by Colin Gee
S-2
_
Intelligence officer in a headquarters.
SAAF
_
South African Air Force.
SAAG
_
Second Allied Army Group, a formation created to fool the Soviets about Allied intentions.
SAFFEC
_
South American Field Forces, European Command.
San
_
The San are a tribe of bushmen spread throughout Southern Africa.
SAS
_
Special Air Service.
SDKFZ 251
_
German halftrack in many configurations.
Sen-Toku
_
The I-400 class of fleet submarines, the largest built until the 1960s. Twin hulled vessels carrying a large aircraft hangar, intended to launch air attacks on the west coast of the USA and Panama.
Shinhoto Chi-Ha
_
Upgraded Japanese type 97, carrying the Type-1 47mm gun.
Short Stirling
_
British four-engine heavy bomber.
Shtrafbat
_
Soviet penal unit.
SKS
_
Soviet semi-automatic carbine of 7.62mm calibre, complete with integral bayonet.
Skyraider A1
_
US Douglas single engine ground attack aircraft with high load capacity and excellent loiter time.
SMERSH
_
Acronym for Spetsyalnye Metody Razoblacheniya Shpyonov, a group of three counter-intelligence agencies. Also known as 'Death to spies.'
SPAT
_
Self-propelled anti-tank.
Speiss
_
German NCO, literally 'The Spear', indicted by two white stripes on both sleeves, the duties of an RSM fell to this senior NCO.
Spitfire Mk XI-PR
_
Supermarine Spitfire dedicated to photo-recon missions.
Springfield Rifle
_
US .30-06 bolt-action rifle replaced by the Garand.
ST-44
_
German Sturmgewehr-44, the first assault rifle.
ST-45
_
Further development of the ST-44, but easier and cheaper to produce, these weapons were developed mainly by CEAM.
Staghound
_
US produced T17E1 armoured car, known as the Staghound in British use. Armed with a 37mm M6 gun, plus 2-3 MGs
Stahlhelm
_
A German steel helmet.
STAVKA
_
Soviet term for the High Command of Soviet Forces. Junior to the GKO.
Sten
_
British cheap manufacture submachine gun.
Super Pershing
_
US heavy tank mounting the improved T15E1 90mm gun and extra armour protection.
T20E2 Garand
_
US selective fire version of the Garand, with a 20-round magazine and a recoil checker.
T3 Carbine
_
US M2/3 Carbine fitted with infrared siting and a 30 round magazine.
T34m45/100
_
Standard production T34m44 upgunned to a 100mm with restyled gun mount and extended turret.
T34m46/100
_
Production model similar to the T34m44, but with increased hull armour, front, and side, and a 100mm main gun.
T-44
_
Soviet medium tank carrying either an 85mm or 100mm gun.
T-54
_
Soviet MBT armed with a 100mm gun, superior in performance to the 88mm on the Tiger II. Eventually the 54/55 became the most produced tank in history. RG introduces the 54 ahead of schedule.
Tabun
_
Nerve agent, manufactured in huge quantities by Nazi Germany.
Tam o'shanter
_
Scottish bonnet.
Thompson SMG
_
US designed submachine gun.
Thunderbolt
_
US republic single seater single-engine fighter and fighter-bomber
Trews
_
Scottish tartan trousers.
V2
_
German long-range rocket, also known as the A4.
Vár
_
The Norse Goddess of oaths and agreements.
Vickers Windsor
_
British four-engine heavy bomber.
VNIIEF
_
Soviet Union's Central Research Institute of Experimental Physics.
Winchester M-12
_
US pump action shotgun with an external tube 6 shot magazine. [12, 16, 20, and 28 gauge.]
Winchester M-69
_
US bolt-action .22 rifle fitted with a suppressor.
Wolf
_
Marriage of a Panther hull and a Panzer IV turret.
Wound Badge in Gold
_
Awarded for five or more wounds due to hostile action, or total blindness, loss of manhood, or severe brain damage.
X7 Rotkäppchen
_
German wire-guided AT missile used during WW2. Literally 'Red Riding Hood', the missile apparently enjoyed success against the IS series of heavy tanks.
XXI Submarine
_
Also known as the Elektroboote, this was the ultimate in WW2 submarine design.
Zis-151
_
Soviet six-wheeled heavy truck
Zis-6
_
Soviet six-wheeled heavy truck
ZSU-12-4
_
Soviet SPAA mount with 4 x 12.7mm DShKm machine-guns.
ZSU-12-6
_
Soviet SPAA mount with 6 x 12.7mm DShKm machine-guns.
Fig # 222 - Rear cover.
Initiative Paperback rear cover
Bibliography
Rosignoli, Guido
The Allied Forces in Italy 1943-45
ISBN 0-7153-92123
Kleinfeld & Tambs, Gerald R & Lewis A
Hitler’s Spanish Legion - The Blue Division in Russia
ISBN 0-9767380-8-2
Delaforce, Patrick
The Black Bull - From Normandy to the Baltic with the 11th Armoured Division
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Read the first chapter of Endgame now.
Never was anything great achieved without danger.
Niccolo Machiavelli
Chapter 172 - THE STRAIGHTS
1509 hrs, Monday, 19th August 1946, Chateau de Versailles, France.
Kenneth Strong, Chief of Military Intelligence to SHAEF, stood as his visitor was ushered in.
“General Gehlen. Good afternoon. Tea?”
The head of the Germany’s Military Intelligence Section shook his head.
“I’m afraid not, General Strong. I have only a little time. This is an unofficial call, as I told your aide. I must not be missed.”
In itself a curious statement, and one that piqued Strong’s interest.
“I’m all ears, General.”
No words came. Instead, Gehlen extracted a set of pictures from a grey folder and set them out on the desk.
“What am I looking at, General?”
“The Soviet Union’s May Day parade this year. I can only apologise, but I did not have sight of these pictures until yesterday, otherwise I would have brought them to you much earlier.”
Strong was puzzled.
“But we had a briefing document through, with pictures your agents took on the day… didn’t we?”
Gehlen sat back in his seat and shrugged.
“Yes, you did. These were not considered of sufficient quality to have been included in the original submission, neither did they appear to contain anything not covered elsewhere in the original briefing documents.”
“But they obviously do, or you wouldn’t be here, eh?”
“What do you see, General Strong?”
“Big bloody tanks, big bloody bombs, and some…”
“The bombs, Herr General.”
Strong concentrated.
“Big blighters, like I said. I assume the technical people have run up some numbers?”
“I regret that there were no pictures of these bombs in the original submission, Herr General. Otherwise, I would have been in your office many weeks ago.”
Strong screwed his eyes up, trying to make a deeper appreciation of the grainy photographs.
“Allow me to show you another photograph set, Herr General.”
Four more pictures were laid out, photos of excellent quality, precise and defined, showing a large bomb.
“These weren’t taken in Moscow in May, I’ll warrant.”
“No, Herr General. They were taken at Karup air base in Denmark on 12th December.”
Gehlen left it all hanging in the air and waited for Strong to put it all together.
“They look the same… admittedly these Moscow ones are a trifle fuzzy, but I think… and clearly you think, they’re the same, or at least born of the same bitch.”
The German intelligence officer could only nod.
SHAEF’s Intelligence Chief had a bell ringing in the back of his brain.
“Karup?”
Strong searched his mind and found the answer in a second.
“Bloody hell! Karup!”
“You understand the problem, Herr General.”
“Karup. Where the special unit is based.”
“Yes.”
“But the special unit has only recently formed there…”
“Yes… but…”
“But the advance units have been there for ages.”
“Yes, Herr General. The base was adapted in anticipation last year.”
Strong returned to the two sets of photos.
He knew no weapon had been deployed to Europe as yet.
Examining the Red Square photos again, the British officer posed the only question that really mattered.
“So what the merry hell are these?”
“The Karup unit started using weapons called Pumpkin bombs, which have the same size and ballistic characteristics, so I am told.”
Which roughly meant, German Intelligence has someone within the unit who supplied that very information.
“A B-29 bomber went missing in December last year… the 13th to be precise. Nothing remarkable, it was on a Pumpkin test-bombing mission in the southern Baltic. I think I now know where it went.”
“It came down in Russia?”
“It most certainly would seem so, Herr General, for I suspect these items paraded in Moscow are copies of the exact same Pumpkin bomb shown in the photos from Karup.”
The two locked eyes and the possibilities flowed silently back and forth.
Strong gave voice to their fears.
“Or are they?”
Gehlen stood.
“That, General Strong, is something our agencies need to find out very, very quickly.”
0101 hrs, Tuesday, 20th August 1946, Two kilometres northwest of Ksar es Seghir, Morocco.
“Hai.”
The whispering voice responded in a controlled fashion, such was the tension throughout the submarine.
Adding an extra knot of speed gave Commander Nanbu Nobukiyo more opportunity to control his passage, the strong current having dragged the huge submarine a little closer to the Moroccan shore than intended.
“Up periscope.”
The gentle hissing of the extending tube was the loudest sound in the submarine, and drew more than one crewman’s attention.
Nobukiyo aimed the periscope at the lights of the Spanish town of Tarifa. He found the flashing light that marked the promontory.
“Mark.”
First officer Jinyo made a note of the bearing and checked the ship’s clock.
The periscope swivelled towards the Moroccan village of Eddalya, a normally sleepy place that tonight seemed wide-awake, courtesy of two men who were handsomely paid to light a beacon of celebration on the sea shore, ostensibly to hail the formation of the Moroccan Democratic Party for Independence but, in actuality, to provide a navigational point of reference for the passage of some vessels of interest to the Soviet Union.
I-401, Nobukiyo’s craft, was second in line, the procession of four vessels led by I-1, with I-14 bring up the tail, sandwiching the two huge Sen-Tokus.
Nobukiyo easily found the beacon.
“Mark.”
Jinyo moved to the navigation table and handed the two bearings and times to the navigation officer.
Within seconds, the map showed two in
tersecting pencil lines, marking I-401’s present position.
“As it should be, Commander.”
“Depth forty metres. Time to turn?”
Jinyo checked the navigator’s work.
“Three minutes, Commander.”
“Up periscope.”
Nobukiyo repeated the process of getting bearings.
He took a quick sweep round and saw nothing that troubled him.
“Down periscope.”
“We’ve drifted south, commander.”
“Increase speed by two knots…recalculate.”
The two senior officers exchanged looks as the navigator fretted over his map and slide rule.
“Depth is approximately three hundred and sixty metres here, yes?”
“Yes, Commander.”
The navigator interrupted.
“Seventy seconds to turn, Commander.”
Nobukiyo grunted by way of reply.
The clock slowly made its way to the appropriate point.
“Lieutenant Dosan. New heading?”
The navigator never looked up from his table.
“Zero-eight-eight, Commander.”
“Come to starboard. Steer course zero-eight-eight. Make our depth one hundred and thirty metres.”
The orders were repeated, and the huge submarine turned and dropped further into the waters where the Atlantic and Mediterranean mixed.
Nobukiyo thought about the other submarines breaking through the straight at the same time, and of yet others ships, vital to the plan, many miles behind them.
