bradley pointed to a map of Normandy and jabbed his finger at the town of Saint-Lô. “The first step is to take this town and gain access to its roadnet. This won’t be an easy task, as we’ll have to fight through the hedgerows to reach Saint-Lô. Once we have Saint-Lô in our hands, the First Army will blast a hole in the Nazi line. Patton’s Third Army will be in reserve, ready to exploit our success. I’ve code-named the breakout attack ‘Operation Cobra,’ because like a venomous snake, we’re going to rile up and deal the Germans a deadly strike.”

Bradley looked at his friend. “I’ll need your help to effectuate the breakout.”

“Of course. I’ll give you whatever you need.”

“I want you to order the air force to heavily bomb the area directly in front of my front line. I want them to obliterate the Nazi armor.”

“I’ll happily order the saturation bombing.” Eisenhower paused and lit a cigarette. “One thing I’ve learned from Monty’s breakout efforts is that half-baked measures won’t get it done. You must throw everything you have into a devastating punch to break through the Hun line.”

“You don’t have to worry about me launching a feeble attack like Monty!” Bradley promised. “We’re going to smash the German line into smithereens.”

Eisenhower grinned. “I love your confidence.”

“Thanks, Ike. Your support means a lot. Before you go, do you have time to inspect an invention one of our sergeants, Curtis Culin, came up with for busting through the hedgerows?”

“Sure.”

The men hopped into Bradley’s jeep, and they drove to a nearby hedgerow. They stopped in front of a Sherman tank with four sharp steel blades protruding from the chassis.

Eisenhower closely inspected the tank. “Those steel plates look like shark’s teeth.”

“They do, sort of,” laughed Bradley. “But I think they look more like a rhinoceros’s tusks! I’m calling the retrofitted Shermans ‘rhino tanks.’”

Eisenhower smiled. “Okay, they’re rhino tanks.”

“Thus far our tanks have been largely ineffective in the bocage country,” noted Bradley. “When they try to go through a hedgerow, their hulls get elevated, and when they break through, their lightly armored bottoms are easy targets for the German Panzerfaust anti-tank weapon. The rhino tank fixes that problem.”

Bradley snapped his fingers at a nearby tank crew who quickly scrambled into the tank. Soon the tank roared to life and advanced on an eighteen-foot-tall hedgerow. Without slowing down, it slammed into the hedgerow. The rhino teeth dug into the earthen bottom; the tank pushed through the hedgerow and burst into an open farm field with its steel treads firmly on the ground.

Eisenhower slapped Bradley on the shoulder. “That was impressive, Brad!”

His subordinate accepted the compliment with a smile.

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