Ryakhov snapped to attention. “Yes, Comrade Colonel.”
“Let us hope we are not provoked into using it,” Krilov added.
Ryakhov nodded, glad only that his ordeal with the two senior ranking officers was over.
Krilov and Shaposhnikov walked back to the GAZ, which had been parked out of sight of the train containing Ryakhov’s chemical forces and cargo.
“Do you think they will believe that story about the fascists threatening us with chemical weapons?” Krilov asked.
Shaposhnikov shrugged. “What does it matter, Kolya?
Ryakhov is more worried about what will happen to him than being hit by German mustard or chlorine gas. He’ll never talk. Besides, I don’t think he has the imagination to seriously believe that it is we who are considering first use.”
Shaposhnikov thought back to his days in the Tsar’s ragged army. A long time ago, a different era. Now the Red Army was the best equipped in the world.
One man, one rifle, one gas mask.
They climbed into the GAZ and the driver gunned the engine into life. It was time to link up with Nerchenko, Badunov and Vorontin. Time to put Archangel into action.
CHAPTER TWO
At close to midnight, the special advisers to the War Cabinet gathered in the underground chamber beneath Downing Street for the second time that night. There were five of them altogether; Staverton, plus the two other intelligence chiefs and their respective aides. Had Fleming been there, the AVM would have had his own assistant, but as it was, he was just going to have to do on his own.
Staverton took his seat at the back of the room, one row behind Rear-Admiral Welland and his aide from Naval Intelligence. Looking at the blue-black navy uniforms, the low ceiling, the stuffy atmosphere and the great steel air-vents gave Staverton the impression he was in the bowels of a vast warship.
Major-General George Deering, assisted by his number two, a major from Army Intelligence, Eastern Section, pulled the sheet off the board on the wall in front of them, exposing the tattered maps and charts that had arrived that evening on the special flight from Pilzen.
Though principally commissioned to analyse the activities of the Wehrmacht, Deering also doubled as Churchill’s expert on Soviet tactics and strategy.
“Gentlemen, this is Archangel, the Red Army’s battle plan for the defeat of Nazi Germany and the invasion of Western Europe,” Deering said, without any trace of emotion. “It is what the PM and the rest of us monitoring Soviet activity have feared most since the tide turned against the Nazis in the winter of 1941-42.”
Staverton craned his neck for a better look at the plans. Deering’s team had cleaned them up as best they could, although there was not a lot they could do about the rips and tears.
“You all know by now how Archangel fell into our hands,” Deering continued. “The fact that we have had to promise amnesty to the man who brought them in, a traitor to this country, is regrettable, but necessary.”
“You mean Herries is going to get off scot-free?” Welland asked.
Deering was poised to turn his attention back to the board. “Amnesty was guaranteed by Randolph Styles and underwritten by the Red Cross in return for his information.”
“That’s a pity,” Welland said. The navy being the senior service, he was nominally the superior officer in the room, despite his equal ranking with Staverton and Deering. “Where is he now?”
“He’s being debriefed by Military Intelligence at a safe house on the other side of Green Park.”
“Debriefed? You make it sound like he’s one of our own.”
“You’re missing the point, Admiral,” Staverton said. “George is right. Herries isn’t the issue. We can deal with him later.”
“All right, point taken,” Welland sighed. “But how do we know that he didn’t forge the plans to save his hide?”
“I have had the very best men in this building putting these maps under the microscope. It is their conclusion that they are neither an elaborate German forgery nor part of some sort of Soviet deception,” Deering said, trying to hide his animosity towards Welland. “I can give you the details if you wish—”
“No, that’s quite all right, Deering. Carry on.” Welland’s was the question on everyone’s lips. They had willed the forgery theory to be true.
Deering tapped the largest of the sheets pinned to the board with his swagger stick. “I would like to draw your attention to the main assault plan. As you can see, Archangel hinges on four initial moves, which if they are to be executed successfully, could totally wrong-foot both the Western Allies and the Germans. I think it is important to remind ourselves, gentlemen, that Shaposhnikov is a brilliant military strategist.
“Eleven days from today — although I’m afraid we can’t necessarily depend on that date — will see a concerted barrage from forty-one thousand howitzers ranged along the six-hundred-mile Eastern Front. The 2nd Belorussian Front in the North sector, here, under General Badunov will advance along the Stettin-Bremen Axis, where it will meet little German resistance, and will soon encounter the US 9th Army, whose lines of supply are already woefully stretched.” Deering turned to his major. “That’s not being too pessimistic, is it Bill?”
“No, that’s a fair assessment,” the major said. “The 9th had a hard time trying to make for Berlin and now that SHAEF has halted it to allow the Russians to take the capital it’s pretty much lost its impetus — and, I should say, the stomach for any more heavy fighting. Like our own boys, they know the war’s almost over. The 9th is lined up on the western bank of the Elbe right now, with Ivan just across the water.”
Welland sank back into his chair. Deering paused. The sound of the ventilation system seemed to grow to a crescendo. Deering forced himself to turn back to the map.
“The 2nd Belorussian would probably take about three to four days to reach Bremen, whereupon the 1st Guards Tank Corps, supported by men from the 19th Army and the 2nd Shock Army, would peel off towards the Rhine. Shaposhnikov estimates in the text that they would make it to the river two days later.”
Deering pointed to the great cluster of red dots that almost ringed Berlin.
“Now to the south and the 1st Belorussian Front. I am under no illusion that its part in the plan is quite achievable. While the 6ist Army and the Polish 1st Army advance north and west to support the left flank of the 2nd Belorussian Front, five army divisions will envelop Berlin. In the meantime, the 2nd Guards Tank Army and the 1st Guards Tank Army will head west of Berlin and take on northern elements of the US 12th Army Group.
“Further to the south, the 1st Ukrainian Front under Shaposhnikov himself would push along the Leipzig-Cologne axis, engage German Army Group Centre and then proceed to tackle Montgomery’s 21st Army, which has all but defeated Model’s Army Group, and also take on parts of Bradley’s 12th Army. I believe that we would be able to contain the 1st Ukrainian but for one thing. The southernmost front, the 2nd Ukrainian under Nerchenko, has orders to march on the Nuremberg-Stuttgart axis where it would surround German Army Group G and then move up behind the US 6th Army Group, cutting off all escape for General Devers.”
Deering turned to face his small audience. “In short, after one week, Shaposhnikov would have control of all land east of the Rhine. He’s got the resources and the men to do it.”
“Then what?” Staverton asked.
“He regroups and takes Paris.”
“Just like that?”
“Once he’s driven a wedge through our forces, there’s precious little we can do. He’s got more than three million troops under his command, his tanks outnumber ours by almost three to one, he’s got four thousand fighters and fighter-bombers — ’’