We swung ourselves aboard a gravel car that wasn’t much better; it was like all the others—loaded with men from Bikin and the bridges, and many of them were wounded. The idea of stoic wounded soldiers is absolute horseshit. Vern spent most of the day holding the hand of a boy with a mangled leg that was missing a foot. Neither could understand a word the other said and they both had tears in their eyes. Periodically the boy screamed when the train jerked or bumped.
Chernenko was also on the troop train. I could see him two cars down on one of the last flatcars helping to tend to the wounded. I raised my hand in acknowledgment and he raised his in return. Then I returned to periodically tightening and loosening the tourniquet on the shattered arm of another sobbing teenager. He was going to lose it for sure if he lived.
During the trip we shivered and froze as we tended to the wounded and looked up at snow-covered mountains. That changed to a desolate grey industrial area dusted with slushy dirty snow as we entered the outskirts of Vladivostok.
Perhaps the engineer or someone on the train had a radio because we were absolutely swarmed with waiting troops and medics when the train finally came to a stop at the Vladivostok dockyard. Or maybe the Spetsnaz commander had one. It really didn’t matter. We'd made it and the wounded who had survived this far now had a fighting chance to survive.
Further down the rail yard we could see a huge ship being pushed into place against the dock by a couple of tugs. It had a flat deck so it must be some kind of aircraft carrier even though we could see that its deck was packed with tanks and BMDs. The dock in front of it is covered with men, cranes, and waiting trucks and flatbed railcars.
******
“I hadn’t expect to see you so soon,” a familiar voice said and caused me to turn around as I climbed rather stiffly down from the gravel car where we’d been spent the past six or seven hours helping tend the Russian wounded. It was Colonel Chernenko. I don’t even have a chance to respond when a Russian Jeep literally skidded to a halt in front of us and an officer in a navy uniform jumped out and literally ran to the Colonel.
The officer was speaking urgently and waving his arms. He seemed to be telling Chernenko to get his troops back on the train. Chernenko listened and asked a few questions. Then he shook his head. The gesturing officer looked at him incredulously and started gesturing and pointing once again.
I watched as Chernenko turned away and barked an order over his shoulder to one of his men. Whistles and shouting began and the men, at least those who still could, begin to form up in ranks. Then they suddenly broke ranks and moved towards the nearest trucks. Vern and I followed them—and then stood watching as they climbed in. What the hell is going on?
We ran to catch up with the Colonel. “North Koreans,” he shouted to us over his shoulder as he stepped up on to the running board of one of the trucks and swings himself into its cab. “We must delay them until reinforcements arrive.”
I shouted a response as the three of us jogged along aside of Chernenko’s slowly moving truck. “We’re going with you, but first I have to report in to General Evans.”
Then we peeled off toward a Jeep further up the dock with a driver sitting in it. Eugene shouted a bunch of Russian at the Jeep driver as we climbed in. North Koreans?
******
Twenty minutes later we were in the dingy main office of the Port trying to convince the office staff to let me use a phone so I can report in to Colonel Lindauer or General Evans. A very suspicious naval officer called the Vladivostok Police instead.
A handcuffed ride to the local police station and twenty minutes later we were being questioned by the local police. They were not impressed by the letter from General Danovsky we each carried and Eugene’s obviously sincere efforts to convince them.
“They think we are spies,” said Eugene.
“Then they are fools who will soon be either counting trees in Siberia or shot for treason if we don’t get a phone,” I responded. “Tell them that.” He did.
“Well that didn’t work,” I said to Vern as the two of us get roughly pushed into a filthy jail cell and Eugene disappeared. “Any ideas?”
******
NSA reported that the Chinese and North Koreans were both moving troops and armor forward towards Vladivostok, and that the Russian defenders are hanging on, but barely. There are now some indications in the intercepts that the Chinese are having problems with damaged bridges but, according to the intercepts, they are being repaired.
Hmm. This is the first time bridges have even been mentioned. Yesterday I personally called the Director and asked to have all mentions of bridges flagged and immediately forwarded to me.
Another part of the latest NSA report was even more interesting. Instructions have again gone out from Red Banner Street reminding the Chinese units not to damage the railroad and not to interfere with the movement of Russian trains. The Chinese apparently think reinforcements are stil being been sent eastward to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.
One of the intercepted communications speculated that the Russian Command’s communication center might have been damaged by the airborne operation so that General Danovsky was temporarily unable to communicate with his units.
I immediately tried to call Danovsky and Lindauer to give them the news about the railroad now being cut. And to get an update on the war in general and the North Koreans in particular.
It took a while, but I finally got through to Danovsky. I told him about the Chinese order, without saying how I knew. I also suggested that he ask Moscow for all of its remaining Kelt missiles and all of the Tu-16s bombers for use against Irkutsk and Angarsk.
Yuri was no dummy. He understood exactly what I mean when I suggested he hold them in the west on a one hour standby until he is ready to launch them to support a ground attack on the captured airfields using infiltrating Spetsnaz. I emphasized the word ‘ground.’
Then we talked about the North Koreans and the war in general.
“As I’m sure you know, Richard Ivanovich, we are continuing to give ground to the Chinese on both fronts. But very slowly and making them pay dearly. General Bulganin just gave them a very big punch on the nose on the Amur Front and Kulibin has them stopped cold, at least for a moment, on the Ussurri.”
“And the North Koreans?” I asked gently.
“Ah, those backstabbing cocksuckers,” he replied bitterly. “They are a big problem.”
“What’s the situation?” I asked.
“The North Koreans are about twenty kilometers over the border and moving northeast towards the port. At the moment they are mainly using infantry. And their men are unsupported. Unsupported! Can you believe it? They’re letting their men take casualties so they don’t have to risk losing their tanks and planes.”
“How soon do you think they will take the port and cut off your reinforcements?” I asked.
“Longer than they expect, Richard Ivanovich, longer than they expect.”
“How so?” I asked.
“Do you remember Colonel Chernenko? The man whose troops found your dead Americans?”
“Well he showed up in Vladivostok with a few hundred survivors from Bikin, including your two young officers. When he learned the North Koreans were coming for Valdivostok, he took what was left of his men from Bikin, and some of the troops and armor he found unloading from some navy ships, and rushed them to a good blocking position about eighty kilometers south of the port. He got them there riding on civilian trucks and buses.
“It doesn't sound as if they'll have a chance when the Koreans reach them. They’ll just be a road bump for the Koreans to run over.”
“Maybe and maybe not. They are behind a big marshy area with a stream running through it—and the Kuznetsov docked a couple of hours later with more than an entire division of armored infantry. They are being unloaded as we speak.”
“You may disagree Richard Ivanovich. But my mind’s made up. I need to keep Valdivostok open for as long as possible. So I’m sending the divisi
on from the Kuznetsov to reinforce General Chernenko. Yes, he’s a general now—and the frontal commander for the Korean Front as well. I promoted him this morning though he probably doesn’t know it yet.”
“Actually, I think I agree with you, Yuri Andreovich—both about sending the troops in order to keep the port open and about General Chernenko. But I must admit I am surprised to be hearing this from you. I wonder why my two young officers didn’t report in to me?”
After a second or so to gather my thoughts, I continued.
“In any event, from everything that Major Carpenter told me a couple of days ago it sounds as though Chernenko is as good a commander as you’ve got. And, you’re right about keeping the port open as long as possible. So long as it stays open and the Chinese stay stupid you can continue to land reinforcements and send them on to Chita.”
“Well, let’s hope it works, Richard Ivanovich. The Kuznetsov is just now docking and the helicopter carriers Moskva II and Leningrad II are a couple of days behind it. Between them they’re carrying the better part of three more divisions and a lot of armor. And there still are a large number of smaller ships on the way and so is the entire Black Sea Fleet including two our big landing ships packed with tanks and BDMs.”
“Richard Ivanovich, my mind’s made up. I’m going to send some of the Kuznetsov's’s troops and armor to Chernenko and hope he can hold off the Koreans long enough for the rest to move north.”
“Yuri, my friend” I say with a smile in my voice, “the only thing that worries me is that we’re in agreement about doing something Moscow is likely to approve. When we both agree with Moscow, I have to ask—where has our thinking gone wrong?” We both laughed uproariously. He needed that even if it wasn’t much. Things have got to be getting tense out there.
“Oh Yuri Andreovitch, my planners may have another idea for you, something that might fool the Chinese into keeping the railroad open.”
I suggested to him that the Chinese almost certainly have at least one observer reporting on the railroad traffic east of Chita. Our intelligence, I told him has picked up burst radio transmissions reporting on your rail traffic. They think the Chinese may have a spotter in the mountains about two hundred kilometers east of Chita. We’re damn sure there is; he sends a message spurt at 0227 every night.
“You could,” I suggested, “send a couple of trains loaded with armor and trucks eastward past that point several times each day; then at night, when the observer can’t see, bring them back along with the trains carrying your reinforcements coming out of Kharbarovsk. You could do the same for the line running south to the port through Bikin.”
A little later I was able to get through to Colonel Lindauer with the same information. And I also told him that I was getting more and more worried about Carpenter and Hurlburt. I want them to contact me as soon as they check in.
“Major Carpenter and Mister Hurlburt have been seen in Vladivostok but for some reason they haven’t reported in. That worries me. If you hear from them, please tell them to stay with General Chernenko and be my eyes and ears on the North Korean Front.”
I called it a day after I finished my call. I did not use a driver because it would draw attention in rural France. So after my call, I drove myself home for dinner in my old Peugeot with a couple of Gunny Robinson’s Marines following in a civilian car as a backup.
Tonight it’s spaghetti and meat sauce with salt bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The kids love it and it’s my favorite meal. And then I have to fix the back door. It was sticking again.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Things change.
The morning meeting of the combined Chinese Politburo and Military Committee was quiet, almost subdued, as General Wu reported on the progress of the war and the progress of the North Koreans.
“Things continue to go well,” he told the assembled party leaders. “Our troops advanced another twenty kilometers towards Khabarovsk yesterday, and there is further confirmation that our strategy is working—one of our radio-equipped infiltration teams reported seeing an entire trainload of tanks and vehicles moving eastward from Chita to reinforce Khabarovsk and Vladivostok.”
Everyone around the table looked up in surprise when General Wu went on to say that he has ordered an end to the Vladivostok attacks and the relocation of many of the Chinese units that had been attacking the Russians there.
“Our planned adjustment is basically quite simple,” General Wu told the seated men as he pointed to a big map an aide was in the process of pinning to the wall.
“We are going to move the bulk of our troops from here to here and let Kim’s Koreans march up the coast past them. Then, if the Politboro approves, we’re going to smash into their rear and retake the Russian land those little bastards are marching over. The North Koreans will be cut off without supplies and destroyed—and we’ll have both the occupied land the Russians stole from us and the port.”
“It will teach that ungrateful little shit Kim a big lesson,” explained Chairman Xi as he nodded to agree with what he had just heard and snuffed out his cigarette in the ashtray on the table in front of him.
“What about the reports that some of our bridges have been destroyed—the bridges we will need to bring supplies and reinforcements to the Chita front,” asked the wizened little man at the end of the table.
“Yes, that is true, Comrade.” How did he find out? “Saboteurs have indeed damaged some our bridges. But they are being repaired as we speak and there is no problem—we already have more than enough men and equipment at the front. The Red Army is ready to cross the Amur and head for Chita as soon as the signal is given.”
******
The Chinese–Russian battle for Vladivostok was one of the several areas in Eastern Russia on which NSA is concentrating its satellites and communications interception efforts.
This morning’s satellite photos instantly make it clear what the Chinese are doing. They are moving the bulk of their forces toward the hills which overlook the Korean infantry that is marching towards the port. No wonder Tony Talbot called me at five o’clock this morning. He knows exactly what this means and so do I.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the Chinese plan. They’ve stopped attacking the Russians and are repositioning their troops so they can smash into the Korean rear and cut the North Koreans invaders off from North Korea.
It was time to call Danovsky and Colonel Lindauer again. And I’ve got a new Russian-speaking aide to help me get through. A chaplain of all things. Captain Lonnie Farris is an American-born Russian Orthodox priest. Lonnie’s mother was Russian and he grew up in a Russian-speaking home. His father met her when he was on the embassy staff in Moscow and somehow got her out.
******
I called Colonel Lindauer with the good news about Carpenter and Hurlburt getting out of Bikin, but that I was worried because I had not spoken with them. I told him I wanted them to report as soon as he could locate them.
Two hours later, when I still haven’t heard from them, I try to call Danovsky back and end up talking through Lonnie to Colonel Durov. He was one of Danovsky’s key aides.
“Where are my men, Carpenter and Hurlburt,” I asked?
My second inquiry triggered a firestorm. One of Danovsky’s aides was able to get through to Chernenko who reported he had last seen them this morning heading off to find a phone so they could report to me.
Danovsky’s aide then called the major in charge of unloading the ships who told him there was a rumor going about that the local police have arrested several Chinese spies claiming to be Americans.
“Yes, the police have captured three Chinese spies. The Chief himself is questioning them.”
“Well comrade, they are not spies. General Danovsky wants them released immediately.
******
Two hours later Lindauer again called Danovsky’s office to inquire about Carpenter and Hurlburt. Once again the General’s aide calls the Vladivostok police to f
ind out why they have not yet reported in. He was told that they were not available because the police have not finished questioning them.
Danovsky went ballistic when his aide described the situation. He called the political officer of the 75th Guards, one of the divisions being relocated to the newly established Korean Front.
“Get to the Vladivostok police headquarters as fast as possible and find out what happened to the two foreign officers those morons arrested this morning as spies. They are important allies and I ordered them released with apologies hours ago.”
“At your orders, Comrade General. I will leave immediately.”
“This is a war zone and discipline is of vital importance, even for police officers. Do you know what you must immediately do if you find my orders have been deliberately disobeyed?”
“At your orders, Comrade General. You can rely on me.”
“Good. Some officials may still not fully understand that in a war orders must be obeyed. It may be that an example must be made to encourage the others.
“Also Comrade Colonel, be sure to leave a reliable man to take charge of the police if an example must be made. Tell him to concentrate on keeping the roads open and the military traffic moving to the front.
"Even better, now that I think of it, you stay there yourself and take command of the police. We must get reinforcements to General Chernenko on the Korean front as fast as possible. Every minute counts.”
******
The Jeep and the army truck following it skidded to a stop in front of police headquarters. More than a dozen heavily armed men with grim faces followed the Colonel as he dashed up the stairs past two exiting policemen and through the door. The two policemen looked on in amazement as the heavily armed men pushed past them. Then they hurried to their patrol car—they knew trouble when they saw it.
Jerry and I had been tied to chairs and slapped around and shouted at in Russian for hours. Half a dozen police stand around watching the man, obviously someone senior, who does most of the shouting. The problem is pretty basic—he just can’t get it in his head that we don’t understand a word he has been saying. Then the door opened and soldiers flooded in.
Our Next Great War Page 39