1945 (13 page)

"Now as to the actual plan of attack," he continued, "our total force will consist of one hundred and seventy of the new Me-264E bombers. One hundred and forty of them will be configured as standard bombers. The others will serve as transports, tankers, and gunships.

"It's the new stretched 264E that makes the raid possible," Skorzeny continued, "and even with it, to attempt a raid straight from Europe would so limit our load capability as to make the raid pointless. Therefore we will use the French-held island of Martinique"—he gestured toward the map on the easel just behind him — "as a staging area. Of course it was originally intended as a dagger aimed at their Panama Canal, to be used or not as the Führer chose, but it will serve our purposes very nicely. Wasn't it nice of our allies the French to build it for us?" The group chuckled along with Skorzeny. "As they land, the planes will be immediately refueled and take off again. Thirty additional 264s will accompany us but not be part of our mission, and that is all you need to know about them."

Skorzeny picked up a pointer and traced out their route. "We will penetrate the United States at low level along the Gulf Coast,
here,
and fly directly inland for four hundred and fifty miles. From there we will proceed in single-line formation to the city of Knoxville, thirty miles south of Oak Ridge. That will be our navigational fix for the final approach. Once over Knoxville, we will break into our separate attack formations and make the final run into the target area, pick up the Clinch River and follow it into the target area. At this time the 264s that are actually configured as bombers will separate into four attack groups.

"The first group of thirty bombers will strike the main building at K-25. The second group of thirty will strike Y-12, and the third group of sixty will strike the town of Oak Ridge, aiming at the security headquarters, and the residential area most likely to contain the top personnel. The fourth bomber group of twenty planes will be a reserve force and loiter over the target area to supply additional treatment as needed. In addition, there will be twenty Me-264s, converted to gunship configuration flying with the transport group. Ten will strike secondary targets in Oak Ridge and ten will be held in reserve."

Skorzeny looked up and smiled. "Now comes our job. Our assault team will be aboard ten transport-configured bombers, forty men and their equipment per plane. Holzer, your two transports will join up with the bomber group assigned to K-25. Ulrich, your two will join the Y-12 group."

Skorzeny nodded to his oldest, most trusted friend. "Karl, you and your eighty men are assigned to X-10, the one with the atomic reactor. Muhler, you will be Karl's second-in-command. Because of its nature, the reactor is constructed in such fashion that it might as well have been intentionally fortified; an initial bomber assault might leave it intact but so buried in debris as to be made unapproachable given the time constraints that will be imposed upon us by the US military."

Skorzeny paused indulgently while his commanders dutifully chuckled at his little joke, then continued. "Because an initial softening up might do more harm than good, yours will be the one group not to be preceded by a bomber attack. Instead you will arrive five minutes before the rest of the strike. If all goes well, that should give you total surprise and negligible opposition—an important consideration, since it is vital that the reactor be well and truly destroyed. Since your job is so crucial, Dr. Schiller himself will be your specialist-advisor, and in addition will brief you at length on what you must look for and the exact procedure to be followed, insofar as we can specify an exact procedure without having actually having seen the reactor."

So Schiller would be with them on the sharp end. The men looked at the graying professor with new respect. Nearly middle-aged and obviously of great value as a scientist he could clearly have avoided this duty. "We will work especially hard to keep you alive, Herr Professor," Muhler said with a friendly laugh that Skorzeny and the others joined.

"Please do. I am very valuable, and quite fragile," the professor deadpanned to renewed laughter.

Still smiling, Skorzeny returned them to the matter at hand.

"On your departure from the area you will call in the reserve planes to apply the finishing touches to your work. I've planned the ground strikes so that if we lose a plane going in, half the team should still be able to carry out the mission. If we should lose both planes assigned to a given target, we will divert one from one of the other strikes. In your case, Karl, if we lose even one of your planes another will be assigned to either you or Muhler, whichever of you is still alive."

Again Skorzeny paused momentarily, this time with an inward expression quite unsuited to him. "The remaining hundred and sixty men, commanded by Richer and Lenz, will drop into the town." Skorzeny looked at the men in question. "Your men will be dressed as American military police. Their job will be to kill as many of the technicians and scientists as possible. You will receive blowups of this map on which every single building is marked. The houses marked as E and F units, which are clustered primarily toward the center of the town, are the ones for the top personnel. I expect each and every one of those homes to receive a visit. No one is to be left alive."

"Including children?" Lenz asked quietly.

Skorzeny hesitated.

"If they get in the way you are not to hesitate. The Führer has ordered that we are to be successful no matter how difficult the task."

Lenz nodded slowly.

"As for myself, I will be there, directing the attack as it comes in."

The men around the table looked over at Skorzeny in surprise.

Skorzeny smiled.

"A week before the strike I will be in the vicinity of Oak Ridge with my personal team to do a final recon on the target. Our information flow out of Oak Ridge is too slow and something vital could change. A last minute delay would be a disaster, it cannot be postponed no matter what. This attack is but one part of a far greater plan. Even if visibility over the target is zero still we must strike. That means someone has to be there beforehand."

"And I'm not going with you?" Karl asked.

"Karl, you will be in command of the strike force until we link up." Skorzeny nodded toward the white-haired officer with the mashed-in face. "Hans is going with me, along with eight other men. If something happens to me Hans will take over the group until you land, at which time he will place himself under your orders."

Karl barely turned to acknowledge Hans, as if the man had won a coveted prize. Hans grinned broadly, his battered features lighting up with open delight at having been chosen.

Skorzeny realized that Karl's acceptance of his role was an important factor in the mission's overall likelihood of success. Besides, he knew just how his friend must feel right now. "Karl, I need you with the strike group to ensure that the reactor is destroyed. Furthermore, if something should happen to me only you could make sure the assault takes place just as it would if I were still giving the orders."

Skorzeny paused again, looked at each of his men in turn. "This will be our only chance. A day after this war starts they'll have a thousand fighters covering this facility, and penetration will be impossible. This attack will be like the Leningrad extraction and the surprise we were planning for Stalin. The mission will go on regardless of weather, or even detection by the Americans.

"Over the next couple of days I'll review with each of you the various contingency plans. If all goes according to schedule, I'll be over the base in a light plane as close to the administrative area as possible. Our pickup point will be this new airstrip"—he outlined the area with his pointer— "southeast of the administrative area. It will be taken over by a platoon from Lenz's team supported by two gunships. Once the airstrip is secured the same transports that dropped us will land to take us out.

"When you have completed your missions, you will commandeer vehicles and assemble at the rendezvous point for pickup. If there's time we'll continue to hit the town, eliminating as many surviving personnel as possible.

We'll drop antitank weapons with Lenz to secure the main approaches into our pickup area.

"Holzer, you'll be the farthest out from the pickup, over fifteen kilometers. Richer and Lenz, your men will have the most territory to cover between the administrative buildings and the residential area. Nearly a thousand homes will have to be serviced."

"Is there any possibility that their security is strong enough to block us?" Richer asked.

"They are relatively few, and their focus is espionage and sabotage. The worst they have contemplated is a small team going for the reactor. The combination of gunships and antitank teams will be more than adequate."

Skorzeny paused for a moment. "Of course we all know that nothing is certain in an operation such as this. But even if the Americans turn out to be supermen, or by bizarre coincidence an armored unit is conducting exercises nearby, consider this: the ten support bombers working as backup will each be carrying five thousand kilograms of jellied gasoline. One strike from such a plane can turn an area half a kilometer on a side into an inferno. If there are any troop concentrations building up, these planes will be diverted to handle it."

"What about resistance from the civilians?" Karl asked. "I understand that most Americans own guns and know how to use them."

Skorzeny shook his head and laughed. "Maybe in other parts of the country, but Oak Ridge is special. The Federal government runs the facility and in a typically brilliant display of bureaucratic wisdom has decreed that no one living in Oak Ridge may own a firearm. If it wasn't for that our job would be a lot more difficult."

Richer laughed softly. "I can't wait to meet some of those arrogant Southern 'good old boys.' Disarmed, they'll be like rabbits waiting to be slaughtered." Richer being Richer, Skorzeny wondered if perhaps he hadn't had an unpleasant experience with some good old boys already.
There was this girl in Nashville....

Outwardly he simply nodded in agreement and continued. "Richer, Lenz. A fair portion of your target should already be flattened and on fire. Your job is simply to make sure no one who could possibly be a scientist, technician, engineer, or project manager survives."

"There is such a thing as female scientists," Richer said mildly. "Young female scientists."

Skorzeny spoke as to a child. "Yes, Richer, there are young female scientists. And you are to shoot anyone who might
be
a young, female, scientist. But do not
linger
over them, and do not prefer them to old, fat, males, who are very much more likely to be important targets."

"Of course not, Herr Colonel," Richer replied innocently.

"To continue. Dropping into the target area dressed as American military police will enable you to maximize the confusion. Unless there is an opportunity to herd a group together and draw out lurkers, simply shoot everyone you see. We'll have the names of some of the people we want to make sure are taken out. Try to find them and then eliminate them."

"It seems like they'll have all the fun," Muhler interjected.

"There'll be plenty to amuse you at the three industrial sites," Skorzeny promised. "Those facilities are running twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The two major plants will have thousands of personnel in them when the air strike begins. Besides making sure that the plants are destroyed, eliminate any survivors you might find.

"Muhler, I know what you consider to be fun," Skorzeny added. "Just make sure you blow the reactor. Do that right and you'll sow a thousand times more destruction than you ever dreamed of."

"Even better than the bridges at Leningrad?"

"Far better," Skorzeny replied, and Muhler finally smiled. He was not, unlike Richer, simply a sadistic killer who preferred young girls: it was destruction that he craved. Killing was all very nice, but nothing could compare to the joy of gazing over the smoldering ruins of a dead city, dead because of you.

"What about the range on our planes?" Karl asked. "Even staging from Martinique this is one hell of a long strike, to say nothing of the return to base."

"The Me-264Es have a maximum range of fifteen thousand kilometers. That will get us from Martinique to Oak Ridge and from there back to Germany. As for the bombers, they'll be carrying heavier loads, which will cut their range. Therefore the bomber stream will exit the target area heading east, then make for Bermuda, which will be in our hands by the time they arrive. Not the entire island, of course, but the airfield and its environs. The planes will touch down and refuel. If the capture of Bermuda fails, the bomber crews will bail out and be picked up by pre-positioned U-boats."

"What does Göring say about that?" Karl asked with a laugh.

"He wasn't happy. If Bermuda is not taken we lose nearly half of the new long-distance bomber fleet on the first day of the war. Too bad if it happens but the target is worth any number of 264s."

"What about us?" Richer interjected. "What's the exit plan? The commandeered airfield is too short."

"The transports will be fitted with Rocket-Assisted-Take-Off pods. Assuming we survive the take-off, we'll fly low—very low—over the mountains and then run-for the coast at treetop level. Fighter bases from Washington, D.C. to Florida will be on the alert but they'll be after the bombers if we stay lucky. Once clear of the coast we'll pop up to higher altitude and rendezvous over the Atlantic with tanker planes. If we miss them, or if they run into trouble we can make it without the in-air refueling," Skorzeny added carefully, "but we'll land on vapors."