World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  He casually glanced at his watch. It was 19:03 and he indicated that the briefing should end. The colonel quickly summarized the proceedings and the officers started to leave. It was 19:10.

  Zhukov told his aide that he was stepping out for a smoke as he often did. Nobody thought twice about his leaving by the back door. It was 19:12 when he lit a cigarette and a man came out of the shadows. The Marshall's hand was on the gun in his pocket and he was watching the man intently.

  He could see why the shadowy figure made a good spy. He blended in with his surroundings and looked completely benign.

  "Konstantin sends his greetings, Goga."

  "Stop calling me that! That name is reserved for my friends."

  "Then I shall earn the right."

  "What do you want? What is it that Konstantin wishes to be known to me?"

  Fiat starts out slow, building a case one logical step at a time. He tells of the atrocities committed by Stalin and the dangers of the 'cult' of Stalin. Stalin's sins include mass murders, creating famine in the countryside, and directing the assassination of real and imagined enemies.

  Zhukov is listening, but both men feel time is of the essence. A noise indicates that the door is about to be opened and the Marshall is distracted. When he turns around the spy is gone. The Marshall knows he will see the man again soon.

  Meanwhile Georgy has many choices to consider. He thinks to himself, this fellow is persuasive...much like Konstantin. I sense that they have talked long and deeply about the future of Russia. That bodes well.

  "Excuse me sir but the officers for your next meeting are waiting." An aide quietly informs the Marshall.

  "I will come straight away."

  "Thank you, Sir."

  The whole-time Zhukov's mind is reeling with the possibilities of a free Russia and what it means for its former republics. How will the Ukraine react to Stalin's death and the choices it brings? Latvia, Georgia, Estonia have all expressed and been punished for acts of independence. Now might be the time to start anew.

  Acceptance and Action

  Marshall Zhukov was wrestling with the explosive information that the spy Fiat had imparted. In their 10-minute conversation, much of what he suspected had been confirmed.

  Zhukov was aware of several mass killings perpetrated by the NKVD. In fact, he was involved in a few by association. For each incident, he had been told that the victims were murderous partisans who had killed women and children. From the information provided by Fiat, he now knew that they were the wives and children of Stalin's political enemies.

  He also learned of the systematic starvation of politically unreliable peasants in the countryside. He had seen evidence of this famine but had deluded himself into thinking that the situation was an act of nature. In reality food was deliberately redirected to loyal urban areas. Millions of poor farmers and laborers along with their families had perished.

  Zhukov realized that he could no longer feign innocence in these matters. He felt morally obligated to begin righting the many wrongs perpetrated on his countrymen. He now knew and believed, what he previously only fleetingly guessed. He trusted Konstantin implicitly and the information provided through the spy.

  It was time to address his own culpability and begin making amends for the excesses of Stalinism. Tonight he would personally approach key officers and provide them with Konstantin's conclusions about Stalinism. He was confident that the first dozen names on his list would see the truth and join him in his crusade to end the aberration labeled the USSR.

  He was not enough of a politician to suggest what the alternatives might be. He would leave that job to Konstantin and others more adept at compromise then he.

  The awareness that brought him fully into the anti-Stalinist camp, was the saving of lives. Over his career, he had caused the deaths of tens of thousands. Now he had a chance to save tens of thousands. Whatever the consequences, he was ready to take that chance.

  Once he made up his mind, the mental wrestling immediately ceased. Zhukov was a man of action once the choice was made and his course was clear. The time for reflection was over, it was time to take action and affect change.

  So far, his plan was falling into place. One by one Zhukov located and spoke with the dozen officers whom he believed would support and assist him with his stratagem. He had made it a point to approach the men in a single evening to control security. A few times he had to wake officers as the hour grew late.

  10 out of the 12 men were swayed by the promise of ending this deadly war. Every one of the dozen was a general. Some were in command of fronts, corps and some divisions. All were beloved by the troops they led. All could sway the vast majority of the men and their units by appealing to their loyalty and using the truths provided by Konstantin.

  Zhukov advised the Generals to neutralize their embedded commissars before initiating the recruitment process. The commissars were obligated to report any deviancy from the party line and were solid Stalinist's that could not be trusted.

  Then he cautioned The Dozen to keep their men from talking to other units. The time and date of separation would be 48 hours from now. At that time everyone who wanted to join the cause of freedom would start walking towards the NATO lines with their weapons above their heads.

  This offer of acquiescence to the Capitalist forces would coincide with Zhukov's fabricated attack.[clxxviii] Devoid of the Marshall's units, the delusional Stalinists would fail in their assault. As these troops fell back the anti-Stalinists would leapfrog them and renunciate their errant beliefs to the Amerikosi.

  It was a certainty that there would be attempted retribution. Men who wished to join the forces of freedom would wear face coverings to disguise their identity.

  Zhukov was taking every precaution to protect his men's friends and relatives. He did not want anyone to be subjected to retaliation for shifting loyalty, wanting change and a better life.

  This mass abandonment of Stalinism would be filmed and used for propaganda purposes.

  In less than 72 hours Marshal Zhukov and 300,000 traitors/freedom fighters were resting under the uneasy gaze of the American and British forces that hours ago had been trying to kill them. The Soviet prisoners could see that any mistake or miscommunication would end in their deaths at the hands of their former adversaries.

  Fire, Flames and Cremation

  What is it about fire? Ruslan could have watched his commander’s car burn for hours, the flames dancing out the broken windows, seats ablaze as the fabric burned and of course his commander’s body melting away. Finally, only the skeleton of Marshall Rokossovsky remained. The Marshall had been the focus of every waking and sometimes nightmarish moments, still looked vaguely human. Everything else was just fire.

  An Amerikosi plane had come out of nowhere and strafed them before he could react. The commander in the back seat was killed on the first pass. Ruslan had opened his door, fallen out and rolled as the car slowed down. He had quickly gotten to his feet and dove behind a pile of rocks. From this position, he had watched the burning car.

  Planes circled overhead as if they had not a care in the world. He guessed from the enemy’s behavior that the VVS was not a concern.

  Overtime Ruslan had developed the habit of glancing at reports when he was sitting in his superior’s office waiting to drive him somewhere. He had seen enough to know that the Red Army was losing. Rokossovsky's command was trapped between the British and Spanish in the Pyrenees Mountains. Additionally, to the east, the Amerikosi held a strong defensive line running from Gdansk to Trieste.

  The cowardly Occupation forces were surrendering all over Western Europe. However, the Marshall had been holding the line here in Spain. On his death, his incompetent second in command was put in charge. To Ruslan, this change in command would surely lead to a major defeat leaving him far from home.

  So far, the moral of the Red Army’s Trans-Pyrenees front was good. He and others from HQ had been sent to spy on the men in the frontlines. They were told
to ask leading questions that seemed to point towards giving up. Ruslan had almost been shot when a squad he was infiltrating reported him to their Leader. The man showed up, pointed a gun at Ruslan's head and gave him five minute's lead time to run away as fast as he could…which he did.

  His fellow spies also reported that moral on the front was strong. Because the fighting had been so up close and personal, most of the soldiers they spoke with could not conceive of giving up and surrendering. Many men claimed they would fight the British and Spanish foes at their front to the death.

  Ruslan believe them. He had been involved several hand to hand combat situations. Fighting in the mountains was a lot like combat in a large city. You fought over and over the same piece of high ground. Often, in both the city and mountains, you could not see your enemy until you stumbled upon each other. Thus, the numerous close combat encounters.

  You would not think that fighting in the mountains would be so visually impaired. The deep valleys and rocky outcroppings combined with surprisingly high grass in the summer, greatly reduced the line of sight. It seemed that even if you knew where the enemy was you still came[HK2] upon additional threats unexpectedly in the most benign of locations. These small meeting engagements would quickly escalate into major battles as units from both sides tried to support their comrades and friends.

  Marshall Rokossovsky had been confident that the Limeys were about to start something. There was all sorts of activity being reported on the enemy's side of the lines. The Spanish were stirring as well. There probably would be an attack following the recent landings in the Black Sea and Baltic.

  Rusland had no time to dwell on the latest news and gossip. He needed to get back to headquarters and report on the Marshall's disastrous death. It was difficult to tear himself away from the fascinating sight of the fire and what it was consuming. Besides, the scene was attracting enemy planes like moths to a flame.

  Fire is universally fascinating to humans. We love to start them and then hurry to put them out. The one thing humans can't do is to ignore the fire no matter how horrific the scene.

  Bleeding

  With his new face, Beria could walk freely throughout Moscow. Today he is carrying one of his favorite knives. Nothing fancy, just a Finka.[clxxix]that he has used many times. The execution of Nikita should be routine so nothing fancy was called for.

  He was making his way towards the Kremlin and what he hoped was a short encounter. His plan was to take Nikita by surprise.

  Beria was confident that Khrushchev knew about the hidden door into his office. He reasoned that Nikita would never expect someone else using it to rush in and attack.

  The assault would be so unexpected that Lavrenti anticipated an easy kill. But first, Beria had to enter the Kremlin without causing suspicion to reach the hidden tunnels. The door to the tunnels was through Lenin’s Tomb and had been placed there at Stalin's order during the last renovation. The Tomb was not busy today. There were not many visitors with the war now so close to Moscow.

  Beria lit a harmless smoke bomb as a distraction and while everyone was dealing with that he slipped into the passageway. The path led to two offices inside the President's Residency, Stalin’s and Khrushchev’s. He made his way to the junction and turned left to enter Nikita’s office.

  He opened the heavy door just a crack to listen and heard someone moving around and talking on the phone. Good! He thought, He’s alone.

  Everything went according to plan. He opened the door silently, swiftly walked up behind Nikita and slit his throat. Only it wasn’t Khrushchev. Even before the body drops he knows that it is once again a lookalike.

  Before he could even think, Nikita entered the office and Beria almost puts an end to the fight before it starts. He is as shocked as Khrushchev and botches the initial attack. The two diminutive fighters circle each other in the large room. Neither man says a word for none is needed. Stalin is dead and to the victor belong the spoils.

  From somewhere in his suit coat Khrushchev pulls out his own knife. The two men start to feign attack. Both are surprisingly experienced. Beria, an expert at torture, is taking small pieces of Nikita off. Nikita, bleeding from a half a dozen small wounds is a patient brawler waiting for his opening.

  When the opening comes, Khrushchev lunges with his knife for Beria’s throat with his right hand. His left hand is the real weapon and he grabs Beria by the balls in a vice like grip knowing he will take at least one knife strike from Beria’s expert hands.

  As Beria’s brain is taking in the experience of the pain in his crotch, Nikita diverts his knife and plunges it into Beria’s groin. With all his might he rips it upward until it strikes Beria’s sternum.

  Beria gets in a feeble strike to Nikita’s neck just missing the left juggler as the thought of imminent pain interrupts his attack. Lavrenti staggers backward as his intestines slide out. He trips over his own colon and sits down in the gore spilling out from his body. He tries to put his guts back in and hold them in place.

  Khrushchev gets up from where he had landed after getting sliced in the neck. He calmly staunches the flow of blood by putting pressure on the bleeding wound with his handkerchief. He warily walks behind the barely comprehending Beria and slices his neck from ear to ear.

  Lavrentia’s carotid artery did not bleed profusely as Khrushchev would have imagined. He wondered if the lack of blood was due to the administered disembowelment. Nikita half expected the devil himself to flee Beria’s body. He died like any other man with his throat cut, gurgling and gagging on his own blood. One last coughing spurt and the devil incarnate finally was dead.

  Belatedly, Khrushchev’s aide knocks on the door and looks in to see what all the commotion is about. Upon seeing Beria lying in his own blood and guts, his boss' bleeding wounds, he turns his back and vomits in the reception area. He then shrieks for security.

  Nikita Khrushchev makes a note to replace the aide. Then he sits down to plan how to end the war on terms that would be favorable to the Soviets. Now that Beria is dead he can resurrect himself. Then he will take command as soon as he dispenses with Malenkov[clxxx].

  As he was being treated for his many stab and slice wounds, Nikita was considering how best to contact the traitor Zhukov about initiating negotiations with the Americans.

  One of the security guards slipped and falls in Beria’s pile of remains. Khrushchev is immediately brought back to how close he had come to being assassinated. For a brief second, he thinks about his double. He probably never stood a chance. By all rights it should have been him, the real Nikita, slumped over his desk with his throat cut.

  His mind drifted back to Beria's attack. Their knife fight had determined the fate of millions. The bloody melee was between two small men in stature but towering in ambition. And, he had triumphed. But what had he won in the end?

  Khrushchev believed that the peoples of the Soviet Union were masters at survival and would adapt. He would lead them into a new era. Now, if he could only stop bleeding.

  Chapter Ten: Means to the End

  Figure 43 - Tanks as far as the eye can see

  Debating Unconditional Surrender

  "I tell you that it was the biggest mistake of the war!"

  "You're full of shit, Morgan!"

  "When FDR called for the unconditional surrender of both the Japs and the Krauts it guaranteed a life and death struggle to the absolute end. Hitler and Tojo both knew they'd be hung so they fought until the very end, destroying and taking as many lives as they could."

  "On the upside, the pronouncement gave our troops and the folks back home something to fight for..."

  "You could have done that a dozen different ways. Why I'll bet..."

  Wall Doxey, the 19th Sergeant at Arms of the United States Senate, comes storming around the corner and bellows.

  "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU IDIOTS! Who in the hell do you think you two are! No one wants to hear what a couple of Pages has to think or say, much less when important matters are being discusse
d in closed session.

  Both of you are in deep shit. Now clear out of here pronto and report to your supervisor in 10 minutes."

  "Yyyyeeessss Sir!"

  As the two pages scramble to beat each other from Doxey's glare, Wall turns and slightly opens the door to the Senate Chambers. He used to be a Senator until he was beaten by that shit Eastland. As he squeezes through the open door, the afore mentioned Senator Eastland is pontificating on why we should demand unconditional surrender from the Russians.

  Once again, James Francis ‘Jimmy’ Byrnes was at the center of an unconditional surrender debate. First the Japs and now it is the Ruskies. Jimmy believed in the virtues of such a surrender even as others was contemplating something else entirely. They were of the opinion that both Germany and Japan became more fanatical when FDR insisted on unconditional surrender. Many thousands died because of this.

  It was sheer madness or hubris to think that the exhausted Western Powers could, would or should occupy the former Soviet Union. The USSR land mass was over 60 times as big as Germany's with a population twice as large who spoke 120 different languages.

  However, the NATO Alliance would insist that the each of the former republics be freed from the Union and allow to be self-governing. The focus of America's efforts would be the republics that border Western Europe and Turkey, specifically Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

  The attempt to rid the republics of their local communist leaders would have a similar outcome to the denazification debacle in Germany. The effort had been an attempt to remove former Nazis from leadership and positions of influence. Some of the initial proponents of the German program wanted ex-Nazis restricted to only manual labor in an attempt to manipulate German society again.