20 July 1946
Amily
Still no contact with American forces. Local population has not seen any enemy units for approximately eight days. They appear to be moving quite fast. A local farmer was discovered hoarding two large drums of diesel fuel which we liberated for our own use. The farmer objected, but was persuaded to support the revolution to free his country from capitalism. He was in such ecstasy at the thought of joining the glorious workers’ and peasants’ revolution that he appeared to have a heart attack.
21 July 1946
Neuville-aux-Bois
Made contact with an American engineering unit. We prevented them from destroying a large fuel depot. I believe that they were unable to send warning to their superiors of their failure. We formed a defensive parameter and are awaiting further orders.
22 July 1946
Orleans
Relieved by advanced units of the 6th Tank Army and continued to Orleans. No sign of recent American presence. We were told that the depot we saved from demolition had over 100,000 gallons of aviation fuel stored there. We have been recommended for a commendation by Comrade Commissar Anatoly Kovalchuk.
Gorky Park
Bench 348
Moscow, The U.S.S.R.
July 23th, 1946
15:25 hours
“We now know the date and location of the Americans’ first raid. There will be one and possibly two atomic bombs in the bomber force.”
“How are the preparations coming along?”
“Very well; the MiG-9 is proving to be a good interceptor and can reach a service ceiling of over 13,000 meters. Along with its 37-mm cannon it will be a formidable opponent. Our sources have confirmed that the escorts for the raid will be the P-51D Mustang and not the new American jet. They are so supremely confident in their Superfortress, that they are not willing to risk their jet engine falling into our hands. Little do they know that we already have everything we need to produce one.”
“Ha! If the MiG-9 performs as it has during our war-games, it should be an easy match for the Mustangs and even eventually, the Shooting Star. I’ve heard that it’s not as fast as the American jet, but it should be able to out-turn it. In the end, it is faster than the Mustangs, and can out-turn the Shooting Star.”
“Yes that is the theory, and our pilots have all been trained to attack the enemy in the proper manner. They will dive and climb to attack the Mustangs and try to get the Shooting Stars into a fight of circles, trying to turn inside of them. The MiG’s real task is to present a threat that the escorts cannot ignore while the real killing is done by remote control. They are all flown by our best pilots and should be able to do quite well against the veteran Americans. From what we have learned, many of America’s best pilots did not stay in the military and still have not come back. We also killed many of their best during the first hours of the Liberation War. The capitalist pigs are too busy making money. They would rather become rich than fight for their allies and former foes.”
“It is a case of our best pilots, against their training program. We should have parity for quite a while. Sergo has studied the weaknesses of both the German and Japanese air warfare programs. We are not oil poor as the Germans were, and we can keep our planes in the air, and train the new pilots. And unlike the Japanese, we are putting an emphasis on training new pilots. On another subject… my engineers have been able to significantly enhance the reliability of the RD-21 engine. But of course this is not our main weapon in the fight to keep the American Superfortress from destroying our cities.
That Sergo Peshkov fellow has placed much of his faith in missile technology and the Pe-9’s to fire the X-4. The Pe-9’s are acutely vulnerable to the American jets. We have devised a way to hide their crucial role. Hopefully they will go on killing B-29’s at an alarming rate and all of the so-called ‘Silverplates,’ carrying the atomic bombs. We must make it look like chance that we were able to shoot them down; otherwise our plan would be compromised. We are counting on their arrogance to defeat them. Until then we can produce the weapons we need to defeat them with our strength and not just our wits.”
“Let’s hope it all works. I prefer brute-force rather than a chess match myself. Up till now, Peshkov and his chess board are all that Stalin listens to.”
“How many MiG’s are available?”
“Just twenty, as of today, but again, we don’t need many to accomplish our mission. Their goal is to divert attention away from the Pe-9’s and to create confusion as to what is doing the greatest damage. The hope is that it will take the Americans months to figure it out and by then, we will have new tricks up our sleeve. We can then use the brute-force of numbers that I prefer.”
“And how many of these Pe-9’s are available?
“Let me look at the latest report… ah, we have thirty-four, and they carry eight missiles each. We shall see how much confusion they can cause. They will really be concentrating on the planes carrying the atomic bombs. Our cities can withstand a conventional bombing campaign, given the new weapons we have developed, but not the atomic bomb. We have to stop that most evil of weapons one-hundred percent of the time. Not one must be allowed to detonate over our cities.”
The bigger of the two men gets up and begins to pace about the room.
“I spoke to Andrei, and the ground missiles are performing quite well. We are running out of Tupolev SB’s. They are shooting them down quite regularly at heights up to 10,000 meters. You’ll get a laugh out of this… I was talking to Novikov, and the best missile operators are women… specifically women from the Chechniya-Ingushetia area. That clown Sergo was doing his testing in Siberia, where many Chechens were placed after their rebellion, and the men placed quite high in the skills needed. Then it was further discovered that the highest scoring individuals were actually women, pretending to be men. Possibly trying to avoid being raped, though we never were able to discover exactly why, but I digress. It seems that there is something in these women’s racial heritage that makes them excellent missile operators, and they have an uncanny ability to steer the missiles right to the target. It’s quite remarkable, I’ve been told.”
The shorter man reaches for a cigarette and strikes a match which lights up his side of the room. He takes a deep drag, which briefly casts a small glow over the paper he is holding.
“Well, we shall see, won’t we? That brings back a memory. I remember reading about an American Indian tribe whose members were fearless at great heights, and the capitalist pigs forced them into building their skyscrapers. It must be the same kind of gift, or curse, depending on your point of view. I would not want to be working so many stories high just to make another man rich. Hopefully our Missile-Women will love shooting down the American bombers and saving their children in the process.”
“Yes we shall see. I hope for Leningrad’s sake, it will all work in our favor.”
Chapter Twelve:
Death of a Division
