World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  This city would only do that until widespread industrialization could be achieved throughout the country. After that, the city would be devoted to the development of the indigenous defense industry. Oh yes, President Sun had a long-term plan for China's ascension to become a premier world power. But small steps first. After all, as the Europeans were so fond of saying, Rome was not built in a day...

  -----

  The end of the Russian Civil War saw hundreds of thousands, up to nearly a million, of displaced anti-Bolshevik Russians wind up in China, either settling in Inner Mongolia and Manchuria, or in the bigger cities, such as Tsingtao, Shanghai, Hangchow, Canton, Nanking, Chungking, Kunming, Wuhan, Sian, Yennan or Peiping. Until very recently, they had been a disparate, disorganized, lot, each group sticking to its own neighborhood, minding its own business, and carrying on with their own affairs. With the new war, this all changed. The older military-trained generation that had escaped are abandoning their insular nature and was now training their children in the mastery of the art of war, in hopes that they would be worthy and strong enough to reclaim their homeland from the Soviet monster, created from the Czarist depravity that denied them the most basic of all human rights: freedom.

  First, a former Soviet airman had built an insurgent air force, in a dauntingly short amount of time that was the rival of any in the region. Even with all the diverse, obsolete and antiquated aircraft in its inventories, its skilled and superb pilots were the scourge of the skies that they controlled. Next, in a daring escape, the leaders of the Russian Liberation Movement were broken out of prison and made their way to China, in order to reconstitute their forces and carry the fight deep into the heart of their hated Soviet enemy.

  Before their arrival, the new Chinese government had established two divisions of Free Russian troops, formed from Russian expatriates and an increasing number of Soviet deserters. Since the arrival of the ROA and Cossack leadership, the size and number of these units have tripled, to corps-strength, forming the basis of an independent military force. However, equipping them all had its own set of challenges that needed to be immediately addressed.

  Freedom was what they wanted, for themselves, and for their oppressed country. The only other alternative now was death, for this was an all-or-nothing play. The stakes were so high that the future of humanity hung in the balance. To this end, all Russian and former Russian Empire expatriates worldwide were organizing as one voice to denounce the legitimacy of government of the Soviet Union in the next meeting of the successor organization to the League of Nations, the United Nations. Failing that, they would attack the legitimacy of the United Nations as a Soviet puppet organization, which it had, in fact, become. It has become apparent, that without the interference of bad influences and the leadership of a few principled men, coupled with material support from a few good friends, they may well be able to achieve their long-denied goal after all.

  There was a marvelous terrible storm brewing in the Far East, a storm that would upset the fortunes of war, a storm that would either see justice restored to a world torn asunder, or the supremacy of evil for the long foreseeable future.

  *****

  0930

  20 September 1946

  The new CIA Offices,

  Temporary U.S. Embassy

  Peking, Republic of China

  Major General David Halderman and Colonel Aaron Bank waited patiently for Colonel Archimedes L.A. Patti's attractive assistant, Sergeant Jane Li, to announce them. In the meanwhile, they entertained themselves by drinking coffee and watching Sergeant Li work, until she finally opened the door and announced them. Arch has done quite well for himself, thought Halderman, noting that the CIA's top intelligence officer in China, and General Donovan's personal envoy to Chinese president, Sun Li-jen, had an office that was far larger than the one that they had once shared.

  As all the regulation pleasantries were adhered to, the men settled down to talk. “Nice accommodations, Arch. I was thinking that this was nothing compared to our office in the Pentagon” said Halderman. “Well, David, I really didn't have a choice in the matter, but if I had to be shanghaied again, this is exactly the way it should be. By the way, who's the newbie?” Patti was obviously referring to Colonel Bank, whose uniform mostly made sense to him, as an Airborne-trained OSS man, except for the green beret and the crossed-arrow branch-of-service emblem he wore. As an old-school OSS man, Patti was familiar with Aaron Bank's exploits, especially his operation to kill or capture Adolf Hitler, Operation Iron Cross. “This is Colonel Aaron Bank, and we're here to ask for your help, Arch. I worked up a plan for Jedburgh-style drops into Siberia. See, over the past few years, there have been rumors as to what really happens in Stalin's Gulags and to the Jews that he's had transported east, under the pretense of 'protecting' them. As a man whose maternal grandparents were Russian Jews, this hits pretty close to home for me, as chilling memories of stories that my grandparents told me are unfolding before my eyes. Also, there are German and Eastern European prisoners in the camps that could be useful to us. It could be worth our while to free them and use them to sow chaos in Siberia...” as Patti allowed himself to absorb what he was being told, he was already formulating a plan, that he would have to present to President Sun and General Rushenko of the FRAF.

  As a hedge, Patti asked “How can I help you, gentlemen?” Halderman and Bank looked at each other, then Halderman nodded to Bank, who said “Well, sir, General Halderman and myself, along with my executive officer, have developed a plan to insert my command, the 10th Special Forces Group, by air and by land, and we will require local help in doing so. Since you have impeccable local contacts, we figured that we could do worse than asking you, sir...” the last comment, Bank delivered with a lop-sided, insouciant, smile. Patti found himself thinking “an irregular commander for an irregular command” and found it difficult to suppress a smile of his own. “David, Aaron, you have my wheels turning and I have a few ideas of my own to add” Patti called into his intercom “Sergeant Li, please put on another pot of coffee for our guests, and pot of oolong tea for us, and then join us when you are ready” “Yes, sir” she replied through the intercom. Halderman and Bank shot concerned looks at Patti, as he replied “Jane Li comes from one of the most prominent families in San Francisco, and has been fighting the communists since before we had entered the world war. She has been vetted many times and holds high security clearances for us, and for the Chinese government. She also happens to be a very meticulous planner. We can use her unique talents”

  A few minutes later, Jane Li enters the office, pulls out a couple of small office tables, and serves up coffee and tea, before sitting down to join the brainstorming session. She listens intently, and a few minutes into the session, she speaks up “Sirs – General Halderman and Colonel Bank – I think it would be prudent to hire trustworthy local guides to train your men how to travel through their terrain. There are several native Siberians that I can think of who can be given suitable motivation to defect and help us. From my understanding of the situation, if we do not do something soon, the window of opportunity will close and the Soviets will consolidate their gains everywhere. We will never have this chance again.” They all looked at Sergeant Li in stunned surprise, and agreement. They all knew that she was right. “Here's what I propose should happen: follow the model of the Cabanatuan POW camp raid on four of the gulag camps that Chinese intelligence has identified, near the border. One of those camps has been confirmed as having German and Eastern European POW's from the last war, being 're-educated' for repatriation back to their nations of origin. We've had paid assets there for many years, especially after the failed 'Far Eastern Republic' fiasco, during the Russian Civil War.” Only Colonel Patti was familiar with what Sergeant Li was talking about, so he explained the local history, giving his guests a better understanding of the regional situation.

  Having been thus informed, all four of them set about meticulously planning, and gaming, the first large-scale guerrilla a
ction of the Third World War.

  *****

  Chapter Four:

  The Rommel of the East introduces Der Panzer Graf

  0630

  2 October 1946

  People's Liberation Army's

  Advanced Field Headquarters,

  125 kilometers west-southwest of Mukden (Shengyang),

  Three days before the attack

  Comrade Chu Teh was apprehensive about this attack. He, and his planning partner, Comrade Lin Piao, had been feverishly planning this offensive since their Soviet brethren began their War of Liberation in Europe. They were now ready to march against the undisciplined rabble that constituted the Nationalist armies...and yet...

  So much had happened in the past few weeks, and the tide had turned against them so very, very, quickly. But the main blow to the cause's military campaign was the drying up of vital spy resources, especially the loss of Comrade Kuo Ju-kuai, who had been commanding the Nationalist's 5th Department, the intelligence section of the Ministry of National Defense, and his intelligence network. The entire network had been rooted out by the Nationalist dogs and there were rumors that a number of those traitors had been turned. Chu issued an “execute-on-sight” order for anyone in that network, as he felt that if any of them reappeared, they could not be trusted by the cause any longer. After all, if they were willing to betray the Nationalists for money, they would do the same to them too. Then, there was the fact that the new Nationalist president, Sun Li-jen, was undercutting the communists' power base among the workers and peasants, by promising an end to the government corruption and the power of the petty tyrant warlords. He had kept his word and was executing any government official that was discovered to have been still dealing in corruption and other misdeeds. Though Comrade Chu privately admired what President Sun was doing, it could not match the Revolution's sense of True Purpose, and it did not change the fact that the dialectic of history was on their side. The latest intelligence was that President Sun had the New 1st Army, their best fighting force, disbanded, providing training cadres for the reorganization of the Nationalist forces. This was an indication that now was the perfect time to attack, if there ever was one.

  It had been a logistical nightmare, converting all the captured prize-of-war arms and armor to use common calibers, so that would reduce the amount of the many different types of ammunition being provided to the troops. The fact of the matter was that it was easier to convert the arms and armor, than to start producing all the new and varied types of ammunition that all these disparate arms needed. There were advantages to standardization, as opposed to the chaos that was apparent on the other side of the imaginary line, over which they planned to attack in a few days' time. What their enemy didn't know was that they had superiority of arms and numerical superiority in manpower, as well as the advantage of having been trained by the troops of Marshal Malinovsky's superior Far East Supreme Command. He also knew that his pilots were ready to take on the traitorous curs of the Nationalist and so-called 'Free Russian' air forces, ready to cut them down, like so much chaff in a field. Comrade Chu KNEW they were ready...except for...

  Just then, Comrade Lin walks in, “Comrade, we have a potentially serious problem.” “Well, what is it?” counters Chu, somewhat irritated at being pulled away so rudely from his ruminations. With a curt nod of his head, Lin motions for Chu to follow him, and they leave the crudely camouflaged earthen-logged dugout. They walk for about 150 meters, then stop where a young proletarian trooper stands guard at a pit. Comrade Lin motions for Chu to look into the pit, where, in the low-light, he can barely make out the silhouette of weapons: it was an arms cache. “Why did you pull me away from the command post for this, comrade? It was likely a cache put away during the war with the Japanese and forgotten. If it makes you feel better, detail a couple troopers to pull them up and clean them, then issue them to soldiers needing firearms...” “No, comrade, look at these weapons. They are of a design and manufacture I have never seen before” Lin interrupted Chu. Chu looks back into the hole, then back at Lin quizzically “Then shall we examine them first, just to satisfy your curiosity, Comrade Lin, and my own?” Lin nods his agreement.

  They both reach down into the hole to grab a weapon each, wondering why there were so many cords tangling them...then the sickening realization came upon them, simultaneously, unbeknownst to each other...these were techniques that they had been teaching to their troops for a long time, and the fact that they were no longer doing such things on a regular basis dulled their normally sharp instincts to the fact that they had just set off a booby trap. This fact became violently apparent when their bodies were torn apart by the deafening force of the blast that killed them both.

  *****

  1640

  3 October 1946

  People's Liberation Army's

  Advanced Field Headquarters,

  125 kilometers west-southwest

  of Mukden (Shengyang),

  One day before the attack

  Comrade Mao was in a dark mood. Two of his brightest strategists and top commanders were dead, killed when they went to investigate a simple booby-trapped weapons cache. This marked stupidity necessitated that he now take over the operation personally, to ensure its success. It was a dark day, indeed.

  Mao furiously studied his troops dispositions and locations, as well as the most current intelligence on the opposing capitalist dog troops now facing his forces. He had to admit that his information on the Nationalists was out of date, but with no new reports coming in until new sources could be developed, this was the best that was available. He admitted to himself that he should have been better versed in the information presented before him, but he had simply been to busy rebuilding his forces after General Sun Li-jen (he refused to think of General Sun as the new President of China, a position that he felt he rightfully deserved) turned Hsu Hai-tung and his Eighth Route Army against the CCP, and struck him from the line of demarcation, degrading his forces' offensive capabilities. Fortunately, Marshal Malinovsky was in a position to help, and appealed to Stalin to spare as much prize-of-war materiel for his Chinese brethrens' final push to burn away the final vestiges of rot and corruption from the Chinese homeland, once and for all. Stalin relented, and gave him all the raw material he needed, but Stalin told him that was all he could spare, and no more. Stalin personally told Mao that he would have to do the rest on his own, with training provided by Marshal Malinovsky's troops and airmen, but no further support could be provided. And so it began, a two month crash course to rearm and reequip the People's Liberation Army, and it's Air Force, with captured German, European and American capture and Lend-Lease arms and equipment, supplementing the Soviet and captured Japanese arms that the Soviets had so generously already donated to their cause...

  Comrade Chou entered the dugout “Everything is ready, Comrade Chairman. Great pains have been taken to ensure that there are no more explosive traps around all our encampments, and our sappers have cleared the field as far as our start line. We are prepared to begin the offensive as soon as you give the word.” Looking at Chou En-lai, Mao Tse-tung smiled as though he had a secret, “Thank you, my friend. How many years have we been friends, comrade? How many years have we been involved in this struggle? I see victory close at hand, and yet, I feel a sense of doom. No matter, there is no place for such superstitious thoughts. World proletarian victory is at hand, and we are beholden to play our part well, or be forgotten by history.”

  Just then, Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, supreme commander of Soviet Far Eastern Command, strode in, his natural disdain for his Chinese proletarian “brothers” apparent for all to bear witness, though his carefully-chosen words said otherwise. “Comrade Mao, Comrade Chou, I will be immediately withdrawing the bulk of my forces back west, along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The svoloch'y Amerkanski have just used four of their foul demonic atomic weapons against the oil-producing areas of the Caucasus. I have been ordered by STAVKA in Moscow to relocate my forces to the region
, to render aid. I must ask you this important question, Comrades: Are you prepared to consolidate the area that we leave to you? We can no longer render you aid, nor assistance, as we have to tend our own house. You will be on your own.” A shocked visible silence weighed on all in the meeting area, as the Chinese revolutionaries digested what their Soviet benefactor just informed them of...at the end of their long silent deliberation, all Mao could manage, in a stunned tone, “The dialectic is on our side, Comrade Marshal. We will hold.” “Very well, Comrades, if that is the case, I leave you enough tanks and other armored vehicles to equip a tank corps, and enough newly-manufactured small arms for another corps of infantry, along with enough artillery, katyushas and ammunition for a divisional artillery park. I know that this equipment will go only to your most trusted units, as there will be no more after we leave. This the last we have to offer you, my friends. Long live your glorious revolution.” Marshal Malinovsky said, managing to make the exhortation sound like a sneer. He was not happy that Comrade Stalin ordered him to leave the equipment behind, precious equipment that he would need later, in what was to come.

  Mao and Chou look at each other, slack-jawed with disbelief, then looked at Marshal Malinovsky and began to thank him profusely. He gruffly shook it off and continued, “I will have my troops scheduled to leave last give your carefully-chosen troops a quick course on the use of the equipment and the tactics to employ with them. I would get together with your political officers and begin the screening and purging processes, right away, if I were you. With that, I bid you good day and farewell, comrades.” and he strode off.

  Mao and Chou were in such shock, they found it difficult to continue their war-planning for the previously scheduled attack, but they pressed on “Shall we incorporate this new equipment, Comrade Chairman, or shall we keep it in reserve? It could prove decisive, if we brought it up to the front within the week” said Chou. “No, comrade, we shall keep this windfall in reserve, as we know that our troops are more than adequately armed with what they have right now, and, not being negative, but one never knows what the future holds. We would do better to refrain from using it.” replied Chairman Mao, continuing “Shall we finish our final preparations to smash the Nationalist running dogs?” “Why, of course, Comrade Chairman. Let us conclude our planning and retire for the evening.” said Chou.