“As an added bonus seeing that their jamming attempts are ineffective against our missiles, they might abandon some of their more primitive measures in order to concentrate on more sophisticated methods. Ironically, this will allow our currently useless night-fighters a chance to do their job. They will be up there as a bluff. Maybe the RAF night-fighters will think that they have something to do with the missiles and that they would be wasting their efforts in trying to interdict them.”
“Comrade, you know as well as I do that those missiles are easily led astray if you know how they are guided.”
“I’m sure that Comrade Beria is making sure that particular secret never sees English eyes. Hopefully by that time, we will have more tricks up our sleeve for them to ponder over.”
“We can only hope so, comrade.”
Finally the bombers could be heard coming from the south. A clever direction if the Soviets did not already have advanced knowledge of their target and scheduled route. The dozen missiles were ready for launch as soon as the direction was confirmed, and it was determined that the timing was right. If launched too soon, the missiles would be out in front of the bombers when the guidance system was activated and they would never find the bombers. If they were launched too late, the guidance system would never “see” the bombers’ exhaust as the angle would be wrong.
Without foreknowledge of where and when the bombers were going to attack, the system would not work. Unfortunately for the RAF that was not the case and the Soviets knew exactly where, and when, the raid was to occur.
The sound of the bombers started to become loud enough to be heard with the unaided ear. The acoustical range-finder had picked them up long ago, and the listening posts estimated their altitude and the type of bombers, which were Lincolns, by the sound of them. This made sense, as this model had become the replacement for the venerable Lancasters. It was time to launch, and one by one the missiles ignited and streaked towards the ink-black sky in the direction of the incoming bombers.
The bombers droned on toward their targets confident that they could see in the night and that the enemy was blind. They believed that their enemy to be blinded by their jamming, and the bombers were aided by their radar. The first sight of missiles reaching up for them, riding along tongues of flame, must have come as something of a shock. Regardless of what they saw they remained supremely confident in their electronic wizards who were jamming and spoofing the systems of any Soviet night-fighters foolish enough to be in the air. Their own escorting night-fighters were beginning to have a field day, against the primitive attempts at night-interception that the Soviets had been reduced to. Just the same they released chaff as extra insurance in the hopes that the enemy had not learned any new tricks.
At first, to their amazement, and then to their horror, the missiles stopped their random assent and seemed to be guided to their formations. What kind of invisible hand could be behind such behavior? How could these backward peasants design something that their technicians could not counter? They had no idea that invisible hot gases venting from their exhaust systems spelled doom for some of their number.
They continued to fly on towards their target even when the first missile streaked through their formation without hitting a bomber. Then all hell broke loose as the second missile exploded near Red Flight One, and instantly destroyed two Lincolns, sending them spiraling towards the earth flaming like torches. Two more bombers were hit by debris and fell out of formation. The next two missiles seemed to veer towards the explosions and appeared to malfunction.
Meanwhile, the Soviet night-fighters now had an excellent idea of where their targets were and by using the mark-one eyeball started to score hits on some of the other bombers which had become visible due to the pyrotechnics emanating from the exploding bombers. Each flaming bomber that tried to hold formation illuminated his neighbors. Each flaming bomber drew Soviet night-fighters, like moths to a flame.
Panicked gunners started to fire at phantoms in the night and at the demonic missiles. This added to the panic, and in turn gave even more targets for the mark-one eyeball to zero in on. More bombers started to fall. Not necessarily due to any more missile strikes, but to old-fashioned cannon fire aided by more and more flaming Lincolns, and the muzzle flashes from their own defensive machine guns. Once the convoy was located a number of Soviet Pe-3’s fired missiles into the formations. Missiles designed to illuminate the target rich environment further. Missiles designed to light up the night and spell the doom of more RAF bombers.
The ground-to-sky missiles had been sighted along the expected path of the bomber stream and were launched at intervals so as to locate the bomber stream as it ponderously flew to its intended target. They were used as a kind of pathfinder for the more conventional night-fighters of the Red Army Air Force. The missiles only actually shot down six bombers with only three of the twelve fired working as designed. These three missiles effectively marked the targets for the hordes of night-fighters prowling the skies. These night-fighters did the real damage, aided by all the old forms of night-fighting. Countermeasures such as searchlights, illumination shells, the human eye, and so on. All designed to light up the sky around the bomber flights and to help detect their location just long enough for the cannon shell to find its mark.
Anti-aircraft guns were much more accurate when the exact altitude of their targets was known. Searchlights are able to pick up targets much easier when one of the neighboring bombers is a flaming torch directing your aim. A night-fighter pilot’s aim is much better when his target is visible. All in all, the more conventional means of the night-fighters and anti-aircraft ground fire shot down the vast majority of the bombers.
The final tally was thirteen percent of the bomber force destroyed. This was not an acceptable loss rate. The Soviet night-fighters also lost many of their numbers, but they were used to such losses. This was to be considered a major victory over night-bombing in World War Three. This shocked RAF Bomber Command. This also shocked NATO. This delayed the RAF bombing campaign for months. A handful of missiles may have altered the course of the entire war.
Fall was coming early to Connecticut. The temperature dropped overnight into the 40’s and it was only September 6th. The leaves were starting to feel the brush of autumn colors, and the angle of the sun made the shadows longer earlier. He liked the fall and his three years in the Pacific made him miss it even more. He wondered how fall looked in the Mediterranean.
He had done his time but civilian life just wasn’t working out for him. His two semesters at the University of Connecticut had been a welcome distraction but not inspiring. He was having trouble sleeping and the dreams about Tarawa made him dread the night. He fully intended to go to school and get a degree but with the Reds taking over Europe, it just didn’t seem right for him to sit on his hands and let it happen.