Opening Moves (The Red Gambit Series) (46 page)

The aircraft carrying Makarenko was a Li2-D paratrooper version marked to look exactly like a DC-3 of a USAAF transport unit, as were all the others in the same formation, but the other Zilant groups, as with the Kurgan formations, made do with whatever they could fly in to get them to where they were going.

Thousands of aircraft were in the air, each with a precise mission, be it delivery of fighting troops or saboteurs, or to bomb ground targets. Zilant-4 had been one of the first groups airborne, rising from Planá Airfield, near the Czech town of Ceske Budejovice. The other three Zilant groups were spread out to the north, each group targeted on one of the symposiums.

Zilant-1, consisting of 1st Battalion, 298th Guards Rifle Regiment, was targeted on Hamburg and the Schloss Ahrensburg.

The 2nd Battalion had a date with destiny as Zilant-2 at the Schloss Neuhaus near Paderborn.

2nd Battalion, 304th Guards Rifle Regiment, reinforced with 2 companies of the 1st battalion, all forming Zilant-3, was concentrated upon Frankfurt, and Schloss Kransberg.

Makarenko’s group, Zilant-4 consisting of 3rd Battalion 298th and a special grouping of divisional troops, had been handed Château de Haut-Kœnigsbourg, and the furthest flight. The remainder of his division was untasked.

Some Allied ground radar stations became aware of many aircraft crossing the new borders and reported in. Some reports were taken seriously, others were not, and some were confused with the intended Molotov flight paths but in any case, only a handful of night-fighters were sent airborne to investigate. Reports started to filter upwards but no-one senior enough received warning in time. Partially due to ineptitude on the part of the radar units but partially because of the successful interference in communications commenced by small groups of Soviet personnel, infiltrated weeks beforehand for the purpose of wreaking havoc behind allied lines.

Communication infrastructure destroyed during the allied advance into Germany and recently restored was swiftly destroyed again, along with a few communication centres and radar warning sites.

Some Soviets were caught in the act and small firefights broke out all over Germany and Northern Italy. The dying started before the sun rose over the morning skyline.

Timed to coincide with all attacks, units of Soviet-manned aircraft arrived over allied airbases at 0530. Those nearest the demarcation lines were mainly visited by Soviet Shturmoviks, PE-2’s and their attendant fighter escorts. The airbases further afield got more specialist attention from US built aircraft sent to Russia under lend-lease and British fighters that had survived the harrowing Arctic convoy run, all in their respective USAAF and RAF colours but flown by a Russian pilot, sowing confusion with friendly anti-aircraft batteries and responding aircraft alike.

In the first instance, all Soviet air forces were concentrated against the Western Allies airbases throughout Germany and Austria, in an effort to eradicate the weapons that had proved so successful in destroying the German armies in 1944. Operation Kurgan was absolutely vital to the plans set in motion that morning, for whilst the Soviet Commanders had little respect for the armies of the Western Allies, they understood only too well the power of the Air forces of their opponents.

With some cunning, the supposed flight to Paris of Ministers Molotov and Bulganin had been used to mask some of the air attacks. The Soviets had indicated five possible routes that the aircraft flight might take, citing security concerns over rogue fascist elements for not confirming the flight plan. In fact, Zilant-4 had flown the southernmost route totally unimpeded. Some allied radar controllers saw what they had been briefed to see, although the numbers of aircraft exceeded expectations. Others already lay dead with their equipment smashed around them.

At times, attacks were met with no resistance and whole squadrons were destroyed on the ground, crews killed as they slept. Some attacks received opposition as allied aircrew drove their mounts into the early morning sky, dodging the bombs and bullets that sought them out.

It was of little surprise that some responses were poorly aimed, and on at least two occasions RAF Tempests clawed friendly Mustangs out of the sky, sending both the young American pilots to a fiery death.

Airfields near the North German coast and through Denmark found themselves under ground assault from Soviet Naval infantry, landed in the night from darkened vessels of all sizes and descriptions.

The allied controlled airbase in Berlin came alive with light as Soviet artillery and Katyusha rockets brought down a huge barrage, destroying every aircraft on the ground and inflicting massive casualties on the base personnel.

In precious few cases were the attackers met fully and equally and, in the space of seventy-five minutes, the western air forces from the Alps to the Baltic suffered grievous casualties in men and machines. In one stroke, a major part of the Allied armies was crippled for some time to come for a modest toll in Soviet aircrew and planes.

In other operations, Soviet sabotage and assassination squads had mixed successes. General Clark’s warning had proved timely for all but one senior commander targeted, although for General George Patton it had been a close run thing, just missing the attack on his command centre, and for French General De Lattre de Tassigny in his Baden-Baden headquarters it had run closer, as his slight wounds from grenade shrapnel showed. Perversely, the attack on General Clark’s Salzburg headquarters was extremely effective in dealing death, and many US military personnel were killed before the situation was restored.

The only real success on the part of the assassination squads was in the British sector at the Headquarters of Bad Oeynhausen, where Field-Marshal Montgomery was severely wounded by sub-machine gunfire before the Russians attackers were driven off, killed, or taken prisoner.

Sabotage units successfully destroyed ammunition and fuel dumps across Germany and the Low countries. One special NKVD unit even managed to wreck the PLUTO facility at Ambleteuse in Northern France and another sunk two freighters in Antwerp harbour.

In all cases, casualties among the attacking Soviet units were extreme.

The groups targeting the symposiums carried out their missions with varying degrees of success.

Zilant-1, landing surprisingly accurately in fields to the north-west of Schloss Ahrensberg, swiftly formed and made their attack, overwhelming a strong detachment of British Military police. Within twenty minutes of the first shot, the Schloss was ablaze and every allied officer and all members of Symposium Hamburg were dead or left wounded to die amid the flames. Few of the attacking paratroopers had perished and they split into small groups, fanning out through the German countryside intent on further mischief before they were hunted down.

At Schloss Neuhaus near Paderborn, the result was much the same, although one aircraft was downed by anti-aircraft fire and one group of paratroopers drowned when dropped off target into the Lippesee. A company of US MP’s defended stoutly but the Soviet troopers stormed forward regardless of losses, killing all before them. No allied officers or symposium members escaped unharmed, although a desperate handful of wounded men managed to escape by swimming the moat.

Some remained inside and were found one by one with inevitable results, but not before one Major from the 82nd US Airborne Division had burst from his hiding place and gunned down the commander and 2-I-C of the attacking paratroopers. Whilst he paid with his life in seconds, almost cut in half by a burst from a PPS sub-machine gun, the net effect was to paralyse the attackers. Instead of fanning out to cause trouble elsewhere, the unit halted as the new commander, an inexperienced young Captain, struggled to gain control. As a result, the Zilant-2 force found themselves besieged almost medieval style by arriving US combat units.

Zilant-3’s attack was a bloodbath for both sides. Early heavy casualties came to the Russian paratroopers, as they were engaged both in the air and on the ground by wide-awake gunners of the 486th U.S. Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion using the deadly US M-16 half-track quadruple .50 cal Maxon anti-aircraft mount. This weapon could put about two thousand rounds a minute in the direction of the enemy and many casualties were simply obliterated in the blink of an eye.

None the less, the paratroopers fought back. Grenades overwhelmed the defenders and the .50 calibres fell silent.

The Schloss was defended by a full company of experienced infantry from the 70th U.S. Infantry Division, and it seemed like every window of the three storey structure bristled with weapons.

Russian casualties were murderous.

Some troopers were armed with scoped rifles and started to methodically work the windows, killing defenders, clearing complete areas to enable an assault to succeed.

Finally, the Soviet paratroopers broke into the building and slowly cleared room-by-room, thankful that they had brought additional grenades for each man.

Again, they were ruthless, leaving no man alive, killing even the wounded, be they in uniform or civilian clothing, even as experienced American reinforcements began to arrive.

The battle in and around Schloss Kransberg began to abate as the surviving groups of paratroops were methodically eliminated room by room. By the end of it, only ninety-three Russians were left alive of the seven hundred and forty who had dropped on Kransberg, and many of them were badly wounded. Of the American defenders, symposium attendees and their German instructors, only three men was found alive, two of which were devoid of any identification, too wounded to talk and close to death. Six allied divisions and four corps had lost their commanders as a result.

"The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility"

-British Sea Lord John Fisher

0401 hrs Monday, 6th August 1945, With the Zilant #4 Group, Airborne over Allied occupied Germany.

Makarenko had chosen to go with Zilant-4 for more than one reason. Firstly, it was the assault that the least preparation had gone into and most likely to need his leadership. Secondly, it was the furthest distance to travel and therefore the greatest risk of detection en route. Thirdly, it was the most difficult target by far. Fourthly, there was no information on what force was defending the Château. Finally, he had seen the place with his own eyes in the mid-twenties when, as a young Captain of twenty-five, he had visited France as part of a military mission after the Great War.

As he looked around him at the other nineteen men confined within the dark red interior of the Li-2 transport aircraft he felt an icy hand grip him inside. He remembered how a light-hearted conversation between junior officers in the Autumn of 1925 had become serious, turning to military matters and, more specifically, how to assault the Château. They had concluded that modern weapons would make it an extremely costly exercise indeed.

The General had selected the 3rd Battalion 298th deliberately, as the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Potakov, was one of his very best officers. Capable of independent thinking and quick in adapting to tactical situations, the old hand had qualities that would be much in demand in the coming action.

They were also the fittest of the combat units, again all due to Potakov’s regime. This was essential for the assault, as the gradients involved in reaching the Château were severe and would test the strongest and fittest of men, even without the additional load of weapons and equipment.

Not for the first time that night, Makarenko prayed to a god he did not believe in. Thus far, they had not been fired at by ground forces, and no enemy aircraft had engaged them. However, his god had already turned his back on him, for the paratrooper battalion’s veteran commander and part of his headquarters group were already dead. Their Li-2 experienced catastrophic engine failure and turned into a fireball trying to land shortly after take-off.

Looking around at his soldiers, Makarenko smiled and tried to encourage a relaxed attitude whilst all the time filled with foreboding. Smoking was forbidden on the aircraft, not the least of reasons being the two flame-throwers assigned to members of his group, both sitting snugly between the legs of their nervous owners. However, that did not mean that they could not drink, and so a bottle of Moscow Crystal vodka was doing the rounds, calming butterflies and bringing a warm glow to otherwise white faces.

All the men with Makarenko were veterans of Leningrad, the Svir River, through to Vienna. None of them expected to survive this night’s action but still they went.