Chapter 25

Everybody remembered where they were, what they were doing, and who was with them when the storm broke. John was visiting Jana in hospital, Chernagovka had just arrived at his office and Rhykov was dreaming of rows of stenographers.

Germany unleashed its Blitzkrieg in the early hours of June the 22nd, 1941. Despite numerous warnings to the Soviet leadership, including almost the exact day, it still came as a complete shock.

The largest military force ever assembled, some 139 German and 14 Rumanian divisions tore into the very heart of European Russian and ripped apart the Red Army. In the first days over 300,000 prisoners were taken. So many, in fact, that the Germans believed the Russians were deserting en mass.

By December, when the rains slowed the advance to a crawl, Germany and her allies were holding a line from Petsamo in the North, Lake Ladoga (held by, the now, German allies, the Finns) had Leningrad under siege, Tikhvin, Novgorod, Kalinin (to the suburbs of Moscow), Tula down to Rostov on Don. Sevastopol and the Crimea were under siege. Virtually all of the Ukraine, most of Byelorussia and the Baltic States were overun in a little over 5 months.

The Red Army had lost nearly 4 million men, of which an estimated 3 million had been taken into captivity. What had gone wrong with the Russian Armed Forces?

Rhykov rose and listened to the news as usual. Instead of the usual bulletin it was a speech by Josef Stalin. Rhykov heard him urge the Russian people to be calm. It was all he needed. He picked up his phone and made a call to the Central Directorate of the GPU. Then he disappeared.

Rykov went off to do what Rhykov does and perhaps one other person in the World knew where he went.

Chernagovka, still clinging to the fading hope that his secret mission could be put on track, knew, when he heard the broadcast, it was buried. He, too, called his bosses. Following that, he rang the muster bell to assemble the squadrons.

John was woken by an urgent tugging of his collar. Startled, his first sight was the panic-stricken face of the Ward Sister.

"Comrade Major, Comrade Major, the Germans..."

She couldn't continue but John knew what she was going to say. He leaned over to Jana who was still sleeping. He kissed her lightly on the lips and told his unconscious lover that duty had called.

The fastest way to get from the Red Army's Hospital at Katchina to Novgorod was by train. John found that all trains were running normally, but the platform was thronged with reservists and regular troops hurrying to their units. In three quarters of an hour he was back at the Red Air Force Tactical Research and Weapons Institute Standing Air Regiment.

Information was confused and contradictory. The High Command reported that Riga had been surrounded but the Army was counter-attacking. Minsk had been bombed, but, the High Command reported, the bombers had been driven off with heavy losses. Such news filtered through during the whole morning and, at the end of it, no-one was any wiser.

Benin, at the University, knew exactly what she must do. She promptly enlisted in the Novgorod Defence Regiment, a local defence unit, handing Garcia to the Professor for safe keeping. He'd practically become a Grandfather to him in any case.

The facts were, though, that Railways and communications in a 150 kilometre deep strip in front of the invaders had been paralysed by pinpoint attacks by the Luftwaffe. Some Red Army units deployed but found their flanks exposed by those that couldn't or didn't. The almost instant collapse of the infrastructure behind the Russian armies was the main tactical reason for the fiasco.

Panzers drove through the gaps in the lines and ranged deep in the rear of the Russians, siezing key towns and strong points. Incessant bombing by Stukas demoralised the troops and turned orderly retreats into routs. The Red Air Force was caught mostly on the ground, stranded without orders. Fuel depots were destroyed and the considerable numbers of Tanks the Russians had were largely abandoned. These were looked on in awe when the Germans arrived on the scene. Acres upon acres of Russian tanks and tracked vehicles parked in fields going nowhere.

So many tanks were left behind by the Russians that the German Generals assumed the Red Armoured Brigades must have been permanently crippled; but for one thing, German intelligence had been faulty.

The German Intelligence bureau, the Abwehr, had told German High Command, OKW, that the Russians possessed 5000 tanks all up. In fact, the figure was over 21,000 in June 1941, and included 1000 of the best tanks produced by the allies to see general service in the war, the T34.

But there were other reasons for the collapse, maybe just as important. One was exactly the same catelogue of failures that plagued Timoshenko's assault on Finland. The Red Army soldier was exposed as undertrained and underequipped. The Ivan was trained to be strictly obedient to orders; so much, in fact, that he was discouraged from using his initiative. When orders weren't forthcoming he tended to sit and wait to be told what to do. This fault went up through Division level and was systemic.

That failure was possibly a byproduct of the recent purges. Senior Officers weren't going to stick their necks out.

Another problem was the system of Political Officers that Trotsky instituted way back in the Red Army's foundation. These Officers were answerable only to the Communist Party and sometimes their interference in Military decisions was disasterous. In some cases, Political Officers coerced Officers into ordering Infantry into battle against armour in foolhardy mass charges. The boundary of responsibility between the political and military officers was vague.

Another factor definitely present, although its significance has probably been exaggerrated by the West, was the unhappiness with the Soviet system and leadership. Many agricultural workers, particularly Byelorussians and Ukrainians had been unhappy with forced collectivisation and the intrusion of the Government in their lives. Some units had a willingness to desert. Some even saw the Wehrmacht as liberators. If so they were quickly disillusioned.

For the Nazis came, not so much to destroy 'Bolshevism, ' but for land and slaves. The Nazi Party's cock-eyed Social-Darwinistic, Eugenics-inspired Racial theory of master race classified the Slav as 'sub-human, ' fit only to be worked to death as a 'human mule.' The Nazis came, not as liberators but as slavers and exploiters. When Russian men began to be rounded up to be sent to Germany as 'guest workers' any goodwill they may have had disappeared. The Nazis were not interested in winning 'hearts and minds.' If they had, things may have gone differently.

But the bare facts remain, the Red Army's 'orderly retreat' strategy foundered before the Blitzkrieg. But the Soviet Union had an army to follow, and another to follow that.

It had been three weeks since Jana had been retrieved from the forest. A lucky hit from anti-aircraft fire had severed an oil line in the engine and it gradually ran dry and siezed. Powerless, she glided over the border looking for a place to put down. She headed for a clearing but the aircraft had lost too much height. Clipping the tops of the trees, the MiG had hit hard throwing Jana free.

The impact had broken several ribs and her pelvis. She lay for three days, crawling for water from a nearby stream. When the foresters found her she was near death. Grave doubts had been expressed that she would ever fly again.

She was taken to the Military Hospital at Katchina, regarded as the best in all of Russia. John was given leave to visit here there. He stayed in the hospital for practically the whole time. Chernagovka had also visited her there, and Rhykov, but only for a few minutes. There was talk of a medal, perhaps even the Order of Lenin, to go with her Order of the Red Star from her days as a stunt pilot.

But, in view of recent events, there may be even greater acts of courage to reward soon.

Rhykov had much to think about as he flew down to Byelorussia. His team of specialists all sat silently, introspectively; perhaps thinking about the mission, family, whatever. They'd checked the equipment a dozen times, including their brand new PPSh machine guns. They all looked like villains, Rhykov thought, rather than an elite 'forward reconnaissance group.'

'Such a deceptive name, ' he thought, 'sounding like a group tasked with counting German vehicles from some hill near the front line.' But Blitzkrieg meant that the front line was confused, with German Forces far to the rear of some Russian units. It reminded him of the surf on a rocky beach. The sea flowed around the rocks leaving them isolated, alone.

Everyone in this experienced team dressed as they saw fit. Some had a kind of a uniform, but most dressed as foresters; albeit foresters draped in military equipment.

As the aircraft droned on, Rhykov smiled as he thought of the stenographer. 'She did like it rough, ' he thought, 'perhaps he'd now ruined her for her husband?'

She'd taken little persuasion. Perhaps she'd already knew when she went to his office at two that afternoon? He'd asked her to sit next to him for some bullshit reason, he couldn't remember now. She'd barely batted an eyelid when he'd taken her hand and placed it on his bulge. Her hand had moved, then, unbidden, she'd known what he was after.

'She sure had a fine pair of pair of tits, ' he thought, 'unstrapped, they'd tumbled out.'

He'd placed her between his legs, kneeling on the floor. She'd had the same blank expression she wore at the meeting. She'd sucked his cock efficiently, well-practiced.

She had to be in her forties if she was a day, Rhykov thought, and she was large, well-padded.

"Five minutes boys!"

Rhykov snapped to and checked his parachute again. The others were doing the same, trying to mask their fear in well-practiced routine. A crewman slid the door back and the night air screamed past. The crewman leaned out briefly then pulled his head inside quickly.

"There's the signal," the pilot announced. He reminded Rhykov of a magician pulling a rabbit out of the hat. Maybe it's relief, he thought, that his navigation was spot on?

All five stood in a line and clipped their static lines to the bar by the door. The crewman shouted, 'go, ' and, one by one, they all plunged out into the night.

The squadron had no success so far. They'd been scrambled 5 or 6 time but had failed to intercept anything. They relied, for the most part, on observers on the ground and some of the reports were vague or inaccurate.

The Germans were divided into 3 army groups plus the Finns. The Northern group was tasked with the capture of Leningrad. Army Group Centre advanced towards Smolensk and Moscow and the Southern Group stormed into the Ukraine. As part of the plan to cut off Leningrad from the rest of Russia, the Northern Group was supposed to swing in a wide arc around Lake Ladoga and link up with the Finns to the East of it. Novgorod was right in the way.

Air raids began three weeks following the invasion. About 50 bombers raided the railway yards and the industrial area. All the squadrons were scrambled but were vectored to the wrong place. By the time John's squadron had located them they were on the way home. Nevertheless a Junkers Ju 88 was shot down, the first victory to the Novgorod Air Regiments.