Which was true, except for a few minor details… in that not one was Chinese, neither was any of them government officials in the truest sense of the word, and that their only business with Bulgaria was to get through it as quickly as was humanly possible.
The ex-military members of the group had taken steps to appear less military, mainly by growing hair or going unshaven.
In the main, they were educated and highly qualified men from Unit 8604, formerly the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Japanese Southern China Area Army, the cover title for the unit’s real and deadly purpose; that of biological warfare research.
The scientists that accompanied them more often than not had no military bearing whatsoever and solely shared the group’s fanatical concept of service to the Emperor, which fanaticism drove the eighty-seven men to continue with their part in Project Raduga.
At 0300 precisely, other members of the KKE created the noisy and spectacular diversion in Kalachori that drew Greek and British eyes away from the anchorage and allowed two small vessels to pick up their human and paper cargo, and land them unobserved.
By the time that the fire had been bought under control and the ‘revellers’ rounded up for questioning, the ‘Chinese’ were safely secreted within an NKVD safe house on Agias Sofias, ready to move on to their destination, when the circumstances allowed.
1951 hrs, Saturday, 31st August 1946, Çanakkale Naval Fortified Command Building, Çanakkale, Turkey.
Koramiral – Vice-Admiral
Deniz Albayı – Captain
Deniz Yarbayı – Commander
Deniz Yüzbaşısı – Lieutenant
Deniz Üsteğmeni – Lieutenant j.g.
Vice-Admiral Cevdet Tezeren replaced the receiver with barely concealed satisfaction, the report from his trusted aide confirming that everything was in place for the ‘arrangement’ to work.
He had placed himself in the CNFC building for one reason only, and that was the man who commanded the team that constantly watched the comings and goings of traffic on and under the important strip of water known locally as the Çanakkale Boğazi, or as it was more widely known, the Dardanelles.
Other fortified command officers had understood the high-powered documentation bearing his signature, but he expected issues with the CNFC duty officer, Captain Aydan Mimaroğlu,who had a reputation as an independent thinker, which was decidedly not what Tezeren needed that night.
The admiral composed himself and started the short walk from the office of the CNFC commander, which officer had found himself unexpectedly called to Ankara for a conference on the Çanakkale Boğazi’s security measures.
He nodded to the two expressionless men who were his personal aides, or as most people understood, his enforcers.
The three set off in step, heading towards the command facility.
The smartly turned out guards challenged the party and were quickly satisfied with Tezeren’s credentials, allowing him entry.
He waved Mimaroğlu back into his seat with a friendly dismissive gesture, but employed the man’s formal rank when he spoke.
“Well, Deniz Albayi Mimaroğlu, anything from our special guests yet?”
“No, Koramiral. Not a twitch as yet… and as you say, other stations will not be reporting the transit.”
Tezeren detected the questioning tone… almost defiant…
He immediately congratulated himself for his decision to locate at Ҫannakale.
A hand was raised at one post towards the front of the large room, attracting one of Mimaroğlu’s staff to move quickly to the station and take both verbal and written reports.
The junior grade lieutenant moved forward to the officer overseeing the plotting board that was scrupulously maintained to show the location of each and every vessel in the waters under the watchful eyes of CNFC, as well as those other commands along the whole length of the Dardanelles.
The report changed hands as the young officer passed the information on verbally to both the commander and the plotting officer.
Commander Nadir took the written message in hand and watched as the plotter recorded a new contact entering the western approaches of the seaway.
When the plotter had finished, he turned to ensure Mimaroğlu had noted the arrival, and received a nod by way of confirmation.
He handed the written report up to the waiting hand.
The Admiral loaded his ҫibuk with his special concoction of Yenice and Burley tobaccos and sucked lightly on the stem to draw the flame into the pipe’s cup.
Satisfied, he puffed away, doing his absolute best to appear nonchalant and unworried about what started to develop on the CNFC situation map.
He and Mimaroğlu watched silently as more markers appeared, bringing a total of four detections to the plot.
“Koramiral? Four transitions in total?”
“Yes, Albayi Mimaroğlu. Four. Please contact your shore batteries and lighting units to confirm the orders.”
“Sir… four… what is Command’s purpose in allowi…”
“Now, Mimaroğlu, now. The General Staff will not accept any errors from either of us, so be quick about it.”
The Captain could not escape the feeling that he was being railroaded into something, but his inkling could not overcome direct orders, so he summoned a waiting lieutenant.
“Yüzbaşısı Reis, contact all gun and searchlight batteries, patrol vessels, and torpedo stations… confirm order 592, issued at 1700 today. Require positive confirmation of receipt and understanding.”
Senior Lieutenant Reis moved quickly having already heard the order, as his waiting position well within earshot of the two senior men.
“What is that?”
Tezeren extended his pipe stem towards the errant plot.
“What the hell’s that?”
Mimaroğlu was already checking the information in front of him, paperwork that recorded the vessels expected to traverse his area of responsibility for forty-eight hours to come.
Whatever it was did not appear on his sheet.
“Reis! Contact that vessel immediately! Find out who the idiot is and tell him… no… order him to heave to…I want him on the shore track by Eceabat as soon as possible.”
“Sir!”
“So, Albayi?”
“Koramiral, there is no record of anything traversing east to west until tomorrow morning at approximately 0800 hrs, when the Gayret is due to make passage through our area on her way from Gölcük to Izmir.”
“So who is it?”
Reis stepped forward.
“Sir, there is no response from the vessel in question.”
“Try every radio channel known to Allah! They must be listening, even if they’re struck dumb…”
Mimaroğlu suddenly felt something wash over his brain, a something that could mean disaster for him and his men.
There was no time for niceties.
“Someone… anyone… find the original notification from Fleet Headquarters about the passage of the Gayret… find it now!”
It was the ‘struck dumb’ thought that had prompted the memory, of a routine order amongst many routine orders that spoke of the Gayret’s passage under strict radio and radar blackout.
It took less than a minute for the full original order to be located, and less than thirty seconds for the error to be revealed.
‘0800… 2000…’
‘Oruspu! 8am… 8pm… which fucking idiot…’
Setting aside that someone would pay for the simple and stupid error, Mimaroğlu acted immediately.
“Yüzbaşısı Reis, contact all searchlight batteries… have them standby to illuminate the channel on my command!”