World War Three 1946 Series Boxed Set: Stalin Strikes First

by Harry Kellogg

  If the settings were correct for distance and bearing the organic guidance system would begin searching for a target within their visual range. Then, they would do what they were taught. In this case, it was to collide with the ship.

  The particular ship picked out, by the majority, would be somewhat at random. The Soviet trainers were able to teach the birds to rank certain shapes and sizes of ships. For example, they could easily tell a freighter from an aircraft carrier.

  The sequence of targets, taught the birds, was aircraft carrier, freighter, battleship, cruiser, destroyer, etc. Aircraft carriers were a priority, playing on American's emotions. The US Navy loved its carriers and Kuznetsov knew that any loss would be psychologically devastating to the American navy.

  The freighters were next on the list because they were carrying the men and materials to wage war. A shortage of freighters meant the Amerikosi could not continue the war. Generally, freighters were more valuable than aircraft carriers. More importantly, the sinking aircraft carriers would break the Amerikosi’s spirit.

  Sergo’s priorities were at odds with the Soviet Navy. All the Navy’s logical arguments were not lost on Sergo. He just did not agree with priorities. His greatest concern was losing an intact missile in enemy territory, thus giving away one of the best kept secrets his country owned.

  Secrets in Jeopardy

  Sergo Peshkova could imagine many scenarios for defeating a visually guided rocket. He was sure there were scientists working for the capitalists who could devise countermeasures as well. At this time, the Soviets key advantage was the Amerikosi had no knowledge of the mechanism guiding the Stalin’s Fire Missile.

  The whole notion stemmed from an American doctor’s novel concept. Fortunately, the Americans summarily rejected the idea of a bird guiding a missile. Sergo had seen the reports of the scheme and knew it had been rejected based upon the concerns raised by a single reviewer out of a group of five. The reviewer did not believe the data presented by Skinner’s group. The data seemed too good to be true and he accused Skinner of faking the results. The reviewer was present during a demonstration where the pigeons perform perfectly, but he still lacked the imagination to understand the potential of the project.[cxxxiv]

  This denial came in the face of overwhelming evidence that Dr. Skinner and his team had adhered strictly to the scientific method. Furthermore, they were meticulous in the handling of data collection and analyst.

  The whole Project Pigeon concept was so foreign to the military that they used the one reviewer’s errant challenge as an excuse to reject the project.

  Sergo came upon the original data and studies. He knew that this Skinner fellow had done an outstanding job of designing and running experiments, interpreting data, and conducting demonstrations. From the very first, Sergo had no doubt that the idea presented by Dr. Skinner could easily become a practical weapons system.

  Like the American military, the Soviet military skeptical of the idea. However, Sergo had the ultimate trump card in the form of Staling. Sergo convinced Stalin that the idea was valid and easily workable. Production began using the German Wasserfal missile as the base weapon.

  Amazingly, it only took three months to train thousands of pigeons. Unbeknownst to the Americans, a Soviet agent purchased large numbers of birds from pigeon farms throughout the United States and shipped them back to the Soviet Union. The stock was augmented with the indigenous populations of European and Asian pigeons.

  A breeding and training program had been designed by Sergo. Full-fledged production commenced, both Wasserfal missiles and its avian pilots.

  With the advent of the Red Fleet deploying the missile over enemy controlled territory, all his work and the future of the Soviet system was in jeopardy if the secret was revealed.

  The Reds React

  Eisenhower was intently studying a list of recommendations for the replacement of combat units from the frontlines. All the other major powers rotated entire units. While the US waited until individual soldiers were killed or seriously wounded before they were replaced.

  Towards the end of the war, American troops started to desert in alarming numbers. This was partly due to the replacement system of the US Army or more accurately the lack of a replacement system. The dysfunctional replacement system was a critical problem that and he was more than pissed off when his aide barged into the room.

  “Sorry General, but you told me to come in anytime, anywhere when we received reports of Soviet troop movements.”

  Ike took a deep breath and indicated that his aide should continue.

  “Recon flights over the Pyrenees Line show large troop movements. In particular, armored units are being loaded onto trains. Radio chatter has picked up all along the front as well. Furthermore, artillery pieces are being readied for transport according to a Basque partisan fighter.”

  “Thank you Glen. Get Marshall on the horn.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Ike lights up one of his continuous cigarettes and starts to read again when his aide informs him that George Marshall is on the line.

  Ike thought to himself…I wonder how George will try and influence me this time. Will it be “I'm sure that you've considered so and so, and so, and so.” He won’t say, “Don't forget to do this.” He would just say, “I'm sure you've considered it. And I'm sure you will consider these things before you make your decision.” The one thing he knew for sure is that whatever his decision was Marshall would back it.' Thank God, he could take that to the bank.

  “George, you there?”

  “Yes Ike, I’m not awake, but I’m here”

  “Sorry George, but it looks like the Soviets have made their first move and it’s a beauty. They appear to be stripping the Pyrenees Line of their armor and giving up on the offensive. They are digging in and going on the defensive just like we planned.”

  “Good news Ike. Now I’m sure you’ve considered…”

  Here it comes, thought Eisenhower.

  After the conversation, Ike reflected that Marshall made some good points as usual. Most thought of George as a master at bringing out the best in his subordinates, but he also had a keen military mind, which many did not know about him. His suggestions were sage and worth considering every time.

  Both men agreed that the Soviets would take the easiest solution to the invasion of Trieste and the march on Vienna. The Red Armies closest and most battle-hardened troops were in Spain. Their tanks were of not much use in the Pyrenees Mountain range. Pulling the armored units was expected and planned for. Hence the use of the 7th Armored Division and its large compliment of Patton tanks.

  The American strategists predicted that the first attempt at reaching the Trieste – Vienna Line from Spain would be through Northern Italy via Marseille and Milan. It was up to the newly formed 6th Fleet under William “Bull” Halsey to counter that move. Bull’s job would be to destroy as much armor and fuel as he could. In addition, he was to close off the transportation lines out of Marseille. The Stavka would have to take a more northern route, dramatically increasing their transportation requirements and using up their precious oil reserves.

  Next, it was thought that the Reds would try and skirt the Alps, or maybe even try to force their way through neutral Switzerland. All these routes would be well within the effective range of the 6th Fleet and Halsey, who would be hammering them all the way.

  The conventional wisdom was that eventually the Reds would go through Munich. They would have to attack Vienna from the north and be forced to cross the Danube. All along this circuitous route they would be exposed to attack by the Navy and the United States Army Air Force fighter bombers. The US pilots had no fear of the Stalin’s Fire SAM or the X-4 AA missile. Both missiles were relatively easy to out maneuver in a fighter plane.

  Probably the Reds would try to force the Danube and be repulsed by the VIII Corps. Stalin’s next choice would be crucial and determine where the ensuing hammer blow by NATO would land.

  One if by land
, two if by sea and in this case, it was all by sea. Sea power was NATO’s greatest strength. Our supremacy would be seriously threatened if the USSR were to survive and allowed to build an effect fleet. Eisenhower and NATO’s goal would be eliminating Soviet Empire. That was his and NATO’s goal. He had no idea what may take its place but Stalin and the current leadership along with communism had to be eradicated.

  He had even been approached to run for the Presidency. He had said “no” in no uncertain terms. Yet, in the back of his mind there may be a time in the future where he might consider it but not now! He had a war to win.

  He called in the aide.

  “Get Admiral King.” God I hate talking to that prick; Eisenhower thought, What an arrogant SOB, not sometimes. but always.

  “Good morning Admiral. I have news of Soviet movements that will require the assistance of the Navy.”

  The phone makes noises in Ike’s hand but is otherwise unintelligible.

  “Yes that is right Admiral. They are pulling out a number of their armored units and we assume that they are going to try the most direct route to Trieste and then Vienna. As you will recall the 6th Fleet is to interdict such a move and to cause as many losses as possible to their fuel storage and transports.

  Now is the time to call in our markers and get the most accurate information on troop movements, supply convoys, trains and fuel depots. We need Naval Intelligence to fire up all its agents and contacts. We need to know what route those Red troops are taking and we need to know when they will be where.

  I further suggest that you fire up Halsey. We want a maximum effort by the Navy on this Admiral. Do I have your agreement on this point?”

  An unintelligible answer came back through the phone's earpiece and seemed to satisfy Ike.

  “Good, Admiral, I’m glad we are in agreement (for once) thought Eisenhower. I’m looking forward to reports of burning Soviet fuel and tanks, Admiral.”

  Ike ends the conversation and hangs up the phone.

  His attention is once again drawn to the problem of replacements and its effects on desertion.

  Interdiction

  Billy Porter heard someone grunting and having trouble breathing. Was Billy the one grunting and panting? Was he having sex and passed out? Holy shit he was controlling some kind of machine! Wake up, snap out of it and figure out what you are doing.

  The fog of near unconsciousness cleared and Billy remembered what had just happened. He was flying. Flying a jet fighter bomber and had just dropped some bombs on a train. The bombs made a very satisfying explosion and fireball, and he had waited too long to pull up while admiring his handiwork. The G-Forces had begun to suck the blood from his brain and sent it to his feet and legs. His brain had almost shut down.

  He had to get him one of those G-Suits. Jenkins had one and could run circles and pull up on a dime compared to the others in the squadron. Rumors were that everyone would get one soon. The only real use was in ground attack. You couldn’t get into a turning fight with either current Soviet jet fighter, the Fargo or the Feather. You had to be faster than they were in order to win. Boom and zoom, not turn and burn.

  With a ground attack you had to pull big Gs most of the time. The Reds missiles were easy to avoid although they were quite unnerving in the way they turned and twisted as they tried to hit you. Imagine a bullet that turned corners to find you. If you knew they were coming and got eyes on them, you just had to time your turn. The missiles couldn’t follow because they were so fast and had the turning radius of an ocean liner.

  When his vision cleared a little more he found his flight and joined up. They passed over their handiwork. The train was a flaming mess. He could see the armored vehicles that were on the train all strewn about and many were on fire as well. Damn he hated napalm. He didn’t like to use it himself after seeing what it did to a column of refugees that were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Nobody used poisoned gas anymore. He wondered why they didn’t do the same with napalm. It was horrible stuff and an awful way to die or even get wounded. The major powers had banned the dum dum bullet in the 1800s, yet had not outlawed napalm or the atomic bomb. Billy, knew he was just a pilot and knew he had no control over such matters. Maybe someday, he would make Admiral, but for now he just dropped bombs and shot at other aircraft.

  Command had used his squadron because they had expected the VVS to send up some jets to defend the train. It appears they were right. His flight leader had come over the radio telling them that air control picked up bogies vectoring in on their flight. Too late Ivans, thought Billy. We, are, out of here.

  The squadron running top cover would get to dogfight the Feathers coming in. It should be a good fight and he looked forward to hearing about it back on ship.

  The P-80 was not the ideal plane to use on an aircraft carrier and the Navy was furiously developing its own jet fighter but in the meantime the modified Shooting Star was being used effectively. Once it got in the air the P-80 was a good plane. It just was not good at landing on an aircraft carrier. He had to admit he did not like the landing part, one bit.

  Back on the ship, the reports were good on their airstrike. They had wiped out a company of T-54 tanks. Those were the newest in the Soviet inventory. The fact that Soviets were shifting the tanks towards Vienna was a good sign according to the Naval Intelligence Officer giving the briefing. Interdiction attacks like this were already making the Reds divert their trains to longer routes to avoid the US Navy and its carrier based planes. Billy thought, Handy things these floating airbases.

  Chapter Two: Of Mice and Men

  :

  Figure 6 - Soviet One Time Pad

  One Time Pad and Fate

  Colonel Ralph Broussard III was under the gun, both literally and figuratively. His temporary office was under the aft turret of the USS Wisconsin with three of her massive 16 inch guns looming over his head. One Admiral Spruance and the Pentagon held another gun.

  The report Broussard read and edited was based on a number of intercepted communications from the Stavka to Marshall Zhukov. If the report’s assumption was accurate, the Soviets were assigning most of their mobile forces for a drive on the Suez.

  NATO was intercepting, and more importantly, decoding greater numbers of Soviet communications each day. It was essentially real time information. However, it did take about a week to decode, translate and then disseminate the reports. The Soviets were using an unbreakable code based on the “one-time pad” of random numbers.

  The one-time pad code was, and still is unbreakable. During their greatest national crisis of 1942 to 1943 the Soviets reprinted existing one-time pads to save time. They had done the worst possible thing they could do. These duplicated pads were the only way the US could break the Soviet codes and were used up by 1944. US code breakers did not discover this treasure trove of information until 1946.

  The decoded messages were two and three years old by 1947 and of use only to American counter intelligence. The messages contained code names and other clues that identified many current Soviet spies. This decoding project was named the Venona Papers. [cxxxv]

  A number of Soviet spies were caught but many disappeared when warned that their covers were blown. The Venona program was revealed to the Soviet Union by Bill Weisband, a NKVD agent who was also a United States Army SIGINT analyst and cryptologist. When the use of the duplicate pads ended in 1944, the US lost access to information about Soviets operations.

  Now, miraculously the use of the duplicate pads resurfaced in early 1947 and the US was exploiting their use to the upmost. For some unknown reason the old supply of the reprinted pads were sent to Marshall Ivan Bagramyan who dutifully used them. This current release came from inside the Kremlin and might have been the work of an insider whose identity remains a mystery.

  These were the messages that Broussard was reading. The critical information was a window into the Soviet military’s thoughts. Soon, this portal would most likely be slammed shut.

&
nbsp; The end result is that US Intelligence now had almost real-time access to the plans of the Soviet Stavka. These decoded messages revealed that the Soviets were actually in the process of executing a very brilliant strategic move. Unfortunately for the future spread of the communist cause, their plans were an open book to the Pentagon and a new trap was set.

  The stars seemed to be aligned for NATO and the West once again in this newest of world wars. A number of instances of sheer luck had often aided the Allied victory in World War Two. This string of good fortune seemed to follow the cause of freedom just when we are at our lowest ebb.

  One has to question why fate or God had allowed the enemies of freedom to win the initial battles in both world wars, but that is a debate for another time. What is not in debate is that NATO’s fate took a turn for the good when the first duplicate one-time-pad of World War Three showed up on the desk of Colonel Ralph Broussard III.

  Commanding a Corps

  The airplane lurched violently to the right. The metal groaned as the plane twisted in the air. The pilot fought with the flight yoke to keep the plane from yawing to the left. The violent motion woke up the General.

  General Oscar Griswold was dreaming about his life. He was back in his hometown of Ruby Valley, NV. Smelling the old smells of home and his mother's cooking. She was a great cook and loved to make his favorites. He was a plain man with simple tastes.

  He was then transported, as dreams are wont to do, to his school, the University of Nevada, Reno. He was back in the dorms walking the halls and reliving the discussions he had about life with his classmates. Once again smells permeated his dreams. He recalled the stench, from his roommate’s drinking binges.

  Suddenly in his dream, he was back to his first taste of combat in World War One. He was commanding the eighth division as the Lieutenant Colonel leading the charge of his battalion in the Meuse Argon offensive. Again smells permeated his dreams. The smell of death, of smoke and fear.