World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  A former student of Shukohov had defected to the US in 1930 but the secrets he took with him came from the USSR. The defector named Vladimir Ipatieff[lv] was given credit for finding an economical way to create high octane gas in 1930 for the capitalist war mongers, yet he was educated in the Soviet Union and much of his research remained behind when he defected. That research was put to good use and little Anna Mezhlumova[lvi] reproduced his process. Now high octane gas was being stockpiled for future use.

  Another example would be when the MiG Design Bureau became aware of the German Ta 183 project in 1944 they emulated the parallel process Sergo pioneered for copying and improving others designs. They started work on what would become the MiG 15. This ground breaking jet fighter could be operational in May, 1947. A frightening thought for the US bombing effort.

  The jet engine that would be paired with MiG 15 was itself a product of this parallel process along with the Wasserfal missile and its guidance system. These were incredible feats of intellectual theft but all is fair in love and war and this was definitely not love.

  Sergo had tried to convince Stalin that the B29 program should be emulated as well but he was not convinced. The resources were not there for all of these projects and defensive weapons systems took precedence over offensive systems such as the atomic bomb and the B29. For now Stalin’s emphasis was on keeping what he had gained and using the resources of Western Europe to rebuild the motherland. Time and time again it was the motherland and its peoples who paid for the actions of the West. This time it would be different.

  Georgie was a big part of this undertaking. Georgie was something of a prodigy in his own right. He was a fixer and could scrounge for anything and strong armed anyone to get the job done and more importantly to get the job done right.

  Beria produced the secrets. Sergo produced the vision, ideas, qualified people and the process. Georgie produced results. Together they made a very strange but effective cabal, a cabal that Joseph Stalin seemed to be comfortable with…for the moment.

  Early Soviet analog calculating machine

  Chapter Eleven:

  Personal Stories

  Desmans: a curious mammal only found in the Caucasus and Pyrenees mountains

  ***

  This is from an oral history given by the Spotter of this sniper on the Pyrenees Line. They had many a night to discuss this episode and the eventual outcome.

  He was with his lifelong friend until the end.

  ***

  Desmans[lvii]

  The little creature stood on its hind legs and sniffed the air. Since it was for all practical purposes blind this was one of the ways it could tell which direction food or sex was. This of course was all it cared about. Unlike the humans that had invaded its' creek bed.

  Humans actually killed each other over ideas. Our little creature had no ideas so it only fought for sexual advancement and sometimes over territorial needs. Basic survival. Human leaders were able to convince their people and to make them believe that their very survival was in danger, even from people thousands of miles away. Then when in a combat situation far from home your very survival and that of your friends, was indeed in danger. So you fought the other human beings. Human beings who would probably be very kind to you in other circumstances. Other human beings who just wanted to plant a garden and to raise their families. Unfortunately for millions of other people and billions of other living creatures a few humans have the ability to convince themselves and then others that their ideas were worth fighting and dying for. Not them mind you, no they never seemed to go off to war, but others...always others.

  The leaders of the humans were very good at making the soldiers believe that others wanted to take their wife or home when in fact the vast majority of your supposed enemies did not. Humans have imaginations that can be filled with fear but not so our little creature.

  Yeorgi made up for his bad eye by having excellent hearing. Besides you only needed one good eye to be a good shot and Yeorgi was that. He was the best sniper in the 363rd and had 27 kills so far in these cursed mountains. What caught his attention was a sound he hadn't heard since he was 11 in the Caucuses where he stayed with his grandparents for 3 summers from ages 8 to 11. Those were good times.

  The sound he heard was kind of a cross between a violin and a hand drill going through wood. The only thing that made that sound that he knew of was a desman. How could this be? This furry creature was almost blind. It was basically a swimming mole complete with long snout large clawed paws for digging and swimming and in the desman's case a long scaly tail that aided greatly in swimming like a muskrat. Desmans are rare in Russia. So rare that the government has banned their killing since the 1920s. But that sound was definitely a desman. There can be no other animal that sounds the same.

  He had to find out. The sound obviously came from the creek to the southwest. First I'll look with my scope he thought. Inch by inch he scoured the shoreline from his vantage point. There were many parts he could not see of course. No desman from this site. He signaled his spotter that he had to take a leak. Parts of the creek were in plain sight of the enemy snipers so he had to be careful but he had to find out of that noise was a desman. Imagine far from home and to hear that sound from his childhood. He used to watch the silly creatures for hours as they swam and dove for grubs and worms. Basically sightless yet able to function quite well using their whiskers and nose. Could they really be here in these mountains they call the Pyrenees. Two places on earth the Caucuses and the Pyrenees so far apart yet so similar.

  The other day a member of the command staff encountered a bear and was severely wounded when the animal charged. Imagine coming all the way to Spain to die by bear claws. Come to think of it he better be careful to not die trying to find a swimming mole of all things. There is was again. He heard the distinctive sound near that mound of sticks. Time for patience and observation. This is not the time and place to go sticking your head up trying to find a childhood memory.

  Oh shit here comes my spotter looking for me.

  "What are you doing comrade? There are Spaniards to kill. You look too happy for war. What have you found?

  "Nothing yet but heard a sound I haven't heard since I was a boy in the Caucuses. The only creature that I know that makes that sound is a desman. They are rare back home and I can't imagine them being found here as well."

  "What do they look like?"

  "They look like a big mole that can swim."

  "You mean they are blind?"

  "Yes."

  "I would like to see this."

  "We'd better get back. The Maior will shoot us for looking for a swimming mole."

  "Perhaps he would be curious as well."

  "I am not going to find out...wait ... there ... see by the dead bush. Yes there it is. It's a desman! I can't believe it!"

  "I see it too...it's pretty ugly. See how it rears up to sniff the air. How does it survive? It appears to have no eyes at all from here."

  "They usually come out at night but I suppose all the explosions and strange smells have confused them."

  "Oh shit here's the Maior...pretend you putting away your pecker so he things we were pissing."

  Yeorgi will have good dreams of childhood tonight. Remembrances of times past. Remembrances of times without killing and death. Memories of an ugly swimming mole thousands of miles away and far from thousands of deaths as well. Tonight his childhood will come flooding back to him. Tomorrow he will kill or be killed but tonight is for memories. Tonight is for a little creature found in only two places on earth. Little does Yeorgi know but later in the spring he will once more be in the Caucuses near his Grandparents old home site fighting for his life from a gunshot wound to his left lung while the desmans he knew and loved will sniff the air and taste his blood in the water. The last thing he will hear is a desman calling his mate and it will bring a smile to his face as his final death rattle escapes his lips.

  The Ozone Layer

  The smell of o
zone was a pungent reminder of all the electronic equipment placed around the map room. Teletypes and radios gave off that distinctive smell. It reminded some of the younger officers of their electric toy trains. Before the war they were popular although you had to be rich to own one. Many of the younger officers in the room were from wealthy families. Families that made sure they were in the command structure and not on the frontline. Being rich has its privileges even in America.

  The lighting in the room was subdued to remind those gathered around that it was 0424 hours outside but in Europe it was mid-morning and that's what mattered in this enclosed enclave of the brain trust of the US military. General Eisenhower was back for a rare meeting with Truman and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Generals gathered around the large map of the Pyrenees Region of Europe were contemplating their next move. Ironically each was suspicious that there was a mole amongst them when in reality there wasn't. Each was guarded with their true thoughts and the meeting was rather stiff and heavy with non-committal statements and laced with short, stiff questions and answers. Individually they knew that they personally were not spies but the word from the FBI and other sources pointed to a spy in their mists. Each had known each other for years and therefore could not imagine anyone of them being the mole but the evidence was overwhelming. Someone at the highest level was leaking information to the Communists and that information was getting to Stalin.

  Little did they know that each and every one of them was innocent and the real spy was a janitor who had a photographic memory.[lviii] One look and it was etched in his brain forever. When he got back to his low rent apartment he simply wrote down what he saw and heard that day. He also copied the maps from memory. Just a glance and he had every detail ready to reproduce the most intricate maps. It was an amazing genetic skill that had made him quite a bit of money. That's why he did it. He didn't care about capitalism or communism. All he cared about was that the army paid a barely livable wage but the guy with the heavy accent paid him in gold for his days’ work. He had almost $3000 in gold hidden and could soon have enough to start that camera store he had been dreaming about ever since he got his first Brownie camera. That was before his father died and then his mother had to sell the camera to get food on the table. The foreign guy has warned him not to spend any of the money under threat of death.

  Maybe he was leaning towards communism. I bet they didn't let their children starve just because their father died in an industrial accident. His mother was helpless when his sister took ill. A simple dose of medicine would have saved her but there was no money in the house and she had died. Yes I guess he could see the advantages of communism. Everyone was supposed to be equal and took care of each other. He was sure his mother would have been a communist but she died when he was 16. He avoided the orphanage and somehow stayed alive in Washington D.C. getting a lucky break by being in the right place at the right time for once in his life.

  The generals knew nothing of this and were discussing the situation in Spain.

  "We need to shore up the line near Ripoll. They can't hold much past next month and have to be relieved. I suggest that we make a lot of hype and hoopla and send in the Big Red One. That will get the attention of the Reds and convince them that we mean business in Spain and that they had better double down."

  “It’s probably over kill Bill but I agree. It will show the Brits and Spanish that we mean business as well as the Reds. It will be a good moral booster and will keep everyone's attention on the Pyrenees Line instead of elsewhere."

  "Ed write an order for me to sign promoting Frank Milburn back to Corps Command and promote George Taylor to take over the 1st Division. Give him another star along with that promotion."

  "You mean Taylor from the 16th Regiment? The one with the great quote from D-Day?"[lix]

  "That would be him. Play it up in the press. One of America's greatest heroes is being sent to Spain to stem the Red Army etc. Play up his quote to about "there being only two kinds of people on the beach. The dead and the about to die." or whatever he said and let's make some hay with his promotion and being sent to Spain. We want the Reds attention fixed on the Pyrenees and not looking over their shoulder. We'll pull the Big Red One out after the first amphibious assault and use them for a later operation but for right now we need them and their notoriety in Spain."

  Luckily for all involved the janitor was not working that night and did not hear or see anything relating to future operations outside of Spain. The secret was safe for now.

  Bats

  A large map of Britain with range circles drawn out from various points along the French and English Channel coast line. The light is harsh and bright in the large room. Right now it is quiet but soon it will the main focal point of the Red Army Air Force or VVS. It is late and two men are alone in the room discussing the upcoming operations.

  Aren't you glad that you listened to that Sergo fellow Marshal Novikov and increased production of the Tu2s over the IL 10?"

  "Yes I am Paval. They are perfect for the upcoming attacks on the RAF. So fast that they can almost be their own fighter cover once they drop their bombs. They are more complicated to produce but well worth the effort. It's as if Sergo knew we were going to attack the British. Do you suppose he put the thought in comrade Stalin's ear? I do not recall this being a priority when the plan was laid out in December? "

  "I of course am not privilege to such discussions comrade Marshal."

  "Ha I suppose not Paval...yes I suppose not. Those Tu2s will no doubt be very effective for what we have in mind. Very fast and can still carry a good bomb load. They can get to their target fast and back to base even faster. Too fast for some of the older fighters even. Very similar to the British Mosquito except much stronger and able to take a beating. Carries more munitions also. We will have over 2000 ready for the upcoming battle along with 150 of the Tu 10. Now this one is a very impressive plane with a top speed close to the Mosquito. NATO now calls the Tu 2 the Bat."

  "Tupolev has really become a hero of the Soviet Union. Imagine designing a plane while in a prison cell and then have it impress Stalin so much that he is freed and made a hero. Quite a story."

  "I'm sure he could have done even better if he hadn't been put in that sharshka that is for certain. I guess all that ends well is good. He will have a bright future if I have any sway with comrade Stalin."

  "I'm sure you will comrade Marshal. I'm sure you will."

  "The conversion of many of the Yak 3s and Yak 9s to long distance DD models is almost finished. The IL10s, Lag 7s and Pe 2s have been given drop tanks if needed extending their ranges as the fight progresses. There is no part of the British Islands that we cannot reach in overwhelming numbers with escorted bombers in numbers never seen over British skies. Combined with the sortie rate we had over Berlin of over 6,000 a day we can cover quite a large swath of enemy territory with overwhelming odds."

  "Beria tells me that the RAF is frantically trying to make alterations and change tactics at the last minute. A new man has taken charge but it will be too late for them."

  "It doesn't matter as long as we keep getting the excellent and accurate information we have been receiving there will be no escape for them and no surprises for us."

  "That is true. Foreknowledge of the enemy’s plans trumps all other sources of information including advanced radar and even marginally better equipment. The British and the Yankees should know this better than anyone else given their advantage over the Germans in this area. Beria's sources have confirmed that the British had broken the German and Japanese codes early on during the war. It was like playing chess with an opponent that has to tell you his next three moves ahead of time. Not very challenging in my estimation. Now the shoe is on the other foot as it were and we now know the enemy's plans ahead of time and they will have to react to our initiatives. Beria informed the Politburo that the British had actually caught and then used every single German spy as a double agent. Every single one! Can you imagine what confidence a
nd possible outright arrogance they must have in their intelligence operations when in fact we have so many sources throughout the different levels of both their government and military that it is getting hard to keep track of them all.

  "Not a very enviable position to be in especially if you do not know the whole situation and how much of a disadvantage you are. It appears that the Americans are suspicious of the British. Little do they know that we have infiltrated both of their command and political systems very deeply as well. We have sacrificed a few of our agents to lull them into complacency. We shall see how they react."

  "I personally don't like all this spying and subterfuge. We have overwhelming odds. Let's attack them as soon as we can and not delay. Who knows when they will catch our spies? We should strike while they are changing tactics."

  "All I can do is recommend. It is up to Stalin and the Politburo to decide when we sweep the skies over Britain clean of the RAF and their cities are at our mercy. After all there is politics involved too. It is possible that the current weak kneed Limey government will acquiesce to Stalin's demands after our demonstration flights and the atomic bomb propaganda campaign. Even I was impressed with Beria's and Molotov's brilliant bluff. I'm sure it's creating a very large wave of distrust between the Capitalist pig governments of NATO. It was a very convincing performance and well thought out series of clever ruses combined with just enough grains of truth to make it seem possible."

  "The American's have many eye witnesses that saw their atomic bomb laden B29 slam into the Baltic Sea. There can be no dissension from them."

  "Yes but the Limey's are already suspicious of the information they have been getting from their cousins. This of course has been aided by well place pieces of disinformation planted by our agents throughout 1945 and early 1946. Neither side truly trusts the other."