Those cameras were the real reason for the flight today. The Russians were desperately worried that the Japanese were planning a strike across the border to try and seize the rich industrial areas that were growing up along the Trans-Siberian Railway. On the face of it, the worries were well justified. Geography and the demands of material supply had dictated that the new industrial plants be built along the railway route and that made them dangerously close to the border.
The war between the Japanese and China was winding down at last. Most of China had been occupied, precariously for certain, but occupied and was being 'pacified' in the traditional Japanese manner. There was still some resistance in the more remote areas but the war was essentially done. That left a large, battle-hardened Japanese force in China with little to do. They'd already tried to come north once, back in 1939, and now the possibility they might try again was too strong to be ignored.
Today, Dixie Cupcake's massive cameras would reveal just what forces the Japanese had deployed behind their border and, based on that, what the threat level really was. That would, in turn, determine how the Russians would react. If there was a threat, they were not inclined to wait for the other side to strike first.
“How many of these do you think we're going to do?” With the take-off over, Major Clancy was relaxing in the co-pilot's seat.
“Deployments to Russia? Or Open Skies exercises? Either way the answer will be the same. Depends who wins the election in November. Dewey's sold on both, Truman on neither.” Dedmon thought carefully. “The Democrats really don't approve of the way things are going. They want to see a much more, a more international approach to things. Truman will reflect that no matter what his own opinions are. Republicans are much more isolationist, they like the idea of us staying out of things and acting only in our own interest. President Dewey got away with a lot because there was a war on. Don't count on that to continue. So is forward basing in Russia and Open Skies more appealing to the Democrats who want us out there “interacting” as they call it? Or more in the Republican line of staying out of everything unless we have to drop a hammer on somebody who threatens us? You tell me.”
“Whoever wins, they're inheriting a basket of trouble, that's for sure. We have a lot of unfinished business with Japan. Have you read Sam Morison's new book, ‘The Unfought War'?”
“Not yet. Bought it and meant to bring it over with me but forgot. Any good? His history of the North West Passage was great.'“
“I'd say ‘Unfought War' is interesting rather than great. He thinks the Japanese were going to go to war in December 1941 but backed off at the last minute when we reinforced the Philippines and sold all that stuff to the Indians. He makes a pretty convincing case of it, it really does seem like the Japanese were planning hits on the Philippines and Malaya but called them off because the odds against success swung that little bit too far.
“The trouble is, he ruins the whole case by saying the Japanese were sending their aircraft carriers to attack the fleet in Pearl Harbor.
He claims it was the extra maritime surveillance units the Navy sent out to Hawaii that made them cancel the Pearl Harbor raid he says they had in mind. Too much recon to get them in, so that left the Philippines and Malaya operations in the cold.”
“Yeah, right. Like anybody would be so damned stupid as to try and hit Pearl. And it had to be the navy who fouled up the Japanese plans didn't it? The bombers and fighters we sent to the Philippines had nothing to do with it nor did the Thais screwing over that Japanese division. That was back in December '41 wasn't it? Ole Sam's a great historian and a good writer but he needs to pedal the inter service rivalry back a bit. As for his opinions on international things, well, his book on the Washington Treaty negotiations was pretty dire. More or less said the rest of the world was out to get us and pulled it off.''
Dedmon paused for a second. “ Tell you something Phil, one thing a lot of people are going to be thinking. We dropped the hammer on Germany because they had no idea what was about to happen. They'd written nukes off as impossible and they just didn't believe anybody would come in as high and as fast as we did. How long before somebody gets to be able to pull the same trick on us? Pull something on us we can't defend against?”
Headquarters, Army Group Vistula, Riga, “The Baltic Gallery”
“You filthy treacherous, mother-humping pig dog!”
Rommel lifted an eyebrow slightly. He'd expected something much more fluent and original out of the highly intelligent Skorzeny. That was a disappointingly pedestrian string of insults. The Russian woman soldier on the cross-roads that morning had done much better. The women controlling traffic didn't blow whistles to give orders, they fired their PPSH sub-machineguns in the air. One of the Russian trucks had ignored her and tried to drive past. She'd emptied the entire drum magazine of her submachine gun into the windscreen and followed it with a magnificent tirade of highly imaginative obscenities. The officer in the truck had jumped out and run away to hide in the bushes. “A day in the life of the Russian Army.” Konstantin Rokossovsky had said, a chuckle in his cultured voice. He'd promoted the woman soldier in the spot and left orders that the officer in hiding was to be found and shot. Marshal of the Russian Army Konstantin Rokossovsky was a cultured and genial man but he was also a Russian officer and had no time for those who ran under fire.
“You sold my men out to get your own to safety!” Rommel's eyebrow lifted a little more. Really, Skorzeny should learn to think with his brains, not his balls. Time for a lesson in strategy.
“General Skorzeny. You did a staff officer's course. What did it teach you about priorities?”
“Mission. Men. Self. Of course. But...”
“And what is our mission?”
That knocked the wind out of Skorzeny's sails. He'd worked himself up to a point where he was in a fine fury. Now he had a contradiction to solve. “Well, our orders....”
“Are to surrender. So that brings us to our second priority. Our men. We owe our duty now to the men we command. We must both, both of us, work to save as many of our men as we can. And, of course the civilians, the women and the children here. You know what will happen to the women if the Russian soldiers break through don't you? But we now, both of us, have to plan and scheme to save our men. As many of them as we can. Some of them, like Dirlwangers murderers are far beyond saving. At most we can use them as sacrifices to save others. Make their miserable lives worth something at any rate. You might think of using your men to hand them over, or their survivors over, to the Russians. Might make them look upon you with a little less loathing.”
“Use my men to.....” Skorzeny was spluttering with affronted rage at the idea.
“Right. We may be called upon to make the greatest sacrifice of all. To go down in history as the men who sold out Army Group Vistula and die with nobody knowing that we did it to save the lives of the men who served us so well.” Rommel sighed, theatrically. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Skorzeny. The appeal to gott-und-dammerung romanticism had struck home. The SS General was thinking at last.
“Disarm and surrender the Dirlwanger Brigade. Then use your troops to hand them over. Who knows what the Russians will do then? The only excuse they accept is that somebody had joined the Partisans. Perhaps handing Dirlwanger's butchers over will seem like that.” Rommel stopped speaking, leaving Skorzeny to chew the problem over. He'd planted a seed, he decided to wait and see what happened to it. After all, there was enough night soil between Skorzeny's ears, something had to be able to grow there.