John Schettler - Tigers East

“Then again,” Symenko continued, “I hear what you are saying about us being two peas in the same soup. Like the color on the other side of that jacket you’re wearing? You’re a turncoat, just like I was when Karpov flipped me from allegiance to Volkov and signed me on to his fleet. Like it or not, that’s what you are, and you’ll never set foot safely on your ship again, or anywhere else in all of Siberia. Since I’m not sure that even my heroic resistance here would spare me Karpov’s wrath, as one turncoat to another, welcome aboard. Yes, I can get you up to the Barents Sea, unless Karpov’s hounds get to us first.”

“Very well,” said Fedorov. “Then may I suggest we come twenty points to starboard?”

“Aye, that looks right. You’ve a good eye.”

“Came to the service as a Navigator,” said Fedorov. “Captain Symenko, I know my presence here has complicated things a good deal for you. Yet if you can get us up there, I can promise you safe haven in Sergei Kirov’s Soviet Union. Karpov can rant and rave, but he won’t get to you there.”

“How nice and generous of you.” Symenko reached for his telephone to the bridge. “Helm,” he said. “Come 20 points to starboard at once. I’ll send a man down to the chart room with the new course plotted. This is Symenko. Do it now.”

Symenko put the receiver in its cradle, smiling. “Well Captain, a Navigator you say? Have a seat and ply your old craft. Given our fuel situation, we’ll have to take a very direct route, and when you get busy with that compass and pencil, have a close look at some of the ground we’re going to have to overfly.” He pushed the chart across the desk, and Fedorov took a long look.

“Interesting,” he said. “We’ll fly north of the big bend in the Angara, deep into the Siberian wilderness.”

“Aye, and let’s hope we get good weather and smooth sailing, because there won’t be a friendly docking tower, nor food or fuel, anywhere along that route. Then again, if Karpov gets ships out looking for us, they won’t get up there either. No sir, we’ll be safe enough up there. Nobody overflies that ground. That’s the Devil’s Country.”

He was tapping a place on the map about 200 kilometers due north of the big bend in the Angara River, up past the outlying Siberian town of Vanavara, at the edge of a devastated wasteland that was only whispered about if it was ever mentioned. It was the great blight in the land that had come on the 30th of June, in 1908—the Tunguska Event.

Hitlerhad been in a jubilant mood for some time as he watched the progress of the German summer offensive in Russia. Fall Blau, Operation Blue, was well underway before the Allies launched their bold attack at Lisbon and Casablanca. Manstein’s powerful SS Panzer Korps was the tip of the spear, massing at Kantimirovka and then driving southwest between the Donets and Don Rivers, just as he had explained it to Hitler long ago. The rivers shielded both his northern and southern flanks as he pushed forward, finding little resistance after the initial breakthrough.

“It was only the sodden ground in the spring and the lack of good roads along our axis of attack that forced us to delay this long,” Manstein explained to the Führer. “But we should have good ground for at least eight weeks now, and in that time I can get over the Don to begin the attack on Volgograd—of this I am certain.”

“How long will it take to secure the city?”

“That will depend on the forces the enemy puts against us, but in that phase of the operation, we will need good infantry divisions. It would not be wise to commit our mobile units to an urban battle of attrition. No. I intend to break through, force a crossing of the Don, and then move in a fresh infantry Korps. Halder has his eye on just the troops I will need.”

“Here, my Führer,” said Halder, leaning forward over the map and pointing out the formation with his pencil. “General Hansen’s 54th Infantry Korps is following the SS Korps, and it will soon move north to take up positions here, along the Don. There is some indication that the enemy is establishing bridgeheads there, and we will have to watch them closely. Schwedler’s 4th Korps will be on the left, east of Boguchar. Hansen will be in the center, covering the area near Veshenskaya, and on his right, approaching the big river bend south of Frolovo, we will bring in the 42nd Infantry Korps under General Kuntze. It is already boarding the trains at Belgorod.”

“Excellent. But what infantry for the city fighting?”

“We have von Seydlitz and his 51st Korps in reserve, and Kempf has two more infantry divisions presently attached to the 48th Panzer Korps. That will give us seven divisions.”

“Then what will you do with the SS once they cross the river?”

“They will secure the crossing point,” said Manstein, “then push for the city. When the infantry arrives they will reposition here.” He pointed to a rail junction at the town of Morozovsk. “From there they can force a crossing of the Donets at one point or another, and then we link up with Volkov’s troops. After that, it is only a matter of opening a secure rail corridor to the oil fields. He has already retaken the fields at Maykop. And the Soviets never got close to Grozny, let alone Baku. Yet to move those resources by rail, we will first have to take Rostov, and then most likely take a month or more to rebuild the rail lines to the proper gauge.”

“How soon can we take Rostov?”

“If all goes as planned, I will be closing on that city in a month—mid-August at the latest.”

“Then we can expect deliveries in late September,” said Hitler. “This is wonderful, just what I had hoped, and well before the winter sets in. Do you foresee any problems?”

“Nothing is ever certain in war, as we must all know,” Manstein cautioned. “That is what makes it all so interesting. One thing I do know is that we can expect they will fight hard to prevent us from doing all of this, and they will definitely plan a counterattack.”

“Where?” Hitler’s eyes played over the map.

“The most likely spot would be here, along the line of the Don. That is undoubtedly why they are trying to establish bridgeheads there, and so our infantry must operate to reduce those positions and push the enemy north of the river at the earliest opportunity.”

“48th Panzer Korps is in reserve,” said Halder. “It can be used to break any stubborn resistance south of the river, and then stand as a fire brigade for the winter, for yes, they will certainly attack there when the snows come again.”

“But we will stop them,” Hitler smiled. “We will stop them just as we stopped their last offensive. Gentlemen, carry out this plan to the letter. Once we take Volgograd and Rostov, then Sergei Kirov is finished. Now then—when can we expect to destroy what remains of his forces in the Kirov Pocket?”

“That should still be considered a secondary objective,” said Halder. “Resistance is collapsing there, but it will take some weeks to mop everything up. It’s work for the infantry, as we are repositioning our mobile forces for further operations to the east. We already have Orel back, and we will shortly begin the offensive to retake Tula in the north, then Kursk in the center, with our final objectives being Lipetsk and Voronezh. After that, they will have very little left—no major industrial centers worth mentioning—except Leningrad.”