President Kalinin surveyed the men around the table before replying. “Each of you plays an important role in this plan. I will not approve unless you agree it is in Russia’s best interest to proceed and that in your assessment, we will succeed.”
Kalinin’s eyes fell first on Admiral Oleg Lipovsky, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy and the most junior military officer at the table. His forces had the most difficult assignment, and Chernov knew he was the least enamored with the plan.
After hesitating a moment, Lipovsky replied, “It is in Russia’s best interest, and the Navy will not fail.”
One by one, the three generals beside Lipovsky concurred with the plan and its success, leaving only the head of the SVR. Semyon Gorev smiled and placed his hand on Kalinin’s shoulder.
“I’ll do whatever you ask, Yuri.”
“That isn’t my question,” Kalinin replied. “Will you succeed?”
Gorev pulled back slightly, as if offended by the question. “Of course the SVR will succeed. Our part is relatively easy.”
Silence descended on the conference room as Kalinin moved toward his decision. Finally, he announced, “I approve the operation, but only the preparations.” Turning to Chernov, he said, “Proceed with the plan and brief me when you are ready to execute.”
Chernov replied, “We will commence preparations today.”
7
VLADIVOSTOK SEVEROMORSK
Vladivostok, with jagged snow-capped mountains rising in the background, is the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean. Off-limits to foreigners for thirty-five years during the Soviet era, the city is often envisioned by Westerners as an ice-coated military outpost in the Russian Far East. The reality is contrary, with harbor cranes rising skyward along the shores, titanic merchant vessels anchored in the emerald-blue water, and sleek white yachts rocking gently at their moorings. Vladivostok, which translates to “Ruler of the East,” is also home to the Russian Pacific Fleet.
This morning, with the green knolls to the west shrouded in a light morning mist seeping down toward the coast, Admiral Pavel Klokov, commander of the Pacific Fleet, was seated at the head of a conference table on the second floor of Pacific Command headquarters, flanked by members of his staff as they delivered the morning briefing. The only noteworthy news, Klokov thought, was that the Truman carrier strike group was departing the Sea of Oman and headed east, ostensibly to replace the Roosevelt strike group, which was headed to the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for repairs.
On the matter of repairs, K-295 Samara, the newest Akula II in the Pacific Fleet, had just completed its sea trials after a midlife overhaul and modernization. Samara, along with seventeen other guided missile and attack submarines in the Russian Pacific Fleet, was fully operational. Although the United States had shifted the bulk of its Atlantic Fleet submarines to the Pacific after the devastating losses during its war with China, there were only fifteen operational American submarines in the Pacific. Russian submarines outnumbered the Americans’.
Klokov’s morning briefing was interrupted by his Operations Officer, entering the conference room with a message clipboard. Klokov read the message. The Pacific Fleet warships were being sortied to sea. However, the destination coordinates were unusual. What would the Pacific Fleet’s task be, so far from home?
It was still dark along the shore of the Murmansk Fjord when Admiral Leonid Shimko entered the headquarters of Russia’s Northern Fleet. Awakened by a phone call from the duty officer an hour ago, Shimko was informed that a rare Priority One message had been received. A car had been dispatched to his residence, and during the short drive to his headquarters, Admiral Shimko mentally reviewed the status of Russia’s most formidable fleet. Scattered among a half-dozen bases on the Kola Peninsula were twenty-five submarines, numerous surface ship combatants, and Russia’s only aircraft carrier.
The aircraft carrier Admiral Flota Sovetskovo Soyuza Kuznetsov, commonly referred to as Admiral Kuznetsov, was the flagship of the Russian Navy. Although described as an aircraft carrier by the West, the Russian classification of heavy aircraft — carrying missile cruiser was wordier but more accurate. Carrying Su-33 and MiG-29K air-superiority fighters and Ka-27 helicopters for anti-submarine warfare, Kuznetsov was also capable of offensive operations on its own, carrying a dozen P-700 Granit Shipwreck missiles, 192 surface-to-air missiles, and sixty RBU-12000 rockets with various payloads for anti-submarine warfare.
When Admiral Shimko arrived at his office, the lights were already on and coffee was brewing in the Admiral’s mess. Not long after he took his seat, a steaming cup was delivered to his desk, along with the message he’d come in early to read. He read the directive as he sipped his coffee, then put the cup down. Every Northern Fleet warship was being sortied to sea. Although the destination wasn’t surprising, the application of so much force was.
Shimko lifted the message up, reading another Priority One message, this one directed to the Pacific Fleet, copy to Admiral Shimko. Russia’s two most powerful fleets were setting sail.
8
KURSK, RUSSIA
Major General Vitaly Vasiliev, head of the 448th Missile Brigade of the 20th Guards Army, relaxed in the back of his sedan as it sped toward his headquarters. Peering through the side window, he spotted the early morning sun rising above the twenty-four-meter-tall Kursk Triumphal Arch. Not far from the monument, atop a pedestal stood the resemblance of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the co-mastermind of the Stalingrad counteroffensive in 1942, which surrounded Germany’s 6th Army and signaled the end of the Wehrmacht’s expansion across Russia. As the triumphal arch and Marshal Zhukov’s statue faded in the distance, Vasiliev’s thoughts turned to a battle much closer, and perhaps even more influential.
In the spring of 1943, after the surrender of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad, the Wehrmacht counterattacked, delivering a crushing defeat to Soviet forces, retaking Kharkov and Belgorod. A bulge of Russian forces around Kursk remained, and with Hitler bent on revenge for Stalingrad, Operation Citadel was launched with the goal of encircling the opposing Soviet forces. The Battle of the Kursk Salient ensued, and with German Panzer formations breaking through the Soviet defenses, the Soviets directed the 5th Guards Tank Army to stop the II SS-Panzer Corps at Prokhorovka.
The Battle of Prokhorovka on July 12, 1943, was the largest tank battle in history, involving over one thousand tanks. The armored battle was considered a tactical success for Germany due to the high number of Soviet tanks destroyed, but a strategic victory for the Soviet Union because it prevented a German breakthrough. As Operation Citadel ground to a close, the initiative on the Eastern Front swung permanently over to the Red Army.
The glorious days of the Soviet Red Army, Vasiliev thought, crushing the German aggressors. Although the Red Army had been devastated by the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Ground Forces of the Russian Federation had slowly regained strength in both men and equipment, finally able to flex its muscles again. Part of that power resided in Vasiliev’s missile brigade, fielding the Iskander ballistic missile, capable of delivering conventional or nuclear warheads out to five hundred kilometers.
Vasiliev’s sedan pulled to a halt in front of his headquarters building, and it wasn’t long before he was at his desk reading the morning radio messages. His Intelligence Colonel hovered nearby; there was an important message on the boards, on top, as expected. What wasn’t expected, however, was the directive. His unit was being deployed.