World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  The speech had really made it hard for him to contain his urge to kill…someone. He would talk to Phil. Phil always seemed to know what to say that would calm him down. He wished he had known Phil before the Army. Maybe his life would have been different, or maybe he would have killed Phil.

  On April 1947 at 0423 hrs. Warren could barely contain himself when he went over the side of the ship and got into the landing craft. He looked around and everyone was scared. He was so excited he thought he would piss in his pants. He couldn’t imagine killing someone and actually getting away with it. Not only that, the more you killed the better your chances of getting a medal or a promotion and higher pay. This just couldn’t get any better for Warren Johnson. And, then it did.

  They rode the DUKW all the way to the first row of buildings. So far very few shots had been fired. Phil looked at Warren and they both just grinned and shrugged. This was way too easy. The DUKW stopped and they scrambled out. Warren led the way and Phil guarded his back just like they had agreed.

  Figure 4 – DUKW

  Following a Force of Nature

  They were ordered to fan out and start clearing the buildings that were near the docks. The first building was empty. The second was as well. The third building was some kind of factory. Phil indicated to Warren that he had heard something inside. Warren looked under the door where there was a wide gap and saw a barricade at about 50 feet from the main entrance. He signaled the rest of the squad to wait and then spotted a window high up. Warren had been a very good pitcher in high school. That is probably why he actually graduated despite his illiteracy.

  He pulled the pins on two grenades and held the handles to make sure the other squad members were well clear. The corporal finally showed up and let Warren continue with his plan. Warren threw the first grenade perfectly through the window, then switch hands with the second and did the same. The explosions were muted by the thick walls of the factory but the screams coming from inside were plainly audible through the window high up.

  Without missing a beat, and almost before the second explosion, Warren smashed through the main door and screamed like a banshee as he ran into the factory. Everyone else but Phil was stunned and took a good ten seconds to follow. Phil was right on Warren’s heels and true to his word he was making sure no one shot Warren in the back. Warren was taking care of everything in the front with amazing ease.

  The stunned defenders were no match for Warren’s ferocity. He was a killing machine who slaughtered anything that moved. When the smoke had cleared there were a dozen bodies, Warren was standing over the bodies grinning from ear to ear, and breathing hard. Phil had just finished shooting the last enemy soldier as she came out from behind a pillar to Warren’s right side. The rest of the squad just stood their staring at the carnage having not fired a shot. Sergeant Sims threw up when he accidently tripped over a severed head.

  Operation Kydoimos D-day +3

  1 June 1947

  The military term D-day stands for departure day. Every amphibious operation had its own D-day. The most famous was 6 June 1944. In reality it was just one of many.

  On day three of Operation Kydoimos, General Hallett D. Edson 15th Division had once again crossed the Mur River and entered the city of Leibnitz, Yugoslavia. The division had been driving hard and had had a dozen minor engagements with Yugoslavian forces. The 15th traveled 143 miles in three days and was due to be leap frogged by the “Lucky Seventh” Armored Division.

  One of the last contingents of the Yugoslav Air Force, a squadron of captured German Ju-87 Stukas covered by another squadron of British-made Spitfires, came in under the radar coverage. The Yugoslavs bombed and strafed the command and lead elements of the 15th Division. This was the last action of the Yugoslav Air Force. On their return flight the ancient planes were intercepted by six F6F Hellcats. The better technology and training of the US Navy pilots proved the deciding factor. All the Spitfires and Stukas were destroyed either in the air or on the ground.

  The Navy handed over the CAP (combat air patrol) duties to the USAAF at the end of this engagement for the lead elements of this D-day operation. The first airfields captured by the 15th Division were extensively upgraded to accommodate the F-80 Shooting Star jet fighter. The F-80 fighters gave the US a decided advantage in the air over even the best the Soviet VVS had to offer.

  The attack on the 15th Division was the last air combat over ground troops until the VIII Corps reached Vienna. The decimation of Tito’s air force was another indication that the Soviets were caught totally unprepared. At this juncture, only Yugoslavian ground and air forces had been encountered.

  Tito’s troops were being forced to fight in a conventional manner and could not use their tried and true guerrilla tactics as they had against the Germans. In World War Two, Yugoslavian fighters had effectively used insurgency warfare, melting away to the mountains and harassing the Nazis on an opportunistic basis. In this newest fighting, Tito had actively tried to prevent the US units from advancing through his country. The Yugoslavs were paying a very heavy price for no measurable effect.

  It was reported to General Walker that the USAAF was keeping apace of the advance. The American air force was providing constant air cover, and interdicting the enemy’s movements and supply lines.

  Both General Walker of the US First Army and General Troy Middleton, the commander of the VIII Corps, went to bed thinking that the operation was going exceedingly well and that disconcerted them both.

  Combat Savants

  Phil did not sleep well for the last three nights. He kept having nightmares and flashbacks to the day in the factory. He killed his first human. He had to think “human” because it had been a woman. He couldn’t think man because he hadn’t killed a man. Phil was thankful that the rest of the squad gave him credit for a job well done, but he has still killed another human being. True she was trying to kill them. That didn’t seem to help his nightmares. Mrs. Mable Post did not raise her sons Richard, Burt, and Phil to be killers. She did not raise them to hate.

  The woman Phil had killed had been in uniform, and two of the others that Warren had killed with his bayonet had been female as well. It didn’t seem to bother Warren. Phil tried to picture the woman he killed as just an enemy soldier. It would have helped if she had been ugly he supposed, but she wasn’t. She looked like his 3rd grade teacher who he had a crush on. It was a pretty face, which in his mind, would be forever trapped in the surprise of death.

  The squad stayed in the lead of the division and of the whole corps. They had gotten a new sergeant when their old one went crazy after their initial action. The first night after the action at the factory Sergeant Sims had repeatedly woken up screaming about the severed head he had tripped over. When the Corporal tried to calm him down the Sergeant had stuck him with his bayonet. Luckily for Corporal Beesly, Sims was so deranged that he missed anything vital. The Corporal was patched up and back with the squad after only a day.

  The new Sergeant was a vet from WWII who really knew the art of command. More and more vets were signing up, and then showing up in the ranks of US units. They were extremely accomplished and very welcomed. However, they all had chips on their shoulders, and never let you forget what they already did for God and Country.

  The new Sargent’s name was Crystal. He hadn’t seen much combat. He was always training for the invasion that never came. He has spent three months training for a special mission for the invasion of Japan. Luckily for all involved, including the Japanese, that mission was not needed.

  Warren continued to impress the others in the squad with his combat prowess. The company commander took notice as well. The brigade commander was keeping an eye on the squad and that is why they were still leading the VIII Corps on the road to Vienna.

  Besides watching Warren’s back, Phil seemed to have a knack for spotting ambushes. Possibly it was because of his artistic abilities and propensity to think outside of the box. He had been the one who had smelled out the factory ambush
and since then he had kept the squad from harm on three separate occasions. He really had an eye for dangerous situations and seemed able to read the mind of any enemy commander.

  Quite frankly, Phil was very lucky as well. The last ambush he circumvented had involved booby traps, using sewers to hide in, and then sneaking up behind the Americans. Phil was taking a leak when he spotted that something was making ripples on the water from a drainage pipe.

  He threw in a smoke grenade and that caused all hell to break loose. Fortunately for the Americans, they were ready for it thanks to Phil. It worked this way… Phil told Warren where the enemy was and then Warren killed them. In the meantime, Phil covered Warren’s back and it all seemed to be working.

  Today was 6 May, 1947 and the squad was on the outskirts of Graz. The Corps was only 12 hours behind schedule. Phil’s squad had been given jeeps and had an escort of armored cars. So far, only obsolete T-34 tanks wielded by the Yugoslavian Army showed up to the party. Soon, there were more and more of them. It seemed that Tito had finally figured out where they were heading. From all Intel reports, Tito was having a hard time convincing Stalin that the US forces were, in fact, focused on Vienna. Beria had been fed some disinformation and Stalin listened to Beria. Besides, attacking Vienna just didn’t make military sense.

  Phil and Warren heard the tank coming long before anyone else did and told the Sargent, who told the Lieutenant who told the…and so on. Five T-34s without infantry support blundered into a perfect trap that was basically set up by Warren. He made suggestions and everyone just listened and did what he advocated. The team of Warren and Phil had not been wrong and had saved many US lives.

  Three of the T-34s were destroyed in short order by the 17lbrs on the US Wolfhound armored car. A fourth and fifth T-34 tried to extricate themselves from the ambush, but were caught on the road by two US jets who hit them with rockets.

  That made 12 tanks that Phil spotted with Warren orchestrated their demise. Pilots became aces after 5 kills as did tank crews. Phil wondered if there was any recognition for the grunts?

  There was still no sign of the Soviets. The USAAF slaughtered a few supply columns but no massive reaction from the Stavka as yet. The theory was that Stalin and Beria were still confused and were paralyzed, but would snap out of it soon. The NATO strategists were counting on a Soviet reaction.

  The newly captured airbases were being repaired and lengthened to accommodate the US jet fighters. Furthermore, brand new fields were being developed at a rapid pace. It was as if the US had been a coiled spring, and now it was being let loose. Almost all the equipment for this first invasion had been in mothballs after the invasion of Japan was canceled. This massive hoard of equipment was just waiting to be used. It seems the US could make a hell of a lot of stuff quickly, but they just couldn’t seem to turn the whole operation off just as rapidly. The supply pipeline had continued to ship out stuff long after the war was over.

  Phil and Warren were some of the many recipients of this cornucopia of death. They had the latest antitank weapons, the latest antiair weapons and the latest artillery keeping them safe, and it was all on call in a matter of hours. Warren was very good at figuring out the coordinates for an artillery barrage and then passing them along to the Sergeant, who told the Lieutenant who dutifully called them in. The top brass thought the Lieutenant was a genius, when it was actually Warren. Warren’s capability was even more amazing considering his inability to read. While he was illiterate, Warren excelled at math and was very competent with maps. Now, he was using these skills to the extreme.

  In this unique pairing, each man continued to excel in his role. Phil kept Warren alive by covering his back and the company alive with his preternatural ability to detect traps. Warren kept Phil alive by killing anything that moved and kept the company with his instantaneous tactical decisions. Everyone else in the company just kind of let Phil and Warren work their magic.

  The top brass was not aware that a couple of Privates were responsible for the unprecedented progress, the VIII Corps and the First Army were making. Phil and Warren were taking the lead, and the whole Army was following these two privates; the VIII Corps combat savants.

  ***

  The military invasion of Trieste was named Operation Kydoimos, after the Greek god of the din of battle and confusion.

  ***

  Dislike and Respect

  General Walker was walking the bridge. He was on the opposite side of where Nimitz was walking the same bridge. That bridge was located aboard the new aircraft carrier the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB/CVA/CV-42 also known as the "Swanky Franky," "Foo-De-Roo," or "Rosie," with the last nickname probably the most popular. The Rosie was the Flagship of the Sixth Fleet and for Taskforce 66.

  Walker didn’t like Nimitz and the feeling was mutual. Then again, Bulldog Walker didn’t like very many people. They did respect each other and worked together in a very professional manner. They understood you don’t have to like someone to work efficiently with them and to get the job done.

  Figure 5 - Clear the decks as the USS Franklin sustains a near miss.

  Walker’s job had just begun. Nimitz job was half done. The Sixth fleet and auxiliary fleets had landed over 25,000 troops and supplies in 36 hours, a feat that surpassed D-Day in Normandy. The air, for 200 miles in any direction, belonged to the US Navy. That included the water in the Adriatic Sea from the surface to bottom. That was Admiral Chester Nimitz mandate and he had fulfilled it on a massive scale.

  Walker’s units were moving at a blistering pace. His Ghost army was fanning out all throughout the areas surrounding Trieste. Scout columns led by the new M38A3 Wolfhound armored car fitted with 17 pounders were probing every route leading out of the port area. If they encountered opposition, they engaged until it was apparent that more force was needed and the Navy was called in. The sixteen-inch guns of the battleships USS Wisconsin, Washington, Iowa, Indiana, New Jersey and Massachusetts cleared the way pretty effectively.

  The majority of these scouting attacks were pure subterfuge. The only vital axis of attack was north-northeast to Vienna. General Troy Middleton’s VII Corps was leading this column and things were going remarkably well. The Corps was only a few hours behind schedule. A particularly determined Yugoslavian unit and a timid US commander combined to halt the column for a vital 3 hours. The Yugoslavian unit was destroyed and the US Division commander replaced. The VII Corps was on pace to enter Vienna on 9 May, 1946. Twelve hours behind the planned schedule.

  The actual landings went pretty much according to plan. They surprised a column of Soviet Naval Babushka Mini-subs preparing to enter the waters of the Adriatic. It took five minutes of 5-inch shells from the close in destroyers to put an end to the Red’s plans. If those ten mini-subs had been in the water, it could have been ugly but war is all about timing and luck.

  The Mulberries were in place and working well. The southernmost artificial harbor was only at half capacity due to an unexpected mine field slowing up operations. The northern Mulberry was easily taking up the slack and Walker’s troops and supplies were rolling out from Trieste like a colony of army ants.

  On day two, the USAAF landed on airfields captured in Kranj, Yugoslavia, which is just outside of Ljubljan. By the end of the day, a squadron of F4U fighter bombers flew two sorties in support of the VII Corps drive on Vienna.

  The supplies were flowing like water from the endless parade of cargo ships with only a few mishaps. Three Soviet Navy Babushka mini-subs had somehow gotten through the bottom to top defenses of the US Navy and had scored four torpedo strikes on three cargo ships. Two of the cargo ships were sunk and the other crippled. Two of the mini-subs were destroyed when they had to surface and the third was never found.

  The air opposition was non-existent as expected this far from the Soviet lines. It appeared for all intents and purposes that the invasion had caught the Soviet Stavka by total surprise and the lack of any coordinated action supported that conclusion. No mention in Pravda o
r any other official communications of the landing in Trieste was apparent. It was as if the Reds were ignoring the situation hoping it would go away.

  The Western press was in full throat. From banner headlines to radio coverage from Trieste itself, the free press was being willingly manipulated by the Pentagon. NATO wanted the Soviets to be focused on the bright shinny object placed on their southern border. The plan would not work if the Stavka did not react to the incursion in major fashion. The Red Army had to move and move decisively to crush the invasion or all bets were off.

  A mere containment of the First US Army by the Soviets would be the smartest thing they could do. It was hoped that the inclusion of the US Army Air Force reaching out from its newly captured air bases would force the Reds to attack and expend resources they no longer had.

  Nimitz was doing his job and so was Walker. They communicated whenever necessary, which was often. They were short and to the point. They never argued or even discussed any particular point. Walker told Nimitz what the Army was going to do and Nimitz told Walker what the Navy would do to assist.

  Walker hated the US Navy and Nimitz was the epitome of the Navy. Nimitz hated the US Army and Walker was its leading combat general. Their official public relations duties were a fiasco. Walker just stood there looking tough and Nimitz looked efficient but somehow that was enough at this stage of the war. The press was satisfied that something was finally being done to defeat Stalin.

  Mutual dislike is not relevant if you have mutual respect. You did your job and the other commander did his and that was how you won.