“We are still are going to have to shoot down four of their aircraft for every one of ours that they shoot down before the Reds will be convinced to stop. Ivan is no stranger to heavy casualties. By comparison to the kind of casualties that they have taken over the years, we will have to inflict a horrendous rate of loss in order to convince Stalin that attacking us is sheer folly. That is something the Americans do not seem to understand. Compared to ours, the casualties they've suffered have been slight. Compared to the Russians, they were minuscule. I do believe the American leadership understands this but the average American will become very upset if their casualty rate is anywhere near what we and the Soviets have suffered. I doubt the American public will stand for it for long.”
“You are probably right sir. American politicians have quite a dilemma on their hands but I would suggest sir, that that is not our problem at the moment.”
“Yes...yes, of course. I get side-tracked easily these days. Basically we are faced with a number of decisions that we must make and you must make them with haste.
1. 'Big Wing?' Or squadron-sized formations?
2. Heavily defended airfields and no combat air patrol? Or use our limited resources for combat air patrol?
3. Disperse our fighters? Or concentrate them in a few well-defended airfields?
4. Do we meet them over the channel? Or after they start their return? We don’t want to be in the same airspace as the VT fuse, not without special considerations.”
“The first decision must be whether we're going to use the 'Big Wing' strategy or not. I have a feeling this will bring about the same heated discussions that occurred during the first Battle of Britain. Both sides insisted that they were right and in the end, it was some misplaced bombs hitting London that caused the Hun to change his tactics. They stopped hitting our airfields and radar after we retaliated and bombed Berlin. Many historians believe that this was the turning point, as the Luftwaffe was poised to clear the skies of our fighters. It was never really was conclusively proven whether the 'Big Wing' was effective or not.”
“Another factor to consider is that the Soviets outnumber us by four-to-one whereas the Germans only outnumbered us by a factor of three-to-two. I believe this makes it imperative that we go with the 'Big Wing' strategy. And if we go with the 'Big Wing,' that means that we will have to go with concentrating our fighters so they can get organized faster in order to reach the Soviet formations before they can do too much harm. That, of course, leads me to the conclusion that we must have smaller numbers of heavily-defended airfields in close proximity to each other relying on the antiaircraft guns and the VT fuse for airfield defense.”
“Sir, might I suggest another tactic we can exploit; we could use our fighter to lure the Soviet fighters over our flak-traps. This might cause problems with identification, and we should find a solution for our fighters to distinguish themselves from their opponents. Perhaps we could use the same type of markings that we use during the 'Overloard' invasion, the alternating black-and-white stripes come to mind sir, or some kind of electronic contrivance that we could turn on the could be seen during the day that would warn our gunners not to shoot at our own planes.”
“That is a problem we are going to have to work on but I don’t think it is insurmountable. Yes, I think I will present this to the minister and put the matter up for discussion. We must prepare and time is running out. Playing to your devil’s advocate, I would conclude that after weighing all the options, our best course of action will be to use the 'Big Wing' and concentrate our airfields, surrounding them with flak-traps and put our faith in the hands of the vaunted VT fuse and the 3.7-inch antiaircraft gun. I know the fighter pilots will be chafing at the bit to tear into Ivan before he can reach their ground crews, but that’s what bomb shelters are made for eh?”
“Well I suppose you are right sir. It seems like we have to make some hard decisions involving some bad choices. Given the number of Ivans that are going to likely be in the air this will be a closely-run thing.”
***
We drop in once again on our little submerged friends about to alter the course of the war; and once again, excuse the added entertainment value if you are not so inclined.
***
The Tail of the Sea-Hound
The smudge on the horizon gradually became larger and larger. Luckily Seehund-234 did not have to move very far, as its submerged speed was only seven knots. The Liberty ship was going to reach ideal firing position, any minute now.
This particular spot in the ocean, where the intended target was about to meet its fate, was unusually crowded with man-made objects. A number of wrecks lay nearby.
One of the wrecks was the eighth HMS Vanguard of the British Royal Navy. It was an Audacious-class central-battery ironclad battleship, launched in 1870. It was a marvel of its age, powered by both sail and steam, armed with nine-inch muzzle-loading naval guns.
On 27 August 1875 Captain Richard Dawkins sailed out of Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire) harbor commanding the HMS Vanguard. The Vanguard was in company with three other ironclads, Warrior, Hector and Iron Duke, and was en route to Queenstown (now Cobh), County Cork as they passed the Kish lightship a heavy fog came down which restricted visibility to less than a ship's length.
Vanguard's sister ship, the Iron Duke, was drifting off course and began returning to her proper station when a problem with her steam plant meant that her foghorn was inoperable. It could not be used to alert the other vessels of her position or course.
At about 12:50 a lookout on Vanguard spotted a sailing ship directly ahead. As Vanguard turned to avoid it, Iron Duke appeared out of the fog on her port side less than 40 yards away. Collision was unavoidable. Iron Duke's underwater ram tore open Vanguard's hull near her boilers.
Iron Duke freed herself after a few minutes, sustaining only minor damage. Vanguard, however, was sinking. The pumps were powered by the engines which shut down ten minutes after the collision when the engine room flooded. The only loss of life was the Captain's dog.
Within spitting distance (if you could spit underwater) lay Unterseeboot-1051 commanded by the late Heinrich von Holleben. He, along with thirty-eight of his fellow crewmen, went down with their boat which now and forever more, serves as their tomb. U-1051 had already sunk the Galatea and the HMS Manners when it was itself sunk on January 26th, 1945. U-boats did not last long in the Irish Sea in 1945. Their time was over, and that’s one of the reasons the Seehund was invented.
After U-1051 torpedoed HMS Manners, she was located by HMS Bentinck and attacked with depth charges. Soon thereafter, HMS Bentinck was joined by HMS Aylmer and HMS Calder. The boat was forced to surface and came under fire by the frigates sinking after having been rammed by HMS Aylmer.
HMS Manners (A/Cdr. John Valentine Waterhouse, DSO, RN) was hit by one torpedo from U-1051. The frigate broke in two after the hit and the stern sank with the loss of four officers and thirty-nine ratings while fifteen others were injured. The forepart of the vessel was towed into Barrow-in-Furness and was declared a total loss.
The aft section came to rest almost on top of the wreck of the eighth HMS Vanguard.
On this day in history the Liberty ship #1853, the Daniel Appleton, now on loan to the British and named Samforth, waddled its way through the Irish Sea until it was almost on top of the HMS Vanguard. It was about 100 feet from the stern of the HMS Vanguard when the torpedo struck it amidships. The noise was the ungodly sound of a typical explosion, followed by secondary explosions and then horrendous screeching of metal on metal so often heard when a ship starts to break in two. It was at that point when the second torpedo struck the bow and sealed the fate of the Samforth. There were no notable explosions as she settled quickly by the bow.
Now this sinking would not normally be worth mentioning in the overall scheme of things. It was, after all, only one of dozens of ships sunk by the Soviet version of the Seehund that month and even though it was the first it still was unremarkable except for i
ts cargo. In Samforth's holds were almost a million VT fuses destined for use in 3.7-inch British antiaircraft guns; again, not a remarkable loss considering that the U.S. was turning out 100000 of these fuses per month as soon as eight months ago.
The problem was that fully twenty-five percent of the U.S. electronics industry and seventy-five percent of the molded plastics industry was at one point, producing these fuses. Now it was down to ten percent with ninety percent of the production of each going towards consumer products. This ship was carrying almost sixty percent of the available-for-export VT fuses in the world. The U.S. had millions more for its own use but not for export and would not have appreciable amounts again at least for another six months.
Did Seehund-234 have knowledge of this fact before it got into position to sink the Samforth? No, it did not. The Samforth just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
Another interesting fact…Remember the captain’s dog that was lost on board HMS Vanguard in 1875? One of its ancestors was the cook’s dog named Sea Hound, and was a stowaway aboard the Samforth. He perished within spitting distance of his great, great, great, great (you get the idea) grandfather. Not to worry though, Sea Hound had many a pup to keep the long line of sea-dogs alive. Remember the dogs the Soviets put into space? Well once again, that is a tale...or a tail, for another time.
Chapter Thirty:
The Ultimate Spy
The Cambridge Five
***
We switch gears once again to join the murky and secret world of spies and spy craft. I can’t emphasis enough just how thoroughly penetrated both the British and American military, political and industrial sectors were. Remember our vignette concerning the VT fuses being sent to an unlikely place and being susceptible to dampness? This is where the chicken comes to roost.
***
*
George Koval the Spy known as DELMAR
Cairncross
At the end of the last war, John Cairncross had been posted to the Royal Treasury. From his position there he could do all sorts of favors for his Soviet masters. In case you didn’t recognize his name he had been accused of being the fifth member of the “Cambridge Five” Soviet spy-ring and, indeed he was. The Cambridge Five have so far caused all manner of security breaches throughout British MI-5 and MI-6. Incredible amounts of information made its way right to the Kremlin and into the small hands of its resident spy master, Lavrenti Beria.
This time Cairncross acted on his own without a mission assignment from his Soviet handler. It was rather effortless for him to redirect into storage Britain’s supply of VT fuses for the 3.7-inch antiaircraft munitions. Not every fuse of course as each battery retained a couple of hours' worth of fuses, but until the Soviet Army attacked on May 2nd, 1946, the majority of the fuses had been in storage. This occurred about six months ago.
It was Cairncross who first laid eyes on the paper concerning the problem with the VT fuse becoming damaged by damp conditions. This was significant enough. Added to this, is the astounding fact that it could be jammed. He passed this information on to his spy master and promptly forgot about it. Then, weeks later he happened to overhear a coworker in the Royal Treasury mention the transporting and storage of all this AA ammunition and what a pain it was. A tiny bell went off in his head and he remembered the study he’d seen.
After gaining access to the invoices he noticed that it was only for the transportation of the fuses. The fuses weren’t identified by type nor were any specific handling instructions included. He simply altered the final destination of these shipments that night to the enormous storage units in the dampest part of Britain, near the live-fire area of Okehampton. It made perfect sense that if you were going to use the shells for live-fire practice, you would store them near the live-fire area so that no alarms should go off.
By having these fuses stored in damp conditions for over six months they could be degraded by a good thirty percent. Added to the twenty to thirty percent factory failure rate documented in that same report this meant that the VT shells in the current British inventory should fail a good fifty to sixty percent of the time.
In his twisted mind this would greatly assist the Communist cause in overthrowing the capitalist pigs currently in power in Britain and cement his place in history. Never mind the thousands of fellow Britons who would be killed and maimed as a result of his misguided deeds. It was all for the cause, and sacrifices had to be made. In the end, more people will be better off under communism than under the current corrupt system.
Who knows, there may be some reward from a future and grateful communist British government when they finally obtained power, perhaps even some kind of leadership role. After all, he is putting his life on the line for the cause. That should be worth some kind of reward above and beyond the privilege of living in a workers’ paradise. Maybe he should learn to speak Russian...
The Spy We Know As DELMAR
July 28th, 1946
The spy known as DELMAR had made it to the border of Canada, near Roseau, Minnesota. This crossing was never guarded and depended on the honor system. It might not do George any good to get into Canada but it was the only thing that he could think of to do. Canada had already discovered and jailed many Soviet spies, but he was hoping that they would somehow overlook him.
The problem was that he had inhaled some of his own poison in the form of polonium. Somewhere along the way between setting the tiny bombs off in Oak Ridge and Dayton, some polonium had made it into his lungs. He was dying a horrible death, much like the one he had imposed on his former coworkers, their families and anyone else who they came in contact with. Tens of thousands have died or are deathly-ill because of his actions. On the other hand, possibly hundreds of thousands of his countrymen were saved the horrible death of an atomic bomb.
The photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had sickened him and had steeled his resolve to do what he had done. Now it looked like he would pay the ultimate price. He hoped that he would be remembered for the lives he saved, instead of the ones he took. He fell out of bed in such a powerful coughing fit that it seemed to break off a piece of his lung. For all he knew, it actually might have. Polonium rotted you from the inside out.
He guessed it was time to take matters in his own hands, and end it with the help of the Colt .45 he had stashed in his luggage. Fast, painless…he had heard, but how would anyone know that was still alive. His whole body ached especially his chest and breathing was incredibly difficult. Yes, it would end today. End with a very loud bang. It would be an extremely loud in this tiny room they called a suite. Well what did he expect so near the Canadian border in a town of 300 or so. He was lucky to find anything, much less a small hotel.
One last meal at the truck stop…his final meal. Maybe he should stand up and announce that he was the man responsible for stopping the production of the U.S. atomic bomb. Maybe someone would shoot him and put him out of his misery. That would solve two problems…his death, and his legacy. He imagined that he would crawl up on the lunch counter and shout it out in a booming voice how he was the man who stopped the atomic bomb. He would proudly declare how he had saved hundreds of thousands of lives. For the sake of posterity he would state that his name was George Koval and that he had stopped the potential murder of millions. George Koval, the hero of the Soviet People, whose name will reverberate throughout the halls of heroes for generations. A name for you to remember you citizens of Roseau, Minnesota! Your town will become famous, for the death of the infamous George Koval!
Then the coughing started again and as far as he knew, it never stopped. In the middle of his last cough, a blood vessel ruptured in his brain, probably weakened by the Polonium and killed him. He was dead almost instantly. When the maid came to clean the room there he was dressed in his underwear, half on and half off the bed, his bowels and bladder had let loose, as they usually do when death occurs. His head was hanging down and whatever he had in his stomach had drooled out in a puddle with a sticky, frozen w
aterfall of spit leading to and still attached to the pile of half digested …
It was neither a pretty nor a heroic sight. George Koval, who we now know as the Soviet spy Delmar, did not have any identification on him. There was nothing for the County Sheriff to lead him to his identity and he was buried in a lonely grave near the Canadian border outside of Roseau, Minnesota, one of the last places on earth you would want to be buried and not remembered. In a last bit of irony that summarized his life and his marked his death, he did get a U.S. flag placed on his grave every Veterans' Day and Memorial Day as the cemetery made a clerical error and had him identified as a U.S. Army veteran of the First World War.
There is one last detail to this story: the undertaker, who did fight in World War One, died a mysterious and agonizing death along with his cat, about a month after the man he called John Doe was interred. It seemed that the undertaker liked Delmar’s handkerchief and decided that it shouldn’t go to waste.
***
We go back to the Pyrenees Line and the continued fighting there as two Soviet paratroopers reminisce on battles past.
*** [xxxvi]
38th Guard Airborne Corps
Lieutenant-General Aleksandr Ivanovich Utvenko
Commanding Officer of the 104th Guards Rifle Division
Outside Toulouse, France
“This is certainly a different mission than the last time Vasily. This time we have secured a mountain pass. It should be easier than sitting in those depots for weeks waiting to connect with our slow moving compatriots.”
“You are right comrade. At least this time we can maneuver. Being stuck in those huge depots was quite a challenge. Keeping out the French Army as well as guarding for saboteurs who wanted to blow us up along with our 'liberated' supplies. All those German prisoners made me uneasy as well. No good place to lock them up. To the victor go the spoils, as someone said Yuri.”
World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First Page 32