World War Three May 1946

Air Space Violated
Royal Air Force HQ

‘So how far did they penetrate our air space?”
‘Three flights flew as far as Ireland before turning back.’
‘Did MI 6 have any indication that they had this capability?’
Yes, we knew that both the Yak 15 Feather and the Mig 9 Fargo were capable of over flights at 13,000 meters but without knowing their destinations or targets it is virtually impossible for us to intercept them. Conversely, we should be able to do the same thing to them. However they have infinitely more territory to hide their secrets in and we have to fly much longer flights in order to reach anything of value. We knew about the Yak 9 DD because they helped escort in Romania and we were aware of their range. The appearance of those Yak 9PD was an unpleasant surprise. We think their flights were attempts to intimidate us with their range and altitude capabilities, and quite frankly they are an eye opener old boy. It is now confirmed that they can fly at very high altitude and have the range to escort their bombers throughout the whole of the British Isles. Something we didn’t have to worry about and was greatly to our advantage during the first Battle of Britain.
‘How were they able to skirt our defenses?’
‘The interceptions were based on old presumptions of their capabilities. We thought we knew their maximum range and altitude restrictions. It turns out we were wrong on all counts. They can fly higher and farther than we ever dreamed and that left our interceptors too low and out of position. They definitely got all the pictures they want of everything they wanted. We have to assume that they now know everything they need to launch an all-out attack. We did get a few mainly by luck, but estimates are that over 5 dozen of their recon flights were successful.
In addition they amply demonstrated to all that the whole of the British Isles is vulnerable to attack. I’m sure we won’t publicize today’s events, but I have a feeling they will. ’
‘Yes this is food for thought. Not to mention that the shoe is on the other foot as far as intelligence is concerned. Against the Germans we had Ultra. Conversely we are now blind, and they have what appears to be one of the largest spy rings we have ever encountered. My God man ordinary citizens are turning on their own government following a pipe dream of a workers paradise that can’t possibly work.’
‘You have to realize, old boy, that for the most part, the late 20s and 30s were hell for the average person. The Great Depression, starvation of thousands, the greed of the wealthy, the almost utter failure of the world’s governments. It’s no wonder that new and untried ideas are popular. America seems to be humming along, but our empire is on the verge of being lost and the rest of Europe now is under new management. To the average Englishmen things aren’t looking too rosy and now they are being asked to do it again, to once again sacrifice everything, without major changes to society as a whole’
‘But how can you turn on your own people? Your own government that you have just fought for? To me it is beyond comprehension.’
‘I would concur old boy. I’m just trying to give you all the facts. But we wander too far a field. Our task is to see that these over flights do not happen again.’
‘Of course you are right. So the Meteor can reach their altitude but lacks the range to…”

 

Chapter 28 The Situation

The Pyrenees

Imagine you’re in a spotter plane flying the length of the Pyrenees Mountain Range from East to West. Within 30 miles of the East coast, not much is happening. The Soviets avoid the area because of the potential for naval bombardment. It seems the old battle wagons and their 16” guns can still dictate a virtual no man’s land if given proper air support. An expensive use of oil but an effective one.

Just a little beyond the 30 mile mark you start to get a real feel of what the fighting is all about. A typical battle will start will intensive artillery and rocket bombardment almost as devastating per mile as the 22 battleships demonstrated in Louisville Slugger. Tens of thousands of rounds of rockets and shells concentrating on this or that hill or mountain top.

The unlucky mountaintop that is the recipient of the title “critical” to the current offensive is just the most recent recipient of a technique used in modern coal mining. In modern times, they have started to mine coal by using a method called mountain top removal. Tons of flying metal and explosive gives the term new meaning.

If the defenders are lucky, they retreat to the other side of the mountain until the worst of the barrage is over. They return to fill the massive craters with their living bodies in an attempt to prevent other living bodies from entering their now critical crater.

The air war is pretty much a standoff with local victories giving the ground forces a leg up for a short time until the other side manages to gain air superiority and drop some of the most hideous inventions man has ever created to kill other men down on their respective heads.

Then there is the lack of water. This is probably the worst malady that plagues the defenders and attackers alike. It’s almost impossible to get water supplies to soldiers fighting in mountains while under attack. It is more critical to the battle than ammunition.

No one knows who started it first, but a kind of dirty little secret started to become evident among the frontline soldiers. Caravans of water supplies on both sides seemed to live a charmed life. All of a sudden over the last couple of weeks, for whatever reason, both sides stopped targeting each other’s water supply deliveries.

It seems that despite the brutalities that each side rendered onto each other ,it was somehow mutually decided that thirst, was not going to be one of them. A line had been drawn in the dirt, and it became sacrosanct that no one would die for lack of water. That of all the different hideous ways each side could devise to kill each other, thirst would not be one of them.

Fierce hand to hand combat was the norm with units often dying to the last man. Men still tore at each other’s faces in brutal fighting where your hands turned into claws raking at your enemy’s eyes and nose. The fighting was still as intense as ever yet somehow the water supplies managed to get through unharmed as if by magic.

There was an un-substantiated rumor of a Russian soldier being publicly executed by his own comrades in full sight of a Spanish platoon. His crime was shooting a donkey carrying water to the Spanish position. According to the rumor the Red Army troops made it abundantly clear what his crime was, and the Spanish officer acknowledged their act of contrition.

There were many volunteers for the water supply caravans.

 

Gentlemen quiet down.

“Our purpose here today is to decide on our recommendations to the President on our strategic options for defeating the Soviet army and causing the unconditional surrender of the USSR, and it‘s satellite states.
Colonel Armistead go over the situation as it stands currently.”

“Thank you Commander Eisenhower. Gentleman first the bad news. The Soviets have total control of Germany, Denmark, the low counties, 99% of France, a foothold in Spain, and they are moving on Greece with little opposition as we speak. In addition, Italy has withdrawn from NATO and is allowing Soviet forces to enter its territory. The Italian Navy is scheduled to fall into Soviet hands soon. Finland is reeling from a Soviet attack with Norway and Sweden trying to assist their neighbor.

They are currently fielding 244 Soviet divisions and 83 of their so called allied divisions with over 14000 frontline aircraft.
In the Far East, the Soviets have 80 fully supplied divisions on combat ready. At any time, they can march into pretty much anywhere they want on the Asian mainland. So far they are dormant. We don’t know why, but are grateful that they are.

On the Pyrenees Line, they are making slow and steady progress. We estimate at their current rate of advance they will be out of the mountains in less than 90 days and into Spain proper.

Their armor is superior to ours at the moment. This is not much of a factor in the mountains, but if they once again break out into tank country it will not be pretty.

On the Pyrenees Line our forces are as follows. We have 11 full strength and fully equipped divisions. Our forces are able to defend themselves and even have the ability to counter attack. Our allies are fielding 15 full divisions between them. Mainly newly minted Spanish divisions with a French division, a Low Countries division, 4 British divisions and a joint British Empire division made up of New Zealanders, Aussies and Canadians.

The US forces have been blocking the traditional invasion routes and large mountain passes. Our allies are filling in between these positions. The Soviet advances have been at the expense of the new Spanish divisions for the most part. In order to avoid being flanked we have had to slowly perform retrograde movements.

As you know additional US divisions are being formed and should be ready for action by the spring.
We have one division that is proceeding down the Italian boot to Sicily. They will be reinforced and are expected to hold the island with the help of the navy.

Our Far East forces consist of one division in Korea and 3 in Japan. The Brits have 2 scattered in Indonesia and India. In addition, we have a division in Egypt to support the 4 British divisions already in the area.

Unlike the war with Germany and Japan, we do not enjoy total air superiority. Both sides enjoy local successes but so far we are not able to penetrate on regular basis their air defense system without unacceptable casualties. Similarly, they have not been able to have much success in reaching our supply lines or major troop concentrations. Basically, the air war is a draw.

This presents us with grave problems. As you know we enjoyed almost total air superiority over Germany and Japan before we commenced any kind of offensive action. It allowed us to handle the enemies sometimes superior ground forces. Rarely did a German Tiger even get to the frontline much less do much damage when we had Jugs and Lightnings roaming at will over the battleground.

If we do not gain air superiority in the short run, we will have to find a new way to defeat the Red Army.

Again unlike the Germans or the Japanese the Soviets seem to have learned from history. We have it on good authority that they will not run out of trained pilots like our former Axis enemies did. They have a robust training program and apparently no lack of fuel to train them. In addition, they have made great strides in upgrading their planes performance at altitude.

Bottom line is that we cannot count on defeating their air forces in the foreseeable future, and we cannot attack their infrastructure with impunity without suffering unacceptable casualties.

Major Tillman will you bring us up to speed as to what forces we expect to have available in the Spring?”
“Of course General. We are on target to have 60 fully mechanized American Marine and Army Divisions, capable of amphibious assault, ready to be deployed by early spring. Our navy friends assure us that they will be able to land 25 divisions a month anywhere in the world by May, 1947 along with accompanying air cover, shore bombardment and temporary port facilities capable of supplying said 25 divisions for up to a month..

By the end of Spring, we should be up to our WWII strength of 90 divisions.”

“Thank you Major.

It should be obvious that we have left out of this briefing our strategic air assets. We are on a need to know basis on this subject. It has been determined that this gathering does not have a need to know. I know that sticks in your craw but tough shit! That's the way it is and the way it will be for the foreseeable future. Believe me I'm as insulted as much as you are, but the top brass has their reasons and that's good enough for my pay grade.

We do,however, have the use of 1550 B17s, 1091 B24s, 2024 medium bombers, 2020 fighters, and fighter bombers and 980 transport aircraft with more to come. These air units are to be used for tactical operations.

So for the time being, it will be our late war prop jobs against theirs…I hope. We expect whatever SAC is up to will draw most of their jets like flies.
All of the heavy bombers and most of the jet fighters and long range fighters have been transferred to SAC or the Strategic Air Command. I am confident that they will be operational soon, and we will see just what they can do. I suspect we will be seeing some mushroom clouds in the distance soon.

With these assets, we have to decide between various plans proposed for winning World War Three. Do we attack on a broad front fighting our way through Western Europe starting from the Spanish border? Or do we stage another D-day and start our attack from the French coast? Do we go for broke with a blitzkrieg type narrow front encircling type attack? Do we stage a series of coordinating amphibious landings? Do we go straight for Moscow or the oil fields? Do we attempt the counter attack with 90 divisions in the Spring/Summer or do we wait another year to match the Soviets 250 divisions and advance on a broad front?

In other words, we have to advise the JCS on what we believe will bring Old Joe to his knees.”

 

Beria rises to speak
Kremlin
August 17th, 1946

Beria rises to speak.

“Gentleman you have all been summoned to give your reports on the situation in our struggle with the Capitalist forces around the world. We need your honest and frank assessments’ on the status of the units under your command. First comrade Stalin would like to hear from the Western Front. Marshall Zhukov you have the floor.”

“Thank you comrade.
Our ground forces consist of 183 combat divisions with 63 now engaged on the Pyrenees Line. 26 divisions face the Scandinavian forces in Finland. 11 Divisions are on occupation duty in Germany, France, the Low Countries, and Denmark. 16 divisions waiting in France near the in Italian border to make sure our new Italian friends keep their word and 11 are assisting our allies in the liberation of Greece. 47 are in reserve status waiting to exploit the breakthrough into Spain. Another 26 are on strategic reserve ready to counter any sudden amphibious or airborne attacks, and performing police duties in various cities in the Balkans.
Our allies Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Hungry have supplied 12 divisions for the liberation of Greece, 20 are in reserve on the Italian border and 45 in strategic reserve awaiting any moves by the NATO forces and again on police duties against possible anti-government events.
Marshall Novikov, please give us a report of the status of the air war in the West.

Our air assets on the Western Zone consist of 4136 aircraft on the Pyrenees Front. 4574 are being positioned to suppress the British with 1520 in transit from the Transcaucus Front soon to join them and that will bring the total up to … um… 6124 frontline combat aircraft. We are relying on 786 aircraft from our allies to sweep the skies over Greece. So far it is enough.

The Soviet air forces in the West have been able to meet the requirements of the Red Army. We have negated the vaunted US Army Air Force and with the addition of the Special Ground to Air Forces we have been able to intimidate the strategic air forces and can report that there have been no significant attacks on Soviet Cities. As you may recall the US tried to drop their atomic bomb on Leningrad. One of the most heinous weapons ever devised was slated to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent victims. The combination of our brave fighter forces and ground to sky missiles thwarted their plans.

As a bonus we have recovered one of their atomic bombs which failed to detonate. It is being studied by our scientists non-stop. In addition a second major attack was intercepted, and heavy losses were dealt to the bomber force sent to carpet bomb Toulouse. As a consequence the enemy has significantly curtailed its strategic bombing attacks. In the meantime we are adding 30 more ground to sky missiles per week to our defensive forces.

Our air forces are also receiving 110 new jet planes per month between the Mig 9 and Yak 15 models. Production of most propeller driven fighter aircraft has been suspended to make this possible. We estimate that current stocks of medium bombers will be enough for the duration of the war. We are increasing the production of the Pe9, which is being used for a platform to launch the X4 plane to plane missile. It has proven to be very instrumental in breaking up bomber formations allowing our fighters to attack more effectively.

In addition the Czechs can now field 20 ME 262 jets. They have begun building their own version of the ME 262. We have also transferred all spare parts, and air frames liberated from Germany for their use. We estimate that the Czechs will have another 30 to 40 flyable planes by Spring.

Our ground to sky missile system is undergoing major upgrades with a new generation of direction system being installed. This system will greatly reduce the need for ground controller once the missiles are within 3 km of the target planes. They are totally self-guided after that and have shown remarkable abilities to intercept their targets. Production of the missiles remains low. We currently can produce 75 a month. By reducing the number of armored vehicles, and concentrating on missile production, we estimate that we can reach a potential rate of 600 a month by years end. As you know I have proposed this very…”

“Enough Novikov… I have you proposal…”

“Yes of course Comrade Stalin… to continue we have 2140 aircraft in the Far East and 510 fighters guarding the oil fields in the Caucuses. Most of our training units are located there as well…”

“Comrade Beria…”

“Err..Yes, Comrade Stalin?”

“It has come to my attention that we have lost sight of thousands of American B29 bombers and possibly up to 30 divisions. What do your sources have to say as to the location and intentions?”

“Thank you for mentioning this subject comrade. I was just about to inform the Politburo of this situation. We have information that the Americans are having trouble with their recruiting efforts comrade. We believe that is why both their strategic bombing forces and their armies are not on the battlefield as they have to train new recruits instead of using already trained veterans. As you also know they have had a series of strikes starting in January which was supported by our comrades in the American Communist party and the labor unions. We further have word that fully 90% of their industry had shifted back to frivolous consumer products and the capitalist owners were loathe to make the switch back to wartime production for fear of losing their extravagant profits. All of these combined with the disastrous losses they received during the attempted attacks on Leningrad and Toulouse leads us to believe that we will not be seeing any further bombing attacks until Spring.

It is estimated that their army will not be ready for offensive operations until Fall of 1947. All indications are that they will not attempt to launch any large scale counter attack during the Fall, so we are confident that the earliest we will see any land forces attempting to regain Western Europe will be the Spring of 1948.”

“But you do not know this for sure? You have no documents or reports of overheard conversations or eye witness accounts to confirm this…have you Beria?!”

“No comrade.”

“What do your Cambridge sources tell you from the British side about the American preparations?”

“There seems to be deliberate withholding of information between the Americans and British. We know virtually everything about the British intentions and strategic plans but nothing about the America’s from that source comrade. It would appear that there is a widening of the crack between the Americans and British that we can exploit.”

“Yes…what is it Novikov? Stop bouncing around in your chair.”

“Comrade if I may? The upcoming operations against the British should give us a significant indication as to where the American’s stand. We outnumber the British Lion almost 4 to 1 in aircraft, and they will surely fall without any assistance from the Americans. If the Americans intervene in our second Battle of Britain, then we can assume that the alliance is strong. If none or little American assistance is present once the attacks start in earnest then we can derive that the alliance is on its last legs and invasion might be an option.”

“Interesting idea Novikov. Until we discover exactly what is happening with the Americans, I want the 80 divisions in Manchuria to be ready to counter any move. They are to refrain from any offensive action and are to wait and react to events. Increase the rail capacity leading up to the border with Turkey. Have enough rail cars to enable a force of 30 divisions to instantly move West. In the meantime keep those forces on alert for any contingency. “

“Excellent proposal comrade. At this point there is nothing worth much in the area. Why would we want to invade a bunch of starving Chinese or a destroyed Korea? No there is no point in further conquest in the Far East until the matter is settled in the West.”

“It was not a proposal Marshal Zhukov. “

“Of course your Excellency. I apologize.”

 

Read this over Hal.
Let’s see…Let me get my glasses.
Jees you’re getting old.
Just wait…just wait…OK


------------Top Secret-------
----------Your Eyes Only --------

Aug. 17, 1946

To: President Truman
Status Report
Strategic Air Command
Submitted by General George C. Kenney
Commander SAC

Personnel:
August 1945 - 2.25 million
April 1946 - 485,000
Present Trained USAAF - 515,080
Present recruits - 234,980
Present in SAC - 89,760

Planes:
Total USAAF August 1945 - 79,000
Total USAAF April 1946 - 9,068 with 21,675 in storage
Present Combat aircraft in USAAF - 7685
Present Combat aircraft in SAC - 2872

Permanent Facilities:
August 1945 USAAF - 783
April 1946 USAAF- 177
Present USAAF - 235
Present SAC - 43

Projected SAC by P-Day
Personnel: 108,650
Combat Air Craft:
F80A & B jet fighters: 898
P51,P47,P38 Long range escorts: 1563
B29A Heavy Bombers: 793
B29 Silver Plate: 24

Mark III Atomic Bombs: 4

Facilities:
We have increased both our capacity and number of facilities concentrating on England, Spain, Egypt, Libya, Palestine, Selected Islands in the Mediterranean and Turkey.

Our air assets will reveal their presence in our bases in Spain and England in increasing numbers designed to convey our intentions of commencing a bombing campaign from the bases located in the respective countries.

The command in England will be given the designation the 8th Air Force Assigned to the Strategic Air Command. The command in Spain with be designated the 15th Air Force assigned to the Strategic Air Command.

Our bases in the Mediterranean, Turkey and Egypt are top secret, need to know facilities. Personnel assigned to these bases are under high security and are permanently assigned until further notice. At this point we are confident that the Soviets are unaware of our acquiring and expanding of these assets.

Notes on Personnel:
As per Presidential order 3769:
All of the personnel recruited and placed in SAC have undergone the highest security clearance available. Each and every member of SAC has been virtually handpicked and then extensively interviewed and their backgrounds thoroughly checked.

We are confident that all personnel are worthy of the highest security clearance. We have spent countless hours ascertaining the loyalty of our personnel. We are confident that our personnel are true American’s whose only loyalty is to God and country.

This has meant compromises and many “old hands” and highly trained USAAF personnel were not chosen for SAC for various reasons.

The Counter Intelligence Corps will use the presence of some or our more well-known strategic bombing experts. They will be used to affirm our intention, to enemy intelligence services, of our intent to use the bases in England and Spain as our main staging areas for any future bombing campaign. Similar to the use of the First US Army Group commanded by General Patton before D-Day.

The Strategic Air Command will have a hard transition period and mistakes will be made as many SAC personnel were placed in positions they are as yet untrained for and lack experience. Security was and is paramount. We will make operational errors that may well cost lives because of this inexperience.

However there will be no security breaches.

This was accomplished in order to fulfill the requirements of the Presidential order.

We are about to embark on a bombing campaign like no other and we are going to accomplish our goals. We may die trying. When the day is done we will succeed.

Respectfully

General George C. Kenney
Commander Strategic Air Command

“Well … it needs a little revising but it’s a good start.”
“Screw you Hal and the horse you road in on.”

 

Stalin Sacrifices a Pawn

“Get in here you fool. Where is Vasily.”
“He just stepped out to relieve himself Excellency. My name is…”
“Be silent and get Beria on the line.”
“Yes Excellency I will try, but I do not know the number...wait I found it here. It is ringing…still ringing… still..”
“ENOUGH!”
“Of… of … course sir. Comrade Stalin to speak to Comrade Beria…Yes comrade he is standing right hhhere…please comrade (I beg you)…here Excellency.”

Stalin snatches the phone from the stammering aide.

“Beria clear the room I want to talk to you alone…I do not have all the patience I once had Lavrentiy… Contact the British. You will make arrangements to transfer all the British prisoners onto captured freighters and send them to Atlee and Churchill. I don’t care about the details Lavrushen'ka just complete the task…why are you still talking…? I said now Beria…you really don’t want this conversation to continue. Make this very public. I want the world to see how well you have taken care of our guests and you have taken care of them haven't you Laventiy? …For your sake I am glad to hear that.
Stalin hangs up and turns on the hapless secretary…
“You were supposed to leave the room. His words are dripping with malice. Now get me Molotov…hurry before I make you a eunuch.”
“Hhhere…sssir…”
“Molotov contact the British. We are sending all of their prisoners to them. They are doing us no good but eating our food. Tell Atlee that it is a gift… a token to show our sincerity for our former allies…you will know how to say it. We want them thinking about our proposal. We are using the carrot and the stick and will drive a wedge between the English and the Yankees. If it does not work all we’ve lost is a few more mouths to feed. Yes, yes Beria has assured me that they were well taken care of as have the American prisoners. No just the British for now.”
Stalin hangs up the phone and walks slowly back to his desk. The aide can see he is deep in thought and tries to slink out of the room. A creaking board seals his fate. Stalin slowly turns and eyes his prey with all the humanity of a shark. The hapless man urinates in his pants. He has no future.

 

Talk on the Black Sea

Sure the Black Sea was a nice posting, but it meant that he was far from home and hearth. Far from the arms of his true love and his reason for living…and he would live. No matter what it took, no matter how many American's he would have to kill...he would live to see his wife and son again. 5 years of hell had not killed him yet, and he was not going to let his guard down for a second.
The sea smelled of dead fish but no matter. It was better than the rendering plant near his home yet the memory of that smell meant home. It meant safety and happiness. Interesting how the smell of death could remind him of life.
“Hey, Lavrenti I heard we are to move soon to Albania.”
“And why would that be Nikolai?”
“Something about some torpedo ships or subs. We have to protect them on the way to the coast and make sure the little things get in the water. Pretty sophisticated little machines they say. The Germans used them near the end of the war and from what I was told they are pretty hard to detect. Almost impossible. Most of them were lost at sea in the bad storms of the Atlantic. They should do quite well off the coast of Italy. Not too much foul weather I am led to believe.”
“What would you know Nikolai? You're from Tula and never even seen salt water until a few months ago. What do you know about toy boats and torpedoes?”
“If you don't want the latest news then close your ears. Hand me the knife. These potatoes are not going to peel themselves. We have to save the skins now and use them in soup.”
“My mother always did that anyway. It adds to the flavor. You need a little dirt mixed in with your soup to give you that back to the earth feeling. I heard they would kill for these potatoes back home. The last I heard food was hard to find. Rumor is that they are letting the peasants starve to feed the loyal comrades in the city.”

“Yes Vasily told me he just got back from Poland where they shipped much needed wheat in order to deceive the Poles that there was plenty of food coming from mother Russia. Just to keep them still I suspect. He also said there was plenty of food and equipment coming back from France and even Germany. It seems that the German steel mills were still producing even though the Americans and British bombed them day and night. The lucky bastards in the party leadership are even getting captured American food and goods. They try and change the packages, but you can tell where they come from.”
“Hell I don't care where it comes from just as long as it is here ... which it isn't. Those capitalists are good at producing tasty foods and gadgets. Once this war is over we'll have to teach them just what is paramount and what is just foolishness.”
“We are lucky to be here Lavrenti away from all the fighting and here in the warmth. I do not miss the winter in Tula. If I ever see snow again it will be too soon. Give me white sand instead eh Nikolai. Yes, white sand and fresh fish that is not frozen and pulled from a hole in the ice.”
“You noticed all the planes leaving from the base? I wonder where they are going in such a hurry? Seems to be a be mostly the small single engine ones.”
“How can I not notice them? They start before dawn and keep leaving all day. We seem to be a kind of transit station. A few leave going West and just as many land coming from the West. It really takes time away from my nap.”

“You do too much of that already Nikolai”

 

Bulldozer

Yuri was depressed. 6 months since he had seen his wife and child. The tracks of the dozer dug deep into the ground. They had to in order for the blade of the massive bulldozer to dig even deeper. Like some kind of giant insect the bulldozer flattened uneven ground. This uneven ground was in Holland. It was hard to believe there was any unlevel ground in all of Holland, but there it was.
It was needed to launch a number of squadrons of Soviet planes. These planes were destined to fly to Great Britain and hopefully back. Well, one side hoped they made it back. The other did not.
There should have been plenty of airfields left over from the last war, but there wasn’t. Four times the number of planes that took off from these fields in 1940 were scheduled to do the same. They were going to attempt to clear the skies above the British Isles. They were scheduled to prevent any RAF aircraft from ever reaching for the skies again. They called it air superiority.
The bulldozers were a vital part of that plan as were thousands of German prisoners of war toiling in the early Autumn sun. A handful of them might have been involved in the last attempt to defeat the Royal Air Force. The overall objective for one side was the same…survive the coming onslaught. The other side had learned from the defeat of the Germans in 1940 and were sure to have developed alternative tactics that they would attempt to use.
The end result for the Soviets was not invasion. It was to clear the skies above Great Britain and prevent them from every again attacking Europe and the motherland. It was to prevent the Americans from using Britain as an unsinkable aircraft carrier or as a spring board for invasion. It was to defeat utterly, the RAF and to prevent it from ever rising to the defense of the skies about Great Britain again.
The Soviets had spent 6 months modifying their fighters for longer range, higher altitudes and now thousands of them could extend their reach over 600 miles from the coast of the English Channel. They could now reach for the skies like the Americans. Virtually all of the United Kingdom was within range of the fighters force of the Red Army.
The Soviets watched as the Luftwaffe failed because their fighters could not stay long enough over their targets. How they could not reach many parts of Britain. How the Battle of Britain was lost when the Germans diverted their attention from Fighter Command to bombing the cities. How the Luftwaffe ran out of trained pilots before the RAF did.
Soon it would be time to see if the RAF had adapted as well. New radars, new jet fighters, new AA guns, new AA shells with proximity fuses. Would this be enough to overcome 5 to 1 odds? In the first Battle of Britain the RAF managed to shoot down just over 1 and a half planes for each of their losses. In the end they lost more fighters than the Germans
In the Battle of Britain Two this will be a recipe for defeat. Where are the Americans? Will they come in time?

 

Recovered One Atomic Bomb

August 24, May 1946

Off Kolkin Island near Leningrad
A massive crane strains at the cable and gradually the fishing net and its cargo break the surface. The small group involuntarily flinches as the shape of the contents becomes apparent. Al though dented and broken in three pieces, it’s shape is unmistakably a bomb. A huge life destroying bomb.
“Incredible we found it in shallow water on board the third B29 wreckage we examined. It appears that the pilot deliberately wanted to crush his plane as much as possible, but the plane was so damaged that he didn’t have much control. He was a brave man. I believe he could have escaped with his life, and his crews, if they didn’t try so hard to destroy their cargo.”
“Very lucky indeed comrade. Lucky for us and unlucky for the Capitalist Pigs. Do you really think we can gain anything from that mess?”

“I personally don’t think we can. We already have all the plans so this is just a physical proof of what we already know and it’s so damaged. I really don’t see how it can help that much. Comrade Stalin wants to use it as a bargaining chip or for propaganda purposes. Maybe he’ll use it to scare the NATO generals into doing something stupid or threaten to use it on England and make them sue for peace.”
“But it’s damaged beyond repair!”
“Yes but the NATO pigs don’t know that. We can use it to mask some of the activities of our spies. It will be hard to tell if the knowledge we gained comes from them or this wreck and they will realize soon that we have gained a significant amount of knowledge.”
“Well I just hope it comes in time.”

 

Crenshaw

The harsh light of the office was hard on his tired eyes. The smell of the basement office hadn’t changed in years. He had been passed up for promotion a dozen times, and it was time to think about retirement. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to. Too many mysteries to solve; too many unanswered questions.
It was lunch time, and all his colleagues were heading out to the lunch room. He didn’t have to eat much anymore. He didn’t exercise or perform manual labor, and so his food intake was minimal. He hated to exercise anyway. It was for those insecure muscle men that were afraid of getting sand kicked in their faces anyway. You know the kind that answered those ads in the back of magazines. They always seemed to be short guys anyway.
He was not short at six foot two, but he was decidedly out of shape. Of course in 1946 there was no emphasis on fitness. Most people still worked manual labor jobs and the thought of exercise was not a priority. The new phenomenon of the couch potato was about to invade the modern psyche but not quite yet. Kids still played outside, and people still worked with their hands. A suntan meant that you were a manual laborer and was not a sign of high social status. Everyone smoked and drank.
Many homes had little bars in them where friends would gather after a good meal in each other’s homes. Taking turns being host and hostess having their peers over for dinner was what weekends were for.
Not for Crenshaw however. He was unmarried and uninterested at this point in his life. His life was his work. No hobbies and no distractions. Just his paper pushing job and the Soviet missiles…which, by the way, was not his job. His boss had made that abundantly clear. He made him give back all the blackboards he had setup and told him to not work on the Soviet missile issue.
How had he put it? “Forget god damn Stalin’s missiles and concentrate on your own god damn job!”
So he worked on the problem in his spare time. How were they doing it? What was the guidance system? He’d figure it out if it took him the rest of his life.
Which between you and me, was only another 12 months anyway. Lung cancer, undetected and untreated, was in the early stages of forming. A lifelong smoker Crenshaw was doomed since he was 36. If he had stopped then the damage would have been reversed…but he didn’t. So he was a dead man walking thanks to Pall Mall cigarettes. The only brand he ever smoked. After all Santa smoke Pall Mall and “puff by puff … you’re always ahead.” Which of course he was.
He was going to die a full 15 years ahead of his non-smoking twin brother.

 

Not a Sausage
“CAREFUL YOU OALF! MORE TO THE BACK…THAT’S IT… A LITTLE MORE…”

“Oh Yuri! Look! That’s a full Maior loading that truck. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one outside of head quarters.
Since when do Maiors do this kind of work?”

“You dunce… look at the load.”

“Looks like some kind of little boat to me.”

“It’s a small submarine, and it does not like to be out of the water. “

“What can that little thing do to those Capitalist monsters roaming all over the world’s oceans? They so small and they have no guns.”

“You dolt they have torpedoes and those torpedoes can sink a battleship.”

The huge lifter strains under the load, but successfully delivers its load onto the special trailer. The trailer groans under the strain but takes the weight easily. The load handlers crawl over the midget submarine like ants on a captured giant caterpillar. Slinging ropes and cables and using winches to tie down their deadly looking cargo. Hundreds of loads have already left the ship yards and ports in Poland and West Germany on their way to the coast of France and the Low Countries.
Soon hundreds more will be making their way from ship yards in Albania. Soon submerged killing machines will be prowling from their coastal bases out to a range of 300 miles. Virtually undetectable, these copies of the German Seehund XXVII midget submarine will create a formidable challenge to the anti-submarine forces of NATO. At 39 feet and a crew of 2 these midgets are too small to generate an Asdic echo. Their two G7eT5 GNAT acoustical torpedoes give these midgets a heavy weight punch.
Everywhere the sea could be reached by heavy truck was a potential launching site for these lethal midgets. They will come as a very unpleasant surprise for the ships of NATO. Their first use would be the English Channel.

“Careful comrade, watch that line in back. It’s not supposed to bend. This is not a sausage!”
The load creaks and groans subside as the elegantly lethal load finally settles down from its short flight by crane from dry dock to transport. A light rain starts to fall as the big motor of the transport truck strains to move its load. Within minutes Midget Submarine 219 is on its way to a launching site near IJmuiden. Others are either on site or on their way, spread out for hundreds of miles along the English Channel coast.
The coastal shipping lanes of the Southern British Isles are about to receive a rude awakening. No longer will the grey monsters of the NATO navy cruise at will up and down the coasts of Europe with impunity.
A 300 mile wide killing zone is about to be created wherever Red Army forces touch the sea.

 

Famine Secrets
Park Bench 4371
Gorky Park
Moscow

“So what's on your mind comrade?”

“Just the possible famine, that's all. What are we going to do? So many mouths to feed and just enough to go around. I think I will lose a few pounds.”
Joseph looks into the street without actually focusing. He is deep in thought about Georgi's question and is torn between confiding in his old friend and possibly putting his life in jeopardy. It doesn't help that a cold wind gust sweeps down from the North and swirls away. Just yesterday it had been a gorgeous fall day but not today. The weather matched his mood. A trash cart pulled by a sway backed nag and stinking of garbage plodded past them and woke him from his revere.

“Comrade I'm going to tell you something to ease your mind. You cannot repeat this to anyone. I will deny it and kill your family...you understand old friend...?”

“I understand old friend, but I am not sure I want to know under those circumstances..."old friend".”

“I am close to joking comrade, but you must take my caution seriously. Is that understood?”

“Da Joseph... it is understood.”

“Good! There is actually barely enough for all here in the Motherland. The real secret is that it is going to be used as a weapon. Our new allies in Poland and the Balkans do not have enough food. Stalin has ordered that our food be used as a weapon of repression. Those who go along will be fed. Those who do not will starve. He will make it seem as if we have plenty of food for those willing to be good Communists. There will be less food for those who are neutral, and even less food for those who are not so neutral. It will not be blatant but it will make the unwilling very weak and concerned only with survival. Their survival will depend on their sons and how well they fight the Capitalists and their sons will know this. All revolutions occur when there is a large population of starving, unemployed young men. Our young men are fighting for the motherland and do not have time to think about such things.”

“But comrade where will the extra food come from?”

“That is the secret part comrade. That is what may get you in trouble if you truly want to know. Are you sure you want to know...old friend?”

“Da.”

“Our own peasants, the old and infirmed, the useless ones, possibly the very young. We will lose millions to feed our new satellite states. Our newly conquered territories will also be stripped of any excess food and shipped back to us. Stalin has never liked certain regions and certain ethnic groups, and this will be his excuse to get rid of them. I can assure you there will be no extra food in France or Germany. They will be on minimal rations, and the excuse will be the famine. You cannot argue with a famine even if it is man-made if you don't know it.”

“But what of excess food. Will it not be discovered and riots occur.”

“That is the real evil part of this plan. There will be no excess food ... just enough for good Communists and the army and their families. Everyone else will just get along while some will get nothing. Mostly the ones in the country who are invisible anyway. They will bear the brunt of the famine. The ones with no voice, the ones who can't fight, the ones that are ignorant of their fate until it is too late and they are too weak to protest, the peasants. They will be told… "The shipment will come soon just be good little peasants and die like you always have. "It really sickens me comrade, but either we have the majority of us surviving or we all will be in trouble.”

“Do you think that comrade Stalin would have fought back so hard against the Capitalist pigs, if he had known that the drought would be so bad?”

“Probably not comrade but all our former weather scientists did not predict this...how could they? Yet they have all disappeared, and some decidedly nervous new ones have taken their place.”

“Ah yes if we could only know the past, before it becomes the past. That would help immensely.”

 

Stalin Sacrifices a Rook

This is nuts. Who ever thought that Stalin would actually come through on one of his promises? Here I am once again in command of the good ship Samthar on my way from Gdansk to Portsmouth. My cargo is 2,000 fellow British subjects. Unbelievable! They just let us go. No conditions, no hidden cargo, no spies I hope. It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Especially when the orders come from Stalin himself I was told. I can’t believe I’ll be seeing Susan soon. What a night that will be…hell who has to wait for the night. I wonder if she’ll want to get married this time…

“You seem lost in thought Captain.”

“Yes I was. I can’t believe they just let us go like that.”

“Hell of a thing sir eh. I’ll be back in Montreal in no time. I’ll get to see Emily, Jeff, Donny. Why’d they do it sir?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea number one. We’ve search the ship from stem to stern and nothing. No bombs or hidden compartments…nothing but the old tub we came into Gdansk on. I guess we’ll have to let the politicians work this one out. Maybe someone paid for us, but I doubt it.”

“From what I heard Stalin doesn’t do many humanitarian gestures. Did you hear the rumors about all those Polish guys? You know the ones who were in the Polish underground. Rumors are that they were offered a flag of truce guaranteed by Stalin himself and then arrested and tortured put on trial and sent off never to be never heard of again.”

“Yeah and how about that bunch of officers and Polish leaders killed right after the Russians took over their part of Poland in 1939.”

“Well so far everything appears as it seems with this deal.”

“I bet those troopers are really feeling bloody alright. Imagine, surrendering to the enemy within days of the start of World War Three and then being sent home with only 4 months of captivity. Not like those poor bastards who did the same thing in 1940 and spent 5 years under the German boot.”

The sea was almost calm. It was especially calm for August. They could still stop us in a number of places along the way. Just outside of Copenhagen and the old Samthar was doing her job. Pushing up a good bow wave. We were told to keep it under 5 knots for some reason. The time is 1423 hours. I wonder if the ships log is to be found. I’ve never seen the Baltic look so beautiful as it does slipping behind in our wake. I wonder if I’ll ever come back. Not likely. I never did like the Baltic. Too much to run into. Too much to think about. Too many countries on its shores.

 

Here is a big thank you to all who have contributed, and or assisted, either unwittingly or by design, to the first book in a 4 part series base on World War Three 1946.

Kickstarter campaign to start soon to pay for an editor.


Free download of an unedited Ebook version in EPUB, MOBI and Kindle AZW3




Here

http://www.mediafire.com/download/pkhz9di8gpiacsv/World_War_Three_1946_Book_One_The_Red_Ti_(5).rar

 

Congrats!

 

I know this is dredging up an old thread, but since I never replied to it before here and did extensively elsewhere, I feel I should here--belatedly--too. I'd really love it if Hairog replied as well...

It's been about a decade or so since I ran into Hairog's fictional story and offered rebuttal. In a way I have to thank him for piquing my interest in the topic of early post WW 2 SAM systems. Since then, I have become a true expert on them and am currently writing a book about them.

Anyway, let me address two major failings in Hairhog's narrative:

First, that the US couldn't quickly deploy a nuclear weapon to Europe. Hairhog obviously knew nothing of Project Ruby and the FACT that three RAF bases had been upgraded in late 1945 to handle B-29's (aka Washington I bombers in RAF terms) along with having the necessary loading pits installed to handle nuclear bombs. While historically, these bases were used to handle RAF and USAAF B-29's they were also used to load those planes with Tallboy, Grand Slam, and Disney bombs for testing against captured German fortifications starting in late 1945.

Project Ruby -- a look at RAF Mildenhall's history > Royal Air Force Mildenhall > RAF Mildenhall News



So, there were three airbases in England that could load nuclear weapons onto a B-29

The second issue is the SAM. This is easily dismissible by the actual postwar history of Soviet development of these weapons. Four captured German systems were examined and underwent more development in the Soviet Union. These were Wasserfall as the R-101, Schmetterling as the R-105, Rheintochter as the R-103,and Taifun as the R-110. All of these were assigned to NII 88 (in various bureaus within that institute) for development. As Wasserfall is the one that Hairhog picks for his story, that missile went to SKB-4 and they had one example, without any physical guidance system to work off of.

Chief Designer and head of the section, Yevgeniy Sinilshchikov tried with the help of impressed German engineers and technicians to get a Wasserfall clone to work through 1950 when it was decided by Stalin himself that this was a waste of time and the project was ended. The Germans were repatriated to Germany and SKB 4, along with NII 88 were reduced to being minor research groups subordinate to SB-1 (later KB-1) that began work on the S-25 Berkut system.

It is a total fantasy that the Soviets within a year of the end of the war could have taken the smattering of German wartime SAM technology they captured and made any sort of workable system out of any of it. The Soviets, as did the British and Americans, all realized by 1948 to 1950 that German wartime research into a SAM was so far behind the curve as to be nearly worthless.

I would add as an additional note that not one SAM system ever developed was successful with a MCLOS or CLOS guidance system. Not one.

These two things point out major failings in the quasi-historical narrative Hairhog produces.

 

Excellent work- when the book comes out DM me and I'll buy one.