World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  Flash!

  “Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. America! From border to border, and from coast to coast, and to all the ships at sea! Let's go to press...”

  “America’s greatest hero is going to show us how to do it again. Audie Murphy has reenlisted in the Army and wants all the war veterans out there to join him.”

  “According to Murphy, 'One dictator is the same as another...Besides, if we leave Stalin alone and let him sit there in Paris… he’ll figure out a way to attack us here, I’m sure. From what I read, he hates our freedom, our way of life, and the way we do business. Well I happen to like it all, myself, and I’m going to see to it that we keep on keeping on.”

  “Amen, Audie! Amen.”

  From The Front Page of the New York Times:

  July 13th, 1946

  “Medal of Honor Winners to Fight Again”

  In an unprecedented show of courage, honor and unabashed patriotism, almost all of the surviving World War Two Medal of Honor recipients have pledged to follow Audie Murphy’s example and rejoin the Armed Forces.

  The following is just a short list of all the award winners who are signing up to fight the Soviets and to free Europe once more. They have all signed a pledge and are urging all young men who are able to join them in this crusade against a Godless foe. They are especially appealing to veterans. “We need the veterans to once more charge into the breach”. Here is a short list of all those who have signed the pledge

  AUDIE MURPHY

  EDWARD A. BENNETT

  ARTHUR O. BEYER

  MELVIN E. BIDDLE

  CECIL H. BOLTON

  HERSCHEL F. BRILES

  BOBBIE E. BROWN

  FRANCIS S. CURREY

  JOE FOSS

  PIERPONT M. HAMILTON

  JAMES H. HOWARD

  JAMES R. HENDRIX

  LEON W. JOHNSON

  JOHN R. KANE

  JOSE M. LOPEZ

  VERNON McGARITY

  WILLIAM A. SODERMAN

  PAUL J. WIEDORFER

  Not to be out done, many members of the entertainment industry who have previously served, have also pledged to do their duty once more. Actors who are also combat veterans have pledged to return to the colors and fight for freedom yet again.

  These actors and veterans have joined the call to join up once again and “Win One for the Gipper”.

  GENE AUTRY

  EDDIE ALBERT

  JAMES ARNESS

  ERNEST BORGNINE

  RICHARD BURTON

  ART CARNEY

  KIRK DOUGLAS

  HENRY FONDA

  GLENN FORD

  CLARK GABLE

  WILLIAM HOLDEN

  BURT LANCASTER

  RONALD REAGAN

  JAMES STEWART

  In a joint statement from The Actors' Guild, they are urging all veterans to reenlist now.

  Clark Gable was quoted as saying, “We have the training and the experience to pitch right in right away and to drive the commies out of Europe back to where they belong. We don’t have time to train all the men we need, or wait for the draft.

  The time is now. The road to freedom has always started with our democracy, and this time is no different. To all you vets out there: Join up, and join up now! Let’s free the world from Godless Communism. Let’s finish this job once and for all

  AND FRANKLY, MY DEAR, I DO GIVE A DAMN…”

  Conspicuously absent from the announcement was

  America’s favorite movie soldier and celebrity,

  John Wayne, who made thirteen movies during the last war.

  Chapter Sixteen:

  Polonium

  Quitting Time at America’s Nuclear Production Plant in Oak Ridge

  ***

  Polonium is the deadliest substance known to man. It is a radioactive element needed to produce a safer atomic bomb known as the Mark III or Fat Man. It is extremely rare in 1946 and only America has a supply. Astoundingly a Soviet agent has access and control of this vital and highly toxic substance

  ***

  Oak Ridge Atomic Research Center,

  Oak Ridge, Tennessee

  July 13th, 1946

  9:04 hours

  His hands were slick with sweat, sheathed within the rubberized gloves, as he carefully lifted the container from the vault. In his sweaty hands he held the most expensive and the deadliest substance on earth. It was the key to detonating the atomic bomb. Most people have never heard of it, but for the last year it had been his life. In his role of Health Physics Officer, he had full access to both the Oak Ridge and the Dayton atomic centers.

  Both facilities were gearing up for maximum research and production efforts. Many of the original team; along with many new members, were drafted after the Soviet attack, to continue their work. Their newly-acquired civilian jobs were left behind because their country needed them once again.

  In his role as Health Physics Officer he had handled the containers many times, and even helped dispense its contents during the production process. He knew the dangers, and knew what he had to do, in order to protect his own life. A salt-sized grain of this harmless-looking powder could kill thousands of the strongest and healthiest men on earth if breathed in, or otherwise ingested. Death came calling with less than fifty nanograms. The amount in each container could easily kill a small city.[xxv]

  Intellectually he knew that external alpha irradiation is not harmful because alpha particles are completely absorbed by a very thin layer of dead skin, as well as by a few centimeters of air. But on a gut-level he was scared shitless about what he was planning on doing. He had split the available supply into two separate containers. One was destined for the Oak Ridge facility and the other for Dayton.

  His Soviet handlers taught him how to attach the detonator to the explosives and to set the timers. He had provided them with the best locations for the explosions in each facility. Each location was chosen to infect the maximum number of critical personnel, and the timers were to be set to a time when the maximum number would be gathered in the same place.

  The explosions would be small, just enough to destroy the containers and disperse the polonium. They would cause a momentary concern and investigation, but the buildings would continue to be used well after infecting most of his colleagues. Within weeks, they would be dead.

  Polonium is virtually undetectable outside of the body of the victim, and even then you must be looking for it. The small damage by the explosive would be fixed in an afternoon, and the both operations would be back up, and running again within hours. Even if they did suspect something it would be too late for those in the facility at the time. The facilities would be useless for generations. The polonium would continue to be there and would continue to kill.

  He regretted this on the one hand, but on the other, their work had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands and countless tales of sickness and deformities for generations to come. It was easy for his Soviet handlers to convince him of what had to be done.

  After seeing what happened in Japan, he might have done it anyway.

  Ironic how polonium was discovered by Madame Curie and her husband and it probably killed them. It was named after her beloved country of Poland.

  Polonium… the Holy Grail, and the key to causing a nuclear chain reaction in a Mark III atomic bomb. Polonium…the most sought after substance in the world, and the most deadly.

  The Soviet spy codenamed 'Delmar,' was about to change the course of history forever. George Koval almost forgot to replace the real containers with their fake replacements. He had actually closed the storage vault before he remembered. This fact filled him with doubts about his abilities to carry out his plan.[xxvi]

  Full-scale production of atomic bombs was about to resume. The new assembly teams had been trained and had been practicing for weeks. Just the right combination of individuals has been found and recruited. The U.S. was down to three usable atomic bombs. His safely-hidden containers held the entire U.S. and for tha
t matter, the world’s, supply of polonium.

  He had forty-eight hours to place both dirty bombs. He had forty-eight hours to become the deadliest saboteur in modern history. Ironically he also had forty-eight hours to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of his fellow countrymen from the fate of nuclear horror. He had forty-eight hours to literally stop the American nuclear program for at least a year or two. Enough time for the Soviet atomic weapons program to produce its own deterrent.

  This weighed heavily on Delmar. His heart was racing, and he was breathing hard. All the guards in both locations, were used to seeing him crawling around in restricted areas carrying his tools and instruments in his tool bag. He was the Health Physics Officer, and it was his job to crawl around testing for radiation just as he had been doing for over a year. He had 'Top Secret” clearance. It should be no problem at all for him to both smuggle the containers in, and place them, where they needed to be set.

  The explosives had been brought in bit by bit in hidden in his tools, hollow coins, and so on, during the last few months. The small detonators were hidden in his Geiger counter. The timers were two exact copies of his old and familiar watch. In fact, that had almost gotten him caught.

  One of the new guards had commented on his new watch. If one of the old guards had noticed the same thing, there might have been trouble. He had to figure out how to make his new watches look old. It’s surprisingly hard to do convincingly but he had accomplished the task just last week.

  The explosives, timers and detonators were waiting. All that was missing was the polonium and the hands that would put them all together.

  Lunch at Oak Ridge

  Main Facility Commissary,

  Oak Ridge Atomic Research Center

  Oak Ridge, Tennessee

  July 17th, 1946

  “What’s for lunch today Pete?”

  “Just some same old stuff. They got … ah SOS.”

  “Oh? Do you mean chipped beef, on toast?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I mean.”

  “Let’s sit over here. Man, the place is packed today. I’m glad we got here before the crowd certainly got big.”

  “What’s going on anyway?”

  “I dunno, some big conference on a new gadget. All the bigwigs and brainiacs are here. Can’t believe they’re going to eat in here with us. Kinda puts the cramp on our noon card game.”

  “Ha! Don’t you think they want to join?”

  “Not with a cheater like you playing. Your reputation is well-known. I still don’t understand why I keep playing with you. Man, there’s barely room to sit in here. How about over there with Schmitt? He’s got some room at his table.”

  “Hey Schmitty, how’s it going? You got some….Jesus! What was that?”

  “Fuck! Something exploded by the kitchen! Can’t see much through the dust….Hey Bill, can you see what’s going on?”

  “You know as much as I do Pete. Wasn’t that big of an explosion...maybe one of the cooks let the gas build up in one of the stoves or something. Wait...I can see where it happened.”

  “It’s overhead in the air ducts. See by the wall, there?”

  “Oh yeah, nice little hole there. What the hell could have done that? HEY DAVE! ARE WE SUPPOSED TO EVACUATE OR WHAT?”

  “CAN’T HEAR YA! I’LL COME OVER THERE!”

  “I said aren't we supposed to evacuate, or something?”

  “Well no alarms are sounding yet. Kind of a small explosion. Maybe a little gas got up in the air ducts, somehow.”

  “LISTEN UP EVERYBODY! THERE'S NO REASON TO PANIC, BUT LET’S EVACUATE THE AREA UNTIL WE FIGURE OUT WHAT CAUSED THE EXPLOSION. NO ONE WAS HURT. TAKE YOUR LUNCHES WITH YOU IF YOU WANT, AND EAT IN THE AUDITORIUM.”

  “Damn straight I’m taking my lunch! I paid 10 cents for this feast, and I’m not wasting a mouthful! Let’s go before they change their minds.”

  “Lucky that gas leak, or whatever it was, didn’t do more damage. Sounded like a big firecracker. Who in the hell would do something so stupid?”

  “Maybe it was one of the circulation fans...no, I don’t think that’s it. They’re still working see how that dust is blowing around. No it wasn’t a fan.”

  2 HOURS LATER

  In the Head of Security’s office

  “It appears to have been a very small explosion set off by a cheap wrist watch as a timer. We just heard that a similar thing happened in Dayton in the middle of their big conference. It happened in their auditorium just before they broke up for lunch. Same type of thing: a small explosion that sent a dust cloud circulating throughout the air ducts. The funny thing about both explosions was that there wasn’t that much dust in any of the other air ducts. These are all pretty new buildings and it was strange.”

  “Headquarters has ordered a lock-down of both facilities until we find the culprits. We’re going to test everyone for explosive residue. Both air-circulation systems are back up and running and the holes are patched, but we’re going to keep everyone in place for at least twenty-four hours until we find out who was responsible for this...prank. I don’t know what else to call this. No one leaves, and both places are locked-down air-tight until we find who did this. Was this someone trying to test our security or something? I mean those tiny explosions couldn’t do much damage at all.”

  It Spreads

  George Oppenheimer opened the door and was greeted by his dog. Iliad jumped up on his hind legs hopping around, hoping to get petted, or even picked up. As usual, he sniffed George for interesting odors, drawing in the polonium particles from his master’s pants deep into his lungs. Oppenheimer was once again working for the government, on a consulting basis, and was attending a seminar, when a small explosion livened things up at the Oak Ridge facility.

  His wife Kitty, came out of the bedroom and gave him a big hug, never realizing that she was breathing in a few particles of polonium from his suit jacket as she inhaled. Five-year old Frank, and two-year old Toni, both came running out and also gave their daddy, George, a hug, and each buried their faces in to his pant legs and inhaled particles of polonium.

  The family decided to go out to eat at a restaurant down the street. George shook hands with a dozen people before they were seated. His fame was still a novelty, because of his work on the atomic bomb project. Each received a dose of polonium, in some form or manner from contact with Oppenheimer. The waitress was next to receive a dose of polonium when she picked up a napkin that little Frank had dropped, and pretended to blow her nose in it to the amusement of both children. The cook received his next when the paper the order was written on was put on the spindle and was spun around for him to read.

  Particles spread from the cook, to forty other diners, and then they went home, and infected another ten people each, who, in turn, infected six others apiece, and so on. By this time, the polonium was getting spread really thin and was not as potent. Yet it still packed a poisonous punch. All in all, George Oppenheimer and men like him, spread polonium to over six thousand people. Not all died, like he and his family, the waitress, the cook and ten of the forty other diners. Still many became deathly-ill, and many never had a normal life again.

  Now multiply that by the one-thousand four-hundred eighty-nine people originally infected at Oak Ridge, then add another one-thousand seven-hundred twenty-eight in Dayton, and you have a problem of exponential proportions when they each give a dose of polonium to a couple of hundred more give or take a life.

  Iliad died too by the way, along with thousands of other pet dogs, cats, rats, mice and even cockroaches. Polonium is an equal-opportunity killer.

  Map Room

  The White House

  July 30th, 1946

  The air is sweltering in the enclosed room. There are too many big bodies crammed into such a small place. The atmosphere is even more uncomfortable than the sweltering heat outside for more than one reason. The most powerful man on earth is speechless. At the moment, there is not a more uncomfortable place on earth.

 
There is stunned silence, as the news sinks in. No one moves, waiting for Truman to say something...anything. Someone coughs, and the silence is broken as others dare to breathe again.

  The president looks sick to his stomach and is as white as a ghost. Then, the color returns to his face, as his fists clench, and suddenly, the old World War One Artillery Captain is back in command.

  Truman finally explodes. “Jesus Christ, how many?!”

  “Virtually all the personnel at both Oak Ridge and Dayton sir; they are all dead, dying or sick. Remember the report a few days ago about two small explosions at both facilities?”