World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  The X4 equipped Pe 9s were rolling off the production lines as well. The ubiquitous Tu2s had been pressed into service as and could carry four X4 plane to plane missiles. They could only fire one at a time without the extra missile drivers that the Pe 9 could provide but they were faster and could get to the area of need quicker as well as survive better once attacked. They also lacked the high altitude capabilities of the Pe 9 as well. Some of the variants were very promising however. We now had 40 Tu-10s which were a modified Tu-2. This was a four-crew aircraft fitted with inline Mikulin AM-39FNVs of 1850hp. At 8600m it attained a speed of 641km/h. Ceiling was 10,450m but range fell to 1,740km. This plane fitted with the X4 had the speed and the altitude to catch and launch its missiles into any bomber stream that NATO could initiate.

  The heavy bomber would be a thing of the past and missiles would ascend to take their place, guided missiles with massive warheads that could reach across continents. He was sure the Americans, with their captured Germans, would be working towards that same goal. In fact thanks to Beria he was sure of it and had many of their plans already. Possibly some kind of stalemate would ensue. Where neither side would attack the other for fear of massive retaliation. Knowing that there are plenty of men like Stalin he didn't doubt that they would find other ways to fight. Such is the nature of man, at least in his life time.

  ***

  Oral history from an Iowa farm boy and his experience with race relations in the lead up to World War Three.

  ***

  Negros

  Just read this order from the area commander about letting Negros fight. I’ve seen them loading and unloading, driving and repairing things even heard of a few units of them fighting under white officers. It says that they are going to be placed in units regardless of race. I personally don’t have a problem with this but it will be hard for some of our Southern boys to get used to I imagine. Being from a small town in Iowa I never even saw a Negro until I went to Chicago with my dad when I was about 7. Wonderful trip going to the museums and even went up one of the sky scrapers.

  Negros were all over the place there and they seemed really nice. Dad got along well with them so I paid no never mind to their differences in looks once I got over the novelty which at that age took about 15 minutes. Seems that Dad had business dealings with a Negro named Bill. I didn't know his last name until I met his family and at age 7 I didn’t care. He had a daughter who was about age 6 and a son age 8. We had a great old time playing when we stayed overnight at their home.

  The mom was a wonderful cook and we had the best food I can ever remember. I don’t remember what it was but I know I ate a lot of it. Then Billy Jr., Isabel and I would go to the near-by park and play the day away. Billy Jr. was rather non-athletic to say the least. He had very thick glasses and just didn’t seem to move right. Isabel on the other hand kept right up with me as we ran and played on the jungle gym and swings. It was a great time and I was sad to leave after a few days. I still remember the huge hug Mamma Wilkins gave me. I was in heaven smelling all the good food on her clothes and felt so loved and safe. My mom never hugged me and always smelled of bleach.

  I sure hated to leave. I never visited them again. I guess the timing was not right. Billy and Isabel did write me and I respond until this day. I still have all their letters and re-read them sometimes. We talk about everything. Billy and Isabel were as different as day and night. Billy liked to discuss science and math and Isabel was all about sports. She still is. Neither of them has married or talks about any special friends. She knew all the players of the Cubs and some Negro team that her dad would take her to watch, they still go to this day. Billy didn’t go with them and I don’t think even knew how many bases or what a baseball diamond was.

  In fact they are my most faithful correspondence as I went through boot camp and have been shipped out. Isabel writes almost daily and Billy about once a week. I’m lucky to get a letter a month from home. Mamma Wilkins sends the most fantastic food and some in my unit ask me every day if more is coming. About a dozen of the Southern boys won’t have anything to do with Mamma Wilkins gifts, even though they probably had Negro cooks at home. I just don’t understand their way of thinking. I just something that I don’t think they will ever be overcome.

  We got our first two Negro replacements yesterday. They seem like real nice fellows and I know I’m going to get on well with them. The Southern dozen (I call them) won’t even shower or go to the same bathroom with Sam and Jacob. All shit smells the same to me. Sam is very smart but pretend he isn’t. He confided in me that many Negros men are taught from very early on by their mothers not to stand out or draw attention to themselves. Apparently there is a history of smart, talented Negro men being lynched by angry mobs of white trash. I don’t know if this is true or not but it is a reality as far as Sam and Jacob are concerned so they play dumb a lot even though they are very capable men. It sounds like a horrible thing to teach your children. Imagine having to hide your talents and having to live in the shadows.

  I asked Billy and Isabel in my last letter if this was what they had been taught and both answered yes. That Mamma Wilkins had warned Billy many a time not to be too “uppity” and to hide his talents in science and math. He studies at home but does not “show off” in school. He’s hoping to get into one of the all Negro colleges and then he can let his mind loose and really show what he is capable of but in the meantime he has to hide in the shadows in public school just getting good enough grades to be the smartest Negro but not the smarter than most of the white kids.

  Isabel luckily doesn’t have to do the same with her athletic abilities. Her heroes are Tuskegee University sisters Margaret "Pete" Peters and Matilda Romania "Repeat" Peters and she wants to go to Tuskegee as well. These two Negro female tennis players are trail blazers for not only Negro women but for all women. She has it easier than Billy because of Pete and Repeat Peters. These two have made it acceptable for Negro women to compete on a national stage. The Brown Bomber, Joe Lewis has done kind of the same thing for Negro men athletes and this Willy Mayes might be what we need in baseball but we still need a lot of work for Negro men in most fields of work. We need more George Washington Carvers before Billy can really show his intellect outside of a Negro college. Who knows maybe Billy will be the next Carver. He certainly is smart enough.

  I'm not saying all Negros are angels mind you. Hell that Snookie asshole in B Company is the sneakiest guy I know. I'm sure he has stolen some jewelry and was put in the stockade for sneaking off during guard duty. I'm surprise he wasn't shot. So it don't matter the color of your skin it just a combination of who your parents are, where you grew up and some inner voice that some call your conscience etc.

  Look at those Tuskegee Airmen and what they accomplished. Old Snookie would be in trouble in that outfit. They would not put up with any of his crap. I heard they was in Spain flying against the Reds. Mighty fine pilots they tell me. Just shows what can happen when you give the right man or I suppose a women the right chance at the right time. Who knows maybe the Pete and Repeat sisters could be the first girl fighter pilots. I heard the Soviets had some. Efficient use of talent if you ask me but then again they never seem to ask me.

  That reminds me of that horrible race riot in February in Columbia, TN. We had been horrified at all the violence. A true case of a racist bigot thinking a Negro was uppity. Imagine the nerve of a returning vet complaining that you had been cheated. Cheated because he was charged for a repair that was not done. That deserves a lynching in some men's minds I guess. That Negro was a former veteran from the Navy who had just come back risking his life for his country and some white asshole thinks he doesn't deserve the respect he earned. Then things get out of hand and the police trash the Negro neighborhood and arrest 100 men. Two die in custody supposedly shot while trying to grab a gun while handcuffed.

  I think we have another 20 years at least before something really happens to improve the situation. Maybe this war will do it. I heard the R
eds have a movie where a white American woman is run out of town when she has a Negro child and is almost killed by a mob but escapes and becomes a star in the circus in Russia. At the end of the movie the various peoples of the Soviet Empire sings the child to sleep in their different languages. An obvious attempt to divide us with propaganda but still compelling if true. I wonder if communism is appealing to Negros? I don't think so but who could blame them.

  Boy how the mind wonders when you're on guard duty. Wonder when those flyboys are going to start bombing again. All these B29s sitting around here out in the desert and were supposed to guard them. Heard that some had atomic bombs in them. That should put a dent in Old Joes steel curtain, lots of accidents and engine failures. Sand and those big old engines just don't mix I guess. From what I hear those engines have always been trouble and have killed more crews than the Japanese by conking out to and from the target. Hope they figure it out soon. I hate this place.

  Tuskegee Airmen

  Chapter Ten:

  Tales of Men

  Stalin’s Dart production facility in the Urals

  ***

  Pretty amazing that a man like Beria would keep a diary. This from a series of entries and a few tape recordings

  ***

  Cold and Dark

  Beria's office is a cold, dark space. Just like the man's soul. There are no trophies in the room, no pictures. Nothing to indicate that a living, breathing human being occupies the office. It is functional as it is barren. The chair behind his desk is the same kind he uses to tie victims to when he tortures them. It is sturdy beyond belief. No one has even come close to breaking one of those chairs no matter how much pain and agony they are subjected to, the chair always wins.

  The chairs are constructed by a man from Beria's own village. The man is over seventy years old and does not have an apprentice. It really doesn't matter as there are six dozen new chairs in a warehouse waiting to be used. They'll be in that warehouse until the Soviet Union ends because they never break. And even Beria has enough for his current use.

  There's an old brass lamp with a green tinted glass eye shade sitting on his desk. Curtains are open enough behind him and opened to hide his face from anyone who enters the room. The windows are tinted and bulletproof just in case. He has literally a million enemies but only one really concerns him. One Josef Stalin.

  He's engrossed in one of the many thousands of lists that cross his desk every week. List of names... an endless list of names. Many others have the power to put those names on the list but only Sergo, he and Stalin have the power to remove names from those lists. It is an endless task which he enjoys immensely, deciding who lives and who dies, who is tortured and who will be sent to prison. The only other person who enjoys it as much as he does is Stalin himself. Sergo seems to not care one way of the other unless the name is of value to his projects. Then he is like a man possessed.

  This was the case when Tupolev was once again sent to the gulag. Sergo went into Stalin's office and demanded that Tupolev be assigned to his projects. Not only did Stalin change his mind but Sergo is still alive and so is Tupolev. Both the US and British jet engines and parts fell into Beria's hands the first few weeks of the war. Combined with the information coming from inside the US and UK research teams a truly functional jet engine is 6 months away if not sooner. In the meantime 20 of the UK engines and 30 of the US are being stuffed into the Yak 15 and the MiG 9. That should come as a surprise for the RAF. They will be expecting the German Jumos and instead will be getting a far more capable opponent powered by their own engines.

  He's was just thinking about how to steal some credit from Sergo when there is a knock on the door. He grunts and in walks tall young man. The man is almost the exact opposite of Beria. He's tall and the full head of hair make him look like he should be on a recruiting poster for the red Army. In truth he enjoys torturing people almost as much as Beria himself. His youthful stamina and strength have combined to kill too many of his victims before the desired effect but he will learn. Beria is a very good teacher.

  There is great value in allowing torture victims to go back into the general population. It serves many functions but the best one is to terrorize anyone else who may or may not be guilty. It's a wonderful deterrent to any reactionary thinking. I would not be surprised if dictators in the future did not use it to gain control of their populations.

  "Your Excellency we have received disturbing news from the Mideast. There are rumors of large numbers of aircraft arriving from the West. We have lost contact with a few agents we had in Egypt."

  "I seem to remember reports from that clown, that drunk in Sevastopol. Complaining how his planes were being sent west. He had a theory that the US might use the Mideast as a staging area for strikes against our oilfields in the Caucasus. In contrast our agents in the United States say that the United States workers are on strike and the rearming of the American bombing force is taking much longer than expected. This agent is highly placed and has always given us exact information in the past."

  "Perhaps we should get Novikov on the phone and see what kind of information he has."

  "He will not be of much use is totally consumed with the upcoming battle over the skies of Britain. In fact he is stripped much of the aircraft from the Mideast and plans to use them in his onslaught of the British Isles. He will not be happy to hear this news on the eve of his attack. It is better that hears it from you than from Stalin himself. Novikov is one of the few who seems to know his job."

  "Very well your Excellency I will see it is done."

  As the aide leaves the room so is any thought of aiding Novikov. Baria's thoughts turned to how he can turn this to his own advantage. On the one hand he could be blamed for this failure of intelligence. On the other it is Novikov who has stripped the defenses around the Caucasus.

  No there is no way around it. He will be blamed in the end so it is time to rectify the situation. The earliest date his agents have estimated that the Americans can be ready for any kind of bombing campaign is the middle of November. Novikov will have until the end of October, at the latest the second week in November, to sweep the skies clean over the British Isles. Then he must get his equipment back to the real prize. The one that the Soviet Union cannot live without. The oil.

  The new missile batteries must be in place sooner. Perhaps he should strip the ones from the Channel and send them East. We now have over 300 missiles and Sergo is producing 200 a month now. Still they are only a stop gap weapon and more of a psychological weapon than a practical one. They will be easily defeated if the Capitalists find out how they work. The X4 air to air missile was progressing well too. Combined with the Pe9 it was a wonderfully mobile weapons system against the level bomber.

  In the meantime you must rebuild his intelligence assets throughout the Mideast. He has neglected that area for far too long in the time will come when the invasion of Turkey and Saudi Arabia will become a reality. The NATO allies must be deprived of the Suez Canal in the oilfields in the area. The Mediterranean Sea will no longer be the playground of the NATO fleets. It will become a Soviets lake just like the Black and the Baltic Sea. The quest for a warm water port will be over once and for all.

  Georgie and Sergo

  Georgie received the usual memo passed through the slot and ran to do the bidding of his unseen master

  He marveled that this fellow Sergo had ability to place the exact right person in the exact right job. He had heard that he didn’t know people’s names but just looked at the tests he had designed and each of the 50,000 workers was just a number, just another cog to be placed into the machine of the Soviet aerospace effort. He looked at the test results and then categorized each worker/slave and put them in those file drawers of his, according to some system he had in his head.

  They had tried to get him help with some kind of assistant to help him with his job or just something to ease his burdens as well as to spy on him, but he wouldn’t hear of it. They even tried getting him
one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen to be his assistant and when he rejected her they got him a handsome young man who liked other men, but that didn’t work either.

  Since late in 1943 Sergo’s operation has been right behind the German, US and British research and development efforts in four main areas, jet engines, rockets, heavy bombers and high octane gas. He saw early the need for each of these particular elements. Along the way he had to find people to delve into metallurgy, organic chemistry, physics etc. He personally knew nothing about any of these scientific disciplines but his tests had identified hundreds of prodigies in each of these disciplines and dozens more. When he needed an organic chemist to work on cracking oil and producing high octane gas, he pulled his files and found the right one for the job. He was even allowing some of the foremost minds still alive after the purges, to teach promising prisoners.

  Sergo started parallel programs to the German, British and United States efforts. As Beria’s intelligence machine fed in new data and documents Sergo’s operation used it to full advantage. Great strides were accomplished in the development in what were basically copies of the German, British and even American jet engines. Georgie had heard that Beria had a spy, William Mutterperl, who was on the design team of the Yankees P80 jet fighter. As a consequence of these efforts in replicating his former allies and enemies work the Soviet war machine was from 3 to 4 months behind in these critical areas. In a few areas they were ahead because of Sergo’s emphasis and insistence. The ground to air missile system was such an example. Georgie was responsible for seeing that his unseen master’s wishes came to fruition and he was very good at it.

  Right now high octane gas was being produced to keep the VVS fighters competitive with NATOs aircraft. The first month of the war they had to use hoarded stocks of Lend Lease fuel but now their own production had come on line. It’s interesting to note that Russians have been leaders in organic chemistry since the 1890s when Vladimir Shukhov[liv] first “cracked” oil.