CODENAME: ATHENA (2025 Edition) by Michel Poulin - HTML preview

CHAPTER 28 – OPERATION BACKSTABBER

21:46 (GMT)

Tuesday, May 13, 1941

Chatham naval base

Private George Lewis stuck his head out of one of the roof hatches of his 25-ton

Infantry Fighting Vehicle, or IFV in short, and stared at the rows of hovercrafts visible in

the moonlight and waiting for his comrades and their vehicles to be loaded aboard.

“My God! It looks like an invasion from Mars.”

“Yeah,” replied his friend, Corporal Peter Jones, “but we’re the ones who

are going to do the invading. Isn’t that a nice change of scenario for you?”

“Sure is!”

They watched as an officer equipped with a loudspeaker sorted out which vehicles went

in which hovercraft. Their turn soon came.

“FORCE SIX, GET IN THE HOVERCRAFTS NUMBERED 195 TO 219, IN THE

LAST ROW TO YOUR RIGHT.”

Lewis’ WOLVERINE IFV followed the eighteen CHARGER main battle tanks, seventeen

other WOLVERINES IFVs and six Bedford QL 3-ton trucks of their column towards the

24 hovercrafts assigned to Force Six. The rear loading ramps were already down, with

Royal Navy ground guides waiting besides each hovercraft to help the loading. Lewis’

IFV was paired with one of the tanks before it rolled up the ramp of one hovercraft and

stopped in the large cargo bay, the tank following them inside. Lieutenant Ralph Smith,

Lewis’ platoon commander, then ordered everybody out of the hovercraft, assembling

his men and the tankers supporting his platoon near the stern ramp of his hovercraft.

“Alright, men, it should take a couple more hours before the force is ready to

depart. The force commander should be around soon to brief all of you on our mission,

thus stay close to your assigned hovercrafts. If you need to relieve yourselves, ask one

of the sailors to show you where the latrines are on your hovercraft. Now, try to relax as

much as possible in the meantime.”

“Sir,” shouted Lewis, “could you at least tell us now where we are going?”

“The force commander will tell you everything, Private. Just be patient.”

416

As the British were settling in for some waiting, they saw a long column of American-

made trucks approach their group of hovercrafts. Each truck had the letters FFL and the

Cross of Lorraine painted on their doors, while the troops riding the trucks wore the

distinctive helmets of the French Army.

“Free French, on this operation?” exclaimed Corporal Jones. “What for?”

“Beats me!” replied George Lewis. “The six last hovercrafts are still empty: they

must have been reserved for these frogs.”

The jeep leading the column of trucks stopped besides their hovercraft long enough for a

tall woman in battledress and full combat gear to jump out. As the jeep sped towards

one of the empty hovercrafts, the woman, wearing assault armor like the Welsh

Guardsmen, walked to Lieutenant Smith, who saluted her crisply.

“The men are ready to be briefed, Colonel.”

“Excellent! Have them assemble around me.”

“Bloody hell!” swore Lewis quietly to Jones. “We are going to be commanded by

Colonel Laplante? Then we can expect one crazy mission.”

“Right you are, mate.”

With Major John Brannigan, the company commander, hurrying to assemble his 193

men and the 72 tankers supporting them, it took less than a minute to gather everyone in

a semi-circle around Nancy Laplante. The British were soon surrounded by about 500

French soldiers, with a few polish and Dutch officers mixed in with them. Lewis glanced

quickly at a nearby Frenchman, noticing the shoulder patches on his battledress.

“Infanterie de marine? Sounds like our own Royal Marines.”

Nancy Laplante then started speaking, cutting short his thoughts.

“Good evening to all! I’m Colonel Nancy Laplante and I will be commanding

Force Six. Up to now, we have kept secret our mission from you, for a good reason: if

the Germans are actually waiting for us on the objective, then we will all die today.

Surprise will be of the utmost importance for this operation. Your officers have already

been briefed in detail, so I will only need to tell you the main outlines of this mission.

Before I do that, though, I will quickly translate what I just said to our French allies.”

Laplante then spoke for a while in French before switching back to English.

“As you can all see, this will be a combined multinational operation. We will be

provided both air and sea support all the way to our objective. In turn, the other forces

which are also part of this operation will strike five other major objectives. If we succeed

in our respective missions, the Germans will be dealt a severe blow indeed. Some may

417

ask why we have French troops with us tonight. Well, once you see what is our

objective, you will quickly understand why.”

Two junior officers then brought up a light map board on which a map and a number of

air photos were pinned, with one of the officers then holding a flashlight to illuminate the

board. Lewis opened his mouth wide in stunned surprise as Laplante explained their

mission and described the objective. In turn, the French soldiers around him became

enthusiastic when she translated her briefing for their benefit. Once the briefing was

over, the soldiers started to disperse to relax a bit before departure. Lewis and Jones

didn’t have time to walk away, though: Lieutenant Smith signaled them to join him and

Laplante near the hovercraft. A bit apprehensive, the two guardsmen walked to the two

officers and saluted crisply. After returning their salute, Laplante smiled to them.

“Corporal Jones, Private Lewis, you have been assigned to me as my personal

bodyguards for this operation. Lieutenant Smith here says that you are two of his best

men.”

The guardsmen puffed their chests with pride at those words. Besides, many of the men

of the regiment would have fought to get to be close to such an attractive woman.

“We will do our best, Colonel.” Shouted Jones.

“I’m sure you will, Corporal. I will ask only two things from both of you: follow me

everywhere and don’t let the Germans capture me alive. If you see that I am about to be

taken and that I ask you to, then you will have to kill me.”

“Maam?” said Jones, shocked.

“You heard me, Corporal. If the Germans will capture me, they will torture me

slowly to death, whether I answer their questions or not. If I ask you to, kill me without

hesitation.”

“Er, yes maam!”

“Good! From now on, stay with me and cover my flanks.”

At precisely eleven O’clock, all the soldiers were told to get on board their

respective hovercraft. The hovercrafts started their engines soon afterwards and lined

up one behind the other to go down the boat ramp. At 23:20 hours, 57 LCMACs formed

up on the waters of the Thames Estuary, escorted by eleven surface effect ships, and

headed East. The other forces of Operation BACKSTABBER, dispersed between four

other bases, followed according to a precise schedule. All around Great Britain,

418

hundreds of bombers and fighter-bombers were getting ready to support the 214

LCMACs, 31 surface effect ships and seven regiments of guardsmen now on their way.

05:12 (GMT)

Wednesday, May 14, 1941

North Sea

“WAKE UP, RISE AND SHINE!”

The yells of the Welsh Guards sergeant got the sleepy soldiers out of the stretchers

hooked up alongside the bulkheads of the hovercraft’s vehicle deck. Storing the

stretchers away, the guardsmen then lined up at the service counter of the tiny galley for

a cup of hot coffee and a bowl of porridge. They were not a little surprised to find

themselves served by none other than Colonel Laplante.

“Call it a little comfort before battle, guys.” she said while pouring hot coffee and

serving porridge. Lewis and Jones got their portions, then sat in some of the jump seats

lining the bulkheads. A Polish major soon sat next to them, followed by a Dutch captain.

The guardsmen knew that both officers were acting as liaison officers and were here

because of their language skills. Every one of them ate in silence, their mission on their

minds and feeling stress build up progressively as they got nearer to the coast of

Germany. Ten minutes after finishing their breakfasts, the noise of multiple explosions

made the guardsmen jump nervously. Laplante’s voice came on immediately on the

deck’s loudspeaker.

“Do not worry: these are our flotilla’s guns firing on Hamburg’s port installations

and defenses. You will also soon hear our bombers doing some work ahead of us. Get

to your vehicles and be ready for combat.”

“Hamburg!” said Lewis to Jones. “I never thought that we would find ourselves in

the heart of Germany so soon in this war.”

Climbing inside their IFV, they sat beside Major Konrad Terlecki and Captain Pieter

Lunds and watched Laplante as she came in through the commander’s hatch. The

Canadian smiled to them and gave a thumbs up signal.

“So far so good, gentlemen: the other forces are now at their respective

objectives and have achieved complete surprise. Everything is going according to plan.

We should be at our own objective in about half an hour.”

419

“Do you know how many of my compatriots we could find there, Colonel?” asked

Terlecki. Laplante’s face became grave as she answered.

“A few hundreds, maybe two or three thousand, Major. Some of them will be

women and most of them will be in very poor physical shape. I will need you to get them

moving towards the hovercrafts without delay once the guards are taken care of. We

won’t have the time to celebrate over there, as various German units may react to us

quickly and we are deep inside enemy territory.”

Terlecki nodded in comprehension.

“I realize that, Colonel. Thanks for including Neuengamme in your operation.”

“That’s nothing, Major. There are so many other places I would have loved to

raid, starting with Ravensbrück. The thoughts of what is happening there every day is

like a nightmare to me.”

“What is this Ravensbrück, Colonel?” asked the Dutch captain. Jones and Lewis

listened discreetly as Laplante answered with a haunted look on her face.

“Women’s hell on earth, Captain. It is a concentration camp reserved exclusively

for female prisoners. Political dissidents, resistance members, Jews, ethnic minorities

and others deemed enemies of the Nazis are sent there. Starvation diets, overwork,

beatings, tortures and executions will kill close to 100,000 of the inmates who will go

through Ravensbrück during this war. There is one point you and Major Terlecki must

know: the Germans use inmates to help discipline the other prisoners in their

concentration camps. They generally use common criminals or others ready to do

anything to get a better treatment and then put them in charge of a barrack. These

blockowas and stupowas, as they are commonly nicknamed, are to be treated like the

Germans and segregated from the other camp inmates.”

“It will be done, Colonel.” said Lunds firmly. “Anyone who collaborates with the

Nazis will eventually pay the price for it.”

“Alright then! Let’s review the operation one last time.”

Twenty minutes later, the cargo deck loudspeaker came alive, making everybody

look up.

“OBJECTIVE IN SIGHT! LANDING IN ONE MINUTE!”

Nancy stuck her torso out of her hatch and connected her helmet’s integrated headset to

the IFV’s radio set, then activated her microphone.

“All call signs Six, this is Six Niner! Bingo in one minute! Acknowledge, over!”

420

Her four subordinate commanders answered in turn. Nancy confirmed reception, then

shouted to the crew of the tank behind her IFV.

“LOAD H.E.-FRAG! THE GUARD TOWERS ARE YOUR FIRST OBJECTIVES,

THEN THE GUARDS BARRACKS! GOOD LUCK!”

06:04 (Berlin Time)

Neuengamme concentration camp

25 km southeast of Hamburg

The German SS Totenkopf soldier manning the northwest guard tower of the

Neuengamme concentration camp was the first to spot the incoming British hovercrafts.

He at first looked upwards on hearing their engines, thinking with dread that another

bomber raid would soon follow the one that had just pounded to bits a nearby refinery.

Seeing nothing in the sky and looking to the Northwest, where the noise was coming

from, he saw a long line of the strangest machines he had ever seen, approaching fast

on the nearby Elbe River. Grabbing his binoculars, the German examined for a few

seconds the incoming craft, swearing out loud on seeing the British flag flying from the

mast of the first hovercraft. Grabbing his field telephone, he frantically cranked it and

shouted in it as soon as his Scharfuhrer21 answered.

“The British are coming! I see about two dozen fast boats approaching on the

Elbe, coming from Hamburg.”

“Sure, Finkel!” replied his clearly skeptical NCO. “I suppose that the port

defenses in Hamburg let them pass after making them pay a toll fee? Don’t you have

better things to do than to disturb me with such nonsense?”

“But… these boats are flying the British flag.”

“Listen, Finkel! You keep on like this and I …”

The shrieking noise of a shell flying by was followed by an explosion, which blew a large

hole in the top floor of the guards’ barrack block. Dozens more shells followed in quick

order as the British craft opened fire on the camp, concentrating their aim on the part of

it occupied by the guard force. Shaking from fear, Finkel saw with amazement the

British craft leave the water, seemingly jumping over the low bank of the Elbe and

continuing to race towards the camp at speeds of at least sixty kilometers per hour.

21 Scharfuhrer: SS sergeant

421

Grabbing his machine gun, Finkel was transferring it to the northwest side of his guard

tower when a hail of 20mm cannon fire from the leading craft cut him down.

Nancy patted the shoulder of her IFV driver as soon as the bow ramp went down. “Go for the camp’s main gate!”

The driver gunned his engine and raced down the bow ramp, closely followed by the

tank assigned to support their IFV. Nancy shouted more orders in the radio as they

rushed towards the barbed wire gate of the concentration camp.

“This is Six niner! Call signs Six One and Six Two will clear the guards’ barracks

now. Call signs Six Three and Six Four will follow me inside the prisoners compound.

Out!”

Fourteen tanks and fourteen IFVs formed up in assault line as soon as they left their

hovercraft, rushing towards the brick buildings used by the German guards and the

camp administration. The 23 trucks carrying the French naval infantry and the six empty

trucks meant to help evacuate the sick and wounded followed Nancy’s eight armored

vehicles as best they could on the marshy terrain between the Elbe River and the camp.

The 4-inch guns and 20mm cannons of the 24 hovercrafts kept a steady fire in the

meantime, raking the guards barracks from end to end and turning them into burning

ruins. Nancy’s IFV didn’t slow down as it crashed through the camp’s main gate and

crossed the large empty surface used for prisoners’ callouts. The tank following her

stopped in the middle of the parade grounds and fired two 3.75-inch shells in quick

succession, blowing up the two guard towers still intact, from which some machinegun

fire was coming. The French infantry dismounted right in front of the wooden barracks

housing the prisoners and immediately entered them, looking for any German guards.

Nancy, followed by her bodyguards, Major Terlecki and Captain Lunds, was actually the

first to enter a prisoners barrack block. What they saw inside appalled them. Over 600

men, skinny and wearing rags, filled the stinking barrack.

“STAY DOWN! WAIT FOR THE ORDER TO MOVE OUT!” Shouted Nancy in

French, with Terlecki and Lunds repeating her instructions in Polish and Dutch

respectively. Running down the rows of triple bunk beds, Nancy went to the other end of

the block, searching for Germans. Finding none, she ran out of the block and into the

next one, which was set somewhat apart from the others. That one turned out to be full

of women, all of them already lying down on the floor. Her suspicions raised, Nancy

422

scanned the block quickly, just in time to see a fleeting silhouette in gray uniform

disappear in a doorway at the other end.

“Major, stay here with Captain Lunds! Jones, Lewis, with me!”

She had a hard time running down the length of the barrack, so packed was the floor

with fearful prisoners. One of the inmates stretched out one arm, pleading as Nancy ran

by her.

“I’m British! Please take me out of here.”

Nancy braked, hesitant, then pointed the woman to Lewis.

“Private, stay with her and get some info on her. Me and Jones will chase that

German down.”

Jones at her back, Nancy stopped besides the doorway where the German had

disappeared and gave a quick look inside. A pistol shot greeted her, with the bullet

whistling by her head. Lowering her armored faceplate first, Nancy then jumped inside

what was the latrine and washing area of the barrack block, her rifle at the ready. A lone

German tried to line up his pistol on her but she beat him to it. A short burst cut down

the SS guard, who fell over the line of latrine seats, dead. That made Nancy smile.

“A fine place to die for that piece of shit.”

Her remark made Jones laugh.

“Colonel, you talk like a real guardsman.”

“No point in being polite in combat, Corporal. Let me just do a quick check by

radio.”

She activated her backpack radio, using her helmet microphone.

“All call signs Six, this is Six Niner: give me a short situation report, over!”

“Six One, the guards barracks are about leveled now. Resistance is down to a

few isolated Germans. No losses to my unit yet, over.”

“Six Two, we just took what seems to have been the camp’s punishment block

and have freed twelve inmates in very bad shape, apart from capturing four Germans. I

have one man seriously wounded, over.”

“Six Three, all the inmate barracks have been secured. Request permission to

start loading the inmates in the hovercrafts, over.”

“Six Three, from Six Niner, you may proceed now. Have Six Four help you with

that, out.”

423

Nancy then returned to the main room and knelt beside the British woman whom Lewis

was protecting. A dozen French soldiers had also entered the block and were being

cheered by the inmates.

“How do you feel, miss?”

“Weak but happy, Colonel. My name is Janet Harlow and I worked for the

Special Operations Executive as a clandestine radio operator. I was captured in France

six months ago. I…”

“Take your time, Janet.” said softly Nancy, seeing that the young woman was

having a hard time recounting her past nightmares. Choking back her tears, the British

went on.

“The Gestapo tortured me, then sent me here with the promise that I would die

here, slowly. You can’t imagine how wonderful it was to see you and the other soldiers.”

Harlow then broke down and started crying. Nancy gently hugged her, herself close to

tears: to free such a camp had been a longtime dream for her. This alone made her

exile in the past worthwhile. She then helped Harlow to her feet and shouted in French

at the soldiers present.

“Help these women towards the hovercrafts. Be careful: they are very weak.”

“What will you do with the German guards, Colonel?” asked Harlow as Nancy

supported her while walking out of the barrack block. That made Nancy hesitate: the

laws of war would dictate that the guards were entitled to a trial, even though they were

all probably guilty of atrocities against the inmates. Seeing the emaciated state of the

women around her was however tempting Nancy into having the guards shot on the spot.

One of the four military press correspondents accompanying her force then approached

and started taking pictures of the ex-inmates and of their liberators. He took five pictures

of Nancy and Janet before running towards another group of women. Only then did

Nancy answer Janet in a low voice.

“I know that they deserve much less, Janet, but I intend to bring them to Great

Britain, where they will be tried for war crimes. I promise you that you will have a chance

to testify against them, like all the other ex-prisoners here.”

Janet didn’t reply to that, too weak to do much more than simply walk towards the row of

hovercrafts, which had closed in on the camp and were now parked less than a hundred

yards from the main gate. Janet looked with awe at the big machines.

“What are those things, Colonel?”

424

“They are called hovercrafts, Janet. Over 200 of them are involved today in

coordinated raids against a total of six targets inside Germany.”

“Payback, at last!”

As they were passing by a long line of female ex-inmates, they saw a French soldier

suddenly start running towards a small brunette.

“Claudette! Mon Dieu, Claudette!”

“Maxime?” said the teenager, disbelief in her voice. She then ran to meet the

soldier, hugging him tearfully. Putting Private Lewis in charge of escorting Janet Harlow

to the nearest hovercraft, Nancy approached the French couple and waited for them to

part before smiling and speaking to them in French.

“You two know each other?”

The soldier answered her, choking off tears while holding the girl’s hands.

“Claudette is my sister, Colonel. This must be the nicest day of my life. I can’t

thank God enough for this.”

Nancy had to turn away as tears came to her own eyes. A radio call then echoed in her

headset.

“Six Niner, this is Six Two. We have found about a dozen small children which

were held near the camp’s infirmary. Some of them seem to be pretty sick. I will need a

medical team from callsign six four, over.”

Something she had seen on the Internet in the year 2006 then flashed back in Nancy’s

mind.

“Six Two, be careful when handling those children. I believe that the camp doctor

injected them with tuberculosis as part of some sick medical experiments. Cover your

mouth and nose and keep them away from the other inmates, over.”

There was a marked pause on the radio.

“Six Two understood! We have taken the camp doctor and his two nurses as

well. What should I do with them?”

It was obvious from the tone of Major Brannigan that he would have liked to simply shoot

the said doctor on the spot. Nancy was furiously tempted to tell him to do just that. She

however knew that such an order would be an illegal one.

“Six Two, just throw them in a hovercraft and keep them under tight guard. They

will be judged in England. Six Niner, out to you. Six Four, send a medical team to the

location of Six Two, over.”

“Six Four, I copy, out!”

425

“Six Niner, this is Six Zulu, urgent message, over!”

Nancy frowned: Six Zulu was the call sign of the lead hovercraft of her flotilla. It was

probably relaying a message from one of the other forces or even from Great Britain.

“Six Niner listening, over.”

“Six Zulu, from Five Niner: call sign Five is under heavy attack from what looks

like a Waffen SS regiment and is in danger of being overrun. They urgently need

reinforcements, over.”

“Six Zulu, tell Five Niner that I’m on my way and will be in his location in half an

hour, out. Six One and Six Two, did you copy the last transmission, over?”

“Six One, affirmative.”

“Six Two, affirmative.”

“Six One, send your callsign Six One Delta to my location near the main gate.

Six Two, join me as well with your whole sub-unit as soon as Six Three will relieve you.

Six Three, send immediately your callsign Alpha to relieve Six Two. I will also need Six

Three Niner at my location now for a snap orders group. All call signs, acknowledge,

over!”

Every one of her sub-units answered back promptly. As she waited for the designated

elements to join her, she signaled her IFV and its support tank to get near her. They

arrived besides her at the same time as Commandant Charles Grondin’s jeep. The tall

French naval infantry officer jumped out of his jeep and ran to her, then saluted.

“Trouble in Hamburg, Colonel?”

“It seems so, Commandant. I will leave you with most of our tanks in support, so

that you can finish the job here. I want all the ex-inmates and our men and vehicles

loaded up and gone out of here in less than an hour. I will leave by road with one tank

troop and our mechanized company to go help Force Five. We will meet back in

Hamburg. Do you have any questions?”

“None, Colonel! I will wrap up things here as quickly as possible.”

“Good! You are in charge of this location as soon as I’m gone, Commandant.”

Nancy then climbed on her IFV and took place in the commander’s hatch. Four tanks

and seventeen IFVs soon joined her two armored vehicles. She then gave the signal to

move and sped away with her mechanized force. After a last look at her, Grondin

returned to his jeep and jumped in.

“She certainly knows her job… for a woman.” he said to his driver before having

him head towards the men of his first company.

426

 

06:53 (Berlin Time)

South suburbs of Hamburg, Germany

Nancy’s mechanized column had to cut somewhat its breakneck speed as it left

the main highway and started to follow the city’s streets towards the Blohm & Voss

submarine construction yards, the objective of Force Five. By now, Colonel Winters,

commander of Force Five, had given her by radio a detailed report of his situation: he

was pinned down along the docks and the submarine launching bays of the yard by a

large German infantry force positioned within the unfinished submarine hulls and

construction equipment. The cluttered grounds of the yard were preventing Winters from

fully using his own tanks. However, his tanks had in turn been the only thing stopping

the overwhelming German force from swamping him. What Winters needed and had

requested from Nancy was to have an infantry force enter the yards and take the

Germans by surprise from the rear. Nancy knew that she was going to be heavily

outnumbered during a close quarter fight but had no choice. If she didn’t succeed in

stopping the Germans, Force Five could be wiped out entirely, something that could also

prevent her own force from going back down the Elbe River through Hamburg on its way

back to the open sea and Great Britain. She gloomily thought that she was probably

going to suffer heavy casualties in the next hours, something she dreaded.

Having made her mind on an attack plan, Nancy activated her radio microphone.

“Six Two, this is Six Niner. Six Two Alpha, along with Six One Delta, will go up

on Alter Wall Strasse, then left along Jungfernstieg and Feld-Strasse, in order to

approach the submarine yards from the Northeast. The enemy must have left their

transport vehicles in that area. Six Two Alpha will destroy them and prevent any enemy

retreat in that direction. The rest of us will go down Ost-West-Strasse and Reeperbahn

before dismounting and entering the yards on foot. Acknowledge, over!”

Major Brannigan answered her quickly, then relayed her orders to his first platoon and

the tank troop accompanying them. As they arrived at the junction with Alter Wall

Strasse, Nancy had her IFV slow down and stop long enough for her to point her tanks

and the four IFVs of six two alpha in the right direction. That prompted a remark on the

intercom from her driver.

“You seem to know Hamburg well, Colonel.”

“I visited it a few times… after the war. Forward, driver!”

427

The driver scratched his head, somewhat confused, before pushing again on his

accelerator pedal.

The noise of a heated battle was evident in the distance as they rolled down the

nearly deserted streets. The rare civilian cars and trucks they met either assumed that

they were German military vehicles or turned precipitously into side streets. At one

street corner, as Nancy’s IFV slowed down to negotiate a sharp turn, they passed in

front of a young boy ready to sell his bundle of newspapers. Nancy grinned to him and

flashed a victory sign with two fingers, leaving the stunned boy to stare at her and at the

British flag flying from her vehicle’s radio antenna. As for the pedestrians and the people

out on their balconies, they could only look on in disbelief and helpless rage as the

British soldiers sped by while taunting them with mocking greetings. Nancy couldn’t help

giggle at some of the juicier exchanges between German civilians and her soldiers.

Seeing a number of wanted posters with her picture plastered on facades at a street

corner, she made a point of taking off her helmet for a few seconds and combing her

shoulder-length hair as a dozen civilians waiting at a bus stop looked on.

Just before arriving at the limits of the submarine yards, Nancy turned her column

of fourteen IFVs up a side street and rolled for another 300 yards before turning again

towards the Blohm & Voss facilities. They soon had to stop: the terrain was now too

cluttered with steel structures and wood blocks for any vehicle to advance.

“GET OUT AND FOLLOW ME IN SINGLE FILE!” yelled Nancy over the noise of

the nearby battle between the Germans and Force Five. “Make sure that you have a full

ammunition load on you first.”

Herself grabbing two extra rifle magazines and two more rifle grenades, Nancy got out of

her IFV and assembled her troops. She now had 128 infantrymen with her.

“Alright, listen up! We will now deploy in extended line across the submarine

yard, then will turn left to face towards the docks, where the battle is presently taking

place. Be quick but keep low: there is a lot of stray bullets flying around right now. Once

in position, we will advance towards Force Five and attempt to take the Germans in the

rear. We are heavily outnumbered now, so surprise will be an important factor for us.

Also, fire on semi-automatic only, as we may run out of ammo quickly. Everybody will

now fix bayonets.”

428

Once that was done, she pointed at the company sergeant-major, sitting in the

commander’s hatch of Major Brannigan’s IFV.

“CSM O’Reilly, you will lead the vehicles towards the docks and link up with

Force Five to provide it additional fire support. We will link back with you there.”

Brannigan looked at her questioningly.

“Colonel, we may need the vehicles if we have to withdraw.”

“Major, if we pull back, Force Five will be finished. There will be no withdrawal

today. Is that clear?”

“Er, perfectly, Colonel.”

“Then let’s go!”

07:21 (Berlin Time)

Blohm & Voss docks

Hamburg

Peter Lasker was starting to regret his decision to volunteer as a war

correspondent for this operation. His desk at the Daily Telegraph looked decidedly a lot

safer now as he glanced furtively at the German soldiers massing for an assault less

than 200 yards away. Only the heavy firepower of the Life Guards’ eighteen tanks

positioned along the limits of the yards had kept them from advancing further. The

Guards commander, Colonel Fred Winters, was only a few yards away, talking in a radio

over the din of the ongoing firefight. German mortar bombs were exploding regularly

around the British positions and bullets were flying as thick as a swarm of mosquitoes in

a swamp. Colonel Winters suddenly yelled at his deputy commander, crouched besides

Lasker behind a pile of steel plates.

“Callsign Six Two is deploying now in the enemy’s rear. Pass the word to be

careful about where we shoot from now on.”

As Major Turner was about to run away to the left, Lasker tapped his arm to get his

attention.

“Isn’t Force Six under the command of Nancy Laplante?”

“She is! I’m sorry, Mister Lasker, but I have to go now.”

As Turner went around his men, Peter Lasker frantically loaded a fresh roll of film in

each of his two cameras: he may get the chance to photograph the mysterious Nancy

Laplante in the thick of combat. As he was finishing that, loud cheers made him turn his

429

head to the right, in time to see over a dozen British armored troop carriers join the

beleaguered Force Five along the docks.

 

07:38 (Berlin Time)

Blohm & Voss submarine construction yard

Nancy suddenly stopped and crouched behind a large steel pipe, signaling her

men to do the same. Less than a hundred yards to her front she could see about thirty

German soldiers busy crewing four medium mortars. She looked to the British soldiers

on her left, then on her right.

“The first twenty soldiers on each side of me will advance with me and take out

those mortars. The rest of the assault line will stay put. Pass the word!”

Once the designated soldiers were ready, she signaled them to go forward, then

cautiously approached the Germans, who were too busy firing their mortars to check

their backs. Once thirty yards only away from them, Nancy realigned her men so that

they were directly behind the Germans. Her heart thumping hard, she took three deep

breaths, then raised her assault rifle, aiming at the German mortar team commander.

“FIRE!”

The Germans, totally taken by surprise, were all shot down in a few seconds without

being able to fire back. Running to the mortars, Nancy saw with delight that there was

still a good quantity of mortar bombs available near the intact weapons.

“Alright, I need eight men who know how to point and fire mortars.”

As the word went around her men, she grabbed the German field radio lying near the

dead mortar team commander and examined it. It was still functioning and was in fact

on, with a continuous light buzz coming out of the handset.

“Damn, I really feel like screwing around with someone right now.”

Activating her own radio, she then notified Colonel Winters of her success.

07:45 (Berlin Time)

Blohm & Voss docks

430

Peter Lasker sighed with relief when the mortar bombs stopped falling. Quite a

few British soldiers had been wounded by shrapnel, although their assault armors had

prevented any fatalities yet. Colonel Winters then yelled in triumph.

“SIX TWO HAS TAKEN OUT THE GERMAN MORTARS!”

Cheers went up and down the British lines.

Colonel Hans Zimmermann was not pleased at all at that moment. The British

tanks were effectively stopping him from overwhelming the British infantry and he had no

effective anti-tank weapons to deal with them. The massive firepower of the British

infantrymen had also come as a shock to him and his men: these were no Lee-Enfield

bolt-action rifles facing him. In contrast, most of his men were armed with the regulation

Mauser 98K 7.92mm bolt-action rifle, a powerful and accurate weapon but one

surpassed by whatever the British were using right now. To make it worse, his own

mortars had stopped firing for some unknown reason. He was about to call them by

radio when a mortar bomb whistled overhead. Instead of falling on the British, though, it

exploded just in front of his men, making him swear.

“Got und Himmel! What is Feldwebel Brundig doing?”

Grabbing the radio handset from his nearby signaler, he shouted in the microphone.

“Archer, this is Point Man, adjust your fire! Your last bomb fell less than twenty

meters in front of my men.”

A voice deformed by static answered him in German.

“Sorry about that, Point Man. We will adjust our fire now.”

Twenty seconds later, another bomb fell, this time squarely in the middle of the German

lines.

“Point Man, this is Archer. How is it this time?”

“Have you gone senile, Archer? This one squarely fell on our heads.”

“I am really, really sorry to hear that, Point Man. This is Die Wolfin. Have a good

day.”

A dense salvo of mortar bombs followed that as Zimmermann was still swearing.

Dozens of Germans fell, dead or wounded.

“THAT DAMN WOLFIN HAS TAKEN OUR MORTARS! OBERST STEINER,

COME HERE!”

Zimmermann quickly gave orders to his deputy commander, leaving him his machine

guns and one quarter of the regiment to hold in place the British line along the docks.

431

He then took the remaining 1,350 men and led them back with the firm intention of

wiping out that new nuisance quickly before finishing the main enemy force. He was

looking forward in particular to make that damn Wolfin choke on her insolence.

07:49 (Berlin Time)

Blohm & Voss submarine construction yard

Nancy swore when she saw a thick wave of Waffen-SS soldiers appear to her

front, advancing towards her unit through the maze of unfinished submarine hulls and

building equipment. Her bait had attracted quite a bit more than she was ready to

swallow.

“MORTARS, CEASE FIRE! EVERYBODY, GET READY TO REPEL ASSAULT!

LOAD RIFLE GRENADES!”

As her soldiers scrambled for cover, she activated her backpack radio and called

Colonel Winters.

“Five Niner, this is Six Niner! We have what looks like the whole of the Waffen-

SS Corps coming at us. We will need some serious backup, and quick, over!”

“Five Niner understood, hold tight, out!”

A bullet then splattered against her armored breastplate, with many more whistling by

her head, forcing her to lower herself even more.

“GUARDS, RIFLE GRENADES, RANGE 150 YARDS, AT ENEMY TO OUR

FRONT, FIRE!”

She fired her own rifle grenade shortly after those of her men. The salvo of grenades

landed in the midst of the Germans as they were running from cover to cover. Hundreds

of them fell, either dead or wounded.

“GUARDS, RELOAD RIFLE GRENADES! … READY! FIRE!”

The second salvo caused more casualties still and forced the Germans into taking cover

wherever they could. Unknown to Nancy, Colonel Zimmermann and most of his officers

were now dead or seriously wounded. There was however still close to a thousand

German soldiers fit to fight and they poured intense and accurate rifle fire at the British.

Soldiers started to fall around Nancy, shot either in the face or in the legs or arms. Her

losses would have been catastrophic if not for the assault armor they were wearing.

Using their superior numbers and weight of fire, the Germans, showing their skills as

infantrymen, started creeping forward. The Royal Guardsmen, no less professional than

432

the Waffen-SS, poured slow but steady fire into them, shooting down SS men by the

dozen. Despite very heavy losses, the Germans kept advancing, showing fanatical

courage that was boosted by the fact that they were actually fighting to defend German

soil.

Nancy was firing at a group of Germans now less than fifty yards away when the

firing pin of her rifle struck an empty chamber. Extracting the now empty rifle magazine,

she then realized with horror that she was now out of ammunition. Looking left and right,

she saw that many of her men were in the same situation. Sensing the noticeable

slowing down in the British fire, the Germans became bolder and took more time to fire

accurately. British casualties then increased dramatically. Nancy herself got a bullet on

her faceplate, very close from the eye slit. Shaken by the impact, Nancy nearly

panicked then, not knowing at first what to do to save her men. She then bitterly

realized that there was only one course of action left to her if she didn’t want to see her

men shot down one by one while helpless.

“GUARDS, LOWER YOUR FACEPLATES! FOR THE KING, CHAARGE!”

Leaving the cover of the steel pipe behind which she was crouching, Nancy rushed the

Germans with her rifle extended, bayonet fixed, screaming as she ran. Her remaining 76

guardsmen charged on both sides of her. The Germans were not expecting that

desperate act from the British and were caught with their own bayonets still in their

scabbards. They had time to fire only once before the British were on top of them.

Nancy’s bayonet impaled the first German in front of her as he was frantically reloading

his rifle. Kicking him out of the way, she barely had time to slap away a German

bayonet with her rifle, then stuck her blade through the throat of her attacker. The next

minute or so passed in a blur, with ferocious close quarter fighting all around her. As

Nancy was stabbing her fifth German in the stomach, another one took the opportunity

to plunge his bayonet deep in her upper left leg, with the point of the blade going all the

way through and sticking out by a good two inches. Screaming with pain, Nancy

collapsed on her right knee. Drawing out in a flash her Glock 17L pistol, she erased the

German’s triumphant smile with a 9mm bullet in the forehead. Ignoring the searing pain

from her left leg, Nancy shot quickly the Germans closest to her, then started shooting

Germans more indiscriminately. Bullets were splattering on her armor continuously by

the time she put a fresh magazine in her pistol. One bullet went through her upper left

arm as she was emptying her pistol again, making her scream but not stopping her from

433

firing. German bodies were now piled all around her, with the Waffen-SS starting to

keep their distance from her. Her pistol’s slide suddenly locked in the open position,

signaling an empty magazine. However, with her wounded left arm, Nancy could not get

to her spare magazines in her lower left vest pocket. A German screamed triumphantly.

“THE BITCH IS OUT OF AMMUNITION! TAKE HER NOW!”

Nancy’s blood froze in terror as half a dozen Waffen-SS rushed her to grab her: her

worst nightmare, being captured alive by the Germans, was becoming reality. A big

British guardsman then jumped in front of Nancy with a savage scream, interposing

himself between her and the German and firing his ultimate bullets before lunging with

his bayonet. Using that providential help, Nancy transferred her pistol in her left hand,

then used her right hand to take out a fresh pistol magazine. Cringing with pain as she

forced her wounded left arm to stay stiff, she inserted the full magazine in her GLOCK

17L and pulled the slide, chambering a round. Transferring back her pistol to her right

hand, she resumed firing as the guardsman who had been protecting her fell, dead.

Nancy fired another ten rounds in quick succession, making the Germans around her

recoil somewhat. Heavy automatic fire and savage screams suddenly took the Germans

by surprise: concentrated on their close quarter fight against Nancy’s unit, they had not

noticed the approach of Colonel Winters’ men, who had finally managed to walk over the

German holding force with the help of their tanks and IFVs. Already seriously weakened

by the ferocious fight with Nancy and her guardsmen, the Waffen-SS suddenly panicked

at being attacked again from their rear and fled, pursued mercilessly by the Welsh

Guards. The luckless Germans who escaped the guardsmen then fell in the gun sights

of Nancy’s four tanks and four IFVs, who had just completed the destruction of the fleet

of trucks used to bring in the Germans. Many Waffen-SS, utterly demoralized by now,

threw down their weapons and surrendered.

Nearly overtaken by pain and still up on one knee, Nancy flipped up her armored

faceplate and avidly gulped some fresh air. Looking slowly around her, she saw only

piles of dead and wounded, both Germans and British, plus a few stunned British

survivors from her unit. The battle had moved away from them by now. She called out

in a coarse voice, weak from blood loss.

“Corporal Jones, Private Lewis, are you alright?”

Her call attracted a young private who looked exhausted but otherwise intact.

434

“Corporal Jones is lying in front of you, Colonel. I think that Private Lewis is also

dead. Let me help you.”

“Dead? God, I’m sorry! Private, please help me take off my helmet: I can’t use

my left arm.”

The soldier was doing that when two guardsmen and an unarmed British with two

cameras slung around his neck showed up.

“Please help me, mates. The Colonel is seriously wounded.”

The two guardsmen obliged and helped lay down Nancy in a more comfortable position,

then started applying field dressings to her wounds, careful not to pull out of her left leg

the protruding German bayonet, which had a serrated upper edge. The cameraman

took numerous pictures of her and of the surrounding battlefield as they treated her.

Looking up at a surviving sergeant from her unit who had just joined the group around

her, Nancy spoke slowly, near fainting.

“How many of us are left standing, Sergeant?”

The NCO scanned the battlefield and gave her a pained look.

“I see maybe twenty of our people still up, including us, Colonel, but we made the

Germans pay very dearly for that. You can be proud of yourself, maam.”

Tears rolled on Nancy’s cheeks at those words.

“Proud? With twenty left out of 129. How can I be proud of myself?”

She then started sobbing quietly. The guardsmen respected her grief and left her alone

for a while, chasing away the photographer who was still hanging around. A number of

stretcher-bearer teams soon showed up, with a team stopping besides Nancy. She

asked them to find her pistol and rifle, plus her discarded empty pistol magazines, before

letting them load her on the stretcher. A 400-yard walk brought them to the docks,

where hovercrafts were waiting for the troops to reembark. The hovercraft she was

brought on turned out to be one from her force, loaded to near capacity with French

soldiers and ex-inmates from Neuengamme. Janet Harlow was also on board and came

to see her as a medic was injecting some morphine into Nancy and preparing a plasma

transfusion. The S.O.E. agent gently pressed Nancy’s hand while smiling to her.

“Colonel Laplante, a lot of people owe you much today. What you did will not be

forgotten, I assure you.”

“I simply did my duty.” replied Nancy weakly. Janet shook her head. “You did a lot more than your duty, Colonel. You did the impossible! Take it

easy for the rest of the trip, Colonel.”

435

“Do I have a choice now?” managed to say Nancy before the combined effects of

the morphine and of her wounds knocked her out.