Impact Strategy Page 4

  Nevertheless, the complex army organism of the German Army Group near Kiev now resembled a mighty giant, that had received a non-lethal, but very high dose of nerve gas. Some commands managed to reach the units and subdivisions, others were cut off halfway, when the enemy's headquarters and communications centers were in ruins. Tank and motorized units moved in different directions, often only having orders to march, but receiving no further instructions. On top of all this chaos was the night time and the impossibility of aerial reconnaissance. However, the Wehrmacht was strong not only for its generals. The Germans also had enough proactive and qualified mid-level officers, and despite the partial loss of command of the troops, opposition to the Soviet offensive armies was gradually building up.

  The biggest problem for the enemy were the two strike groups consisting of KV and T-34 tanks. The standard German tactic of artillery ambushes using anti-aircraft guns capable of penetrating their armor was now failing. Convoys of tractors with 88-millimeter guns, which were moving toward the site of the breakthrough, were hit by occasional, but unexpectedly accurate bomb strikes, bumped into destroyed bridges, or simply did not receive orders to move in time.

  Things were worse for the encircled troops, who struck against the Germans in the direction of the 40th and 21st Armies. Their small number of tanks, assembled in a single breakthrough group, were able to do very little, they only broke through the first line of the enemy's defense. This strike was not unexpected for the Germans, and they had time to prepare to repel it. Nevertheless, after receiving radio reports of the successful advance of the tank brigades, the Soviets increased the pressure from inside the ring. Even the weaker part of the encircled troops, blocked by the Germans north of Lokhvitsa, attempted a breakthrough, not in the eastern direction, as the enemy expected, but in the northern direction, hoping to connect with the main forces of the encircled.

  “"Hornet", I can't hear you! There's a lot of interference!”

  There was a crackling and howling coming out of my receiver, too. I distracted myself from controlling the bombers, which were already very far apart, and concentrated on finding the source of the interference. It looked like the enemy decided to make it difficult for me to coordinate the air group. Nine interference generators started working simultaneously below, jamming the frequency bands known to the Germans, on which radio communications between Soviet pilots were conducted. This problem arose at a very bad time, and although the way to solve it was on the surface, I needed time to switch to the predetermined backup frequencies and rearrange the command transmission scheme to retransmit via satellites. As it turned out, I didn't have that time.

  “"Hornet",”... is "Shark 8", ... attacked by ene... ...ter. Engi... dama....Losing alti...”.

  I swore to myself in three languages, cursing my own stupidity and improvidence. How could I have missed those planes? Five Dorniers, converted to night fighters, came into range of my TB-7s and Yer-2s. The communication finally got back on track, but that didn't make it any easier.

  “This is "Shark 4". Fighting an enemy fighter. I can't see anything, and he's firing with aim! Dropping the rest of the bomb load! Third engine's damaged! Right wing's on fire! We're going down! Flight crew, get out of the plane!”

  Where did they come from? I knew that the Germans had night fighters as part of the air defense forces in the cities, but these machines could not operate on their own, without radio guidance from the ground and without illuminating the target with dozens, if not hundreds, of searchlights.

  “"Sharks" 5, 9 and 10 heading strictly east! "Sharks" 3 and 6 heading northeast! Don't drop the bombs, they'll come in handy.” I tried to get my planes out of harm's way, but the enemy Dorniers also changed course, catching up with the not-so-fast heavy bombers.

  “Lieutenant, head southwest!” I shouted to Kalina. Now in the sky over the battlefield no one but my Pe-2 could prevent the Germans from shooting our TB-7s and Yer-2s with impunity.

  I kept giving commands to the bombers. At this point they were two-thirds clear of the bomb load, but there were still plenty of targets below.

  “"Shark 6", three degrees to the left. Prepare to drop all remaining bombs!”

  I could see that the bomber could not evade pursuit - it had gotten too far away, and my Pe-2 simply had no time to come to its rescue, but the cruel arithmetic of war demanded that I use the bomb load of the doomed plane with maximum efficiency.

  “"Shark 6", 70 meters to the right.... Drop the bombs! In a couple of minutes you will be attacked by a German fighter. I'll try to cover you, but I need time. The enemy will come in from behind-bottom. You will not see it, but on my command you will open barrage fire - let the enemy think he has been detected. Your task is to hold out for ten minutes.”

  “"Hornet", this is "Shark 6". Copy that. Awaiting orders.”

  I had eight planes demanding my attention at the same time, and I just didn't have enough time to figure out what was going on. I hastily ordered the computer to analyze the weaponry and equipment of the enemy fighters. They somehow navigated in complete darkness and with no communication with ground services, which means they had something on board that the Germans had not used before.

  “"Shark 6", open barrage fire!”

  I didn't have time to help the bomber after all. By the time my Pe-2 arrived at the scene of the air battle, the bomber was already on fire and the crew was leaving the doomed plane. The trick of shooting somewhere in the direction of the enemy Dornier gave the TB-7 some time, which caused the German to miss on the first approach and shoot not too accurately on the second approach. However, the enemy pilot did not miss his chance on the third attempt.

  ***

  Oberleutnant Becker did not know much about the strategy and tactics of ground troops. His speciality was the sky, and, as practice has shown in recent months, it was the night sky. Nevertheless, even to him, a night fighter pilot, it quickly became apparent that something was not going right on the ground as the generals would have liked.

  The hum of the cannonade came from both the west and the east. The radio air was clogged with interference, so a Feldwebel sent from the headquarters of the air group, to which his squadron was temporarily attached, brought Becker the command to take off. The Russian night bombers, about which Colonel Richtengden had warned the Oberleutnant, were already hovering over the combat zone, and the commanders of the Wehrmacht ground units complained about the painful air strikes, using very strong terms. Judging by the number and relative positioning of the affected units, Becker and four other Dorniers from his squadron were going to have to deal with a dozen or two adversaries. This did not embarrass the Oberleutnant - in the skies over German cities he had to meet many more British, and the Russians do not expect effective countermeasures and would be easy prey.

  The heavy twin-engine jet fighter accelerated briskly down the runway and lifted off the ground. Perhaps Becker would have preferred to go into battle in a Messerschmitt Bf.110, but they had not yet had time to equip them with radars, and he had to make do with what was available. The Dornier also proved to be a good fighter in night conditions, and, by and large, the Oberleutnant was satisfied with his plane.

  Making a U-turn over the airfield, Becker set a course for the site of the last air strike, information of which came just a few minutes before takeoff. The rest of his squadron's fighters were given other targets - there was no shortage of them, the angry cries from headquarters at all levels came through the communications lines in a steady stream, though, as Becker suspected, not everyone was able to reach his air group.

  “Here they are!” Obergefreiter Gönsler, who served as flight mechanic and radio operator at the same time, reported. “The locator sees them! Judging by the size of the mark, it's a four-engine heavy bomber. The Russians have only a few dozen of them. It would be great luck if we could take it down.”

  “Not if, but when, Wilhelm,” Becker grinned. “Turn on the infrared spotlight. The radar is a good thing, but the night sight gives more detail, even though it works at a shorter distance.”

  “The Spanner-1 complex is ready, Herr Oberleutnant,” the flight mechanic said as he checked the sight-searchlight combination, “The enemy is changing course! They're trying to get away!”

  “It was an accident,” Becker brushed it aside. “The Russians can't see us. They have nothing like our equipment. They just changed course for the next target. They won't get away from us - the Dornier has one and a half times the speed of this bast shoe.”

  Far ahead, the ground was covered with flashes of explosions.

  “Well, that's right!” Becker nodded to himself, “They were approaching a new target, so they changed course. Too bad we didn't have time to take them down before they bombed out.”

  There it is, the Russian bomber. Huge, even compared to a twin-engine heavy fighter, but that doesn't help it... In the night sight, the plane, illuminated by an infrared spotlight, looked very contrasting, and the Oberleutnant slightly raised the nose of his plane, bringing the silhouette of the TB-7 into the sight.

  The TB-7 (other names: Pe-8, ANT-42) was a Soviet heavy long-range bomber. Maximum speed (1941) - up to 350 km/h. Bomb load up to 5,000 kg. Practical range – 3,600 km. Practical ceiling 9,300 m. Shooting armament: four machine guns (ShKAS, UBT), two ShVAK cannons (20 mm).

  Suddenly flashes flickered ahead, and tracers streaked across the sky, first to the right and above, and then a dozen meters below Becker's plane.

  “Shit,” Oberleutnant swore, pulling the plane sideways and simultaneously firing his direct fire machine guns.

  “There was no damage to the Russians,” said the flight mechanic with concern in his voice. “They are not changing course. It looks like they can see us after all, Herr Oberleutna
nt.”

  “Even if they do, they don't see us well. The shooting was indirect, but you're right, they knew about us.”

  The second attempt did not bring the expected result either. This time Becker decided to approach from the side, but the Russian bomber met him with two machine guns. The Oberleutnant did not try his luck, and after firing at the enemy at maximum range, approached him again from behind. The German pilot felt annoyed. He knew for sure the Russian shooters couldn't see him and were shooting just "somewhere over there," but Becker didn't want to run into a stray burst.

  The third run was more successful. The bomber's aft gun mount was firing in a totally different sector from where Becker's Dornier was approaching its target, and the Oberleutnant, firing almost at point-blank range, put two long bursts into the huge carcass of the Russian plane.

  “The Russian is on fire! Congratulations, Herr Oberleutnant!”

  “There's plenty more of them here, Willie. We're going to have a rough night tonight,” Becker smiled.

  “One more mark!” The flight mechanic shouted out in a suddenly changed voice. “It's something small, like our Dornier.”

  “The Russians have twin-engine long-range bombers. I think the Yer-2, or something like that.”

  “Not likely, Herr Oberleutnant. The speed is too high. It's going faster than us!”

  “Pe-2? A dive fighter? The Russians originally designed it as a high-altitude fighter, then converted it to a bomber, but it still had pretty good speed. Point out the course, and we'll take him down.”

  “It's coming to us itself, commander!" answered Gönsler in a puzzled voice, "The distance is a kilometer.”

  “I see it!” The Russian plane was already quite distinguishable in the night sight, “right, Pe-2. It's going too boldly.”

  Oberleutnant Becker was an experienced pilot, and he did not suffer from overconfidence. He remembered how strangely the crew of the downed bomber had behaved, having somehow learned of the danger before his Dornier had even opened fire. The German pilot drew conclusions. Becker decided that the Russians also had some kind of radar, but a very imperfect one that did not allow to accurately determine the direction of the target. So he simply changed course to attack the Pe-2 from the side.

  “The Russian turned too!” immediately shouted out the flight mechanic. “The distance is 400 meters!”

  “Take it easy, Willie,” Becker replied in a steady voice, though he himself was no longer confident.

  “300 meters!”

  Flashes flickered ahead. The tracer flashes passed close to the pilot's cockpit. Becker heard a sharp popping sound that no experienced pilot would ever confuse - the sound of bullets piercing the hull of the airplane.

  The flight mechanic shrieked. The neon lights of the radar equipment blinked and went out. The right engine stalled and immediately burst into flames, and the Russian gunner's merciless bursts continued to pound the hull and cockpit of the plane. Not a single bullet has, by some miracle, hit Becker yet. Oberleutnant glanced at the flight mechanic. Willie was dead, there was no doubt about it, and the battered Dornier was losing control with every second.

  “Crew, get off the plane!” Becker ordered himself.

  The cockpit canopy flew off into the darkness; it was knocked out by the triggered squib. With an unbelievable effort the Oberleutnant managed to flip the burning Dornier, and he simply fell out of the cockpit, into the air, scalding cold at this altitude.

  “I wonder who's down there,” thought Becker, swinging under the parachute canopy. He absolutely did not want to fall into the hands of the Bolsheviks.

  ***

  An airborne radar, and even with a night sight and an infrared searchlight in addition! Why didn't I know about this? Probably because it is simply impossible to keep track of everything. The Germans just got their radar up to working order. This "Lichtenstein" has not even gone into production yet, and here it is, near Kiev, instead of protecting the capital of the Reich from raids by the British.

  The Germans knew! They were waiting for us and getting ready, and I failed to calculate their plans, and it cost the Red Army's already depleted long-range aviation new losses. Five heavy long-range bombers in exchange for three German Dorniers. Two more got away - I just didn't have time to get to them...

  “Comrade Senior Major of State Security, mission accomplished. Bomb strikes on enemy headquarters, communication centers and key infrastructure were carried out. The air group's losses were three TB-7s and two Yer-2s. Three enemy night fighters, provided with the latest equipment, enabling them to attack our planes without being illuminated by searchlights and without commands from the ground, are destroyed.”

  “Five long-range bombers?” It was dark, but I noticed the change in Sudoplatov's expression. “You lost half the unique aircraft entrusted to you and you report a successful mission?”

  “Mission accomplished, comrade...”

  “Silence! Senior Lieutenant of State Security Nagulin, you're under arrest! Surrender your weapons.”

  Chapter 4

  “Comrade People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, your order has been carried out. Senior Lieutenant Nagulin was arrested by me personally right at the airfield and taken to Moscow.”

  “Very well,” nodded Beria, looking intently at Sudoplatov. “Come in, Pavel Anatolievich, have a seat. I see you have questions about this case, and I'm ready to answer them.”

  “Actually, I only have one question,” Sudoplatov shrugged and sat down in a chair at the conference table. “Why?”

  “He is dangerous,” Beria answered briefly, and the Senior Major did not like the expression on his face.

  “I absolutely agree with you, Lavrentiy Pavlovich,” replied Sudoplatov, who was not so easily embarrassed, “He is extremely dangerous. To our enemies.”

  “Now, yes, but this is now. I look at the situation from a broader perspective and from a different angle. At the moment, the Soviet Union and Citizen Nagulin have a common enemy, and as long as that is the case, he acts as our ally, but he is a stranger here, Pavel Anatolievich. Think about it. You, me, and all of our comrades are Soviet people who grew up, were educated, and had careers in the USSR. Yes, the older generation remembers Czarist Russia, but that was a long time ago. Since then, the very idea of life has changed, new values have been formed, and we are waging a merciless war against the enemy for those values. Nagulin is a stranger here. Our system, all the achievements of the Revolution, are just words to him, behind which there is nothing.”

  “That does not mean that he is an enemy,” Sudoplatov disagreed.

  “It doesn't,” nodded Beria, “But all my experience tells me that he is fighting not for the Soviet Union, not for comrade Stalin, not even for Russia. Nagulin is pursuing some goals that only he knows, and for him we are all just a means to achieve them.”

  “Aren't you being too hard on him, Lavrentiy Pavlovich?” cautiously objected Sudoplatov, but it was obvious that the words of the Commissar of Internal Affairs made him think, “His contribution to the struggle with the enemy...”

  “I know,” Beria stopped his subordinate, “if it weren't for that, he would have been felling wood somewhere beyond the Urals a long time ago, or given a capital punishment - he had behaved very un-Soviet all this time. Given his merits, Nagulin is sitting in quite decent solitary confinement in Lubyanka, and investigators are strictly ordered not to use any coercion on him.”

  “So what's next?”

  “And that will depend on what happens in the next few days. No matter how you look at it, your Nagulin has killed five heavy long-range bombers, and the result of their actions is not yet quite clear. It's such a mess right now...”

  “But the corridor to the surrounded troups was cut through!”

  “And what grounds do I have to believe that it was due to Nagulin's actions? This corridor was being cut through by ground troops, and they did cut it. But where did the German night fighters, which were also equipped with the latest radar and night sights, come from? Are you silent, Pavel Anatolievich? And I'll answer. The Germans knew about Nagulin's operation and were preparing an ambush, which cost us great losses in the end. There are only two options here - criminal error or betrayal. And I still have to report to Comrade Stalin about it - long-range aircraft, by the way, were allocated to us under my personal responsibility.”