Finally he regains control of himself and just stands in the middle of the destroyed room breathing heavily, yet not moving, nor saying a word. He stands stock-still for four minutes by his aide’s watch. Slowly he takes out a comb, and combs his hair meticulously back into place. His eyes seem to come back into focus, as if coming back from the dark place to which they had gone, and he finally regains enough control to speak.
“Tell Zhukov that I will of course, obey his orders, but stress my strongest objection to his transferring the majority of our air assets to the Channel Front. Stress again the reports of increased movement of NATO and American units to the islands of Rhodes, Crete and Cyprus. Stress again the increased movement of supplies to Northern Africa. Stress again the complete absence of American heavy bombers in Europe and the lack of information as to their locations and dispositions; stress again that under my command and protection are fully 70% of the oil production facilities of the Motherland. Stress again that NATO has many bases within range of these facilities. Stress again my total and unfaltering objection to this order. Stress again...”
“I sent Popenchenko to convince that weasel, Fedoseyev. He assured me that my views were well-known. How can they be so blind to the threat? How can they be so stupid...?”
The Marshal‘s aide finally senses the time is right and speaks for the first time since the tirade started ten minutes ago.
“Please Marshal, you will only get yourself in trouble or worse, if you persist. I beg of you to follow orders as best you can, and to not stand in the way of Comrade Stalin's wishes. Please, Marshal, for all of our sakes.”
Maslennikov’s shoulders droop just a fraction of an inch, as he again stands still for what seems like an eternity. His aide has seen this kind of body language before from his commander and knows that the danger has passed, momentarily. Internally he breathes a sigh of relief for he knows the worst is over and Maslennikov has come back to his senses. Thank God the powerful have some privacy in which to vent their frustrations. The rest of us must always be on our guard and must never let them see our true feelings. Maybe it is that kind of passion that makes the powerful the way they are. Always convinced they are right with never a doubt.
Well, the aide thinks, I pray that he is wrong this time.
Finally Maslennikov speaks.
“Order the units transferred Pavel, and then have this place cleaned up. Call my driver...I’m going home.”
“Yes Marshal Maslennikov. I shall see that it is done, right away.”
Chapter Twenty-Three: Intimidation
Yak - 9PD over Wales
***
Just a glimpse of the behind the scenes diplomatic actions taken even during an all-out war; diplomacy has its place.
***
Demands Are Sent
On the French coast
August 15, 1946
Just a taste of winter to come is felt in the onshore breeze. There is no doubt that winter is coming yet there is the possibility of clear skies and temperate temperatures for months to come. The Soviets have always fought well in foul weather, and the mild winters of the English Channel region appear to have not entered into their debit column. In fact, spending a few months on the French coast is eminently preferable to Moscow and sub-zero temperatures. It is a curious fact is that Moscow and London are within five degrees' latitude of each other. The difference lies in the warm waters of the Atlantic’s Gulf Current keeping Britain so comparatively mild.
The stated aims of the Soviet Army are to prevent the United Kingdom from being used as an airbase for the bombing of Europe and the Soviet Union. It makes no difference if it is the weather, or Soviet fighters that prevent such raids from occurring. If the weather is bad, then the bombers can’t take off. If it is good, then the Battle for Britain II will take place. Either way, there will be no bombing of Western Europe and Western Soviet Union from planes based in Britain, and that is just what the STAVKA intends to happen.
By using both the carrot and the stick it is hoped that the British will come to their senses and join the workers of Europe in their rebuilding effort. By making it fully known that if fighters do not rise to defend British airspace, and bombers do not take off from her airfields, the Red Army will not attack her soil.
In a startling turnabout Stalin has indicated that he will negotiate a prisoner exchange with both the U.S. and Great Britain, if his demands are met:
1. No future attacks by land, sea or air emanate from Great Britain and her empire.
2. A six-month truce will take effect.
3. The British allow the Soviets unrestricted overflights of their territory.
4. The immediate withdrawal of the British troops from Iberia.
A message is sent through diplomatic channels, and the wait begins.
***
This was a series of little known events that should have been a wakeup call for the RAF.
***
Yak-9PD
43,324 feet above
The West Ham neighborhood of London
August 15th, 1946
Pilot Senior Lieutenant Yuri Nikitin enjoys the view from his new Yak-9PD.
Time to turn back. This has been an interesting flight. I guess it has served its purpose. Interesting demonstration if you ask me. Why would you demonstrate the capabilities of a new machine to the enemy before using it in combat? Some new concept of intimidation by the STAVKA. Scare them into doing what you want. Seems kind of silly to me, but then I am only a pilot, and no one asked me for my opinion. Surprise and delighted that everything is working like it’s supposed to. Not the usual type of circumstances; seems like I will have no need for my bailing wire and chewing gum to keep this machine airborne; a most welcome sign that the quality of our machines is improving.
Air Space Violated
Royal Air Force Headquarters
London
“How far did they penetrate our air space?”
“Three flights flew as far as Ireland before turning back.”
“Did MI-6 have any indication that they had this capability?”
“Yes, we knew that both the Yak-15 'Feather' and the MiG-9 'Fargo' were capable of overflights at 13,000 meters' altitude, but without knowing their destinations or targets it is virtually impossible for us to intercept them. Conversely we should be able to do the same thing to them. They have infinitely more territory to hide their secrets in, and we have to fly much longer flights in order to reach anything of value. We knew about the Yak-9DD because they helped escort in Romania and we became aware of their range. The appearance of those Yak-9PD's was an unpleasant surprise. We think their flights were attempts to intimidate us with their range and altitude capabilities, and quite frankly they are an eye-opener old boy. It is now confirmed that they can fly at very high altitude and have the range to escort their bombers throughout the whole of the British Isles. That was something that we didn’t have to worry about and was greatly to our advantage, during the first Battle of Britain.”
“How were they able to skirt our defenses?”
“The interceptions were based on old presumptions of their capabilities. We thought we knew their maximum range and altitude restrictions. It turns out that we were wrong on all accounts. They can fly higher and farther than we had anticipated, and that left our interceptors too low and far out of position. They definitely got all the pictures they wanted, of everything they wanted. We must now assume that they know everything they need to launch an all-out attack. We did get a few, mainly by luck but our latest estimates are that over five dozen of their recce flights were successful.”
“Additionally they've amply demonstrated to all, that the whole of the British Isles is vulnerable to attack. I’m sure we won’t publicize today’s events but I have a feeling they will.”
“Yes this is food for thought. Not to mention that the shoe is now on the other foot as far as intelligence is concerned. Against the Germans we had Ultra. Conversely, we are now blind and they have
what appears to be one of the largest spy rings we have ever encountered. My God man, ordinary citizens are turning on their own government, following a pipe-dream of a workers' paradise that can’t possibly work.”
“You have to realize old boy, that for the most part the late '20's and '30's were hell for the average person. The Great Depression, the starvation of thousands, the greed of the wealthy, the almost utter failure of the world’s governments. It’s no wonder that new and untried ideas are popular. America seems to be humming along, but our empire is on the verge of being completely lost and the rest of Europe now is under new management. To the average Briton things aren’t looking too rosy, and now they are being asked to do it again, to once again sacrifice everything, without major changes to society as a whole”
“But how can you turn on your own people; your own government that you have just fought for? To me it is beyond comprehension.’
“I would concur, old boy. I’m just trying to give you all the facts. But we wander too far afield. Our task is to see that these overflights do not happen again.”
“Of course, you're right. The Meteor can reach their altitude but lacks the range to...”
Chapter Twenty-Four:
The Situation
USAAF P - 38 Lightnings
***
These overviews were pieced together from various sources in an attempt to view the situation at the time, from the perspective of the strategic planners.
***
The Pyrenees
Imagine that you’re in a spotter plane flying the length of the Pyrenees Mountain Range, from east to west. Within thirty miles of the east coast not much is happening. The Soviets avoid the area because of the potential for naval bombardment. It seems the old battlewagons, and their sixteen-inch guns can still dictate a virtual 'no man’s land,' if given proper air support; an expensive use of oil, but an effective one.
Just a little beyond the 30-mile mark you start to get a real feel of what the fighting is all about. A typical battle will start with intensive artillery and rocket bombardment almost as devastating per square mile, as the twenty-two battleships demonstrated in 'Louisville Slugger'. Tens of thousands of rounds of high-explosive rockets and shells concentrating on this hill, or on that mountain top.
The unlucky mountain top that is the recipient of the title 'critical' to the current offensive, is just the most recent recipient of a technique used in modern coal mining. In modern times, they have started to mine coal by using a method called 'mountain top removal'. Tons of flying metal and explosive gives the term new meaning.
If the defenders are lucky they retreat to the other side of the mountain until the worst of the barrage is over. They return to fill the massive craters with their living bodies in an attempt to prevent other living bodies from entering their now critical crater.
The air war is pretty much a standoff with local victories giving the ground forces a leg up for a short time until the other side manages to gain air-superiority, and drop some of the most hideous inventions that man has ever devised to kill other men down on their respective heads.
Then, there is the lack of water. This is probably the worst malady that plagues the defenders and attackers alike. It’s almost impossible to get water supplies to soldiers fighting in mountains while under fire. It is more critical to the battle, than ammunition.
No one knows who started it first, but a kind of dirty little secret started to become evident among the frontline soldiers. Caravans of water supplies on both sides seemed to live a charmed life. All of a sudden over the last couple of weeks, for whatever reason both sides stopped targeting each other’s water supply deliveries.
It seems that despite the brutalities that each side rendered onto each other; it was somehow mutually decided that thirst was not going to be one of them. A line had been drawn in the dirt, and it became sacrosanct that no one would die for lack of water. That of all the different hideous ways each side could devise to kill each other, thirst would not be one of them.
Fierce hand-to-hand combat was normal with units often dying to the last man. Men still tore at each other’s faces in brutal fighting, where your hands turned into claws, raking at your enemy’s eyes and nose. The fighting was still as intense as ever; yet somehow the water supplies managed to get through unharmed as if by magic.
There was an unsubstantiated rumor of a Russian soldier being publicly executed by his own comrades, in full sight of an opposing Spanish platoon. His crime was shooting a donkey that was carrying water to the Spanish position. According to the rumor, the Red Army troops made it abundantly clear what his crime was and the Spanish officer acknowledged their act of contrition.
There were many volunteers for the water supply caravans.
Best Laid Plans
“Gentlemen, please quiet down. The purpose for this meeting today is to conclude a final decision on our recommendations to the President as to our strategic options for defeating the Soviet army, and securing the unconditional surrender of the U.S.S.R. and its satellite states.”
“Colonel Armistead, please go over the situation as it currently stands.”
“Thank you General Eisenhower; Gentleman the bad news first; the Soviets have total control of Germany, Denmark, the Low Countries, almost all of France, as well as a foothold in Spain. They are moving on Greece with little to no opposition, as we speak. In addition, Italy has withdrawn from NATO and is allowing Soviet forces to enter its territory. The Italian Navy is scheduled to fall under Soviet control shortly. Finland is reeling from a Soviet attack, with Norway and Sweden trying to assist their neighbor.”
“In the European Theater of Operations, the Soviets are currently fielding two-hundred forty-four of their own divisions augmented by an additional eighty-three divisions, all levied from their so-called 'allies'. Their air support consists of well over fourteen-thousand frontline combat aircraft.”
“In the Far East, the Soviets have maintained eighty fully-equipped divisions in Mongolia and Manchuria since September, 1945, on the highest combat-readiness status. With such a powerful and mobile striking force they can march anywhere they want on the Asian mainland at any given time. Up till now they are dormant; their forces remain on patrol in the areas they now control, but are not making any overt moves toward our forces, or our allies' forces in Asia. We don’t know why, but are grateful that they are.”
“On the Pyrenees Line, they're making slow and steady progress. We estimate that at their current rate of advance they will be out of the mountains in less than sixty days, and into the Ebro River valley. The only thing that works in our favor is that Spain is a naturally-defensible area, with many mountain ranges throughout the peninsula.”
“Their armor is superior to ours at the moment. This is not much of a factor in the mountains, but if they break out into tank country it will not be pretty.”
“On the Pyrenees Line, our forces are as follows: we have eleven full-strength fully-equipped divisions. Our forces are able to defend themselves and even have the ability to counterattack. Our allies are fielding seventeen full divisions between them. Most of these are the newly-minted Spanish divisions augmented by a French division, a Low Countries division, four British divisions and a joint British Empire division made up of Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians. The British are benching their Indian forces in Europe; they've deemed them too unreliable to fight in Spain. There are even two divisions of German troops on the line culled from POW's held in the United States and Great Britain, under overall NATO command. They are calling themselves Der Frei Deutsches Bundesheer, or 'The Free German Federal Army.'”
“The U.S. forces have been blocking the traditional invasion routes and large mountain passes. Our allies are filling in between these positions. The Soviet advances have been at the expense of the new Spanish divisions, for the most part. In order to avoid being flanked we have had to slowly perform retrograde movements.” [xxxiii]
“As you may know, additio
nal U.S. ground divisions and other forces are being formed and should be ready for action by the spring.”
“We have one division that is proceeding down the Italian boot to Sicily. They will be reinforced and are expected to hold the island with the help of the Navy.”
“Our Far East forces consist of one division in Korea and three in Japan. The Brits have two divisions scattered throughout India and the Dutch East Indies. In addition, we have a division in Egypt to reinforce the four British divisions already in the area.”
“Unlike the war with Germany and Japan, we do not enjoy total air superiority. There is not even parity with the Soviets, as they hold a numerical advantage in aircraft of five to one, but once production ramps back up we expect to achieve parity, if not by numbers but by virtue of quality, superior training, and the advanced design of our aircraft. Both sides enjoy local successes but we are unable to penetrate their air-defense system, on regular basis without taking unacceptable casualties. Similarly they have not had much success in reaching our supply lines, or major troop concentrations. Basically, the air war is a draw.”
“This presents us with grave problems. As you know we enjoyed almost total air-superiority over Germany and Japan before we commenced any kind of offensive action. That allowed us to handle the enemy's experienced ground forces. Rarely did a German Tiger ever get to the frontline, much less do much damage when we had Jugs and Lightnings roaming over the battleground at will.”
“If we do not gain air-superiority in the short term, we will have to find a new way to defeat the Red Army.”
World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First Page 23
