Chapter 23

"You will be travel down to Minsk," Rhykov was saying, "there, you will be taken to an airfield. We have two planes prepared, specially adapted MiGs. You will learn to fly these planes. They are very fast, everything has been stripped from them, guns, armour, everything!"

"They both have special engines," added Lieutenant Colonel Chernagovka, "with superchargers. Very special engines. It's important that they don't fall into German hands."

"Both planes are to be fitted with demolition charges," continued Rhykov, "with delayed fuses. They will be set to destroy the aircraft automatically in the event of a crash. You understand this is important?" John Greenhaugh and Jana Ivanova both nodded. "And especially as some of the technology is not Russian."

"What?" John asked, "whose technology is it?" Both senior officers looked at each other. Jana hadn't seen this before. Rhykov, an admitted GPU Agent, and Chernagovka, suspected of working for Military Intelligence, the GRU; both in the same room and apparently cooperating on the same secret mission.

"The engines... are British," Rhykov said to a shocked silence from the two pilots. "We have... some special contacts with the British Secret Services. But this is top secret."

The third man spoke up. He wore civilian dress and, like Rhykov, called himself only by a surname, Sokolev. He told them that, if captured alive, they were expected to commit suicide with a Cyanide pill each of them were to carry.

"This, of course, won't happen," added Rhykov, "because you are such fine pilots!"

"Of course!" said Sokolev.

The fourth man said he was from the Air Force's Cartographical Service and wore the uniform of a Captain. He pointed to a map spread on the table.

"Bialystok! We believe there has been a build up of German forces in the past few weeks. Agents on the ground have not been able to penetrate German security in the area. It is important that we know what has been established by way of airstrips, vehicle parks, depots, that sort of thing."

"But particularly Fighter Units," Chernagovka interrupted. "Contacts, from the French and British have indicated that several key German Fighter Groups have been removed from France. Where they've gone, we don't know. It is important that we find these squadrons."

"Yes," added Rhykov, "some suggestion has been made that they're in Poland. If so, it's vital that we know. It could mean that their timetable is very advanced."

"Is that why the British are involved?" asked John.

"We've always had some exchange of information with the English," Rhykov said, "but lately they have displayed more willingness to cooperate. We think this is significant."

"You've always exchanged information?" Jana asked, incredulous.

"At some level," confirmed Rhykov, "only when it suits, of course. We leave the bullshit to Governments and get on with our business."

"We've carefully plotted a route for you avoiding all known German concentrations. However, the information we have is not totally reliable. There may be anti-aircraft sites, airfields that we're not aware of," Chernagovka said.

"You need to be at a very low height," added Rhykov, "the lower the better. These squadrons, if they're there, will be heavily camoflaged. The MiGs are fitted with high resolution cameras, thanks to our British Intelligence friends, which are rigged to the gun button on your control sticks. Both the English and ourselves are desperate for proof and we need photographs. That is why you have been chosen. You two are regarded as the best stunt plots in Russia. If you succeed and obtain this information you'll be heroes. If you fail to get anything, ok, but someone else will have to try. If you disappear, we know nothing. That is the way of it. You must study these charts and memorise them, routes, search area, until you know them in your sleep."

"It's a very wooded area," Chernagovka said, "you must stay below the treeline as much as possible to give you a chance. Remember the MiGs are very fast..."

"How fast?" John asked.

"Over 600 kmh... in excess of 400 miles per hour!"

"Christ!"

"They have Rolls-Royce Merlin engines with fuel injection and superchargers, perhap 16, 1700 horsepower?"

"We would like to build them," Chernagovka told them, "but they are a difficult motor to build in Russia. Besides, the English won't let us and without their technical assistance we'd be wasting our time."

"The MiGs have a superficial resemblance to the Messerschmitt," Rhykov continued, "we think, with the element of surprise, you will be mistaken for friendly aircraft. That's why we selected these aircraft. The MiGs have their national markings painted over and finished in not unlike a standard Luftwaffe camoflage scheme. Their people will not like the deception," he chuckled, "not like it at all."

"We thought," smiled Chernagovka, "that you ought to have a unit marking painted on the nose, like German fighters. For you, John, it must be a puppet, no? But Jana, we can't decide what your's ought to be."

"A prancing horse!" she said, "wild, free!" They all looked at her in surprise.

"Very well!" Rhykov shrugged, "I'll pass that on. Mare or stallion?" he asked, glancing at John.

"It doesn't need to be that detailed," laughed Chernagakov, "we leave something to the imagination, yes?" They all laughed.

As the Summer of 1941 rolled on, tension was high on the German/Soviet border. Rumour and speculation abounded and concerned Officers worried about possible incidents between the nervous border troops.

The Soviets had extensive networks of agents inside Poland, but during 1941 the SS, Gestapo and the SD had embarked on a terror campaign to root out Communist sympathisers. Many innocents were caught up, but also most of the Soviet spy rings were neutralised. Polish woods rang with gunfire as the SS went about executing anyone suspected of spying for Russia.

But something was happening. Despite secrecy, long trains of war materiel, road convoys, new construction of camps and depots and the preparation of airfields couldn't go unnoticed. Units were spirited away from France and this information was conveyed to the Soviets through Communist networks and to the British by the Resistance.

However, it should be noted, that Communists in France had been ordered by the Comintern not to participate in aggressive activities towards the occupying German army. In return, the SS left the Communists unmolested, although they were watched carefully and dossiers kept on their members.

There were accusations that Communists had informed on members of the French Resistance and cooperated with the SS. This caused almost unsurmountable impediments when the Resistance and Communists were eventually compelled to work on the same side. Even then, French Communists continued to further Soviet interests rather than the Allied cause as a whole.

Soviet/British intelligence cooperation before the German invasion is shadowy and speculative. That some sharing of information happened is true, but how far such contacts went will probably never be known.

John and Jana studied the charts and material carefully as they were flown down to Minsk. There, they were driven out to the secret airstrip, buried deep in the forest. It was too small to land a large aircraft, only large enough for the special MiGs to take off and land.

The airfield was heavy with NKVD and Police security. The aircraft were hidden under the trees with camoflage netting spread over them. They'd already been painted in the fake Luftwaffe scheme but still sported the Red Star on the fusilage and wings. It wouldn't do to be shot down by nervous anti-aircraft troops during training.

They were only allowed two days in which to become familiar with the MiG. So different from a standard MiG 3 was this plane that it hadn't been allocated a type or service designation. The engineers informally named it the MiG 3bis (super) or just 'Super-MiG.'

It featured the characteristic long snout of the MiG 3, but the prop was a standard British Rotol. The rear of the fusilage had been lengthened about half a metre and the fin increased in area. The big Merlin was heavier than the Hispano-Suiza-based engine of the original aircraft so the centre of gravity had to be moved back to prevent the aircraft from being 'nose-heavy.' Its guns had been removed and the leading edges of the wings fared over. The wingtips themselves had been 'clipped' or 'blunted' in an effort to reduce drag. The effect was not unlike a Messerschmitt Bf 109E model. Unlike the Messerschmitt, however, the cockpit was set back level with the trailing edge of the wing. The Pilot's view downwards was still restricted, as John had complained back in late 1939.

The British Merlin engine was wider than the M105 of the original plane. Consequently the closely cowled engine flared upwards in a bulge around the cylinder heads. Additionally, it had a lengthened spinner and wider, longer airscrew. The undercarriage oloe legs had to be longer accordingly, to keep the prop tips from hitting the ground on take off. The effect wasn't asthetic and John wondered how he could possibly see out of the cockpit when taking off on the short field.

"We thought of that," said an enthusiastic engineer, "there will be marker posts every 500 metres on the edge of the runway, to stop you overshooting and going into the trees. We have calculated carefully, you will achieve rotation speed in two thirds of the distance, even with an additional fuel load."

"We need to test that," Jana told the man, sceptical.

"Of course!"

John climbed into the cockpit of one of the planes. With the hood pushed back, he leaned out peering past the huge bulk of the engine. With his bottom off the seat, he could just see forwards.

"Shit!" he muttered.

Accomodation in the forest airstrip was rudimentary. A camp of army tents had been erected in a nearby clearing among the vehicles. Tankers full of aviation gasoline were uncomfortably close and the whole camp stank of it. Engineers slept in the back of their lorries, some of the enlisted men made bivouacs under the trees. The NKVD security slept away from everybody else in tents near their posts. John and Jana went into the forest by themselves with an army tent and made themselves a little camp by a stream.