Then I chatted with Ann and the kids for a while and got some sleep in a sleeping bag on the Starlifter's one and only bed. My ability to speak with Ann from Vladivostok amazes me; apparently there is some kind of a telephone connection on one of our new satellites.
******
I was not sure where General Danovsky and the rest of the Russians spent the night, but the next morning they were all on the plane eating breakfast when I woke up as the Starlifter’s engines started and we began taxiing for takeoff. Some of the Russian officers look like they had serious hangovers.
The only Russians missing were a general and three colonels. Danovsky left them behind with instructions to work with Admiral Krusak to accelerate the move of the naval infantry and the remaining army troops and equipment out of Vladivostok.
As I understood it, the ranks and defensive positions of the four naval infantry battalions and some of the army battalions that moved north would be refilled by the cooks, clerks, and land-based personnel of the Russian navy and a couple of regiments of reservists drawn from the civilians in Vladivostok and the local villages. The executive officers and "second sergeants" of each of the naval infantry battalions and companies will remain behind and be their commanders.
The executive officers will be elated; the Russian promotion system results in an automatic promotion if an officer has enough time in grade and is placed in a position that rates a higher rank. It’s an interesting system. I wonder how well it works.
******
The twenty-seven members of the Chinese Communist Party’s all powerful Politburo were unusually tense as the Chairman sat down and called the Politburo meeting back to order after lunch. Up until now, for security reasons, only the eleven Politburo members on the party’s Central Military Committee knew the full scope of the plan to invade Russia. Everyone else had been led to believe our efforts would be aimed at recovering the Ussuri lands and isolating the port of Vladivostok.
General Wu’s report changed everything and caused everyone to get even more tense.
“Those are not probes designed to confuse the Russians,” exclaimed a surprised Wang Jiang, the vice premier in charge of transportation, as the senior colonel conducting the briefing pointed to a list of units assigned to the Chita front. “This is a major invasion into the very heart of Russia.”
“Into the heart of the Chinese lands that the Russians stole from us over the years, Comrade Wang,” General Wu gently corrected him.
“We all know the territory east of Lake Baikal has historically belonged to China; now is the time to reclaim it, all of it...when Russia is weak and the Americans are leaderless.”
“I am not opposing the army’s plan, Comrade General, not at all. I like it; I am only asking questions because I am truly concerned that our railroads and road system in the north are not yet strong enough to support the plans.” And I don’t want to be blamed if they prove to be inadequate.
“Of course your concerns are understandable, Comrade Wang. But the army’s experts have looked at the situation very carefully. Their conclusion is that our roads and railroads have been sufficiently improved for what we need to do, particularly since we have already positioned so many troops and so many supplies close to the border.” And infiltrated many thousands of them are over the border already, he knew, but had been ordered by the Chairman not say.
“We may never have another chance like this,” Chairman Xi interjected to help guide the discussion so the desired consensus would be reached.
“It is our duty to reclaim our stolen lands before Russia regains its strength and completes its road and railroad lines into the stolen lands.”
“But,” Wang persisted, “we just heard a report from our intelligence departments saying the Russians are mobilizing men and equipment to finally begin filling the gaps in their Trans-Siberian highway and complete the construction of the Baikal-Amur Railroad.”
“The Russians’ plan,” interjected General Wu with a smile and a collegial nod of agreement towards the Chairman, “is to deploy huge numbers of troops and construction crews to repair the bridges the Americans and Turks destroyed, and then keep them moving eastward to fill the gaps in the highway and finish the Baikal-Amur railroad that will run north of the Tran Siberian.
"But that will take them many years. Indeed, it will take them five or six years just to rebuild all the bridges that were recently destroyed, and at least ten years to complete the rest, maybe twenty or even more.
“It’s now or never,” Chairman Xi said to the emphatic nods of the members of the military commission. “Presently the Russians are vulnerable because their military is in shambles and their transportation corridors to the east have been severed, totally severed.”
“Once they rebuild the railroad and their military forces, and certainly when they complete the highway and finish the Baikal-Amur rail line, Comrade Wang, they will be able to greatly expand their population in the stolen territories and quickly bring in military forces to oppose us. Then it will be very difficult, perhaps impossible, to ever get them out.”
“But what about the Americans and Japanese; what will they do?” inquired the Vice-Premier for Industry who, like Wang, was not a member of the Central Military Committee
“Bah. The Japanese are nothing militarily and the American government is weak and indecisive and really doesn’t care who wins,” explained Yang Jei, the Deputy Party Chairman who was also a member of the Military Committee.
“That’s why the Americans repudiated the treaty last week. Let’s face it, the Americans can’t do much to help the Russians even if they wanted to, which they obviously don’t.”
Then General Wu summarized the situation once again,
“Today’s reality is that the Red Army can get troops and supplies to the battlefields where the war will be won or lost because we have railroads and roads running north to the border where the fighting will occur; the Russians cannot get troops and supplies to the battlefields because the war with NATO caused the Russians to temporarily lose their ability to use the roads and railroads running east from Moscow to the battle area. It’s really as simple as that.
“As for the Japanese,” Wu added disdainfully as he wrinkled up his nose and took a puff on his cigarette, “they have no reason to help the Russians. They don’t like them—and one reason they don’t is because the Russians occupied Sakhalin and those four little Japanese islands the day before Japan surrendered—and refused to give them back after the war.”
Then, with a modest and knowing smile and another puff on his cigarette, then he added, “anyhow, it doesn’t matter; we’ve been talking with the Japanese and assured them that we would have no problem if Japan landed its troops and took their islands back. Indeed we said we’d help them if they needed help. They were very receptive to the idea and, as a result, quite agreeable to our reclaiming the lands the Russians stole from us.”
“Do the Japanese know how soon we plan to act, Comrade?” Deputy Premier Wen Hijian asks anxiously and a little breathlessly as he sucked on a long cigarette holder with an unlit cigarette in it.
He’s short of breath because he has lung cancer. He thinks the others do not know. Most of them do and several of them are already positioning their supporters and sons to take his place.
“Of course not, Comrade Wen. I am sorry. I should have made that clear.”
“Will the Russians use their nuclear weapons?” asked a hunched over little man at the end of the table.
“We do not think so, Comrade Bo, the Chairman replied as he turned to face him.
“They may be weak militarily at the moment, but they aren’t stupid; they know we will retaliate with ours if they do. All they can accomplish by using their nuclear bombs to destroy our big cities is to cause Russia’s big cities to be destroyed by our nuclear bombs. And even if they do use them and destroy our cities, China will still exist and we’ll still have regained all of our stolen lands.”
“Even so,” Gene
ral Wu carefully pointed out, “we will, of course, take the necessary precautions and move all important political cadres and their families out of potential nuclear target zones before the war begins.” I should have mentioned this earlier. The relief on the faces of some of the members is obvious.
Everyone around the big table nodded. The required consensus had been achieved.
There was no actual vote by the Politburo members, there never was. But it was clear to everyone in the room that the required consensus was in place; the military operations to recapture the stolen lands would proceed as planned.
Now it is certain history will remember me, Li mused as he watched the smoke curl up from the cigarette he was holding. Russia is about to lose half of its territory and its access to the eastern seas, and China is about to begin using its huge and hungry population to fill the lands east of Lake Baikal with Chinese. Yes, in a few months the Alaskans will see Chinese instead of Russians when they look across the few miles of water that separate Alaska from what is now Russia.
******
“It will be a major invasion to take all the Amur River lands, even those north of the river all the way to Lake Baikal,” the daughter of the Vice Premier breathed very softly into the ear of the girl who worked in the office of the Japanese trading company.
They were smoking cigarettes and languishing naked on a very rumpled bed.
“We are going to one of the Party’s vacation villages before it starts.” According to what my father told my mother last night, the main attack will involve many divisions of troops and large amounts of armor and artillery. The army is going to throw pontoon bridges across the Amur near Manzhouli and proceed down the railroad branch line to take Chita and the land east and north of Lake Baikal.
“My father says China is certain to win and regain its stolen lands because this time Russia can’t use its roads and railroads to supply and reinforce the troops it has in the lands they stole from us.
“He told my mother all about it,” she whispered. “There will be initial attacks in the vicinity of Khabarovsk and Vladivostok, many small units will infiltrate all along the border, and the divisions of our parachute troops will drop on their airfields including the big field that protects the entrance to the eastern territories on the other side of the big mountains. Then the big attack will come further to the west at Manzhouli.
“He also told her many thousands of troops have already infiltrated over the border and into the vast empty spaces on the other side of the river; they’ll become active when they get the signal.”
Then the girls snuggled together and talked in very low whispers into each other’s ears about how wonderful and understanding Mai’s mother is and how it will be when they were finally rich and free in America.
Mai didn’t know it, and never would, but tomorrow her girlfriend would literally whisper into the ear of one of the Japanese middle managers in her office and he would quickly make a business trip to Tokyo.
Nothing would ever be written down or transmitted by phone or radio for fear of it being intercepted. Indeed, it wouldn’t even be spoken in a normal voice for fear of being picked up by a hidden microphone.
The Americans would have it by tomorrow night.
Chapter Eleven
I am surprised.
A long coded message began coming in on the scrambler as we lifted off from Vladivostok to return to Kharbarovsk. It was from Bill Hammond. The intelligence analysts have revised their conclusions based on new information coming out of Japan. The situation can be summarized, Bill wrote, as “the Chinese goals and the military assets they are committing appear to be significantly greater than we initially imagined.”
According to Bill, our intelligence now confirms that there will be a massive Chinese ground and air attack designed to occupy the entire Amur River drainage east of Lake Baikal and, most likely, all of the Russian territory east and north of Lake Baikal. My god, this thing really might go nuclear. Danovsky and the Russians will never give up all that without using everything they have.
My face must have shown my shock as I made my way back towards Danovsky and Safford. They stood up with concern on their faces as I lurched down the aisle past them with the message in my hand.
“The maps,” I snapped to Shapiro and Carpenter as I jerked my head to indicate they should follow me, “Get the big map showing China and Eastern Russia.”
“We’ve been had,” I said to no one in particular as Sergeant Teniers began setting up the folding tables and Shapiro leafed through our map case and then began unfolding the map he’d selected.
Danovsky’s face turned white, and so did Lindauer’s, as Lindauer read the message to him. I passed it to Safford and Peterson to read together and signaled them with a jerk of my head to share with the others when they were finished.
“Jesus Dick.” …. “My God.” ….. “How many divisions?”
“Okay people, we’ve got a new and bigger ball game.”
Or could it be a Chinese trick to draw Russian resources away from the Ussuri, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok?
******
Thirty minutes later our destination had changed and, without a word being said, we had begun functioning as Danovsky’s staff. Within an hour he had the beginnings of a new defensive plan and was already beginning to implement it.
The priorities had changed and time was running out. Now the main Russian defenses will have to be concentrated in front of Chita. Danovsky had no choice. The Chinese plan sounded all too real. We should have anticipated it from the beginning.
There are good reasons for Danovsky to change the Russian troop dispositions: losing Chita means losing the entire Russian East; losing Khabarovsk and Vladivostok would mean losing only that part of the Russian East south of the Amur.
Danovsky moved quickly and began making calls using our in-flight phone system that bounces calls off one of our satellites.
“It’s safe, Yuri Andreovich,” I told him, “at least at this end; it’s a deeply scrambled line of sight transmission and it’s being bounced off a satellite.”
“Alexi Gregorovich,” Danovsky said to the commander of his airmobile troops who was listening at his headquarters in Arkhara, “I am at this very moment sending you a message. It will be delivered to you by hand from an unexpected source. You are to instantly act on the orders in it, but you are not to discuss them with anyone, not even your deputy.”
“Yes, that is correct. You are to begin executing them immediately. I am diverting to Podovsk and will arrive in about two hours. We will talk when I get there. Please meet my plane.”
What Danovsky was sending was an order to the general commanding the 73rd Guards Airmobile division to immediately move his division from Podovsk to the airfield at Chita. When he got there he was to dig in and prepare to repel an expected attack by at least two, and possibly three, Chinese airborne divisions, an attack that was expected to occur as early as the middle of August.
Although Danovsky didn’t know it, a copy of his message would also be sent as a flash message to Bill Hammond with a request from me that The Detachment and I receive, at least every two hours until further notice, all satellite photos and intelligence updates that came across his desk regarding everything that might be related to a Chinese attack towards Chita or anywhere else—and please immediately send anything that he thought was important.
Danovsky’s next call was to Turpin.
“Andre Pavlovich, I am at this moment sending you an important message with new orders and information. It will be delivered to you from an unexpected source. You are to act on it instantly, and I mean instantly, and discuss it with no one.
"I will be in Arkhara in about two hours and then return to Khabarovsk this evening. We will talk about it and I will explain my orders this evening when I arrive in Khabarovsk. Please meet my plane.”
What General Turpin would receive in a few minutes was an order to instantly begin an around the clock effort to move armor and tr
oops to positions between Chita and the Chinese border, including some of the armor units that had previously been sent to the choke points and detached to be behind-the-lines raiders.
Turpin would also receive an edited version of the warning message Hammond sent to me and an order to instantly and personally burn both messages as soon as he finished reading them, and not to discuss them with anyone until Danovsky arrived.
We spent all of the rest of the flight gathered around the maps and reading the intelligence updates that began flooding in. They all confirmed the initial warning.
How could we have been so blind? Russia may damn well lose this war. And what will it mean for the United States and the west if it does?
******
Danovsky radioed in a request for no honors before we arrived. Accordingly, the only senior officers present when he trotted hurriedly down the steps at Arkhara were the very concerned Commanding General of the 73rd Air Assault Division and its attached independent airborne battalions and his equally concerned deputy—who was concerned because his commander was so obviously upset about the message he’d just received. What did it say? What is happening?
The 73rd was the only intact Russian airborne division. All the other Russian airborne divisions had been decimated by their attacks on the NATO headquarters and their survivors had only recently begun to be repatriated. Their repatriation had been delayed because all the available NATO planes were being used to return American troops from Europe to the United States.
The Russian airborne general, a big mean looking guy named Karatonov, was obviously surprised, and then tried to hide it, when he realized that many of the officers accompanying Danovsky were Americans. So I mischievously had the ever present Basilof lean over and tell him that we were as surprised to be here as he was to see us.
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