World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  The Doctor and Jim had been brainstorming all morning with a group of artists and experts in camouflage. The goal was to anticipate the Soviet’s next moves and develop counter measures. With the Razzle Dazzle paint job they had guessed correctly. But they felt that the odds were not in their favor, given the surge in missile strikes.

  In the afternoon another meeting was scheduled that would include their artists and engineers pulled from all disciplines to create new ways of hiding in plain sight.

  While Skinner and his teams understood that their solutions were fixes and were only temporary, they recognized that it was the function of The Joint Chiefs of Staff to determine the long-term solution. Everyone was aware that the situation was similar to the Allies of World War II capturing the launching sites of the V2. Now, NATO needed to capture or destroy the Red’s:

  Means of production

  Launch sites within range of NATO’s shipping lanes.

  Skinner and Jim had learned how to work well together. Between them, they developed their own brainstorming exercise based on the original work of Alex Osborn and Skinner’s experience. Their new method had been responsible for most of the ideas being currently under consideration.

  Jim Crenshaw learned the “brainstorming” technique, from of all people, his father. His hated parent was in one of the first groups of sales people trained by Alex Osborn.

  Later, his father had held training sessions at their home after a company vice president deemed the exercises a waste of time and banned them from company property. The sales force knew better and decided to run their own sessions.

  Voices coming up through the heating system from Jim’s living room had put him to sleep for years. The only time sounds of excitement and enthusiasm filled the house were when his father was leading the class. Between the monthly training sessions Jim’s house was filled with drunken rage.

  Sixteen-year old James Alexander Crenshaw had been unwittingly trained by a master of the brainstorming method…his father. Who would have imagined that voices heard through the heating duct would create an idea producing prodigy?

  The combination of Jim’s developing skills and Dr. Skinner’s Behavioral Psychology expertise assured that no idea was dismissed out of hand and all suggestions were given a fair review.

  Osborn’s rules were simple:

  Go for quantity

  Withhold criticism

  Welcome wild ideas

  Combine and improve ideas with the slogan 1+1=3 emphasized

  Figure 25 - Brainstorming Session 1947

  Spoofing

  Skinner and his team were developing ways to spoof the pigeons that were guiding the missiles fired at the NATO ships. Following the Razzle Dazzle paint jobs success the next innovation was inspired by the observation that missile hits seemed limited to specific kinds of ships.

  It was Jim who first pointed out that certain ships had similar superstructures. Luckily Skinner’s team had developed a possible solution. The group quickly contacted a manufacture who was able to provide lightweight, folding, tent-like covers that could be placed quickly over a ship’s antenna array.

  The Navy complained mightily about the coverings affecting their radar abilities. Skinner pointed out that the Soviets had very few ships left and none of them were on the open seas. The Soviet Babushka Min-subs could not be seen on radar at any rate and posed a much smaller threat than the missiles. In addition, the missiles were too small to be seen by the naked eye as they traveled toward their target at 900 kph.

  The first ships to receive the antenna covers were almost immune to the Red’s new targeting scheme. The Navy brass shut up and issued new orders to ship captains. Crewmen aboard the vessels were soon fabricating covers and soon the missile strikes became rare once more.

  The next project on the drawing board was an instant smoke screen generation system using rockets launched from the targeted ships.

  For this concept to be successful, two coordinated components had to be in place. The first element was an infrared device mounted aboard planes to detect the missiles.[clviii] The second element was a smoke generating system to obscure the target. The spotting device would alert the Navy that missiles were in flight and the release of smoke would blind the organic pilots.

  The time from missile launch to impact was estimated to be 7 to 13 minutes. This time frame would be the window of opportunity or releasing the smoke screen. The screens only lasted a few minutes. Timing and coordination remain paramount to confusing the pigeons and preventing missile strikes.

  Skinner and his team theorized that the next innovation by the Reds would be to enhance their own infrared scopes and incorporate them into anti-ship missiles. Ships make very large heat signatures when surrounded by cooler water. Even a very primitive scope could create an image good enough for a keen-eyed Columba to peck effectively and keep its missile on target. The combination of the Soviet’s version of Skinner’s pigeon guidance system and their own advanced heat detecting scope would assure that the missile hit the ship.

  Assuming they were correct in anticipating the Red’s next move Skinner’s team began work on ways to thwart an infrared guided missile system. Concepts under discussion with Naval Ordinance include:

  Exploding clouds of gas designed to blind or attract the infrared guidance system

  Barrage balloons suspended above a convoy with heat signature similar in size and shape to the ships below

  Heated chaff dropped from planes or rockets

  At a previous meeting a number of team members mentioned that Soviet technical advances were not arriving as often as expected. Intelligence operatives had been hearing rumors of a major change in the leadership of Soviet research and development.

  Intel proposed that a single genius might be responsible for many of the Soviet breakthroughs. Further, they suggested that this person had gone missing. Also, they presumed that Stalin had once again purged his ranks and was feeding his paranoia.

  At the conclusion of the meeting the group agreed to pursue the new spoofing ideas of gas, balloons and chaff. These countermeasures eventual implementation should buy the Navy another two months of freedom from the unerring missile strikes. It was just another day in the seemingly never-ending battle of spoof and counter spoof.

  Figure 26-Early German Infrared Detection System Mounted in Me 110

  Chapter Seven: Meanwhile Up North

  Old Friends, New Enemies

  Gunnar Dyrberg and others had resurrected the Danish resistance group Holger Danske. The group had been instrumental in actions against the Nazis in World War Two throughout occupied Denmark. Their missions included the assassination of Danish collaborators, and towards the end of the war particularly heinous Germans.

  Holger Danske was founded by five men who initially fought on the Finnish side against the Soviets during the Winter War in 1939. These experienced fighters had the particular skills needed to gather the type of intelligence NATO required for the coming operation. They were being called upon to identify Soviet defenses along the Danish Straits.

  Overtime Danish resistance fighters had adopted the “Ten Commandments” written by Arne Sejr during World War Two. He drafted his list in an effort to compel his fellow countrymen to resist the Nazi occupation.[clix] A new version of the Commandments were revised to the following after the Soviet invasion in 1946:

  1. You must not go to work in Soviet lands.

  2. You shall do a bad job for the Soviets.

  3. You shall work slowly for the Soviets.

  4. You shall destroy important machines and tools.

  5. You shall destroy everything that may be of benefit to the Soviets.

  6. You shall delay all transport.

  7. You shall boycott Soviet films and papers.

  8. You must not shop at Communist stores.

  9. You shall treat traitors for what they are worth.

  10. You shall protect anyone chased by the Soviets.

  Join the Struggle for th
e freedom of Denmark!

  One group in this newest conflict, rejected the new Commandments and embraced the invading Soviets. They were members of the Borgerlige Partisaner or BOPA. BOPA had been formed by communist sympathizers. Since their inception in World War Two, they remained true believers in their interpretation of Karl Marx’s writings.

  Holder Danske and BOPA had fought alongside each other against the hated Nazis for years. Each member of the two groups had probably saved the lives of individuals in the other group at one time or another. Now they were sworn enemies based on political ideology.

  The Soviets tried to use BOPA in an attempt to eradicate other resistance groups. Curiously BOPA was unusually ineffective in operations against Holder Danske.

  There appears to have been an unwritten understanding between these two groups. Each had looked the other way when unexpected confrontations occurred. In the life and death of war, experiences shared with fellow fighters can often be of paramount importance in future encounters.

  Holder Danske’s primary NATO task was mapping out all Soviet manned fortifications on the Danish shore from the Skagerrak through the Kattegat and into the Baltic Sea. In addition, information on minefields was requested. Special emphasis was to be placed on the Great Belt and Oresund passages.

  The members of Holger Danske were almost finished with their assignment when they were confronted by a patrol of BOPA communist supporters. A few terse questions were asked and fists started flying. No one was seriously hurt but the incident was the first time the groups had come to blows.

  The survey had taken three months and revealed that virtually no improvements had been added by the Soviets. The information was now in the hands of British Intelligence. Surprisingly, many of the strong points operating in the last war were not being manned. Minefields still remained in place but their locations were well known. NATO planners were eager to incorporate all of the gathered reconnaissance material into their plan of action.

  Dead Corner in a Dead Sea

  The plan was bold. It was almost as bold as forcing the Turkish Straits. Both operations would involve large clandestine operations and innovations on a scale never seen before. Included were massive amounts of firepower to be provided by the guns of the world’s remaining battleships. In addition, squadrons of naval airpower would be launched from an unprecedented number of aircraft carriers assembled at the mouth of both the Danish and Turkish Straits.

  The combat ships were tasked with giving up their very existence to protect the real strike force composed of troop transports and their logistics tail. The battleships were considered obsolete in the new world of aircraft carriers. However, current circumstances demanded that the pinpoint accuracy of their 16-inch guns once more. These old battlewagons were to put themselves time and time again between enemy forces and the fragile transports.

  The surviving shore batteries could easily punch their way through the thin sides of a Liberty or Victory ship. The 12 inch armed steel belt of the USS Wisconsin was a different matter altogether. Her 16-inch guns easily outranged, with astounding accuracy, all enemy weapons likely to be encountered.

  22 American battleships remained in service along with eight Royal Navy battlewagons. These 30 ships were ready to play a large role in the two largest, brazen and some would say most perilous military operations ever planned.

  The minefields and anti-ship obstacles had been located and identified with procedures designed to clear them. The planners at NATO were very surprised at the lack of new minefields. It was thought that the Soviets would have committed their resources on mining the straits. Thankfully they had not.

  Operation Triple Cross was scheduled for the third week in June. From all indications, everything was on schedule to meet the target date. The forcing of the Danish Straits had rarely been considered, attempted or much less accomplished.

  The operation in the Danish Straits was so outrageous that even if the Soviets had been informed of exactly what was about to happen they would probably dismiss the evidence as a smoke screen for some other mission. The thought that NATO would put such a large force at risk for no obvious gain would have caused the Reds to look for the “real” target.

  Other more likely locations for a planned invasion of Europe had been presented to a number of known Soviet agents. It was hoped that the informants would pass along the erroneous information to their Soviet handlers. The sham sites included The Bay of Biscay, Pas de Calais and once again Normandy.

  The staging area for Operation Triple Cross was not England but Shetland, the islands north of Scotland by 200 miles. The distance from the Shetland Islands to the entrance of the Danish Straits was comparable to the distance from Okinawa to Japan.

  Okinawa had been the base of the planned invasion of Japan, an operation twice the scope of Triple Cross. The Japanese invasion was ultimately aborted as a result of dropping the atomic bombs. The Shetland and the Okinawan bases of operation, support and logistics are comparable. These facts suggest a good outcome for Triple Cross.

  The Baltic Sea was known as “a dead corner in a dead sea”. The real questions were, what would NATO gain by putting vast amounts of valuable assets into such an endeavor? Why enter a blind alley? For what overarching purpose would anyone put thousands of lives in such peril?

  Maniacal Machinations

  He was hiding in plain sight, within minutes of the Kremlin. Lavrenti Beria was waiting like a snake for his chance to strike and kill.

  His face and even his physique had been altered. He occasionally walked the streets in the very shadow of Stalin’s former office. He had practiced disguising his gait during the hours he was recovering from surgery.

  His network of operatives claimed that the only man Beria feared was close to death. Then it was reported that Stalin had recovered thanks to some kind of new surgery that could replace vital organs. The details were very murky. Beria dismissed them out of hand as a sophisticated ploy to make fools believe that Stalin would live forever by having his organs replaced one by one.

  He was also aware of Sergo Peshkova’s disappearance. In addition, Beria knew all about Sergo and his underground hiding place. He had elected to keep all this information to himself. He was planning to resurrect Peshkova when the time was right and use him for his own purposes. Lavrenti had a true gift for recognizing genius when he encountered it.

  Sergo, the brilliant problem solver and organizer, would come in very useful in the new Soviet Union. Beria was convinced that if Stalin had listened to Sergo the US Navy would have been decimated. Instead the Dictator’s usual demons had poisoned his mind to anyone who could truly defeat their enemies. He was again relying on idiots and toads.

  Nikita Khrushchev had missed his appointed death by dismemberment. The fact that Beria failed to kill his intended target obsessed him. Focusing on his failures was Beria’s true Achilles Heel. He was spending many hours and using up far too many assets in his quest to finish off Nikita.

  The irony was that he actually liked the man. However, he clearly recognized that Khrushchev was a roadblock to his path to power and that he had to die.

  He had another ace up his sleeve in the form of an agent who was poisoning Stalin. She was still in place and carrying out her deadly task. By now, other organs should be starting to fail. If in fact Stalin had received new kidneys, they would likely be the first of many organs to be replaced.

  The only catch to his plan was the Red Army might just lose the war before he could assume power. Beria was above all a pragmatist. He believed the current leadership was sure to fail and would be defeated. Consequently, he understood he would have to time his rebirth carefully.

  If he was too late, and the war already lost, he would end up the leader of nothing. He would have to wait for a decisive Soviet battlefield victory to make his bid for control. In fact, a local victory, no matter how small, would put him in place to negotiate from a position of strength. The overall outcome seemed to be adhering to the old adage w
in the battle but lose the war.

  Beria was sure Nikita would do exactly the opposite until all was lost. Khrushchev would assuredly open negotiations after a major Red Army defeat. As a result Nikita would be in the worst bargaining stance possible. He would be forced to negotiate from a position of inferiority and weakness.

  Beria was willing to trade any territory conquered in World War Three for access to the vast financial resources that America could provide. In addition to Western Europe he would offer autonomy for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as the final incentive. The offer had to be perfectly timed and he was the only leader that could orchestrate such a feat.

  His first attempt on Khrushchev’s life had failed because the Pimp was late for his appointed “Bear Hug”. The next try had to be perfectly implemented. Once Nikita was out of the way Lavrenti would be free to kill Stalin. If Stalin died first he was sure the army would support the supposed “hero Nikita” of Stalingrad and not him if it came down to a confrontation.

  He was in the process of vetting a sniper he could blackmail. Assassination by sharp shooter was not the most common method in 1947. In fact Beria did not recall any political leaders who had been killed at long range. Most of the recent attempts and successes had been up close and personal.

  He certainly had many exceptional shots from which to choose. The Red Army seemed to be especially adept at producing long-range shooters. There were a dozen former Soviet snipers with over 400 kills each. What he needed was a proven killer yet one that was virtually unknown in Moscow.

  He had zeroed in on a female Czech sniper with 30 kills. Enough proven skill to ensure a kill but not ostentatious enough to warrant fame. Her name was Marie Ljalková-Lastovecká. [clx] She was perfect for the part. His real challenge was how to force or coerce her into shooting his old friend Khrushchev.