“News travels fast Comrade Beria. But, of course, you should be one of the first to hear any kind of news. It appears that a rogue squadron of RAF night-fighter/bombers caught one of our attack-bomber regiments practicing night operations at their airfield. In order to take off they needed the airfield lights on and that must have attracted the enemy, like a moth to a flame. I’m sure it was an isolated incident but we will keep track of the trends.”
“And why were they practicing at night comrade?”
“We have some surprises in store for the RAF. We will never catch them by surprise, not with their advanced radar and their ground-spotting system and they will always be able to choose the time of attack. There is no way to hide our presence, consequently we will have to disguise our intentions, before they can react. We have a few things in our favor. The most critical of which is our numerical advantage.”
“We will use this to catch them landing, fueling and taking-off. Each one of our raids will be equal to their entire air force. I seriously doubt that they will concentrate all of their fighters into a small enough geographical area where they can all be available at the same time. If they do, so much the better, as the next wave will catch them landing re-arming and refueling.”
“Even a Pe-2 can shoot down a landing Spitfire or destroy it on the ground. The few jets they do have are relegated to a few landing fields the locations of which are well-known to us. They will be destroyed taking-off, landing or refueling, just like our former allies did to the German jets. It is rather wonderful to have such great odds on your side.”
“To answer your question more directly, we will be over British skies from dawn until dusk and our pilots should have practice in taking off and landing at night. There will be no respite for the first week of combat for the British. If they rise up to meet us, then they will die in the air. If they cower in their bunkers, they will die on the ground; it is all the same to me. In the end, they will die.”
“Ambitious plan Novikov. Where are the supplies coming from?”
“Unlike the Germans in 1940 we have plenty of fuel and replacement pilots. We have had nine months to prepare and three months to move the supplies we need from the border. These supplies have been hoarded for the last six months and stored just for this battle. It was hoped that the British would see that Comrade Stalin’s offer was their best choice but they seem to have chosen otherwise. Now the long time it took us to gather our supplies together will be upon us and they will be used to take away the skies of Britain from Attlee and the deluded leaders of that small island.”
“Thankfully; unlike Hitler our glorious leader Stalin, does not let ideology get in the way of practicality. I was amazed when he let that worm, Sergo empty the gulags of useful individuals. Stalin saw the inescapable logic of using that workforce for noble means and not just killing them by working them to death digging holes in the taiga. I’ve always thought that was a waste. If you’re going to kill someone then just kill them… unless they have something to hide. Is that not so Novikov?”
“I am a fighting man, Beria. I would not know of such things. I kill men who are trying to kill me and leave the rest to fellows like you.”
“Quite right, Novikov… fellows like me.”
“True the planes will not be the newest, and one-on-one the English will be better for the most part, but they will not be five times better and they will definitely not be any better when they are at their most vulnerable. We know their loiter times and we know when they need to land. All we have to do is stay alive until they are at their most vulnerable. They will not expect our extended loiter times. We will time our sorties so as to coincide with their landings and refueling times. First, comes the bait, then, the fly-swatter.”
“We are training our crews how to react to a surprise attack from the rear. It will always come from the rear and above or below, so we are concentrating on how to best defeat that tactic. They will always come in from above, as they see height being an advantage.”
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SMART INQUIRY
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH, 1946
NINETEENTH DAY
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The examination met at 9 a.m.
Present:
General Thomas C. Smart, U. S. Army, Retired, examining officer and his counsel and assistant counsel.
Major Charles O. Manner. U. S. Army Reserve, took seat as reporter and was warned that the oath previously taken was still binding.
The examining officer has decided to postpone the reading of the record of proceedings for the eighteenth day of the examination, until such time as it shall be reported ready and in the meantime to proceed with the examination.
No witnesses not otherwise connected with the examination were present.
A witness called by the examining officer entered and was informed of the subject matter of the examination, as set forth in the preface to the testimony of Col. W. W. Smith,
Record Page 32.
The witness was duly sworn in.
Examined by the examining officer:
1. Q. Please state for the record your name, rank, and present station.
A. Charles O. Manner, Major, U. S. Army Reserve, currently unassigned, sir.
2. Q. What duties were you performing during early 1946?
A. Performing the duties of Aviation Aide to the Commanding General, Fourteenth U.S. Army, American Zone of Occupation, Germany.
3. Q. That was General Poch’s command, correct, major?
A. Yes sir.
4. Q. Did the Commander-in-Chief, Occupation Forces, Germany, at that time feel that the units of his command were ready to carry out their assigned tasks and functions?
A. He undoubtedly recognized many of the weaknesses and strenuous efforts were being made to improve both the efficiency of personnel and the quality and care of the materiel received. Perhaps no combat commander is ever completely satisfied of his command’s readiness to fight but he certainly felt that a fairly high standard of efficiency was being developed. There were large numbers of green officers and enlisted men and the complements of most, if not all, units were lower than was to be desired. The anti-aircraft batteries were in general far weaker than we desired and they were being improved as rapidly as material could be made available. There was much concern over marked lack of radar sets and the personnel with the requisite skills necessary for their use. There were also weaknesses in certain aircraft and some difficulties were experienced with patrol planes’ engines I believe. The lack of skilled crews in the patrol planes, and the lack of suitably-trained replacement aircrew was quite acutely felt. Transports and artillery were lacking, and there were disturbing deficiencies in armor and in other essential strategic materials. Notwithstanding matters of this sort it was felt that the handicaps were not too great to cope with in such situations as were envisaged as arising if war occurred.
13. Q. Did you at that time sir, concur in the views of the Commander-in-Chief as you have expressed them?
A. Yes sir; and it may be that in answering the preceding questions that I have erred somewhat toward giving my own views, rather than those of General Poch, although they were probably substantially in accord. He was inclined to be somewhat more pessimistic in that regard than myself.