World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  “To this end, in response to the Soviet withdrawal from Manchuria, and in further response to a cowardly sneak attack by the so-called People's Liberation Army and their allies, the Korean People's Army, I issued the orders for Chinese troops to counterattack and advance against the Soviet proxy forces in Manchuria, with the aim of smashing them, and expelling them from sovereign Chinese territory. To our Manchu brethren still in occupied territory, I say to you help your Chinese brothers and sisters, who will be working and fighting hard for your liberation, that you may be able to enjoy and contribute to a free, strong and prosperous Chinese Republic that values your contribution and rewards you for it. Fight side-by-side with your Chinese brothers and sisters; aid them, if you cannot fight. Your future, all of our futures, depends on it.”

  President Sun Li-jen continues, ending his address to the Chinese nation thus: “Even now, as we are locked in mortal battle, with an implacable foe, we do so with the knowledge that a better day, a better life, will come of it, that the loss of each soldier, each person, will not have been in vain, but a guide on the path to a better, brighter, future. I end this broadcast with the assurance that we are all invested in this fight, from myself and your government, to the lowliest laborer and farmer. I bid you good day and great success.”

  As the broadcast equipment was turned off, and President Sun was being congratulated by his staffers and the radio people, he just walked off to be by himself. For the first time since he deposed Generalissimo Chiang, he felt the full weight of his decisions upon his shoulders.

  *****

  0630

  10 October 1946

  Revetments of the Air Force

  of the Free Republic of Russia

  Urum-chi Airbase

  Sinkiang Province, Republic of China

  It was time. This trial-by-fire raid was the first of its size for the untested Free Russian Air Force, which had been flying small tactical missions against the Chinese communists, until now. Colonel Um Kyu-Hook, formerly of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, would be commanding this raid, from the cockpit of the command aircraft, a Consolidated B-24J Liberator bomber. This raid was completely unsanctioned by, and separate from, the USAAF command structure, so he would only have a limited fighter escort from the Chinese Air Force's Lend-Lease P-38H Lightnings, P-40N Tomahawk III's and P-51B Mustangs, all with drop tanks. Colonel Um's command comprised of second-hand, and near-obsolescent, war-surplus aircraft, secretly and artfully procured from all over the world: American B-25D Mitchells, B-26B Marauders, A-20D Havocs, A-26B Invaders, even a squadron's worth of B-17G Flying Fortresses and B-24D Liberators. Additionally, Yevgeny had managed to get him some British Wellingtons, Lancasters, and Mosquitoes out of India, and some former German Heinkel He-111's, Junkers Ju-87's, Ju-88's, Ju-288/388's, Henschel Hs-129's that had been captured in the North African desert. They were all flying under the FRAF colors now. Colonel Um longed to be back home in Seoul, Korea, but that would have to wait. The fight against the communist horror would have to come first, and he knew his best chance to fight it would be with the Free Russian Air Force.

  In the last war, Colonel Um was only a Captain in the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, flying Nakajima bombers over China, dropping his bombs over rice paddies, and the few ruined cities that remained at the time he joined the service. He was one of very, very, few Koreans to graduate from the prestigious Japanese flying academies, making top rank in every class, but being posted to backwater China for his effort. Despite that, Um made the best of his situation and after the United States entered the war, waited for the war to end, so he could return to his beloved Korea, and his loving family. After the war ended, he found himself blacklisted as collaborator by the new Korean government, and having been thus disgraced, his family disowned him. Having had his life torn asunder and with no prospects of employment, not even menial labor, he left Korea to head back to China, perhaps to fly for one of the many warlords that dominated that fractured nation... Then, an amazing thing happened. He met Yevgeny Rushenko on one of his recruitment tours and they became fast friends, until he showed Rushenko his flying skills, and they became comrades, brothers-in-arms. It was Um who suggested that Rushenko create the bomber wing of the Free Russian Air Force. Of course, to a fighter pilot like Rushenko, this was more of an after-thought than a strategic plan, but Um prevailed upon his friend to make the fighter and bomber and transport wings all co-equal in his Air Force. And thus, Um became the commander of the bomber force.

  Today's raid would be conducted on the Soviet city of Magnitogorsk, one of the infamous “closed” cities and the largest steel manufacturing center in the entire Soviet Union. They were going to burn it to the ground, and there would be some new tactics employed to do it. Half of the bomber force, being medium tactical and attack bombers, are being equipped with new frequency-hopping technology, developed by an Austrian actress in Hollywood, oddly enough, and an avant-garde musical savant. This will allow the air and ground units to not only have secure radio communications between aircraft and ground control, but would also effectively jam Soviet radar and radio-ranging equipment, and up-gunned to suppress Soviet antiaircraft artillery along the way, “plowing the road” for the heavy bombers to drop HE and incendiary bombs on the city. The Chinese Air Force's fighter escort will keep Soviet fighters at bay for as long as they can, while all this is going on. The FRAF bomber wing's targets for the day were the “Red Banner” steel and industrial works, and the coal-mining operations that made it all possible.

  But today's raid on Magnitogorsk, as large as it is, is just a sideshow, compared to what is coming simultaneously, something they have been planning with the new Chinese government, ever since it took over from Chiang Kai-shek some months ago.

  Chapter Five:

  “We Are Poor Little Lambs, Who Have Lost Our Way... ”

  1430

  17 October 1946

  Headquarters, USMC 1st Marine Air Wing,

  French Arsenal Airfield

  Near Tientsin,

  Hopeh Province, Republic of China

  “No sir, you can't do that! The Reds'll be able to take out our planes on the ground! We need those ack-ack units to secure the airfield, sir!” Colonel Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, commander of Marine Air Group 32 (MAG-32) was once again arguing with Major General Louis Woods, commander of the 1st Marine Air Wing (1MAW), over the allocation of the limited air defense units they had on hand. “Perhaps you're right, Boyington, but Marine Expeditionary headquarters in Peking needs those air-defense forces to reinforce their position there. My hands are tied, Greg. We've known each other a long time, and you know that I'd never shine you on, but I've got no joy on this one.” It was true, Boyington had known Woods far longer than any other flag-rank officer he knew, but it was slightly embarrassing to know that they were so disparate in rank, despite how close they were in age. The only reason that Boyington rejoined the Marine Corps, after having been held as a POW in a Japanese prison camp for nearly two years, was for the same reason as always: money troubles. He owed people more money than he was making. He barely passed the flight physical and other minimum requirements to qualify, but he was still the gifted pilot that terrorized the Jap Navy aviation service in the Solomons Islands “Slot”.

  Boyington, looking a bit dejected, conceded the general's point, and added “Well, we need to do something to make it clear to those Red Chinese bastards that we're not screwing around, and the Free Russians don't have the aircraft to keep them off our back, for now. Maybe a massive air strike on one of their rear staging areas...” “Are you insane, Boyington? Are you looking to give the Soviets, and their 80 DIVISIONS in Manchuria and Outer Mongolia, a reason to jump in this particular fight, with both feet? No, Colonel Boyington, you DO NOT have my permission to organize an air strike that large, and if I catch wind that you are, I will personally throw you UNDERNEATH the fucking brig MYSELF! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR, COLONEL?” “Crystal clear, sir. I was just thinking out loud.�
� Boyington replies, half a smirk occupying his face.

  Woods immediately recognized Boyington's insouciant smile and replied “You're damned well going to do it anyway, aren't you...?” And then a burst of inspiration struck Woods “What if I were to coordinate a massive air strike with our Free Russian friends, Greg?” “Didn't you just hear me, Louis? They don't have the aircraft to pull it off...” replied Boyington, who had made a sour face. “Have you ever heard of a 'false-flag' attack, Greg? I could ask our Free Russian friends to throw some radio traffic out there, then have your pilots flying those new BT2D-2 Skyraider attack planes that they've been certifying on for the past couple months, painted in Free Russian colors, and put a hurt on those Red Chinese fuckers that they'll never forget.”

  “I'm a bad influence on you, Louis” Boyington remarked, in his best dead-pan expression “Let's have a drink to that.”

  Colonel Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, pictured sometime before being shot down and captured by the Japanese, in January 1944

  *****

  0930

  22 October 1946

  Somewhere over the Manchurian Plain,

  Northeastern China

  The three squadrons of BT2D Skyraider dive-bombers, accompanied by two squadrons of the latest incarnation of the Corsair, the F2G, crossed the demarcation line, fully aware that they would be facing communist antiaircraft artillery soon. The U.S. Naval and Marine Corps Aviators manning these aircraft thought it was all routine, except that they were flying their aircraft under a flag of convenience: their aircraft bore the markings of the Free Russian Air Force. In command of this force, flying top-cover in the lead Corsair, was none other than the scourge of the Solomon's Slot, Colonel Gregory “Pappy” Boyington. After all, it was his idea.

  They started hearing the familiar “pop, pop, pop” of the ack-ack, but this spread sounded unnervingly close, seemingly well-directed. “Stay sharp, meatheads. Ack-ack is thick here and their gunners look sharp. Remember your targets and make sure that you tear up those airfields real good.” Meanwhile, the antiaircraft fire outside only became thicker. All of the sudden, Russian-made Yakovlev and Lavochkin fighters started buzzing up to meet them as the fire slackened, marked in communist Chinese markings, no doubt flown by Russian surrogates, just as they were doing. And the Corsairs roared in, doing their level-best to break up the swarm of Bolshevik fighter planes coming up to go after the Skyraider dive-bombers. After a while, communist discipline broke down, and the dogfight became an all-out melee, and Boyington's Corsairs capitalized on this. They ripped the “Chinese” formations up, at one point, scoring 6 victories in less than 5 minutes. At this point, after losing one Skyraider and one Corsair, Boyington's command proceeded to destroy the two airfields that they had been tasked to knock out, even saving some ordinance to blast some of the antiaircraft emplacements. Boyington wondered how their ack-ack was so accurate; his gut-feeling was that their gunners weren't better than ours at all. It had to be something else.

  So Boyington ordered the force to fly back the same way they came, in order to turkey-shoot the antiaircraft guns, but he also wanted to take a look at what they might be up against. In order to do that, he'd have to fly low and slow over them, and take pictures of them with his gun-camera. That was a risk that Boyington was used to taking; he'd taken that same risk a thousand times before. So, as they reached the point where they began encountering the antiaircraft fire again, Boyington broke formation with his wingman and flew down low. As he approached the first set of guns that he could see, he was shocked by what he saw: he noticed this ack-ack cluster was made up of German guns, one Flak-88 88-mm gun with three Flak-43 37-mm guns and six Flak-38 20-mm guns surrounding it, in interlocking fields of fire. There were Chinese communist and Soviet troops manning the guns, reloading them as needed, but it appeared, in the middle of the cluster looked like a portable radar set, it's receiver dish moving in a slow circular motion and appearing to direct the gunfire. Boyington kept taking pictures while strafing the emplacement, the other Corsairs and Skyraiders following him into the fray, shooting up everything that could shoot back at them, but especially that radar control unit. They shot their way back to the coast over Dairen, then across the Straits of Shantung back to the FRAF's airfield at Chefu. Colonel Boyington's mission had been a resounding success, and he had collected invaluable intelligence information. This is the kind performance that kept his commanding officers relatively happy with him. Besides, Pappy got two kills today. Not too bad at all.

  Douglas BT2D-2 (later redesignated A-1) Skyraider attacking radar stations in Manchuria, October 1946

  Chapter Six:

  “For Home And Hearth”

  Around 1700

  30 October 1946

  In the ruined city center,

  Nagoya, Japan

  On the one hand, Tetsuo Miyamoto, former major in the Imperial Army, was perversely grateful for the new war in accelerating the repatriation process from Malaya. On the other hand, while he understood that his former enemies were trying to extend the hand of friendship to his people, the mistrust born out of seven or more years of constant warfare was a very difficult obstacle to overcome. He had just come from one of the U.S. Army induction centers for the Japanese Home Defense battalions and had to submit himself to one of the most rigorous – and humiliating – questionings that he had ever endured. Not even the Kempei-Tai had been this brutal in interrogating him for his former position in the Imperial Japanese Army as the executive officer of the Emperor's Household Cavalry Regiment. When he spoke out of turn and lost face, he was simply shipped off to Malaya, and not allowed the dignity of committing seppuku, or ritual suicide. He rotted away, commanding a garrison battalion in Kuala Lumpur, until the end of the last war, then as a representative of the Japanese prisoners in Malaya until his repatriation, about a month ago.

  Now that he was heading back to his camp, back to the U.S.-donated tent that served as his temporary home, Tetsuo-san took his time to contemplate the current state of his life: his wife had left him for the life of a geisha in Tokyo. He had recently learned this from one of his former neighbors. Before the last war, he would have felt some shame over it, but he did not. He simply felt that his marriage was just one more casualty of war, and did not allow it to concern him overly much. While job prospects were picking up with the beginning of the new war, many prospective employers were leery about hiring people of former officer rank, that could not be vouched for first, lest they face strict sanctions from the occupation authorities for failing to do their due diligence. This made it extraordinarily difficult for Tetsuo to find work, because while he knew that he had followed all the rules of war to the best of his ability (even though as an unstated policy, Japan never considered the Geneva Conventions on Warfare to be more than a diplomatic nicety that they gave the appearance of adhering to, as it was signed but never ratified), there was no one left alive or that could be found that could vouch for his character and the Australian officer in charge of his detention camp refused to grant him a good-conduct letter out of sheer hatred, because the officer's son had been captured in Singapore in 1942 and had died in the Changi prison camp – the former British military base known as Selarang, as opposed to Changi Prison - shortly afterward.

  Though Tetsuo-san was not personally responsible, he fully understood the power of the hatred that he was up against.....he hears the rustling of the flap of his tent, and looks up to see a policeman “Is this the tent of Tetsuo Miyamoto?” he nods “You have a telephone call at the public phone kiosk around the corner” the officer told him. Tetsuo-san nods his thanks and gets up, while the officer patiently waits for him to guide him to his call. As they reach the public phone, the officer nods and walks away to resume his beat. “Hello?” “Hello, Major Tetsuo? This is the Emperor's Chamberlain. The Emperor remembered your service in his household cavalry, and only now has been made aware of the grave injustice done to you by higher-ranking officers to whom you were subordinated. His Imperi
al Majesty would like to meet with you at your first convenience, sir. When would be a good time for you?” Numbly holding the phone up to his ear, Tetsuo-san stood there in a obvious state of shock. “Sir, are you still there?” “Yes, I'm here” replied Tetsuo-san “I am at the Emperor's service whenever His Majesty desires, Chamberlain. Please inform His Imperial Majesty that if he would command the arrangement of my transport, lodging and meals, I will be there immediately.”

  “That is very good, Major, the appropriate paperwork will be waiting for you at the Nagoya Central Rail Station. The Emperor will indeed be very pleased to see you. May you have a safe journey.” The Emperor's Chamberlain hung up the phone. Tetsuo-san stood there in a state of total disbelief for a good 10 minutes, before recovering and going back to strike his tent, and collect his meager possessions, to start journey to Tokyo. He cleaned himself as best as he could, and found his best civilian clothes (occupation authorities frowned upon the wearing of the former Imperial Army or Navy uniforms, even devoid of insignia or distinguishing features) and set off for his long journey.