World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First
Page 21
In attendance: Vyacheslav Molotov – Foreign Minister, Anastas Mikoyan – Vice-Premier of the Council of Ministers, Lazar Kaganovich – First Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party and Minister for Building Materials, Georgi Malenkov – Candidate Member of Politburo, Lavrenti Beria – Director of the NKVD, Nikolai Bulganin - Minister for the Armed forces, and Nikita Khrushchev – Premier of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and senior member of the U.S.S.R.'s Politburo.
Molotov pontificates, “I tell you, it is our comrades in the U.S. who are slowing down their war-production just like we planned. They have convinced a large number of the American workers that the old, gutted, Europe is not worth fighting for again. They did it once, but not again. They have spent over 300 billion dollars, money they did not have on the last war and it will only be worse for them this time. They must make money, or their system will collapse. The whole capitalist system depends on using the worker and profiting off his labor. The workers are finally seeing the true nature of capitalism. Their war-bond sales can only take them so far. The American public is sick of war.”
Beria speaks up, not wishing to concede all the meeting time to the filibustering Molotov, “Da, Comrade Vyacheslav is correct. That must be the answer. Why else would they not be producing enough weapons? Why else would their young men not join their armies to fight us? The workers must be convinced that the communist way is the way of the future, and they are just trying to hasten the workers' ascension over the moneyed whores. Look at how their own soldiers rioted, when they did not get them home fast enough. And when Truman tried to slow the demobilization down, he was defeated by his own supporters. It must be the answer otherwise they would surely have pushed us back from the Pyrenees Mountains, or at least attempted to. Instead they are losing ground every day. In a matter of months, we will be through those cursed mountains and nothing will stop us from reaching Gibraltar. Italy is ours now and Greece will soon follow. They surely must feel that all is lost and are ready to talk with us, about the future.”
“With the successful destruction of their atomic bomb program they must know that this is the end of the capitalist system in Europe and they will have to see to saving their own skins. Some of my agents are trying to infiltrate the unions, but that door has been closed shut; for now by the F.B.I.”
Khrushchev chimes in carefully choosing his words, so as to not sound nekulturny to the rest of the group, “If I may, Beria…let's concentrate on their military options, shall we? First, without their atomic bomb we have a realistic chance of stopping their bombers now that we have the weapons we need to at least reach their planes. Soon, they will only be able to field forces from either England or Spain, to try and gain back Europe. Scandinavia will soon fall, judging from the reports I’ve seen, and …”
Beria, visibly annoyed at Khrushchev, shoots back, “We’ve heard that before, Tovarishch Nikita. Perhaps you should take personal charge of the war in the north, and entertain us with your heroics, as you did at Stalingrad eh comrade?”
Not caring what he sounds like and having little fear of Beria at this time, Khrushchev explodes, “Don’t belittle my service, Beria! I saw the war firsthand, unlike you, spending the entire time hiding behind your secret police and your NKVD troops! I know the smell of death by bomb and bullet, first hand! All you know is death by torture!”
Everyone sits there momentarily stunned at Khrushchev and Beria's exchange, until Molotov brings the meeting back into order, “Enough, old friends! Let’s get back to the business we have come here for. Stalin will not be pleased if we don’t come to some conclusions and report to him by 3:00am. You know that he will still be awake, and expecting us to report, so do we have a consensus? Can we conclude that it appears that the Americans are having trouble mobilizing their forces for another all-out war and that Comrade Stalin was correct again about their will to fight for the same ground they have already fought over? No objections then? Good!” And the meeting breaks up into smaller cliques, for further discussions.
Ruling Seven
Chapter Twenty: Preparations
RAF Meteor Jet Fighter
***
Once again the thoroughness of my files is on display.
***
“What have we here, Dimi?”
“It is a list of the British squadrons.”
“This is useful information, eh?”
“Yes, our agents are providing us with many bits and pieces from which to put together a nice little picture of just how prepared the British are.”
“They have moved many of their bomber squadrons out of England. Perhaps, it is to avoid them being destroyed?”
“Yes, that appears to be so.”
------------------ TOP SECRET----------------
Royal Air Force Headquarters
London
August 5th, 1946
Report on Historical Squadron Strength
Stationed in the British Isles at the start of hostilities May 2nd, 1946
7 squadrons of Meteors
1 squadron of Vampires
30 squadrons of Spitfires
4 squadrons of Mustangs
1 squadron of Tempests
7 squadrons of Hornets
8 squadrons of Mosquitoes
9 squadrons of Mosquitoes, night-fighter variant
20 squadrons of Lancaster bombers
13 squadrons of Lincoln bombers
100 squadrons
1,232 combat aircraft
Stationed in Germany
3 squadrons of Tempests
2 squadrons of Spitfires
6 squadrons of Mosquitoes
136 combat aircraft
Stationed in France
1 squadron of Meteors
1 squadron of Spitfires
1 squadron of Tempests
40 combat aircraft
Stationed in Norway
2 squadrons of Spitfires
27 combat aircraft
Stationed in Italy
1 squadron of Tempests
1 squadron of Mustangs
1 squadron of Hurricanes
1 squadron of Mosquitoes, night-fighter variant
45 combat aircraft
Stationed in Austria
2 squadrons of Spitfires
30 combat aircraft
Stationed in the Far East (Java, Hong Kong, Japan, Malay)
5 squadrons of Spitfires
4 squadrons of P47s
2 squadrons of Mosquitoes
2 squadrons of Hurricanes
1 squadron of Tempests
181 combat aircraft
Stationed in India
2 squadrons of Spitfires
2 squadrons of Mustangs
1 squadron of Tempests
58 combat aircraft
Stationed in Mediterranean (Malta, Palestine, Greece)
1 squadron of Tempests
1 squadron of Spitfires
2 squadrons of Mustangs
2 squadrons of Lancaster bombers
1 squadron of B24 bombers
84 combat aircraft
Stationed in Egypt
2 squadrons of Spitfires
1 squadron of Mustangs
1 squadron of Mosquitoes
1 squadron of Mosquitoes, night-fighter variant
4 squadrons of Lancaster bombers
1 squadron of Lincoln bombers
142 combat aircraft
Stationed in South Africa
1 squadron of Spitfires
10 combat aircraft
Stationed in Sudan
1 squadron of Mosquitoes
12 combat aircraft
Current Squadron Strength
Stationed in the British Isles at the start of hostilities
10 squadrons of Meteors
2 squadrons of Vampires
42 squadrons of Spitfires
10 squadrons of Royal Auxiliary Air Force Spitfires
8 squadrons of Mustangs
6 squadrons of Tempests
9 squadrons of Hornets
9 squadrons of Mosquitoes
11 squadrons of Mosquito night fighters
5 squadrons of Lancaster bombers
1 squadron of Lincoln bombers
113 squadrons
1,487 combat aircraft
Stationed in the Far East (Java, Hong Kong, Japan, Malay)
5 squadrons of Spitfires
4 squadrons of P47s
2 squadrons of Mosquitoes
1 squadron of Tempests
152 combat aircraft
Stationed in India
2 squadrons of Spitfires
2 squadrons of Mustangs
1 squadron of Tempest
72 combat aircraft
Stationed in Mediterranean (Malta, Palestine, Greece)
2 squadrons of Tempests
3 squadrons of Spitfires
2 squadrons of Mustangs
81 combat aircraft
Stationed in Egypt
4 squadrons of Spitfires
4 squadrons of Mustangs
3 squadrons of Mosquitoes
1 squadron of Mosquitoes, night-fighter variant
14 squadrons of Lancaster bombers
14 squadrons of Lincoln bombers
40 squadrons
587 combat aircraft
Stationed in South Africa
1 squadron of Spitfires
10 combat aircraft
Stationed in Sudan
1 squadron of Mosquitoes
12 combat aircraft [xxxi]
***
Novikov presents his plans to Stalin for the Second Battle of Britain.
***
Stalin Interviews Novikov
“How go the preparations Novikov?Do you have all you need to give us a smashing victory?”
“Yes sir, we have over seven-thousand aircraft at our disposal. Combined with the knowledge of how the Germans were defeated, it should be smashing victory indeed, Comrade Stalin.”
“What will we be doing to avoid the errors of the Luftwaffe? I know that we have much larger numbers as do the British. I do not want to hear any news of failure Novikov. You have the finest-equipped, and best-trained, forces that have ever been assembled. I understand that our engineers have increased the range of certain models of aircraft?”
“Yes, Esteemed Comrade. Many of our fighters have now been fitted with auxiliary tanks attached to the wings. This gives them an additional 600 liters of fuel, per wing. That is more than enough fuel to reach all of southern Britain, and beyond with enough time to fight once they get there. In the case of the Yak-9, a new model has been developed, called the Yak-9DD, and it has a longer range than the Yankee Mustang. Yes with all of these developments there is no part of the British Isles that is beyond our reach.”
“Very good, Novikov.”
“We will not make the same mistakes the Germans did. Their airfields and radar will be our first targets. The Sturmoviks will make short work of them, along with any antiaircraft guns that may be protecting them. We can detect where the radar is emanating from and can use it to discover their location. The only way to disguise them is to shut their radar down, which serves our purposes anyway. With our numerical superiority we will cover their airbases at all hours. We will hover over their bases, day and night. Even if their Meteor or Vampire models are pitted against our piston aircraft, it will be similar to what they did to the early German jets. You destroy them when they are taking off, or landing. Even a Pe-3 or Tu-2 can destroy a Meteor when it is on the ground or clawing for altitude. It will be a continuous effort, and we will not be lured into attacking their cities and factories. We will only concentrate on their fighters until they are destroyed and we gain absolute mastery of the air.”
Stalin; still under the malaise of his latest drug, slowly asks a question.
“Doesn’t their radar and organization give them an advantage over ours, comrade? We all have seen the movies with the women in uniform pushing the wooden blocks here and there, and by doing so, defeating the svolochy Nemetski.”
“Until we destroy their radar sites yes, but we counter this by overwhelming concentrations. Concentrations they cannot match even with a maximum effort. We can concentrate on up to four areas, with more power than they can produce in one. Unlike the propeller-driven fighters of times past, the new jets need concrete runways. They cannot take off from any cow pasture, and all of these facilities are known through our agents. Like us they have a limited number of jets. Once they are destroyed, our conventional planes are more than a match for the best equipment they have in greater numbers. Our jets will fly air-superiority missions, while our fighters seek out theirs and the ground-attack aircraft destroy anything that is on the ground. We know that the Germans were very close to winning the last Battle of Britain when they were diverted away from their task. We shall not be diverted away from our main goal of destroying their Fighter Command.”
“Hmm...I see...what do you estimate will be our losses, and the time frame until we reach air-superiority over the English?”
“We will lose two pilots for every Englishman Comrade, it cannot be helped. The battle will be fought over enemy territory, and many of our damaged planes will not make it back while the English will be able to crash-land in friendly territory if need be, possibly even rejoining the fight in a very short amount of time. Because of this, it will take three months to subdue them if they continue to fight until the bitter end.”
“Well, we are committing four pilots per English pilot, so we should be victorious in the finish, yes?”
“Yes Comrade, your math is correct, as always.”
“Still no sign of the Americans joining in the fight, so now is the time to strike.”
“But you have given them a deadline, sir?”
“Pah. How soon can we begin operations in earnest?”
“The first blows can fall in three weeks' time, Esteemed Comrade.”
“Da. That will be a good time to start. We can fly better in adverse weather than they can. After all, we have had much practice in the Ukraine.”
Chapter Twenty-One: Toulouse
Wasserfal V3 Air to Ground Missile Renamed Stalin’s Fire
***
You may remember Hervey. He was the French Communist leader who greeted a Soviet paratrooper falling from the sky near one of the supply
depots on the first day of the war. He later invited him over to his home. He
introduced the soldier to his daughter and tragedy ensued. Hervey; in a fit of rage, killed and disposed of the soldier’s body when he caught him raping
his 14 year old daughter. Such is life and such is war.
***
Eyewitness report of
Hervey Fontaine
A local farmer and Mayor
Toulouse, France
August 5th, 1946
Our agents were able to find a survivor of the Toulouse raid, and after several hours they were able to acquire some useful information. The following are the events in Mr. Fontaine’s words translated into English. Translation of his testimony as follows:
“It was early in the morning, and I was tending to the cows. There had been many air-fights over the past weeks, so I didn’t think anything of it when I first heard many aircraft engines. Then the noise was joined by a decidedly odd sound like a low rumble, and I started to scan the sky for the source of the noise.”
“Pillars of fire were erupting from the place where the Dubois family used to farm. It had been taken over by the Russians about a week ago and Dubois was put in jail. Then we heard the roar of many, many, American bombers and fighter planes, along with hundreds of jets, and Russian fighters.”
“Never had I seen such numbers before.”
“The battle was much lower in the sky than usual so it was easier to see what was happening. The pillars of fire turned out to be rockets. Once they left the ground, they flew for a few seconds and seemed to be under the control of the devil. They streaked straight f
or the American bombers. It was uncanny how they managed to hit the bombers destroying them instantly. The ones that hit seemed to have a mind of their own.”
“There were about thirty rockets and many hit the bombers. In spite of all this, the brave Americans kept on flying in formation and even with large gaps in their numbers, they still kept on coming. Meanwhile the fighters from each side dueled and died. I saw two-dozen planes crash myself.”
“Then the bombs started to fall. They came down like a curtain and they just rolled along exploding, gradually getting closer to Toulouse. As I said there were many gaps in their formation so the curtain was not perfect and gaps appeared where no bombs fell. While right next door the whole neighborhood was destroyed, small patches of houses were not directly touched.”
“My farm is to the east of Toulouse and the bombers started to bomb from the west. At first it looked like we were to be spared, but alas, it was not to be.”
(Note: Mr. Fontaine’s entire family was killed and his farm destroyed. Dead are his wife and 14 year-old daughter.)
“The noise was beyond description. In fact, my ear drums burst shortly after the bombs reached my farm. All I could do was to stand and watch in horror as my whole life...my family, disappeared from this earth. I was knocked to the ground and lost consciousness.”