Isakov could start to see details on the ground below. Impact any second! He hit the ground hard, but instinctively he rolled. There was little wind, so he had no problem controlling the chute and gathering it up. It was critical that the platoon hide the parachutes, so as not to disclose their presence to the enemy.
Varakin had landed less than a hundred meters away, and was walking toward Isakov with his parachute neatly wrapped in his arms. "Comrade Lieutenant, I would suggest we deposit these in that building to the east."
Isakov agreed. Burying them in a plowed farm field was out of the question. Using a small flashlight, Varakin signaled to the squad leaders to move eastward toward Uttenkofen. The squad leaders reported to Isakov as the platoon coalesced. They had been lucky. No casualties beyond a few sprained ankles and bruises. The bright night had made the jump easier, even if it did expose them to discovery. But judging from the intensity of the fighting to the north, it didn't seem that anyone was paying attention.
At the outskirts of the town was an old garage. Using the night scope on an SVD sniper rifle, Varakin surveyed the edge of the village. There was no evidence of any movement. Varakin and two soldiers from 1st Squad carefully checked out the building. It was abandoned, probably at the outbreak of the war. The same seemed true of the rest of the village.
While the platoon hid their parachutes in the attic of the garage, Ivan Gudkov led three of his men from 1st Squad through the village looking for signs of life. Several of the houses had their doors open, suggesting they had been abandoned in some haste. They carefully snipped any phone lines they could find, taking trouble to avoid electrical lines. There were only about twenty buildings in the village, and within a half hour, the platoon had searched through them all. From signs, this was the village of Uttenkofen. It was completely abandoned.
Isakov had planned to use one of the villages to the south as a base, but this village would do. He had one of the new radiomen raise Major Danilov. "Aztek, this is Bantu, over."
"Bantu, this is Aztek, over." The radio call signs for the unit were Aztek for the HQ, Inka for the 2d Platoon (LZ Peru), Eskimo for 3d Platoon (LZ Kanada), and Bantu for 1st Platoon (LZ Afrika).
"Aztek, need grid to pick up packages, over."
"Bantu, send hunters to southeast Peru, over."
Isakov told Vladimir Konchin and his 3d Squad to march over to the southeast corner of Landing Zone Peru, near the Stephans-posching rail station. It was a good three kilometers away. Isakov warned them not to return on the roads, but to go over the fields, which were flat and easy to traverse in a LuAZ jeep. At the same time, he gave orders to Grigorii Varakin, the deputy platoon leader, to take Gudkov's 1st Squad to patrol the town of Stephans-posching itself, as well as Steinfurth. Isakov would lead 2d Squad in inspecting the southeast, toward Freundorf and Michaelsbuch. It was now 0330. Dawn would be about 0615. Each detachment would take one of the new radiomen along, and leave two more to keep in control of Uttenkofen.
In Uttenkofen they had found two operable vehicles, a beaten-up old Unimog truck used for farm work, and a van from a local bakery. Varakin took the van. Isakov and 2d Squad got into the truck. The squad leader, Bohdan Donchuk, took the driver's seat, with Isakov next to him. The other six soldiers piled into the open rear flatbed. Much to their chagrin, its last duty appeared to have been manure hauling, and the flatbed stank. The Unimog slowly clattered its way down the road, without lights, passing a small cemetery. The road intersected Route 11, which ran east and west, about a kilometer from the village, before entering Michaelsbuch. Donchuk pulled the truck off the road before the intersection, and the squad dismounted. There didn't seem to be any traffic on Route 11 at the moment. Michaelsbuch was a good deal larger than Uttenkofen. It was very quiet, but there seemed to be more vehicles. There was no evidence of military vehicles.
The squad cautiously advanced through the town, reaching the southern edge in a few minutes. A few hundred meters to the south was the A92 autobahn. Some military traffic was moving on it, mainly eastward toward Deggendorf. Michaelsbuch probably had some occupants still in it, but the town did not seem to pose any threat to the landing scheduled for later in the day.
Isakov decided to survey the other towns from the truck. It was a quiet night, and anyone seeing the truck would probably mistake it for one carrying NATO troops. The spetsnaz wore the new camouflage battle dress of the airmobile brigades, which was close to the American woodlands pattern camouflage. The squad mounted up again and set off down Route 11 toward Freundorf and the junction with Route 8. Freundorf was much the same picture — a small village either abandoned or with few occupants. On approaching Route 8, it was obvious that there was some military traffic. Route 8 connected Straubing, and the other towns to the northwest, with Deggendorf. After observing the traffic for a few minutes, Isakov had Gudkov turn the truck around to reconnoiter through Rettenbach and Mainkofen. They too were abandoned.
Isakov decided to leave two observers with a radio near the junction of Routes 11 and 8, overlooking the autobahn. This would keep most of the traffic at the southern end of the landing zone under watch. Another team was assigned to Michaelsbuch, stationed in the village's church belfry. This team could monitor any traffic coming off the autobahn toward the landing zone. Finally, one team was left in an industrial building near the Mainkofen railroad station to keep an eye on the autobahn and rail lines. This scattered the 1st Squad over a large area. But most of the teams could probably scrounge a car later in the day. It was important to cover all the likely avenues that enemy forces might use to attack Landing Zone Afrika.
With the teams in place, Isakov returned to Uttenkofen in the truck. Isakov was more familiar with German trucks than was the rest of the platoon. As a regular spetsnaz officer, he occasionally had been assigned to drive Soviet Avtotransport commercial trucks into West Germany while in civilian clothing. It gave him a clearer picture of the road nets and terrain than was ever possible from the sparse material provided in spetsnaz courses. Isakov reached Uttenkofen as dawn was breaking. Konchin and the 3d Squad had returned from the supply site. There were only two LuAZ jeeps, instead of the promised three, but they were heaped with supplies.
"Comrade Lieutenant, beg to report!" said Konchin. Isakov nodded.
"Comrade Lieutenant, we met Captain Vavilov near the station about a half hour ago. He instructed me to tell you that our platoon would be receiving only two jeeps. They lost three jeeps, probably an overshoot of the drop zone. We have our full complement of Metis missile launchers and other supplies."
Isakov responded. "Konchin, your men will be our unit reserve and remain here for the time being. Prepare the missile launchers. We will deploy them later in the day. Unload the other supplies into that garage."
Isakov found one of the other radiomen he had left behind and instructed him to raise Grigorii Varakin with the 1st Squad.
"Bantu 1, this is Bantu 4, over."
The radioman was unable to raise the other squad. The channels seemed to be jammed. He tried several different frequencies, without luck. Isakov decided to drive down toward Stephans-posching to determine the situation, and the radioman accompanied him. The road led toward the hamlet of Steinkirchen, breaking off at the last minute toward Stephans-posching. At the intersection, Isakov spotted two of the 1st Squad soldiers signaling him. He pulled the truck over. It was WO Ivan Gudkov, the squad leader.